...experience and why it is that both parents and children are drawn to this concept. Personalization, and not just customization, is the driving force. The case also highlights how founder Maxine Clark stays in touch with the customer and the employees. For Clark, management-by-walking-around is more than just a way to supervise operations. It is a way of conducting her own market research. Clark has also embraced the networking capabilities of the Internet as a way of keeping in touch with the customer. Future prospects for Build-A-Bear’s continued success are also discussed. Teaching Objectives The teaching objectives for this case are to: Introduce students to the concept of customer value creation and its central role in marketing. Allow students to analyze Build-A-Bear’s product offering in depth. Introduce the concepts involved in customer relationship management. Introduce the concepts of customer lifetime value and customer equity. Allow students to develop specific recommendations for Build-A-Bear’s future. Discussion Questions Give examples of needs, wants, and demands that Build-A-Bear customers demonstrate, differentiating each of these three concepts. What are the implications of each on Build-A-Bear’s actions? The purpose of this question is to force students to consider whether or not it is important for a company to differentiate between needs, wants, and demands. By the textbook definition, Build-A-Bear customer needs might include: ...
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...Easy Jet and Ryanair; pricing strategies Flying high with low prices Introduction Easy jet and Ryanair and the two largest low cost airlines in Europe, they dominate the industry. They introduce low prices to entice customers; the earlier the customer’s book, the cheaper the price. By introducing these prices, Easy Jet and Ryanair have forced other airlines such as British Airways and Lufthansa to lower their prices. Both airlines have copied the American ‘South West airlines’ business model and introduced it to Europe. Easy Jet and Ryanair are able to provide the low prices by maintaining low costs. They cut costs in areas such as administration. With the online booking system, this saves them thousands of pounds every year. While cutting costs, the service given on board flights is not as good as the superior companies such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. It doesn’t have to be, as customers know that with the low prices comes low customer service. And for the cheap prices customers pay to fly with Easy Jet and Ryanair, they don’t mind. Ryanair Ryanair is the leading low cost airline in Europe. Founded in 1985 by the Ryan family they began with one flight and one aircraft flying between Waterford and Gatwick airport. Shortly after, they began flying regularly between Dublin airport and London Stanstead, competing with British Airways. ‘Carrying fewer than 700,000 passengers annually in its early years, the figures grew to 21.4 million years...
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...CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing Unit 1: The Marketing Planning Process Case Study: Brittany Ferries Brittany Ferries is a French-owned car ferry operator, running ships across the Western Channel between south-west Britain and ports in Brittany and Normandy. The company also operates between Ireland and Brittany, running ferries from Roscoff to Cork. Brittany Ferries was formed as a result of Britain joining the Common Market in 1972. The local farming co-operatives in Brittany joined with the Finistere Chambre du Commerce to create the company, mainly with the aim of shipping artichokes and cauliflowers from Brittany to Britain. The farmers recognised the huge potential market in Britain. At the time, the UK was a net importer of food, whereas France was (and still is) a net exporter of food. The Chambre du Commerce recognised an equally tempting potential for tourism from the UK. Brittany was a somewhat remote part of France, a long way from the Eastern Channel crossing point between Dover and Calais or Boulogne sur Mer, and not well-served by airports. In 1978, the company took the brave step of starting a direct route to Spain from Plymouth, making the crossing to Santander. This route opened up the possibility of taking one’s car to Spain without having to make the long drive through France, which in 1978 would typically take two days. 24 hours on a ferry seemed a much better alternative, albeit somewhat expensive. In 2009, the ferry (the Pont Aven) set a new record...
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...that will focus on providing babies accessories and sports gear for rental to incoming visitors. The arrangements will be made with hotels, island resorts, rental car companies and all operating airlines in Fiji to provide on arrival accessories that are normally heavy and over-size luggage to make flying comfortable for everyone. | 2.0 Situation Analysis | As at July 2010 approximately 800,000 tourists arrived into Fiji in 2010 travelling majority for holiday, golf, surfing and diving. Air Pacific is currently under restructure very strict with luggage capacity allowed per passenger on a flight. Tourist tend to worry about their excess luggage (car seat, booster seat, crib, stroller, surf board, gold clubs, rackets etc) and most often tend to pay more to ensure the safety of their child or to fulfill their hobbies. | 3.0 Market Summary 3.0.1 Target Market3.0.2 Market Demographics3.0.3 Market Needs3.0.4 Market Growth | Rent Holiday Groove is concerned about Tourism travel and seeks to provide a stress-free holiday with concerns for luggage access.Tourism IndustryPopulation: September 2007 census confirmed 837,271 people.Climate: Tropical weather all year around with cyclone/ hurricane warning from November to April.Currently, Tourist who come into Fiji are not able to find general items such as car seats, strollers, cribs etc for rental and tend to bring these items with them. The market needs a rental company that can cater for these needs upon arrival and until...
