Marketing Communications Strategies Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Marketing Communications Strategies - Case Study Example Marketing has moved from customer acquisition (winning new customers) through customer retention (keeping customers for life) towards customer selection (dumping unprofitable customers while selectively seeking and keeping the more profitable ones). The development of marketing communications is the major role of the promotional strategy component off the marketing mix. The marketing mix is essentially a conceptual framework that helps to structure the approach to each marketing challenge. At the heart of a marketing strategy is the target market strategy stemming from the markets segmentation process of segmentation, targeting and positioning. A marketing strategy specifies the segments to target, the brand or product positioning required to appeal to these targeted customers, plus the competitive advantage to be exploited versus rivals. Without a marketing strategy, the marketing mix activities are unlikely to bring significant benefits to the organization and probably will fail to satisfy and retain targeted customers. Core to a marketing strategy is the understanding of competition and the identification of a differential advantage – something unique to one supplier and highly desired by targeted customers. In terms of the overall competitive strategy, there are four broad options : (a) intense growth, when current products and current markets have potential for increasing sales; (b) diversified growth, which occurs when new products are developed to be sold in new markets; (c) integrated growth, owing to forwards, backwards or horizontal integration; and (d) maintenance, of the status quo. The marketing strategy should specify marketing objectives so that marketing performance can be monitored. UK - Soft Drink Industry Review : The roots of the soft drink industry have been engraved in the soil of United Kingdom for hundreds of years. The soft drink industry continued to grow steadily as the nineteenth century progressed. The current UK soft drinks market is 9 billion litres in volume. If adult juice drinks reached this proportion of the total market, the segment would be 360 million litres. The size of the target market must be set in context with the sales by volume of the leading carbonated soft drinks in the UK. Brands such as Lucozade and Lilt have sales of around 100 million litres, while Coca Cola is a massive 1.4 billion litres by volume. Overview : Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola can be identified as market leaders in the Cola drinks industry. They possess significant market share within the soft drinks industry. Coca Cola is a 100-year-old soft drink that started out as anything but soft. It was introduced as a medicine. "A delicious, exhilarating, refreshing, invigorating beverage in addition to being a cure for all nervous afflictions, sick headaches, neuralgia, hysteria, melancholy" said an early advertisement. Coca- Cola is enjoyed all over the world. The figure indicates that 1.6 billion gallons is sold every year, in over one hundred and sixty countries. Coca Cola's main challenger world wide is the Pepsi Cola most commonly referred to as Pepsi. Pepsi follows exactly the same brand and business model. Its differentiation is based on the fact that it was introduced more recently than Coke, and did not create the category. As a challenger, its brand image and market grip are lower. It challenges the leader on three facets: price, product and image. Price : it is a dime cheaper than Coke, at consumer level, but this creates a

Recommendation and advice for sher holder in companies Research Paper

Recommendation and advice for sher holder in companies - Research Paper Example Following the same pattern, the dividend yield has also shown sign of improvement. Evaluating the financial outlook of Morrisons from investor’s point of view, it would be most prudent to invest in it, and the current shareholders of the company should hold their investment in the company as it promises to reap more benefits in the future. The fact that the investors should further invest or hold their investments in Morrisons is advocated by the fact that the company offered notable dividend of 8.20 per share. The dividend offered by the company during the current financial year is almost 41% higher than the one offered in the prior year. Selling stakes in Morrisons at this point of time when the company is offering attractive dividends to its shareholder, would be reckless and not at advisable. As quite obvious from the gearing ratio of the company, the operations are now more driven by the capital raised through issuance of share in the capital market, rather than acquiring financings from institutions. This shows that the investors have confidence in the company and are ready to bear the risk. The prospective and current investors should also analyze that the company is making the best use of its capital which is represented by the inclining return on equity (ROE) and return on capital employed (ROCE).

