Case study analysis

Submitted By

Muhammad Umar Saleem

(Student ID : 54146)

Salman Yousafi
(Student ID : _____)

Submitted To

Sir Syed Tariq Hussain

Date: 08 December, 2009

Principles of Marketing

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page ........................................................................................................................i

Table of contents..............................................................................................................ii
Acknowledgement...........................................................................................................1
Introduction to Case.........................................................................................................2
History of Case................................................................................................................3
Mission statement of the company..................................................................................5
Strategic Business Units of Product and Services...........................................................6
World Wide Operations...................................................................................................12
Important Financial Information......................................................................................14

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We have accomplished this report with the grace of Almighty Allah. We hereby
acknowledge the role of our respectable teacher Sir Syed Tariq Hussain, who has provided
us complete guideline and instructions to complete this report. We would like to
acknowledge the part of the book “Principles of Marketing” written by Kottler which not
only provided us necessary information and support to accomplish this report but also
enhance our knowledge on the subject “Principles of Marketing”.

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Introduction

International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big

Blue" (for its official corporate color), is a multinational computer, technology and IT
consulting corporation Headquartered in Armonk, Town of North Castle, New York,
USA.. The company is one of the few information technology companies with a continuous
history dating back to the 19th century.
International Business Machines has eight research laboratories worldwide. The company has
scientists, engineers, consultants, and sales professionals in over 170 countries. IBM
employees have earned five Nobel Prizes, four Turing Awards, nine National Medals of
Technology, and five National Medals of Science. IBM had 2,941 patents in 2005 - No 1
U.S. Patent Leader for 13th consecutive Year. As a chip maker, IBM has been among the
Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders in past years.

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History of the Case

The roots of IBM date back the 1880s, decades before the development of electronic
computers. The company was formed through a merger of three different companies: the
Tabulating Machine Company (with origins in Washington, D.C. in the 1880s), the
International Time Recording Company (founded 1900 in Endicott), and the Computing
Scale Corporation (founded 1901 in Dayton, Ohio, USA). The merger was engineered by
noted financier Charles Flint, and the new company was called the Computing Tabulating
Recording (CTR) Corporation. CTR was incorporated on 16 June, 1911 in Endicott, New
York, U.S.A., and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1916 by George Winthrop
Fairchild.

Lab of TMC IBM

1893 PC – 5150

The companies that merged to form CTR manufactured a wide range of products, including
employee time-keeping systems, weighing scales, automatic meat slicers, coffee grinders, and
most importantly for the development of the computer, punched card equipment. The product
lines were very different, there were synergies and cross selling opportunities to be had.
Based in New York City, the new company had 1,300 employees and offices and plants in
Endicott and Binghamton, New York; Dayton, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Washington, D.C.;
and Toronto, Ontario.Of the companies merged to form CTR, the most technologically
significant was the Tabulating Machine Company, founded by Herman Hollerith, and
specialized in the development of punched card data processing equipment. CTR's
Canadian and later South American subsidiary was named International Business
Machines in 1917, and the whole company took this name in 1924 when Thomas J.
Watson took control of it.

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 The striped logo was first
The logo that wasThe logo that wasused in 1967, and fully
used from 1947 toused from 1956 to
The logo that was1956. The familiar1972. IBM said thatreplaced the solid logo by
used from 1924 to"globe" was replacedthe letters took on a1972. The horizontal
1946. The logo is in awith the simple lettersmore solid, grounded stripes suggesting "speed
form intended to"IBM" in a typefaceand and dynamism." This logo
balanced(in two versions,
suggest a globe,called "Beton Bold. appearance.
girdled by the word 8-bar and 13-bar), as well
"International". as the previous one, were
designed by graphic
designer Paul Rand.

