Marketing Management

Marketing Management Case Study 2. Emergent Technologies (Group)

1.  Based on the perceptual map, define the bases for competition in the market. Are there any “strategic groups?”

Solution: Based on the perceptual map, there are 11 bases for competition in the market:

1. Time to Market
2. On Site H/W service
3. Software compatibility
4. Price
5. Warranty/Payment terms
6. Computing line
7. Install and maintenance
8. Marketing support
9. Phone support response
10. Financing availability
11. Instructor Training/ Computer Training

However, there are 14 different attributes or bases of competition as stated in exhibit 2 of the case study. These tell the competitors how they are perceived in the market by the customers.

Strategic Groups: We can see 3 strategic groups as per the perceptual map.

1. Kojima and Clones (strategy groups of Price and Warranty/Payment Terms)
2. Beta and CPS (Companies providing good financing options and phone/marketing support)
3. Stobart and Penucchini (Strategic group of time to market)

1.  How “well-positioned” is Emergent with its proposed attribute levels?

Solution: Emergent Technologies is well positioned in the market as per the perceptual map since there is a evident gap it is trying to fill in. The positioning has been done based on the attributes below:

1. Time to Market
2. Support Response: Response time within same day at the maximum
3. Installation and Maintenance: Has one of the highest scores of 4 and provides both installation and maintenance services
4. Processor Speed: With a processor speed of 3.2 it is probably as fast or faster than its competitors
5. Training

1.  In general, assess the utility of perceptual mapping by comparing the insights available from examining Figure 1 to those obtainable from examining the raw data of Exhibit 2.

Solution: The utility of the perceptual map is helping Emergent understand where it currently stands amongst its competitors who have similar attributes. Perceptual mapping offers utility in presenting a visual medium to peruse and understand the broad trends and patterns. Further, it is a convenient format to gauge an entity as against its competitors on the basis of defined parameters, product attributes, in this case. However, if these attributes and their effects are to be examined in a detailed manner, perceptual mapping loses its utility. Here, one must examine raw data and numbers as tabulated in Figure 2. 

Hence, while perceptual mapping provides an opportunity to understand broad trends and patterns, it cannot replace raw data when a more detailed examination is necessitated.

1.  Based on the Factor Level Sensitivity, what attributes are most important to consumers? Does the factor level sensitivity report give any insight into the segmentation of the marketplace?

Solution: Assuming that any drop or increase below or above 11% respectively is what showcases the importance based on consumers, the attributes that fall in this category are:

1. Computer breadth
2. Time to Market
3.  Price
4.  Payment terms
5.  Warranty
6.  Support Response
7.  Installation and Maintenance
8.  Hardware service and
9.  Processor speed.

No, there are no insights available on the segmentation of the marketplace due to factor level sensitivity report however strategic grouping is possible based on attributes.

1. What are the key leverage points for Emergent?

Solution: The key leverage points are the ones in which Emergent is well positioned. As already mentioned in solution2, the key leverage points should be:

1. Time to Market
2.  Support Response
3.  Installation and Maintenance and
4.  Processor Speed.
5. Training

1.  Emergent does not have the resources required to improve its product line breadth in the short term. Second, it believes its margins are just barely adequate now so it would not look too favorably on anything like a price cut unless it gave big return. Nevertheless, it would like to improve its market share position. Without any cost data, you can’t get too precise on this but what general directions would you suggest Emergent pursue? What market share gain could they expect?

Solution: I would suggest the following plan of thought by order of preference:

1. Increase the warranty months from 9 to at 12 or more. This will result in at least 7.4% to 14.9% increase (up from 7.5% to 8.1% or 8.7% increase in share) in the a very short time
2. Quicker response for hardware issues to within same day or within 4 hours. This will result in at least 11.2% to 18.2% increase (up from 7.5% to 8.4% or 8.9% increase in share)
3. Quicker phone support response will lead to an increase of 4.8% (up from 7.5% to 7.9% increase in share)

1.  If Emergent follows your strategy and gains share, who would they hurt? Can you tell anything about this from either the perceptual map or the factor level?

Solution: As per Factor level sensitivity table, If we go by warranty, hardware support and phone support; Emergent is going to hurt Kojima, Clones, Cheong and Alliance.

As per the perceptual map positioning of Emergent seems to hurt Attwood and DIS.

1.  How does this “hands-on” capability help Emergent? What insights do you get from Exhibit 5?

Solution: This “hands-on” capability helps Emergent to examine the impact of simultaneously changing many variables on competition. It also allows Emergent to simulate any environment it wishes to. As per Exhibit 5 we can see Emergent entering the strategic groups.
By changing 5 attributes shown in Exhibit 5, we can see the Calculated Demand share for Emergent is at 10.3 i.e., 2.8% increase which places it among top 5 w.r.t Market share.

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