In March 2009, Steve Fowler, vice president of strategy and client service at full-service advertising agency Ayzenberg, had just completed what he considered to be one of the most innovative campaigns he had ever handled. Capcom, a leader in the video gaming industry, had just launched Resident Evil® 5 (RE5), the latest release of one of the industry's most valuable game franchises. RE5, a powerful asset with a passionate fan base, had warranted the use of an online viral, or word-of-mouth (WOM), campaign for its worldwide game launch. Although the creative work and appropriate media for the RE5 launch had been meticulously planned, Fowler was also interested in measuring the effectiveness of the campaign to better serve his client. In the past, measuring WOM was practically impossible. However, a software company named Meteor Solutions had found a way to do exactly that. Fowler and his team had worked with Meteor to execute several campaigns for other clients, but he had never applied Meteor tools on such a large scale. Fowler knew Capcom would want to hear specific WOM figures. What was the return on investment for the RE5 campaign and the implications for future campaigns? Had the Meteor tools provided comprehensive and actionable information, or was more work needed before these solutions could be widely used in advertising?

A small cancer diagnostics start-up is deciding whether to acquire a laboratory to make and sell its bladder cancer test or build its own manufacturing and sales team.

Aardvark is an online social search service that allows users to pose questions and receive answers from other users in their extended social network. The case explores the process that Aardvark's founders used to design and develop their product based on intensive customer feedback.

This note combines vignettes and scholarly research to outline the cognitive biases and decision-making strategies that influence key decisions in the founding process. It is argued that the same biases which provide early benefits can later prove to be a weakness for the startup, and that founders must learn to identify their biases and work to balance them out with sound advice and dispassionate analysis.

Building a Marketing Plan: A Complete Guide is a 10-chapter book written by three marketing faculty at Central Queensland University, Australia: Ho Yin Wong, senior lecturer, Kylie Radel, lecturer, and Roshnee Ramsaran-Fowdar, senior lecturer. The book was written to provide both marketing students and business professionals with a comprehensive and practical framework for developing a marketing plan. Drawing together theoretical concepts, strategic thinking processes, and recent research findings, the text helps the reader conduct in-depth situational analyses, develop a deep understanding of target markets, set measurable and timely marketing objectives, develop a series of marketing strategies based on four key elements of marketing, and ensure that appropriate implementation and control mechanisms have been considered. To show how to apply the marketing planning framework discussed in chapters 2-10, the authors provide a comprehensive example in the appendix. Chapter 1 introduces marketing planning: a process leading to an understanding of an organization's position in the market and a series of marketing decisions and actions to achieve an organization's goals within a time frame. Marketing planning and its role within organization, the benefits and barriers of marketing planning, and the four major steps of the marketing planning process and its key components, including the 4P's, are discussed.

Building a Marketing Plan: A Complete Guide is a 10-chapter book written by three marketing faculty at Central Queensland University, Australia: Ho Yin Wong, senior lecturer, Kylie Radel, lecturer, and Roshnee Ramsaran-Fowdar, senior lecturer. The book was written to provide both marketing students and business professionals with a comprehensive and practical framework for developing a marketing plan. Drawing together theoretical concepts, strategic thinking processes, and recent research findings, the text helps the reader conduct in-depth situational analyses, develop a deep understanding of target markets, set measurable and timely marketing objectives, develop a series of marketing strategies based on four key elements of marketing, and ensure that appropriate implementation and control mechanisms have been considered. To show how to apply the marketing planning framework discussed in chapters 2-10, the authors provide a comprehensive example in the appendix. Chapter 2 explores situational analysis, or what is happening currently in the dynamic internal and external environments in which an organization operates. The components of an industry analysis are discussed, as are five main macro-level environmental forces impacting marketing planning: the PEST (political, economic, social, technological) and natural environment analysis. The elements of the internal audit - an analysis of the organization itself through its marketing goals and objectives, organizational resources, and internal structure and culture - are then explored. The chapter concludes with the most important stage of the situational analysis: the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, where the findings of the situational analysis are summarized.

Building a Marketing Plan: A Complete Guide is a 10-chapter book written by three marketing faculty at Central Queensland University, Australia: Ho Yin Wong, senior lecturer, Kylie Radel, lecturer, and Roshnee Ramsaran-Fowdar, senior lecturer. The book was written to provide both marketing students and business professionals with a comprehensive and practical framework for developing a marketing plan. Drawing together theoretical concepts, strategic thinking processes, and recent research findings, the text helps the reader conduct in-depth situational analyses, develop a deep understanding of target markets, set measurable and timely marketing objectives, develop a series of marketing strategies based on four key elements of marketing, and ensure that appropriate implementation and control mechanisms have been considered. To show how to apply the marketing planning framework discussed in chapters 2-10, the authors provide a comprehensive example in the appendix. Chapter 3 examines the fundamentals of marketing research: a process used to identify the needs of consumers, types of consumers, and consumer buying behavior in the target market. Strategies for planning effective market research, developing research designs to collect and analyze information, implementing a continuous information process, and building marketing intelligence are discussed.

