INTRODUCTION:
Marketing intelligence system and branding are the two key tools for today's corporate world to maximise its approach to customers and stakeholders to provide the best of benefits to them and as well as to the corporation itself, in this assignment an in-depth study has been done to analyse the effect of marketing intelligence system and branding for Intel corporation.
DEFINATION OF E-CORPORATION:
Since the new kind of organisations are being spawned by information technology’s rapid reshaping of global business don’t yet have a name, fortune’s editors have decided to give them one-“E-corporation” as the name suggests, real e-corporation isn’t just using the internet to alter its approach to market and customers, its combining computers, the web, and the massively complex programs known as enterprise software to change everything about how it operates. (Hammel & Sampler, 1998)
MARKETING INTELEGENCE SYSTEM:
Marketing intelligence system is one that systematically gathers and processes critical business information, transforming it into actionable management intelligence for marketing decisions. (http:/www.skyrme.com/insights/9mkis.htm)
ROLE OF INTELEGENCE GENERATION IN MARKETING STRATIGY AND MANAGEMENT:
The marketing intelligence system supplies marketing executives with everyday information about the development in the external marketing environment. Intelligence can be obtained from employees, customer, suppliers and resellers or by monitoring published reports, conferences, advertisements, competitors actions and other activities in the environment.therefore it is a set of procedures and sources used by managers to obtain their every day information about pertinent developments in the marketing environment. (Kotler, 1994)
Thus helping marketing managers to take right steps at right time so that they are able to keep up with the market demands and are able to increase the companies sale.thus marketing intelligence system is a critical block in marketing strategy as it supplies relevant information to marketing information’s to marketing managers about the external marketing environment, for example-MIS supplies information about the customers behaviour about the product i.e. Whether they are happy or unhappy with the product, this information is extremely as it influences sale of the product. Therefore marketing strategy can be changed in order to keep the customers happy which intern will boost the sale. MIS also supplies critical information about the competitors which is extremely important for Intel or(any corporation) to stay one step ahead of its competitors as MIS supplies in-depth information about competitors behaviour which is an integral part of marketing strategy development.
INFORMATION ANALYSIS FOR STATIGY DEVELOPMENT:
Information analysis is often said to be backward looking as it basically deals with the problems of past, as what happened in the past which effected the market, where as its more important for the marketing managers to look forward into the future to generate new ideas to boost market economy. But an argument can be put forward as the knowledge and learning’s form the past experience can help in development of new ideas in a way so that to avoid similar mistakes by the present marketing managers.
Nevertheless information analysis is an important part in making marketing strategies.
Intel as an e-corporation can influence and respond to environmental changes as rapidly as possible by managing the interaction between company capability, customers and competitors.
Company capability refers towards the analysis of the companies own internal records, such as their financial records, sales records etc. financial records gives an clear view of the corporations financial strengths, i.e. how strong the corporations financial background is. Analysis of financial records is very important because only after being sure about the financial position of the firm (Intel) decision can be made about the marketing strategy because implementation of marketing decision needs to be financed by the firm. For example if the company is not doing well financially then a low budget marketing strategy can be developed to boost the firms economic strength. Thus Intel may shift to a “low profile approach”- cutting back severely on all further allocation of capital and deliberately milking the business for short run profit. Analysis of sales records also provides valuable information for strategy development. Sales records gives an in-depth idea about how well the company is selling its products and services in the market. For example during 1985-86 Intel suffered a major set back as sales plunged due to economic recession in USA.Intel had to abandon its DRAM (large scale integration dynamic random access memory) and struggled to maintain with its EPROM’s (electronically programmable read only memory) information of sales are obtained by sales reporting system, which is a combination of various processes. E.g.: automatic recording system-it is an electronically connected recording system where every single time when a product is scanned in a supermarket for sale, the data is automatically sent to the companies central data base and is recorded as a sale, this process of sales reporting is a costly process and can only be operated by big companies like coke etc. Other process of sales reporting includes buying of data from private data recording companies for example AC NEILSON. Therefore new marketing strategies can be made in relation with the data available,
Customers are the lifeline for a company analysing and studying customer behaviour helps in strategic decision making. Customer behaviour can be studied in various easy such as studying their buying habit-i.e. What kind of products they prefer, customer survey-i.e. Asking questions to customer about the liking and disliking, etc. these studies supplies very relevant data’s like customer satisfaction data, this data is collected by recording the number of returned good by the customer, the return is made with reason as it help managers to eliminate further dissatisfaction for the customer.customer service data is also an important source of information as it gives the number of actual and potential customers who enquire about a particular product or service so that steps can be taken by the management to improve those products or services.therefore keeping customers happy in spite of having many competitor in the market. For e.g.: to boost sale and hold a strong place in the market Intel started advertising directly to the consumer of home pc rather than just advertising only to the pc makers.
