Product Life Cycle Essay Example

Product Life Cycle Paper 1. Introduction It has been well established that Product Life Cycle (PLC) concept has a significant impact upon business strategy and corporate performance. Since the term was first used by Levitt (1965 ) in an Harvard Business Review article â€Å"Exploit the Product Life Cycle† the concept has been widely accepted and applied by marketing practitioners all over the world. The product life cycle concept is one of the most quoted and most frequently taught elements of marketing theory. According to Mercer (1993: 269) the influence of the product life cycle can be seen in other theories, from new product development, positioning differentiation and portfolio analysis. Since its adoption by marketing, the product life cycle (PLC) has achieved universal acceptance because of its appeal and wide application. According to Weber (1976: 12) the product life cycle concept provides an intuitively appealing and readily understandable framework of analysis for considering future growth opportunities and pitfalls. As time passes sales increase slowly at first (introduction phase), then more quickly (growth phase), then once again more slowly (maturity and saturation phases), and finally decrease (decline phase). This assignment discusses the importance of repositioning and differentiating for an organization’s products or services using the concept of Product Life Cycle (PLC). It also critically analyses the actual practice an organization undertakes to repositioning or differentiating it products. Based on the critical analysis a set of recommendations are provided for the selected organization to improve its overall positioning differentiating efforts during the various stages of PLC. Within this context, the organization that is selected is Bahrain International Retail Development Centre (BIRD) which is one of the leading corporate training providers in Bahrain. 2. Discussion 2. 1 Description of the selected organization- BIRD Bahrain International Retail Development Centre (BIRD) is a sister concern of Bahrain Duty Free. It is a joint venture between Bahrain Duty Free Air Rainta International, set up since 2001. We will write a custom essay sample on Product Life Cycle specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Product Life Cycle specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Product Life Cycle specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer It is one of the leading corporate training providers and broadly caters to Management Development, Retail, Customer Service/Sales, Purchasing Supply Management Business English training areas or categories. Within each of these training areas or categories it provides a range of courses that are tailor made training programme to assist the participants in their professional development right from entry to higher levels. In addition to customized training programmes, it also designs delivers a range of open programmes workshops on relevant topics/ areas on a regular basis. BIRD in the last seven years approximately has successfully conducted a range of such effective training programmes for leading organizations in Bahrain such as Bahrain Duty Free, Batelco, Bin Hindi, Y K Almoayyed Sons, Al Hawaj, Jashanmals, National Motors, Al Rashid Group, Garmco and many such leading reputed organizations in Bahrain. 2. 2 Key issues facing BIRD BIRD has positioned itself as a quality training provider with emphasis of satisfying the client training needs through innovative training programmes that have quality in every aspect right from design to delivery. However though it is able to meet its client needs satisfactorily it be profitable it faces key competition from other training providers. Further BIRD operates in a price sensitive training market. The entire training market is fragmented with many competitors trying to capture each other market share purely on price. However what needs to be established that whether the training market is mature or BIRD’s products are mature. There are few companies which are actually quality conscious but they are not enough to justify the revenue generated by BIRD. Majority of the clients or companies want new training at reasonable prices. In addition they are looking for value addition, such that the training is not a cost, but an investment in human resources for their staff. This value addition can be through quality accredited globally recognized training programmes, training needs analysis at no cost or any other consultancy services required by the client. Further the clients or companies are not able to differentiate BIRD’s training solutions or products from others specifically on the basis of quality. In other words, ‘BIRD’ needs to reexamine and reassess the following issues related to its training programmes 1. It needs to critically analyze its current positioning differentiating strategies for each of its broad training programmes or categories specifically which if they are in maturity stage. This should also to be done for the company as whole that is what brand image BIRD has and how do clients perceive it. 2 based on the analysis it needs to explore various repositioning differentiation strategies for its range of training programmes to make it more effective in the long run. . It needs to establish whether the training market is mature or BIRD’s products are mature. 