Business Planning: Marketing, General Management and Operations Marketing is bes

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Business Planning: Marketing, General Management and Operations

Marketing is best presented through the Marketing Mix. The Marketing Mix is also called The 4-Ps of Marketing. The 4-Ps are product, price, place and promotion. Each “P” is identified separately, but they work together to promote the right product in the right place and at the right price.

Product

There is significant overlap in the product and concept. Where the concept focused on the big picture of your product and services, in the product section we will focus on more of the specifics.

Once you have the concept in mind, you should now think about the following:

1.      Is there a single product or does it have many separate categories? An example would be for a clothing store which sells men’s, women’s, and children’s clothes.

2.      Who will be supplying this product? Am I manufacturing the product from scratch, or am I buying from a supplier?

3.      If manufacturing the product, who is doing the engineering, beta testing, etc.? (You should have a separate section of your plan just for the manufacturing that answers these questions as well as covers your overall production facility, production lines, including plant and equipment, quality assurance etc.).

4.      If buying from a supplier, identify who these suppliers are, what the lead time is for orders, what the shipping cost is, etc.

5.      How will my office or store be presented to customers? Will it be a physical location or virtual space (web presence) or both?

6.      What will my sign look like? Will I have a logo? Who will be designing the logo and preparing the signs?

7.      What colors will I be using? Are these appropriate for my target audience?

8.      How will I present my product in an appealing way? (Consider everything from shelving to label and signs at this point.)

9.      Will there be music playing? If so, by what medium and what will be the cost on that?

10.     From the time the customers come to your store (or website), what will be the total experience? Consider everything from the welcome to the checkout process.

These are just a few of the things you need to consider regarding your product. Each product or product line is different and will need great consideration to ensure you are maximizing your potential success and profitability.

If your product is something others already sell, do some research by going to a competitor’s site or store and purchase something. Find out what they are doing right and wrong. How will you differentiate your product?

After considering all these questions and many more, revisit your product and make any changes. The time to change is in the planning process, not once your product is on the shelves.

Price

Pricing can be a very complex issue for most people. Pricing is one of the

most important decisions you will make as a new business owner. It needs to be taken seriously as will affect your business at every level. So, how do you price your product? Many times, pricing will be driven by your competition. You must

be careful, however, that you do not allow your competitions improper pricing make you unprofitable as well. You must take into account many variables, only one of which is competition. Other variables are your industry norms, information from your local business association, your fixed cost and your cost of materials and labor, just to name a few.

You need to determine your cost of labor and materials to make your product.

Once you are happy with the price, compare it to your competitors. Are you competitive? If your prices are too high, can you make this work? If your prices are too low, should you increase the cost, or are you trying to be the price leader to attract customers?

Place

Placement of your product or service is undoubtedly the most difficult part of the marketing plan for most businesses. You may have a great product with a great price, but you need to remember that stores are inundated with request to sell new products.

If selling through a retailer (in other words, someone else is selling the product you are producing), you need to consider the following:

1.      What stores or other outlets will be selling your product(s)?

2.      Have they agreed to sell your product? Do you have a contract or some other agreement?

3.      How will you distribute this product (delivery, shipping, etc.)?

4.      Will you need to pay a fee to put your product on the shelves?

5.      What will you be responsible for as far as shelving, displays, advertising/presentation, or anything else that could increase your overall cost?

6.      Are you responsible for promotions such as buy one get one or other promotional activities?

7.      Is your production capacity able to meet the estimated needs

If you are going to sell your product directly to the consumer in a retail style space, you should consider the following:

1.      How much space will you need for retail space and for storage?

2.      What system/software, etc. will you be using for cash registers?

3.      What will you need for displays (shelves, hangers, etc.)?

4.      How will you make the interior attractive and best display your products?

5.      How will you be drawing customers in? Signs, banners, etc.?

6.      How will you minimize theft/loss?

7.      What will be your initial and ongoing inventory needs?

If you are going to sell product via the web, the following should be considered:

1.      Who will build and host your site?

2.      How will you distribute/ship product?

3.      How much will shipping costs be?

4.      How will you attract people to your site?

5.      How much inventory will you need to have on hand at any given moment?

Regardless of the way you will be selling your product, you need to give significant consideration in making these more detailed decisions, as your success will depend largely on the decision you make early on in the process.