Competitors getting exact information about competitor activities is an key element in strategy development, “for Mitsui corporation Motto said – ‘information is the life blood of company’ (kotler, Armstrong, Saunders, Wong, 2001) if a Intel can know what it competitors are doing then it can always try to stay one step ahead of its competitors. The methods used to gather information about competitors range from ridiculous to illegal.” In its Bangkok office one European organisation has a huge poster outside its lavatory saying: ‘ wash and hush up! You never know who is listening! Keep our secrets a secret’”(kotler, Armstrong, Saunders, Wong, 2001) gaining competitive information is so important for firms to survive that it some times hire investigation group to spy on the competitor company, or even employee snoopier to look into peoples rubbish to find what they are using. Information can also gathered from published materials and public documents like business magazines and Arial photos taken by geological survey of by environmental protection agencies which are public documents and are available for a nominal fee.other than these internet search engines are also very important in knowing what other competitors are doing, information can also be obtained by observing competitors or by analysing products- companies (Intel) can do this by buying their competitors products or by improving upon their best features.(kotler, Armstrong, Saunders, Wong, 2001) getting information from the people who do business with the competitors- key customers can keep the company informed about competitors and their products, for example- Gillette told a large account the date on which it planed to begin the selling its new good news disposable razors, the distributor promptly called Bic and told it about the impending product launch. As a result Bic put on crash course programme was able to start selling its razors shortly after Gillette did.
Intelligence can also be gathered by infiltrating customers, business operations: Intel can provide their engineers free of charge to customers. The close, co-operative relationship that the engineers cultivate with the customers’ design staff often enables them to learn what new products competitors are pitching. Getting information from recruits of competitor employees Intel can obtain intelligence through job interviews or through conversation with competitor’s employees. (Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders, Wong, 2001) therefore with the help of gathering information about the competitors Intel can take steps to mould its strategy so that it can always stay one step ahead of its competitors.therefore by managing the interactions between company capability, customers, and competitors Intel can develop new strategies to influence and respond to the changing environment. By developing new products and services to attract customers or by developing new ideas in response to customers needs, for e.g.: price changes, discounts, free gifts, etc. Intel can also influence the market by bringing in new innovative products by synchronising itself with the market tastes.[Real life example- I used to work in a garment company called pantaloon in India as a summer job for three months, and in may 2000 that company suddenly did something out of the blue, they launched an entirely new range of summer clothes which was lighter and comfortable for summer wear, and it took the market by storm and it actually created a fashion for that summer. As I was working with that company at that time we were not shocked by sudden launch of that new line of products as because our company was really doing a good job by employing people to survey customer preference and for gathering of information about the competitor companies and their future plans, and they found that another garment manufacturer was planning to launch a new summer line during the late summer or in monsoon season. This was actually the reason that pantaloon launched its new line in May.
DEFINING CUSTOMER VALUE:
The consumer’s assessment of the products overall capacity to satisfy his or her needs.consumers will buy from the firm that they believe offers the heights customer deliverable value which is the difference between total customer value and total customer cost.
Customer delivered value:Total customer value (product, services, personnel & imagevalue) Minus(-) total customer cost (monetary, time, energy & psychic costs) Equals(=) customer delivered value (profit to the consumer)
Total customer value-the total of the entire product services personnel and image values that a buyer receives from a marketing offer.
Total customer cost-the total of all the monetary, time, energy, and psychic costs. Associated with a marketing offer.
(Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders, Wong, 2001)
To ensure Intel continues to opposition deliverable value to its consumer and stakeholders alike it should try to keep both the customers and stakeholders happy as much as possible. To understand this first we need to identify the stake holders – an organisations mission and objective needs to be developed bearing in mind two sets of interests: the interest of those who will be interested in the out come for example shareholders, customers, government, suppliers and other interested parties.and the interest of those who will have to carry them out for example the managers and employees.etc.
