Target market for MM’s new product

at
Categories
Tags

 

Michelle has asked you to send her a memo that explains the target market for MM’s new product. Because a global market is under consideration, she wants you and Elena to meet for an in-depth discussion of the different characteristics of your target market before sending her the information.

Elena meets you for coffee the next morning to explain her reasons for advocating the global market. As you finish your discussion, Elena stops and says,

“We’ve discussed a lot of different market segments to target with the new product, but the choice comes back to you,” says Elena. “What’s your final decision on the target market that we should focus on? Are you going to propose that we try to market this product globally?
You sigh, knowing this is a key decision in your marketing strategy. “I appreciate our discussion today. I’m going to have to do some more research to determine the exact market and if we should go global or not.”
You know Michelle is expecting a detailed description of your targeted market segment including justification for selecting the market. You also need to remember to include your recommendation for or against marketing globally.

What are the demographic characteristics of your target market and why are they important?
Where is your target market located geographically and why is that important?
What psychographic characteristics define your target market? How do these impact your marketing strategy?
What behavioral characteristics are shared by your target market? Why are these important?

Sample Solution

M&M’s has built a market share that has yet to be matched by the company’s closest competitors in the more than 60 years it has been in business. In 2004, the firm set a new record by selling $201 million in candy in the United States alone, propelling it to the top of the country’s boxed and bagged chocolate industry (Wax, 2010). Many elements have contributed to M&M’s popularity, including eye-catching and distinctive ads and promotions, effective consumer participation and feedback, extensive marketing methods, inexpensive pricing, and a wide range of customizable product options.

Teamwork plays an essential role within both Fiedler’s Contingency Theory and Chelladurai’s Multi-dimensional model particularly regarding leader-member relations, if the group are familiar and trusting of the leader policy implementation becomes much simpler. Similarly to leadership, understanding and adapting to the situation is key to a leader being able to implement policies that ensure a group work as a team. Teamwork is a product of good leadership, and is again the responsibility of the leader to ensure the group are working successfully together. Highly functioning teams are essential within organisations to increase productivity and member satisfaction, by utilising the talents of all group members effectively within the constraints of the task, personal relationships and the group goals (Pettinger, 2007). Figure 2: Tuckman’s Model of Group Development (Agile Scrum Guide, 2019) Tuckman in his Model of Group Development provides easily identifiable stages that a groups performance can be measured against, making it useful for monitoring performance, Figure 2 shows Tuckman’s model. Ranking group performance against this scale can provide leaders with a clear understanding of how the group are functioning, allowing them to implement policies to change this if performance is unsatisfactory (Pettinger, 2007). Within organisations, the theory can be loosely applied to creating teams by grouping familiar individuals with the aim that they will reach the norming and performing stage of the model quicker. For short and simple tasks this is an extremely effective way of organising groups, due to the increased short term productivity. However there are significant issues with grouping individuals in this manner, particularly when tasks become more complex, and ultimately the model should mainly be used for monitoring the progress of groups (Pettinger, 2007). Figure 3: Belbin’s Team Roles (PrePearl Training Development, 2019) A more functional approach of grouping individuals is to utilise Belbin’s Team Theory (Belbin, 2017). Belbin identifies 9 key roles that must be fulfilled within a group to ensure success, the role

This question has been answered.

Get Answer