Marketing And Business Operations In A Dynamic Environment

Recognizing Cultural Differences in Marketing

Discuss about the Business Products in Recession Period.

A consumer’s level of involvement affects his or her choice of problem-solving process. Our choice of a product to purchase in the market is mainly determined by our consumer behavior and the amount of information or knowledge we possess. There two types of purchases namely low involvement purchases and high involvement purchases. Low involvement purchases are the goods and services that we buy routinely and the consumer does not have to consider various information before the purchase (Armstrong & Brennan (2015). Such purchases are always not expensive hence the buyer does not have to consider many aspects. High involvement purchases are the purchases the consumer makes after considering a wide range of information and various aspects of a product. These kinds of decisions are complex and always carry a high risk if they fail (East, 2016). The purchased products are usually very expensive such as purchasing a car or a house and therefore the buyer has to engage in extended problem solving by comparing various aspects of the products.

A company may intentionally trigger the recognition of a particular need in its promotional campaigns. Companies have to research and understand what goes on the consumer’s mind based on their needs and interpersonal factors and trigger these needs using social and physical exterior influences (Foxall, 2014). These needs may include prestige and esteem, security, love, self-fulfillment and many more. An example of such a promotional campaign is the “Reach Out and Touch someone” by the AT&T brand, the campaign is based on triggering the consumer’s need for love and affection needs. Such techniques influence the consumer’s decisions to the advantage of the company.

The British Airways in this commercial manage to market across cultures because it has recognized the cultural differences in its target customers and the brand has not associated with any of it. The video features people from various cultures and the face of the British Airways is not linked to any particular culture.

In the past few years, McDonald’s company has made several changes to turn its business around and improve the company’s public image.  Every business that wants to succeed has to have a critical evaluation of its business operations in relation to the target customer and initiate any necessary alterations that will give the company competitive advantage (Schlegelmilch, 2016). The company hired a new chief executive officer, added new items in their menu and removed some and they also introduced the all-day serving of breakfast.  Steve Easterbrook who was the chief brand officer of the company took over Don Thompson who resigned as the CEO in 2016.  Mr. Easterbrook has a vast experience in fast-food chain management after serving for Wagama and PizzaExpress which are British restaurants. He unveiled his strategic management plan that is mainly going to focus on satisfying their customers’ expectations and adapt quickly to the customers’ change tastes. Achieving customer satisfaction is one of the main objectives of the company and this will improve the public image of the brand. 

Adapting to Changing Customer Preferences and Operations

The company had to remove some items such as the six chicken sandwiches and the Deluxe Quarter Pounder. The items had to be cut from the menu because there were critics that they bloated the menu leading to a slow customer service. The company introduced changes by increasing the size and how they toast their buns to improve the flavor and give the customers their value for money.

These changes were very important for the company since they increased the sales made and also improve the public image of the brand. The business environment is dynamic with changing customer preferences, therefore, it is important for a brand to adjust and position itself well after some time. These new changes made enable the company to maintain its competitive advantage over its close competitors in the market.

I would invest the remaining amount in 3 bedroom units in Officer, VIC since the investment is within my budget and the rental and buying prices have been increasing every year.

Digital and Social Media marketing tools may result in negative reviews of product and services hence companies have to manage the impacts of these negative review. Digital marketing and social networking have become an essential marketing tool but it comes with the challenge of negative reviews and their impact (Tiago,2014). The best way to manage the impact of the negative reviews on social media network is to increase the interaction with customers and give elaborate clarifications (Chaffey, 2016). The negative reviews can adversely affect the sales of the company, therefore, this matter should be handled with the priority it deserves. Improving customer services is the key factor that will eliminate the negative reviews since the customers will feel satisfied and they will not give negative reviews on social networks (Levy, 2015). Responding to customer’s concerns comprehensively will eliminate the negative reviews on their goods and services.

