UNIT 2:

MARKETING PLANNIN
G
Group 1
 OBJECTIVES
o After studying this unit, you will be able to:
o Discuss the various Components of marketing plan
o Define the competitive set
o Identify the Levels of market competition
o Explain the Methods for determining competitors 
o Discuss the Category attractiveness analysis
o Describe the Aggregate market factors
o Explain Category factors and environmental analysis

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 INTRODUCTION
In most organizations, “strategic planning” is an annual process, typically
covering just the year ahead. Occasionally, a few organizations may look at a
practical plan which stretches three or more years ahead. To be most effective,
the plan has to be formalized, usually in written form, as a formal “marketing
plan.” The essence of the process is that it moves from the general to the
specific; from the overall objectives of the organization down to the individual
action plan for a part of one marketing program. It is also an interactive process,
so that the draft output of each stage is checked to see what impact it has on
the earlier stages - and is amended.

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FIGURE 2.1: MARKETING PROCESS
MODEL
(1) Market and Environment Analysis
Behind the corporate objectives,
which in themselves offer the main
context for the marketing plan, will (2) Fixing marketing target
lay the “corporate mission”; which in
turn provides the context for these
corporate objectives.
(3) Setting marketing strategy
In a sales-oriented organization,
marketing planning function designs
incentive pay plans to not only (4) Marketing mix
motivate and reward frontline
staff fairly but also to align marketing
activities with corporate mission.
(5) Marketing controlling
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 2.1 COMPONENTS OF
MARKETING PLAN
Marketing plans vary by industry, by size of company and by stage of growth. The
form isn’t as important as the process of preparing it. Preparing a marketing plan is a
process that makes you think about your business goals and what your marketing
strategy will be to achieve those Goals. This is an outline of a typical marketing
plan. Your marketing plan may contain all or just some of these components,
depending on your company type, stage of growth, and goals.
1. Executive Summary: The executive summary introduces your company and explains the major points of your
plan. Things to do:
(a) Briefly describe the nature of your business and the products or services you offer.
(b) State your mission and company objectives.
(c) Describe your management and marketing team, and the structure of your organization.
(d) Summarize the marketing objectives and strategies contained in the plan.

2. Current Situation: This section provides information about your location, target market and competitive environment.
Also, identifies key issues your company faces. Things to do:
(a) Describe your current or planned business location.
(b) Describe you target market.
(c) Include a brief competitor and issues analysis.

3. Competitor and Issues Analysis: This section includes the details of the competitor and issue analysis. Things to do:
(a) Include information about other individuals or companies (competitors) who offer similar products and services as you. 
(b) List key business issues that are potential challenges, such as new legislation or the impact of an impending
technological advance in your industry.

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4. Marketing Objectives: As the name suggests, this section states your marketing objectives, Notes
including the time frame for achieving them. Things to do:
(a) List key objectives that you want to achieve through your plan.
(b) Include the time frame against each objective

              Caution                       Be as objective as possible in this section.

5. Marketing Strategy: The section including marketing strategy describes how you plan on
achieving your marketing objectives.

Product: Describes your product or service in detail, including product features and benefits.
Price: Describes your pricing strategy and payment policies.
Promotion: Describes the promotional tools or tactics you will use to accomplish your
marketing objectives.
Place: Describes how and where you will place your product so customers have access to it and how you
will make the sale.
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6. Action Programs: Describes what will be done, when it will begin or be completed, and who will
accomplish the tasks.

7. Budget: Lists the cost of the marketing activities you are describing in the marketing plan.

8. Measurements: Describes numerical targets that will measure the results of implementing your
marketing plan, including time limits for achieving your goals. For example, increase sales by 10 percent
in 12 months.

9. Supporting Documents: Include any supporting documents referenced in other plan sections here,
such as resumes of key personnel, spreadsheets, and market research results.

