marketing mix

part of the unit 2 operations management and finance

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element of successful product

  • reliability
  • safety
  • convenience of use
  • fashion
  • aesthetic qualities
  • durability
  • legal requirements


product design elements important to business:

  • financial viability
  • effect on organisation's reputation
  • ease of production
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influences on development of new goods, services

technology:

  • new technology, more 'advanced' products
  • totally new products to meet needs unfufilled e.g. mobiles
  • wider market e.g. household computers nice -mass
  • production + process, make more cost effective
  • ICT business tailor to individual specs of customer e.g. quick quotation database
  • loyalty cards, monitor sales records


but competitor may: -intro new 'me-too' product, -spark new ideas for new competitors

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matching production + demand

demand -use marketing mix to increase demand to overcome spare capacity e.g. theatre, set higher price for popular events, low for less popular -full capacity + high sales rev.

supply -rationalisation. process of improving efficiency by cutting scale of operations

reducing capacity

  • sell off all/part of production area -long-term issue
  • changing to shorter working hours
  • laying off workers
  • transferring resources from another area

increasing capacity

  • build/extend factories
  • ask staff work overtime/longer hours
  • hire new staff
  • flexible workforce (core workers= regular demand)
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what a customer wants

  • overall quality of pr/service
  • friendly staff
  • problems solved efficiently
  • speed of delivery compared with promised speed
  • staff helpfulness
  • how effective enquiries handled
  • competence of staff completing tasks
  • ease of business transaction
  • extent customer kept informed of developments
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subcontracting

an organisation asks another to make all/part of its product

pros:

  • react quicker sudden demand
  • subcontractors more specialised
  • lets firm focus on core business
  • pass on order+ benefit without disturbing normal production

cons:

  • loose control over quality
  • erodes company's operations base -difficult research, make changes
  • expensive, less profit
  • may give confidential info e.g. methods + patent
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developing effective operations: quality

tangible measures of quality

  • appearance
  • reliability
  • durability
  • funtions (added extras) e.g mobile with camera
  • after sales service
  • repair + maintenance needs

intangible measures of quality

  • image, brand
  • reputation
  • exclusiveness e.g. Chanel

quality is important to a business because -impact sales vol, create USP, impact selling price -profit margins, pricing flexibility (charge higher to customers value quality), cost reductions i.e. waste

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