Lesson-1:
DQ No. 1) According to Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz, "Consumers now commonly engage in a cultural audit of [product and service] providers. People want to know your value and ethics demonstrated by how you treat employees, the community in which you operate." Discuss the concept of social responsibility marketing and how it impacts both companies and consumers.
DQ No.1) Answer:
A company operates in a society by satisfying people’s needs, wants and demands. It is true that nowadays a company has much more responsibilities than ever before. In the past, customers just want the product what they need, but now it has changed a lot in the preferences of customers. These days a product or service is not sufficient to satisfy its customers, customers seek other factors as an important determinant for satisfying them. Among these factors, Social responsibility marketing is emerging as a cornerstone for survival of any companies in the future. It is related with company’s internal and external ethics and social responsibilities. “Socially responsible marketing is a marketing philosophy that a company should take into consideration what is in the best interest of society in the present and long term.”- Wikipedia According to Philip Kotler -“ The societal marketing concept holds that the organization’s task is to determine the needs, wants, and interests of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserve or enhances the customers’ and society’s long-term well being.” Impacts on both companies and consumers: The impact of Social responsibility marketing on a company depends upon the actions undertaken by the company. If companies have been carrying out its social functions effectively then it becomes one of core competencies of the company. Due to SRM, company can create a positive image in the mind of its employees so that they give more commitments to fulfill their goals and maintain their social status in the market. Also, company can gain a competitive edge through being more responsible marketer than competitors. On the other hand, the impact of social responsibility marketing on consumers is paramount to imprint a favorable image in the minds of customers. If they are positively influenced then they will spread out them to others through word of mouth. These are very powerful ways to promote company’s image along with products. Social responsibility marketing includes social marketing, cause-related marketing, environment or green marketing etc. it will help to create customer loyalty and positive image towards company’s customers. Also, it imprints faith and goodwill on the company’s products and services. In this way, consumers will be increased and existing customers never switch to another product lines. In Summary, Social responsibility marketing is getting much more popular day by day because of its success on the markets. Thus, a modern marketer needs to be aware about its concepts and its advantages to both company and their consumers so that company can achieve a competitive advantage to its competitors.
References:
- Kotler, Philip & Keller, Kavin. (2012). Marketing Management. Addison-wesley: Prentice Hal - (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2014, from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socially_responsible_marketing
DQ. No: 2) you have been given the assignment of justifying cause-related marketing to your board of directors. What would be your primary argument in favor of such a proposal?
DQ No.2) Answer:
Before presenting an argument in the favor of a given proposal, it is necessary to understand what cause-related marketing is and how it can be justifiable to my broad of directors. Let me begin with the concept of cause-related marketing, we provide a product or service for a particular reason whether it may be profit purpose or customer satisfaction. Cause-related marketing refers to a commercial activity by which businesses and charities (or causes) form cooperation with each other to make an image or product or service for mutual benefit. In other words, it is not only the marketing of the product but also marketing the company’s image and social status for the fulfillment of social responsibility. In addition, nowadays it has been realized that it is one of the important marketing tools for addressing social issues and business objectives, although there has been provided a huge amount of resources and funding to this activity. For example, in the context of Nepal, Ncell Company has contributed to some amount of its profit to the Save the Children and focused on various community programs to the benefits of Ncell’s image in the market. Likewise, King’s College had given some monetary or non-monetary supports to Chindupalchok’s people who had suffered from Landslides 2 months before. It has helped to make a good image in the mind of customers and to the society as a whole. Furthermore, my argument to the broad of directors is that showing the difference between the companies who use this technique and the companies who do not. If we look the difference between them, there a vast difference regarding the image towards these two companies. For the companies who have used cause-related marketing will be always in the superior position in the mind of customers than the companies who have not used it. For this, I can provide the some statistical data by doing research based on this title to convince the broad of directors. It is also true that if we do this, of course, our company would improve our public relations and customer loyalty and ultimately can cover a wide range of market. Hence, having said all the above, cause-related marketing would be a tactful tool in the field of marketing in order to build a positive image in the mind of customers and society as a whole. Therefore, I believe that it would be a good opportunity for us to create a win-win situation, and I strongly recommend it to my broad of directors. References: - Kotler, Philip & Keller, Kavin. (2012). Marketing Management. Addison-wesley: Prentice Hal - (n.d.), Retrieved November 12, 2014 from http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/cadbury-schweppes/the-importance-of-cause-related-marketing/
DQ: 3) The firm's success depends not only on how well each department performs its work, but also on how well the various departmental activities are coordinated to conduct core business processes. List and briefly describe the five core business processes.
