Marketing Management - Wallace Bakery Company - Case Study Example

Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : MARKETING PLAN Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2013 Introduction The significance of a marketing consultant cannot be underestimating in a business organization. As such, those organizations that really means to realize profit and at the same time maintain the competitive advantage must seek the knowledge of marketing consultant .Marketing consultant therefore, closely work with companies in creating and implementing marketing strategies (Young 2010, p. 3). They specialize in developing marketing plans, determine the marketing message and identify the marketing mix to get the message out. As such, marketing consultants are skilled and very knowledgeable in consumers’ behaviors as well as marketing course. Indeed, marketing consultant facilitates the business organizations achieve and maintain competitive advantage hence sustainable success of the business. (Smith 2012, pp 105) Usually, the consultants apply high level of creativity and analytical mechanism in their strategies which are geared to achieving best results. (Smith 2012) As the responsibility of the marketing consultants marketing plan describe the current market position of a business organization and marketing strategies for a period of time that is actually covered by the marketing plan. The prime aim of marketing plan is to clearly outline the steps in achieving of business marketing goals and objectives (Ferrell 2012, p.37). It does so through enabling marketing personnel and the other firms stakeholders either external or internal to comprehend their actions, the market under which they operates their future directions and the means to obtain from new initiatives. As external environment and internal environment, marketing plan differ for different corporate firms. (Freeman, 2010, p. 35).This paper, therefore, seeks to develop and devise a clear one-years marketing plan for Wallace Bakery Company. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This one year marketing plan for Wallace Bakery Company located at Australia has been formed by its own founders aimed at defining the marketing strategies, gain employees commitment, establish goals and secure additional financial support for growth. In addition, the marketing plan aims at informing the employees the current status, direction as well as the goals of the firm. Though Wallace Bakery Company was founded in only two years ago, it has experienced greater demand for its products and it has gained greater reputation to its loyal customers. This has come about due to the substantial perfect handling of our customers and the production of high quality and reliable products which cater for the needs of the customers adequately. Our indoor researches have revealed that the target market have been the general public especially wending couple birthday and parties customers, families and the general public. In an effort to reach more customers and to expand the company’s growth there are plans to explore online and delivery sales where the customer just have to order a product. At the same, time the company is laying down plans to add on new products lines as well as extending the product lines. Over the next one year the company aims at winning other clients and customers of diverse needs and categories thus maintain its competitive advantages over other baking companies. Wallace and Antonia who both have an undergraduate degree in nutrition and dietetic founded this private company three years ago. Wallace used to practice nutritional therapy and counseling while Antonia used to work in a government institution. These two entrepreneurs who have been friend since university, decided to put up a company which would appeal and offer quality services and products to at a cost. The company through its products reflects and projects Wallace and Antonio’s values for good nutrition as well as the general healthy eating. As such, bakery products includes bakery products such as cakes, biscuits& scones mixes, brownies, cinnamon rolls sweet dough & Danish, croissants & breads, fillings Latino products, muffins and icing & glazing stabilizers. Also the company specializes in manufacturing breads which are made with high sensitivity to nutritional values thus helping avoid cases of malnutrition. The profound success that the company has developed has been achieved through consolidation of efforts from the employees and the management. Under the transformational leadership of the management the company has been able to carry out corporate social responsibility(CSR) by educating the public the merits of healthy nutrition through workshops and also providing high nutritional to infants below the age two years. Such activities have elevated the status of the organization in the region and also have facilitated to the achievement of competitive advantage over other organizations with similar products. To the company this has helped develop perfect organizational culture which is the genesis of sustainable success of any organization as argued by Carter et al. (2012, pp. 20) Wallace Bakery Company’s Missions and Goals The mission of Wallace Bakery Company is to be a leading producer of bakery products with high sensitivity to nutritional values. Through its services and products the company intends to make people aware of health nutrition. Additionally, the company strives to educate and inform its esteemed customers healthy eating and its merits.In the next one year the firm looks forwards to achievements the following financial and non-financial goals. Financial goals Obtain financing to expand manufacturing capacities, increase gross sales and also invent new products. Increase the revenues acquired by 75 percent and, Donate at least 10 percent of the total profit to the public in community out reach programs. Non-financial goals Introduce online sales- through request by the client and delivery. Carry out four (4) corporate social responsibility activities (CSR) at the intervals of three months. Enter new geographical