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Marketing Management II

CASE XStanton Bleach

SECTION-B

SUBMITTED TO:PROF.SHYAMVYAS,PH.D. SUBMITTED BY:GROUP NO.-8

DUE DATE: 14/12/2010 SUBMITTED ON: 14/12/2010

(MEMBER DETAIL)

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Summary

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Questions and answers

Q1. What in your groups opinion should Stantons management really consider?

Suggest a strategy and also elaborate on - What are possible other strategy

alternatives?

Ans:Stantons management should mount an advertising campaign that educates the

consumer about the superiority of Clo-White over its competitors. Tell them the research

results and tell them that smell doesnt make any difference.They should go for Clo White

Plus but not by allowing aging to happen. In retaliation to Snowy- white, it would not be

prudent to follow the competitor rather Clo Whites should adopt position defence which

involves building superior brand power and making brand almost impregnable.

Strategy:

1. Companys strategy should be one of differentiation. The firm should seek quality leadershipby providing value to customer for their money.

Value delivery can be done by providing certain features as:

y Development of bleach in which labour is reduced and it is convenient to use for women withrelatively less domestic orientation.

y Providing a better quality of bleach by introducing new products.2. Use Of Fragrances:

If Stanton wants to compete in smell, it can use fragrances in bleach which give strong

fragrance and customers may be attracted towards the product.

2. What would be the short-versus long run effects of each strategy?

Ans:

Educating the consumer Strategy

This strategy might not be a huge success in the short run as it wont result in drastic changes

but have a long term effect and therefore will be a great strategy for the long run success of

the company.

Differentiation StrategyThis strategy can be proved effective in the long run if communicated to customer in a proper

way. As far as short time is concerned, it will not have much impact because it takes time for

message to reach to the customer.

FragranceThis, in short run, will definitely lure customers to buy the product under the new name but in

the long run, will break the customer bonding with the company due to deteriorated quality.

3. How important is this sense of smell - olfactory perception in the consumers

evaluation of bleach and other similar products? How easy (difficult) would it be for a

company to educate consumers about product characteristics that are contradictory

to their own perceptions of the product?

Ans:Olfactory perception is very important in the consumers evaluation of the bleach andsimilar products. A strong smell will often give a perception of a strong, good quality

product. Consumers can evaluate a product along several levels. Its basic characteristics are

inherent to the generic version of the product and are defined as the fundamental advantages

it can offer to a customer. The purchasing behaviour of bleach and related products is highly

affected by the odour associated with the products. For bleaches, a strong odour signifies the

strength of the products in removing stains and whitening clothes. Similarly in the case of

products like detergents, the fragrances have an impact on the consumers perception

regarding them.

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Difficulty in educating consumers:

y Changing the consumers perception is a challenging task, especially when reaching out toall the people is difficult.

y People like to believe that their behaviour is rational; thus, once they use our products,chances are that they will continue unless someone is able to get them to switch.

y Products and consumer perceptions are variable, so changes in strategy may be required tobetter address customer needs, technological developments, new laws and regulations, and

the overall product life-cycle.

y Although attempting to change beliefs is the obvious way to attempt attitude change,particularly when consumers hold unfavourable or inaccurate ones, this is often difficult to

achieve because consumers tend to resist.

4. Is Mr. Lawrences suggestion unethical? Or is he right in suggesting that the

company should be giving to consumers what they want ?

Ans: In the above case customers want strongest bleach on the market and that they are

willing to pay at least the competitive price for it, but on the other hand they relate the smell

of the bleach to its strength which is not right. It would be difficult to take a stand on whether

or not Mr Lawrences suggestion is ethical or not.On one hand the question, "does one give what customers want? would entice the manager to

give an answer as yes. After all, the customer is always right, but we feel the company

should take this decision only if their potential customers really know what they want.

Further we feel What isnt necessarily the right question.

If one implements the what without knowing the why, then one risk missing the targetbig time. One of the best ways to implement and ensure the proper establishment of ethical

business practices is as a top down program. Those at the top of a company are often seenas professional role models for other employees, and if they are acting in a way that is

unethical, many lower level employees will follow suit.

5. Is it true that marketers need to resolve many ethical dilemmas on way to marketing

success? Do ethics pay in the long run? What does your group think looking at what

would work in Indian scenario!!

Ans:The increased public awareness has made consumers more conscious about the world

around them. Consumers are becoming more demanding each day and with the plethora of

choices available to them, they are more aware than ever before.

Yes it is true that marketers need to resolve many ethical dilemmas on way to marketing

success. Some of the ethical dilemmas are -

(1)Various advertising that are misleading to consumers.(2)The ethics related to direct marketing is another concern of marketing departments.(3)Another dilemma is the marketing of harmful products-for example, tobacco and fast

food.

Ethics do pay in the long run as only if an organization is able to maintain a relation of trust

with its customers, will it be able to retain them and thus grow and prosper. Once the trustwith customers is developed with customers the company can expect to have loyal customers.

The brand of the company becomes strong. This will result in the long term success for the

company.

6. Draw upon your group MM-II project and state whether the major players are really

ethical. Please describe any major instances of unethical behavior by Indian

corporations / business leaders from recent (last three years time-frame). Class

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should be apprised of what the scene was, and why you consider the behavior / action by

company / business leader as unethical.

Ans.The company chosen by our group is BPCL which operates in petroleum sector. The major

players in this sector are:

Unethical behaviour by Coca-Cola:

Kaladera (Rajasthan) lies in an overexploited groundwater area and access to water has been

difficult. Summers are particularly intense in the area, and summers are when water shortages

are most acute. The Coca-Cola Company has continued to operate its bottling plant in

Kaladera in Jaipur, India even as the area has been declared a drought area last summer and

the groundwater levels are falling sharply leaving the largely agrarian community with

severely restricted access to water. Ironically, summer months are also when Coca-Cola

reaches its peak production, and it is in the summer months that the Coca-Cola bottling plant

in Kaladera extracts the most water, making already existing water shortages evenworse.With facts in hand, the Coca-Cola Company has chosen to continue its operations,

knowingly contributing to the misery of thousands of people.

Coca Cola is considered unethical because of following points:-

y Prior to locating a bottling plant in Kaladera, Coca-Cola is supposed to have conducted anEnvironmental Impact Assessment that looks at a variety of current conditions and

potential impacts if the plant is built and operated.

y In reaching out to the media and the public regarding the scathing TERI assessment, theCoca-Cola Company has misrepresented the facts on several occasions.

RELATIONSHIPTO CONCEPTS

Differentiation: This is done in order to demonstrate the unique aspects of a firm's product

and create a sense of value.Company should establish leadership by differentiation in the

bleach.

Value Delivery: The way customer will be provided value with.

Position Defence: Position defence is a static defence of a current position, retaining current

product markets by consolidating resources within existing areas. Stanton should go forposition defence by building strong brand power.

Segmentation: Segmentation among domestic and relatively less domestic oriented womenand working men.

Brand Extension: This has been the cause of concern for the company to launch product

with the suffix plus of the same name.