MK351 Unit 7 : Case Discussion Peer Response Posts
Introductions
In Units 1-8, you will respond to a case study. The discussion assignments are designed to help you apply the concepts from the chapters in each unit. You will respond individually to the following questions and to the postings of your fellow classmates.
The following video case, titled, “The New York Times” is located at the end of chapter 12 and involves the use of digital advertising.
Unit Learning Outcomes
ULO 6: Describe the ways in which companies are using social media marketing. (CLO 3)
Response Posts
Select two peers to respond too
Each response post should consist of at least 100 words.
Point out what you perceived to be the strengths of the initial posting along with supporting rationale.
Identify specific opportunities for improvement with regard to the content in the initial posting. Furthermore, you should provide supporting rationale for your stated position, as well as concrete suggestions and guidance intended to strengthen the effectiveness of the content.
Peer: Ian Pittmann – (100 words) Marketing would get this new division up and running. The marketing team would have salespeople like one of the owners said in the case study they would need some because they do not have time for it.
The marketing team for this division would have a main role of sales, consisting of salespeople. Their job would be to create value, manage relationships between customers and company, and relay customer and market information back to the company (Tanner, J., & Raymond, M. A., 2020).
I would consider marketing a success when they start bringing in more leads and helping the conversion ratio. The salespeople will be measured by their sales obviously, but also by their sales versus the sales quotas for each salesperson. If the salespeople are hitting their quotas for each period, then I would consider that a success.
The sales positions this company would need are prospectors and account managers. “A prospector is a salesperson whose primary function is to find prospects, or potential customers” (Tanner, J., & Raymond, M. A., 2020). They would require this position to seek out construction companies and other businesses that require safe scaffolding, but do not have information on where to rent it from. After the prospector finds the new customer and makes the sale, the account manager will be required to keep track of the ongoing business with that customer and any other customers using the product.
A few sales strategies the company could use are script-based, needs-satisfaction, and consultative selling. Script-based selling is where a salesperson will give their sales pitch from memory, and it is very standardized to meet a customer’s basic needs. Needs-satisfaction selling is a two-way street, where the seller asks the potential customer questions and the customer answers them, then the salesperson adapts their sales pitch to match the customers needs. This is the main one I would recommend for the company because “this form of selling works best if the needs of customers vary, but the products being offered are fairly standard” (Tanner, J., & Raymond, M. A., 2020). In this case study the product being offered is standard, it is scaffolding, but the different companies might have specific needs for the scaffolding. Lastly, consultative selling is like needs-satisfaction selling, except it offers more specific or customizable solutions.
References:
Tanner, J., & Raymond, M. A. (2020). Principles of Marketing. Boston, MA: FlatWorld.
Peer: April Cruz – (100 words) 1. What would marketing do for the new division?
The idea of renting scaffolds business is the first steps and go through the rest of the new offering development process to including creating a marketing plan for this new business. Marketing should research how competitive the market is, how much does it cost to start, how much will the company profit, and who will be the targeted customers for this type of business. After information is gathered and there is a potential that this business will flourish then marketing should advertise the product of the new division.
2. What would its role be?
Marketing role is to promote a product or an organization. This division is in charge of finding customers, maybe investors or publishing information about the product or what the company is offering to the public. In addition, they are promoting a positive image of the company to invite business.
3. What would you consider success for marketing?
In my opinion, marketing is considered successful when they able to meet the company’s missions and visions or goals to include meeting customer’s needs, expectations, and satisfaction at the same time.
4. What type of sales position would they need?
First, their company would need a boundary spanner to get information about other competitors marketing strategy to be able to learn, strategize and compete in the market. In my opinion, the company needs order getter, order takers, sales support, and prospector out of the seven positions mention by Tanner. (pg. 349-350) These sales positions will drive sales or revenue by having the initiative to contact and make proposals to customers.
