Marketing Case Study. MPPL decided to expand the sale to Vietnamese market bringing along the three traditional condensed milk as well as the new product line, Filled Milk. This report is produced in order to consider the marketing environment in Vietnam,

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NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY, HANOI

BTEC HND IN BUSINESS (MARKETING)

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UNIT TITLE

Unit 1: Marketing

ASSIGNMENT TITLE

MILKY PRODUCTS PRIVATE LIMITED (MPPL)

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of 2

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2nd November 2009 (Monday)

We, the above group students, hereby confirmed that this assignment is our own work and not copied or plagiarized from any source. We have referenced the sources from which information is obtained by our group for this assignment.

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ASSIGNMENT GRADE

Common Skills Grade

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D

E

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Unit Outcomes

Outcome

Evidence for the criteria

Feedback

Assessor's decision

Internal Verification

Investigate the concept and

process of marketing

(1)

Compare alternative definitions of marketing

a

Identify the main characteristics of a marketing oriented organisation

b

Explain the various elements of the marketing concept

c

Identify and assess the benefits and costs of a marketing approach

d

Explore the concepts of segmentation, targeting and

positioning

(2)

Identify and explain macro and micro environmental factors which influence marketing decisions

a

Propose segmentation criteria to be used for two products in different markets

b

Outline the factors which influence the choice of targeting strategy

c

Explain how buyer behaviour affects marketing activities in two different buying situations

d

Merit grades awarded

M1

M2

M3

Distinction grades awarded

D1

D2

D3

Assignment

( ) Well-structured; Reference is done properly / should be done (if any)

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COMMON SKILLS & COMPETENCIES ASSESSED (indicated by X)

A. MANAGING & DEVELOPING SELF

D. MANAGING TASKS & SOLVING PROBLEMS

. Managing own roles & responsibilities

2. Use information sources

X

2. Manage own time in achieving objectives

X

3. Deal with a combination of routine & non-routine tasks

3. Undertakes personal and career development

4. Identify & solve routine & non-routine problems

4. Transfer skills gained to new/changing situations & contexts

B. WORKING WITH & RELATING TO OTHERS

E. APPLYING NUMERACY

5. Treat others beliefs and opinions with respect

X

5. Applying numerical skills and techniques

6. Relate & interact effectively with individuals & groups

7. Work effectively as a team member

F. APPLYING TECHNOLOGY

C. COMMUNICATING

6. Use a range of technological equipment and systems

8. Receive and respond to a variety of information

X

G. APPLYING DESIGN AND CREATIVITY

9. Present information in a variety of visual forms

7. Applying a range of skills and techniques to develop a variety of ideas in the creation of new / modified products, services or situations

0. Communicate in writing

X

1. Participate in oral & no-verbal communication

8. Use a range of thought processes

X

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION ON MARKETING CONCEPT

Milky Products Private Limited (MPPL) was founded in 1969 to manufacture sweetened condensed full-cream milk under license from a Dutch company. In 1974, the company turned public and obtained listing on the Stock Exchange of Singapore. The new issued share was to finance their expansion program aimed at diversifying into the production and marketing of a wider range of food products.

By 1978, the company was marketing three brands of sweetened condensed full-cream milk. The best of them in terms of quality, FresMilk is still regarded as one of the finest brands by Singaporean households. DresMilk and CreamyMilk are secondary brands mainly purchased by coffee or tea houses and households within the lower income groups.

MPPL has been manufacturing and marketing a brand of powdered milk for infants under the name Calac since 1976, it also been acting as agent for several foreign-made products such as Doroma instant coffee and PP food sauce. Moreover, with the increased capacity for producing sweetened condensed milk, the company has been able to manufacture for several private brands.

With such highly experienced operation, MPPL decided to expand the sale to Vietnamese market bringing along the three traditional condensed milk as well as the new product line, Filled Milk. The new one is expected to make the difference when it contains palm oil instead of butterfat, which is claimed to be good for customers' health. This report is produced in order to consider the marketing environment in Vietnam, concerning market segment, targeting strategy and positioning.

Before coming to study further on marketplace, it is necessary to have the basic concepts of marketing.

.1. Alternative definitions of marketing.

Figure 1: Arriving at a definition of marketing (Edexcel, 2004, p7)

After World War II, due to many changes in social and economical factors, business activities concerning marketing coming to new challenges. With a wide range of income levels, customers could afford to be selective and buy only those products that precisely met their changing needs, and these needs were not immediately obvious. The key questions appeared to be:

• What do customers want?

• Can we develop it while they still want it?

• How can we keep our customers satisfied?

In response to these group of customers, firms started to adopt the marketing concept, which involves:

• Focusing on customer needs before developing the product

• Aligning all functions of the company to focus on those needs

• Realizing a profit by successfully satisfying customer needs over the long-term

The marketing concept relies on marketing researches to define market segments, their size, and their needs.

Over many years of developing, different definitions of marketing have been defined. Here are some definitions which we have considered:

Marketing is the management of exchange relationships. (Edexcel, 2004, p7)

This definition focuses on the vital role of the relationship between the organisation and the outside world, which basically are parties involving any activities of the company. It is obviously that the company alone cannot afford to achieve any result simply because every part of the operation is supported by one or many external parties. For example, in order to process the material, the company needs machinery, which must be purchased from a supplier. Even a connection with a particular competitor is also to be considered as an important relationship, since it helps to clarify the company's market position as well as a direction for shaping new strategy. Managing relationships, therefore, is not a job of nowhere but a process to reach the company's final goal, and, on the other hand, "creating a positive image" (Edexcel, 2004, p8) towards publics.

