MARKETING MANAGEMENT 2:

Assignment 1 & 2: Case Study

Switchex gears Ltd.

Switchex is an eight year old organization manufacturing entire range of switchgear products. It
has a foreign collaborator. Its manufacturing unit is located near Delhi with sales spread over the
entire country. the market of switchgears is dominated by two major companies having market
shares of 40% and 37% respectively. Switchex has established a market share of 14% and
remaining 9% market share is divided among three other manufacturers. the competition
between first three organisations is quite fierce. During the initial years, Switchex concentrated
in the Northern region and established itself as a reputed manufacturer of witchgears. since the
last two years, the company is trying to establish its presence in the Western region.

The pricing strategy of the company is always to be lower than the major two competitors by
about 8-10%. Its discounting policy is also flexible and sometimes it deals directly with the
customers and offers them suitable discounts.

it has appointed dealers in all its markets, usually district-based. For servicing its dealers in the
Western region, Switchex has opened up a regional office at Mumbai and Branch offices at
Pune, Vadora and Indore.

Its Pune office is headed by Mr. Patil, a competent Electronics Engineer with a Post-graduation
in management. Since the company wants to establish in the Western region, Mr. Patil is
pressurised to 'accept' higher quotas. In turn, he has no option but to increase the quotas of his
dealers. These days, Mr. Patil is faced with a tough decision. His dealer at Kolhapur is the major
cause for concern. The dealer is a partnership firm, M/s Kadam Brothers. This dealer is with Mr.
Patil for the past two years. Except for the last six months, the performance of this dealer was
highly satisfactory. However, six months back one of the partners decided to leave partnership
firm and had to be paid his share in cash causing financial problems for the firm. Mr. Patil
belevies that this is one of the reasons for the untimely payments to Switchex for the sales.
Moreover, the sales have also suffered. It is reported that the remaining two partners are also
concentrating on their other business activities and consequently have less time for developing
the business of Switchex. Those partners have been assuring Mr. Patil that they will soon have
another competent partner and thus, will come out of their problems quickly. But no progress is
reported in the matter till now.

In the meantime, another dealer from the same area has approached Mr. Patil for dealership. He
is dealing with the elctric panels till now and has good contacts with the switchgear buyers from
Kolhapur region. But Mr. Patil feels that given the time, M/s Kadam Brothers will recover
satifactorily. But he has no time as the Regional Sales Manager in pressuring Mr. Patil to
increase quotas of his dealers fast or get them replaced. "We want quick sales" is the motto of the
Regional Sales Manager.

Questions:

Assignment 1: What alternatives would you suggest for Mr. Patil to solve dealership and sales
problem? What alternatives should he opt for and why?

Assignment 2: Examine Switchex's policy of quick sales, in the context of its product range.
Explain in detail.

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Assignment 3 & 4: Case Study

Tabeffer India:

Soumitro Gosh, the Managing Director of Tabeffer India, at the time of R & D review, felt that
his company had developed a product with the potential to be a winner; a tablet based soft drink,
branded 'Lorino'. The results of the market research that he had commissioned indicated that
consumers were not only interested in the concept, but also liked the flovours in which Lorino
had been test-marketed. However, breaking into the soft drinks market would not be simple.
While the concentrates segment was stagnant, the aerated drinks segment was dominated by
global players with huge ad-spends. The product had two over-riding advantages. It didn't have
the inconvenience of mixing, sugaring and stirring and disposing off the package unlike
tetrapack. The company had worked out a third-party contract distribution arrangement with
Gretas which is also distributing soaps, biscuits and hair-creams.

Tabeffer India hired the services of TNS-MODE, a leading market research firm. The initial
research revealed the following facts:

a) The consumption pattern in volumes was: filter-coffee: 3.9%, malted drinks: 2.2%;
instant coffee:1.8% and soft-drinks: 1.1%. The soft-drinks market, though a low-volume
in comparision, was far more impressive in terms of value-Rs. 1300 crore per annum.
b) Aerated Soft Drinks (or ASDs) accounted for Rs. 1100crs.; tetrapacks Rs. 150 crs.;
concentrated Rs. 60 crs., branded squashes Rs. 25 crs.
c) ASDs consisted of Colas (70%), Lemon drink (20%), Orange (10%).
d) There are three brands in the Cola segment of ASD: Life, Prime and Vic. Life is a 100
year old global brand with a brand image built around fun, youth and group socialising.
Prime is a close rival of Life in several markets around the world. Vic had a near-
monopoly position, with a 60% share of Cola market, with its macho image it had tried to
position directly against Prime.
e) In the lemon segment, Misty was a single largest selling brand in the 1970's and 1980's
which initially used its hygienic and thirst quenching values.
Later, it projected the 'anytime-drink image' highlighting the occasion-brand association. Its
cloudy appearance was well received. The following six broad conclusions were analysed by the
company:

1. The brand image during the launch will be vital.

2. ASD brands have enormous ad-spends.
3. Global brands have been successful only in the Cola segments.
4. Tetrapacks have seen the largest number of failures, but also single largest success.
5. Brands targeting several demographic and psychographic segments have not been
successful.
6. For five years, the concentrates markets has defied all attempts at expansion.

Questions:

Assignment 3: Develop a brand image plan for Lorino.

Assignment 4: Develop Product concept for Lorino before launching.

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