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MARKETING PLAN: AMERICAN
TECHNOLOGY
•Our new marketing focus, made explicit in this plan,
renews our vision and strategic focus on adding value
to our target market segments, the small business and
high-end home office users, in our local market.
•American Technology will change its focus to
differentiate itself from box pushers and improve the
business by filling the real need of small business and
high-end home office for reliable information
technology including hardware, software, and all
related services. Our marketing challenge is to
position our product and service offerings as the high
quality, high value-add alternative to box pushing in a
vacuum.

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Vision AMT is built on the assumption that the management of information technology for business is like
legal advice, accounting, graphic arts, and other bodies of knowledge, in that it is not inherently a do-it-
yourself prospect. Smart business people who aren’t computer hobbyists need to find quality vendors of
reliable hardware, software, service, and support. They need to use these quality vendors as they use their
other professional service suppliers, as trusted allies.

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AMT is such a vendor. It serves its clients as a trusted ally, providing them with the loyalty of a business partner
and the economics of an outside vendor. We make sure that our clients have what they need to run their
businesses as well as possible, with maximum efficiency and reliability. Many of our information applications are
mission critical, so we give our clients the assurance that we will be there when they need us.

Objectives

1. Increase sales by 20%.

2. Increase gross margin to more than 25%.
3. Increase our non-hardware sales to 65% of the total.

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Target Markets
AMT focuses on small business in the local market, with special focus on the high-end home office and the
520 unit small business office.

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Market Definition and Segmentation
We have broken our markets into groups according to standard classifications used by market research
companies: home offices and small business.
Exact definitions of these market segments is not necessary for our marketing planning purposes here;
general definitions will suffice. We know our home office customers tend to be heavy users, wanting high-
end systems, people who like computing and computers. The low-end home office people buy elsewhere.
We also know that our small business customers tend to be much less proficient on computers, much more
likely to need and want handholding, and much more likely to pay for it.

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Target Market Segment Strategy

We cannot survive just waiting for the customer to come to us. Instead, we must get better at
focusing on the specific market segments whose needs match our offerings. Focus
on targeted segments is the key to our future.

Therefore, we need to focus our marketing message and our product offerings. We need
to develop our message, communicate it, and make good on it.

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Target Market: Home Office
The home offices in Tin town are an important, growing market segment. Nationally, there are
approximately 30 million home offices, and the number is growing at 10% per year. Our estimate in
this plan for the home offices in our market service area is based on an analysis published four months
ago in the local newspaper.
Home offices include several types. For our plan, the most important are the home offices that serve as
the only offices of professional firms. These are likely to be professional services such as graphic
artists, writers, and consultants, also some accountants and the occasional lawyer, doctor, or dentist.
There are also individuals who maintain home offices for part-time use, including “moonlighters” and
hobbyists. This segment is not who AMT wishes to sell to; our marketing focus consists of
professionals and entrepreneurs who maintain a full-time office. In this plan, we will refer to customers
in the home office segment as HOs.

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Needs and Requirements:
Our target HOs are on average as dependent on reliable information technology as any other businesses.
They care more about reliable service and confidence than about the rock-bottom lowest price. They
don’t want to rely solely on their own expertise, so they choose instead to deal with us with our promise
of service and support when needed.
Our standard HOs will be one system installations, no networks, much more powerful systems than the
average small business. Fax modems, voicemail, and good printers are likely. They tend to be interested
in desktop publishing, accounting, Internet, and administration software as well as their job specific
software needs. It’s important that we realize we won’t be selling to the price oriented HO buyers. We’ll
be able to offer an attractive proposition to the service oriented and security oriented buyers only.

