Assignment
Subject: Marketing Management
Q.1 Case study
American Tourister re-positioning itself as a hip travel brand leveraging
Sports Partnership
American Tourister, Samsonite’s mass market label, is re-positioning itself
as a hip international travel brand; targeting the cool, young traveller.
In December 2016, as part of their India campaign, Virat Kohli was brought
onboard as a brand ambassador. Kohli is – for India - the ideal face for the
brand as he is the personification of American Tourister’s re-positioning.
Following the success in India, American Tourister took things to the next
level and in February 2018 appointed football star Cristiano Ronaldo, the
most followed male on social media, as their brand ambassador.
Anushree Tainwala, Executive Director, Marketing at Samsonite, said,
“There couldn’t be a better time to bring Cristiano on-board. His lively and
vivacious personality, on and off the field, resonates perfectly with our
funloving, vibrant brand personality. His presence will help bring American
Tourister to a whole new audience, allowing us to stand out from the
competition, and enabling us to take the Brand to the next level.”
In Kohli and Ronaldo, it has found two iconic sports personalities who have
strong personal brands & massive following in emerging markets. This helps
American Tourister win asymmetrically and leave competition in the dust. In
addition to transferring the sports stars' attributes to the brand, the
partnerships:
Elevate the brand from Samsonite's low end product to a contemporary,
practical international travel brand; targeting the aspiring, young
international traveller. Explode the reach: Getting the reach in India via
Kohli (81m social media followers) and globally through Ronaldo (315m
followers) -especially with the FIFA World Cup around the corner.
Engage audiences: Kohli with “I’m ready” & "Swagbag", Ronaldo with “Bring
back more” are examples of sharply positioning the brand leveraging the
ambassadors to provide differentiated, exciting engagement.
Top of Mind: Standing out in a commoditised travel accessary category,
American Tourister is positioning itself as closer to the hearts of young
travellers and in their purchase consideration. In February & March this
year it has activated both players - Ronaldo (here) & Kohli (here & here),
Let's see where the brand takes such partnerships as we get closer to the
Russia World Cup. It has achieved a strong cut-through even before the
world gets gripped by the World Cup fever.
Question:
(10 × 2 = 20)
1. How can your brand differentiate & asymmetrically win in a
commoditised category through sports?
2. What other, more effective ways can brands use to reposition themselves?
Assignment
Subject: Marketing Management
Q.2 Case study
In August 2004, a leading business newspaper reported that Hyundai
Motors India Limited (HMIL), an Indian subsidiary of the South Koreabased
Hyundai Motors Company (HMC)3 was expected to reduce the price of its
flagship car - Santro - by as much as Rs 40,000. Industry experts were
expecting a reduction in Santro's price in response to the price war being
waged by the market leader in India - Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL),4 which
had reduced the price of its largest selling car in the B segment – Alto - by
Rs 58,000 in two price cuts starting from September 2003. This move had
resulted in Alto replacing Santro as the largest selling car in the B segment
in the period January to June 2004 (Refer Exhibit I for the market
segmentation of the Indian car industry).
Marketing Management Case Studies | Case Study in Management,
Operations, Strategies, Marketing Management, Case Studies Rebutting the
report on price cuts, HMIL's managing director, BVR Subbu (Subbu) said,
"We are not cutting prices on the Santro. We have allowed our competitors
the prerogative of cutting prices."5 Several dealers of HMIL also felt that the
company would not reduce Santro's price as it had not adopted such tactics
earlier.
Santro had been the most successful product of HMIL and was also the
largest selling car in the B segment till the fiscal year 2003-04. Introduced
in late 1998, Santro had emerged as the second largest selling car in India
after MUL's M800 and had retained its position till March 2004
(Refer Exhibit II for the total units and value sales of the top eleven car
models in India).
In mid 2004, HMIL with its four models, Santro, Accent, Sonata and
Elantra, was the second largest car company in India with 19% market
share in the industry. The company was planning to launch another model,
'Getz', in September 2004.
