Opportunism in Co-Production - Case Study Example

Bega tasty cheese Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction This marketing report aims at evaluating the marketing of products in the Australian market and their and more specifically the products of the Bega tasty firm. This report will help in identifying the various elements of marketing which include the product, the price, the place and the promotions of the products (Randall 2001). This paper identifies the various target market and how the market has been segmented. This report will so helpful because it will indicate various strategies that can be applied to improve the performance of the company and its product. The competitive advantage of the firm has also been discussed in detail to see how the company can strategize its operations so that it will have a competitive advantage over other firms who are also competing for the same customers (Proctor 2000). A.1 Australian target market The target group or market for these firm’s products are the young people of age between seven years and thirty years. This target market proves to be the potential customers of the products because of their different tastes and preferences. Their lifestyle also motivates them to like the tastes of this hence they can buy more of the products (Jobber et al 1998). This target group provides about 85% of the market of the product and the 15% of the market will be provided by the people of over thirty years. This is because their eating habits changes and not like the younger people. Also the reason for choosing this group is that in Australia the larger population is young people of age between fifteen years and thirty five years. This is a large group to provide a market for the products. This target market will further be classified differently according their different requirements. First the market will be segmented according to their geographical location (Hoyer & McInnis 2001). There will be those who customers who are in the cities and those who are in rural areas. Those in the city will be grouped into one segment and those in rural areas will be segmented into one segment. These different segments have different needs and that’s why they are grouped into segments so that the company will be able to separate their needs and tackle them appropriately. Also the target market will be segmented according to the demographic factors which include gender, education level and the income earning (Saxena 2006)). The market will be divided into male and female market. Those who are high income earners like the public servants will be in the same segment and the low income earners will be in the same segment. There will also be a segment of middle income earners. These segments are helpful when pricing and when designing the product features. The customers have different needs some of which include; get the best quality products which will enable them to maximize their income and derive their satisfaction. They also need the products to be of different sizes so that each customer can afford to buy depending on the level of income. The customers also need to buy a variety of tastes of the product which can be achieved by manufacturing different designs of the product. A.2 The marketing mix The marketing mix includes the 4Ps which are the product, price, place and promotion (Joseph 2011). This mix is essential for the business to grow and attract customers as well. The marketing mix of Bega tasty cheese is illustrated in the A1 in the appendix below. 1.1 The product The product which is used in this research is the products of Bega tasty cheese which is the Bega tasty cheese. In order for the product to meet the customer needs and preferences, it will be of high quality to satisfy the customer quality need. Also the product will be of different sizes starting with 20grams so that the customers will buy the cheese according to their income especially the low income earners. Bega tasty stick is unsought product. The customers can buy the product without even planning to buy it (Golder 2000). Customers don’t have to seek the product. The product will be of attractive favors to meet the customer’s demands. The characteristics of this product that differentiate it from other products include; the quality requirement, different sizes with the least size being 20 grams and the best pricing strategy. The core product of Bega tasty cheese is the quality of the product as it is expected by the customers. The actual product is the decision to buy the product among the many in the market and augmented product is the tangible benefits of buying the cheese for example the free gifts. This brand is effective because it is the most appropriate for people of this target market. This product is also effective because of its attractive flavor. Bega tasty cheese is packed in different sizes of 20 grams, 50grams, 100grams up to 1kilogram. The product will be sliced so as to meet the customer desires of purchasing sliced cheese. Slicing makes the product easier for consumption. The packaging will be done attractively by indicating some features from outside the package for example tasty it. This will convince the buyer to try it out and confirm if it’s really tasty and in the process the customer has purchased the product as a result of attractive packaging. This product is at the growing stage in the product life cycle because it has been in the market and has been generating some income hence the customers are aware of it as shown in Appendix A2 below. 1.2 Promotion of the product The Bega tasty cheese company applies both personal and impersonal communication methods (Ertimur & Venkatesh 2010). The impersonal methods of promoting the product are through Television channels like the TV4ME channel and the seven network television channels. In addition, the company will promote the product through posters which will be placed strategically in the city of Australia and along the roads to create awareness of the product. The personal promotional strategies include face to face communication (Ertimur & Venkatesh 2010). This is where the salesmen and ladies walk with the product in towns and residential areas and talk to people concerning the product. They give out free samples and also sell the product at a lower price than the market price because of the promotional purposes. The impersonal promotional strategies reach a wide number of people because many people own Televisions and these channels are the most watched by many people. There is also direct communication where the buyers can access the company publications concerning the product ( Dev & Schultz 2005). In this approach the buyer is able to know more contents of the cheese like the manufacturing process and the ingredients. Promotions contain the following information; the price of the product, places where the cheese can be found that is the retail outlets, the quality of the product that differentiate it from other products of the competitors and the various sizes of the product which can be found in the shops. Promotional strategies are different at different stages of product life cycle. For instance at the introduction stage, promotion is done to create awareness of the product and attract new customers as well as maintaining the existing ones. 1.3 Place The selective distribution strategy will be used to distribute the product (Lehmann 2006). The product will be distributed through specific points. The main outlet will at the Sydney city which will serve the whole city. This strategy was chosen because the product is still growing and it does not have many customers. As the company grows bigger the channels of distribution will be adjusted to reach the wider geographical market. This channel of distribution also preferred because it will be able to meet specific demands of the customers conveniently by improving communication between the buyer and the company. This is because there are fewer middlemen hence the process of communication is faster. The needs of the customers or the buyers are to get quality products which will satisfy their needs (Lehmann 2006). They also need to get the product at their disposal by applying appropriate channels of distribution. In this case, the selective distribution strategy will help the firm to distribute the product to the customers to where the customers are. They will also be made aware where to find the product. With this selective distribution strategy, the quality of the product can be complied with because there is less handling of the product implying that there will be fewer damages that could have been caused by the many middlemen. Selective distribution strategy is faster therefore the product will be at the retail outlets conveniently. Finally, this distribution strategy ensures that the cost of cheese is low because many middlemen increase the cost of distribution which in turn is associated with the price of the product. Therefore this strategy helps the firm to reduce the cost of distribution hence the product costs low than those of the competitors. 