Building a Marketing Plan: A Complete Guide is a 10-chapter book written by three marketing faculty at Central Queensland University, Australia: Ho Yin Wong, senior lecturer, Kylie Radel, lecturer, and Roshnee Ramsaran-Fowdar, senior lecturer. The book was written to provide both marketing students and business professionals with a comprehensive and practical framework for developing a marketing plan. Drawing together theoretical concepts, strategic thinking processes, and recent research findings, the text helps the reader conduct in-depth situational analyses, develop a deep understanding of target markets, set measurable and timely marketing objectives, develop a series of marketing strategies based on four key elements of marketing, and ensure that appropriate implementation and control mechanisms have been considered. To show how to apply the marketing planning framework discussed in chapters 2-10, the authors provide a comprehensive example in the appendix. In Chapter 4, the authors, building upon the marketing research strategies devised in Chapter 3, first explore concepts used to understand consumer behaviors and motivations: factors influencing consumer buying behavior, high- vs. low-involvement purchases, and consumer buying roles. The remaining key elements of target marketing are then examined: market segmentation, market targeting strategies, and market positioning strategies.

Building a Marketing Plan: A Complete Guide is a 10-chapter book written by three marketing faculty at Central Queensland University, Australia: Ho Yin Wong, senior lecturer, Kylie Radel, lecturer, and Roshnee Ramsaran-Fowdar, senior lecturer. The book was written to provide both marketing students and business professionals with a comprehensive and practical framework for developing a marketing plan. Drawing together theoretical concepts, strategic thinking processes, and recent research findings, the text helps the reader conduct in-depth situational analyses, develop a deep understanding of target markets, set measurable and timely marketing objectives, develop a series of marketing strategies based on four key elements of marketing, and ensure that appropriate implementation and control mechanisms have been considered. To show how to apply the marketing planning framework discussed in chapters 2-10, the authors provide a comprehensive example in the appendix. Chapter 5 examines the role that marketing objectives play within the larger organizational strategic plan. The chapter first provides an overview of the components of effective marketing objectives. Next, it discusses methods for formulating marketing objectives by utilizing the Boston Consulting Group product portfolio mix, the Ansoff product-market matrix, the concept of competitive advantage, and the SMART approach to setting objectives. Then, examples of different types of marketing objectives from a variety of different products are introduced. Finally, the chapter covers the implementation of different marketing objectives.

Building a Marketing Plan: A Complete Guide is a 10-chapter book written by three marketing faculty at Central Queensland University, Australia: Ho Yin Wong, senior lecturer, Kylie Radel, lecturer, and Roshnee Ramsaran-Fowdar, senior lecturer. The book was written to provide both marketing students and business professionals with a comprehensive and practical framework for developing a marketing plan. Drawing together theoretical concepts, strategic thinking processes, and recent research findings, the text helps the reader conduct in-depth situational analyses, develop a deep understanding of target markets, set measurable and timely marketing objectives, develop a series of marketing strategies based on four key elements of marketing, and ensure that appropriate implementation and control mechanisms have been considered. To show how to apply the marketing planning framework discussed in chapters 2-10, the authors provide a comprehensive example in the appendix. In Chapter 6, the authors explore essential strategies methods for introducing and managing products and brands. The authors discuss the five-stages of the product life-cycle as well as the strategic implementations of each particular stage. Next, the six-step process of developing new products is explored. Product line breadth and depth and product positioning and repositioning are then considered. Finally, packaging and branding strategy are examined.

Building a Marketing Plan: A Complete Guide is a 10-chapter book written by three marketing faculty at Central Queensland University, Australia: Ho Yin Wong, senior lecturer, Kylie Radel, lecturer, and Roshnee Ramsaran-Fowdar, senior lecturer. The book was written to provide both marketing students and business professionals with a comprehensive and practical framework for developing a marketing plan. Drawing together theoretical concepts, strategic thinking processes, and recent research findings, the text helps the reader conduct in-depth situational analyses, develop a deep understanding of target markets, set measurable and timely marketing objectives, develop a series of marketing strategies based on four key elements of marketing, and ensure that appropriate implementation and control mechanisms have been considered. To show how to apply the marketing planning framework discussed in chapters 2-10, the authors provide a comprehensive example in the appendix. Chapter 7 examines strategies to consider when preparing a pricing plan. Internal and external factors affecting pricing decisions are discussed, including buyer's perceptions of price and value, competition, and demand and price elasticity. Five general pricing approaches are explored in detail: cost-based, demand-based, competition-based, channel-based, and product mix-based. Internet pricing is then discussed, as are methods for developing a pricing plan.