markets including other towns and cities. Core Competencies In regards to Cornelia (2005, pp. 77) the organizational culture any company facilitates and promotes competence among the stakeholders especially the employees as the operating core of the business organization. In that case Wallace bakery organizational culture mobilizes its core competencies to achieve sustainable competitive advantage over other competitors. This is based on that the competitors cannot offer the same value as the company does to its customers. The values are manifested on the quality branded products and services that are given to the customers, creation a sense of community through corporate social responsibility activities that the company gives to the customers. At the same time, the company has developed a reputation among retailer customers and the general public as a reliable manufacture, carrying out the delivery as requested, with high level of integrity and at on schedule. While the company enjoys this wide range of competencies it intends to build them through increasing the number of products and maintaining high level of quality. Also the company strategizes on introducing more new products and introduction online sales. Through the corporate culture which ensure high level of active communication the company intends to increase the relationship between the customers, retailers and suppliers of flour and other raw materials as well as services. As such the company can create even a high competitive advantage over its competitors/rivals. (Cornelia, 2005, PP. 77) SITUATION ANALYSIS Any marketing environment of any corporate must have some favorable opportunities and challenges where success of such an organization is based on how it is able to maximize on the opportunities and meet the challenges successfully. Additionally, situation analysis as pointed out by Kaplan & Norton (2001, pp 283, 347) is a systematic collection and evaluation of the past and presents economical, political technological data. This is aimed at analyzing the internal (strength and weakness) and external environment (opportunities and threat) of an organization’ that may influence the performance and choice of strategies. To achieve this goal the organization examining its current strength and weakness while also analyzing the future opportunities and threats. It requires an organization to seek and strive to maximize on the strengths while at the same time reducing weakness for it to achieve sustainable successes. As claimed by Dayal-Gulati & Lee (2004 pp 162) future opportunity can be a future strength and a future threat can also be a future weakness. (Kaplan & Norton, 2001, pp 283, 347) The SWOT analysis presents a sketch of the company position in the market place. Boone (2012, pp 669-671). Wallace bakery has built great number of impressive strengths through its culture while looking forward to its achieving new opportunities. As such, the company operates under its transformational and democratic leaders who facilitate development of a value based organization through the transfer of values to the employees. This improves the employees’ commitment and competencies as high creativity is encouraged. This leads to productivity hence the growing number of branded loyal customers who the company value most. While the company operates under dedicated founders it also has sound and reliable financial managements which act as catalysts for the firm’s growth. At the same time, the company broods on expanding its products line, entrance into new market and introduce online sales. As such, the company will have to guard against marketing myopia-the failure to recognize the scope of its business and quality slippages. In additions, as the company becomes more successful, the management will have to strictly guard against the competitors who may attempt to duplicate the products. However the company plans to improve the relationship between clients through the dedicated employees hence thwarting the competitors (Boone, 2012, pp 669-671). SWOT method of analysis includes strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of an organizations market environment as shown earlier. Strength Wallace bakery dedicated founders. Better understanding or the target market and its needs as well as production of quality products. The company has achieved wide geographical areas of distribution with high rate of acceptance. While the company has very little debts, it has great potential and capacity for growth. At the same time the company has adopted the best mechanisms for ensuring maximum quality control. The corporate culture has facilitated the advancement in communication channels where there are integrations of technology such online communication such as emailing social media. At the same time the management is very sensitive to the voice of the employees whose impact cannot be undermined in any firm. The company has invested a lot in wheat farming as well as educating farmers in the entire country on the best proven practices of wheat farming. Opportunities The loyal customers are likely to buy new products and also facilitate fish other customers. Several gaps exist in the market that can be fed with other new products. Wallace bakery has a chance to expand through opening branches to other cities and countries. Also the company has the potential to reach many other customers through online sales via website. At the same time, the company has a chance of improving the quality through research undertaken by its expert teams. Weaknesses Wallace bakery founders may lose sight of the potential scope of their business as they may not have the capacity to handle the large numbers of customers. The company has limited suppliers of law materials as very few farmers are involved with wheat farming in they entire country. The company is not known extensively in the entire country. At the same time the company relies on few manufacturing machines which it plans to increase and expand. Threats Large competitors may soak up consumer dollar or launch a similar product line. In addition, relationship with retailers