DQ No.3:Answer:
Any company has different departments that need to work together for a single reason (e.g. Customer satisfaction). A company cannot succeed without coordinating among these various departments. For instance, if there are five departments in a company but one department couldn’t perform well then the firm’s overall success is affected by that department. There are literally five core business processes that help to coordinate among different departments so that firms’ success can be achieved. These core business processes are briefly described as follows:
1. The Marketing Sensing Process: it is a process of understanding the market, the needs and demands of customers through market Analyst or other analyzing tools.
2. The new offering Realization process: After market sensing process, it is necessary to realize what products and services need to be offered to the market. For this, it requires lots of research and development & lunching new quality offerings by staying within the limit of budget.
3. The customer Acquisition process: In this process, a particular product is made for particular customer or target customers. A marketer needs to segment the market for getting attention from target customers. Thus, effective marketing strategies need to be adopted for making people aware that their needs have been reached into a product.
4. The customer relationship management process: Today’s customers may not be tomorrow’s customers if there is no strong relationship between the company and their existing customers. A marketer should be able to know the post-purchase decision of each customer so that it can be known that whether their needs are satisfied or not. Also, it can give us the valuable feedback for further product development in the future if the good relationship is maintained with their loyal customers.
5. The fulfillment management process: After offering the products to its customers and maintaining a strong relationship with them, it is necessary to fulfill the management’s needs and demands internally within the organization. In short, at the heart of every successful business, there are five core business processes that hold the business structure together. If one of them is missing then it will make other process weaker and put our business in jeopardy of crumbling. Therefore, all five business processes need to work well and as a whole process to keep our business strong and successful
References:
- Kotler, Philip & Keller, Kavin. (2012). Marketing Management. Addison-wesley: Prentice Hal
- (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2014, from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_Business
- ( n.d.) Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://www.thegoldhillgroup.com/5-core-business-systems-and-why-you-need-them
DQ: 4) Describe what happens in scenario analysis and explain why firms such as Royal Dutch/Shell Group use the technique.
DQ No.4) Answer:
Scenario analysis or scenario planning is a strategic planning tool used to make a flexible long-term plan. In other words, scenario analysis is a process of analyzing possible future events by considering various possible alternative outcomes. It is that kind of analysis which can be used to project the various pictures of the alternative futures. It reflects a scope of possible future outcomes to develop the paths leading to the outcomes. It strives to think in advanced about possible developments and turning points that may be useful to demonstrate a combination of an optimistic, a pessimistic, and a most likely scenario. For example, a financial institution may try to anticipate various possible outcomes for the economy (e.g. rapid growth, moderate growth, and slow growth) and it might also try to forecast the financial returns ( e.g. Bonds, Stocks and cash) for each of these scenarios. In the scenario analysis, first of all, different data should be collected, and based on these collected data; this information should be analyzed to come up with a few possible outcomes. After that, information is drawn to predict the various possibilities to deal with future uncertainty. At last, based on these possibilities, a strategic plan is made for future actions so that any challenges and problems can be solved by using a strategic plan. It determines the different scenarios in which a business can be executed properly and effectively. Reasons of using scenario analysis technique by firms such as Royal Dutch/Shell Group: The Giant firms such as Royal Dutch/Shell Group have a huge investment and are concerned with long-term period. They are not just one time business companies and they have to survive for the long period of time so that they use scenario analysis technique for the following reasons:
1. To anticipate the future trend or insights of future: These companies are basically oriented to long term future so that they have to anticipate what might be the future trend and respond accordingly to overcome the sudden shocks. This analysis provides a platform for getting changing nature or insights of the future business. 2. To make strategic plans: The firms such as Royal Dutch and Shell Group are big in nature so that they have to make some strategic plans to operate its functions smoothly and implement them accordingly. Without plans, company cannot direct its activities but using scenario analysis, it would be possible to make plans about what to be done by when and where to be done.
3. To ensure the safety of investments by calculating the risk factors: The big firms have a lot of investment in the resources such as money, men, machine, material, methods, but to be ensure about the safety of investment, this analysis can help to calculate various risk factors by analyzing degree of risks and information. In a nutshell, Scenario analysis is a very useful technique for analyzing current scenario and forecasting the future possible outcomes. Thus, firms such as Royal Dutch and Shell Group use this technique for determining possible alternative outcomes that might take place in the future and choosing the best alternative to overcome the future uncertainty.
References:
- Kotler, Philip & Keller, Kavin. (2012). Marketing Management. Addison-wesley: Prentice Hall.
