Marketing Planning: Strategy, Environment And Context 1st Edition Blythe, Jim;Megicks, Phil - Solutions

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Identify the difference between a pension-type plan and a profit-sharing-type plan.
Is there a scenario where an employer might choose to combine a DB plan and a DC plan?
John Smith, the owner of Smith’s European Delicacies, has expressed an interest in establishing a qualified plan for his employees. His goals are to (1) provide a meaningful benefit for his employees, (2) help out a few long-service employees who have been with him for over 15 years, and (3)
Answer these potential client questions:a. Can a DB plan pay the owner of a small business $210,000 (2015 indexed) per year, beginning at age 60?b. Is it true that if an individual works for a company and participates in two separate 401(k) plans (through different subsidiaries), then he or she can
What are two typical roadblocks that financial professionals face when helping clients plan their retirement?
Understand what a Keogh plan is.
Understand the fundamental differences between DB and DC plans.
Understand the usefulness of an employee census.
Describe how the fact-finding process is used in choosing between the available plan types.
What is the role of the DOL in the pension process?
What is the role of the IRS in the retirement market?
What role does an ADL play in the creation of a new employersponsored tax-advantaged retirement plan?
Describe post-ERISA trends in the world of retirement planning.
What were the major reforms instituted by ERISA?
Explain the purpose of an advance determination letter(ADL).
Identify the agencies involved in regulating tax-advantaged retirement plans.
Understand the implications of the PPA of 2006.
Understand the major trends in post-ERISA legislation.
Identify the four titles of ERISA.
Explain how ERISA reshaped the world of pension.
There is a small smartphone supplier with mostly young employees.The industry is highly competitive. How could offering an employer-sponsored retirement plan help this company compete better with its rivals?
What are some nontax-related benefits of participating in an employer-sponsored retirement plan?
What common requirements do all tax-advantaged retirement plans share?
Do tax-advantaged plans need to invest in tax-favorable investments to remain tax advantaged?
What are the tax advantages common to all types of tax-advantaged retirement savings plans?
Explain how employer-sponsored plans benefit small business owners.
Explain how employer-sponsored plans benefit large employers.
Identify general characteristics of tax-advantaged plans.
Identify why tax-advantaged retirement plans are beneficial.
Understand the current state of an average American’s retirement preparedness.
2 A core competency provides potential access to a wide variety of markets. A core competency in, say, fibre-optic cable would enable a company to access telecommunications markets, aerospace markets, railway signalling markets, defence markets, and so forth.
1 A core competency should be difficult for competitors to copy. If competitors can easily copy it, it isn’t core to the organisation – it is common to all organisations.
3 Corporate-level competencies arise from the corporate culture. They relate to the ability of the organisation as a whole to carry out the necessary tasks, and may relate to the degree to which the company learns as a whole (rather than relying on individual memory).
2 Group competencies can arise either from formal teams within the organisation or from informal groups. A formal team might be, for example, the research and development team which has responsibility for developing new products. If this team works well together and has complementary skills, there
1 Individual competencies reside within the individuals who work for the organisation. This might include such necessary skills as those of a doctor, specialist learning derived from a research specialism (as might be the case in a university), or even a skill such as glass-blowing, which is,
5 Information systems. Having accurate, up-to-date information to hand can create a strong competitive advantage in itself. For example, the barcode readers in supermarkets provide instant information on which products are selling well, allowing the supermarket to ensure that stocks are held at
4 Organisation. Organisational structure makes a significant difference to the effectiveness of the organisation. The traditional pyramid or hierarchical structure of organisations is extremely effective in markets where change is slow: the mechanistic approach enables organisations to gain
3 Managerial skills. Top-flight, experienced managers can direct and motivate staff to create the maximum efficiency in operations. They can also be creative in getting the maximum use from physical resources such as buildings, equipment and vehicles.
2 Financial standing. The degree to which the company has access to working capital will determine its ability to respond to opportunities. Equally, the credit standing of the organisation will be a key factor in securing supplies. Marketers within the organisation will always have to ask for a
1 Technical resources. Technical skill is a key resource for many organisations in both manufacturing and service industries, because it enables the company to develop new products and processes as the market’s needs change. Technical resources also extend to intellectual property rights such as
3 Everyone must be committed to continuous adaptation. This assumes that there will be flexibility in the firm’s structures and systems, and there will be a tolerant working culture.