might deteriorate if they believe that they face internal competition in the form of internet sales. Generally, the economy has not been favorable for the consumers over the past one year and therefore sales might reduce. Competitors of Wallace Bakery Company The company has enjoyed a lot of confidence with the customers since it started who have continued to support it and justify its existence. At the same time, the company has operated under competition of both large and small competitors who offer almost the same product as the company does. For instance the Kings Meal Bread Baking Company and Yam Yam Bakeries posses a lot of competition to the company as they are high recognized and they started operating earlier before Wallace Bakery Company started. All the same, Wallace Bakery Company outlook is out and positive for several reasons. First, the company has adopted an outstanding color and logo which the general customers would always want to associated with. Management on the other hand, have adopted methods of reaching the customers beyond the normal buying and selling relationship and will continue to intensify on the same trying different strategies to win and improve the relationship with more clients. Equally, the company has adopted diversity management which aims at improving the workplace and citizenship among the employees thus high productivity of the organization. This in turn escalates the competitive advantage hence sustainable success. While all of the companies listed earlier can be considered to competitors, none offers the kind of trendy as well as practical products provided by Wallace Bakery Company. At the same time, none uses the customized logos and colours and slogans that the company uses and plans to offer in the future. In additions most of the companies manufacture bread only while Wallace Bakery Company manufacture inclusive products that are needed in a house hold on daily basis and on special occasions. Finally, the company sells its products at sensitive prices making them affordable most of the customers. Product offering The company has adopted an appealing product packaging which is attractive, holds the consumers eye and attention, as well as serving as an efficient and functional shipping container. The decomposable polythene papers that the company uses for packaging are not only sensitive to environmental degradation but also are printed with attractive colours that help attract the customers. The company’s logo and slogan is also printed on the said polythene papers. In addition the company has adopted small portable boxes of different shapes that are equally efficient in transportation of products at ease reducing breakages and protecting the product on the shelf. The colours printed on the boxes are very distinct from what the other competitors use hence distinguishing them from other products. The company’s consultant team researches on the different colours that glue the customers to the products. The company also maximizes on reliable delivery services for large scale customers for instance the retailers hence extending our value to the customers. In order to market its product and to reward its customers the company gives discount as incentives to attract more customers and to reward the large scale clients. This coupled with competitive pricing of the company’s products acts as the best mechanism of promotion as well as incentives to the customers. MARKETING STRATEGY In an organization marketing consultants are the decision center for marketing strategy that the organization may adopts. As such, marketing strategies are is an explanation of the goals a firms strives top achieve with its marketing efforts. Marketing plan is fundamental in underpinning the marketing plan of an organization according to Piercy (2012, pp. 687). It include all basic activities that and long term activities in relation to marketing in an organization. In addition, market strategy aims to achieving some set up goals. For instance, Wallace Bakery Company aims at increasing the number the organizational sales by 75% percent, opening other geographical market and sub-branches, start off online sales, increasing the number of customer by striving to be market leader by delighting customers, intensifying advertisement of the company’s products (Piercy, 2012, pp. 687). Target Markets Target market involves segmentation of the market (customers) into groups depending on how the groups relates frequently with the business organization (Miller, 1988, pp 285). While Wallace bakery company aims at getting customers from the whole public its expects more adult customers especially mothers, fathers, marrying couples as well also birthday and general parties. Also the company aims at targeting college students who are involved in a lot of partying and more so the general public. The customers cut across from law social economic status families, but more are expected from middle and high social economic status families. The customers are somehow status orientated but not overly so. These customers represent a demographic group of well-and educated individuals. In addition to the common public the company targets hospitality industries. All the same, the products are of sensitive favorable cost hence making the affordable to every individual regardless of their socio economic status. Of course, the favorable cost is no at the expense of the high quality. The current customers are from twenty miles diameter from the city. However, the company has the future goal of expanding the said diameter and extending it beyond (Miller, 1988, pp 285) Positioning Positioning entails the perception the company wants its customers to have about its products in relation to other products from other companies (Piercy, 2012, pp. 687). Also it entails what market strategies that the company undertakes to achieve perception. In normal circumstances any market position happens regardless of and can be formed but it’s advisable that any company actively influence the market position of its choice through execution of market strategies. (Schmitt, 2010, pp 117) When developing