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...green” and economical. For example, there are a few opportunities on the market to choose from economical and environment-friendly cars, but there are not many places to refuel them, which make people change their desires, go buying the ecofriendly cars. There is no benefit of having a car if you cannot drive it everywhere. This makes the manufacturers to suffer, and being stuck with inventory and no opportunity to sell or extend their productions. In order to solve the problem, Clean Energy Fuels Corp. and Navistar International partnered up with the plan to create America’s Natural Gas Highway. This would be the first network of natural gas fueling stations across the United States. The first steps to accomplished this goal is to coordinate relationships between a truck maker, fuel supplier, a truck stop chain, and natural gas driller. Clean Energy Fuels Corp. and Navistar International shared the plan with the Pilot Flying J Travel Centers, which is the largest network of truck and travel shops. The company will provide the service locations where the trucks could be refueled. America’s Natural Gas Highway also includes Chesapeake, the gas drilling company that would provide fuel to Clean Energy. Navistar will sell the best in-class natural gas (LNG) truck fleets to the consumer that are in contract with the Clean Energy; providing the fuel. Pilot Flying J Travel Centers will provide the locations, and Chesapeake drills the natural gas providing the return on investment. America’s...
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...determine your purchasing decision – price, safety, quality, packaging convenience, or something else? A purchasing decision really depends on many things addition to price and quality. Let's say I would like to buy a car. I should know the market value after couple of years, because after 3 -4 years time I would like to get a new one. Customer support is one of the important thing for me. For example, if something happens to my car or I have to replace tyres, oil etc., I need to know how long these procedures will take. Is the car environmental friendly or not? Has it got a hybrid engine? I need to know the type of the car. What features has it got? I would like to have an automatic transmission, alloy wheels, climate control etc. Different people/ customers value products/ services differently. A good business needs to be customer driven to remain its sustainability. What makes products/ services attractive to you? Has it got a certificate tag on or it just hasn't passed a quality control? I love a good design. For example I would like to buy a lounge, therefore I need to pay attention to it as it might not look good in my living room. The colour and material are the key factors as well. Activity 2 Although the key indicator of Japanese marketing success in the motor vehicle manufacturing and other industries is their customer focus, there are...
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...The Marketing Mix University of Phoenix MKT 421 9/20/09 The marketing mix is one of the most important elements of an effective marketing campaign. Its elements are the basic components of a marketing plan. Also known as the Four P's, the marketing mix elements are price, place, product, and promotion. The marketing mix concept is simple; each of the four elements plays an important part in the success of the marketing plan. Similar to a good recipe, too much of one ingredient and not enough of another could spoil the meal. The same theory applies to the marketing mix; alterations are normal in every successful marketing mix and determine the success or failure of a product or service. The price is what the consumer will pay for the good or service from a vendor. Within the pricing concept are pricing strategies that determine how much the good or service will cost. The most used pricing strategies are premium pricing, penetration pricing and economy pricing. Each of these pricing strategies reaches a different level of consumer and allows a company to maximize the sales potential of a product or service. Premium pricing is most often used when a large competitive advantage exists. The alternative is a good or service that is not comparable in quality, therefore a company that offers this product will have a premium price. Examples of premium priced goods and services are Mercedes Benz cars, flying first class and buying a diamond ring from Tiffany’s. Penetration...
