Week 8- The Plan

Week 8: MARKETING PLAN

This week's focus was getting the team together to formulate our group marketing plan.  Just like the real world, our biggest challenge was getting everyone together at the same time and finding a way to effectively communicate.  All of our team members usually meet face to face but for the past week, only one of the four was able to make it to class, the rest of us attended "virtually".  

This presented a real challenge for us and I can honestly say that I find the "on-line chat" method of holding meetings to be extremely frustrating and difficult to follow.... Unlike most students, I hate texting and avoid it as much as possible. That being said, my hat is off to my team-mates who seemed to navigate the "chat" world effortlessly.  I was very impressed with the efficiency in communicating complex ideas.

Our team's approach was to share our individual situation analyis' and review them in detail.  It was very interesting to see the similarities and differences.  I felt that my understanding of the company performance was significantly improved by reviewing my team-mates perspectives.

Our first step towards completing the Marketing Plan was to  agree on a key issues and a mission statement.  Rightly so, there was a lot of dialog at this point because it is the basis of vision, strategy and tactics.  Once this was agreed upon, we all agreed to take a stab at the Market vision and goals.  We the  met and discussed these in detail.  At this point, we had our basic plan and agreed to break up the balance of the report for efficiency and assign different segments to each team member.  We then consolidated our thoughts and generated our report.

Lessons learned:

- give more time for on-line chats

- have agreed upon objectives BEFORE a chat starts

- Leave a lot more time for the group consolidation of the report- here we had an attack of Murphy's law as at 10:45, the person who was assembling the final version, had the document crash and had to re-assemble the consensus material with very little time to spare.

Week 6- Pharmasim Special Incidents

This week's  blog will be dedicated to the incidents in Periods 0,1 and 2 in Pharmasim.  Overall, our team performance has not been very good. We've had two periods of declining Revenue, Sales and Stock Price- at least we're consistent!

INCIDENTS:

PERIOD 0- SOCIAL MEDIA

The President of the Consumer Products Division of Allstar Brands has made it a priority for the coming year to add a more interactive Dimension to their marketing plans, including the incorporation of social media and internet marketing. 

1. Website with interactive blog.
2. Facebook and Twitter.
3. Website with interactive blog
4. Facebook and Twitter 

CHOICE:

We chose option 4- "Facebook and Twitter, and use up to 5% of the advertising budget toward Google Adwords to generate additional awareness and direct people to the Facebook page." 

RATIONALE:

The team consensus was that we felt that neither of these options would yield a significant impact as it is very hard to translate his information into real sales data.  That being said, we felt that the Facebook and Twitter forums tend to get a lot of traffic and would be more likely a place where people "Share" experience which could improve awareness.

OUTCOME:

This decision yielded positive feedback and improved awareness in both periods 1 and 2.  Below is a summary of the results:

Week 1: Social Media Comments for Allround:

I'm satisified. Just tried Extra. Okay deal.Somewhat satisfied. Great for fever! Just tried your product. Good for nasal congestion. Works well for runny nose. Good value! Very easy to find! No trouble finding it. Great for cough! Allround is the best! Just all right for chest congestion. Very good value! Just tried Besthelp

Week 2- Social Media Comments for Allround:

Really good value! Easy to find! Great for fever! Just tried Dryup. Good for nasal congestion. Allround is the best! Okay for chest congestion. I'm satisified.Good value! Okay deal. No trouble finding it.Just tried Besthelp. Fairly satisfied. Great for cough!Works well for runny nose. 

PERIOD 1- QUALITY ASSURANCE

A batch of Allround is within six months of expiration, and we needed to decide what to do with it. We had the following options:

1. Ship the product and hope that distributors do not return it.
2. Dispose of the whole batch up front and avoid the appearance of trying to dump old product on distributors.
3. Sell the inventory to a jobber 

CHOICE:

We chose to dispose of the whole batch up front.