1.4 Pricing strategy of Bega tasty cheese At this stage of the product life cycle, pricing will be done to target and attract customers because the firm does many customers as it is new in the market lasting only for eight months. Therefore the pricing strategy will be a customer oriented pricing strategy (Cohen 2005). In this strategy the customers are given the priority and are considered first in order for the firm to get customers. Customer oriented pricing strategy attracts many customers as well as retaining the existing ones. This is because buyers are always concerned with the price so as to maximize their income. On the other hand, customer oriented pricing strategy will help the firm to compete effectively for the market share. The price will be slightly lower than those of the competitors so that the buyers who are price conscious will be attracted to this firm. In this regard the firm will have a competitive advantage because of the pricing strategy (Cohen 2005). On the same note, the pricing of the product will differ according to the quantity of the product. Smaller quantities like 20 grams will be charged less and big quantities like 1kilogram will be charged the equivalent price to the quantity. Pricing also differs depending on the segment. High income earners segment will be charged higher than the low income earners for the same size of the product. This price discrimination will compensate for the expenses of promoting the product. Finally, the pricing will depend on a number of factors. During promotions, the prices of the product will be slightly lower than the market price (Blythe 2001). This aims at attracting customers. When the buyer makes order with the firm to produce a certain quantity of the product, the price will be lower than the market price reason being the customer gets quantity discount. The price also changes with according to the demographic factors. Customers of age between 10 years and 20 years will that is the school students who depend on their family for income will pay less for the product. This is in the case where the product is sold near schools. A.3 Competitive advantage of the product The marketing mix elements if critically applied can help the firm to have a competitive advantage (Blythe 2001). These elements are place, product, promotion and the price. The quality of the product will attract and retain more customers as the customers get the satisfaction they expected from the product. Quality can be enhanced when there is appropriate technology in use which encourages innovation and creativity of the product adding more attractive and valuable features to the product. These features can be unique to the competitors thus the firm will have a competitive advantage. Promotions of the product will lead to competitive advantage if well applied (Baker 2000). The promotional strategies should be able to reach a wide geographical area to reach many people. This will enable the organization to have a competitive advantage because the competitors’ promotional strategies which could not be reaching a big number of people. The promotional strategies should be cost effective so that they don’t add the cost of the product which will increase the price of the product than the competitors. The features of the product can be unique thus leading to competitive advantage. For example packaging of the product can be environmentally friendly so that it does not go bad easily. The competitors could be having products which are not environmentally friendly thus their products go bad fast and this will lead to the uniqueness of the product hence the buyers could like this firm’s products . A customer oriented pricing strategy also leads to competitive advantage. Customers are cost conscious hence they will go for quality but less costly products. This firm will enjoy the competitive advantage because its price is lower than those of the competitors and this attracts and retains the customers thus full competitive advantage is enjoyed. A.4 Assessment of the firm’s success The success of this firm depends on a number of items. First is the quality requirement of the product by the customers (Subhash 2000). This has been achieved because the firm has observed and maintained the quality of the product. The quality has been as a result of the appropriate technology used in the manufacture of the product. This technology has led to innovation and creativity which adds value to the product. The product promotions have also helped the firm to have a competitive advantage. The promotions have been done intensively and covered a wide geographical area creating awareness of the product to many buyers. The promotions have also been able to cut down the cost of the cheese because their communication strategies are not costly. They create awareness of the product without increasing the price much. The firm has been able to segment the target market into sections. This segmentation is helpful when pricing the product as well as manufacturing the quantities that is appropriate to each segment (Phillip & Gary 2006). Differentiating the market helps to market the product effectively. For example the quantities to be sold to high income and low income earners are different because of the money constraint. Finally, packaging of the cheese is appropriate to the customers. The packaging looks attractive to attract the attention of the customers. It is also able to maintain the quality of the product by not causing damage to the product. Bega tasty cheese has met all these requirements, hence there is a possibility of success. Conclusion There are significant effects of this research. For a firm which wants to improve its competitiveness in the market, it should observe all the marketing elements which are the product, the pricing of the product, its promotional strategies and the effective distribution of the product to the buyer’s disposal. These 4Ps are essential for the competitiveness of the firm. Appropriate application of these elements will help the firm improve its performance in the market as well as increasing its market share. Also market segmentation helps the firm to clearly define its customers and know how best to improve the needs of each segment. References Baker, M 2000, Marketing Management and Strategy, New York, Macmillan Business. Blythe, J 2001, Essentials of Marketing, London, Prentice Hall. Cohen, A 2005, The Marketing Plan, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Dev, S & Schultz, D 2005, Marketing Management, Journal of Marketing, Vol.14, No.2, p. 36-42. Ertimur, B & Venkatesh, A 2010, Opportunism in co-production: Implications for Value Co-creation, Australasian Marketing Journal, Vol.18, p. 256–263. Golder, P 2000, Insights from senior executives about innovation in international Markets, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 17, No. 5, pp 326-340. Hoyer, W.D & MacInnis, D. 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