1. What are the main factors that contributed to Banyan Tree’s success?

2. The success of Banyan Tree arises from a good plan and presentation in its marketing
programs. The marketing programs were both interior and peripheral. The internal marketing
programs focused on the need for a friendly communal and monetary working area where
external marketing strategies focused on tapping into the affluent class that needed a green
conscious environment that was as reasonably priced as other resorts but quite exceptional in
their delicate tastes.
3. Market Target
4. Before its establishment, there existed a gap in the hotel industry between the giant chain
international hotels like Hilton and other luxury resorts like the Shangri-La. The big difference
in the accommodation costs created an invented market. Ho provided affordable individual
villas, well-designed romantic escapade for guests, tailor made customer packages as well as a
skilled personnel that would influence upon the visitors (Wirtz & Lovelock, 2009).
5. Marketing Strategy
6. The choice of the brand name was well tailored by the international advertizing agency. The
logo plan of the Banyan Tree and the marketing phrase “Sanctuary for the Senses” promoted
the merchandise and procedures of the resort (Kapferer, 1997). Focus was not on luxurious
accommodation but on romantic experiences that was valued by its clients. This anchored well
with the need for international tourists seeking such services.
7. The design and delivery of the products and services
8. Some of the merchandise and procedures offered were unique for example the Banyan Tree
Spa that offered aromatic oil for face together with body massage. The services tailored by
employees were dynamic and according to the natives’ culture and traditions complying with
the brand that focused on relations and closeness.
9. Dinner could be offered in a Thai boat accompanied by Thai musicians, wedding packages
that Buddhists officiated and even wedding ceremonies conducted under water in the corals.
These are some of the unique services in a natural setting. The services aimed not only at
customer satisfaction but also the business reaped maximum profits from the customers.
10. Aggressive internal marketing
11. The locals got employment from the resort from which they earned a living and retained
the special heritage. The employees were trained fundamentals to good service delivery with
 some accorded the “Banyan Tree Experience” to build the brand in them (Kapferer, 1997).
Lucrative welfare policies motivated the employees to consistent good performance.
12. Incorporation of the local communities and the interest of the public
13. The villas were developed from indigenous material provided by the locals. The local
artisans were engaged in the manufacture of local art and handicrafts. This merchandise
encompasses garments, jewellery, clannish art compounded with spa frills like incense
candles. The merchandise was availed for sale at the “Banyan Tree Gallery” (Kapferer, 1997).
By incorporating the local artisans in the drawing and assembly projects, the locals identified
with the brand as a means of earning an income (Kapferer, 1997).
14. Environmental practices
15. The villas were totally from indigenous material in the remote areas. The merchandise
used in the resorts, as toiletries were recyclable. The resort initiated “The Green Imperative
Fund” that supported community-based programs like building schools, promoting crafts of
the locals and restoring devastated coral reefs (Kapferer, 1997). The fund also set up a marine
conservation office to oversee current and potential areas susceptible to degradation.
16. Can Banyan Tree maintain unique position in the overcrowded resort market?
17. Setting
18. Most of the resorts are initiated in isolated areas that expose the clients to quiet
environment. Its aim of preserving the environment grants it a uniqueness that lacks in most
resorts. The luxurious resorts are expensive and sport oriented while Banyan Tree is less
expensive and romantic (Kapferer, 1997).
19. Promotions
20. Activities that involve the community help in promoting merchandise and procedures of
the resort. Its activities and products are ecofriendly. The wastes products are recyclable,
indigenous materials used to produce goods sold in the gallery.
21. Sustainability
22. The resorts contributed to the local economy by offering employment to the locals as well
as benefiting the environment. The guests who visited the resorts voluntarily contributed to the
“Green Imperative Fund” (Kapferer, 1997). A feedback on the success of their contributions
was often given that motivated them. The experiences that the clients had in these resorts
appealed to their senses. The services offered at Banyana Tree satisfied the clients.
23. Discuss the brand and product portfolio of Banyan Tree, Angsana and the color of
Angsana of beach resort and city hotels, spas, galleries and museum shops fit as a family
24. The main idea of Banyan Tree is the delight in romance when travelling and the wonders
present in dissimilar sections in the world. Marketing programs and public relations were the
