LESSON-2: Discussion Questions
DQ No.1) what are the various steps a company
can take to improve the quality of its marketing intelligence function?
DQ No.1) Answer:
A Marketing intelligence
System refers to a set of procedures and sources that managers use to obtain
daily information about development in the marketing environment. Marketing
mangers collect marketing intelligence by reading various books, newspapers,
magazines; talking to customers, suppliers, and distributors; social media on
the internet; and meeting with other company managers. A company can take
several steps to improve the quality of its marketing intelligence.
1.
Train and motivate the sales force to spot
and report new developments.
The company should be able
to train and motivate its employees for gathering important information so that
new products can be developed.
2.
Motivate distributors, retailers, and other
intermediaries to pass along important intelligence.
Many companies hire
specialists to collect marketing intelligence. Service providers and retailers
usually dispatch mystery shoppers to their stores to assess whether various
facilities are provided or not.
3.
Network externally:
The company can gather the
information by developing network externally with outsiders such as purchasing
competitors’ products, attending various trade shows and stockholders’ meetings,
reading competitors’ published reports, talking with employees, dealers,
distributors, fright agents etc.
4.
Set up a customer advisory panel:
Many businesses have
advisory panels that provide valuable feedback on the curriculum. It may
include representative customers or most outspoken or sophisticated customers.
5.
Take advantage of government data resources:
The company should be able
to use the government date for gathering more information such as population
swings, demographic groups, regional migrations, and changing family structure
etc.
6.
Purchase information from outside suppliers:
The company can gather
information by purchasing date form well-known data suppliers such as A.C.
Nielsen Company and Information Resources Inc. Especially Company should buy
information which is cheaper to buy than collecting by the firm itself.
7.
Use online customer feedback systems to collect
competitive intelligence:
Some companies may use
online feedback systems to gather date for evaluating customers’ preferences
and competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
Hence, it can be said that
a continuous flow of information is the lifeblood of a good marketing
intelligence system. Information regarding new technologies, markets,
customers, the economic and regulatory environment etc. is collected for
further improvement and decision making effectively.
References:
- Kotler, Philip & Keller, Kavin. (2012). Marketing
Management. Addison-wesley: Prentice Hall.
DQ No.2) what are the different
income-distribution patterns? How does income distribution in the economies
affect the marketing decision of the firms?
DQ No.2) Answer:
The Income –distribution patterns refer to the
degree of inequality in income. It is totally statistical concept and it is
affected by several factors-earnings, savings, investments, consumption habit,
and taxes etc. The industrial structures can be divided into following four categories:
1.
Subsistence economies
2.
Raw material exporting economies
3.
Industrializing economies
4.
Industrial economies
A marketer has to
distinguish the countries according to their income-distribution patterns, and
they can be of following five types:
1.
Very low incomes: In this
category, people’s incomes are very low and they cannot afford expensive goods
and services. At this time, marketers have to supply such kinds of products
which are mostly affordable by their income levels.
2.
Mostly low incomes: In this type of country, most people have very
low incomes and only a few people can afford to buy goods and services.
3.
Very low, very high incomes:
This type of countries shows average GDP due to people having very low and very
high incomes so that they can afford average type of products and services.
4.
Low, medium, very high
incomes: In this type of counties, people have varieties of income levels so
that a marketer need to segment the target groups before approaching for
selling goods and services as per their incomes.
5.
Mostly medium incomes: A
marketer can sell average and high priced products in these areas because
people have mostly medium level incomes.
Effects of income-distribution in economies
for marketing decision of the firms:
A marketer needs to identify income levels of
people before launching new products or services in any economies. In addition,
people having low incomes cannot buy expensive products and services but
affluent people can buy much more expensive products. Therefore, our products
need to fall under reasonable income levels. For example, if we try to sell
gold jewelry to people who have very low income group then our product will be
a failure. However, if we sell the same product (gold) to people having higher
income levels then it could be right marketing strategy. Likewise, if people
income levels are rising then expensive products can be sold there. Thus, the
firms, which are going to enter any economies, have to analyze first income
levels of their people and have to approach the products accordingly.
Hence, having discussed
these above, it is necessary for any marketers to know people’s incomes before
entering into particular markets or economies because without knowing people
incomes, it could be waste of time, money, and other resources. As a result of
that, firms may be failure. Thus, marketers have to look the market first and
they have to approach the products according to their incomes levels so that
firms can be successful.