2. 3 Understanding Positioning Differentiation Positioning is the aspect of the product or brand actively communicated to the target audience, specifically, its competitive advantage, values and imagery. It is strongly related to the perception and image of the product. When devising a positioning strategy for a product, marketers must establish a unique and distinctive image of that product in the mind of the consumer. This will differentiate a company’s product from its competitors. Kotler, 1998) Similarly Kotler and Keller(2006) define positioning as the act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the target market whereas repositioning can be defined as the changing/modifying the existing positioning to occupy a distinctive place in the target market. Differentiating is the deliberate marketing decision by organizations to differentiate their products on the basis of various dimensions such as product features, benefits, performance, conformance, durability etc. or even its service dimensions such as ordering ease, durability, installation, maintenance repair etc. Kotler,1998) Whatever dimensions a company selects to differentiate its product it then decides to effectively position it in consumer’s m ind. 2. 4 What is Product Life Cycle Concept (PLC)? PLC includes the different stages an organization’s product goes through right from the day it introduced in the market to the day it is withdrawn or declines from its market. It includes four stages- Introduction, Growth, Maturity Decline. (Kotler, 1998) This PLC Concept is usually for a product category (training), a product form (retail training) or product/brand (City Guilds retail training qualifications). Typically the product life cycle is a bell shaped curve as seen in figure 1 ,but their can be variations such as growth slump maturity pattern, cycle – recycle pattern and scalloped pattern (Swan Pinl 1982; Tellis Crawford, 1981) Figure 1 – Typical bell shaped curve of PLC During each of the stages the product sales, profits, level of competition and number of customers vary and go through different changes, thus pose different marketing challenges, opportunities, and problems to the organization (Kotler Keller, 2006) The pattern of sales, profits, number of customers level of competition are summarized below 1. Market introduction stage o high costs osales volume low olow or no profits due to high developmental costs ono/little competition competitive manufacturers watch for acceptance/segment growth losses odemand has to be created ocustomers have to be prompted to try the product 2. Growth stage ocosts reduced due to economies of scale osales volume increases significantly oprofitability opublic awareness competition begins to increase with a few new players in establishing market oprices to maximize market share 3. Maturity stage ocosts are high to maintain market share sales volume peaks oincrease in competitive offerings oprices tend to drop due to the proliferation of competing products obrand differentiation, feature diversification, as each player seeks to differentiate from competition with how much product is offered osales are high but profits are low 4. Decline or Stability stage o costs become counter-optimal osales volume decline or stabilize oprices, profitability diminish profit becomes more a challenge of production/distribution efficiency than increased sales. (Kotler,1998;Kotler Keller,2006) 2. 5 Positioning PLC The maturity stage tends to be longer than the previous stages and poses big challenges to marketers. This is the stage the marketers need to mange the most otherwise the product will move into decline stage which is not desirable. According to Kotler Keller (2006) the organization has various options- 1) Market modification by working out two factors that make up sales volume Volume= number of product/brand users x usage rate per hour This can be done by expanding the number of brand/product users by connecting nonusers or by entering new market segments and winning competition’s customers. Volume can also be increased by convincing current users to increase their product or brand usage. 2) Product modification: Sales are also stimulated by modifying the products characteristics through quality, feature or style improvement. This may also involve repositioning the existing product with improved/ modified changes and then to be communicating this repositioning successfully to the target market ) Other marketing mix modification This includes changing the other marketing mix such as prices, distribution, advertising, sales promotion etc Thus maturity stage is the most challenging stage that needs to be managed effectively so that the product does not loose it market share or enter decline stage. According to Kotler and Keller (2006) the company’s overall positioning and differentiating strategy must c hange over the various stages of PLC. When products reach maturity they are well known. However, as competing products enter the market; mature products can begin to look old and tired. Action must then be taken to refresh the product’s image or repositioning. This repositioning can create new appeal for existing consumers or attract new consumers. Business 200 Case Study (http://www. business2000. ie/cases/cases_9th/case7. htm) 2. 