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ASSIGNMENT

Student Name:

Course: MBA

Registration Number:

BK ID: B 1629

Subject Name: Marketing managment

Subject Code: MB0046

Q No: 1) Planning is a process of designing the Blueprint for the future. In this context, explain
Marketing Planning in detail. Explanation of Marketing plan Explanation of marketing planning process
Answer:
Marketing Plan:Planning is a process of designing the blueprint for the future. A marketing plan is a written document
that specifies the required actions to attain one or more marketing objectives. A good marketing plan
should communicate to every member what is desired of them, so that they have some level of goal
clarity, understanding of assumptions that lie behind the goals, and the context of each activity and
decision.
A marketing plan may be part of an overall business plan. Solid marketing strategy is the foundation of a
well-written marketing plan. While a marketing plan contains a list of actions, a marketing plan without a
sound strategic foundation is of little use. In order to benefit the organization and its stakeholders, a
customer-oriented approach needs to be established. A customer-oriented organization develops a winwin situation between itself and its customers by concentrating on satisfying customer needs and wants
and achieving its own objectives at the same time. Market planning should be a means of building longterm relationships with customers through the development of a customer focused mission statement
and objectives and goals at the corporate through individual product line levels.
Marketing Planning Process
A marketing plan is a comprehensive blueprint which outlines an organization's overall marketing efforts.
A marketing panning process can be realized by the marketing mix, which is outlined in four steps.
Step 1: Situation Analysis
A situation analysis is an assessment of the environment in which the organization operates and of the
organization itself. The former assessment is called external analysis and the latter internal analysis.
The external analysis helps marketers identify the trends and changes of external factors, such as
social, political, technological, economic, natural, and competitive environments, and develop an indepth understanding of customers.
Step 2: Target Market Analysis
Once the marketer understands his or her organizations strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats, the next step in marketing planning is to understand the markets and customers. Marketing
information is critical in understating markets and customers. One is marketing research, and the other
is marketing intelligence. Both tools generate marketing information or the marketer to understand
consumer
Step 3: Marketing Objectives Setting and Marketing Strategy Formulation
After the target market analysis and segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategies are set,
marketers can develop SMAR (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound) marketing
objectives and the various elements o the marketing mix can be deployed to pro-vide value that will
satisfy the needs and wants o the target customers.
Step 4: Marketing Implementation and Control
The final step of the marketing planning process is implementation and control. Marketing
implementation includes all the activities needed to make the marketing strategies work. Without a good

implementation plan, marketing objectives are unlikely to be achieved, irrespective o how good the
marketing strategies are.
Q no: 2) Explain Henry Assael Model of buying decision behaviour along with the diagram.
Explanation of Model.Diagram
Answer:
Henry Assael has come up with an explanation to analyze why consumers buy the goods they buy. He
explained the relationship between the level of involvement by the consumers in the purchase of goods
and services and the level at which different goods or services differ from one another. He therefore
came up with four different buying behaviors as explanind in the below figure.

High Involvement

Low Involvement

Significant differences
between brands

Complex Buying Behaviour

Variety Seeking Buying Behaviour

Few
differences
between brands

Dissonance
Reducing
Buying Behaviour

Habitual Buying Behaviour

Complex buying behaviour


Consumers are highly involved in a purchase and aware of significant differences among brands. This is
usually the case when the product is expensive, bought infrequently, risky, and highly self-expressive.
Typically the consumers dont know much about the product category and have more to learn. Example:
personal computer.
Dissonance-reducing
Sometimes, the consumer is highly involved in a purchase but sees little differences in the brands. The
high involvement is based on the fact that the purchase is expensive, infrequent, and risky. Example:
carpet. After purchasing the carpet, consumers might experience dissonance that stems from noticing
certain disquieting features of the carpet or hearing favourable things about other carpets.
Habitual buying behaviour Many products are bought under conditions flow consumer involvement
and the absence of significant brand differences. Considering salt, consumers have little involvement in
this product category. They go to the store and reach for a brand. If they keep reaching for the same
brand, it is out of habit and not strong brand loyalty.
Variety-seeking buying Some buying situations are characterised by low consumer involvement but
significant brand differences. Here consumers often do a lot of brand switching. Consumers do the
brand switching for the sake of variety rather than dissatisfaction. Example: wafer potato chips
Henry Assael has explained the relationship between the level of involvement by the consumers in the
purchase of goods and services and the level at which diverse goods or services differ from one
another.

