Marketing Plan Project for Wal-Mart: Phase 4You are continuing to develop your marketing plan project for final delivery in Unit VII. In this portion of the project, you will be addressing the control

MBA 5841, Strategic Marketing 1 Cou rse Learning Outcomes for Unit VI Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to: 6. Classify concepts related to price and its impact on business strategies. 6.1 Describe how controls affect marketing plan performance and plan implem entation. 6.2 Describe the important roles other departments play in ensuring successful marketing plan implementation. 6.3 Organize the controls and marketing organization for a specific company’s marketing plan. Course/Unit Lear ning Outcomes Learning Activity 6.1 Unit VI Lesson Chapters 8 and 9 Unit VI Project 6.2 Unit VI Project 6.3 Unit VI Project Reading Assignment Chapter 8 : Creating Valuable Customers Chapter 9 : Bui lding and Managing Brand Equity Unit Lesson Brands are company assets just like the buildings and physical plant s owned by firm s. The value of a brand is dete rmined by its brand equity. Brand equity is a combination of five elements : brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality, brand associations, and other proprietary brand assets (Aaker & Moorman, 2018). Each one of the five brand equity elements listed below contribute s to building a strong brand. Perceived quality, brand awareness, and brand loyalty have been shown to be the most effective of these in maintaining a strong brand comp etitive presence (Aaker, 1992). Companies know that brand equity is important, but they struggle with how to quantify it within their current financial reporting methods. Without their products having brand equity, companies are susceptible to creating marketing strategies that can only focus on price and specifications. Products with strong brand equity enable companies to create marketing strategies that compete on their products ’ strengths and attributes other than price. UNIT VI STUDY GUIDE Brand Equity, Customer Perceived Value, and Their Effect on Competition and Pricing Brand e quity (Aaker & Moorman, 2018) MBA 5841, Strategic Marketing 2 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title Therefore, companies should build strong brands as a bulwark against the competitive forces and p rice erosion in the industries in which they choose to compete. In their attempts to effectively compete, firms are always considering how to respond to their competitors without damaging their brand equity. Brands enable their firms to maintain competitiv e postures beyond the short -term shareholder quarterly reporting pressures. Strong brands provide ongoing opportunities for reinvestment regardless of short -term stock market swings. Just as a company would not neglect to keep a vital asset like a manufact uring facility running in top shape, brands require the same care and treatment to conti nue providing the company above -standard returns. Price competition can be tamed with a strong brand. The strength of the brand enables an alternative to competing on p rice and specifications. Through the building of these assets, the company leadership can plan and manage strategically for maintaining a delicate balance while continually driving to maximize share value. Building strong brands can move a company away fro m competing on the pricing treadmill (Aaker, 1992) . Still, brand equity has been criticized by some for its alleged lack of managerial relevance ( Faircloth, Capella , & Alford, 2001). In a study done by Aaker (1992) , he poised a question among several hun dred business managers to find out what was the biggest asset that gave them a competitive advantage. Aaker (1992) found that three dimensions of brand equity were given out of the 10 provided by managers completing the survey. Perceived quality was the to p response , followed by brand awareness, but customer loyalty was at the bottom of the list . These business manager responses demonstrate the importance of brand equity being a part of a company's asset and strategy -building process (Aaker, 1992). Remembe r, competitive advantage means a firm can successfully do things cheaper, faster, or better than the competition. Sometimes , it can perform more than one or all three in its competitive advantage creation. Also, a sustainable competitive advantage cannot b e easily duplicated by the competition, nor does a sustainable competitive advantage last indefinitely. Competitors are always attempting to create their competitive advantages to blunt those of their competition. So, a sustainable competi tive advantage is hard to copy, and it is not permanent. Even though creating strategies that build or increase brand equity in a firm’s products is extremely important for sustained growth and competitiveness, it is not easily measured empirically . The success or failur e can be recognized in the company’s financial statements’ bottom line, but there is no guarantee that the investment in the brand will generate a desired return. W hat is known is that if no investment in the brand is maintained, it can quickly begin to fa lter in its performance and its ability to generate above -standard returns ( Faircloth et al. , 2001). The competitive marketplace is littered with brands that have not kept current with their target market needs and desires. Once -mighty brands (e.g., Sear s, Blockbuster, Barnes and Noble, WordStar, JC Penney, Compaq Computers, Oldsmobile, Pontiac ) that were once thought to be invincible are now shadows of their former selves , if they even exist at all. By not taking care to keep their brands current and rel evant, these firms lived off their past accomplishments and innovations rather than conscientiously building on those accomplishments to serve their customers better. By not ensuring that perceived quality, brand awareness, and brand loyalty were properly and consistently supported, these companies let their marketing leadersh ip positions fade, first slowly and then quickly. Some even faded into bankruptcy with the others’ futures remaining in doubt. Marketing managers are keenly aware of the value of a str ong brand equity. The five elements that make up brand equity can all be manipulated in the marketing mix to help the firm achieve the desired financial and brand results it has set. Look at some companies today that ha ve key associations with brands (e.g. , Walmart [price and value], Lexus [design and quality]). What do you think makes a company brand favorable for its customers? Brand equity is, in part, a result of consumer behavior ( Faircloth et al. , 2001). As such, the consumer plays a vital role in d etermining