Technology Ethics in the Classroom Essay Example for Free

Technology Ethics in the Classroom Essay Carolyn Smith EDU-225 Instructional Technology July 10, 2011 Kathleen Sherbon Technology Ethics I the Classroom Every day, businesses, schools, and individuals depend on computers to perform a variety of significant tasks. Such as tracking sales, recording student grades, creating reports, Web, and sending e-mail. People increasingly rely on computers to create, store, and manage critical information, so it is important to ensure that computers and software are protected from loss, damage, and misuse. School districts, for example, must take precautions to guarantee that student information, such as grades, attendance rates, personal and family data, and learning problems, is protected from loss and kept confidential Gary B. Shelly (2010). In 2000, congress passed the children’s internet protection act (CIPA) in order to protect children from obscene and graphic materials with in most school districts. The universal natural of the internet it is of the up most important to protect our students online with the ever changing technology and lack of decorum, the internet can be rude and take advantage of others. In order to protect my students from internet predators and any inappropriate material I need to add internet safety to the classroom curriculum so that the student can have a constant prompt on how to use the internet safely. Talking to parents about internet policy, also have parents and students sign a technology agreement that has all the rules and consequence for parent and students to read before student is able to use school technology.

Theories Of Planned Change Management Essay

Theories Of Planned Change Management Essay Most companies today are facing the problem of globalization. An organizational change, refers to the planned change in theory, while Organizational Development (OD), refers to a long-term effort undertaken to improve problem solving capabilities and adapting to changes of the external environment. At a Government Business Conference held in 2007, Jeffrey Lucy AM, Chairman of Australian Securities and Investment Commission gave a speech. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦So, if we were on par with other organizations, well funded to continue doing our job, and our people were committed to our agency goals, one might therefore reasonably ask: Why change anything? In my view, this would be a dangerous way of leading our agency and, while continuing to strive for improvements can be challenging, I believe that our staff agree we must never rest on our past achievementsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. (ASIC 2007) From the above abstract, Chairman Jeffrey is putting forth the message that in order for an organization to attain long-term sustainability, changes and improvements have to be made continuously. THEORIES OF PLANNED CHANGE There are three major organizational change theories being used to help organization members manage change: Lewins change model provides a general framework for understanding organizational change. This involves increasing forces pushing for change while decreasing forces maintaining the current state, producing less tension and resistance to change. Action research model depends on information gathered about the organization to guide subsequent actions. Results are then being evaluated and decided whether new actions are needed. Contemporary approaches to change is adapted from action research model, with the difference being there is a higher level of member involvement in the change process. This involves organization members to learn about their organizations and how to change it. In actual practice, steps in planned change have to be modified or adjusted to suit the different organizations needs and goals. Planned change can be used to solve problems, improve organizations performance, adapt to external changes especially when coping with unplanned changes and also influence future changes. It is of utmost importance to bring about more effective organizations. FORCES FOR CHANGE Two major forces affects change in an organization. First, external forces comprising of changing market trends, new competitive entrants and improved technologies. Next, internal forces comprising of change of leadership beliefs and culture. These two forces will cause an organization to change in order for the organization to remain competitive. CHANGE LEADERS In order for an organization to implement changes, Organizational Development (OD) practitioners, also known as change agents, have to be hired or trained. OD practitioners refer to at least three kinds of people. First, people who may be internal or external consultants offering professional and specialized services to organization clients. This group of people specializes in OD as a profession. Second, OD practitioner refers to people who do not have specialized training related to OD. These professionals gain competence in OD from working with OD professionals, and applying in their own respective specialized fields of work. Third, OD practitioner refers to managers or administrators who have gained OD competence by working with OD professionals in actual change programs. In organizations, OD professionals who have been selected and empowered to make changes are known as change leaders for the organization. These leaders are further divided into internal consultants, people who are members of the organization, and external consultants, people who are not members of the client organization. EFFECTS ON DIFFERENT STAGES OF CHANGE Organizations hire both internal and external change leaders for their different expertise, specialization and influences at the different levels of change. Further elaboration would be done below at stage levels to understand their roles and impact. First, at the entering stage, internal change leaders have an advantage as they have access to ready clients and relationships of clients have been built. They know the organizations goals and problems faced, and have direct access to different information of the organization. This allows more efficient and smoother entry. Whereas external change leaders would need to spend more time obtaining data and information of the organization. Second, at the contracting stage, internal change leaders have informal contracts and have lesser worry about expenses, but they must complete projects assigned to them. Whereas external change leaders have formal contracts and they can choose whether their skills and