Analysts attributed HMIL's success to its ability to launch technologically
superior products and its innovative marketing strategies. However, they
expressed concerns that the company relied heavily on Santro and any fall
in demand for that model would hit the company.
It was felt that the introduction of new cars by the competitors and pgrading
& price reduction of existing cars in the B segment would affect Santro's
sales. This would lead to a loss in Santro's market share. (Refer Exhibit III
for the comparison of features of various models in the B segment).
For a long time after India became independent in 1947, the car market had
just two models to offer - the sturdy 'Ambassador' from Hindustan Motors
(HM) and the sleek 'Fiat' from Premier Automobiles (PA). This was the result
of Government of India's (GOI) decision to keep the car industry tightly
protected.
For HM and PA, the GOI dictated as to what type of vehicle the two
companies should manufacture. No other domestic or foreign car
manufacturer was allowed to enter the Indian car industry. The restriction
on foreign collaboration led to poor technological improvements in Indian
cars. As a result, car prices remained high while quality was inferior. This
affected the growth of the industry. The demand for cars in 1960 was
15,714 units and in the next two decades, this rose to 30,989 units, which
meant that the Compound Annual Growth Rate (AGR) was just 3.5 per cent.
In the 1980s, the GOI felt the need to introduce an affordable small car,
targeting the Indian middle class. As manufacturing a small and affordable
car required better technology than was available indigenously, the
government tied up with the noted Japanese company, Suzuki. The
government formed a joint venture with Suzuki and founded Maruti Udyog
Limited (MUL). It held 74% and Suzuki got 26% equity stake in MUL. In
1983, MUL launched the 'Maruti 800', priced at Rs 40,000 Hyundai's Entry
in India
One of the major players that entered the Indian car market was HMC
through its subsidiary HMIL. Before making its move, the company closely
studied the industry for a year. The company's officials talked to vendors,
dealers and customers to get a thorough knowledge of the industry...
Marketing Santro: Santro received an encouraging feedback from customers
who appreciated its unique design that gave more headroom and facilitated
easy entry and exit... Launch of Accent: By mid 1999, the major players
realized that the 'B' segment would be the fastest growing in the car
industry. To cash in, Telco re-launched its 'Indica' by introducing several
new features and solving the glitches in the original model...
Marketing Management Case Studies | Case Study in Management,
Operations, Strategies, Marketing Management, Case Studies Repositioning
Santro By late 2002, the competition in the B segment had increased
significantly. MUL's Alto which was launched in October 2000 had received
a good response. Although HMIL's Santro remained the largest selling car in
the B segment, MUL commanded the largest market share in this segment
due to the combined sale of its three cars - Zen, Wagon R and Alto... Status
in 2004: The financial year 2003-04 ended on a positive note for HMIL. The
company achieved revenues of Rs 50 bn and profit after tax (PAT) of Rs. 1.90
bn in the financial year 2003-04 compared to Rs 43 bn revenues and PAT of
Rs 1.65 bn in the fiscal 2002-03...
Question:
(10 × 2 = 20)
1. Examine and analyze the marketing mix of Hyundai Motors in the Indian
passenger car industry.
2. Compare and contrast the marketing strategy of Hyundai with other
leading players in the Indian passenger car industry.?
Assignment
Subject: Marketing Management
Q.3 Case study
The British Company, Woolworths is normally categorized as a variety store
dealing in retailing of a range of varying products. Historically it was
established as a subsidiary of an American Company F.W. Woolworth &Co,
in 1879 by Frank Winfield Woolworth It was incorporated in England on
23rd July, 1909 as private limited company with initial capital of 50,250
pound sterling. It, first time floated a new idea of selling all the products at a
cost not more than five cents. This idea gained popularity amongst the
customers resulting in fast growth of the subsidiary. Its first shop at
Liverpool attracted about 60,000 people in first two days because of
attractive one penny, three penny and six penny products put at sale. It
continued to open new shops at various cities that attracted heavy rush of
customers and visitors. It was company’s policy to purchase the products
directly from manufacturers, who also were very happy due to momentum in
their business as well. Some of the manufacturers started doing business
solely with the Woolworths and labeled their products with the company’s
name. Company’s business grew day by day and it had 31 shops in United
Kingdoms by the year, 1914. Due to inflationary trends after the World War
II, the company had to do away with its three pence and six pence price
limits. It introduced self service first time in its retail side in the year 1955.