References:
- Kotler, Philip & Keller, Kavin. (2012). Marketing
Management. Addison-wesley: Prentice Hall.
-
(n.d), Retrieved November 13,2014 from http://1praja1.blogspot.com/2013/06/income-distrubtion.html
DQ No.3) Give an example of two products that
have different performance quality but are of equal conformance quality.
DQ No.3) Answer:
The product is anything that
satisfies someone’s needs, wants and demands. There are several dimensions of
product quality management defined by David Garvin. They are as follows:
1. Performance: Performance is a set of characteristics associated with product
attributes.
2. Features: Features are additional attributes that enhance the appeal of
the product and services to its customers.
3. Reliability: Reliability is the trust made towards products by its
customers.
4. Conformance: It is the precision with which the product or service meets the
predefined standards.
5. Durability: It measures the length of a product’s life.
6. Serviceability: It is the pace of servicing and repairing on the product
and service-people.
7. Aesthetics: It is the subjective dimension that indicates individual’s
preferences.
8. Perceived quality: It is the quality attributed to a good or service
based on indirect measures.
Performance refers to a product's primary
operating characteristics. This dimension of quality involves measurable
attributes; brands can usually be ranked objectively on individual aspects of
performance (Wikipedia). On
the other hands, Conformance quality is the extent to which the product
delivers the performance quality promised to consumers. For example, A Samsung
mobile phone provides higher performance quality than a Nokia. The Samsung mobile
has more features and lasts longer than Nokia mobile phones. Yet both would
deliver the same conformance quality if both delivered their respective
promised quality.
Hence, having said
all the above, Performance quality is a set of characteristics related to
respective product whereas conformance quality is degree of delivering
performance quality as promised to its customers. Thus, conformance quality is
a confirmation of delivering services and products to the extent where it is
fixed whether its promises are met.
References:
- Kotler, Philip & Keller, Kavin. (2012). Marketing
Management. Addison-wesley: Prentice Hall.
DQ
No.1) Give an example of how a hotel can generate customer loyalty at a
"customer touch point."
DQ
No.1) Answer:
A “customer touch-point” can be defined as a point of
interaction between the customers and the business in which a company is
selling the products/services which customers require. As we know, Hotels are
service organizations so that they provide services to its customers. Service
organizations are quite different than product or manufacturing organizations
in the following ways.
- Services are
not perishable.
- They are
heterogeneity in nature.
- They cannot
be stored for future use.
- They are
intangible things.
- Services are
usually consumed after paying its fees.
Let’s talk
about a customer touch-point, it is very important for service organizations to
retain their customers for long-period. When there is an interaction between
the customers and the organization, marketers try to identify customers’ needs,
wants and demands precisely so that they can be happy and feel good about the
company’s services. For this, they have to analyze that what are the customers’
preferences and why they are complaining about services. After considering
their complaints, feedbacks and suggestions as sources for future improvement,
it is possible to improve its quality services and company may able to satisfy
their customers at a maximum level.
For example, if we are going to have a fun in a hotel
which is quite good and expensive than other hotels. At that time, we will be
ready to spend much money for getting satisfied as we expected. In this case,
if our performance quality doesn’t meet with conformance quality then there is
a gap and it will create conflicts or dissatisfaction for us. So the hotel
should be able to deliver the services as we expected. If so then we feel more
pleasure and satisfied with the hotel and we will be loyal customers for
lifetime. By applying following things,
we can generate customer loyalty at customer touch-point:
1. They should
be listened and give positive response to them.
2. They should
be provided good hospitality and cultural respects.
3. They ought
to be given more choices for selecting services at a reasonable cost.
4. The hotels
need to provide online and home delivery services than other competitors.
5. The hotels
need to think that customers are the center of their business and behave
accordingly.
6. The hotels
should provide various memorable programs such as musical concerts, cultural
dances, fun games, and other recreational activities etc.
References:
- (n.d.),
Retrieved November 13, 2014 from http://www.infosysblogs.com/hospitality/issues/
- (n.d.)
Retrieved November 13,2014, from http://blog.micros.com/2014/08/20/take-the
-journey-ultimate-guest-experience-at-every-touch-point/
- Kotler, Philip & Keller, Kavin. (2012). Marketing
Management. Addison-wesley: Prentice Hall.
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