Question

QUESTION THREE The Marketing Director of Airtel believes that they are the market leaders in the mobile phone industry. How would he justify this claim, from a competitive analysis perspective? 20 marks QUESTION FOUR Evaluate the role of segmentation for motor vehicles. Advise a motor vehicle company of your choice on its future marketing segmentation policy. 20 Marks QUESTION FIVE There is a growing trend among Zambian companies to employ the strategy of Product Mix. a) Analyze the key dimensions of Product mix. 8 Marks. 3 b) Identify a company in Zambia that has successfully used this concept by highlighting their product mix. 5 Marks. c) What are the key justification for using this strategy/concept? 7 Marks. Total = 20 marks QUESTION SIX There is a growing acceptance in the use of models in mainstream marketing planning. Although there are obvious limitations to all models used in a practical way, they form a good basis for planning. One of the most used being the Product life cycle (PLC) model. a. Briefly describe the concept behind the PLC model. 10 Marks. b. Identify a situation in real business environment where this concept/model can be used. 5 Marks c. What would be the advantages and limitations of this model? 5 Marks. Total = 20 marks

Answer 1

QUESTION THREE

                               In the given case, it is said that the Marketing Director of Airtel believes that they are the market leaders in the mobile phone industry. Let us analyse some of the major statistics and facts associated with this claim to identify whether the claim holds good

· It has operations in almost 18 countries across South Asia, Africa and Channel Islands, has networking across the globe and is headquartered in India named Bharti Airtel.

· It is the largest mobile network in India and the second largest mobile network in the world after the China mobile communications corporation

· It has over 400 million subscribers and has a net income of more than $50 million as of 2019 with a total asset strength of close to $40 million.

· It employs around 20,000 people across the globe

· Airtel now offers services like Telemedia, digital television, mobile data service, Android based tablet etc.

· In the Telemedia segment, it has more than 2 million broadband subscribers and more than 16 million digital television subscribers as of 2019

· It offers ‘One Network’ service to its customers across the globe so as to connect at the same local pricing across the selected countries of operation.

· It has signed major deals with the Manchester united and sports channels like ESPN Star sports for various broadcasting opportunities

· With the collaboration of the Kotak Mahindra Bank, it has started the Airtel payments bank with an aim to target at the mobile customer base

· On comparison with the largest mobile network provider, the China communications, it can be seen that the subscriber base of China communications is more than 900 million which is more than double of the Airtel subscriber base

· Airtel faces challenges today from networks like Vodafone and Reliance in provision of networking opportunities at low costs.

· Although it is a major player in the networking sector, it has no other operations like manufacturing and distribution of mobile phones

                                           Airtel, popularly known as the Bharti Airtel, from the above analysis can be seen as a major player in the mobile networking sector across the globe. Although it is way behind the leading mobile networking operator and faces tight competitions from its fellow competitors, it can be seen that with innovative practices and models, it is in continuous expansion of its consumer base. With entry in to many new sectors like digital television and mobile banking, it can be seen that the company would remain among the top players for a long time. Thus, based on the above analysis, it can be seen that the claim of the company holds good in many ways.