specialties matches the organizations goals and needs before agreeing to undertake the assignment. Third, at the diagnosis stage, internal change leaders tend to enjoy a basic level of trust and rapport with most organization members. Whereas external change leaders have to spend more time interacting with the organizations member. But external change leaders enjoy higher status compared to internal change leaders which allows them to investigate more difficult issues and assess the organization more objectively. Fourth, at the intervention stage, both types of change leaders must rely on valid information, making informed decisions, and having commitment internally to ensure success. However, an internal change leader would be overly cautious when making these decisions due to strong ties to the organization and someone with higher authority or power would be able to affect the decisions made. Whereas internal forces would have minimal or no effect on an external change leader. Lastly, at the evaluating stage, internal change leaders can see change being implemented and take form. This allows them to make minor adjustments along the way as they have worked alongside professional OD practitioners and gained needed experience as mentioned in the beginning of change leaders. Whereas external change leaders seldom see long term results, meaning if adjustments need to be made along the way while the change is taking place, they are usually no longer available. CASE STUDY The following case highlights the need for external change leaders and their expertise: The Blue Group, founded in 2002, by Ruby Lampard and Robin Sinclair, helps clients develop and maintain long-term profitable relationships through up selling and retention strategies. When Ruby and Robin first started, they did not have any idea regarding the types of clients they wanted to work with and the type of work they wanted to do. This led to random projects being accepted, resulting in long working hours clocked with minimal returns. After a year and a half, Ruby and Robin decided to seek help with an external consultant, who led them to plan and work for larger clients with long-term potential. Even though both Ruby and Robin were creative people, they still need the expertise of an external consultant. The external change leader understands the external environment better regarding market shifts, different competitors and technologies available. Whereas Ruby and Robin were able to act as internal change leaders regarding the planning, organizing and controlling side for the change to take place. The external and internal change leaders were then able to come up with a strategy and structure for the organization. This resulted in a change of values with how Ruby and Robin worked. They were able to reap better rewards and management practices and structures were changed allowing them to hire workers which they didnt dared to in the beginning. CONCLUSION Therefore, an organization cannot rely solely on an internal or external change leader to reinforce and implement changes. A mixture of both would be needed to bring about changes as they each possess different types of knowledge and skills, forming an internal-external consulting team. Internal change leaders can provide inside knowledge regarding the organization and allow external change leaders to be accepted easily. Internal change leaders would also be able to maintain in constant contact with clients. Whereas external change leaders would be able to combine their special expertise, vast experiences and objectivity with internal change leaders. External change leaders can also help train organizations and their counterparts, hence transferring OD knowledge and skills to the organization. A balance needs to be struck in everything done. Since the opportunities an organization faces is huge and business markets are vast, organizations need to rely on not individual, but groups of people who are able to complement each other with their knowledge, continuous feedbacks and commitment to learn from one another, hence making it more effective than individuals working alone. If internal and external change leaders are not able to work together, they would be less effective than consultants working alone.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A lovable, heartwarming story of love is one of â€Å" Seven Brides for Seven Brothers†. A story of seven men who have no guidance find themselves in love. The two main characters in the play are Adam and Millie. By being husband and wife they help the story out with their own love and romance. The seven brothers fall in love with seven beautiful woman and through out the play we see al the ways they try to get their gals. The singing in this play helps us figure out the songs: â€Å"Bless Your Beautiful Hide†, â€Å"Goin Courtin†, and â€Å"Sobbin Woman†. The style of music they use to get this point across is old fashion, traditional music.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This live performance of â€Å"Bless Your Beautiful Hide† by Adam is a confident and arrogant way to find love. In this song Adam explains how he is here to find himself a wife. That’s just what Adam does too. By hearing this song the viewer gets the hint that the play is a love story about him and this beautiful lady that he is staring at. Adam uses his bass voice to keep the tempo moderately constant. The dynamics change throughout the song with a grand finish of a chershendo. Adam uses accents in the song to emphasize his feelings of getting a wife. An orchestra is accompanying him with the instruments like: trumpets, banjos, and trombones. This sets the mood for the story to take place.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Goin Courtin† has a different kind of tempo to it than does â€Å"Bless Your Beautiful A Hide†. The tempo in this song is a little faster than the other song. Millie is explaining to the brothers how to get a girl. How to get a girl in nice, gentleman way. Millie uses tone color in this song to make the mood very happy and exciting. Millie uses a slow calm voice to get the instructions across to the boys on how to get a girl. When she get to the â€Å"Goin Courtin† part of the song she speeds thing up to make it more dramatic and to get the brothers to think this is the fun way of getting the gals. She uses body language to help the brothers realize all the excitement that is involved in getting the girls.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Sobbin Woman† is Adam’s way of explaining to the brothers how to get the woman.