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Distribution Channels: Unfortunately, our HO target buyers may not expect to buy with us. Many
of them turn immediately to the superstores (office equipment, office supplies, and electronics) and
mail order to look for the best price, without realizing that there is an option that provides greater
value for dollars.
Competitive Forces: Our focus group sessions indicated that our target HOs consider price but they
would buy on quality service if the offering were positioned correctly. Price is the message they’re
exposed to again and again; they have been trained to shop on price. We have very good indications
that may would much rather pay 10–20% more for a relationship with a long-term vendor providing
backup and quality service and support; they end up in the box pusher channels because they aren’t
aware of the alternatives. Availability is also very important. The HO buyers tend to want immediate
solutions to problems. Consequently, they can be subjected to high-pressure, under-trained
salespeople who may not be able to factor in all of a customer’s needs.
Communications: One of the best places to reach the target HO is the local
newspaper. Unfortunately, that medium is saturated with pure price only messages, and we’ll have
to make sure that our message is accurately stated. Radio is potentially a good opportunity. Our HO
target buyers listen to local news, talk shows, and sports.
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Keys to Success: The main key to success with HO buyers is making the product and marketing positioning
clear. Many potential buyers would much prefer our offering to the box only offerings of the chain stores
and mail order sources, if only they possessed adequate information to conduct a value-add cost/benefit
analysis.

Word of mouth is critical in this segment. We will have to make sure that once we gain a customer, we never
lose them. To help accomplish this, we must work to reinvigorate relationships through successful database
marketing, among other means.

We must always remember to sell the company, not the product. They have to understand they are taking on
a relationship with AMT, not just buying boxes. Boxes they can get cheaper elsewhere.
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Marketing Plan Strategy

AMT will change its focus to differentiate itself from box pushers and improve the business by filling the
real need of small business and high-end home office for reliable information technology including
hardware, software, and all related services.

Emphasize Service and Support: We must differentiate ourselves from the box pushers. We need to
establish our business offering as a clear and viable alternative, for our target market, to the price only kind
of buying.

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Emphasize Relationships: We need to focus our offerings on small business as the key market segment we
should own. This means the 520 unit system, tied together in a local area network, in a company with 550
employees. Our values training, installation, service, support, knowledge are more cleanly differentiated in
this segment.

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Expense Budget Summary

The following marketing budget comes to a total of less than $450K. This is actually a decrease over the
$485K we spent this year on the marketing budget. We believe we can get more effective marketing with
less money, because we are managing the marketing better with the Marketing Plus software by Palo Alto
Software.

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Expense Budget by Manager: As the following table and chart show, the largest budget piece is the $151K (almost entirely
advertising
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budget) managed by Ralph.
2.2 Defining the Competitive Set Notes

A thorough study of your potential competitors is essential to the successful positioning of your property.
Choosing your “competitive set,” is a step by step task. Data has to be gathered on each step before the
analysis can be preceded further.

Notes While gathering data, keep in mind that some of the information may be outdated or not specific
enough for the web.

1. One has to define one’s competitors in terms of primary and secondary importance.

Example: For a Fitness club or Spa, the primary competitors may be comparable properties (such as upscale
day spas within a fifty-mile radius), while the secondary competitors could be any similar product
competing for the same consumer dollars-such as fitness clubs, full-service beauty salons and community-
based wellness centers.
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2. List the bases of competition and key success factors for industry success—in descending

order of importance. Then define competitive characteristics in terms of:

(a) Market segments

(b) Products offered

(c) Prices/rates

(d) Advertising programs

(e) Distribution Channels

Did u know? What are the bases of Competition?

Bases of competition are known characteristics that customers use to choose among competitors. They
include location, price, product/service offering, quality, and reputation.
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 2.2.1 LEVELS OF MARKET
COMPETITION
The level of competition can also vary. At various levels, competition can be in

1. Product
2. Category 3. Generic 4. Budget
Form

Let us understand each of them one by one.

Product form: In this level one has to convince the customers his brand is better than others.
Category: This level involves one to convince customers that his product form (like small
refrigerator) is best in a particular category (of refrigeration).
Generic: Generic level of competition involves the marketers to convince customers that a
particular category (refrigeration) is best way to satisfy needs (of providing safe food).
Budget: Under this level of competition, the customers are convinced that generic benefits
(of refrigeration) are best use of income compared to TV, washing machine, etc.