Together these groups forms the stakeholders.the individuals and groups who have an interest in the organisation and may wish to influence its mission and objectives,
Given this situation it is perhaps not surprising that the organisations mission is not formulated overnight. It can take months of debate and consultation within the organisation itself. Hence the implications of the organisations mission is clearly set out for the directors, managers and the employees, they may not accept the mission with out questions there may be objections as it is realised, for example individuals will have to work harder or under take new task or face the prospect of leaving the company. The individual or group affected may want to debate the matter further this concept of stakeholding excepts beyond those working in the organisation, like share holders in a public company, bank etc, who have loaned the organisation money. Government concerned about investment, and trade may also have legitimate interest in stakeholdings in the company.customers and suppliers will also have an interest in the company, these interest may be informal as governments interest in a private company, or formal such as through a share holding in a company, all stakeholder can be expected to be interested in possible wish to influence the future direction of the organisation.therefore organisation needs to take stakeholders n to account when formulating its mission and objectives. If it doesn’t then they may object and cause real problem for the organistion.for example major shareholders may sell their shares and key employees may leave.diffuclty rises when the interest of individual stakeholders or a group of stakeholders in conflict.therefore organisation (Intel) need to resolve which stake holders have priority: stakeholders power needs to be analysed.stakeholders can have both positive and negative effect on Intel’s mission and objective.many organisation will welcome the contribution and discussion with those who have power. Some of the major groups of stakeholders are: employees, shareholders, managers, suppliers, banking institution, government etc.the analysis of their relative power may vary from country to country. In addition there is likely to be variation by industry. The voloum car industry may well have a different profile from a more fragmented industry, such as the textile garment industry with its smaller companies and family shareholdings.
However welcome contribution may be to the development process, the fact remains that there are likely to have conflicts of interest. That stakeholder with most power needs to be considered carefully.
A stakeholder power analysis can be broken down into five discreet steps:
1) Identify the major stakeholders.
2) Establish their interest and claims on the organisation, especially as new strategy initiatives are developed.
3) Determine the degree of power that each group holds through its ability to influence or force changes as new strategy is developed.
4) Develop mission, objectives and strategy development, possibly prioritising to avoid power clashes.
5) Consider how to divert trouble before it starts, possible by negotiation.
(Lynch, 1997)
Customers are also very important for an organisation, it is important for Intel to keep Intel happy. Today’s customer has better access to information, they are aware of other quality indicator in addition to price, as the customer becomes more aware of varieties and means of satisfying personnel needs. Customers tends to look for products and services which will exactly match his or her choice and dreams.and to catch on this different companies have different variety products to satisfy the customer by alternative products, and price ranges, as customers are the main targets for companies, they compete with each other to stay in the market and to pull customers, therefore these competition leads to price fall, and resurgence of emphasise on building brand equity, that is communicating the value of a brand in the context of quality, price and relevance, the companies strives to build on value and give customer more choices to access their goods or services through different and more varied modes of communications like telephone, catalogue , internet shops etc. i.e. with the help of telephone ordering system available to customers they can order any product they like sitting at the comfort of their home, distributing catalogues also helps customers to choose the right product and gives them more detailed information about the products, selling through the internet can also help customers to choose products and order them more conveniently , as there are too many companies and too many choices for the consumers Intel needs to innovate new products and services targeting directly the customers preference, in order to keep customers happy and deliver them exactly what they want , this strategy of innovation can help Intel in long run, other than innovation it should be beneficial for Intel to have astringent quality control to ensure the customer gets the full value of his or her money.and having been able to deliver quality products to customer will also help Intel to stay in number one position by winning customer’s trust. But there are other chip a manufacturer and they are also striving to pull customers. Therefore it’s important for Intel to have rapid response to the changing market enviornmnt. Intel can do market survey or study changing customer preference and behaviour to keep up with time, so that Intel can response to ever changing customer preference as soon as possible. Intel can also look forward into the future of personalisation of products and services to suit individual requirements; therefore Intel can customise its products in to segments to suit different group of customers. For example some customer may want lower price lower performance PC that will suit his r her requirements where as others may want a high performance higher price PC. Even after all these it is important for Intel to nurture the relationship between itself and the customers by giving them a touch of closeness, it can be done by being easily accessible to the customers by opening new outlets into different places.
