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LESSON 2: MARKETING MIX The marketing mix refers to the set of actions, or tactics, that a company uses to promote its brand or product in the market. The 4Ps make up a typical marketing mix – Price, Product, Promotion and Place. However, nowadays, the marketing mix increasingly includes several other Ps like Packaging, Positioning, People and even Politics as vital mix elements. Price: refers to the value that is put for a product. It depends on costs of production, segment targeted, ability of the market to pay, supply – demand and a host of other direct and indirect factors. There can be several types of pricing strategies, each tied in with an overall business plan. Pricing can also be used a demarcation, to differentiate and enhance the image of a product. Product: refers to the item actually being sold. The product must deliver a minimum level of performance; otherwise even the best work on the other elements of the marketing mix won’t do any good. Place: refers to the point of sale. In every industry, catching the eye of the consumer and making it easy for her to buy it is the main aim of a good distribution or ‘place’ strategy. Retailers pay a premium for the right location. In fact, the mantra of a successful retail business is ‘location, location, location’. Promotion: this refers to all the activities undertaken to make the product or service known to the user and trade. This can include advertising, word of mouth, press reports, incentives, commissions and awards to the trade. It can also include consumer schemes, direct marketing, contests and prize. All the elements of the marketing mix influence each other. They make up the business plan for a company and handled right, can give it great success. But handled wrong and the business could take years to recover. The marketing mix needs a lot of understanding, market research and consultation with several people, from users to trade to manufacturing and several others. Marketing Mix – A mixture of several ideas and plans followed by a marketing representative to promote a particular product or brand is called marketing mix. Several concepts and ideas combined together to formulate final strategies helpful in making a brand popular amongst the masses form marketing mix. Elements of Marketing Mix The elements of marketing mix are often called the four P’s of marketing. 1. Product Goods manufactured by organizations for the end-users are called products. Products can be of two types – Tangible Product and Intangible Product (Services) An individual can see, touch and feel tangible products as compared to intangible products. A product in a market place is something which a seller sells to the buyers in exchange of money. 2. 3. 4. Price The money which a buyer pays for a product is called as price of the product. The price of a product is indirectly proportional to its availability in the market. Lesser its availability, more would be its price and vice a versa. Retail stores which stock unique products (not available at any other store) quote a higher price from the buyers. 5. Place Place refers to the location where the products are available and can be sold or purchased. Buyers can purchase products either from physical markets or from virtual markets. In a physical market, buyers and sellers can physically meet and interact with each other whereas in a virtual market buyers and sellers meet through internet. 6. Promotion Promotion refers to the various strategies and ideas implemented by the marketers to make the end – users aware of their brand. Promotion includes various techniques employed to promote and make a brand popular amongst the masses. Promotion can be through any of the following ways: Advertising Print media, Television, radio are effective ways to entice customers and make them aware of the brand’s existence. Billboards, hoardings, banners installed intelligently at strategic locations like heavy traffic areas, crossings, railway stations, bus stands attract the passing individuals towards a particular brand. Taglines also increase the recall value of the brand amongst the customers. Word of mouth One satisfied customer brings ten more customers along with him whereas one dis-satisfied customer takes away ten more customers. That’s the importance of word of mouth. Positive word of mouth goes a long way in promoting brands amongst the customers. Lately three more P’s have been added to the marketing mix. They are as follows: People – The individuals involved in the sale and purchase of products or services come under people. Process – Process includes the various mechanisms and procedures which help the product to finally reach its target market Physical Evidence – With the help of physical evidence, a marketer tries to communicate the USP’s and benefits of a product to the end users Four C’s of Marketing Mix Now days, organizations treat their customers like kings. In the current scenario, the four C’s has thus replaced the four P’s of marketing making it a more customer oriented model. Koichi Shimizu in the year 1973 proposed a four C’s classification. Commodity – (Replaces Products) Cost – (Replaces Price) involves manufacturing cost, buying cost and selling cost Channel – The various channels which help the product reach the target market. Communication – (Replaces Promotion) Robert F. Lauterborn gave a modernized version of the four C’s model in the year 1993. According to him the four C’s of marketing are: Consumer Cost Convenience Communication Conclusion of the Marketing Mix: The Art of Blending the Elements: In short, a marketing manager uses four marketing tools — decision areas — that ineract with one another. These are product, promotion, distribution and price. The blending of these four tools is referred to as the marketing mix. A manager’s selection