Woolworth opened about 190 self-service stores by the year 1970. It created
new division in the stores by establishing Woolco departmental stores in the
year 1966. These stores had full range of quality products like, clothes,
groceries, car service and restaurants etc. available at affordable prices.
The Company continued to flourish very fast because of its stated aim to
remain at the customer’s heart and best kid’s retailer till 1966. But
thereafter its sales as well as profits started falling because of its
competitors, Marks & Spencer who overtook its sales as well as profits. The
results of the company were the worst in the year 1969, because it failed to
chalk out suitable strategies necessary to take on its competitors in the
market. Sales at Woolworth began to decline. Consumers were reportedly
not satisfied with the quality of customer services of the company. Many of
the business sites were not at prime locations. Its new products could not
attract the customers because of lack of well trained staff and availability of
‘A class service’. The company tried to improve its services in the year 1971
by introducing new system of centralized payments besides closing its 23
unprofitable shops, as an attempt to trade up. The profits of the company
increased to some extent as a result of these measures but it failed to boost
up its profits at the desired level. The competitors of Woolworth like Wal-
Mart, Argos and Next very soon became more prevalent in the market
because of low prices, better service and vast range of their products. The
Management of the company ultimately decided to sell out the Woolco stores
in 1977. In the year 1981 it sold-out some of its valuable prime located
properties to cover-up the losses suffered by the shops situated at these
locations. Even then its profits went down in the said year and the company
was forced to cut the dividends first time since its establishment. In the
normal restructuring process during the year 1985, the company decided to
abandon the sale of food and adult clothing that was contributing about
30% of its overall sales. The Management of the company sold out its 200
unprofitable shops out of about 990, during the years 1982-1991. During
this decade company made a number of acquisitions in order to become
more diversified in retail business. It launched Music and Video Club that
specialized in CDs, videos and other entertainment products. The company
succeeded in boosting its sales and turnover during 1990s and gave
impressive results despite the fact that some of major chains like Wilkinson
expanded their business in the Woolworth areas.
Woolworth reviewed its entire business in the year 2002. It reconsidered its
further expansion and realignment and merger of its overall management
structure. It strengthened infrastructure and planned accurate management
of its stocks so as to maintain them at their optimum levels. It introduced
new till system in order to ensure its stock holding capacity besides
provision of improved and efficient services to the customers. The
management decided to cut the number of suppliers and enhance the use of
their own branded products. These improvements contributed a little in the
sales as well as profits. One of main money spinners of the company was its
music business that collapsed. The financial results for the year 2004
showed just 4.5% increase in the profits of the company. It had to compete
strongly with Argos in the sales of toys and gifts. In the year 2006, the
company introduced an in-store collection service for items ordered through
website. Company continued its business mainly in entertainment and
electronics till the year 2008. It expanded its chains and set up out of town
stores that were known as ‘Big W’. It announced considerable loss in its half
yearly statement of affairs as on 2nd August, 2008.
The management, therefore decide to sell out about 120 stores, cut jobs and
reduce web operations. At this stage reportedly the company rejected an
offer to buy its 815 stores. From September onwards the entire World
entered into worst ever economic and financial crises that resulted in
decrease in availability of necessary credit from the banks and financial
institutions besides decrease in consumer spending. The lending banks of
the company not only refused to give further credits, they also demanded
repayment of their existing loans towards the company. As a result of this
crisis the retail business badly suffered. Media also reported possible price
crashes, increased personal debts, unemployment, pension shortfalls, stock
market crashes and decrease in availability of disposable income.