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Mission statement of the company

Today’s consumer marketplace is being shaped by increasingly fragmented and

knowledgeable consumers and a growing polarization between “mass value” retailers and
focused specialists. Consumers are evolving into “super shoppers”, using new sources of
information to obtain full visibility into the market and demanding that companies enable
them to shop wherever, whenever and however they want. For their part, retailers are locked
in an intense competitive struggle for market share. As they seek to craft an exceedingly
focused, distinctive brand proposition and anticipate the specific desires of their target
shoppers, they will require greater insights and innovation from their suppliers. Consumer
products companies face the considerable challenge of balancing the continuously evolving
needs of savvy consumers and powerful retail customers. In particular, they must deal with a
host of demand-side pressures that are forcing them to take a hard look at their sales and
marketing organizations, the roles and skills of their key account managers, and their capacity
to develop deeper consumer and shopper insights. While some consumer products companies
have been successful at addressing some of the new marketplace pressures, many continue to
struggle to effectively work with their retail customers. Having historically focused on the
consumer as their only “customer”, consumer products companies must seek to delight their
retail trade customers as well. Going forward, consumer products companies must embrace a
fundamentally different approach to demand management, elevating the importance of and
focus on customer management and integrating it more effectively with the consumer focused
dimension of their organizations (e.g., marketing and brand management).
Key demographics of survey respondents.

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Strategic Business Units of Products and Services

The strategic agenda for consumer products customer management

IBM Business Consulting Services

Specifically, consumer products companies will need to focus on three key areas to
enhance product performance and increase leverage with retailers:
• Build a more agile, responsive organization that efficiently and effectively responds
to specific customer needs
• Empower account managers and teams to become more broad-based business
managers with a wider array of skills to drive business value for both the retail
customer and the consumer products company
• Integrate insight development both internally and with partners to drive more
targeted innovation

“Our focus is to have a tailored approach per customer; however, increased

differentiation leads to increased complexity. This creates a paradox: increasing
complexity externally, greater simplification required internally.”
– SVP, Customer
Business Development

“We are developing a new customer segmentation tool based on customer needs that
will result in somewhere between 3 to 15 basic needs types.”
– Head of Global Sales

“We are trying to make customer management and retailing seem more appealing to
our employees. While marketing is an aspiration at [our company], customer
management still needs to market itself.”
– Director, Customer Development

RESEARCH CENTERS
IBM is currently running 8 world wide Labs in 6 countries, which details are as follow:-
Thomas J. Watson Research Center

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 • Location: NY and MA, USA
• Established: 1961
• Employees: 1,793
• Focus: Computer science, database, data mining, business intelligence, user interface,
storage systems software, materials science, nanotechnology, life sciences, services
research, mathematics, semiconductor technology
• The world’s largest industrial
• research organization
Almaden Research Center
• Location: San Jose, CA, USA
• Established: 1955
• Employees: 500
• Focus: Computer science, database, user interface, web software, storage systems
software & technology, physical sciences, materials science, nanotechnology, life
sciences, services research
• Invented Relational Databases in 1970s

Austin Research Laboratory

• Location: Austin, TX, USA
• Established: 1995
• Employees: 74
• Focus: High performance/low power VLSI design and tools, system-level power
analysis, and new system architectures

China Research Laboratory

• Location: Beijing, China
• Established: 1995
• Employees: 150
• Focus: Business integration and transformation, information and knowledge
management, future embedded systems and devices, resilient and pervasive
infrastructure, and user interactions.

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 • First research laboratory in a developing country

Haifa Research Laboratory

• Location: Haifa, Isarael
• Established: 1972
• Employees: 600
• Focus: Storage and business continuity systems, verification technologies,
multimedia, active management, information retrieval, programming environments,
optimization technologies, and life sciences.
• The world's largest IT research organization
• Averaging 7 patents a day

Tokyo Research Laboratory

• Location: Yamato, Japan
• Established: 1982
• Employees: 200
• Focus: Analytics and optimization, software engineering, middleware, system
software, security and compliance, electronical and optical packaging technology,
engineering and technology services, text mining and speech technology, and
accessibility center
• First research laboratory in Asia

Zurich Research Laboratory

• Location: Rueschlikon, Switzerland
• Established: 1956
• Employees: 250
• Focus: Nanoscience and - technology, semiconductor technology, storage systems,
advanced server technology, systems design, IT security and privacy, business
optimization, mobile enablement, services research; industry solutions lab
• 2 Nobel Laureates from
• The invention of the scanning tunneling microscope

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 • The breakthrough discovery of high-temperature superconductivity

India Research Laboratory

• Location: Delhi, India
• Established: 1998
• Employees: 110
• Focus: Speech technologies, pervasive computing, e-governance, information
management, ecommerce, life sciences, distributed computing, software engineering.

