Case summary (Porsche)

Porsche is a unique company. It has always been a niche brand that makes car for a small and distinctive segment of automobile buyers. Porsche owners are as rare as their vehicles. For that reason, top managers at porsche spend a great deal of time thinking about their customers. Since its early days, Porsche has appealed to a very narrow segment of financially successful people. These are achievers who see themselves as entrepreneurial. They buy Porsche because the car mirrors their self-image. Porsche owners see it as a car to be enjoyed not just used. Most porsche buyers are not moved by information but by feelings. They develop a personal relationship with their cars. They admire Porsche because it is a competent performance machine without being flashy or phony. As the year rolled on, Porsche management became concerned with a significant issue that the quirky nature of the people who buy Porsches might just run out of them. For that reason Porsche started selling many lower priced models in 1970s and 1980s and recognized as a numerous brand. Although porsche got huge success but Porsche faithful carried foul. In fact, traditional Porsche customers were unhappy that they had to share their brand with a customer who didn't fit the porsche owner profile. For that reason Porsche not only started losing its faithful customers but also entered into a fierce competition with competing brands and turned into bankruptcy by 1990. But Porsche wasn't going down without a fight. It quickly recognized the error of its ways and haulted production of lower- priced cars. It started rebuilding its damaged image by revamping more race- bred technology. It once again targeted the higher end of the market in both price and performance and the brand once again favored by the same type of achiever who had so deeply loved the car for decades and was once