2 Everyone must be committed to continuing professional development, in other words lifelong learning (Argyris 1990).
1 Employees should be committed to continuous improvement. Everyone should be committed to constructive dissatisfaction with the status quo (Stacey 1993).
3 Few, if any, problems can be isolated effectively for separate treatment.
2 These problems and issues are usually highly interrelated: solving one problem usually creates another problem elsewhere, and there is rarely a global solution.
1 Any policy-making situation comprises many problems and issues.
l Environment. Objectives for dealing with the firm’s external environment might be set at any level, but they are likely to be difficult to quantify.
l Finance. Since financial objectives are easy to quantify, they are often set by companies. In almost all cases they are marketing-led.
l Production capability. Setting targets for output of particular items is always a marketing decision, because it is actually a function of deciding what the demand is going to be for specific products. To an extent, demand can be driven or at least directed by marketing activities, but in the
l Technology and products. Using new technology in the business is almost always a functional decision.
l Markets and distribution. Approaching specific markets and obtaining distribution for products are key objectives. Aiming to get the product into two major supermarket groups this year would be a reasonable, measurable objective.
l Competitors. These objectives might be set at a strategic or at a functional level. They are concerned with the company’s performance within the market relative to its competitors. For example, this could be as simple as gaining a level of market share compared with its closest rival.
l Customers. These are objectives concerned with segmentation and targeting, and might be assessed by such measures as market-penetration statistics.
l Marketing programmes providing a detailed specification of the extended marketing mix l Implementation, monitoring and control.
l Gap analysis and identification of marketing opportunities l Setting of marketing objectives l Strategy formulation, including segmentation, targeting and positioning
l External environmental analysis, including market and industry analysis l Internal environmental analysis
l Overview of current position and organisational context l Organisation mission and objectives
4 Control. Having suitable feedback systems in place enables the planners to adjust activities to bring the firm back on course. Inevitably things will change – no plan survives first implementation, because it is impossible to foresee everything. Flexibility and monitoring are therefore
3 Implementation. Putting the plan into action means ensuring that everyone is clear about what they should be doing: each member of the organisation needs to know exactly how they are expected to contribute. The penultimate stage involves determining these responsibilities, setting timescales,
2 Planning. This is the crucial stage. Working out what to do in order to achieve the corporate objectives means setting marketing objectives and planning how to achieve them through the most appropriate strategies and tactics. The second step involves putting the plan together and coming up with
1 Analysis. The planners need to assess the current situation in which the organisation finds itself. If we don’t know where we are, we cannot find a route to get to where we’re going. Often regarded as the first stage of the process, it is seen to be the starting point for planning, i.e.
7 A budget of proposed revenues and expenditures associated with marketing.
6 Systems for revising the plan as necessary in the light of new information provided through the monitoring process.
implemented to ensure that the best use is made of the resources committed.
5 A system for monitoring the plan in practice, with suitable feedback systems to report back to organisation members. This would include a way of assessing the success (or otherwise) of the plan, and controlling the way that the plan is
4 A clear indication of individual responsibilities, i.e. a clear statement as to who is responsible for each part of the plan.
3 A set of timescales for the achievement of the objectives. This is likely to vary according to the organisation and the markets that it operates in.
2 A set of marketing objectives. These may be taken directly from corporate objectives, or they may be specific sub-objectives relating to marketing outcomes which provide a basis for achieving organisational objectives.
1 An assessment of both the internal and the external environment in which the organisation operates. This is the marketing audit, and it takes account of all aspects of the company’s resources and capabilities, as well as information about customer needs and wants, and the key forces in the
3 Apart from knowing what to do, the plan enables people to understand why they are doing things. In other words, people should understand how their role fits into the larger picture, and should understand what the reasoning is behind their part in the company’s success. This is likely to be a
2 The plan should indicate to people exactly what their responsibilities are for carrying out the plan. Ideally, they should be able to monitor their performance against the plan so that they are able to adjust their behaviour if necessary.