Under these circumstances as well as in wake of market saturations,
coupled with economic downturn, it was highly difficult for the Woolworth to
maintain competitive pricing. Woolworth’s financial results for the first half
of the year 2008 showed 99.7 million pounds pretax loss. Decreased credit
availability, decreased public spending and pressure of creditors to pay off
debts of about 385 million pounds, forced the company to sell out its 120
shops that were going in loss besides reducing the web operations, cutting
the products and axing the employees. These measures could not help the
company to survive and ultimately it suspended trading of its shares on the
26th 0f November, 2009 and at last decided to close down its all 819 stores
and axe its 27000 highly dedicated employees. The parent company of
Woolworth also announced its intention to go into administration on the
19th of January, 2009.
Question:
(4 × 5 = 20)
1. Why Woolworths Failed as a Business?
2. What is the main focus or purpose of Woolworths?
3. What challenges are Woolworths facing now a day?
4. What are the advantages of Global Expansion in Retailing?
Assignment
Subject: Marketing Management
Q.4 Case study
Its Global Marketing Plans In the 1940’s itself PepsiCo started branching out
into the international arena. At first it was into Latin America, the Middle
East and the Philippines. Here too Coke had the early bird advantage. Yet
the product soon gained popularity. With the Arab countries boycotting
Coke, Pepsi enjoyed a monopoly for many years in the Middle East. In the
1950’s Pepsi went to Europe and this included Russia, with whom there
existed a Cold War by USA. Though there were initial difficulties, getting into
Russia was a major breakthrough which the company exploited. The
company posted pictures of the then leaders of the United States and Russia
sipping the drink. Its arch rival, Coca Cola, was able to enter the Russian
markets only after more than 25 years after Pepsi’s entry.
In many of the countries that Pepsi ventured into comparative advertising
was prohibited and in many countries it was not an accepted concept. For
example, Pepsi tried its “Pepsi challenge” promotional gimmick in Japan.
However, the country and its people were not aware of comparative
advertising and as such the campaign did more harm than good. Hence in
Japan they had to break their tradition of running with the global campaign
and come up with a campaign that the Japanese would identify with and
was more Japanese. The “Pepsiman” was a superhero like figure that was
devised by a Japanese person for the Japanese market. The commercial was
an instant hit and helped improve Pepsi’s share in the Japanese market by
as much as 14%. From Japan Pepsi learned a valuable lesson – the same ad
will not have the same effect everywhere. When it comes to cross national
advertising, there is always the inherent risk of alienating the people.
Question:
(20 × 1 = 20)
1. What challenges Pepsi had to face, If Pepsi would not follow the cultural
factors in international marketing environment? What is the good marketing
way for pepsi?
Assignment
Subject: Marketing Management
Q.5 Case study
In 1980, Peter A, Horekens, marketing director for Kellog company, was
faced with the problem of developing a market for ready-to-eat cereals in the
Latin American region. Although Kellog had no competition in the ready-to
eat cereal market in this region, they also had no market. Latin Americans
did not eat breakfast as the Americans did. The problem was especially
prominent in Brazil. To create a market and increase sales in this region,
Horekens had to create a nutritious breakfast habit.
Kellog Company, which headquartered in Battlecreek, Michigan, was
founded in 1906 by W.K. Kellog. The company continued to operate
successfully with sales in 1980 amounting to 2,150.9 million U.S. Dollars.
The Kellog Company manufactured and marketed a wide variety of
convenience foods with ready-to-eat cereals topping the list. The company’s
products were manufactured in 18 countries and distributed in 130
countries. The ready-to-eat cereals sales made up the majority of
international sales.
