E1模擬題參考答案（四）.
Requirement (2)
The new Chief Executive has promised to implement a fundamental review of operations based upon 'sound marketing principles'. There are various aspects of H345’s marketing operations that might usefully be considered. Five are identified here.
H345’s philosophy
One marketing analyst has commented that H345 needs to reconnect with its traditional customers. This suggests that H345 has 'lost touch' with its customers; something that would never happen to an organisation that had truly adopted a marketing philosophy. It may be that H345 is concentrating too much on ‘selling’, instead of finding out what the customer wants and being marketing orientated. If this is the case, H345 is trying to sell whatever items it happens to have in stock. Sales orientated organisations are so-called because of their aggressive selling, advertising and sales promotions. But selling is not marketing. Marketing involves a company attempting to supply what the customer wants rather than getting the customer to accept what is supplied. In order to become customer led, H345 needs to adopt a marketing philosophy. This will involve several key changes to the way it conducts its business; the first and most important is for the company to focus on the needs of its customers.
Marketing cannot be left just to H345’s marketing department. It requires all employees and stakeholders to adopt the same marketing philosophy if H345 is to succeed. This customer-led focus should, in fact, permeate every part of H345’s operation through production, packaging and merchandising so that at all times the needs of the customer are kept in focus. This means, for instance, that H345’s designers must take note of customer opinions and seek to design clothing that meets their needs, wants and preferences. Similarly, H345’s suppliers need to recognise the need to sell clothing at a price the customer can afford to pay.
There is an interconnection between a number of marketing processes. Market research leads to segmentation and targeting of a segment or segments using an appropriate marketing mix.
H345’s understanding of its customers and currency of its market research. Market research involves a systematic gathering, recording and analysing of information about a market including existing and potential customers. Market research might involve a number of collection methods including (possibly web-based) desk based research, focus groups and surveys of some kind (e.g. telephone, face to face, or postal), etc. Nowadays there is relatively easy access to information on demographic, socio-economic and geographic location factors. The use of lifestyle, motives and personality are also seen as important factors.
The implications of the case are that H345 no longer understands its customers and hence has 'lost touch'. H345 needs to understand age, income, gender profiles and educational level of those in the target market as well as their preferences for product features and their attitudes towards competitors’ products. In order for H345 to identify the needs of potential customers and how these needs can be satisfied there is likely to be a need for reliable market research. Although there will be costs associated with market research these should be outweighed by the advantages derived from the wealth of information gained. Only when these insights into customers are known can H345 confidently develop and sell an appropriate range of clothing.
H345’s approach to segmentation and targeting. Market segmentation is the process of dividing the market into similar groups with common characteristics. Targeting involves a further stage whereby choices are made over segments that will be aimed for. The way in which H345 currently segments its market is therefore of some significance. Although there is no single best way of segmenting a market, it is worthwhile considering whether H345 is catering for the most appropriate and fruitful segment(s) of the market or not.
Some of the most common bases for segmenting the market for clothing include gender (males and females wear different styles and items of clothing), age (it is common to see clothing displayed separately for children, young teenagers, older teenagers, mature adults, etc.) and income. Segmentation leads naturally to targeting (selecting the most lucrative market segments) and developing a marketing 'mix' for aligning products to that target market (positioning).
H345’s marketing mix. The basic 'marketing mix' of product, place, promotion and price explains the set of marketing decisions that must be balanced to achieve maximum impact on a target market segment. H345 will need to make use of the marketing mix to develop a blend that precisely matches the needs of the potential customers in the target market. Clearly H345’s fundamental review should consider the appropriateness of existing marketing mixes for the segments targeted.
The aim of the mix is to satisfy consumers' needs and wants in a precise fashion. The basic marketing mix matches needs through variables of product, place, promotion and price. Increasingly, 'people' are becoming the fifth component particularly for organisations such as H345 and the extended marketing mix can also include physical evidence. These components are called marketing mix decision variables because a marketing manager must decide how to create and maintain a marketing mix that satisfies consumers’ needs.
Marketing mix variables are often viewed as controllable because they can be changed by the organisations themselves. For H345 however there are practical limits to the degree to which these variables can be altered because changes in sizes, colours, shapes and designs of most tangible goods like clothing are expensive. Nevertheless, in a world of rapidly changing fashion, there is a need to make changes quickly to meet changing customer needs, wants and attitudes.
H345’s understanding of its performance relative to its competitors
A great potential for any company to exploit lies in meeting customer needs that have not been met by the competition. It follows that market intelligence should include competitors’ products so that H345 knows exactly what is on offer in the market place and what 'gaps' (if any) exist for possible exploitation. The new Chief Executive will want to be confident that H345 understands all its competitors in order to align its marketing strategies accordingly. Recently however, H345 has dramatically lost market share to new competitors and it may be that H345 knows its traditional competitors but has been 'blind sighted' by these new entrants to the market. These new competitors may be competing on a different basis to other players including H345. In order for H345 to understand its performance in context it will need to understand its opposition through robust market research and systematic competitor benchmarking. H345 can then use this kind of information as a basis for possible improvements to the design of its products, customer service, and means of display, etc.
Requirement (3)
The new Chief Executive is critical of the attitude and abilities of some of H345’s workforce and has promised to 'get the people issues right'. Several Human Resource (HR) activities could be strengthened in order to overcome apparent difficulties and develop the abilities of its employees.
HR policies, systems and documentation
The absence of consistent, well thought out HR policies, systems and documentation can contribute to failings in the control and direction of a workforce. Worthwhile job descriptions, person specifications and a need for effective forms and records supporting appraisal and performance management systems are obvious areas for H345 to review and strengthen.
Inappropriate workforce attitude and abilities might in part be a product of faulty recruitment and selection activities.
• Recruitment. The likely outcome of faulty recruitment is that the pool of potential candidates from which H345 makes a choice may be unduly limited or fails to capture potentially worthwhile candidates. A more robust recruitment policy would involve a clear focus on the experience and qualifications required of a H345 employee and a clear view of where potential candidates might best be made aware of job opportunities.
• Selection. Rather than the failings in recruitment, the HR difficulty may instead be down to faulty selection processes. Ineffective interviewing processes and/or technique, and/or a failure to check references may be at the heart of the issue. The likely outcomes of a faulty selection process include rejecting applicants who would have been suitable and employing people who turn out to be unsuitable. This could contribute to an organisation under performing overall, as is the case with H345.
Performance management
Performance management is vital when considering workforce productivity and goal congruence. If performance management within H345 is deficient then this can lead to the difficulties identified by the Chief Executive. Performance management includes effective target setting, performance appraisal and policies to address poor performance and achieve corrective behaviour.
Training
H345 should ensure that its workforce is given appropriate training and support. If training is inadequate then it can manifest itself in skills gaps and poorly motivated staff, which in turn can lead to poor customer care and concerns such as the type expressed by the new Chief Executive. Two specific examples are given below as areas of training that might be strengthened in the future:
• Customer care training. Employees, particularly in the retail outlets, can influence buyer behavior either positively or negatively. This is particularly important for H345 because a critical influence on customer choice is the type and quality of service that a customer receives. H345 should invest in staff training so that those who deal directly with customers such as sales assistants can help foster and strengthen customer loyalty. Helpful sales assistants engender trust and are able to make recommendations to customers.
• Internal marketing. All employees need to understand what the H345 brand means, its associated values, what it stands for, etc. and, importantly, buy into this philosophy. H345 should ensure that a re-launched brand is marketed 'internally' as well as externally so that the whole organisation shares this common understanding.