Disciplines
IBM is focusing on following disciplines:-
Chemistry
• Advanced chemistry is required to make today’s computer products
• chemically-amplified photoresists for sub-micron lithography
• polymers with electrical properties unlike anything found in nature
• Cutting edge areas to support:
• Lithography
• Lubricant
• Display Development
Computer Science
• Research Areas
• Algorithms & Theory
• Artificial Intelligence
• Communications & Networking
• Computational Biology & Medical Informatics
• Computer Architecture
• Data Management
• Distributed & Fault Tolerant Computing
• Graphics & Visualization
• Human Computer Interaction
• Knowledge Discovery & Data Mining

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 • Mobile Computing
• Multimedia
• Natural Language Processing
• Operating Systems
• Performance Modeling & Analysis
• Programming Languages & Software Engineering
• Security and Privacy
• Services Computing
• Storage Systems
• Supercomputing
• User Interface Technologies
• Web
Electrical Engineering
• Research Areas
• Design Automation
• Electrical Interconnect and Packaging
• Nanotechnology & Nanoscience
• Signal Processing
• Verification Technology
• VLSI Design
Mathematical Science
• Research Areas
• Algorithms & Theory
• Knowledge Discovery & Data Mining
• Operations Research
• Statistics
Cross-Disciplines
• Communications Technology
• High-Speed Networks, Network Processors, Switching Technology, Wireless
Technology
• Deep Computing
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• High-End Computing, Data Storage & Management, Modeling & Simulation,
Visualization & Graphics
• Display Technology
• Flat Panel Displays, LCD Technology, Organic Light-Emitting Devices
• E-commerce
• Advanced Commerce, e-business Solutions, Smart Card Technology, Security
• Personal Systems
• Personal & Mobile Computing, Human Computer Interface, Information Access
Devices
• Semiconductor Technology
• Communications Devices, Logic Devices, Nano Devices, Device Modeling
• Servers & Embedded Systems
• Computer Architecture, Communications, Distributed & Fault Tolerant, Mobile
Computing, Operating Systems, Performance Analysis
• Storage
• Hard Disk Drive Technologies, Magnetic Tape, Alternative Recording
• Technologies, Storage Subsystems, Storage Management Software
• VLSI Design
• High-Speed Circuits, Reusable Design Cores, Microprocessor Designs, Physical
Interfaces
Evolution of demand management in the consumer products
industry.

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Worldwide operations

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Important financial information

Billion $

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RECOMMENDATIONS TO MANAGEMENT

• As customers become savvy & educated, Elitch Gardens’ management must focus on
the changing attitude of customers. The savvy customers want more enjoyment and
entertainment by spending less money, so management should offer more varieties in
tickets as suggested above under the heading of “promotion strategy”.
• Through the brief study of the case it is observed that the patrons of Elitch Gardens are
not loyal with it. The management should take actions like offering special discounts
and other benefits which may turn its patron in loyal patrons.
• The company may strengthen the relationship with venders and suppliers to get better
and consistent quality services.
• As in there is swift competition in entertainment market and the Elitch Gardens
management should be more attentive to analyze the any move of competitors and
keep its price compatible.
• Presently company is facing problems with its HRM department and due to this there is
shortage of efficient and productive staff. A strong HR department will increase the
over all efficiency and productivity of the company.
• The company’s mission / vision, plans and long & short strategies should be
continuously improved to keep the company on right track.
• Management should focus on internal marketing along with external marketing.
Because employees, suppliers, retailers and wholesalers play a vital role in the success
of any organization.
• It is very important for company to keep on improving its existing rides and games and
adopt new thrilling rides and games.

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