6 Critical analysis of BIRD’s product in terms of PLC stage positioning strategies 2. 6. 1Applying the PLC concept majority of all BIRD’s training programmes are in mature stage, other than the Purchasing Supply training programmes. These Purchasing Supply training programmes which are offered in association with Chartered Institute of Purchasing Supply (CIPS) were introduced this year (2008) and are thus are in introductory stage but if considered from overall training market, these training progranmmes are already existing in the market, being offered by many competitors. Thus the market for these programmes is mature highly competitive. 2. 6. 2 The retail training programmes which are the main revenue generator are two fold –globally accredited City Guilds training programmes and company specific customized training programmes. Both the kinds of programmes are in maturity stage and they drastically need to be re assessed in terms of being repositioned to consolidate its position in the market. The overall market for these is also some what late growth stage transiting into mature stage. 2. 6. 3Other training programmes such as Management development Customer service / sales are more or less in similar stages as retail training but probably more competitive. 2. 6. 4 Business English training programmes is in maturity stage and the overall market for these products is also in maturity stage. 2. 6. The overall image or positioning of The BIRD as a quality training provider is well accepted in the market palace but it can be enhanced further and communicated and understood clearly by its clients. 2. 7 Recommendations Based on the above critical analysis following recommendations have been provided for BIRD- 2. 7. 1 Product modification As regards its Purchasing Supply training programmes, since it is in intro duction stage it needs to create more awareness about its programmes and position them on the basis of quality such as qualified trainers, suitable class timings, quality infrastructure- class room, pantry etc. nd other issues related to training. Every thing related to training programmes specifically all the elements of marketing mix should spell out quality so that the positioning is clearly communicated and understood by its target market. Regarding its retail training programmes specifically for City Guilds it should continue to position it as quality programmes with clear emphasis on its accreditation from City Guilds. Regarding the customized training programmes it should emphasize on BIRD’s experience expertise in delivering these programmes. For its management development, customer service / sales Business English courses it needs to reposition and make them value added without compromising on quality. This value addition can be providing detailed pre course and post course evaluation, training needs analysis( TNA ) if cist allows and any other elements of training that the client value. This repositioning with changes in the product need to be communicated effectively to the target market is able to understand and appreciate this repositioning. . 7. 2 Market expansion modification As regards the overall positioning of BIRD as one stop training solution provider for its client which means they should consider BIRD for all their training requirements in all areas. This will increase the market share of BIRD and also the raise the bar of BIRD as quality training provider in all areas. This will also provide market expansion and modification increasing the number of clients and their volume of business as well. 3. Summary This assignment established that an organization products go through different stages and each stage needs to handled differently as regards its positioning | differentiating strategies. Maturity stage is the most crucial stage and thus is the most challenging for an organization. The critical analysis of BIRD’s products established that most of its products are in mature stages operating in more or less mature markets. As a result a set of recommendations were provided to effectively improve the overall positioning as well as individual positioning of broad categories of training programmes References †¢Levitt, T. (1965) Exploit the Product life cycle: Harvard Business Review: Vol. 43: Nov- Dec:pp 81 -94 †¢Kotler, P. , (1998), Marketing Management analysis planning implementation and control, (9th ed. ), Prentice Hall, Australia †¢Kotler, P. Keller, K . L. (2006) Marketing Management: 12th eds:Pearson Education Limited: Upper Saddle river: New Jersey †¢Business 2000 case study: Extending the product life cycle through repositioning (http://www. business2000. ie/cases/cases_9th/case7. tm) †¢Weber, J. A. (1976) Planning Corporate Growth with inverted product lifecycle: Long range planning: Oct: 12 -29 †¢Mercer, D. (1993) A Two decade test of Product life cycle theory: British Journal of Management: Vol4: Issue 4: Dec: 269 – 274 †¢Swan, J. E. David, R. R. (1982) Fitting Marketing Strategy into varying product life cycles: Business Horizons: 72 – 76 †¢Gerald, J. Tellis Crawford, C. M. (1981) An evolutionary approach to Product growth theory: Journal of Marketing: Fall: 125 134