1 It should provide a consistent set of instructions which fits with the overall corporate plan as well as with the aims of all the departments involved. This will minimise the risk of having to deal with unforeseen problems, acting on a case-by-case basis which characterises short termism. The
l Rapid technological innovation, creating new competitive drivers.
l A free-market, entrepreneurial political environment in many economies.
l Globalisation. As barriers to trade have reduced worldwide, companies face competition from foreign firms, many of which have cost advantages due to lower labour costs, easier access to raw materials, or easier access to markets which formerly belonged to the firm.
4 Businesses (apart from retailers) usually have relatively few customers and fewer suppliers overall than is the case for the average consumer. This means that forming relationships is both easier and more rewarding.
3 B2B markets are characterised by personal contacts between buyers and salespeople, whereas many consumer transactions are impersonal, conducted either in self-service retail outlets or online. Relatively few consumer transactions involve salespeople, so the interpersonal element is lost.
2 Business-to-business marketing is more likely to provide opportunities to create a relationship of equals. Two firms of about the same general size might form a very effective relationship, whereas firms almost always have much greater resources than the consumers they serve.
1 Business needs change much more slowly than consumer needs. Someone who currently buys baby products will have no need for them as the baby grows up, so will be a customer for only a year or two; a motor manufacturer will have a need for components such as springs and light bulbs for decades or
l Most, if not all, companies have to juggle relationships with a great many other ‘partners’. This is certainly inadvisable in a marriage.
l Customers, and especially consumers, have little interest in establishing long-term relationships with firms.
l Often the power relationships between the partners are far from equal – in fact, some transactions appear to be more like seduction than like a courtship.
8 Selectivity. People are selective in the information they take in and consequently may not position a product in the place the company would like them to. Positioning is largely about perception, and perception is, by its nature, both selective and synthetic. In other words, people select
7 Brand name. Having a good brand name helps ‘pigeonhole’ the product in people’s minds. For example, Cif cleaning products convey virtually nothing as a brand name, whereas Mr Muscle carries an image of strength and energy.
6 Country of origin. The country where a product is made will affect its brand values. Germany has a reputation for good engineering, Italy has a reputation for stylish design, and China has a reputation for cheapness. There are undoubtedlyGerman brands which are poorly engineered, ugly Italian
5 Attractiveness. The attractiveness of a brand may be a factor in some markets more than in others, but in any market where appearance counts, attractiveness will be a factor in positioning.
4 Reliability. Some brands have a reputation for reliability which makes them stand out from all others. Volkswagen is one example: the cars are regarded as extremely reliable, to the extent that a Volkswagen Sharan is regarded as a better car than a Seat Alhambra, even though they are in fact
3 Value for money. This does not necessarily mean being the cheapest. Value for money is the relationship between quality and price, so a cheap but poorly performing brand is not going to represent value for money in the same way as a well-made, medium-priced brand will.
2 Service. The service element of any brand is often a key differentiator. Offering a top-class service will certainly be a factor in positioning the brand.
whether it is a consumer buying a prestige gift for a friend, or a business buyer choosing a new computer system. ‘Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM’ is a well-known adage in business-to-business marketing, for example.
1 Top of the range. Products in this position are regarded as being of the highest quality and probably also as the most expensive. Being the most expensive is not necessarily a drawback – plenty of people like to buy the top of the range,
4 A mistake is made in the original positioning. The breakfast cereal Ready Brek was originally launched in the UK as an instant porridge, aimed at people who liked porridge but did not like the messy saucepans it created. Unfortunately, real porridge fans did not take to the product – some did
3 New customer preferences are identified, such that they might be met with the existing product. For example, Lucozade was originally marketed as a drink for invalids, helping people to recover from illnesses. During the 1980s it was repositioned as an energy drink for athletes.
2 Consumer preferences change. This happened to Heinz Salad Cream in the UK. Consumers moved towards mayonnaise over a period of years, until eventually salad cream was repositioned as an ingredient rather than as a salad dressing.
1 A competitor produces something which is positioned head-on against the company’s brand and appears to be taking substantial market share.
l Global change offers unprecedented opportunities to capture markets.
l To succeed globally, firms need to create a culture which allows for extensive internal and external collaboration.
l Companies that succeed globally are constantly innovating.
l The best strategies are developed by organisations which can gather and process massive amounts of information.
l Rethink everything about the strategy – even what the strategy means in a fast and brutally competitive environment.

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Marketing Planning: Strategy, Environment And Context 1st Edition Blythe, Jim;Megicks, Phil - Solutions

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