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...Marketing Plan United Continental Airline Marketing Plan Rhunda Mitchell BUS620 Instructor Nichols August 1, 2011 The airline industry has continuously been and is steadily the most intensely competitive business segment in all components of its operations (Morrison, 2000). In commission on real narrow margins the decline in passenger traffic which was embraced by airlines due to the events of September 11th, 2001 has had a direct effect on the many domestic and global airline carriers across The United States (Taylor, 2003). The events that occurred that day created governmental intercession by means of loan assurances, recompense for terrorist attack fatalities, and insurance associated with war hazards (Taylor, 2003). The Associate deputy secretary of Transportation stated that the industry is in its worst financial crisis” (Taylor, 2003), since the industry was deregulated in 1978 (Taylor, 2003). It is imperative to recognize the two conflicting forms of airline carriers within existence in the United States (Taylor, 2003). The major airlines are in reference to those with surplus gross revenues of $1 billion dollars yearly. In general these airlines also provide international services, accommodate the business class customers and passengers who anticipate or covet full in flight services like meals and other related amenities (Morrison, 2000). This includes; American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Air Lines, U.S. Airways, Continental Airlines and Northwest...
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...IMC of McDonalds Rachel Walker Kaplan University MT 359-01 Integrated Marketing Communication Strategies Professor Kevin Cojanu May 28, 2013 McDonalds is a well-known world-wide corporation. Richard (Dick) and Maurice (Mac) McDonald started a barbeque car hop in California in 1940. First starting out they offered a menu that consisted of twenty-nine different items that were served by car hops. By 1947, their business started to slow way down and they had discovered that hamburgers were one of the largest sellers within food sales. That was when the transformation began. The grills, once cast iron, were upgraded to stainless steel and the research of candy machines resulted in the finding of the ideal hamburger shaper. Dick and Mac made a comeback in December of 1948 with a completely different approach and opened as a hamburger venue advertising the famous 15 cent hamburger. When the menu first started out they served 9 different items and French fries was not one of them. It wasn’t until 1949 that the French fries came to the menu to replace regular potato chips and they also introduced a triple thick milkshake. In 1955, Ray Kroc opened a restaurant in Illinois. This was when the famous golden arches were designed by an architect by the name of Stanley Meston. Little did they know that those golden arches would soon become their well-known trademark. The very first advertisement done for this restaurant was the amount of hamburgers sold with the first sign...
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...9B15C008 Robert Way wrote this case under the supervision of Professor Gerard Seijts and Professor Jean-Louis Schaan solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. This publication may not be transmitted, photocopied, digitized or otherwise reproduced in any form or by any means without the permission of the copyright holder. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Business School, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada, N6G 0N1; (t) 519.661.3208; (e) cases@ivey.ca; www.iveycases.com. Copyright © 2015, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation Version: 2015-05-22 In early 2014, Ferio Pugliese looked back on his turbulent first nine months as president of WestJet Airlines Ltd.’s (WestJet) new regional air service Encore. Officially launched in Western Canada in June 2013, this venture represented the company’s most significant organizational change in its 18 years of dramatic growth and was billed as WestJet’s “second coming” — hence, the chosen name Encore. The process of expanding the airline’s fleet to include smaller, short-haul aircraft servicing smaller destinations throughout...
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...stimulus, or influence” (p. 1). Based on Johmarshall Reeve’s Understanding Motivation and Emotion, this definition is widely customary by many psychologists, but what psychologists cannot agree on is what causes motivation. In fact, this topic has been on a rollercoaster ride over many decades by gaining and losing popularity of psychologists. Keeping of this in mind, some of today’s top companies keep motivation near and dear to everything that they do. The chosen organization for this research is Southwest Airlines, and the following paragraphs will take a close look at the history of the organization, corporate culture, management, and the motivational strategies used. The History of Southwest Airlines When many people today think of flying in aircrafts, they do not realize that this mode of transportation started only 107 years ago with Wilbur and Orville Wright. Only 64 years later in 1967 Southwest Airlines, known as Air Southwest incorporated, and applied for license to fly (Southwest Airlines, 2011, p.1). 1971 Through 1981 Numerous legal battles with Continental Airlines and two other airlines at the time occurred in the Texas State Court and Texas Supreme Court from February 21, 1968 to June 17, 1971. The next day, June 18, 1971, marked the first day a Southwest Airline flight flew, and went from Dallas to San Antonio for a cost of $20 for a one-way trip. More flights to more locations kept profit increasing and by the end of 1981, Southwest Airlines had a net income...
