SOLUTION: DEEP DIVE GMGT 680 Marketing Concepts & Strategy The firm I have

DEEP DIVE

GMGT 680 Marketing Concepts & Strategy

The firm I have chosen to use is Amazon. Answer the following questions based on chapters 1 through 3 reading and research. I have provided citations, however, also use your own research to answer the following questions. EACH chapter should be its own page.

This is a deep diver!

It gets to the bottom of things.

Your subject firm: –Amazon

No deep dive is complete without visiting –Subject Firm–, observing, eavesdropping and talking to customers, and reading everything you can find.

Some pointers about Deep Dives:

I can see many of you are figuring out that Deep Dives are not designed to serve as simple learning tools, they are hard to do ‘quickly’ and are largely insensitive to confusions that may arise for those used to simplistic directions. For some, Deep Dives are simplistic exercises; others see the complexity. In other words, each week contains a video that explains what is expected; your ability to make sense of what is asked of you, and use information and facts to drive your inferences is at premium in any MBA program. Kudos to those who have figured this out; I commend the effort many of you have put into the first three chapters.

If you come to think of Deep Dives as a one-shot exercise, then you don’t need my feedback. If you think of it as an iterative learning process, then the following feedback might be helpful to you.

At all costs, avoid telling me a story. A story is a narrative that has no citations, no facts, no analysis; it is a description and un-useful in a Deep Dive. You may indeed know a lot about the firm, and your guesses may well be accurate – they do not belong in a Deep Dive. Deep Dives are not lengthy; they represent carefully selected facts, they draw the strongest, most meaningful of inferences to produce the deepest insights. SELECT FACTS CAREFULLY.

All bulleted lists are not alike, nor are they equally illuminative. Avoid presenting a random list of bulleted points without indication of source. I can’t tell what these lists are, why they are there, what analysis they support, and why you are devoting your attention to them.

Bulleted lists with sources are better. But not sufficient by themselves. Explain why you are citing this information, why it is important for your analysis. Information you cite is irrelevant if you do not explain why you are citing it, how and why it shapes your analysis. For instance, if you say that the firm has seven suppliers, and you name them, and tell me what their sales are, who the CEO is, and what CRM software they use – follow with why making me read these things was important to your analysis. Otherwise, best leave it out. Similarly, using acronyms such as VIM without explanation is ill advised; so is citing this information if it does not shape your analysis. SELECT FACTS CAREFULLY.

Some of you have worked together (advised), some of you have identical content (ill-advised). Collaborate, but write your own papers. You really do not want to plagiarize, and the MBA program cannot serve as the first event where you have heard of this practice. Those of you who are confused about this are best advised to do some research into plagiarism; identical content in two or more papers usually does not bode well for any authors. AVOID PLAGIARISM AT ALL COSTS.

Discussions of pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses are unidimensional issues in a complex, multi-dimensional world. They are not the kind of evaluations that characterize Deep Dives. Deep Dives – you will learn – ask you to evaluate the complex connections between facts, so you make sense of the reality faced by the firm. The firm you are analyzing is complex; your analysis should reflect your understanding. EMBRACE THE COMPLEXITY.

am aware that your responses vary. Some have and others have not submitted Deep Dive work – hence this note applies more to some and less to some, and not at all to those who have submitted nothing. Some have done an excellent job (kudos). Others are writing in ways that suggest assigned material is not read, and videos not watched. Many are in between these two ends.

One of the clearest indicators of how well you have done on the Deep Dive is the answer to the question: ‘could anyone have written what you are writing, without any research, without reading the text, without watching the videos, without reading emails I sent, without even knowing much about the firm?’

If the answer is YES, then you can see the clear problem.

For instance, anyone without attending the class can write: “Starbucks sells coffee, has stores across the US, and is popular with young people.”

Such a statement, in all likelihood, will trigger eye rolls at Starbucks headquarters. It does not belong in a Deep Dive at in an MBA program.

I will provide another example because virtually ALL submissions thus far contain such general statements.

Consider the following statement. “Nike is a popular company, and uses Mike Jordan as a spokesperson.” People currently running this firm called NIKE know. It will annoy the reader, and lead them to stop taking you seriously.

What is a specific statement?

Based on a WSJ article written by Sanders in 2021, you have a bullet under the heading of macro-environment:

“In the March 2021-August 2021 period, the average shipment of finished Nike products manufactured in Malaysia and Vietnam were delayed by 60 days (Sanders, 2021).”

This tells the reader that you have done some research, you have carefully selected a key macro-environmental trend to write about, and that you will now demonstrate your intelligence and learning by discussing what this statement means to Nike.

NOTE: ABI Inform is a resource. The librarians are happy to help you. When you ask, “Do I have to use ABI Inform?” the answer is “yes.” Use the librarian resources if your searches are not yielding results.

NOTE: The Deep Dive log book was constructed with the purpose of guiding your learning process. Tables are made available with the same purpose. Use them to structure your thinking. Some will choose to use them, others will not.

NOTE: Improperly cited Deep Dives (cut and paste of URL for instance) leads the reader to stop taking your work seriously. The directions in this regard are provided you with a clear purpose.

NOTE: If each sentence does not have a citation, or is not making a reference to a citation, do not include it in a Deep Dive.

NOTE: Deep Dives are indeed deep. Select the most powerful FACTS, you can CITE, and then follow with what they mean for the firm. For instance, the above fact suggests that inventory in stores will suffer, shipment to online shoppers will be delayed. What is your research on what Nike did or is doing? In other words, is the effect, what are the likely outcomes (without offering suggestions for improvements).

If you tell Nike execs that the 60 day delay occurred, they will know this – but at least they will see you have done some research. To wow them, tell them – based on your learning – how this will shape responses of consumers, buyers, traders, competitors (without telling them to do something).

For instance, your research may suggest that during the SARS pandemic of 2009, FIRM X responded to supply shortages by raising prices, and FIRM Y responded by cutting prices, and the share price of FIRM X rose sharply; and suggests that shortages provide opportunities for profitability as a result of passing on the costs of unavoidable delays on customers for infrequently purchased consumer goods such as sports apparel and shoes (then provide one or more citations for this factoid about cut prices and share price).

FINALLY: A Deep Dive is NOT a LONG DOCUMENT. It is definitely not a laundry list of random facts anyone could have compiled. It is DEFINITELY not a place to make general statements. No manager should read a list and wonder: “what is this, why are you writing this?” It is aimed at an impatient audience who already knows a lot. It is your opportunity to demonstrate that you can produce NEW VALUE. It is entirely research based. It is entirely a structured argument (the opposite end of a general discussion of what you might know). Select facts carefully, work your way through the new learning you derive (thus far about the macro, micro environments, the customers, and positioning).

CHAPTER 8: supply chain & Distribution

8.1. Based on research; delineate the key strengths (with examples and citations) of:

a. Subject firm’s supply chain management (relationships)

b. Subject firm’s information management (for inventory management)

8.2. Explain how and why management of the distribution function for your subject firm is a source of competitive advantage.

The following table might help you frame your thinking (after you have read assigned text and other materials):

After viewing the video, the key learning I derive is (note, do not repeat what you saw on the video, limit this to your inferences, and tell me what you think – just as you did in the case studies. . . . see case study guidelines)

Video: Distribution 1: what I think is . . .