Management$\_$Term $2$ summative

below and answer the questions that follow.

having trouble The just released Fusion Power Stealth is a razor with the unique selling point of guard five pivoting blades and one at the back. In addition, it has a lubrication strip, a rubber vibration to stretch the skin, a battery to make it vibrate and a microchip to control the level of house it will also tell you when the battery is flat. It has a striking black and orange box to Fe the rubberised handle. Sports stars sell it to you, including David Beckham and Roger cederer. And, it has a killer name. It is$,$ claims Gillette, the leading brand in male grooming, the closest shave a man can get. They did, of course, say that about the last product they came up with before Fusion Power Stealth $-$ the one just called Fusion Power. Before that, it was just primitive old Fusion. And they said the same thing for the Mach$3$ Power, which overtook the Mach$3$ Turbo, which followed Mach$3.$ Mach$3$ was the first of Gillette's electrical razors. Their bestselling Sensor range of razors is still the dominant brand in the market. The Fusion Power Stealth, which began appearing at chemists and supermarkets in September $2007,$ will probably be 'the best' shaving system for a couple of years. After that, Gillette has other plans, which they are not keen to divulge as "other people may be reading your story," says Michelle Powell, Gillette's laboratory director, by which she means Wilkinson Sword. Gillette has $74$ per cent of the UK market followed by Wilkinson Sword. The relatively new market for electrical razors is fast growing. The razors are not just thrown together by a marketing department in an attempt to sell us something we did not know we needed. They are the result of years of cutting$-$edge science and the endeavours of biologists, dermatologists, physicists, biometricists and neurologists, all working within a New Product Development process. There is a team concerned solely with how to make the razor vibrate just the right amount, and other people employed to optimise handle grip in a slippery bathroom environment. Only when these people have done their work $($Fusion Power Stealth has taken four years to appear from the initial prototype$),$ do the people who design the packaging and advertising slogans go to work.

Define unique selling point in the context of the Gillette case study $[2$ marks$]$

Differentiate between family branding and product branding $[3$ marks$]$

Outline the stages in the New Product Development process that has provided Gillette with its competitive advantage $[4$ marks$]$

Examine, using the Boston Matrix, the position in the market of Gillette's three brands $($Fusion$,$ Mach$3$ and Sensor$)$ and the decision about the Fusion product that Gillette may face; i$.$e$.$ the introduction of the next product in their product pipeline. $[5$ marks$]$

Discuss, by referring to the product life$-$cycle, whether Gillette should have launched the Fusion Power Stealth when it had $74$ per cent of the total razor market in the UK$.[8$ marks$]$

To what extent should firms devote time and resources to creating a 'big' brand name?

$[8$ marks$]$