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2.2.2 Factors Determining Competition

In 1965, IBM faced 2,500 competitors for all its markets. By 1992, it faced 50,000. And IBM is not alone in
feeling outside pressure. Whole industries that were sheltered from significant competition, such as
transportation, utilities, communications, health care, defense contracting, legal services, and even some
quarters of government, now face growing competition. Stable industries have become dynamic. For
example, insurance was once a stable industry with a distribution system of local insurance agents. Now it’s
undergoing significant change, with competition emerging from foreign companies, banks selling insurance,
and agent-less competitors.

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1. Price: It is a very easy to understand the concept the relationship between price of a product and the
competition it can generate in the market. If the prices of the product of a particular firm are
substantially high, it is very likely to generate a price war among competitors. The competitors in such
a case would very easily come up with similar products (that may even be low quality goods) with low
or relatively very low prices. This would result in a very fierce competition. If the price of a product is
already quite low, it is likely to attract few competitors since the resultant profit margins are also likely
to be low only.
2. Cost of Production: Cost of production per unit is the costs associated with production divided by
the number of units produced. Is a case, where the factors of production are low priced, it would mean
the cost of production is also low. This might give rise to a possibility of the determination of price
level at a high level and a subsequently significant profit. This would in turn lead to attract a higher
number of competitors in the market.

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The competitors would adapt all means to reduce their costs of production to a level as low as possible.
Also, they would like to increase the cost of production – price gap so as to increase the profit margins.
On the contrary, if the cost of production of a particular good is high, it would have a high selling price in
the market. At the same time, the profit margins may not be very high as the customers might not be
interested/willing/able to pay such high prices. In such a situation, the producers have to decrease their
profit margins so as to sustain as many customers as possible and capture as much market as possible.
Having a possibility of a low profit margin will definitely pose a restriction in the minds of the potential
competitors of the industry and they would think a hundred times before taking a plunge into it.
3. Demand in the Market: Demand comes out as a very important factor of determining competition. It
is a quite well understood fact that the higher the demand of a product in the market, the higher is the
willingness of the customers to pay for it. For a product with an inelastic or near inelastic demand, the
customers most often than not pay even high prices. 

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Again the higher the prices that can be charge from the customers, the higher are the chances of the profit
being huge in such transactions. So the competition in such cases is very strong.
In a situation where the demand of a product is low, or highly elastic, the customers would not like to pay
for it at higher level of pries and the sellers are left with no choice else than to cut profit margins and sell
the goods at a low price level. In such a situation, not many competitors like to plunge into the market
until and unless the market size is so huge as to compensate for the opportunity cot that they bear.
4. Availability of Substitutes: There is a likeliness of having a smaller number of competitors Notes in
the market if a particular product has a large number of substitutes. Obviously, the moment a seller would
try to increase his profit margins, the consumers would shift to a more satisfactory substitute.
5. Number of existing Players in Market: If the market of a particular product witnesses a huge number
of players in teak market, it is not very likely to attract more competitors. But the situation may be
opposite if each or most of the market players are making good profits.
On the contrary, if the number of market players in a particular industry is low and the product is a new
introduction with good potential, it would always attract a strong competition. Similarly, if the product is
an old and well accepted in market with a low number of players, the competition will be strong.
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The competition can also be strong if the number of existing players in the market is high but the product
comes up with a huge possibility of innovation. Many potential competitors can come up with varied
innovations in the package to allure the customers and the competition might become very strong
henceforth.
6. Barriers to Entry: Barriers to entry are designed to block potential entrants from entering a market
profitably. They seek to protect the monopoly power of existing (incumbent) firms in an industry and
therefore maintain supernormal (monopoly) profits in the long run. Barriers to entry have the effect of
making a market less contestable.
Example: Patents: Giving the firm the legal protection to produce a patented product for a number of years.
Limit Pricing: Firms may adopt predatory pricing policies by lowering prices to a level that would force
any new entrants to operate at a loss. 
Cost advantages: A lower cost, perhaps through experience of being in the market for some time, allows
the existing monopolist to cut prices and win price wars.
Advertising and Marketing: Developing consumer loyalty by establishing branded products can make
successful entry into the market by new firms much more expensive. This is particularly important in
markets such as cosmetics, confectionery and the motor car industry.