As it is important for Intel to ensure that it continues to proposition deliverable to its customers and stakeholders alike, Intel can achieve this by keeping customers happy as because happy customers will increase sale and with increase in sale will increase profit for Intel which will inturn help to keep the shareholders happy with increase in dividends and employees happy with increase in salary.
BRANDING:
A brand is a name, a term, a symbol or any unique element of a product that identifies one firms products and sets them apart from other producers, Brand includes both tangible and intangible offered by a firm, it includes the elements supporting the physical product, for example package, warranty, colours, as well as its emotional components such as brand loyalty, self-esteem, security, convenience etc.
Benefits of branding to Intel’s key stakeholders:
Intel’s stakeholders and their expectations
Stakeholders and their expectations
Owners :financial return(primary)
Employees:pay (primary), work satisfaction (secondary)
Customers:supply of goods & services(primary),quality (secondary)
Creditores:creditor worthiness (primary),payment on time (secondary)
Suppliers:payment (primary),long term relationship (secondary)
Community:safety & security (primary),contribution (secondary)
Government:compliance (primary),improved(secondary).
The above chart gives an idea about the stakeholders of Intel and their expectations from Intel.
EXPLAINING THE BENEFITS OF
BRANDING TO INTEL’S KEY STAKEOLDERS:
Consumers:
rand enables consumers to identify products or services which promises specific benefits therefore branding helps consumers to gain confidence in that product.
Ø Brand also stands out from commodities because commodities lack identity; this gives consumers better choice of products that they want.
Ø Branding helps consumers to identify products, which satisfy their needs, and reduces the time required to purchase the product.
Ø Brands also helps consumers to evaluate the quality of a product
Ø Brands that symbolise status may offer psychological rewards to the consumer.
suppliers:
Ø Brand loyalty allows suppliers to charge a price premium
Employees:
as the primary expectation of employees is to have a better pay scale, branding of products will also help in rising the pay scale of employees as the branding helps to win customer choice it helps it will help to increase to the sale of Intel’s products and services which inturn will yield more profit and as Intel makes more profit it will help in rising pay scale and other financial benefits for its employees, as well as providing the psychological effect of job satisfaction to the employees.
Shareholders:
as the primary expectation of shareholders is to have high dividend, branding of products will also help in rising the dividend shareholders, as the branding helps to win customer choice it helps it will help to increase to the sale of Intel’s products and services which inturn will yield more profit and as Intel makes more profit it will help in rising dividend and other financial benefits for its shareholders, as well as providing the psychological effect of satisfaction of buying shares of a profitable company
It is actually quite feasible and desirable for Intel corporation to use brand equity as a measure of success because branding of its products actually helped Intel to survive the competition from Cyrix, Nexgen, etc. as because in late 80’s Intel did not have any brand name all it was using was just numbers to indicate the generation of chips and numbers are not trademark able name, [“in march 1, 1991, district judge William ingram ruled that ‘386’ designation used by Intel for its microprocessor family was a generic description and therefore did not represent a tradmarkable name” (Keller, kevinlane, and Leslie kimerling, 1998)]
On Monday 20th 1992, Intel announced the new name of its fifth generation of microprocessor was pentium@ and with it Intel got a brand name Pentium, and with branding Intel was actually able to win over its competitors and was able to win customer satisfaction and preference.
CONCLUSION
Though Intel has taken in account the use of marketing intelligence system while making many of its marketing decision it needs to consider in putting more effort in using marketing intelligence system for marketing strategy making. Intel’s branding strategy has perfectly been able to pull the company out of its recession and has helped the company to survive to become a world leader of microprocessor manufacturer.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kotler P. (1994) Marketing Management, Prentice-Hall Inc.
Lynch R. (1997) Corporate Strategy, Financial times.
Kotler P, Armstrong G, Saunders J, Wong V, (2001) Principles Of Marketing, Pearson Education Limited.
Cranfield School Of Management (2000) Marketing Management A Relationship Marketing Perspective, Macmillan Press Ltd
Hammel G, Sampler J, The E-Corporation, more than just a web-based, it’s building a new industrial order.
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