1. Overview of your organization and the industry in which it operates
a. Include your strategic goals, vision, and mission and any brand values or ‘slogans’ that the organization uses internally/ externally
The name of the company is Nutritious Food Company, operating in the foods and beverages industry. The company was established in the year 2005 and comprises of six branches located in six major towns of the State of American Arab Emirate. The objective of the company is to provide food and catering services, offering both traditional and modern foods. The company also offers catering services for occasions such as weddings across the state. The company has a total of 1350 experienced employees who provides both the inside and outside catering services. The company aims at attaining a 50% expansion rate by the end of the year and creating a stable customer base that will promote its expansion. The logo of Nutritious Food Company is shown below:
b. Mission
c. Vision
The vision statement of the company is designed to highlight the major objectives and goals of the company. The statement is ‘to provide excellent catering services, delicious and affordable meals to our highly esteemed clients.’ The vision statement is used as a guide towards the achievement of the company strategic plan and also highlights the core values and the nature of the company to the public .
d. Values
The core values aid in decision making, educate the clients and potential customers about the company, provides a competitive advantage and provides the code of conduct that would help in achieving the vision and goals of the company . The values are excellence in service, integrity and honesty, and safety, accountability, continuous improvement, professionalism and team work. The details relating to these values are explained below.
Excellent in service: We are led by the desire to provide excellent catering service in the attempt to enhance the satisfaction of our customers.
Integrity and honesty: Our company actions are guided by strong ethical standards
Quality and safety: We aim at providing high-quality services and enhancing safety for our clients and the environment.
Accountability: Our employees are held accountable for the duties and responsibilities assigned to them in the course of performing their work.
Continuous improvement: We strive to improve continually in terms of our services and technology wise.
Professionalism: We are determined to ensure professionalism in all our activities
Teamwork: We value teamwork, and we are determined to work together as a team in achievement of our set goals and objectives
b. Briefly describe the products/services offered. Introduce your brand and what it means (its role) for your marketing strategy.
Nutritious Food Company was established to cater for the growing catering needs in the food and beverages industry. The company provides professional catering services for events such as parties and weddings. The company also provides food and accommodation services in the six restaurants located in different parts of the country. In the attempt to expand its services, the company is also establishing a baking department, which will be responsible for providing bakery services to our clients. The company is also developing an idea to establish a subsidiary company, which will be responsible for distributing groceries to our customers and other restaurants on both the retail and wholesale basis. The company is using the establishment of departments and subsidiaries as a marketing strategy to make their products (Anderson et al. 37). The products sold in the baking department are branded the company name, which is an effective marketing strategy.
c. Discuss the organization’s approaches/ orientations to the market place.
Market orientation refers to the philosophy that the company develops in the attempt to meet the needs of their customers and improve competitiveness . The orientations of the company are designed to improve the market coordination between the customers, potential customers and the company. The company applies three market orientation methods, that is, marketing concept, societal concept, and selling a concept as discussed below. These market orientations have highly contributed to the success of the company in satisfying the needs of the customers and remaining competitive.
Selling Concept
The company is determined to make their products known to the customers and convinces the customers to buy their product. Under this orientation method, the company is also focused on providing high-quality products at an affordable price, and this attracts more customers. To achieve effectively this goal, the company has employed sales and marketing staffs whose role is to persuade the customers to buy and hire the services provided by the company. The staffs are also responsible for making door-to-door advertisements on the company products and services to the potential customers.
Marketing Concept
This method involves the use of product promotion methods such as advertising, personal selling and use of incentives. The company has a marketing department, which often advertises the products on the media. The sales and marketing staffs also carry promotional activities whereby they persuade the customers to make purchases and advise them on the products that best suits their needs. The company also brands their products and provides incentives and discounts to their customers as a marketing strategy.
Societal Concept
The company is highly involved in corporate social responsibility activities, which develop its reputation, and in turn promotes marketing of the products and services. For instance, the company volunteers to provide catering services in some public gathering and creating a rapport with the society.
2. Analysis of customer
a. In what ways does your organization divide the customer market into segments.