of an marketing mix is very important. Different combinations of ingredi-ents may be used. In marketing, there is no standard formula for a successful combination of marketing elements. Marketing mixes will vary from company to company, depending upon the kinds of markets Benefits of Marketing Mix An analytical study and interpretation has some benefits that are made available to the business firms. These are: 1. It provides a valuable guide for resource allocation: Every marketing effort warrants the judicious allocation of resources both human and financial. As one is aware, these resources are limited and precious and should be used in an effective manner. These needed resources depend on the nature of marketing mix that maximizes not only consumer satisfaction or delight on one hand and profit to the firm. 2. It helps to allocate the responsibilities: The creative and challenging job of marketing is a team work and part of marketing process entails the allocation of responsibilities to members of this marketing team. By virtue of specialization some are accountable for product management, others for selling and still others for physical distribution. As the marketing manager has the perfect mix on his hand and in mind, it is realty easy and logical to allocate the individual and group responsibilities; it is because, before arriving at ‘perfect mix’ good deal of house-work or punch practice is done based on logic and empirical findings. 3. It provides an opportunity to analyze cost benefit elasticity’s: Resources which are limited having alternative uses are to be judiciously allocated to the requirements of the mix input make that are designed to pay out. On illustrative basis, it can be said that one can increase the number of sales-personal in order to increase sales; or by increasing the ad budget. One must be aware of behavior of costs and revenues with the change in situation. Coming to real life situation, one has to consider the cumulative effect of these multiple tools on one another. These alternative tools are known for varying degree of elasticity’s and it is the accepted marketing-mix concept that assists to analyze such a proposition. As a “perfect-mix” is based on total recognition of relationship between the cost and revenue. This helps to determine that you can go on increasing the expenditure so long as it brings in positive revenue or results. Such an exercise is possible only when there is a marketing program that has identified the components and tents of that mix guaranteeing encouraging market response. 4. It facilitates communication process: Each business unit has its internal organization which is the framework of relations from top to bottom whether flat and slim or high-rise and tapering. Coming to each department, division, section; different units use differing terminologies for the marketing positions and sub-positions. This leads to confusion and conflict so far as meaning of each position is concerned. The titles given are so confusing that they fail to convey the contents of job titles. Thus, there can be “Marketing and promotion manager” along with “Brand managers” or “Promotion and publicity manager” side by side with “Sales and contract-manager”. If, this is the story of one company, another company speaks of “Market-research and promotion manager”.
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LESSON 4:TOPIC: LIBERALIZATION AND GLOBALIZATION Meaning of Liberalization Liberalization is the process or means of the elimination of control of the state over economic activities. It provides a greater autonomy to the business enterprises in decision-making and eliminates government interference. Liberalization was begun to put an end to these limitations, and open multiple areas of the economy. Though some liberalization proposals were prefaced in the 1980s in areas of export-import policy, technology up-gradation, fiscal policy, and foreign investment, industrial licensing, and economic reform policies launched in 1991 were more general. There are a few significant areas, namely, the financial sector, industrial sector, foreign exchange markets, tax reforms, and investment and trade sectors that gained recognition in and after 1991. Liberalization in India Since the adoption of the New Economic Strategy in 1991, there has been a drastic change in the Indian economy. With the arrival of liberalization, the government has regulated the private sector organizations to conduct business transactions with fewer restrictions. For the developing countries, liberalization has opened economic borders to foreign companies and investments. Earlier, the investors had to encounter difficulties to enter countries with many barriers. These barriers included tax laws, foreign investment restrictions, accounting regulations, and legal issues. Economic liberalization reduced all these obstacles and waived a few restrictions over the control of the economy to the private sector. Objectives • To boost competition between domestic businesses • To promote foreign trade and regulate imports and exports • To improve the technology and foreign capital • To develop a global market of a country • To reduce the debt burden of a country • To unlock the economic potential of the country by encouraging the private sector and multinational corporations to invest and expand • To encourage the private sector to take an active part in the development process • To reduce the role of the public sector in future industrial development • To introduce more competition into the economy with the aim of increasing efficiency Reforms under Liberalization • Deregulation of the Industrial Sector • Financial Sector Reforms • Tax Reforms • Foreign Exchange Reforms • Trade and Investment Policy Reforms • External Sector Reforms • Foreign Exchange Reforms • Foreign Trade Policy Reforms Impact