IB Business Management HL 4.2 Marketing Planning Topic Practice

Rox and Inclusive Music (IM)
Rox was a music band managed by Michel Mbappe. The band enjoyed considerable commercial success thanks to Michel's autocratic leadership style. He personally made all decisions. Rox had given generously to local schools and other non-profit organizations. The band received many awards for their acts of corporate social responsibility. Their last CD "Action Not Words" had brought them considerable fame.
In June 2010, Michel was asked to help finance the start-up of a new non-profit music school called "Inclusive Music" (IM). IM's aim was to support young musicians from low income families. At first, Michel was very enthusiastic and prepared a business plan. Unfortunately, he realized that Rox could not afford to finance IM fully. External sources of finance other than contributions from Rox would be needed for IM to grow. Until then IM would only have a limited budget for marketing and market research.
In June 2011, IM opened with the mission statement "Action not words". To support its mission, it offered free lessons and allowed students to borrow musical instruments. Michel asked a popular former singer, Louis Marsaud, to be the school's director. Louis adopted a laissez-faire leadership style, hoping it would allow creativity among students. Initial student attendance was lower than expected and quickly worsened. Within three months, many instruments had gone missing and many students were no longer attending music lessons.
IM's finances were deteriorating, and Louis could not attract external sources of finance. Michel took action and organized a concert by Rox to promote IM. He also examined IM's accounts and discovered a significant liquidity problem. Without consulting anyone, he dismissed Louis. In the music media, Michel received much criticism for dismissing Louis. Journalists argued that the two main problems were, IM's vague mission statement and poor marketing. However, Michel aimed to ensure that IM became sustainable in the long term.

Explain how the following may have contributed to IM's financial problems:

its limited marketing budget.

Les Amis PLC (LA)
Les Amis PLC ( LA ) is a public limited company that sells casual clothes for men. Its target market is high-income professionals who value a personalized sales service. LA has developed brand awareness and operates 42 shops around the country. It owns 10 of these shops and leases the remaining 32 . LA employs 950 people, who receive a higher wage than the industry average. LA also pays commission to sales staff working in the shops. LA's organizational culture values the wellbeing and needs of its employees. Labour turnover is very low.
Recently, LA launched an online shop. Since then, online sales have increased considerably, while sales in LA's physical shops have fallen. Shareholders want LA to close all its physical shops and sell online only. However, many of the employees will be made redundant if the physical shops are closed.
LA's current chief executive officer (CEO), Marie Brossard, has a democratic leadership style, and she regularly meets with employees and encourages feedback. LA's managers and employee representatives have never had a conflict. Marie plans to discuss the shareholders' desire to close LA's physical shops with all the shop managers.
Customer returns of clothing orders at LA have increased substantially. Most returns are from online customers unfamiliar with LA's clothing sizes. Marie has consulted the e-commerce department on how to reduce the increasing cost of returns, and they have suggested investing in expensive software that will enable online customers to find their correct clothing size.

Define the term target market.

ReVolve Ltd (RV)
ReVolve Ltd (RV) manufactures and sells high-quality, high-priced bicycles to high-income earners. Operating in a niche market, its advertising slogan and unique selling point/proposition (USP) is "hand made to order, in the USA, delivered within seven days". Brand loyalty is strong, but brand recognition outside of its customer base is weak. 98 % of its sales are to customers living within 50 miles of the business.

Prior to 2017, RV received an increasing number of customer complaints that phone lines were often engaged and calls not returned. As such, it adopted e-commerce. Its website now allows customers to:
- customize their choice of bicycle
- place orders
- pay for purchases
- have their questions answered.
RV employs 20 highly paid, skilled employees using job production. To retain these workers, RV has raised their wages significantly since 2016.

Increasing competition from imports of hand-made high-quality bikes has forced down prices in this niche market. RV has been making increasingly larger losses since 2017. In 2020, its sales fell by 15 %. Inflation is forecasted at between 2 % and 3 % for the next three years. As such, RV's directors are considering two options to enable it to lower the prices of its bicycles.

Option 1: Offshore production to China, where production costs are significantly lower. The bicycles would be manufactured using batch production. RV would focus only on the design and marketing of its bicycles.

Option 2: Invest in new job production techniques that enable parts to be glued rather than welded, which only requires unskilled labour. Investment would cost $ 3500000 and the forecasted annual net cash flow is $ 600000.

Define the term niche market.

Visionary Toys (VT)


Visionary Toys (VT) produces highly innovative toys for children. VT began operation in January 2017 and its unique selling point/proposition (USP) is producing toy parts with a 3D printer. VT uses the reducing balance method of depreciation. 3D technology changes rapidly and the financial directors are also considering ways of reducing VT's tax liabilities in 2018. The financial director presented financial information for VT at the end of 2017.

Define the term unique selling point/proposition (USP).

Taxi-M (TM)


Taxi-M (TM) operates 2500 taxis in a developing country. All drivers are full-time employees and have a professional taxi license. Although not compulsory, TM regularly conducts safety inspections of the taxis. Though safe, most of TM's taxis are old and TM charges high prices. Many customers complain.
However, a multinational company, RE, with offices around the world, has started to offer a mobile application (app) called Best-Taxi (BT). Using their mobile phones, passengers can use BT to book and pay for a car journey. Any car owner can offer journeys through BT. For security reasons, the BT app registers passengers' and drivers' personal details.
TM's sales are falling and profits are down. A number of TM's drivers are becoming demotivated. Facing lower incomes, poor management and rumours of redundancies, many loyal drivers have left to offer taxi services using their own cars and the BT app. Some of these drivers are earning considerably higher wages than before.
The situation for TM appeared critical. However, local media have reported a higher rate of road accidents by BT drivers than licensed taxi drivers. Several of its drivers have assaulted and robbed customers. In response, TM's management decided to downsize and differentiate itself from BT by positioning its service as a high-price, high-quality traditional taxi service. TM will:
- sell older cars and lease new luxury cars
- develop a unique selling point/proposition (USP) emphasizing comfort and safety.
Customers can book taxis by telephone and by stopping them in the street. TM's target market will be business people, higher income families and passengers concerned about safety.

Discuss the new strategy to differentiate T M from B T.