Market segmentation involves division of the market basing on various factors . Factors that are put into consideration during the segmentation process are the geographical factors, culture of the potential customers and psychographic factors. The company uses various methods of market segmentation namely geographical segmentation, psychographic segmentation, and cultural segmentation.
Geographical Segmentation
Under this method, the company segments its market basing in the regions of operation. The branches are located in the different region, and each branch employs different marketing and pricing strategies. The products tend to be more expensive in towns as compared to the rural areas.
Psychographic Segmentation
This is the type of segmentation that is based on the lifestyle of the target customers. The products design for the high social classes are more expensive as compared to those designed for the low-class people. The packaging of the products also differs depending on the social class targeted.
Cultural Segmentation
This is segmentation depends on the behaviors of different consumers basing on their culture of origin. The cultural type of foods and catering is more expensive as compared to the modern type. The reason behind this is the difference in the cost of acquiring the modern and the traditional food and the level of expertise required when preparing the types of food.
b. How do consumers’ characteristics influence their buying behaviors for the products/services offered by your organization?
Some of the characteristics that affect customers’ buying behavior include the customers’ culture, social class, age, and perception on the goods and services offered by the company. The customer's culture influences the type of food and catering services ordered by the clients. The social class affects the ability of the customers to purchase the product offered and for this reason, products are produced at varying quantities and prices. Different age groups prefer different commodities and services, and this influences the buying behaviors and patterns. The perception of the customers to the products and services provided is another characteristic that affects the buying behaviors.
c. Define the customer buying decision process for your products/services. What improvements can your organization make to each stage of this process to ensure the consumer chooses your products/services?
The customer buying decision comprises five stages, namely; need recognition, information search, and evaluation of the available alternatives, purchase decision, and post-purchase behavior. When making the decision to buy our products, the customers first recognizes the need to eat of hire catering services (Chen and Uysal 993). The customer then searches for information relating to the existing companies that can satisfy the need. Our company invests in promotion strategies and as a result creates awareness about its existence and the commodities and professional services it provides to the public. The customers then evaluate the existing products and choose the best alternative before buying the product. The post purchase behavior of the customer depends on the level of satisfaction that the customer derives from the product. The company ensures that the products and services provided are of high quality, and this enhances customer satisfaction.
d. What is the approach to target marketing? Are segments defined effectively? If not, how should segments be defined? What level of segmentation is pursued (i.e., full-coverage, multi-segments, single-segment, and so on)?
The target market involves all the people regardless of their age, social class, and geographical location. The market segmentation strategies used to ensure that there is availability of products and services designed for the different groups of customers.
e. Evaluate your positioning strategy. How does the organization want its products/services to be viewed by these target segments?
The positioning strategy applied includes product differentiation and pricing. The company’s products and services are differentiated from the other products and services available in the market by ensuring that they are of a higher quality than the others. The products are also priced fairly as a positioning strategy.
f. Are there any legal and ethical issues with the organization’s target marketing strategies and if so, how should these be addressed?
The company ensures that the marketing strategies applied adhered to both the legal and ethical issues in the industry. The company’s values are also in line with the legal and ethical code of conduct, and this ensures that it adheres to the expected standards.
3. Analysis of the market environment a. critically evaluates the macro-environmental factors that affect your organization. Summarize the main opportunities and threats.
Macro-environmental factors refer to the external factors that affect the decision making process . These factors are beyond the control of the business. There are some macro-environmental factors that influence the company. These factors include the economic, political, social, technological, and legal factors as explained below.
Political and Legal Factors
These are factors relating to the political and legal position within the country. Political changes, legal changes, and political instability are some of the factors that affect the company. The operations of the company are greatly affected by changes of laws that govern the food and beverages industry. Over the past few years, the safety regulations governing the industry have changed forcing the company to put in place new strategies to accommodate the changes.
Economic Factors
Economic fluctuation such as changes in the rate of inflation is also a macro-environmental factor that affects the company. Increase the rate of inflation leads to increased cost of operation which translates to high prices of the products and services provided by the company.