Building a Marketing Plan: A Complete Guide is a 10-chapter book written by three marketing faculty at Central Queensland University, Australia: Ho Yin Wong, senior lecturer, Kylie Radel, lecturer, and Roshnee Ramsaran-Fowdar, senior lecturer. The book was written to provide both marketing students and business professionals with a comprehensive and practical framework for developing a marketing plan. Drawing together theoretical concepts, strategic thinking processes, and recent research findings, the text helps the reader conduct in-depth situational analyses, develop a deep understanding of target markets, set measurable and timely marketing objectives, develop a series of marketing strategies based on four key elements of marketing, and ensure that appropriate implementation and control mechanisms have been considered. To show how to apply the marketing planning framework discussed in chapters 2-10, the authors provide a comprehensive example in the appendix. In Chapter 8 the authors discuss the necessity of integrated marketing communications (IMC), which aim to ensure a clear, consistent, distinct, and coordinated marketing message to target audiences. The essential elements of the promotion mix, a set of tools used for marketing communication purposes, and their strengths and weaknesses is examined. Factors to consider when determining the IMC mix and questions concerning IMC strategy are then explored

Building a Marketing Plan: A Complete Guide is a 10-chapter book written by three marketing faculty at Central Queensland University, Australia: Ho Yin Wong, senior lecturer, Kylie Radel, lecturer, and Roshnee Ramsaran-Fowdar, senior lecturer. The book was written to provide both marketing students and business professionals with a comprehensive and practical framework for developing a marketing plan. Drawing together theoretical concepts, strategic thinking processes, and recent research findings, the text helps the reader conduct in-depth situational analyses, develop a deep understanding of target markets, set measurable and timely marketing objectives, develop a series of marketing strategies based on four key elements of marketing, and ensure that appropriate implementation and control mechanisms have been considered. To show how to apply the marketing planning framework discussed in chapters 2-10, the authors provide a comprehensive example in the appendix. Chapter 9 explores the factors and issues concerned with managing the marketing value chain: a series of activities involving all members - directly or indirectly - to procure materials, process the materials, and distribute the finished products with an aim of fulfilling customers' needs. Strategies for designing efficient distribution channels and planning competitive market logistics (order processing, warehousing, inventory management, materials handling, packaging and unitization, and transportation) are each thoroughly examined.

Building a Marketing Plan: A Complete Guide is a 10-chapter book written by three marketing faculty at Central Queensland University, Australia: Ho Yin Wong, senior lecturer, Kylie Radel, lecturer, and Roshnee Ramsaran-Fowdar, senior lecturer. The book was written to provide both marketing students and business professionals with a comprehensive and practical framework for developing a marketing plan. Drawing together theoretical concepts, strategic thinking processes, and recent research findings, the text helps the reader conduct in-depth situational analyses, develop a deep understanding of target markets, set measurable and timely marketing objectives, develop a series of marketing strategies based on four key elements of marketing, and ensure that appropriate implementation and control mechanisms have been considered. To show how to apply the marketing planning framework discussed in chapters 2-10, the authors provide a comprehensive example in the appendix. Chapter 10 explores two practical action areas that help to ensure marketing strategies are carried out effectively to achieve the marketers' stated objectives. First the authors discuss issues concerning marketing implementation - the aspects of organizational structure and behavior that determine how a given strategy is carried out - using a comprehensive scheme developed by McKinsey consultants called the Seven S (7S) framework. Second, the authors explain the key steps in developing a basic control process whereby marketers monitor the performance of marketing strategies on an ongoing basis.

Building a Marketing Plan: A Complete Guide is a 10-chapter book written by three marketing faculty at Central Queensland University, Australia: Ho Yin Wong, senior lecturer, Kylie Radel, lecturer, and Roshnee Ramsaran-Fowdar, senior lecturer. The book was written to provide both marketing students and business professionals with a comprehensive and practical framework for developing a marketing plan. Drawing together theoretical concepts, strategic thinking processes, and recent research findings, the text helps the reader conduct in-depth situational analyses, develop a deep understanding of target markets, set measurable and timely marketing objectives, develop a series of marketing strategies based on four key elements of marketing, and ensure that appropriate implementation and control mechanisms have been considered. To show how to apply the marketing planning framework discussed in chapters 2-10, the authors provide a comprehensive example in the appendix. The appendix is offered as a comprehensive case study utilizing the marketing planning framework discussed in chapters 2 - 10. The case first examines the fictitious Pindari Boomerang Factory's business model and corporate goals. It then applies the major topics discussed throughout the text: external PEST analysis, competitive analysis, target markets and consumer behavior, internal analysis, SWOT analysis, and a strategic decision analysis. Finally, utilizing these analyses, the case outlines specific marketing strategies based on the corporation's overall direction, mission, and goals.