Q No: 3) Packaging includes all the actions that involve the development of a container and a
graphic design for a product .In the light of the statement, explain packaging and labelling.
Explanation of packaging considerations Explanation of Labelling Considerations
Answer:
Packaging includes all the actions that involve the development of a container and a graphic design for a
product. A package may have three levels; the primary package is the container of the product such as a
bottle, jar, or tube, the secondary package is the box of cardboard or some other material containing the
primary package; and the last is shipping package that contains more units of secondary package.
Packaging Considerations
Package design and development are often thought of as an integral part of the new product
development process. Alternatively, development of a package (or component) can be a separate
process, but must be linked closely with the product to be packaged. Package design starts with the
identification of all the requirements: structural design, marketing, shelf life, quality assurance, logistics,
legal, regulatory, graphic design, end-use, and environmental.
A variety of packaging materials, processes, and designs are available. Marketers primary concern is to
consider the costs involved. The question is how much money consumers are willing to pay. Research
can be used to determine this. Companies also need to consider how much consistency they desire
among packages of the firms products. If the aim was to promote an overall corporate image, the
company would prefer to have similar packages or include one major design characteristic. Some
companies prefer to use family packaging for different product lines. The packages promotional aspect
includes symbol, contents, features, uses, advantages, and precautions. The package design, colour,
texture, shape, etc., also communicate a products desirable images and associations. An expensive
perfume cannot communicate the image of luxury and exclusiveness if its package is ordinary or cheap
looking. Marketers should carefully study this aspect while choosing packaging colours. Pastel colours
are viewed as feminine and dark colours as masculine. The need to create a tamper proof packaging
would depend on the nature of product and extent of its necessity. The package should be convenient
for transportation, storage, and handling. A cumbersome package may sometimes discourage resellers
from stocking and displaying a product.
Environmental Considerations
Package development involves considerations for sustainability, environmental responsibility, and
applicable environmental and recycling regulations. It may involve a life cycle assessment which
considers the material and energy inputs and outputs to the package, the packaged product (contents),
the packaging process, the logistics system, and waste management. It is necessary to know the
relevant regulatory requirements for point of manufacture, sale, and use. The traditional three Rs of
reduce, reuse, and recycle are part of a waste hierarchy which may be considered in product and
package development. Environmental considerations include:
a)

Prevention Waste prevention is a primary goal. Packaging should be used only where
needed. Proper packaging can also help prevent waste A vital function of the package is to protect
the product for its intended use: if the product is damaged or degraded, its entire energy and
material content may be lost.

b)

Disposal Incineration, and placement in a sanitary landfill are needed for some materials.
Certain states within the US regulate packages for toxic contents, which have the potential to
contaminate emissions and ash from incineration and leachate from landfill. Packages should not
be littered.

c)

Energy recovery Waste-to-energy and refuse-derived fuel in approved facilities are able to
make use of the heat available from the packaging components.

d)

Minimization (source reduction) The mass and volume of packaging (per unit of contents)
can be measured and used as one of the criteria to minimize during the package design process.
Usually reduced packaging also helps minimize costs. Packaging engineers continue to work
toward reduced packaging

Labelling:
High quality labelling, like packaging, requires research, planning and consultation from a variety of
sources. As well, package and label design must be integrated. It's important that they both send the
same message to the consumer.
Labelling is closely related to packaging and is used in many different informational, legal, and
promotional ways. A label may be a part of package or it may be a tag attached to the product.
Depending on the product category and specific laws of the country, the label might include only the
products brand name or more detailed information desired by the marketer, or information conforming to
the legal requirements. The label can facilitate product identification by presenting the brand and a
distinct graphic design. The labels perform a descriptive function relating to a products source, its
contents, important features and benefits, instructions for use, cautions or warnings, storage
instructions, batch number, date of manufacture, and date of expiry.
Many product labels contain a Universal Product Code (UPC). It consists of a series of thin and thick
lines that identify a product, and provide pricing and inventory information. An electronic scanner reads
this UPC information at the retail check counter that is used by retailers and marketers for inventory and
price control purposes.
Q No: 4) Explain Brand Extension and its kind.
Answer:
Brand extension which is also known as brand stretching is a marketing strategy in which a firm
marketing a product with a well-developed image uses the same brand name in a different product
category. When a firm uses an established brand to introduce a new product, it is called brand
extension.
When a brand manager combines elements of an existing brand with a new brand, it is called subbrand. If an existing brand name is used for a new product category, then the existing brand is called
parent brand or master brand. If the parent brand is associated with multiple products through brand
extensions, it is called family branding. There are two kinds of brand extension, namely vertical
extension and horizontal extension.
Vertical Extension Or Line Extension
When the same brand name is taken to products very similar to the current offer, higher or lower in the
same product line, it is called vertical extension or line extension. Line extension can be step up or
step down extensions also.

