Evaluate Marketing Opportunities - Tilba Cheese Case Study Essay examples

We’ll take a look at how Hy-Vee’s value chain is defined by using both Michael Porter’s Value Chain model (Fig 2) which comes from his book Competitive Advantage written in 1985 and core processes defined in Operations Management by Krajewski (p. 7).

What has been the role of the Real California Cheese website? How does it reinforce or support the other “legs” of the integrated marketing communications program?

One of Porter’s main contributions was Porter’s value chain. The value chain is all the activities an organization undertakes to create value for a customer. According to Porter, there are two ways to gain an edge over competitors. A firm must provide comparable but value but perform the activities on the chain at a lower cost, or; Perform services in a unique way

Effective value chain as a competitive advantage can contribute significantly to the prosperity of a firm in the competitive arena, but it can cause dire situations if not operated properly (Guy, 2011). However, there are conflicts among companies as to how stakeholders think they gain competitive advantage. Porter (1996) suggests: A company can outperform rivals only if it can establish a difference that it can preserve. It must deliver greater value to customers or create comparable value at lower cost or do both.

According to Holt (2004), a brand can be defined as a term, name or a design that distinguishes product or service of one manufacturer from others. Brands are normally utilized in advertising, business and marketing. In accounting terms, brand is an intangible asset which is present within every organization. It is most valuable asset that is outlined in the balance sheet of a company. Brands owners need to effectively manage their brands in order to enhance shareholder value. Brand valuation is an important technique that associates money with a brand. Effective branding often results into high sales volumes of a particular product. A customer who prefers a brand is more likely to choose other products which are offered by the same brand. Brand can be stated as a personality that facilitates identification of a company, product or service. It even encompasses relation with other constituents like customers, partners, investors, staff, etc. Individuals distinguish psychological aspect of a brand from experimental

The value chain is one of the critical elements of a company’s strategy in today’s competitive world, because company’s profit depends on how the successful and efficient it runs its operations and how the end product appeals to the customers at a price that covers all the expenses of the company.

Advertisements have become a distraction in everyday life. Kraft macaroni and cheese commercials have become one of the most deceiving and convincing advertisements known to mankind. A combination of young children and puppies, along with the mouthwatering images of macaroni and cheese, have unlocked the gates to most human’s hearts, appealing to their positive and bubbly emotions. Doing so, Kraft released a successful advertisement at the beginning of 2016 that distracted the viewer, as well as manipulated how the viewer felt, which made them, their family members, their children, and even their beloved pets, want to buy or consume Kraft macaroni and cheese for as long as they live.

The value chain is one of the critical elements of a company’s strategy in today’s competitive world, because company’s profit depends on how the successful and efficient it runs its operations and how the end product appeals to the customers at a price that covers all the expenses of the company.

The basic principle in defining the value chain, according to Michael Porter (Porter, 1985), is that the activities include a variety of disaggregations from the below three perspectives. First, they have different economics, implying that these activities are functioning in different segments of the market. Second, even though the economics differentiation is not that evident, isolated activities should have a potential impact for it. Third, value-adding activities have significant input scale.

Kotler and Keller (2012, pp. 271-272) maintain that there are three main sets of brand equity drivers:

First of all, a strong brand can be seen as the condition for organisations to expand products, offer more service, and introduce new products (Chernatony and McDonald, 2003). Secondly, a strong brand can lead to growth marketing communication effectiveness (Keller, 2009). ‘To build a strong brand, the right knowledge structures must exist in the minds of actual or prospective customers so that they respond positively to marketing activities and programs in these different ways.’(Keller, 2003, p. 140) Furthermore, Kay (2005) asserted that the strong brand can be seen as a resource of management, which make brand extension easier and useful to build distribution network. Companies are not treated by the intermediaries (Chernatony and McDonald, 2003). Moreover, companies are comparatively easier to change price if they have strong brands. As Henderson, et al (2003) said, a strong brand can allow for premium pricing even still remain loyalty customers, which help companies to survive in the intensive competitive market.

1. Brand awareness – being a newcomer in the market will create difficulty in gaining acknowledgement; however, I feel we have a terrific product and a solid business model that will eventually speak for itself.

The Value chain is a tool, a set of interconnected procedures and marketing actions that corporations implement to evaluate how brands are built or need to be improved in order to create a more valuable product or service for their targeted consumers and consequently, succeed in the market. The data that results from the brand value chain analysis is key for the management team as it helps them brainstorm activities or even conduct effective marketing research, and therefore maximize value and customer's experience. Furthermore, this data provides rich information for potential investors. (Pearson Custom Business Resources, MKTG 1020, p. 102)

To analyse the specific activities through which firms can gain a competitive advantage, it is useful to model the firm as a chain of value creating activities. For this purpose, Porter identified a range of interrelated generic activities common to a wide range of firms. The resulting model is known as the value chain.

The value chain analysis (shown in appendix) was also generated by Michael Porter. This model is referred to “identifying ways to increase the efficiency of the chain” (Investopedia, n.d.). Furthermore, the overall objective is to produce maximum value with minimum total cost and establish a competitive advantage.