of Liberalization Positive Impact of Liberalization in India Free flow of capital: Liberalization has enhanced the flow of capital by making it affordable for the businesses to reach the capital from investors and take a profitable project. Diversity for investors: The investors will be benefitted by investing a portion of their business into a diversifying asset class. Impact on agriculture: In this area, the cropping designs have experienced a huge change, but the impact of liberalization cannot be accurately measured. Government’s restrictions and interventions can be seen from the production to the distribution of the crops. Negative Impact of Liberalization in India The weakening of the economy: An enormous restoration of the political power and economic power will lead to weakening the entire Indian economy. Technological impact: Fast development in technology allows many small scale industries and other businesses in India to either adjust to changes or shut their businesses. Mergers and acquisitions: Here, the small businesses merge with the big companies. Therefore, the employees of the small companies may need to enhance their skills and become technologically advanced.[1] This enhancing of skills and the time it might take, may lead to non-productivity and can be a burden to the company’s capital. Economic Reforms during Liberalization Several sectors were affected by the impact of Liberalisation. A few economic reforms were: • Financial Sector Reforms • Tax Reforms / Fiscal Reforms • Foreign Exchange Reforms / External Sector Reforms • Industrial Sector Reforms Effect of Globalization in India The growth of foreign investment in the field of corporate, retail, and the scientific sector is enormous in the country. … In recent years, globalization has increased due to improvements in transportation and information technology. What is Globalization? The term globalization refers to the integration of the economy of the nation with the world economy. It is a multifaceted aspect. It is a result of the collection of multiple strategies that are directed at transforming the world towards a greater interdependence and integration. It includes the creation of networks and pursuits transforming social, economical, and geographical barriers. Globalization tries to build links in such a way that the events in India can be determined by the events happening distances away. To put it in other words, globalisation is the method of interaction and union among people, corporations, and governments universally. Effect of Globalization in India India is one of the countries that succeeded significantly after the initiation and implementation of globalization. The growth of foreign investment in the field of corporate, retail, and the scientific sector is enormous in the country. It also had a tremendous impact on the social, monetary, cultural, and political areas. In recent years, globalisation has increased due to improvements in transportation and information technology. With the improved global synergies, comes the growth of global trade, doctrines, and culture. Globalization in the Indian economy Indian society is changing drastically after urbanisation and globalisation. The economic policies have had a direct influence in forming the basic framework of the economy. Economic policies established and administered by the government also performed an essential role in planning levels of savings, employment, income, and investments in the society. Cross country culture is one of the critical impacts of globalisation on Indian society. It has significantly changed several aspects of the country, including cultural, social, political, and economical. However, economic unification is the main factor that contributes maximum to a country’s economy into an international economy. Advantages of Globalization in India Increase in employment: With the opportunity of special economic zones (SEZ), there is an increase in the number of new jobs available. Including the export processing zones (EPZ) centre in India is very useful in employing thousands of people. Another additional factor in India is cheap labor. This feature motivates the big companies in the west to outsource employees from other regions and cause more employment. Increase in compensation: After globalization, the level of compensation has increased as compared to the domestic companies due to the skill and knowledge a foreign company offers. This opportunity also emerged as an alteration of the management structure. High standard of living: With the outbreak of globalization, the Indian economy and the standard of living of an individual has increased. This change is notified with the purchasing behavior of a person, especially with those who are associated with foreign companies. Hence, many cities are undergoing a better standard of living along with business development. Impact of globalization Outsourcing: This is one of the principal results of the globalization method. In outsourcing, a company recruits regular service from the outside sources, often from other nations, that was earlier implemented internally or from within the nation (like computer service, legal advice, security, each presented by individual departments of the corporation, and advertisement). As a kind of economic venture, outsourcing has increased, in recent times, because of the increase in quick methods of communication, especially the growth of information technology (IT). Many of the services such as voice-based business processes (commonly known as BPS, BPO, or call centres), accountancy, record keeping, music recording, banking services, book transcription, film editing, clinical advice, or teachers are being outsourced by the companies from the advanced countries to India. Debate on globalization .
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