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Research and Development expenditure: Heavy spending on research and development can act as a
strong deterrent to potential entrants to an industry. Clearly much R&D spending goes on developing
new products but there are also important spill-over effects which allow firms to improve their
production processes and reduce unit costs. This makes the existing firms more competitive in the
market and gives them a structural advantage over potential rival firms.

Presence of Sunk Costs: Some industries have very high start-up costs or a high ratio of fixed to
variable costs. Some of these costs might be unrecoverable if an entrant opts to leave the market. This
acts as a disincentive to enter the industry.

International Trade Restrictions: Trade restrictions such as tariffs and quotas should also be
considered as a barrier to the entry of international competition in protected domestic markets. 

Sunk Costs: Sunk Costs are costs that cannot be recovered if a business decides to leave an industry.
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2.2.3 Methods for Determining Competitors
Out of the many methods for determining the competitors, the most important and
prevalent ones are discussed under:

Substitution in Uses: This focus group exercise focuses on generating substitute uses for
the target use. Then product/service substitutes can be brainstormed for the identified
uses. Generates a lot of potential competitors.

Perceptual Mapping: This method does a pair wise comparison of two brands. They are
then rated on being similar or dissimilar. This leads to a mapping of brands along
identified vectors. Brands close together are similar. Brands far apart are deemed
dissimilar. Clusters of brands are looked at as competitors.
Levels of Competition: Looks at identifying competition at four
levels: Product form, Product category, Generic and Budget. Within
each level appropriate competitors are identified. The trick here is
to determine how many levels to analyze. To few, means missing
competitors. To many, means having an overwhelming number to
analyze.
Brand Switching: Looks at actual consumer buying patterns over
time. It shows the percentage of consumers who purchase the same
or different products after purchasing the current
product. Customers who do not switch to other products will be
identified with low or zero percentages
(not competitors). Larger percentages indicate competitors.
Managerial Judgment: Brainstorming by managers who know the
product category. It is framed along two axis: same or different
markets, and same or different products. This is a quick method, but
may miss competitors not previously seen.
Geographic: Looking at the geographic reach of competition. Those
firms with a sales reach into where we are located is our competition.

Porter’s 5 forces: This method looks at five potential sources of

competition. Potential entrants, Buyers, Suppliers, Substitutes, and
current Competition. This method recognizes value
chain competition along with more common competition. It can
generate a large amount of competitors including potential
competitors.
 2.3 CATEGORY
ATTRACTIVENESS
ANALYSIS​

An essential component of the marketing planning process is an analysis of a product’s potential to

achieve a desired level of return on the company’s investment. Thus the category analysis is done
to define the set of competitors against which one most often competes on a daily basis.
2.3.1 Aggregate Market Factors
Aggregate market factors include those factors that are determinant of the entire market segment.
Category Size: Category Size is an important determinant of the likelihood that a product will generate
revenues to support a given investment. That is why, in general larger markets are better than smaller
ones. Besides, having more market potential large categories usually offer more opportunities for
segmentation than smaller ones. Therefore both large firms and entrepreneurial organizations might
find large markets attractive. Large markets however tend to draw competitors with considerable
resources thus making them unattractive for small firms.
Category Growth: While analyzing the category growth as a crucial factor, it has to be remembered that
fast growing categories are almost universally desired due to their ability of support high margins and
sustain profits in future years. However the faster the growth the category has, the higher is number of
the competitors the category is likely to attract.
Stage in Product Life Cycle: This makes a very interesting stage of the category
attractiveness analysis. In the introductory phase, both the growth rate and the size of the
market are low, thus making it unattractive for most potential participants. When market growth
and sales start to take off, the market becomes more attractive. In the maturity phase the
assessment is unclear; while the growth rate is low, the market size could be at its peak. This is a
classic pattern for many consumer packaged goods (esp. eatables).
2.3.2 Category Factors

Although the aggregate factors are important determinants of the category attractiveness, they do not
show the underlying structural factors affecting the category. Porter developed a five force model to
assess the structure of the industries.