ways through which the firm used to create awareness about its brand. Globally, “Banyan Tree
became a member of Small Luxury Hotels” and the foremost hotels in the world (Kapferer,
1997). The target consumers for Banyan Tree were well-off customers.
25. To achieve this, it decided to use agents who specialized in exclusive luxury holidays.
Angsana was introduced after the lavish resorts were stable. This brand was more reasonably
priced and fashionable than the Banyan Tree. It ran as a stand-alone spa business in other
hotels. The colors of Agsana, a merchandise line of Agsana, were to enter the tourism trade.
26. A fine way of marketing is positioning. It refers to finding strategic ways of creating
awareness about your brand in ways that will place it different from the competitive entities. A
sturdy brand means a better image quality for a firm thereby keeping the competitors at bay
(Kapferer, 1997).
27. For effectual administration of a brand, the characteristic aspect of the brand ought to be
managed. This refers to the real characteristics like the merchandise, pricing, and wrapping
among many others. The elusive aspects refer to procedures that generate emotions about the
merchandise or service.
28. Brand positioning aims at detailed consumers for the merchandise or procedures
introduced. Activities involved in the brand must have a fundamental aim. Therefore, it must
be exclusive and dissimilar from the competitors. Its sustainability, significance to the market,
and appropriateness must be ensured. Firms should also profit from brand positioning. Brand
positioning should realize support and financial goals for the entity.
29. Brand identity plays an essential role in marketing the merchandise and procedures of an
entity. It reflects what the audience easily identifies because of the logo, color, and symbols. It
creates a clear difference in the mind of the audience from other competitors. It gives a full
impression of activities of a firm. Brand equity relates to the value a firm receives from the
brand (Kapferer, 1997).
4. What effect does the practice of corporate social responsibility have on brand equity? In the case
of Banyan Tree it had a profound effect on Banyan’s brand equity. In line with the company ethos of
conserving local culture and heritage and promoting cottage crafts, the company founded Banyan
Tree Gallery, a retail store showcasing indigenous crafts. The crafts were made by the locals, which
not only created jobs for the local population but also showed Banyan Tree’s stance on social
 responsibility. Overtime, there was a Banyan Tree Gallery across all of the company’s resorts and the
community outreach extended across multiple countries. Being socially responsibly also helped them
establish a stronger brand. Customer praises were generally directed towards the fact that it was a
private, exclusive experience with sense of place and romance. Company’s socially responsible
policies also had a huge impact on their employees, who in turn had pride and respect for the
company. Furthermore, the effect of corporate social responsibility is also evident in the fact that the
company has won countless awards for just that, social and environmental responsibility. People
loved the fact that the company was engaging local communities, associates and guests to share the
cause of climate change and actions to reduce the carbon footprint. Involving the guests and the local
community is at the forefront of Banyan Tree and this has enormous impact on their brand. With
countless initiatives in the works and already in place, many guests know Banyan Tree resorts as a
place that only provided top notch service but also deeply cares about how it does business. 5. What
potential problems do you foresee bringing Banyan Tree to the Americas, Europe, and the Middle
East? How could Banyan Tree address those issues? The cost of doing business will definitely be the
number issue that the company will face in the Americas and Europe. Parts of Banyan Tree’s success
comes from cheap labor and Asia’s hardworking and dedicated workers. Although there are ways
around the financial issues that the company faces, it will be harder to replicate the success they had
in Asia as it was their home territory and they are closely familiar with how the “authentic”
experience would look/feel like. As it already mentioned in the case, it is important not to dilute the
brands, purely striving to open as many resorts as possible would not be the right strategy. It would
imperative for the company to stay focused on Banyan Tree and Angsana brand promises.
Furthermore, it will be important the company finds the right talent to manage its hotels and resorts
in the Americas and Europe as the culture is distinctly different than that of Asia, and it would be
important to stay the course but make sure that there are tweaks made into their products in order
to cater to the local population. All Banyan Tree hotels and resorts were designed around the concept
of providing a sense of place to reflect and enhance the culture and heritage of the destination.
Describe and evaluate Giordano’s product, business and corporate strategies.