5. What are several sales strategies they might possibly implement?
Tanner stated four selling strategies that this company could use, and these are:
Selling strategies
Script Based Selling – also called canned selling, a sales pitch that is given to customers verbatim.
b. Need-Satisfaction Selling – refers to tailoring the sales pitch by asking questions or what customers need.
C. Consultative Selling – refers to presenting a personalized solution based on the salesperson’s knowledge to satisfy customers need.
d. Strategic-Partner Selling – when “buyer and seller jointly invest resources and share their expertise to create a solution designed to grow one another’s businesses”. (pg.356)
Reference:
Tanner, J. & Raymond, M.A (2020). Principle of Marketing, Version 4.0.1. Boston, MA: FlatWorld
******Bonus Activity– (50 words) View the Ted Talk Video, How to Sell Without Selling your Soul (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqdaRXQjTUE&feature=youtu.be) and provide a few brief comments with respect to its relevancy to this unit’s marketing concepts.
MG371 Unit 7: Discussion Peer Response Posts
Overview
After completing the textbook reading assignment, the lectures, and other activities above, select one of the unit concepts below. Then find a current event in an article at one of the online periodicals listed that will illustrate that concept. Compose an analysis of that event or situation in the article using the unit supervisory concept that you selected.
Remember that content matters in your analysis and responses to others. A sample format for an article analysis is attached here: Discussion Article Analysis Form download. Follow this to ensure that you include both information about the situation within the article as well as concepts from our readings that explain it. See the grading rubric on the Assignments and Grading page in the Course Information Module for more information.
respond to at least three classmates and or instructor’s posts
Peer: Carlos Davis – (100 words) Weekly Article Analysis: Operation management; Efficiency
This week’s concept I have chosen to highlight is obtaining organizational efficiency through management. The optimization of processes and procedures should be a constant objective for any manager as these goals also lead to increased market value for shareholders. An excellent way to achieve the goal of improved efficiency is to analyze and reengineer current practices to see what areas are no longer necessary and cutting or combining tasks as required to result in a streamlined system. As offered by the text, “Process reengineering can boost efficiency because it eliminates the time devoted to activities that do not add value” (Jones, George pg.467, 2020).
Summary of the Article
The article I selected this week sheds light on how top managers at American Airlines were forced to reengineer the standard operating procedures of their business at the beginning of the pandemic last year. The article states, “ American Airlines Group Inc. will cut 30% of its management and support staff, or about 5100 jobs, as it continues to shink operations in response to the dramatic decline in travel brought on by the coronavirus pandemic” (Bloomberg, 2020). Unfortunately, the company was not really given an option to find cost-cutting options to remain in business since the only other option would have been to file for bankruptcy. The sudden change in travel restrictions worldwide resulted in an unforeseen shift in demand, and managers at American were able to come up with the best plan possible to face these changes head-on and save the company.
While layoffs are never the first option in an effort to increase efficiency, this situation calls for this drastic measure as other options were not as effective as desired. It is understandable that employees would rather not leave a steady job or take a reduction in hours when there are still bills to pay. Sadly, mass layoffs across the spectrum of operations are the next logical step. I do commend the American Airlines executive management team for committing to laying off both front-line workers and management-level employees. To the general public and employees, it shows that company leaders are indeed committed to exacting needed cuts from the top to the bottom to ensure the company is able to weather the pandemic and come out successfully at its conclusion. Reengineering business practices to maximize efficiency is not always as easy as introducing new technology, but it is the duty of every manager and, therefore must be accomplished.
References
Bloomberg. (2020, May 28). American Airlines to cut 30% of management and support staff amid travel decline. Fortune. https://fortune.com/2020/05/28/american-airlines-layoffs-management-support-staff-coronavirus-travel-decline/.
Jones, G. R., & George, J. M. (2020). Essentials of contemporary management. McGraw-Hill Education.