A step up line extension occurs when the brand manager moves up in the price quality
dimension with the same brand name.
A step down model occurs when a current brand name is used to launch a low value product.

Line extension refers to the expansion of an existing product line. For instance, a soft drink manufacturer
might introduce a "Diet" or "Cherry" variety to its cola line, while a toy manufacturer might introduce new
characters or accessories in its line of action figures. In short, line extension adds variety to its existing
product for the sake of reaching a more diverse customer base and enticing existing customers with new
options.
The horizontal extension/ Category Extension
The horizontal extension is a process of taking an existing brand name to a newer product category.
This is also known as category extension. In this case, the parent brand name is used to enter into a
newer product category. A brand line means a set of products sold under the same brand name.
(e.g., Philadelphia Cream Cheese has extended into the novelty category with frozen desserts).

Companies use different branding strategies for their range of products. They can be categorised into
the following three types.
1) Individual branding In this case, the company adopts a separate brand name for each
product it offers. The major advantage of individual branding is that if one brand loses its market,
the others may offset sales in the particular product category. However, the company has to
spend a lot of money and pursue enormous promotional efforts to position each brand in the
consumers mind.
Example : Hindustan Lever markets its range of toothpastes by different brand names such as
Close-up, Pepsodent, Pepsodent-G, and New Pepsodent. Likewise, it offers bathing soaps in
different brand names such as Liril, Rexona, Lux, Lifebouy Plus, and Lifebouy Gold.
2) Family branding This is another type of branding strategy followed by some companies
which have developed their family names. The major advantage of using family name for
products is that it minimises advertising and other promotional costs. But, if one product in the
group is perceived negatively in terms of quality, or in other aspects, by consumers, it may pull
down the entire range of products.
Example, Godrej is a family name used for all its products. Likewise, Ponds uses its name for all
products that include shampoos, talcum powders, and creams
3. Corporate umbrella branding Companies such as Tata, Coke, and Pepsi are not only using
individual brand name for the range of products they market but also use a corporate umbrella
cover for their brands. It is the corporate logo, symbol, or trademark which provides protection to
the individual brand. The idea is that the corporate name symbolises trust and confidence to the
buyers.
Benefits of Brand Extension:
There are a wide variety of benefits to extending a brand.
1) It is far less expensive to launch a new product under a well-known brand than to launch an
entirely new brand. While a new brand would require a great deal of awareness advertising and
marketing to develop recognition and consumer perception, a brand extension has awareness
and recognition built in. In other words, a familiar brand name instantly communicates
messages to consumers based on the existing brand promise.
2) A well-planned and well-executed brand extension can benefit from whats known as the halo
effect wherein the established brand promise and brand image of the parent brand carries over
to the brand extension automatically. This positions the brand extension for greater and faster
success than an entirely new brand.
3) Brand extensions can also benefit the parent brand by creating a greater sense of loyalty, reaffirming
the brand promise and consumer perceptions of the brand, and sustaining the parent brands relevance
in its existing category. Extensions can also help to establish a brands position in new categories

Risks in brand Extension


Any time a company introduces a new brand or line, the company name could become tarnished if the
product proves to be an immense failure. Consumers might feel less inclined to support the company's
new products in the future. So each new extension, in some way, carries the reputation of the entire
company, and that can backfire. Extensions can also cause intra-firm competition, wherein conflict
arises among different divisions of a company.

Q No: 5) Logistics has always been a central and essential feature of all economic activities. In
this context, explain logistics management and its major functions.