Product Strategy: Giordano sees itself as being more than just a retailer of casual
apparel. Besides its brand name, logo, style and quality, excellent service has become part of
the tangible products sold at Giordano stores. Customers have come to associate service
excellence as an integral component of Giordano's merchandise. Giordano is constantly
aiming to improve the value of the product. Being customer-oriented allows Giordano to focus
on what the company's products mean to the consumer. Another example is Giordano's
invitation to customers to set the price of its jeans. Giordano's other product strategy is to sell a
small number of core products in its stores. Maintaining a restricted range of core products has
allowed Giordano to respond to market changes faster than its competitors, and to keep costs
down. Business Strategy: There are three generic strategies advanced as business strategies
(Porter): cost leadership, differentiation and focus, and combinations of these three pure
strategies.

The primary source of differentiation comes from Giordano's commitment to quality,

in terms of the products it sells and the service it provides to customers. However, this is done
carefully to prevent a loss of existing customers who may become confused by the value
proposition that Giordano provides to them. For instance, its launch of the Blue Star Exchange
(BSE) line clearly indicates its commitment to the existing value-for-money segment, but at
the same time it is upgrading its core brand's position so that customers may perceive that
Giordano stands for more than just 'low priced' apparel. Corporate Strategy: Giordano initially
adopted a tapered vertical integration (backward) strategy, as it had manufacturing plants in
the Philippines and Mainland China, while also sourcing from external suppliers. In fact, in
1999, the Philippines plant was closed down, and Giordano is now concentrating on their core
business in retailing/ distribution.

Describe and evaluate Giordano's current positioning strategy. Should

Giordano reposition itself against its competitors in its current and new
markets, and should it have different positioning strategies for different
positioning strategies?

Giordano's current positioning strategy is value for money. This means that Giordano
believes in creating and maintaining customer satisfaction. Consumers are given more
preferences in their business. However, at operating level it is the employees and sales people
who are attending these customers, but they are not paid as they are suppose to get paid. For
this Giordano provides its employees bonuses all over the year and different kind of leaves.
These kinds of services are also known as service differentiation. Other kind of positioning
strategy followed by Giordano is merchandise to their customers in such a way that the price
is still affordable and their product remains unique because of their quality.

Giordano should reposition itself in the current market and the new markets because they have
enough fame with the brand “Giordano”. The management has ways to make money and to
work on the concept of value for money. Employee's efficiency and speed up when out of
stock has brought a good reputation in the existing market. Giordano is not going to face any
kind of risk involved if they are willing to expand their business or reposition in new markets.
However, creating the same value of customers and customer satisfaction will take some time
which is not at all specified. At the same time it can also cause troubles to existing market due
to the target segment. This might being up some issues for repositioning themselves in the new
market and the customer's respond is hard to predict. The only concept and idea they have is
the customer services which are given to all its customers from different part of the world.
Secondly, they should maintain the quality and the merchandise of affordable cost towards its
customers. Lastly, they should bring up and improve their service differentiation in the
markets as compared to the existing markets. This will lead them to create customer awareness
to their product and keep them happy. Company might also improve their services in this way.

We think that if Giordano is ready to position them self in new market and reposition in the
existing one then they should also create different kind of strategies so that they can
experience different kind of respond. They should work on those strategies which are not
followed in Asian countries. However, looking at the economy and if its booming then they
consumers spending power increases because their income also increases. At this point
Giordano can actually come out with new products and new strategies so that customers are
 aware of company's existence in bad and good times of the economy. Apparently, this will
increase Giordano product prices and higher value brand. They should position them self in
the new market slowly as the economy rises. Due to economical crisis it will be hard for
Giordano to catch up with customer's attractions which lead to company to not understand and
the customer and customers will be confused with their brand in the new market.

1. What are Giordano’s key success factors and sources of competitive advantage? Are
its competitive advantages sustainable, and how would they develop in the future?

Designs

Fast and market-driven NPD:

- Systematically collects ideas from customers, front line and experienced designers - Relies
on effective organizational communications and other intangible sources of Advantage,
which are difficult for competitors to copy and implement effectively -Competitors could
increasingly use technology to assist in their design process .On Giordano’s part, effort must
continually be made to obtain and utilize feedback from target customers and Attracting and
retaining good staff in design is important.

Operations, Logistics and IT

Excellent management of systems and integration of activities Minimized due to: - Daily sales
reports (facilitated through IT& systems).

- Limited stock in shops that are daily restocked.

- Rapid market-driven manufacturing.

- Needs to continually look for new ways to improve and build its advantage inside and
outside its industry For example: benchmarking against retailers like The Gap and Liz
Claiborne, which are well-known for their integration of IT systems and efficient operations.

Branding and Marketing Giordano’s Brand:

-Positioning - helps instant transfer of key values Giordano offers (value-for-money, good
quality casual wear, and excellent service) - Excellent brand recognition due to high advertising
budget Brand equity helps to build customer loyalty.

- However, Giordano faces threat of strong competitors with similar positioning and also
from brand dilution (e.g. ³cheap image´) as the market in general shifts upward along with
increasing incomes. Biggest threat comes from reputable players like The Gap.

- Giordano should continue to invest in strengthening its brand equity through heavy
 advertising and excellent customer service - It could acquire another brand to serve higher
end segment.

