Palm Computing appears to be the first to have gotten it "right" in the PDA (personal digital assistant) market. Palm Computing has designed a radically new product which will appeal to certain market segments. However, it is unclear how Palm Computing will fare against industry giant, Microsoft.
Efi Arazi, the president of a start-up called Imedia, must determine an appropriate pricing strategy for an innovation that will change the basis of competition in the cable TV industry.
Andrea Silbert is founder of the Center for Women & Enterprise, a nonprofit with a mission to empower women to become economically self-sufficient and prosperous through entrepreneurship. She must select a new senior sales executive, decide how to share responsibilities, and decide how to pick the best prospective funding sources.
GO faces a crisis in March 1991 when Microsoft announces the introduction of a competing operating system for pen-based computers. GO's managers must work with its venture financers, Kleiner Perkins, to redesign its financing, alliance, and product development strategies.
Erox Corp. is a biotechnology start-up that creates products containing synthetic human pheromones. It was founded in 1989, went public in 1993, and brought in a turnaround team in 1994. Sales ramped from $110,000 in 1993 to over $1 million in 1994, with prospects for continued hypergrowth. Pheromones are odorless biochemical cues secreted by people and animals to influence the behavior of others of the same species. Biotechnologists have discovered human pheromones, and Erox has patents protecting its use of synthetic human pheromones for men and women in cosmetic products such as perfumes, colognes, and body lotions. Realm is preparing a national U.S. retail launch of its fragrance product lines: Real for women and Realm for Men. Michael Stern, VP marketing and sales, has developed a successful direct-marketing campaign using a 30-minute infomercial. His challenge is to develop a leveraged marketing communications campaign to support the launch of Realm in Bloomingdales.
Identifies the elements of marketing strategy and introduces frameworks for strategic marketing decisions. The frameworks deal with market definition and selection, positioning and differentiation, and market entry/exit decisions. Other topics discussed include selecting and articulating the marketing vision and values, anticipating and responding to competitors' marketing strategies, and determining the appropriate degrees of flexibility and focus in marketing strategy formulation.
An introductory note for MBA students on the nature of marketing and topics encountered in its study. Defines the topic then breaks marketing into two major conceptual pieces--the tools, tasks and variables of the marketer, and the marketing process. In the tools piece, promotion (advertising and selling primarily), pricing, distribution, and product policy are considered. In the processes one, situation analysis, strategy formulation, planning, organizing, budgeting, marketing implementation, and marketing performance analysis are introduced. The intent is to give the beginning MBA student an overview of both the discipline and the major topics involved in its study. The organization proposed captures in large measure the design of the First Year Marketing course at the Harvard Business School as well as the organization of the book Marketing Management by the authors of this note.
Introduces learning by the case method, with application to marketing learning. Places case learning in the stream of experiential learning and explains the advantages and disadvantages of experiential learning methods. Turning to case learning specifically, the note discusses the nature of cases, their construction using a physician-patient analogy, why companies cooperate with case writers, how cases are analyzed, the role of the case teacher, and the beneficial effects of successful case study. Concludes with some preparation guidelines for students and instructors and gives sources for further reading.
Provides a framework for assessing and enhancing an organization's reputation. Points out two dimensions of a corporate image--visibility and credibility. Discusses several critical issues that must be addressed in building an image. Finally, provides an assessment of how well various marketing tactics build visibility and credibility. Based on observations of corporate positioning issues in five industries: management consulting, public accounting, computer hardware, computer software, and systems integration.
Reveals that Vicks chose a multi-condition positioning for the product. Describes testing of name and concept, and extensively reports on a four-city test market. Students are expected to evaluate both the design and results of the test, and face options ranging from termination to going national. A rewritten version of two earlier cases by J.R. Williams under the supervision of G.S. Yip.
Microsoft must decide how to design a new software product for global markets, identify the timing for entry into different countries, and position the product around the world.
Intended to demystify the notion of high-tech marketing. Its first objective is to clarify the definition of high-tech marketing. Second, it provides a new framework for evaluating the question: "How is high-tech marketing different from traditional marketing practice?" Third, it discusses the implications of these differences--where they exist--for marketers in high-tech settings. Finally, it identifies some important marketing concepts often overlooked in all the hoopla about high-tech.
Manac Systems International is confronting a decision about how best to market one of its computer software product lines to small law firms. In the past, Manac has focused on traditional personal selling approaches to market software products that ran on IBM minicomputers. With the advent of increasingly powerful microcomputers, they now have the opportunity to market a new software product line and must decide how to market it. Should they rely on personal selling in the channels or invest heavily in a different marketing program, with advertising, a toll-free telephone line, and a money-back guarantee to get small law firms to order the software direct from Manac?