University of Phoenix Material Essays (452 words) - Communication

University of Phoenix Material Essays (452 words) - Communication University of Phoenix Material Global Communications Worksheet Your supervisor wants to send a brief e-mail message to welcome employees who have recently transferred to your department from Brazil, Russia, India, and China. He has written a draft message and would like your feedback. Review your supervisor's message below. Rewrite the message to make it appropriate for the communication style of one of the four countries of your choice. Conduct research to know more about the communication style of your chosen country. I wanted to welcome you ASAP to our little family here in the States. It's high time we shook hands in person and not just across the sea. I'm pleased as punch about getting to know you all, and I for one will do my level best to sell you on America. Complete the table with your rewritten welcome message. |Chosen Country |Rewritten welcome message | |name | | |India |We wanted to welcome you to join our little | | |family here in the United States. This is a | | |fantastic opportunity that we have for all | | |of us to meet in person instead of by phone | | |or teleconference. I am very excited about | | |getting to know each of you and your | | |background. I personnaly will ensure your | | |stay here will be a rememerable experience | | |as well. | Additional Insight Respond to each of the following questions with at least one paragraph: When you researched the communication style of your chosen country, what information did you discover? What are some considerations that should be made when writing to someone from another country? I chose India as my country because in the business world they are one of the world leaders in innovation. Their business intelligences has brought them from a third world industrious country to a well desired business parternership of many countries including America. I also discovered that English is one of the main languages for their business communication. English is so common amongst Indian business men and women that there is less than one half percent of them that do not speak the language. The main consideration would be to educate yourself about their culture. There are somethings that we do, or a certain ways we do it but it might not be acceptable in their country. In India it is very offensive for them to tell someone "no" in a business proposal. They would rather counter offer a suggestion then turn it down all together. If they end up having to say no to a proposal from a business partner and most times will have difficult business dealings afterwards. They believe that they put so much effort in to their business that all partners know what to expect and not to make offers to them that will result in them aying no.

Geographic Expansion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Geographic Expansion - Essay Example This is also true of Islam. The close associates of Muhammad were the chief missionaries that caused the geographic boundaries of Islam to spread after the prophet’s death. The spatial realities of this spread where very different, however. Christianity was planted, largely in urban areas by the disciples of Jesus following his death. The urban areas of the Roman world were places of trade, some of them being extremely cosmopolitan. Christianity spread from person to person, with core groups of believers growing up in these urban areas. They were neither the majority nor were they important economically or politically for any centuries after the foundation of Christianity by Jesus. In a geographical sense, the first several centuries after the foundation of Christianity saw pockets of Christians establish themselves in urban areas throughout the Roman Empire. Islam’s geographic spread was much more dramatic and much more rapid. The foundation of Islam is born in conflict and conquest. Muhammad’s followers invitation to flee to Medina and their subsequent triumphant return to Mecca sets an example of conversion through conquest that was perpetuated for the next decades by the Rightly Guided Caliphs who followed Muhammad. Actually, Muhammad himself oversaw much more of the geographic expansion of Islam than Jesus personally orchestrated the expansion of Christianity. But what is so striking about the geographic spread of Islam is the fact that very large chunks of the earth’s surface became peopled with Muslims in a very brief amount of time. This can be attributed to the fact that conquest was the primary means of spreading Islam in the early years. Islamic warriors, not missionaries spread the new religion to lands they conquered militarily and politically. As a result, entire kingdoms where converted to Islam while Christianity’s early

Individual Report on Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Individual Report on Management - Essay Example It includes development of abilities and skills, building up of education and management, improving of self awareness and standard of life, and realization of aspirations. The concept of personal development is not limited to individual level but it also refers to the organizational level in terms of improvement in system, equipment, technology, method, practices and appraisal considerations in organization to support the personal development plan at individual level. A middle level manager needs to recognize his / her current and future role in Tesco Inc. Primarily the purpose of personal development plan is to assist the individuals to achieve their targets more effectively. A personal development plan offers several options to manager to improve his career and management style. Tesco is an international firm and mid-level managers effectively contribute at functional level. Therefore, PDP enables the Tesco’s mid level managers to list a variety of goals and steps for their development with respect to the analysis of their strengths and weaknesses and identifies the areas they need to emphasize with additional knowledge and better understanding. Tesco management can get short and long term aspirations to catch their strategic goals and have evidence regarding the progression towards the set target. Through PDP, Tesco management not only can improve their existing operations but it also facilitates them to review their existing and future plans. 1.2 Management Style In fact a management style is an overall application of leadership which the managers have to perform in terms of their role and tasks in Tesco. The handling of routine work and particular contingencies depends on the managerial styles. Lewin et al (1939) suggested a continuum theory of leadership that identified three basic styles which are used as management styles by managers at their level. Management styles vary from manager to manager in all organizations. Same is the case in Tesco. Th ere are some autocrat managers in Tesco who have little trust in group members and believe that money is the only reward that will motivate workers. At the other end of the continuum is the laissez-faire managers who have little or no self-confidence in their managerial role, they set no goals for the employees, and minimize the communication and interaction. Autocrat Democrat Laissez-faire Benevolent Autocrat (Fig. 1) The democratic management style can be the most effective and productive style for Tesco. The style encourages the subordinates by providing an opportunity to share their views in decision making process. Democratic style explains the reasons to the group for decisions when necessary and objectively communicates criticism and praise to subordinates. This in turn motivates the employees and feel them importance in organizational structure.