Australia Post is planning to deliver small items using drones. I think it’s a good innovation idea that will save time and ensure efficient delivery of time-sensitive products such as medication. The public is very positive towards adapting new technologies and I think the project may work successfully. However, they should make an assessment of the potential challenges and figure out how they can solve them before the actual implementation of the drone delivery. The company has to do a feasibility study on the potential risks and opportunities the project may offer to the company and ensure efficient operations compared to the traditional techniques.

Managing Negative Online Reviews for Businesses

Branding is an important aspect of business and has a very influential impact on the consumers. A trademark is any name, symbol, figure, letter, word, or mark adopted and used by a manufacturer or merchant in order to designate his or her goods and to distinguish them from those manufactured or sold by others, this is according to dictionary.com. There are several iconic trademarks that have helped their brands to flourish in business (Kotler, 2015).. For example, Coco Chanel is trademark name for a fashion company that was named after her founder who was well known for her excellent taste. The name became recognized by the consumers and they associated it with high-quality craftsmanship. This distinguished the brand from other clothing manufactures and designers giving it a competitive advantage over its competitors. Another iconic trademark is the McDonalds golden arch symbol that is used to symbolize the presence of McDonald’s restaurants in interstate highways. The public has associated this symbol with the brand they automatically recognize it hence this distinguishes the brand from other fast food stores.

Most of my daily dressing routine include casual wear except for given occasions which require me to dress in a formal dress code. The brands that mostly feature in my dressing items are mainly Addidas, Nike, Zara and Gucci. I like these brands because they have quality products and they are also trendy. This is very important to me because I feel I get value for my money by getting quality products and am also being relevant to current trends at the same time. Zara and Gucci are well known for producing high-end products, therefore, dressing in these brands makes me feel elegant and classy. Each of these brands provides a unique experience and they focus on quality thus I am going to remain a loyal customer to them.

Price skimming technique is would be more appropriate for products that have new technologies or the ones that customers are likely to attach prestigious value to them. This pricing technique has various advantages such as giving the company a chance to evaluate the amount customers are willing to pay for the product (Indounas, 2016). Penetration pricing would be more appropriate for high demand products with low costs and those that can easily be imitated by competitors. This pricing technique will lure the target customers and ensure they recognize the existence of the product.

When a company launches its latest technology product the pricing strategy they usually engage is price skimming. This is because this strategy is meant for products with new technology and it has several advantages to such products. This strategy will enable the company to attach precious value to their technology and this will help lure their target customers.

References

Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2015). Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education.

Chaffey, D. (2016). Global social media research summary 2016. Smart Insights: Social Media Marketing.

East, R., Singh, J., Wright, M., & Vanhuele, M. (2016). Consumer behaviour: Applications in marketing. Sage.

Foxall, G. (2014). Consumer Behaviour (RLE Consumer Behaviour): A Practical Guide. Routledge.

Indounas, K. (2016, July). Pricing new business-to-business products in a recession period. In 2016 Global Marketing Conference at Hong Kong (pp. 1353-1358).

Kotler, P. (2015). Framework for marketing management. Pearson Education India.

Levy, S., & Gvili, Y. (2015). How Credible is E-Word of Mouth Across Digital-Marketing Channels?: The Roles of Social Capital, Information Richness, and Interactivity. Journal of Advertising Research, 55(1), 95-109.

Riaz, H. A. (2015). Impact of Brand Image on Consumer Buying Behavior in Clothing Sector: A Comparative Study between Males and Females of Central Punjab (Lahore) and Southern Punjab (Multan). Kuwait Chapter of the Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 4(9), 24.

Schlegelmilch, B. B. (2016). Segmenting Targeting and Positioning in Global Markets. In Global Marketing Strategy (pp. 63-82). Springer, Cham.

Solomon, M. R., Dahl, D. W., White, K., Zaichkowsky, J. L., & Polegato, R. (2014). Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (Vol. 10). Pearson.

Spann, M., Fischer, M., & Tellis, G. J. (2014). Skimming or penetration? Strategic dynamic pricing for new products. Marketing Science, 34(2), 235-249.

Tiago, M. T. P. M. B., & Veríssimo, J. M. C. (2014). Digital marketing and social media: Why bother?. Business Horizons, 57(6), 703-708.