Question

Strategy Memo In this simulation, you are assigned the role of Senior Vice President for Marketing at Enhanced Analytics, Inc., a provider of marketing and consulting services, with headquarters in Austin, Texas. In this role, you report directly to the CEO of the company and are responsible for decision-making and marketing strategy. You oversee a department with 25 employees at the company. The CEO of the company has informed you at the weekly executive meeting that Premier Drinks of Sofia, Bulgaria - a key client of Enhanced Analytics, Inc. - has reported a drop-in sales, despite an expensive and carefully managed marketing campaign produced by your department. The management of Premier Drinks reports increased competition in the soft drink market in Bulgaria. Two companies - one from Poland and one from Germany - have recently established operations in the country. You were already aware of the trends in the local competitive environment from the periodic reports received from your campaign manager in Bulgaria. You have also studied the marketing efforts of some of your client's competitors and continue to believe that your campaign, particularly the promotional and pricing strategy adopted, is superior. The managers of Premier Drinks suspect that their local competitors have made payments to some of the local officials in exchange for an opportunity to sell their products in local government buildings and at sporting events, many of which have been off-limits to Premier Drinks. This lack of access has put a dent in the sales figures of Premier Drinks, and the company is now seeking guidance from Enhanced Analytics as to how to proceed. The executive team of Enhanced Analytics, led by the CEO, will be meeting to review options, next week. In your own words, prepare a report for the company's executives, containing the following sections (do not worry about being right or wrong; simply offer your perspective on the company’s situation and your recommendation):

1. Situation analysis - an overview of the client's business and the competitive landscape in the soft drink industry in Bulgaria (if you are unable to locate country-specific data, you may research the Eastern European market or the European Union, as a whole)

2. Problem Identification - in one or two paragraphs, clearly identify the problem faced by your client

3. Decision Options - an outline of 4 specific courses of action / decisions that your client can make to solve the problem. The purpose of this section is to get a clear overview of the options available to management. Because the company has limited resources, management will have to pick the best option

4. Decision - a clear recommendation, outlining which one of the 4 options is the best

5. Justification - a clear, concise justification of your decision from #4 Include outside research to support your ideas and recommendation. There is no page limit to this assignment. The assignment will be considered well-done if it contains all the required sections, if it is clearly written and your thoughts and ideas are supported by specific data and research.

Answer 1

Answer : first let us analyze the case

Role – Senior Vice President for Marketing

Company -Enhanced Analytics, Inc. (marketing and consulting services)

headquarters - Austin, Texas.

Report – CEO

No. of employees in department -25

Key client - Premier Drinks of Sofia, Bulgaria

Issue – drop in sales

Reason- increase in competition two companies one from Germany and one from Poland

Report for the company’s executives for next week meeting to review options

As we analyze the above situation, and detail study of the market happenings in the soft drink market of Bulgaria, it is clear from enhanced analytics side that the campaign offered from my department, especially the promotional and pricing strategy is very good but the local opportunities which have been missed have been the reason for the drop of sales which can be addressed.

1. Situation analysis: according to the recent studies conducted by the reputed firms it is seen that Bulgaria’s soft drinks market has been growing at a good rate cause of the following reasons

· Consumers spending has increased

· Improved promotional activities

· Tourism industry doing well

· New flavors by companies

· Well packed drinks

· Busy lifestyles

· Outdoor culture on rise

2. Problem: though the promotional and pricing strategies adopted by the client are excellent, there have been decrease in sales, main reason being new entrants in the market who have paid the local officials to sell their products in local government buildings and at sporting events. It is seen both the new competitors are focusing more on local events and branding which need to be addressed.

3. Decision options

The 4 course of actions / decisions that client can make to solve this problem are

· Improve availability, visibility and product display: as we can see the decrease in sales is cause the competitors made their product available at the office premises and events. So, we have to make sure all the area distributors work towards making the product available at every store. Even small temporary outlets with product branding can be done during any events

· Branding: focus more on building image that can help in improving sales. Being in the market for more years than the new local competitors, it is an added advantage. we can do this by advertising, getting brand personality, event sponsorship etc

· Change in product and packaging: we can work on getting in a new refreshing flavors to attract customers, and even change in packaging design, making it more attractive can help in increasing sales.

· Promotion and pricing strategies like offers, discounts, free gifts, coupons, contests etc can be used to draw customer attention to increase sales.

4. Decision: I, as a senior vice president of market department recommend option 1 from the above 4 course of actions.

5. Justification: the reason why I choose this option works very well in the present scenario. We can tap the local market through this with limited investment and the preparation would hardly take much of time and effort but the results can be seen immediately, other three options are a bit time consuming, requires huge investment comparatively and works well for long term.