Technological Factors
Technology has been constantly changing over the years. The company has therefore been forced to put in place funds to facilitate technological improvements. Some of the technological improvement projects are expensive and as a result the company is forced to seek other form of financing, which affects the ownership structure of the company. Last year, the company implemented a project which required a huge amount of capital, forcing them to seek extra capital by issuing shares through a private issue. This led to change of the ownership structure by increasing the number of shareholders.
b. Assess the main competitors for your products/brands /services: direct, indirect, and potential competitors. What are the ‘points of parity’ and ‘points of difference’?
The main direct competitors are the other food and catering companies that provide the same products. The indirect competitors are the companies that provide fast foods, which can act as substitutes for our products. The potential competitors are the supermarkets and shops that are likely to develop a catering department in the attempt of meeting the needs of their clients. All these forms of competitors provide or are likely to provide products that compete directly with the company’s products (Chen and Uysal 43). However, Nutritious Food Company has an advantage over the competitors due to the high quality of the products and expertise of the employees.
c. Evaluate your distribution partners, suppliers, and other marketing partners that help you design, develop, deliver, and communicate value to your consumers. Define what their unique contributions are, and in case you do not have certain types of partners, justify why they are not required.
The suppliers, marketing, and distribution partners of the company play a vital role in ensuring that the company operates smoothly. The suppliers are responsible for providing the raw materials that are used by the company. The distribution partners help the company in carrying out the distribution function of its products. Finally, the marketing partners are responsible for the marketing and promotional activities of the company, for example, the media that carries out advertising activities for the firm (Kumar, Petersen, and Kumar 74).
4. Analysis of Branding
a. Define and assess the brand elements used by your organization. In the case of multiple brands, use the main (most prominent) brand for this discussion. Discuss whether your brand leverages any secondary associations (country of origin, other brands, endorsement, sporting sponsorships, and so on). Is your organization utilizing the power of its brand(s) effectively?
The major brand element of the company is the brand image that the company’s products and services hold among the customers. The company is associated with high quality and delicious meals and catering services characterized by a high level of expertise. The company’s participation in corporate social responsibility activities develops its brand image further.
b. Outline how your organization measures brand equity.
The brand equity of the company is measured using both internal and external measures. Internal measures involve evaluation on whether the employees are delivering the expected experience to the clients. On the other hand, the external measures involve measuring the level of customer satisfaction after consumption of the company’s products.
c. Evaluate the branding strategies of your organization. How effective are brand extensions (if any)?
The various branding strategies available include crowdsourcing branding, icon brands and brand name (De Chernatony, Malcolm and Elaine 52). The branding strategy used by the company is the use of icon brands and attitude branding. The company icons and logo are unique, attractive and are easily noted by the clients. This brand strategy is effective as it differentiates the company’s products from those of the competitors.
5. Analysis of Holistic Marketing
a. Evaluate whether your organization practices ‘holistic marketing’ and identify areas where there are gaps/ areas for improvement (e.g. relationship marketing, integrated marketing, internal marketing, and performance marketing).
The company practices holistic marketing whereby the product and services of various departments and branches are marketed together. This kind of marketing is effective as it promotes sales of the company’s products regardless of the department or branch that produces the same (Freeman and McVea). The method also enhances cooperation teamwork within the organization. However, the integrated form of marketing is yet to be achieved in the marketing of catering services, an area that requires improvement.
Works Cited
Anderson, James C, et al. Business Market Management: Understanding, Creating, and Delivering Value. 3rd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education, 2008. Print.
Chen, Joseph S and Muzaffer Uysal. "Market Positioning Analysis: A Hybrid Approach." Annals of Tourism Research 29.4 (2002): 987–1003. Print.
De Chernatony, Leslie, Malcolm McDonald and Elaine Wallace. Creating Powerful Brands. London: Routledge, 2010. Print.
Freeman, R. Edward Edward, and John McVea. “A Stakeholder Approach to Strategic Management.” SSRN Electronic Journal (n.d.): n.pag. Web.
Kumar, V., Andrew J Petersen, and Viba Kumar. Statistical Methods in Customer Relationship Management. United States: Wiley, John & Sons, 2012. Print.
