The three functional areas Operations, Marketing and Research and Development have to work together to achieve the above aim.
Market research is a process designed to link the business to customers through information they have collected. It is used to identify opportunities and make better decisions about products which have future market potential.
Cadbury Schweppes found that there was a gap in the market for a ‘chocolaty snack’ and this promoted them to think about developing a new bar to fill this gap.
The results of the market research where then passed onto R&D department to start work on creating a new product. More than 250 ingredients were tried and tested in various combinations before the recipe was finalised.
The marketing department then took over the role of ‘testing’ the market in one part of the country to gauge reaction to the new bar. They have to do this because approximately 85% of all new products launched into the grocery and allied trade sectors fail in their first year.
The marketing department can increase sales because if they are promoting a product some examples of this are competitions and sponsorship of Coronation Street.
Once tested the market research information and data was passed back to R&D to then adjust and finalise the final product before it was launched nationwide.
The marketing department where then involved in promoting the product.
The marketing department can increase sales because if they are promoting a product some examples of this are competitions and sponsorship of Coronation Street.
They need to tell operations so that they make more so then they have loads in stock to sell to supermarkets,
- They need to make sure there is enough of the product in stock.
B) Make sure they have enough of the ingredients in stock to make the products.
After all this they will then actually make the product so they will all have to tell operations what ingredients they need, what machinery and what orders they have to do.
Operations will then have to order enough ingredients to make the product. They also have to make sure they have planned production (employee and shift patterns) to make enough stocks and time scale in terms of delivery and the length of time for which the promotion is running. If they run out of supplies (the stock of ingredients) production will stop and it may result in Cadbury losing orders and letting down their customers. This will then affect their reputation and more likely their profits
They have to make sure operations have the right ingredients.
When marketing promote a particular range/product or a new one is launched they will need to inform Operations so that they have enough of that particular line in stock.