Answer:
Logistics has always been a central and essential feature of all economic activities. The concept of
logistics as an integrative activity in business has developed within the last twenty years. Logistics
management is a process of strategically managing the movement and storage of materials, parts, and
finished inventory from the supplier through the firm and on to the customers. Logistics is thus
concerned with the management of physical distribution of materials. It begins from sources of supply
and ends at the point of consumption. It is, therefore, much wider in its reach than simply a concern with
the movement of finished goods a commonly held view of physical distribution.
Logistics deals with all the activities that facilitate product flow from the point of raw material acquisition
to the point of final consumption. It also facilitates information flow that sets the production in motion for
the purpose of providing adequate levels of customer service at a reasonable cost.
Major logistics functions Logistics management involves two functional issues. They are:
1) Movement of raw materials to the plant known as physical supply or material management.
2) Flow of finished products from the plant to the customers, known as physical distribution.
Logistics management functions can be grouped as primary and secondary activities.
Primary Activities :
1. Transportation : one of he most important function of logistics management is transportation.
The manufactured nad finished products should be transported to the warehouses and then to
the distributors and suppliers.
2.

Warehousing : Ware housing is the process of storing the manufactures products in a bulk
amount.

3. Order Processing: It is the process of processing the orders from the destributers or suppliers.
4. Inventory Maintenance: Inventory maiantanace is also a primary function of logistics
management.
Secondary Activities:
1. Product Packaging: It is the process of packaging the final finished product. Management skills
are very important for the proper packaging of the products since it has to be delivered to far
distances.
2. Product Handling : Product handling is the process of proper take care of product during
production, packaging , transportations etc
3.

Acquisition , Product Scheduling and Information Maintenances are also important in logistic
management since al these all helps to manage and transport the final finished products to the
end user or consumers.

Physical distribution is the process of making the end product reach the customers and it encompasses
all the activities in the physical flow of products from producers to customers. To provide the appropriate

level of customer service, physical distribution managers must make decisions concerning warehousing,
inventory management, and control and transportation system.

Q no: 6) Write short notes on:


a) Integrated Marketing Communication
b) Direct Marketing
Answer
a) Meaning and components
According to The American Marketing Association, IMC is a planning process designed to assure that
all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organisation are relevant
to that person and consistent over time.
In the early 1980s, the concept of integrated marketing communications was an unacknowledged
paradigm and refuted in one voice by eminent professionals and academicians. They were of the
opinion that each marketing communication function should perform with respective degree of
autonomy. Advertising, sales promotion, and publicity were talked about in a fissiparous way and as an
individual discipline. IMC tries to unite, incorporate, and synergise elements of the communications mix
as the strengths of one are employed to countervail the flaws of others. Many organisations are of the
opinion to integrate their communications disciplines to one strategic marketing communications
function, specifically IMC. The reason is that publicity and advertising back up each other and impact
potently in a cost-effective manner. IMC approaches have been significantly recognised by the
organisations as a tool for effective marketing. The budget allocation for mass media advertising also
witnessed radical changes as IMC turned out to be a potent answer for media fragmentation and
enhanced segmentation of consumer tastes and preferences.
Characteristics of integrated marketing communication programmes
An IMC programme can be defined from two points - continuity and strategic orientation.
Campaign continuity means that all messages communicated in different media through different
marketing communication tools are interrelated. It involves marketing both the physical and
psychological elements of a marketing communication campaign consistently. Physical continuity refers
to the consistent use of creative elements in all marketing communications. Psychological continuity
refers to a consistent attitude towards the firm and its brand. It is referred to as the companys voice and
personality for the consumers.
The second point is strategic orientation. This means marketing communication will be effective as it
is designed to achieve long-term corporate and marketing goals of the firm. The focus of an integrated
marketing communication programme is not to develop a unified campaign or theme that simply attracts
peoples attention but to develop a long-term communication programme to achieve strategic goals in
terms of sales, market share, and profit.
The development of integrated marketing communication process can be listed as:
1. Preparing target customer profile : It is necessary to identify the target audience before
developing any IMC programme. It should include current customers, target customers,
potential customers, past users, influencers, and general public at large.
2. Identifying promotion objectives: objectives The next task is to determine the communication
objectives. Firms have different kinds of communication objectives depending on the
communication tool used and the stage of the product life cycle that the current brand is passing
through. The marketer aims to communicate information about products and brands in such a