Promotion

There are myriad ways to promote your business. They may include advertising in your local newspaper to being on a lecture circuit or advertising in trade publications. Individual businesses need individualized promotional activities. If you are a mine equipment manufacturer, advertising in a large city’s newspaper is not likely your best avenue. However, for a local pet shop, it may be just the ticket. As stated earlier, this varies widely from business to business.

General Management and Operations

Management Theory:

- Contingency Theory

As the word Contingency indicates, this theory is based on the principle that managers will make decisions according to the situation they are dealing with at the time. This approach is commonly used in cultures, like the United States, that have high levels of independence. This approach leaves managers to determine the best approach for their particular group and is often appropriate for smaller organizations and some larger ones as well.

- Systems Theory

A Systems Theory approach to management is a much more regimented style of management and is often used in more autocratic organizations and cultures. Many large organizations use this style or management as it allows uniformity across many departments and/or divisions. This approach may be used for smaller organizations but may seem heavy-handed to employees who are used to a more casual, familial environment.

- Chaos Theory

Chaos Theory recognizes that organizations are ever-changing as they grow and face new opportunities and challenges. This theory works well with other theories and approaches as your organization evolves.

- Theory X and Theory Y

Theory X and Theory Y assumes that workers fall into one of two categories: either they are naturally lazy and lack ambition, or they are naturally driven and will take responsibility. In Theory X, workers are not encouraged to take any role or responsibility in management or leadership; instead, they are given structured assignments that are closely supervised. In Theory Y, workers are encouraged to participate in decisions and are more autonomous in work schedules, workloads, etc.

- Scientific Management Theory

Developed by Frederick Taylor around the turn of the 20th century, the Scientific Management Theory espoused measurement of all organizational tasks. Everything that could be standardized was, and workers were treated similar to school children as they received either reward or punishment for their activities. This was typically used (and sometimes still is) in assembly line or other manufacturing facilities.

- Bureaucratic Management Theory

In the 1930s and 1940s, Max Weber expanded on the scientific approach, adding hierarchies and strict lines of authority and control. Today we call this the Bureaucratic Management Theory. Weber espoused the belief in standard operation procedures throughout and organization.

Activities of managers:

Organization and Departmental Objectives

A much less stressful, but equally important role of the manager is to set organizational and departmental objectives. In order for employees to all be marching in the same direction, you, as a leader, must determine objectives that are understandable and achievable for the organization, departments, and individual employees. It is important that you involve all managers when setting your organization objectives. If your managers have “buy-in” to your objectives, they will most likely then become everyone’s objectives throughout the company, and they are more likely to succeed. Furthermore, if your managers are involved during

this process, they can assist you in heading off potential problem areas or give you a “check” if you are being too aggressive. However, it is also important to lead your managers in a balanced way that allows for feedback but does not deter you from achieving your ultimate goals.

Planning

Once objectives have been established, the planning process can begin. Essentially, the planning process takes the established objectives and puts into place a plan of action to achieve those goals. Planning is a more exhaustive and detailed process than the setting of objectives and may include such details as human resource requirements, budgeting, processes, and equipment needs, just to name a few.

According to the complexity of the plan, software may be needed to forecast and track the process over time. Many industries have specific software to assist in this process, but there are many programs already developed and readily available on the open market.

Directing

A large amount of your time as a manager will be spent directing subordinates in daily activities. This time can be mitigated by delegating some activities to your managers/supervisors, but ultimately you will be tasked with staff direction, either firstly or indirectly. Many days a manager may feel like a firefighter, putting out little fires all day long. Other days may be spent planning or talking to staff to ensure morale is high, but each day will be different, requiring agility and flexibility in your schedule.

Controlling

The old adage, “you can’t manage what you can’t measure,” is important to remember. It is impossible to determine how a particular objective is being met if there is no plan. Furthermore, if you cannot objectively measure the progress of a plan, how will you determine success and failure on a daily basis?

