ELC 310 Day 18

Agenda Rotation for Case Study Presentations –Each student does 2 Cases S1 - G 2 S2 - Goran S3 - Karen S4 - Lee –First Student Case is on Nov 16 (Dell by G 2 ) Today –How to present Case study –Guidance for written case study –Understand Customer Needs and Behaviors

Rest of Schedule Today –How to present Case study –Guidance for written case study –Understand Customer Needs and Behaviors Nov 16 –Dell Online G.Sumyla –Formulate a strategy to fill needs Nov 20 –Insite Marketing Technologies G. Nagradic –Segmentation and Positioning Nov 27 –Terra Lycos K. Pelletier –New Products Nov 30 –MarketSoft Corporation L. Dubois –Communication and Selling Dec 4 –OSRAM Sylvania G.Sumyla –Pricing and Distribution Dec 7 –Logistics.com A & B G. Nagradic –Build a Trusting Relationship with Customers Dec 11 –Travelocity K. Pelletier –The Future of Digital Marketing Dec 14 –Citibank Online L. Dubois –Written Case Study Due Dec 3PM –Quiz #4 –Case Study Presentations Due

What is a case study? Describes a firms situation at some point in time –Most of these case studies are taken from the time period following the burst of the Internet Bubble ( ) –Analysis must reflect the correct time period –You have the benefit of hindsight Contains mostly fact with some opinion Puts the reader on the scene –Allows learning by doing

Case Study Analysis Deliverables –30 min oral presentation in front of class Overview of Company Facts of the case Discussion of e-marketing goal or strategy Analysis of case based on the previous chapter’s topic Discussion of perceived success or failure of e-Marketing goal or strategy –5 min question and answer period with classmates and Instructor As a minimum the student should be able to answer the Questions at the end of each case study –A PowerPoint presentation corresponding to the Oral Presentation

Expectations Student should be able to demonstrate a mastery of the material covered in odd numbered chapters of the Urban text and understand how the Case Study under analysis fits into the framework established in previous chapters. Students should have read the case studies being presented by the other students and be able to ask intelligent questions of the presenter of the case study. Every case study should prompt a class discussion of the issues raised in the Case Study

Preparing Case Analysis Need for Practicality –Cases are incomplete –Make reasonable assumptions and DOCUMENT your assumptions Need for Justification –Support your decisions Need for Realism –Be realistic Need for Specificity –What, why, when, how, where and who –Business people (and business professors) dislike generalities and vagueness Need for Originality –Be original…there is no perfect answer –If it were that easy everyone could do it!

Class Discussion Read the case –Take notes Perform Analysis Make recommendations Conduct Research –The better you are at research the easier the analysis goes Prepare PowerPoint and presentation Get ready for Cross-Examination –Peers Everyone should read all the cases! –Instructor

Making the presentation Organize with PowerPoints and graphics –Give overview –Inform the audience if it is a team presentation Who does what Control your voice Manage Body language Do not read your notes or the power points-be fluid Use lots of visuals Be enthusiastic! Answer questions at the end

Research Tips Your best resources are the UMFK Digital Databases –Business and company resource center –Business source premier –Newspapers (proquest) –Value Line research center –Wall Street Journal –Academic Search Premier –Census gateway –Econlite –Fed in print Other resources – – – – –Investor relations web site of the company – Bad resources –Web searches –Friends and colleagues –Tonyg.umfk.maine.edu

Writing a case study You are being asked to prepare a case study on a company or firm that has undergone a marketing challenge and has answered that challenge using web based technologies. There are two methods to conducting research for a case study. The first is often called secondary research, in which the researcher (in this case you ) researches printed documentation in magazines, books, texts, other case study and company documentation in order to derive the information required to create the case studies. The second and preferred method is to conduct primary research. Primary research requires a dialogue with personnel in the company being researched to discover the facts for the case study. Unfortunately there is insufficient time in the course to conduct primary research so the expectation is that secondary research will be conducted to create these case studies.

