Sonance at a Turning Point

With the shift in the end customers demographics, it would be wise for Stihl to consider alternative strategies to supplement their current reliance on independent specialty dealers. A company must always address who the end customer is, when you forget or choose to ignore who the customer is, then you tend to not be able to reach them. The marketing mix (product, price, placement, and promotion) has to be in tune with who the end customer is and what their economic situation might be. The case breaks down the changes or shift in demographics in the form of predictables and unpredictibles.

Despite competing in a broad market environment, JB Hi-Fi is able to outperform its competitor and placed them well ahead in the market gaining a large marker share. JB Hi-Fi tries to achieve its objectives of expanding its market share by adopting 3

On average, subscribers purchased 19.9 CDs annually, mostly through Sonik’s website. Annual subscriber retention rate was 90 percent. Sonik accumulated CDs from various suppliers and fulfilled its own orders. Annual fixed costs of fulfillment were $400,000; shipments averaged 3.7 CDs per package. Annual marketing expenses were $230,000; Sonik spent 90 percent on acquiring new subscribers and 5 percent on subscriber retention. Sonik’s cost of capital was 12 percent. It was considering three growth options: a. Continue the Niche Strategy: Sonik believed it could acquire 20,000-30,000 new customers per annum for the next several years without major new investment. Sonik also believed that spending $0.5 million per annum would increase customer retention to 95 percent. b. Mass-Market Strategy: Abandon the subscription model, add many other music genres, and build a mass-market brand.

Catherine, W., Tat Pui, L. and Henrik, U. (2011) The Roles of Branding for a Brand Entering

Imagine a person named Bob living a busy life New York City. Bob is planning to buy a new speaker for his apartment since he loves listening to acoustic music. He thought about going to Best Buy or other retail stores, but bob is

new brands are at very high risk of failing, as the consumer is more reachable when

Threat: Forces shaping the Nordstrom’s strategy is that it is operating in highly competitive environment, where apparel sold by it is not only competing with large organized departmental chains but, also from small independent boutiques in the U.S. As a result competition has become very stiff in retail

If R&D were to grow 15% annually instead of staying constant at $600,000 after year one, the terminal value would drop drastically to $14.5 million from the original prediction of $45.3 million (a drop of 68%). In addition, Burns and Irvine would yield a measly IRR of 22.6% in comparison to the 215.5% originally projected (Appendix D). The global industry in hearing aids is dominated by six multinational giants and many small companies like Harmonic are still allowed to operate successfully in the industry. In order to flush out these smaller companies, the six giant companies may decide in the future to cut costs and offer cheaper alternatives which may result in decreased sales for Harmonic. If existing sales were to then fall by 10% annually, Burns and Irvine would be in a lot of trouble. The cash flow would become negative at year five and Burns and Irvine would either be unable to purchase their equipment or would not be able to make sufficient payments on their loans (Appendix E). In order to fulfill obligatory payments, they would be forced to postpone purchasing equipment, cut costs in other areas, take a reduction in salary, etc. None of these options would be advantageous to their profitability or happiness. Another scenario that could occur is that the delay of the launch of the new hearing aid

This strength is critical if Tennant chooses to venture into other emerging markets or further expand their product line. Tennant has already established a strong name for them within the industry and has experienced success adapting to different market situations in the past, this should make it easier for them to succeed in with new products and in other markets. Tennant’s focus was rare as they chose to deliver a sustainable value to their customers without compromising on price or performance. This strength is not imitable with new companies as it something that is built over time although many existing companies have built the same brand strength with their products. This strength has proved to be a sustainable competitive advantage for Tennant. They have exploited this strength and achieved organization.

1. It is a fact that item 345 has lost market share and as the product manager I would be concerned about it. By retaining FF20 price I can gain market share only if competition increases their price to FF20. At the outset this seems unlikely because competition has

This gain value and addresses a key decisive achievement factor in the industry (Grant,2010). As position is important to offer convenience and a deep assortment, An extra unique intangible resource would be their brand representation and customer loyalty, this is vital since it can attract or attract consumers and it could be necessary to build the brand image .

Although much of the company's success in the past can largely be attributed to their authentic products, the company's upper echelon has begun to observe that the market may be beginning to move in a different direction toward replicas. Sorzal's weakness is its inability to accept this rise in the replica market and its obduracy to follow this trend and expand into this new market. Management's attitude towards this change suggests that they are stuck in their ways and are inflexible in terms of shifting their operational focus in any way. With competition rising, Sorzal's products are beginning to lose some of their appeal, as competitors are pricing similar, albeit mostly replicated, products at a much lower price. Sorzal's stubbornness to lower prices and expand into the replica market has already caused their gross margin to slip and may continue to if action is not taken. Another weakness is the fact the company's authentic products, which account for most of the sales, are limited in supply, as they cannot

Yoda manages two Sonite brands – Moon and Mojo. Initially, Moon is positioned as a mid-range offering and Mojo is positioned as a low-end offering. None of them are leading in any of the segments in year 0. Firm T has three brands that cover the entire market and is the market leader as of year 0. Firm R is a small player and has only one brand that competes in the low-end range. Each brand competes to capture customer segments by aligning their product and marketing

friends know that they will always have the highest quality sound and entertainment system in their home theaters. They are revered within their circle of friends and their neighbors for their knowledge and possession of high quality systems. Their age is between 25 and 45 and are single or couples living together. They have a college education and a job with a high enough salary to support their habit for technology. These customers will have small houses or apartments, and will generally allocate most of their discretionary income on technology products.

December 1993: Charlotte Beers assesses the progresses made by the company after she became CEO: she realizes that clients love the Brand Stewardship concept, but most employees, below executive levels, have not embraced the newly created Vison. The problem I will focus in this document is the following: the majority of employees did not embrace the new Vison. I will analyze why this is a key problem, why it is happening and I will propose steps to accomplish more acceptance.