Reflection and Adjustment

It is important that you, as a manager, take time to reflect on your decisions and how your company is performing. It is easy to get caught up in the daily whirlwind of activities, leaving you exhausted at the end of each day with hardly a minute just to think. Take time, each day, to reflect on your work. Even if it is only a few minutes, write down your thoughts, how you can do better, and what your tasks are before the end of each day. As you come to work each morning, you can then look at your list and plan your day accordingly, being better prepared for whatever may come your way. Another way you should reflect is either as a group (all managers) or as an organization. Allowing employees to vent frustration is a great way for you t keep your hand on the pulse of your operation. It is also a great opportunity for you and others to assist one another in problem solving.

Using the techniques from lecture notes develop plan for Marketing, General Management and Operations for the business concept that you have chosen earlier.answered this Was this answer helpful? 1 0 513 answers Business planning must be important for every business.To implement the plan there should be the concept in which we believe the most which gives more success.There should be clear mission,vission and a clear goal regarding the concept.I had planned the concept of business from a company who sells the shoes and appraisals. There would be many shoes and appraisals shops in our locality.Local shops are having the low quality and if we spend money also they doesnot give the assurance for the product so that very small amount of people get attracted and engender the emotion of very intended groups.But i picked up an products of an branded company which give more advantages to the buyer if they spent money on the products also.They feel comfortable on using their company products and sometimes branded stores offer coupons which will be benefited during their purchase of the products.This may engender the emotion because they feel surprised of the cupons and the mode of recieving the sutomers. Who are trying to attract? Sports people,some people will goes to workout every day,casual wear appraisals for the employees which give more dignity if they wears will be attracted by those products.They give additional advantages to the customers. What feelings are you tempting to endenger? Clothing should be availble in all the designs of the latest trends,Shoes should be feel comfortable by the sutomers,Interior which made in the showroom should be more attractive so that customer will have positive impact on the store.Feedback most be taken from the customers who visited the store because we can accomodate according to their wish.By providing the products according to their wish makes them feel and tempt them to buy the products.In all sizes and colours clothings should be provided by that young sters can be attracted very easily.I recruit the sales people who are in pleasing expression that who was smiley to reciev the customers. Is there market need for this emotion? There should be the market need because our store was intended for the customer need and provide service according to the wish.For some of the business there should not be need of market emotion because it doesnot sense for the growth of business. How will you be different from others? While planning itself it was important to have an idea about that our business should be different from others.We should provide the products in the trendy manner so that people think that it was different from other appraisal stores. How long will this oppurtunity last? shoes and appraisals doesnot lost their identity in anytime.By introducing the trendy products name and fame will be last for the long time.Customers should trust our product that it gives more benefits by this reason our product will be lasts long time. Comment

Explanation / Answer

Answer -

Business Planning : Marketing , General Management and Operations

The article mentioned in the question explain the above topics in detail with latest theories and approaches being adapted in the industries for the business planning : marketing, general management and operations. Business planning is mainly based on the marketing , general management and managing the oerations. These are the three key pillars on looking from a bird's view.

Marketing is itself a major activity for any kind of business start. This is the first step for communicating with the market ie.e people/ consumers/customers. The marketing is based on four startegies like Product, price, place and promotions. These four important pillars are the baisis of marketing which helps in achieving business objective.

Management Theory - These are key tool for managmenet approach in the organization. This is how we want all the employees to follow the rules and regulations in the organization. So al the theories like contingency theory, system theory, chaos theory, X & Y theories, Scieitific theory etc. these all are helpful in developing the way of doing business in the organization.

The organization mainly is around developing the business objective and goal. These are critical elements as these sets he overall direction and energy utilization of the company and employees. These brings the future of the organization. These will be then followed with planning for execution of these objectives. Then later requires for directing the employees and controlling the processes and output so tha we can achieve the desired results. This is general management in an organization.

The exmaple of shoes shop explain the marketng apparoach being adapted. It explains how they designed for the product, its price, location , and the basic promotional activities in the target market. This general management approach was with respect to the market requirement. Based on market requiremnet the alignment of management theroy is worked out. Then later it explain how the small small objectives are formed and their results are achieved in order to achieve the business goal.   

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