Background
The purpose of this assignment is to provide the opportunity for the student to apply concepts and methods from our course to analyze an existing brand/firm in the marketplace.
Each student will choose brand/firm for analysis from the list below. Some are products, some services, some a bit of both. Some are new offerings, some in growth markets, some mature, some arguably in decline. In short, each brand/firm presents a different problem for marketing analysis, and the assignment is to perform an effective analysis for its brand/firm using the concepts and methods learned in this course. You do not have to apply ALL course concepts, but you should apply the relevant concepts in an appropriate way.
Although each analysis will be tailored to the particulars of the brand/firm under analysis, your analysis should probably address at least some of the following:
1. What is the nature of the value being created, and how is it being created?
2. What are the uncontrollable factors (the 4C’s) that inform and constrain the
actions of the firm in creating value?
3. How has the firm designed its market offering (the 4P’s) to create and
capture value, given the uncontrollable factors described above?
4. How has the firm “differentiated” its offering from competitors?
5. How has the firm segmented the market to create and deliver value, and
what segments has it targeted for its offerings?
6. What is the firm’s “channel structure” (the sticky P) and how does this create
value for the customers and profits for the firm?
7. How can you apply our Product taxonomies {Differentiation via
Augmentation; Consumer Behavior (convenience, shopping, specialty, unsought); and Information Properties (search, experience, credence)} to better understand the nature of the created value?
8. In what sense, if any, does the firm use branding and myth to create value?
9. How does the firm/brand use pricing tactics to capture value?
10. In what ways can the product life cycle (PLC) and the Boston Consulting
Group “Product Portfolio Matrix” be applied to better understand the market
position and challenges faces by your brand/firm.
11. What is the brand doing on Sustainability and Human Rights, and how does
this allow the brand to create value?
12. If requisite data are available, present a recent income statement and relate
the firm’s value creation and capture (that is: examine %ROA=%EBIT * ATR).
Given your analysis, make three recommendations for enhancing the brand/firm’s creation and capture of value. Justify these using your answers to questions 1 through 11.
Presentation
You should use informative power points to explain your analysis, and to specify and justify your three recommendations. These powerpoints might include brand ads, images, charts, and tabulated data. You can and should embed links to relavant commercials if available. The presentation should be 15-20 slides.
Analysis Notes
Each student will submit a set of Analysis Notes in presenting the concepts, data and reasoning that support the powerpoint presentation, and that specifically justify the three recommendations. As the name suggests, these Notes do not have to be polished gems of prose, but they must be clear, consistent, and conceptually rigorous. The Notes should probably require 8-12 double spaced pages, plus supporting tables and graphs.
Brand List: You can choose one of the following brand/firms for your project.
Sonos
Lyft
The RealReal
Chipotle
Canada Goose
REI