- Retrieved November 12, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scenario_planning
- (n.d.).Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/scenario_analysis
DQ No.1) Answer:
A company operates in a society by satisfying people’s needs, wants and demands. It is true that nowadays a company has much more responsibilities than ever before. In the past, customers just want the product what they need, but now it has changed a lot in the preferences of customers. These days a product or service is not sufficient to satisfy its customers, customers seek other factors as an important determinant for satisfying them. Among these factors, Social responsibility marketing is emerging as a cornerstone for survival of any companies in the future. It is related with company’s internal and external ethics and social responsibilities. “Socially responsible marketing is a marketing philosophy that a company should take into consideration what is in the best interest of society in the present and long term.”- Wikipedia According to Philip Kotler -“ The societal marketing concept holds that the organization’s task is to determine the needs, wants, and interests of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserve or enhances the customers’ and society’s long-term well being.” Impacts on both companies and consumers: The impact of Social responsibility marketing on a company depends upon the actions undertaken by the company. If companies have been carrying out its social functions effectively then it becomes one of core competencies of the company. Due to SRM, company can create a positive image in the mind of its employees so that they give more commitments to fulfill their goals and maintain their social status in the market. Also, company can gain a competitive edge through being more responsible marketer than competitors. On the other hand, the impact of social responsibility marketing on consumers is paramount to imprint a favorable image in the minds of customers. If they are positively influenced then they will spread out them to others through word of mouth. These are very powerful ways to promote company’s image along with products. Social responsibility marketing includes social marketing, cause-related marketing, environment or green marketing etc. it will help to create customer loyalty and positive image towards company’s customers. Also, it imprints faith and goodwill on the company’s products and services. In this way, consumers will be increased and existing customers never switch to another product lines. In Summary, Social responsibility marketing is getting much more popular day by day because of its success on the markets. Thus, a modern marketer needs to be aware about its concepts and its advantages to both company and their consumers so that company can achieve a competitive advantage to its competitors.
References:
- Kotler, Philip & Keller, Kavin. (2012). Marketing Management. Addison-wesley: Prentice Hal - (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2014, from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socially_responsible_marketing
DQ. No: 2) you have been given the assignment of justifying cause-related marketing to your board of directors. What would be your primary argument in favor of such a proposal?
DQ No.2) Answer:
Before presenting an argument in the favor of a given proposal, it is necessary to understand what cause-related marketing is and how it can be justifiable to my broad of directors. Let me begin with the concept of cause-related marketing, we provide a product or service for a particular reason whether it may be profit purpose or customer satisfaction. Cause-related marketing refers to a commercial activity by which businesses and charities (or causes) form cooperation with each other to make an image or product or service for mutual benefit. In other words, it is not only the marketing of the product but also marketing the company’s image and social status for the fulfillment of social responsibility. In addition, nowadays it has been realized that it is one of the important marketing tools for addressing social issues and business objectives, although there has been provided a huge amount of resources and funding to this activity. For example, in the context of Nepal, Ncell Company has contributed to some amount of its profit to the Save the Children and focused on various community programs to the benefits of Ncell’s image in the market. Likewise, King’s College had given some monetary or non-monetary supports to Chindupalchok’s people who had suffered from Landslides 2 months before. It has helped to make a good image in the mind of customers and to the society as a whole. Furthermore, my argument to the broad of directors is that showing the difference between the companies who use this technique and the companies who do not. If we look the difference between them, there a vast difference regarding the image towards these two companies. For the companies who have used cause-related marketing will be always in the superior position in the mind of customers than the companies who have not used it. For this, I can provide the some statistical data by doing research based on this title to convince the broad of directors. It is also true that if we do this, of course, our company would improve our public relations and customer loyalty and ultimately can cover a wide range of market. Hence, having said all the above, cause-related marketing would be a tactful tool in the field of marketing in order to build a positive image in the mind of customers and society as a whole. Therefore, I believe that it would be a good opportunity for us to create a win-win situation, and I strongly recommend it to my broad of directors. References: - Kotler, Philip & Keller, Kavin. (2012). Marketing Management. Addison-wesley: Prentice Hal - (n.d.), Retrieved November 12, 2014 from http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/cadbury-schweppes/the-importance-of-cause-related-marketing/
DQ: 3) The firm's success depends not only on how well each department performs its work, but also on how well the various departmental activities are coordinated to conduct core business processes. List and briefly describe the five core business processes.