way that it influences consumers mind, develops positive attitude towards products and brands,
and prompts consumers to act in favour of the brand.
3. Designing message : The next stage involves designing a communication message. The
message should be developed in a way that it has the ability to integrate a common theme from
the awareness stage to the stage of purchase and satisfaction. The message formulation
involves message content (what to say), message structure (how to put the message), message
format (how to say it symbolically), and message source (who should say it).
4. Selecting channels of communication: communications After the message decision is taken, the
marketing manager searches for the appropriate media for communicating with the customers.
Communication channels are of two types. They are personal communication channels and
non-personal communication channels.
5. Selecting message source: Marketing managers have to decide the source of the message.
Messages from attractive sources are able to break the clutter and catch attention of the
audience. Many companies use celebrities to telling effects for higher attention and recall of the
message.
6. Targeting customer feedback : Feedback helps marketers to evaluate the effectiveness of
marketing communication. It is difficult in most cases to determine the effect of advertising alone
on consumer purchase behaviour. Due to this reason, marketers determine whether the ad
results in exposure, attention, comprehension, message acceptance, and retention.
b) Direct Marketing Meaning and Advantages
Direct Marketing means getting the message directly to the customer without using any intermediaries.
Direct marketing is an interactive system of marketing, which uses one or more advertising media to
affect a measurable response and transaction at any location.
Direct marketing is a type of advertising campaign that seeks to elicit an action (such as an order, a visit
to a store or Web site, or a request for further information) from a selected group of consumers in
response to a communication from the marketer.
Direct marketing has a historical perspective and has served the marketer in many forms like mail order
marketing, direct mail marketing, and personal selling and direct response advertising. Direct marketing
is an efficient way to promote and sell products and services because it has a record of proven
profitability. It helps in responding to the return on the marketing investments and gives efficient systems
that help in reaching fragmented and distributed markets. While direct marketing helps in identifying
prospects and generating desired sales responses, it also helps the customer either to go for a trial or at
least seek product information. General advertising seeks to increase awareness and has more
communication orientation in relation to direct marketing advertising.
Advantages of direct marketing
1. Focused approach It is possible to identify a specific target market using direct marketing
techniques. This makes it a very useful promotional tool for niche products because it is possible to
target only those who are likely to respond to the promotion, leading to lesser wastage of marketing
efforts and resources.
2. Cost effective Although the cost per thousand people may be high as compared to other mass
marketing promotional techniques, direct marketing can be very cost effective for niche products.
Companies are also able to remove the non value-adding intermediaries from the channel and serve the
customers with a profit. There is a direct reduction on cost to serve customers due to less number of
intermediaries in the value network.

3. Measurable and attributable - It is possible to link a particular sale as being a response to a


particular direct marketing activity. This is very useful information since over a period of time it is
possible for an organisation to build up a picture of the kind of marketing messages to which a particular
group of customers is more likely to respond. A marketing manager can measure the benefits of direct
marketing programme and identify attributes responsible for the success or failure of the programme.
4. Immediate and flexible Some promotional activities can take a great deal of time to develop from
the first idea to the final execution like television advertising. Direct marketing is flexible and there is a
short lead-time associated with its use. Direct marketing often has an immediate impact on customer
responses. The adaptability of direct marketing programme to the changing environment is high, making
it more flexible and instant result oriented activity for the organisation.
5. Ability to test, retest, and measure the impact of single variables Its flexibility also means that
a number of pilot versions of a direct marketing campaign can be run before the final version is rolled out
on a large scale. Since this is more company controlled and has objective goals, ability to test and retest
the impacts of single variables are possible for different kinds of direct marketing programmes.
6. Easy international reach It is relatively easy to adapt a direct marketing campaign to an
international target market. Most of the multinational companies adapt to a host country environment
quite easily as compared to adaptation of other forms of marketing communications. Internationalisation
of brand communication through personal selling and promotion helps in penetrating new territories
faster than other methods of marketing communication.
7. Tailored messages Direct marketing also offers greater opportunities for developing tailor-made
messages for particular groups of consumers. This is the biggest benefit as there is lesser involvement
of mass media while communicating with identified segments. Marketers can undertake behavioural
research to find out the benefit sought of the target segment and tailor the message to appeal to the
audience.
8. Alternative distribution channel Many organisations are realising that direct marketing not only
offers the opportunity to communicate with customers but it is also a means of getting their products to
the customer. In other words, it is a mechanism for distribution as well as promotion.
9. Opportunity to build a database Over time, the direct marketing company is able to develop a
database of customers, which includes information on what they bought, when, and how they bought.
Many companies use such customer database to do mail order marketing.

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