the strength of a brand. Since consumers are not a part of the company's payroll, they represent a large and important group necessary to the strength of the brand but are independent of the company. This is a challenging position companies find themselves in and must continue to create marketing strategies that include and engage this l arge, important, and uncontrollable population. More than ever, companies must use marketing research, competitive assessments, and other research strategies to s tay in touch with their customers. Interestingly enough, strong brands enable companies to resist competitive pricing pressures, at least in the short -term , even though customers might find lower prices and features elsewhere. MBA 5841, Strategic Marketing 3 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title If the value of brands are so important, then why do some brands lose their relevance? One of the goals of a firm’s marketing strategy is to make its competitors’ strategies and products irrelevant. Being irrelevant, according to Aaker (2010) , means that a firm ’s brand diminishes wi th loss of customers when their attention fades . This can happen gradually over time. An example of a market category that became redefined was video rental s. Block buster had a strong brand image and more store locations than its competitors. Its video ren tal prices were reasonable. In order for it to keep its video rental inventory of VHS tapes and DVDs available and efficiently move its customer rental base, Blockbuster followed the industry norm of levying late charges on overdue rentals. To keep custome r satisfaction levels consistently high and profit margins on track, charging and collecting late fees were an industry norm and felt to be necessary. Blockbuster’s customers benefitted from the many Blockbuster locations. Customers liked the well -stoc ked, available inventory of the latest and most popular releases. What they did not like was the idea of paying late fees on rentals they kept too long. Blockbuster and all other video rental stores tended to discount this level of customer discontent towa rd paying levied late fees. Seeing no other way to resolve and motivate customers to return rented videos on time, the late fee structure was viewed as the most effective means and best industry practice. It was not until streaming technology improved an d more customer broadband penetration became available that customers bega n their migration away from Blockbuster and video rentals. A new competitor, Netflix , emerged as the first mover and , eventually , the leader in the new video streaming competitive se ctor. At first, Blockbuster dismissed its new competitor because Netflix’s streaming service lacked the title selections compared to Blockbuster’s vast holdings. Then, suddenly, customers began leaving Blockbuster in droves, demonstrating their desire for the convenience, affordability, and no late fees from its streaming rival, Netflix. Almost overnight, the Blockbuster brand became irrelevant, synonymous with dated technology and an onerous policy of charging late fees. Blockbuster ’s new and rising compet itor, Netflix, became the new video rental source via its technologically superior streaming service. Eventually, as the Netflix streaming user base grew, more and more first -run programming was added. Today, Blockbuster, once a market leader with a seemi ngly invincible brand image, no longer exists. While it was at the peak of its strength, it failed to see how its brand was already, albeit slowly, on its path to irrelevancy due to subtle marketplace sector changes. In retrospect, the market had changed t o enable video rental customers to avoid the two trips to the video store for every video rental (pick and return) , thus countering the strength of Blockbuster ’s many convenient locations. Also, the dreaded late fees that were the worry of almost every vid eo renter now no longer existed. Netflix video streaming eliminated these two customer inconveniences and annoyances forever. As a result, t he irrelevant Blockbuster was then eliminated. References Aaker, D. A. (1992). Managing the most important asset : Brand equity. Planning Review , 20 (5), 56. Retrieved from https://search -proquest - com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/docview/194372622?accountid=33337 Aaker, D. A. (2010). Brand relevance: Making competitors irrelevant . Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Blockbuster (Pendousmat, 2008) MBA 5841, Strategic Marketing 4 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title Aaker , D. A., & Moorman, C. (2018). Strategic market management (11th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Faircloth, J. B., Capella, L. M., & Alford, B. L. (2001). The effect of brand attitude and brand image on brand equity. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice , 9(3), 61 –75. Retrieved from https://search - proquest -com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/docview/212202037?accountid=33337 Pendousmat , S . (2008). BlockbusterMoncton [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BlockbusterMoncton .JPG Suggested Reading In order to access the following resource, click the link below. Customer satisfaction, although a positive indicator of keeping customers, does not fully explain why customers defect. Customer objective and subjective knowledge about available alternatives have a more direct effect on customer defection than just satisfaction levels. Capraro, A. J., Broniarczyk, S., & S rivastava, R. K. (2003). Factors influencing the likelihood of customer defection: The role of consumer knowledge. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science , 31 (2), 164. Retrieved from https://search -proquest - com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/docview/224874245?accountid=33337 Learning Activities (Nong raded) Nongraded Learning Activities are provided to aid students in their course of study. You do not have to submit them. If you have questions, contact your instructor for further guidance and information. Chapter 8 Flash Cards The following interactive presentation on Chapter 8 will assist you in better understanding the lesson. Click here to access the Chapter 8 Flash Cards . (Click here to access a PDF version.) Chapter 8 “For Discussion” Questions Review the Chapter 8 “For Discussion” questions on page 158 in your textbook , and answer one to two questions. Submit your respon ses to your instructor for relevant feedback. Chapter 9 Knowledge Check Complete the Chapter 9 Knowledge Check to gain a better understanding of the lesson. Click here to access the Chapter 9 Knowledge Check.