Supply Chain Information Technology is a seven-chapter book written by David L. Olson, the James & H.K. Stuart Professor in Management Information Systems and Chancellor's Professor at the University of Nebraska, and published by Business Expert Press in January of 2011. Written for both students of and business professionals in the supply chain management field, the text examines the influence of computer technology systems on supply chain management and how these systems provide supply chains with information support. In addition to surveying the systems available that are used by business to give supply chains this information system support, the author demonstrates the design of these systems, and the tasks they perform, with the help of analytic techniques and models. Chapter 1 introduces the basics of supply chain management, the key processes involved, and the various types of information systems available to support these processes, including Materials Requirements Planning (MRP), Advanced Planning Systems (APS), and Enterprise Requirements Planning (ERP). The chapter emphasizes ERP, its history and objectives, pros and cons, and reasons for implementation. Online marketplace software is also briefly discussed.

Supply Chain Information Technology is a seven-chapter book written by David L. Olson, the James & H.K. Stuart Professor in Management Information Systems and Chancellor's Professor at the University of Nebraska, and published by Business Expert Press in January of 2011. Written for both students of and business professionals in the supply chain management field, the text examines the influence of computer technology systems on supply chain management and how these systems provide supply chains with information support. In addition to surveying the systems available that are used by business to give supply chains this information system support, the author demonstrates the design of these systems, and the tasks they perform, with the help of analytic techniques and models. Chapter 2 discusses in more detail the key supply chain process of Materials Requirements Planning (MRP) and its relationship to the Enterprise Requirements Planning (ERP) systems. Software options, or modules, of ERP systems and their relative uses are discussed, and the MRP system is examined through a detailed example. The relationship between Advanced Planning Systems (APS) modules and ERP is briefly discussed and a case study is included to highlight some of what an APS does and how it can enable better management of a supply chain.

Supply Chain Information Technology is a seven-chapter book written by David L. Olson, the James & H.K. Stuart Professor in Management Information Systems and Chancellor's Professor at the University of Nebraska, and published by Business Expert Press in January of 2011. Written for both students of and business professionals in the supply chain management field, the text examines the influence of computer technology systems on supply chain management and how these systems provide supply chains with information support. In addition to surveying the systems available that are used by business to give supply chains this information system support, the author demonstrates the design of these systems, and the tasks they perform, with the help of analytic techniques and models. In Chapter 3 the author discusses optional forms of supply chain information system software, or modules, in greater detail. Other topics include: outsourcing supply chain management software, open-source supply chain software, and a comparison of various supply chain management software sources. The chapter is concluded with a case study of a small organization's experience in obtaining inexpensive software support for their made-to-order planning operation.

Supply Chain Information Technology is a seven-chapter book written by David L. Olson, the James & H.K. Stuart Professor in Management Information Systems and Chancellor's Professor at the University of Nebraska, and published by Business Expert Press in January of 2011. Written for both students of and business professionals in the supply chain management field, the text examines the influence of rapidly growing computer technology systems on supply chain management and how these systems provide supply chains with information support. In addition to surveying the systems available that are used by business to give supply chains this information system support, the author demonstrates the design of these systems, and the tasks they perform, with the help of analytic techniques and models. Chapter 4 explores the relationship between business process reengineering (BPR) -- an approach to redesigning the way a firm operates with the goal of maximizing its value-added inputs - and supply chain management software solutions. Key concepts and best practices are discussed. Two basic methods of implementing BPR are examined: clean-slate reengineering and technology-enabled reengineering. The chapter concludes with a case study demonstrating the role of BRP in extensive software implementations.

Supply Chain Information Technology is a seven-chapter book written by David L. Olson, the James & H.K. Stuart Professor in Management Information Systems and Chancellor's Professor at the University of Nebraska, and published by Business Expert Press in January of 2011. Written for both students of and business professionals in the supply chain management field, the text examines the influence of rapidly growing computer technology systems on supply chain management and how these systems provide supply chains with information support. In addition to surveying the systems available that are used by business to give supply chains this information system support, the author demonstrates the design of these systems, and the tasks they perform, with the help of analytic techniques and models. Chapter 5 examines the costs that arise when implementing supply chain management (SCM) software and demonstrates the methods used to evaluate SCM software proposals, including: cost-benefit analysis, net present value calculation, payback, sensitivity analysis, value analysis, and the SMART analysis for multiple criteria decision analyses.