1. Threat of New Entrants

2. Bargaining Power of Buyers

3. Bargaining Power of Suppliers

4. Current Category Rivalry

5. Pressure from Substitutes

 Threat of
New
Entrants

Current
Bargaining Bargaining
Category
Power of Supplies Power Buyers
Rivalry

Substitutes
Pressure
from
 •Environmental factors include those factors that are outside
the control of the firm and its industry. These factors can be
divided into five categories viz.:

1. Technological
2. Political
2.3.3 3. Economic
4. Regulatory
Environmental 5. Social

Analysis Let us understand each of them one by one:

1. Technological: Product categories that are weaker on the

technology dimension are particularly vulnerable to
competition both from new products and from foreign
competitors that have ventured the industry and the
category. Obviously it follows from above that attractive
product categories are strong in invention, innovation, or
diffusion of new products and services
2. Political: The political/legal system creates the rules and frameworks within which business operates.
Government policy supports and encourages some business activities e.g. enterprise, while discouraging others.

3. Economic: The monetary system facilitates business exchange. Monetary activity is based around earning,
spending, saving and borrowing. Money has been likened to the oil that lubricates the wheels of commerce.
Monetary activity involves businesses in a web of relationships involving financial institutions (e.g. banks and
building societies), creditors, debtors, customers and suppliers. A key monetary influence for business is the
interest rate. Higher interest rates increase business costs and act as a break on spending in the economy. Almost
all capital goods industries are sensitive to interest rate fluctuations since their high costs to buyers are often
financed at short-term interest rates.

4. Regulatory: Government and other agencies have an impact on category attractiveness through regulations.
Some product categories might become less attractive over time because of laws that restrict product manager’s
abilities to market certain categories in ceratin markets.

5. Social: The social system is the fabric of ideas, attitudes and behavior patterns that are involved in human
relationships. In particular businesses are influenced by consumer attitudes and behaviours which depend on such
factors as the age structure of the population, and the nature of work and leisure.
Unit 3:

Competitor
Analysis
OBJECTIVES

• Explain the main aspects and limitations of Competitor Analysis

• Assesses Competitors Objectives and Competitors Current Strategies
• Identify the differential advantage analysis
• Explain the Customer Analysis Purpose
• Discuss the Customer Segmentation
• Illustrate the Criteria for Customer Segmentation
Introduction:

Competitor analysis is a critical part of a firm’s activities. It is an assessment of the

strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors, which may encompass
firms not only in their own sectors but also in other  sectors. Competitor analysis,
together with an understanding of major environmental trends, is a key input in strategy
formulation and should be developed properly.
3.1 Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis in marketing is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of

current and potential competitors. This analysis provides both an offensive and defensive
strategic context through which to identify opportunities and threats.  Competitor
profiling coalesces all of the relevant sources of competitor analysis into one framework in
the support of efficient and effective strategy formulation, implementation, monitoring
and adjustment. 
3.2 Sources of Information

The sources of competitor information can be neatly grouped into three categories:
1. Recorded data
2. Observable data
3. Opportunistic data
3.3 Main Aspects of COMPETITOR’S

Competitor Analysis
OBJECTIVES

+
The key objectives in competitor analysis are to
develop a greater understanding of what COMPETITOR’S COMPETITOR’S
COMPETITOR
competitors have in place in terms of resources ASSUMPTIONS STRATEGY

and capabilities, what they plan to do in their

businesses, and how the competitors may react
to various situations in reaction to what the firm
does.
COMPETOR’S
CAPABILITIES