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...Southwest Airlines Case Study By Andrea Kirkland In 1995 top executive Dave Ridley vice president of marketing and sales sat down with the other executives for their regular Tuesday meeting to discuss and converse with each other on responsibility, coordination pricing and marketing activities that were both internal and external. These meeting helped to encourage communication amongst these varies department heads. An incessant topic over the last six months has been Continental Airlines and United Airlines competitive programs Continental Lite and Shuttle by United. Each is designed to cut into the Southwest’s strategic marketing plan. In early January of 1995 Continental Airlines endeavor to encroach on Southwest’s market resulted in operational issues financial loss causing the airline to scale back their plan of attack. United Airlines had actually launched their “Shuttle by United” program in October of the previous year. At the time they were already offering fourteen routes in California and by January of 1995 they had on neighboring states. Over half of these routes put them in direct competition with Southwest. It became clear the only threat to Southwest was United Airlines by copying the Southwest blueprint. This became the new focus of the meeting. A few key actors play a factor in what Southwest needs to consider in order to stay number one in their field. The actors identified in this case study are: (1) Economic (2) Technology (3) Service (4)...
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...Flugmaschinefabrik, building small aircraft. Due to Rapp’s manufacturing problems, his company secured a contract with Austro-Daimler in order to fill orders that they could not keep up with; ultimately, Austro-Daimler expanded too quickly and was not successful. In 1916, Rapp resigned from his company and Franz Josef Popp and Max Friz, two Austrians, took over the company. In March of 1916, Rapp Motoren Werke merged with Gustav Flugmaschinefabrik to form Bayersiche Flugzeungwerke. It was renamed Bayersiche Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works), which is today known as BMW. In 1917, BMW’s first aircraft, the type IV, went into production. Flying the type IV aircraft, in 1919, Franz Zeno Diemer set an altitude record of 9,760 meters. Due to restrictions set by the Treaty of Versailles, BMW briefly switched from the manufacture of airplanes to the manufacture of railway car brakes. In 1922, BMW was again to begin the making of aircraft engines. This period was marked by many successes as shown through no fewer than 29 world records in the aviation world. (Popescu, 2000). The BMW logo, introduced in 1920, is based on the circular design of an aircraft propeller and the blue and white of the Bavarian flag. In 1923, BMW began producing motorcycles, which eventually lead to the beginning of BMWs foray into the making of automobiles in 1928. The AM 4, with a top speed of 50 mph was the first production...
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...GLOBAL MARKETING 이름: 쪼우즐빈 학번: 201218515 Psy phenomena and international success The song Gangnam Style by Psy is considered by some to be a worldwide phenomenon that has influenced global popular culture, and it also topped national music charts in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. According to the news agency Agence France-Presse, the "phenomenal" success of "Gangnam Style" has played a significant role in spreading the Korean Wave to other countries. As the song continued to attract worldwide media attention, it also led to various broadcasting networks and national newspapers focusing its attention on Korean popular music (K-pop) and other aspects of Korean culture. For example, The Daily Telegraph published an article recommending its readers to try out everything from K-Pop to "K-Cars", "K-Phones" and "K-Cuisine". After the release of "Gangnam Style", the American talent manager Scooter Braun, who discovered Justin Bieber on YouTube, asked on Twitter "How did I not sign this guy (Psy)"Soon afterwards, it was reported that PSY had left for Los Angeles to meet with representatives of Justin Bieber, to explore collaboration opportunities. On September 3, Braun made a public announcement that was later uploaded onto YouTube, saying that he and PSY have decided to "make some history together. [To] be the first Korean artist to break a big record in the United States." On September 4, it was confirmed that...
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...Virgin Atlantic Marketing Case Study Presented by Donal Manning James E. Salter Andre Tuinzing Prepared for Professor Enda McGovern Dominican University of California iii Virgin Atlantic Airlines Manning/ Salter/ Tuinzing Table of Contents LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS………...…………………………………………………..IV EXECUTIVE SUMMARY……………………………………………………………….V HISTORY OF VIRGIN ATLANTIC ................................................................................. 3 B ACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................................. 3 F LEET .......................................................................................................................................................... 5 R OUTE N ETWORK........................................................................................................................................ 7 A IRLINE P ARTNERSHIP ................................................................................................................................ 8 A IRLINE ALLIANCES .................................................................................................................................... 8 STRATEGIC PLANNING ............................................................................................... 10 MISSION S TATEMENT ..................................................................................................................
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