Failure of the Original Smart Car - Article Example

The proposed methods are feedback and control mechanisms, statistical analysis techniques, and customer satisfaction surveys. These techniques provide a means for analyzing and improving control systems, measuring the efficiency with which feedback information is used, and determining the costs of system response time in terms of computers (Bearden et al 2004). This thinking is reflected in the electrical engineer's notion of control. Engineers view the control function in terms of the current state of a system, a desired state, the number of periods in which the desired state is to be reached, and the "driver" necessary to get the system there. The driver in marketing may be thought of as the marketing mix or part of it.

Feedback presents a way of shaping marketing by taking into account the results of past performance and learning from it the actions to take in the future. The use of linear programming for media selection, queueing theory to determine the appropriate number of check-out counters at a supermarket, or probability theory to decide the amount to be spent on marketing research, are examples. Simulation techniques, which foster experimentation on models and the generation of artificial intelligence without the hazards and costs of actual changes in policies or strategies, are particularly helpful in achieving better control (Kotler and Keller 2005).

Smartcar can use internal and external controls. External control refers to control of the marketing system external to the firm. Here control in the sense of influence and coordination is exercised. For example, external control is concerned with the power necessary to link the manufacturer to middlemen and customers to achieve an integrated marketing operation. Control deals here with the progression of raw materials to finished products, and with such marketing correlates as the product specification and package design necessary to develop customer, and ultimately consumer, utility through brand and product lines that satisfy wants and needs. Conflicting standards may have to be resolved. Components may be welded into a system through the efforts of a dominant unit.

For example, a large retail chain such as Sears may exercise control over the total system by establishing the standards for the manufacture and distribution of its products (Kotler and Keller 2005). The internal control system controls company resources to design the marketing mix in response to opportunities. It involves appraisal, evaluation, and adjustment. Appraisal refers to the monitoring information and preliminary assessment phase of marketing activities, which notes current situations. Evaluation of the current situation, the goals and targets, and the deployment of resources enable a review of the marketing program's effectiveness. This leads to the adjustments that may be made, if necessary, in either the sales or profit targets, the marketing mix, or both (Kotler and Keller 2005). Smartcar should evaluate the lifestyle of consumers and their preferences using customer satisfaction surveys.

For example, intelligence is gathered about profits and is evaluated and reviewed by product, territory, salesmen, and product line. The situation is then audited and changes may be made. In this manner, market position is assessed based on market share, competition, opinions and reactions of customers, and degree of customer satisfaction. Marketing operations are rated in terms of such activities as inventory levels, credit, accounts receivable, and working capital. In light of the findings, management may decide to make some adjustments. It is here that control in the narrow and restricted sense of power to adjust occurs. Two basic aspects may be controlled: (1) the criteria used for measurement and (2) the marketing mix. The degrees of control that companies can exercise form a spectrum.

At one extreme is production, which a firm may be able to control almost completely as to amount and quality, and the establishment of precise time schedules. But this is not true of marketing. The impact of many factors cannot be controlled or even influenced greatly. Even with distribution channels, it is difficult for a manufacturer to control wholesaler and retailer activities and vice versa. Conflict in communications, product and service warranties, and other policies occurs in channels. For Smartcar, many factors establish the specific decision maker. The importance of the decision is one consideration; the place is another. For instance, if a decision is made in the home, as contrasted with a retail department store, the identity of the decision maker may easily vary. Groups witnessing a decision being made can influence what happens (Perreault et al 2003).

In sum, past failures and sales decline suggest that evaluation and analysis of the validity and efficiency of advertising methods is a crucial part of marketing. For Smartcar, marketing philosophy suggests that business be controlled from the standpoint of the marketplace and consumer considerations. In general, it is not, but it can be. Most businesses are controlled out of accounting, financial, or production considerations. Also, decision roles outside the home need not be the same as the roles within. Cities are areas for the concentration and dispersion of goods. But the physical flows of products through them have changed radically, as metropolitan areas have spread and become linked into a megalopolis. In the development of a large, sprawling megalopolis, the movement of people becomes as important as, or more so than, the movement of products. Retail services and the dispersion of goods have followed populations out of the core of cities into the suburbs. Read More