Customer Service Fantastic customer service:

- Service orientation is pervasive in many of its activities - Recruitment, selection and training
of staff.

- Empowerment and motivation of staff somewhat sustainable.

- A service culture is one source of advantage that competitors would find difficult to copy -
However, Giordano needs to ensure that this culture can be maintained as it expands rapidly
in existing and new markets - Other competitors have not yet attempted to follow
Giordano’s service strategy Location.

This study resource

Good, high traffic shopping and convenience locations:

- High contributions allow aggressive retail location acquisitions Difficult to sustain -

Giordano’s sites are an important source of advantage, but other competitors could Also do
the same.
was
-Competitors and new entrants will successfully compete for good locations

Could Giordano transfer its key success factors to new markets as it expanded both in
Asia and the other parts of the world?

Giordano Company’s main competitive strengths which can be transferred to other

market are: the experience of the employees, inventory controlled system, HRM practices but
the policies should be different for each country and can use the established distribution,
marketing and inbound channels members in order to market their product outside the home
country. IT strategy which is currently used by Giordano, it should not adopt the same strategy
for other countries where they are planning to expand their business. The marketing mix
strategies that are followed by the Giordano for the existing market should not be the same for
new markets where the company is willing to enter. So the strategies regarding product price,
price, place and
promotion should not be the same for all target countries as the market differs in terms of their
economic, cultural, social and political environment. But the successful strategies which are
currently used for other market can be used by Giordano as guidelines and can develop tactical
strategies for different market according to the market situation and customers’ requirement.

How do you think Giordano had/would have to adapt its marketing and
operations strategies and tactics when entering and penetrating your country?

When Giordano entered Malaysia they had to follow the same marketing strategies as they did
in Hong Kong when they started operating their business. At first there wasn't anything which
concerned them for customer service. As they started operating in other countries it rapidly
became a trend for Giordano. However, every country has different scope of growth. In
Malaysia, consumer taste and style differ from other countries. Thus, the marketing strategies
might be the same but the scope of response is different.
At operational level every country has different strategy of convincing and satisfying their
customers. However, this depends on the management as per how they develop and train
their employees. Normally at operational level it is the employees interacting with the
consumers every single day.

These strategies take huge planning and investment on a particular project. Tactics depends
on the marketing style of that particular country. Every store, management, country follow
their own tactics to get customers. Some come up discounts and some come up with sales.
These are tactics which are done by their management to attract customers. It normally
depends on how well that particular store is in making money. However, it also depends on
the economy of that particular country and what actions is the management taking towards
their business.

Giordano's main strategy of value for money, service differentiation, inventory record and
fast distribution centers are a remarkable and spectacular strategies for any country.
However, transmitting the transaction in other branches is cheapest and the fastest way to
report the head quarters.

What general lessons can major clothing retailers in your country learn from
Giordano?

Giordano's reputation in Asian countries is at a very good level. They have plenty of branches
in Malaysia. The basic concept of value for money can be a good lesson to other clothing
retailers. This concept can make them realize the importance of customer satisfaction. Product
differentiation is another concept created by Giordano and to maintain the inventory.

Basically, anything which includes Giordano strategies can be a general lesson for other
retailers because their outstanding strategies has leaded them to success and making profits.

Customer service is another strategy followed by Giordano. Apparently, this has become one
of the most powerful and efficient strategy followed by Giordano and hence, Malaysian
clothing retailers can learn and experience it in this country. As per the market in Malaysia,
consumers are normally looking for services. They are clever enough about the market and
they have the knowledge of other clothing retailing shops too. However, it has been analyzed
that Giordano is one of the leading clothing retailing shop in Malaysia. So normally other up
coming firms will follow the same steps and the same strategies to stand in the market.

The other strategy which is followed by Giordano is the pay to their employees with bonuses.
To give services to the customers these employees should be well trained and should be given
bonuses so that they are always happy with the firm. Malaysian clothing retailers should
recruit good employees and skilled one this will save their time of training. However, these
employees should have at least one year contract so that they don't leave the company and the
company is committed to their employees. Most of the businesses experience this problem in
Malaysia that they train their employees and the quit the job after few months. Even if the
employee needs training, then a strong training and development program should be created by
HR department through which they can train their employees which mainly includes customer
service.

Lastly, the concept of other retailing shop should be to understand the customer as Giordano
does. This has lead Giordano to gain profits and customer satisfaction. And this can be a
strong strategy from the management to the employee of any business in Malaysia.