In 1980, Kellog International operations accounted for 38 percent of Kellog
Company’s sales of more than $ 2.0 billion. The United Kingdom was by far
Kellog’s largest market. Internationally, sales in the ready-to-eat cereal
market continued to increase, although in the past few years the
competition also had increased. But in Latin America, consumption of
ready-to-eat cereals was negligible.
The Latin American Market
The Latin American Market, mainly Mexico and Brazil, showed great
potential as a Kellog’s ready-to-eat cereal market. The demographics fit the
ready-to-eat market, the only problem was that Latin Americans did not eat
the traditional American-style breakfast.
The Latin American market included a growing number of families with
children. The population mix was becoming younger. The developing
economy enabled consumers to spend more of their income on food. Kellog
wanted to increase sales in this Latin American region, especially Brazil, but
consumers had turned their backs on the American style breakfast. How
was Kellog to create a nutritious breakfast habit among the Brazilians?
The company asked J. Walter Thompson, Kellog’s advertising agency, to
help instill the breakfast habit in Brazil. According to Horekens, “In general,
Brazilians do what people in novellas do”. Novellas are Brazilian soap
operas. J. Walters Thompsons tried to advertise Kellog ready-to-eat cereal
and instill the breakfast habit by advertising within a soap opera. The first
experience of advertising within a soap opera failed; the advertisement
portrayed a boy eating the cereal out of a package. Kellog wanted to teach
the Brazilians how to eat a complete, nutritious breakfast, not just Kelloy’s
cereal. The commercial did not work, because it made Kellog ready-to-eat
cereal seem more like a snack than a major part of a complete breakfast.
Kellog wanted to portray ready-to-eat cereal as a part of a complete, wellbalanced
nutritious breakfast. Thus, they needed the cereal to be eaten in a
bowl with milk alongwith other foods to make a complete breakfast.
The company believed that the growing population in this region would
reinforce the importance of grains as a basic food source. The 1980
population in Brazil was 119 million, which made it the sixth most
populated country in the world and the population was expected to grow to
165 million in the next few years. Within this population growth was an
increase in the number of women of childbearing age, which further
supported Kellog’s potential for a successful cereal market. The structure of
the population in Brazil in 1980 was:
Thirty seven percent of population under age 15.
Forty-eight percent of population under age 20.
Twelve percent population over age 50.
Six percent of population over age 60.
These figures showed that the population of Brazil better fit the
market for a ready-to-eat cereal, with the increasing number of
children and elderly people as the two largest cereal consuming
segments.
The “cult of the family” continued to be the most important institution in the
formation of the Brazilian society. This culture ideal was reflected in the
ways they conceptualized and evaluated the range of personal and social
relations. This seemed to be the way Kellog would have to demonstrate the
importance of a nutritional breakfast – by playing up the family and its
importance. Through the use of the novellas, Kellog made a second attempt
to teach the Brazilians the importance of breakfast. Most Brazilian families
watched these soap operas, composed mostly of family scenes. In their
commercials, Kellog opted for scenes that showed the family at the breakfast
table. One member of the family, usually the father, took the cereal box,
poured the cereal, and then added milk. This scene represented a complete
“Kellog” breakfast in a way that Brazilians could relate to. The advertisement
focused first on nutrition, then on flavor, and finally on ease of preparation.
As a result of this campaign, sales in Brazil increased. Kellog controlled 99.5
percent of the ready-to-eat cereal market in Brazil; however, per capita
cereal consumption was less than one ounce or several spoonfuls per
Brazilian annually, even after advertising. Although Kellog controlled the
market, there was not much of a market to control. Brazilians had begun to
eat breakfast, but Horekens was not sure whether sales would continue to
increase. His problem was – how could Kellog further convince the
Brazilians of the importance of eating a nutritional breakfast in order to
establish a long-term market?
Question:
(10 × 2 = 20)
1. Analyse the case to enable you to prepare a report about the given
situation.
2. What would be your advice – to continue or quit – to the board of
Directors of Kellog? Explain with reasons the factors which you would
consider essential in framing your report?
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