Peer: Christopher Byrne – (100 words) The concept I chose to work with this week is The Communication Process. It is a process that happens in 2 phases according to the text, the transmission phase and the feedback phase. Transmission happens when the sender transmits a message through an encoded means. That could be with “symbols or language” (Jones & George, 2020). It is then transmitted over a medium, voice written, and electronic means. As the name implies the receiver receives it and the message is decoded. This is when the feedback phase begins. The receiver then becomes the sender and the process essentially begins again. Good communication is essential to attaining efficiency, quality, responsiveness and innovation. This is internal to the organization as well as external.
Good communication both internal to an organization and external came to the forefront during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The article I found, How to Communicate During a Crisis at Work made some good points about communicating. When there is turmoil some people don’t know what to do. Communication is key to getting the word out. The message needs to be clear and concise, but that comes also with knowing your audience. This means you need the right person to give the information. The message needs to be consistent. When the message is not consistent it causes more confusion. The one part that I really liked is that “…it’s not always possible to project complete certainty, but it is important to project authenticity” (Storm, 2021).
In the position I am in my organization I was part of the communication chain making sure people knew what they could and could not do during the height of the pandemic. It became difficult when I was told information to pass out, but then other information came out at the same time the differed. What saved me was being authentic and letting people know that information is changing what seemed like every minute. I’m not sure using the Signal app, Facebook, Zoom, and email would be considered a different medium but using multiple avenues ensured everyone was getting the information.
Jones, G.R. & George, J.M. (2020). Essentials of contemporary management. McGraw-Hill Education
Storm, H. (2021, April 22). How to communicate during a crisis at work. Fortune. https://fortune.com/2021/04/22/how-to-communicate-during-a-crisis-at-work/ (Links to an external site.)
Peer: Ronda Brabble – (100 words) The Noncompete Clause Gets a Closer Look / Examples of Global Management Communication
Communication is defined as “the sharing of information between two or more individuals or groups to reach a common understanding” (Jones & George, 2020). Verbal communication is defined as “the encoding of messages into words, either written or spoken” (Jones & George, 2020). Communication applies to this article because Intel chief executive Pat Gelsinger is using verbal communication to update his associates on the state of chip shortages that are affecting the global economy.
Short summary of the news article
Increased demand for everything from computers to home appliances has led to a global semiconductor shortage. Intel, one of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers is seeing a slump in revenues as a result of their inability to keep up with demand. In an effort to be forthcoming about the status of the situation and provide customers and investors with the latest information, Intel (Links to an external site.) chief executive Pat Gelsinger communicated with top management and investors on their earnings call. During the call, he informed the group that “the crunch could last until 2023” (Gelsinger, 2020).
Analyze based on the management concept
The concept of communication by managers is important because how and what information they relay can effect on shareholders, customers, and employees. The chip shortage is no doubt causing tension, so it is imperative that Gelsinger relays information that is clear, concise, and easy to understand. Gelsinger pulled no punches with his encoding. For example he said “The crippling chip shortage hampering the global economy is going to get worse before it gets better” , “We remain in a highly-constrained environment where we are unable to fully support demand” and “the crunch (Links to an external site.) could last until 2023” (Gelsinger, 2020). It is easy for the listener to decode Gelsinger’s message. We clearly understand the gravity of the situation and that it will continue until 2023.
I think Gelsinger is in a difficult position. Intel’s backlog is causing their stock to decrease in price so Gelsinger must be careful not to say anything that can be misconstrued or interpreted as deceitful. His message is easily understandable and does not lead the receiver to make any assumptions. I think the concept of global management communication is spot on in this case because Gelsinger is communicating the status of the company to a global audience. I think Gelsinger and other Intel management should continue to be open with customers, shareholders, and employees so they can maintain their integrity in the industry.
References:
Cherney, M. A. (2021, July 23). Intel CEO Says Global Chip Shortage Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better. Intel Earnings Were Better Than Expected. Why the Stock Is Falling. https://www.barrons.com/articles/intel-earnings-global-chip-shortage-51626998346?mod=hp_minor_pos16.
Jones, G. R., & George, J. M. (2020). Essentials of contemporary management. McGraw-Hill Education.
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