a particular market position the business organization needs to select the most persuasive, meaning and unique point of difference that will enable it to compete for the potential customers. In this regards Wallace Bakery Company intends to develop a market position of the most nutritionally healthy bakery products among the customers. This will be achieved through the company’s logo and slogan which emphasize on the importance of good health nutrition. At the same time, the company intends carry out the corporate social responsibilities that are always related to nutrition and good healthy eating. MARKETING MIX The following discussion outlines some of the details of the proposed market mix for Wallace Bakery Company. Products strategies Wallace Bakery Company of high quality products which are not and will be never compromised. They are made with high level nutrition sensitivity responding to the needs of the different customers adequately. All products bear the company’s logo and slogan “eat healthy” which helps to market the company and to create the market position. As mentioned earlier the company has researched on the best popular colours which are used to prints the packaging facilities such polythene papers, boxes and many other. In additions the company’s assets and premises all have those colours so as to facilitate in developing a market position. Over the next one year as said mentioned earlier the company intends to expand its products manufacturing and also production of new products which bears new and more appealing slogans. This strategy will keep the concepts fresh and prevent it from becoming diluted with too many variations. Promotion strategy Wallace Bakery Company constantly communicates with consumers and retailers about its products in variety of ways. This is done through the traditional forms of communication like phone calls, monthly newsletters, and many others. While the company uses the traditional forms of communication it also uses modern form of communication such as emails, social media including twitter and face book, both electronic media and print media as well as availing information concerning the company in the internet. The company relies on personal contacts with the retailers and some of the large volume customers to establish the product in the stores, create relationship and demonstrate the products’ unique qualities. As the distribution expands the company intends to increase its sales staff. Currently sales promotion and public promotion takes the bulk of the Wallace bakery company promotion strategy. In an effort to do more promotion the company intends to partner with a well established advisement company and give discount to its customers regularly. Distribution strategy The companies highly valued customers enjoys the efficient distribution channels and service ranging from free delivery to volume customers to home delivery. This is indeed done to increase sales serve the highly esteemed customers and gain advantages over competitors. While the company enjoys gains from the current distribution strategies, it intends and plans to increase the distribution through online sales distributor relationship and new retail outlets. In addition, the company plans recruit distributors as well as training, motivating and compensating them. Finally, assignment of new territories in other geographical markets is underway hence improving the sales of the company. Advertisements are central to marketing of any business organization be it electronic media such as television, print media news papers social media such as face book and twitter. Currently the country takes advantage of the wide range of advertisement channels and plans to intensify it through partnership with the best advertisement company. Moreover the company serves its customers with monthly newsletter to improve its value to the customers Pricing strategy Pricing products as discussed earlier in this plan, are made competition in mind and being sensitive the target consumers. While doing this the company does not get motivated to setting high prices to signal lavishness or prestige nor does it attempt to offset low prices by selling high quantity of products than normal. Instead value pricing is done so that customers feel comfortable purchasing products. References Boone L, (2012), Contemporary Marketing, 16th ed. New York: Cengage Learning Carter Louis, Ulrich David, Goldsmith Marshall, 2012, Best Practices in Leadership Development and Organization Change: How the Best Companies Ensure Meaningful Change and Sustainable Leadership. New York: John Wiley & Sons Cornelia Elena, 2005, The Components of The Organizational Culture. ŒCONOMICA, 1: pp 77-89 Dayal-Gulati A, Lee A, 2004, Kellogg on China: Strategies for Success. New York: Northwestern University Press Ferrell C, 2012, Marketing Strategy Text and Cases, 6th ed. New York: Cengage Learning Publisher Freeman E, 2010, Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. London: Cambridge University Press Kaplan R & Norton D, 2001, The Strategy-focused Organization: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment. New York: Harvard Business Press McDonald M, & Wilson H, 2011, Marketing Plans: How to Prepare Them, How to Use Them. Ney York: John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Miller D, 1988, Relating Porter's Business Strategies to Environment and Structure: Analysis and Performance Implications. Journal of Academy of Management. Vol. 31 (2), PP. 280-308 Young L, 2010, Marketing the Professional Services Firm: Applying the Principles and the Science of Marketing to the Professions. New York: John Wiley & Sons Piercy N, 2012, Market-Led Strategic Change London: Routledge Raab G, 2008, Customer Relationship Management: A Global Perspective. London: Gower Publishing. Rao M, 2011, Services Marketing Huntsville: Pearson Education India Huntsville Smith B, 2012, Making Marketing Happen. London: Routledge Publisher Schmitt B, 2010, Customer Experience Management: A Revolutionary Approach to Connecting with Your Customers. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Read More