DQ No.3:Answer:
Any company has different departments that need to work together for a single reason (e.g. Customer satisfaction). A company cannot succeed without coordinating among these various departments. For instance, if there are five departments in a company but one department couldn’t perform well then the firm’s overall success is affected by that department. There are literally five core business processes that help to coordinate among different departments so that firms’ success can be achieved. These core business processes are briefly described as follows:
1. The Marketing Sensing Process: it is a process of understanding the market, the needs and demands of customers through market Analyst or other analyzing tools.
2. The new offering Realization process: After market sensing process, it is necessary to realize what products and services need to be offered to the market. For this, it requires lots of research and development & lunching new quality offerings by staying within the limit of budget.
3. The customer Acquisition process: In this process, a particular product is made for particular customer or target customers. A marketer needs to segment the market for getting attention from target customers. Thus, effective marketing strategies need to be adopted for making people aware that their needs have been reached into a product.
4. The customer relationship management process: Today’s customers may not be tomorrow’s customers if there is no strong relationship between the company and their existing customers. A marketer should be able to know the post-purchase decision of each customer so that it can be known that whether their needs are satisfied or not. Also, it can give us the valuable feedback for further product development in the future if the good relationship is maintained with their loyal customers.
5. The fulfillment management process: After offering the products to its customers and maintaining a strong relationship with them, it is necessary to fulfill the management’s needs and demands internally within the organization. In short, at the heart of every successful business, there are five core business processes that hold the business structure together. If one of them is missing then it will make other process weaker and put our business in jeopardy of crumbling. Therefore, all five business processes need to work well and as a whole process to keep our business strong and successful
References:
- Kotler, Philip & Keller, Kavin. (2012). Marketing Management. Addison-wesley: Prentice Hal
- (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2014, from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_Business
- ( n.d.) Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://www.thegoldhillgroup.com/5-core-business-systems-and-why-you-need-them
DQ: 4) Describe what happens in scenario analysis and explain why firms such as Royal Dutch/Shell Group use the technique.
DQ No.4) Answer:
Scenario analysis or scenario planning is a strategic planning tool used to make a flexible long-term plan. In other words, scenario analysis is a process of analyzing possible future events by considering various possible alternative outcomes. It is that kind of analysis which can be used to project the various pictures of the alternative futures. It reflects a scope of possible future outcomes to develop the paths leading to the outcomes. It strives to think in advanced about possible developments and turning points that may be useful to demonstrate a combination of an optimistic, a pessimistic, and a most likely scenario. For example, a financial institution may try to anticipate various possible outcomes for the economy (e.g. rapid growth, moderate growth, and slow growth) and it might also try to forecast the financial returns ( e.g. Bonds, Stocks and cash) for each of these scenarios. In the scenario analysis, first of all, different data should be collected, and based on these collected data; this information should be analyzed to come up with a few possible outcomes. After that, information is drawn to predict the various possibilities to deal with future uncertainty. At last, based on these possibilities, a strategic plan is made for future actions so that any challenges and problems can be solved by using a strategic plan. It determines the different scenarios in which a business can be executed properly and effectively. Reasons of using scenario analysis technique by firms such as Royal Dutch/Shell Group: The Giant firms such as Royal Dutch/Shell Group have a huge investment and are concerned with long-term period. They are not just one time business companies and they have to survive for the long period of time so that they use scenario analysis technique for the following reasons:
1. To anticipate the future trend or insights of future: These companies are basically oriented to long term future so that they have to anticipate what might be the future trend and respond accordingly to overcome the sudden shocks. This analysis provides a platform for getting changing nature or insights of the future business. 2. To make strategic plans: The firms such as Royal Dutch and Shell Group are big in nature so that they have to make some strategic plans to operate its functions smoothly and implement them accordingly. Without plans, company cannot direct its activities but using scenario analysis, it would be possible to make plans about what to be done by when and where to be done.
3. To ensure the safety of investments by calculating the risk factors: The big firms have a lot of investment in the resources such as money, men, machine, material, methods, but to be ensure about the safety of investment, this analysis can help to calculate various risk factors by analyzing degree of risks and information. In a nutshell, Scenario analysis is a very useful technique for analyzing current scenario and forecasting the future possible outcomes. Thus, firms such as Royal Dutch and Shell Group use this technique for determining possible alternative outcomes that might take place in the future and choosing the best alternative to overcome the future uncertainty.
References:
- Kotler, Philip & Keller, Kavin. (2012). Marketing Management. Addison-wesley: Prentice Hall.
- Retrieved November 12, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scenario_planning
- (n.d.).Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/scenario_analysis
Marketing is a flexible approach and doesn’t have a fixed technique. There are different strategies that different businesses use as per their planning. My business focuses heavily on social media marketing as it has been the most effective for us. Now we are also considering SMS marketing with the help of a business text messaging app.
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