Figure 3.1: Porter’s Framework

 The limitations of competitor analysis are linked to
the information gathered from various sources and
the interpretation of the information. Also, with the
exception of a few information sources (e.g. patent

3.4 Limitations of
applications, forecast financial statements), most of
the other printed information shows historical
information and may not necessarily give a good
Customer Analysis indication of a competitor going forward.
 This is particularly the case if there are a lot of
structural changes happening in a sector and all
players are expected to have dynamic strategies to
capture their market.
 The company has to make efforts understand what drives each competitor’s
behavior. Normal microeconomic assumption is that every firm attempts to
maximize their profits. However, in actual practice, companies differ in the
weights they put on short-term versus long-term.A critical step in a competitor
analysis is to assess what the current objectives are for the major competitor
products. An assessment of current objectives provides valuable information
concerning the intended aggressiveness of the competitors in the market in
3.5 Assessing the future.

Competitor’s In the context of marketing planning, three basic business objectives can be
identified. 

Objectives 1. Growth Objective: A growth objective usually implies increasing unit sales or
market share, with profit conditions being secondary.

 2. Hold Objective: The hold objective could also be termed a consolidation
objective. A hold scenario might be logical for a brand that is losing market
share in that a reasonable first step in reversing its fortunes is to stop the slide. 

3. Harvest Objective: Finally, a harvest objective, also referred to as milking,

describes a situation in which profit is paramount relative to market share. At
the corporate level, return on investment or other, more aggregate statistics
becomes more relevant.
 3.6 Accessing Resourceful competitors revise their
Competitor’s strategy through time. Companies have to monitor
the strategies of companies that fall in their strategic
Current Strategies group more closely. A group of firms following the
same strategy in a given target market is called a
strategic group. A company needs to identify the
strategic grouping in which it competes. It has
to monitor efforts of even potential new entrants into
this strategic group. 
 3.7 Different Advantage Analysis
    Several frameworks have been proposed to indicate what information to collect about competitor’s. A
useful way to examine competitor’s capabilities is to divide the necessary information into five categories
that include the competitor’s abilities to conceive and design, to produce, to market , to finance, and to
manage. 

Ability to Conceive and Design: This Ability to Market: A competitor could

Ability to Produce :This category
category measures the quality of have strong product development
concerns the production capabilities
competitors new product capabilities and slack capacity but be
of the firm.
development efforts. ineffective at marketing.

Ability to Manage : In the mid-1980s,

Procter and Gamble replaced the
manager of its U.S. coffee business
Ability to Finance :Limited financial
with the coffee general manager
resources hamper effective
from the United Kingdom. This new
competition.
manager has a reputation for
developing new products in a 15-
month period.
3.8 Customer Analysis Purpose

Customer analysis is an activity that is or should be performed by organizations. The

Customer Analysis section of the business plan assesses the customer segments that the
company serves. In it, the company must: 
1. Identify its target customers
2. Convey the needs of these customers 
3. Show how its products and services satisfy these needs
 Customer segmentation is the practice of dividing a
customer base into groups of individuals that are
3.9 Customer similar in specific ways relevant to marketing, such
as age, gender, interests, spending habits, and so
Segmentation on. Using segmentation allows companies to target
groups effectively, and allocate marketing resources
to best effect.
3.9.1 Criteria The criteria of customer segmentation depend on the market
segmentation. Markets are such a heterogeneous place that unless we
get to understand each part of it we remain ignorant of the market.
for Customer Market segmentation is done on the following lines:
Segmentation 1. Geographic factors

2. Demographic factors

3. Psychological factors

4. Socio-cultural factors

5. Use related

6. Benefit segment

7. Combination of some of the above mentioned factors.

 THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!

B O N S ATO , A N G E L
B U H AT, R ON A LY N MARCELO, ANGEL
E LY C H A C .
ANNE MARIE

20XX