RATIONALE:

Our feeling was that this was the best option as it had a defined risk.  Customer perception is critical in medicines and it appeared that competition was increasing.  We felt that option 1 wasn't worth the risk and option 3 still carried a risk because the jobbers would only point back to us if there was a quality issue.  Thus disposal was the best option

OUTCOME:

This option cost us $100,000 but there was no negative fall-out in the market with consumers.

PERIOD 2- CANNIBALIZATION:

Allstar needs to consider a line extension of the Allround brand to counter market erosion from increased competition.  It's options are as follows:

1. 12-Hour Multi Capsule
2. Children's Liquid Cold Medicine
3. Cough Formula

DISCUSSION:

Our team hasn't discussed this incident yet so we have not chose an option.  I feel that the best option would be option 1- 12-hour Multi-Capsule.  This is justified by the fact that there is very little competition in this segment and the only competitor (Extra) is performing poorly because it's formulation focuses exclusively on the decongestant formulation.  We should be able to differentiate ourselves in this market because we cover multiple symptoms and have a much stronger brand awareness.  Barrier to entry is low and competition is low making this segment attractive

WEEK 6: PREDICTING THE FUTURE?

To be honest, I am finding all this discussion and review in Marketing techniques and philosophies a bit dry.  So this week, I thought I'd mix it up a bit and try to make things a little more interesting by broadening my view of marketing to encompass human behavior. Below is my attempt to stretch the ideas of Drucker to a greater sense of the world.... I hope you find it interesting at least.

 "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi 

"The Best Way to Predict the Future,

 Is to Create It" Peter Drucker

In this week's reading, we learn about Drucker's perspective on predicting the future.  I found it interesting that the two quotes above by two very different men on how to predict and change the future actually have quite a bit in common.  Now, to be sure, I am NOT trying to equate Drucker with Ghandi (a very great man).  I am saying that in these two sentiments, there is commonality and it's very interesting to explore.   Both men studied human behavior and explored their own perspectives there-in.

In Ghandi's statement, I believe that he is trying to say that future change comes about by seriously looking inside and emulating the future state your want to see.  In other words, make the changes in yourself now, and the future will be the result of your current actions.

Similarly, when Drucker is asked how he is able to so accurately predict future events he states:

     “I listen.... to myself.....I simply look out the window and report what I see and what events that have already occurred mean for the future. This simple step of describing the obvious result of previous occurrences gives some the impression that I am predicting the future. The reality is that I am merely stating the obvious...”

Drucker goes on to state that we know only two things about the future:

1. The future cannot be known.
2. The future will be different both from what exists now and from what we expect.

This may sound contradictory but in reality, it is not.  

HOW DO WE PREDICT THE FUTURE?

Most people use past events to predict future events. ie- sales of product "X" have been growing by 10% monthly for the last 3 months, therefore it should continue to grow for the next 6 months.

This is a very tempting approach but at best it is equivalent to driving your car by looking in the rear view mirror.  You only see where you've been, not where you're going.

What Drucker is saying is that current events have set in motion certain forces that will drive future events.  If we can properly study current events, we can do a better job of predicting future outcomes of events set in motion today.

Similarly, Ghandi is saying that a desired future state will not arrive unless we set in motion, today, behaviors that support that future state.

For a company to do a good job of setting a realist goal for it's future, it must as itself 4 basic question:

1. What opportunities does the company want to pursue, and what risks is it willing and able to accept?
2. What are the scope and structure of the organization’s strategy, including the right balance among such aspects as specialization, diversification, and integration?
3. What are considered acceptable trade-offs for a company between time and money and between in-house execution and using a merger, acquisition, joint venture, or some external means to reach its objectives and attain its goals?
4. What is the organizational structure appropriate to the company’s economic realities, the opportunities, and it performance expectations? 

It is only through a thorough study of these questions that a company can craft a future vision that is attainable whether it be in product offering or competitive advantage.

I hope my simple comparison has not offended anyone as I readily acknowledge that the affect that Ghandi has had on humanity is on a much grander scale than Drucker's teaching.  My simple point here is that basic wisdom is at the core of all significant thought and conclusions.