Movie in 1980-1989 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Movie in 1980-1989 - Essay Example Krishna, a 10 year old kid lives in a remote rural area in India. Fed up of the bossing by his brother he sets his bike on fire and bears the wrath of his mother. She takes him to a circus and leaves him there asking him to earn Rs. 500 to repay for bike repair or not to come home. Krishna finds employment by doing petty jobs for the circus owner in hope of earning the amount and returning home. One fine day the owner orders him to get local liquor from a far away shop. Its take tremendous time and energy for Krishna to find it buy it and get back to the circus site, by the time the circus had left. With only some change in pocket and no courage to return to his mother, he sets out for the biggest city of India – Bombay. On his arrival he meets some local goons and is robbed off his money in light of his powerlessness and innocence. He follows the goons with courage and eventually befriends them. They lead him to the biggest brothel of Bombay at Falkland Road near Grant Road Railway Station. One of the goon and a drug addict, ‘Chillum’ who is also one of the main characters in the movie helps krisna to get a job with a tea stall owner. Days become week, weeks turn into months and years in hope of returning home. Not a day passes when Krishna asks his boss if he has Rs. 500 in his account by now but is always turned away. Change comes in his monotonous laborious life when a new prostitute, a virgin, ‘Sola Saal’ is brought to the brothel. He is so infatuated with the 16 year old girl that he sets the brothel room to fire in order to elope with her but in vain. He loses his job and does odd jobs with Chillum to survive. Meanwhile his friend Chillum is deteriorating in health and moneywise and he keeps on helping him time and again. Life is again monotonous until one night when he and his goon friends plan to rob an old Parsi man. While his life is being shown, a parallel story runs of another prostitute who has married with

SUZUKI STYLE METHOD: BREAKING DOWN CULTURE BLOCKS :: essays research papers fc

Suzuki Style Method: Breaking Down Culture Blocks The topic I am choosing to write about is the Suzuki style of music education, or better known as the Suzuki method. It was brought to my attention by the lessons teacher the different methods of teaching flute and other instruments. She preferred to teach me music from the Suzuki method book and after doing some of my own research I realized what a good method the Suzuki style is for teaching children, especially children at a young age. The point I want to prove is the Suzuki style method is the best way of teaching a child how to play and understand music from modern times to early music and from all over the globe. This topic is important because I believe this is the best way to teach a child to not only learn to play an instrument, but to love to play their instrument and to love making music. Not only will they love the music but they will become more open to different kinds of music and cultures. I think every culture has its own music style, and most people become comfortable with what is around them so they don’t think to venture out. With this style more children will grow up to appreciate the classics of our country and other countries and to not be so closed minded. If I can prove this method to be the best way of learning/teaching, then I think we have found a solution to culture gaps all over the world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I have a few books and internet sources lined up for my paper. Many of the books I plan on getting soon and already have include parents speaking of their ways of training their children, and a hands on book from someone who has learned the Suzuki method. I have books from teachers and 1 book in particular is an observer of the style who travels the world seeing children playing in concerts and sees their lessons and practicing method. One novel I am reading is written by the creator of the style, Shin’ichi Suzuki, and explains how he made this method, his observations compared to other methods, and why he thinks this is a good way of learning. I only have a few internet sources, and I am using them to have an inside look on the world wide association for this method and to know a little more about what this method is about.

Importance of Fresh Water Essay

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