John Locke: Property Rights :: Empiricists, Empiricism

One of most historically influential political thinkers of the western world was John Locke. John Locke, the man who initiated what is now known as British Empiricism, is also considered highly influential in establishing grounds, theoretically at least, for the constitution of the United States of America. The basis for understanding Locke is that he sees all people as having natural God given rights. As God's creations, this denotes a certain equality, at least in an abstract sense. This religious back drop acts as a the foundation for all of Locke's theories, including his theories of individuality, private property, and the state. The reader will be shown how and why people have a natural right to property and the impact this has on the sovereign, as well as the extent of this impact.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Locke was a micro based ideologist. He believed that humans were autonomous individuals who, although lived in a social setting, could not be articulated as a herd or social animal. Locke believed person to stand for, â€Å"... a thinking, intelligent being, that has reason and reflection, and can consider itself as itself, the same thinking thing in different times and places, which it only does by that consciousness which is inseparable from thinking.† This ability to reflect, think, and reason intelligibly is one of the many gifts from God and is that gift which separates us from the realm of the beast. The ability to reason and reflect, although universal, acts as an explanation for individuality. All reason and reflection is based on personal experience and reference. Personal experience must be completely individual as no one can experience anything quite the same as another.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This leads to determining why Locke theorized that all humans, speaking patriarchially with respect to the time â€Å"why all men,† have a natural right to property. Every man is a creation of God's, and as such is endowed with certain individual abilities and characteristics as gifts from God. Not being able to know God's exact wishes for man, Locke believed that all men have an obligation to develop and caress these gifts. In essence, each man was in charge of his own body and what was done with his body. Of course, for Locke, each man would do the reasonable thing and develop his natural skills and potentials to the best of his abilities, in the service of God.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The belief in God given abilities and the obligations that follow are not totally deterministic. Man, endowed with reason, could choose not to develop these abilities.