If the definition above focus on the role of marketing in relating to the world outside the organisation, these definition makes clear the role of marketing in satisfying customer's need and want.

Marketing is concerned with meeting business objectives by providing customer satisfaction.(Edexcel, 2004, p8)

Obviously, in such a complicated market as we can see, the company has no choice other than offering customers what they want. But this is not enough as there are so many competitors out there who clearly understand the market demand. Thus, "customer satisfaction" became the key for success. It is somehow to be considered as a mission for any marketers: find out what customers want, and provide them not only what they want but also "added value" to achieve their satisfaction. Other words, on the perspective raising by this definition, it is important to turn customers satisfactions into the company's competitive advantages.

However, there is no question that whatever the company do, the final goal is just profit, so it is not only about satisfying customer , according to CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing)'s definition:

"Marketing is the management process that identifies, anticipates and satisfies customers requirements efficiently and profitably".

The points here are efficiency and profitability. It is not contrasting with the previous definition but adding how the company could satisfy their customers. Sometimes, the resources of the company could not support for a totally comprehensive marketing solution, it is time to think about a long-term objectives and to choose what solution is the most suitable.

Another perspective that marketing is concerned is about marketing process:

Marketing is a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering, and exchanging products of value with others. (Kotler, 2003)

Or:

Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organisational goals. (American Marketing Association(AMA)(Edexcel, 2004, p8))

This definition emphasizes the wide scope of marketing, looks not only at identifying customer need, but also satisfying them (short-time) and forecasting them in the future (long-term retention). Some research methods must be used to identify customer's need for firms to produce and deliver to the market and predict customer's demands in the future to have plan to satisfy them as soon as possible. The definition provided by the AMA expands on the definition provided by CIM and explains how to satisfy not only the customers but also the companies, their partners as well as the whole society (Edexcel, 2004) by combining a range of activities. In short, if the other two types of definitions having been gone through are more into strategic point of view, the approach of these two definitions are about managing different steps within a marketing process effectively and efficiently to reach certain goals and objectives, which simply is the implementation.

Figure 2: Comparing different marketing definition (Learnmarketiing.net, 2009)

In short, marketing is all about communication in which relationships, marketing processes and organizational objectives being put together in a very effective way. Each marketing definition provides a different perspective that worth considering along the continuous change in the market. Thus, combining all these perspective will give marketers and the company a whole picture of what marketing is all about.

.2. Main characteristics of a marketing-oriented organisation.

A marketing orientated organization is one that focuses on the needs and the wants of customers. It also clarifies the importance of customers to help the company make the right decisions. In order to find out the customers need, the organization always has to conduct the marketing research. If this process is done correctly, the company will know what they have to produce to sell instead of selling what they produce. Moreover, the market research provides the company with a sustainable competitive advantage.

A marketing orientated organization typically shows 4 main characteristics:

First of all, a marketing orientated organization always applies the marketing concept. Before making business decisions, marketing orientated organizations need to base on the wants or the needs of customer. Therefore, they can have the information to create the products with high value to satisfy their customers needs while still making profit.

Secondly, nowadays, a good marketing orientated organization is an organization which has a structure that is shown in figure 3:

Figure 3: Structure of a marketing oriented organization.

This kind of structure plays an important role in the communication between the members in an organization. With this structure, the top management is easy to get the information from all members in the organization such as the ideas, the attitude and the feed back from all members. They also can get the feedback and the suggestion about their products from the customers. Therefore, the top management can know clearly how the organization is operating, how the customers think about their product and so on.

Thirdly, the strategy is an important part that cannot be missing in a marketing organization. To be a well-operated organization, the strategy of a marketing orientated organization should be flexible. This flexibility is represented in the strategic planning, the implementation and the control process of an organization. For example: when organization identifies their mistake, with a flexible strategy, they can change their plan in a better way to fix the mistake. With a flexible strategy, the organization is easy to adapt with new business environment. They can change the business plan, the product plan, and the implementation plan in the best way which is suitable with the new business environment.

Finally, before making any decisions, a marketing orientated organization not only focuses on the customers needs, it also considers the stakeholders' expectation.

In order to understand more about a marketing oriented company, it is better to look at its advantages and disadvantages.

As putting customers in the center, research and development activities to updating new information and trends. At this time when the Vietnamese market is matured, if MPPL want to get success in this market, they need to have a good marketing orientation. There are a lot of dairy and milky brands in the Vietnamese market now. To become the winner in the competition with other brands, MPPL should know clearly about the Vietnamese market. As having known and understood the customers, the company will be able to build a good communication between them and their new customers. The most importance thing to get success in this market is that the producers need to focus on a long-term relationship with high customer satisfaction because customer is people who will judge if the company is doing well.
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Although doing research is very expensive and time consuming but if MPPL can do this, they will have a lot of valuable information. The company also needs to be aware of the "me-too" effect, when the competitors introduces the same product as ours without R & D activities. On the other hand, there are a group of trendy customers who always follow the trend of consuming in the market. Their response can lead to bias data collection. And the last thing, market is changing every hour, so it requires highly concentration and adaptability.

Knowing what the ...

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