Two reasons for this constant product rejuvenation are to maintain current consumer interest and hopefully draw in new customers, but also to detract other companies from mimicking its ideas. Even though Hotel Chocolate is registered trademark across the world along with some of its product names, this does not prevent other companies trying to emulate their success. As Angus Thirwell, co-founder says "It's far better to be the innovator than the follower'', however this leaves the owners wondering how they can retain their uniqueness in the
The general manager of Precision Worldwide Inc. (PWI), Hans Thorborg, became aware that their competitor, Henri Poulenc, was introducing in France a plastic ring which was less costly to manufacture and perform better than their steel rings. There are many strategies being discussed by PWI’s upper management on how to best respond to their competitor’s move. No matter which strategy is best for them, their management team have decided to introduce their own version of a plastic ring to prevent their competitor from gaining market share. Additionally, they must decide when to introduce the plastic ring, where to market it, how to price it and what to do with their inventory of steel rings. One of the strategies being discussed is to sell only plastic rings.
While the strategy for RIM as per their annual report is valid, it is susceptible to criticism because Blackberries are great for email and phone calls but the consumer is looking for a device that goes beyond these capabilities and enhances their productivity from a personal and professional standpoint. It fails to focus on the consumer’s requirements for a smart phone or tablet product. Challenges for RIM: 1. According to recent news reports, Black Berry maker Research In Motion Ltd. will avoid a trial with Visto Corp. after a Canadian court ruled the privately held California-based company infringed on three RIM patents. Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Visto "threw in the towel,'' Ronald Dimock, a lawyer for RIM, told Bloomberg News.
Ken Melrose believed that if there was a situation where someone was ready for a fight and you looked them in the eye and genuinely said, “I am very sorry this happened,” it almost instantly takes the animosity out of the equation. This outlook on business saved Toro from eventually shutting down as a company. Key words: empathy, leadership, emotional intelligence, alternate dispute resolution Celebrating their 100 year anniversary in 2014 the company Toro, a leading world-wide lawn equipment manufacturer, faced a major financial burden in the 1980's that threatened the success and overall survival of the company (About Us, 2015). Toro was becoming more and more accustomed to lawsuits due to inherent hazards associated with using their machinery. In 1983, Kendrick B. Melrose took over as CEO of the Toro Company and, similar to James Parker and Howard Shultz, he was able to overcome his company's financial plummet by turning to empathy for an answer (Goldstein, 2012).
Mr. Wonka feels that the best option for the company is to sell the company to a larger Swiss company in hopes that this merger will provide resources and marketing capabilities as well as expand the Willy brand into international markets that they have not be able to achieve as an independent company. What I agree with here is that by allowing a larger company to purchase Willy’s Candy Company will in fact allow them to begin to have a presence globally, which could impact sales and profits, however where I would be cautious of when making the decision to merge is that does the larger Swiss company have the same overall objectives and views on how to operate Willy’s Candy Company so that it does not cause cultural differences. I would recommend to Mr. Wonka that before we make the decision to sell The Willy Candy Company to the larger Swiss Company that he thoroughly understand how they plan to operate the company and if
Case Study Research and Analysis In each of the following case studies, mistakes regarding marketing research were made which ultimately cost the companies involved significant amounts of money and resources as well as reputation or track record status. While both are correctable, it has ultimately hit their bottom line, and will likely take some time, and additional resources to recover from. These are prime examples to the importance of accurate and timely marketing research and analysis. Cutting corners or incomplete marketing analysis can cause severe public image concerns that could otherwise have been avoided. In the case of Apple, will Japan ever take their products seriously going forward, or will they always be thought of as a little behind the times?
Research Paper Word Count: 1274 How successful can a company become before it is an economic danger for our country? That is the question a lot of Americans have begun to ask about the massive super store Wal-Mart. In a struggling American economy Wal-Mart thrives while smaller companies struggle and some even go bankrupt. There is always going to be companies that make it while others don’t, but when do American citizens need to step in and draw the line when one mega company like Wal-Mart becomes too powerful? With Wal-Mart using materials from other countries while its growing and expanding everyday it knocks out smaller businesses everywhere, which in turn hurts the economy and is literally a growing Monopoly in America, which we cannot
Aldi had to come up with new and better strategies to tackle the stiff competition in UK and Switzerland and remain competitive among the existing competitors, Migros and Cooper, in their local market. Cultural differences in UK influences how Aldi decided to upscale their product range as well as providing a higher level of services to the customers. In UK, low cost or low prices are perceived as poor quality. Therefore, Aldi had to make adjustment to its prices and quality of products so that people’s perception of Aldi’s past reputation of an ‘underclass-discounter’ will changed overtime. In September 2012, Aldi has announced that they are increasing the price of milk again (Ford, 2012), this has also given Aldi an opportunity to improve its image of an ‘underclass-discounter’ in the UK and Switzerland.
4. The case of Starbucks: ethics and marketing Starbucks changed its main supplier in terms of coffee, and now its major coffee producer is the global organization Fairtrade (“commerce equitable”.) Starbucks has always presented itself as a fair-trade company: it presents itself as an ethical corporation, claiming that it pays higher than market price for its coffee, thus distancing itself from other coffee houses. By doing so, by adhering to fair-trade movement, Starbucks partakes in the helping of 100,000 coffee farmers and communities. Not only is this changing its economic strategy, as coffee gets more expensive to buy for the company, but it more importantly improves the image of the brand on the social stage.
As human beings we always want more and more. There is no limit to how much we want and business executives have realized this. They want that greed that they helped develop within us to come out and buy all of their products, sustaining that it’s good for our economy, but it is good for our health? There is no benefit in consuming more products to stabilize our economy and allow business owners to gain more wealth, if the consumer is also gaining vast health risks with the purchase of these products. Over the last couple of years, the United States has, not only, become the most obese country in the world, but also has a large increase in health problems such as heart attacks, diabetes, high blood pressure, and strokes.