BLK Enjoy the Dark Side of Water Essay

BLK is the first ever fulvic- enhanced all natural mineral water. This is a recent item that has recently entered the market. This product derives from a proprietary blend of fulvic acid which is a yellow brown substance. It is a derivative of plant matter that is mined from an 80 million year old source deep within the earth. Naturally black in color, the formula binds to the molecules of pure Canadian spring water giving BLK its signature black color, with no artificial dyes, coloring, or additives. Fulvic acid is critical in the growth of plant life, helping the transportation and absorption of nutrients. Fulvic acid’s small molecular structure allows for the fast absorption of over 77 different trace minerals and elements, powerful electrolytes, and antioxidants that are overall good for the body. BLK is distributed by BLK Enterprises LLC in New York, NY. It is a private company categorized under Water Distilled Manufacturers. It was established in 2011 and incorporated in New York. Product Decision As a group we wanted to choose a product that was different and nutrious and yet at the same time was astetically appealing to the eye of the consumer. We found BLK water to be a product that met these needs. One of our group members knew of this product and introduced it to our group and we all agreed that it would be a great product to learn about as 3 out of 4 of us had never heard of or come across this product. After our group sampled this product and learned more about it we were all curious as to why this product was not more widely known or advertised to become more popular. Research Objectives Our group will be using the five following criteria’s to evaluate the product as it will help us to explore the BLK Water in order to determine if the product is a success or failure in the competitive market. To have a successful product in the market, we question BLK’s attributes based on the following: A) Customer Interpretation: evaluative reactions ( perception) B) Product packaging/ Product appearance: package design, size, price, color, bottle volume C) Advertisements: T.V, events, word of mouth, celebrity endorsements, D) Distribution: grocery stores and specialty stores E) Market Segmentation: who are the main customers that are trying to be reached? Research Hypothesis BLK Water is a successful company. This water is a new emerging phenomenon that is sweeping its way across shelves nationwide. However, due to a major lack in marketing, we believe that this product is a failure on the overall business model and will not catch on like the other major bottled water companies such as Vitamin Water, Smart Water, Evian, or Fiji. We believe that BLK can do much better if they promote their product through different channels. Methodology A) In order to accomplish the previous section mentioned, we will need to research the product and locate it, determining the places that the product is most sold at: * Location of the product- we found this product to be available at all grocery stores, but not available at convenience stores, coffee shops, or fitness centers. * Placement of the product- BLK water is displayed in grocery stores along with all other popular waters and is lacking any display that really makes it stand out to the consumer. * Price- The price of BLK water is slightly higher than regular bottled water such as deer park, being about one dollar more; But is in the average price range of specialty waters such as Figi and Vitamin Water. Therefore we agree that the price is acceptable for the product. B) Take notes on our first reaction with the product in the grocery store environment. We all the same similar shocking reaction when we first found BLK Water in the grocery store which we will be explaining in our presentation. C) Do some research, then based on these, form hypotheses of the product to discuss why the product may or may not be doing well in the bottled water market. D) Develop surveys and distribute to the public using the following information: * Male/ female * Occupation * Age * Income * Would they consider buying the product? * Would they try the product? * Would they buy the product? * This will allow us to have an overall idea of what the consumers think of the product, thus providing us with a better understanding of the customers’ viewpoint. E) Collect data and compile all survey results- completed 11/13/2012 F) Review data and interpret the product G) Conclusion about the product Questionnaire Design We distributed this to our whole Marketing Research 342 class. This is our cover from our questionnaire. We asked 14 different questions in hopes to understand the potential customer basis. In our questionnaire, we questioned the product. We mainly focused on the water’s appearance. We used interval scales on our survey asking the question on a 1-5 non-forced scale. The participants could rate how they felt about the question 1 being definitely not and 5 being most definitely and 3 being neutral. For our demographics we asked questions regarding gender which was a simple, male/female choice, income, age, and education in a range format, which we asked at the end of our survey as these are sensitive questions and participants are not always willing to share these answers with strangers. Our screening question was our first question of the survey which would tell us the Here is a copy of our actual survey we used. BLK WATER Consumer Water Preference Survey BLK is the first ever fulvic- enhanced all natural mineral water. This is a recent item that has recently entered the market. This product derives from a proprietary blend of fulvic acid which is a yellow brown substance. It is a derivative of plant matter that is mined from an 80 million year old source deep within the earth. Naturally black in color, the formula binds to the molecules of pure Canadian spring water giving BLK its signature black color, with no artificial dyes, coloring, or additives. Fulvic acid is critical in the growth of plant life, helping the transportation and absorption of nutrients. Fulvic acid’s small molecular structure allows for the fast absorption of over 77 different trace minerals and elements, powerful electrolytes, and antioxidants that are overall good for the body. BLK is distributed by BLK Enterprises LLC in New York, NY. It is a private company categorized under Water Distilled Manufacturers. It was established in 2011 and incorporated in New York.