Format of written Case Company Overview – Description of the Industry or market segment – Relative placement within the industry – Management Structure – Chief Competitors – etc Marketing Challenges faced by company – If possible try to determine the research methodology used by the company to identify challenge – If possible try to determine the Marketing model used by the company Response to market challenges –Technologies employed –Determination of relative success –Correlation of response with the marketing model employed Evaluation of the company response using the Four-Step Flow Diagram on page 7 of the Urban text. –Identify actions taken to fulfill each of the four steps –Identify technologies and methodologies used for each step –Identify missed opportunities –Identify failed implementations A short (3-6) list of thought provoking questions that would help the reader of the case study understand the issues involved in the case study

Writing A case study Hints Pick the right company –Big success or big failure is easier –Make sure there is enough creditable information to write the case If the company stills exists contact them for more information or ask questions of senior members via Case study are about facts –Leave your options out –You can always “slant” the case by choosing which facts to include or exclude.

Case Study Writing Tips 1.Keep your audience in mind: Remember that you are writing for students or discussants who may not be familiar with the back- ground, details, and terminology of the situation. Keep jargon to a minimum. 2.Use short-story-writing techniques: A case has flesh-and-blood characters who should be intriguing. Each story element should move the narrative forward. 3.Openings: Grab the reader with a character facing his or her biggest problem: set the scene for the confrontations, the frustrations, and the main conflicts. 4.Present situations and scenes without any attempt at analysis: Scenes must follow a logical order and should illustrate a point, concept, or issue that relates to the problems that the writer wants to have analyzed. Do not give any signals that one solution might be preferred. 5.Provide relevant details: After an opening that sets up the situation, provide relevant details about goals, strategies, dilemmas, issues, conflicts, roadblocks, appropriate research, relevant financial information, people, and relationships. Be stingy with numbers; they must help solve the problems, not confuse readers or send them off on unproductive analytic tangents. 6.Use as much dialogue as possible: Make the characters come alive with dialogue. Straight narrative is boring. 7.Endings: Leave the reader with a clear picture of the major problems--either ask or imply "what is to be done now?"

Case study resources s/casestudies/students/writing.htmhttp://college.hmco.com/business/resource s/casestudies/students/writing.htm udies/ht/HowToCaseStudy.htmhttp://businessmajors.about.com/od/casest udies/ht/HowToCaseStudy.htm

Understand Customer Needs and Behavior Chapter 3

Two parts Understand the customer decision process –Pricing –Distribution –Service –Advertising Understand consumer needs –Design new products and services

Decision making model Process by which the customer reaches a purchase decision –Information processing model Input  decide  output –How do consumers Obtain information? Interpret and consolidate information to reach a decision? Learn from the experience? Influence others?

Information Processing Model Input Make consumer aware and get their attention Create desire to purchase and reduce search costs Decision Making Process Input both from short and long-term memory Use heuristics to eliminate (or include) choices Choose (or not) from remaining choices Output Consumers gain more information from usage update memory change heuristics Vendor should capture post purchase experience

Customer Decision Flow Chart What starts process?Sources of Input? Role of past experience?Ads/catalogs/ ? Friends make input? Sources of Information: friends/media/web/store? Active search? How much time? Where to shop? What to learn? Compare products? Role of price/quality evaluation? Need to touch and feel? Impact of brand and trust? How do buyers gain confidence? Special Offers? Security/privacy assurance needed? Guarantees/refund policies? Push to action? Word of mouth to friends/community?Lifetime service? Relationship contract?Delivers promised value

Multi-person industrial buying Specifying –Define need –specify attributes and performance requirements Gatekeeping –Qualify suppliers Budgeting –Allocate funds Generating Alternatives –Identify solutions, products and qualified bidders Evaluating –Consider proposals and bids bases on specifications Selecting –Pick best Approving –Ok to buy

How to identify consumer needs (market research) Talk to your customers –Focus groups, surveys –Works better with industrial clients Concept tests –Consumer evaluate prototypes Lead Users –Customers that know their needs and have already created solutions Avon skin-so-soft Idea generation techniques –See next slide Formal marketing research –Conjoint analysis –Listening–in (chapter 9)

Idea generation flow