Modern Business environment Essay Example

dealers who invest in the products themselves, but must receive authorization from Ingro-Micro to be part of their distribution system.

Despite being able to select other products to sell, dealers were not permitted to sell products that were in conflict with Ingro-Micro's offerings. Ingro-Micro identified digital cameras as a favorable product and aimed to sign an exclusive sales agreement, but E-Mode declined due to concerns over hindering their business extension. In contrast, Legend Corp is a well-established wholesaler of business computers with a distribution chain that is fully controlled by the company, offering products such as IBM, HP, and their own brand, Legend. Unlike Ingro-Micro, Legend Corp prefers to concentrate on their primary business of computers and has no intention of selling digital cameras through their chain stores.

Also read the description of computer.

CBM approach and Implementation

In trying to introduce digital camera into these two wholesalers, E-Mode persuaded them separately. E-Mode promised Ingro-Micro that offers more margin than normal instead of an exclusive license, or provides advertisement support for Ingro-Micro for better sales. Both these terms were rejected by Ingro-Micro. As to Legend Corp, the persuasion through a set of comprehensive product & customer analysis presentations also failed. Finally, E-Mode found that there was not just marketing issues relating to this case.

Addressing other business concerns, including balancing the relationship with other product providers while avoiding enraging those with exclusive sales agreements and breaking away from exclusive computer sales, hindered Ingro-Micro's progress. These challenges required unconventional marketing techniques. By looking at this issue through a CBM approach, we can untangle the puzzle using several procedures. Using Beer's

three levels of achievement - Actuality, Capability, and Potentiality (1985), we can define E-Mode's gap.

Define the Gap

Diagnose the Gap

According to the information provided, E-Mode is a good digital camera product with potential for additional sales margin and advertising budget. However, it lacks distribution channels. E-Mode has a strong technology background with promising marketing expectations, and there is no conflict or competition with computers or accessories. With full distribution by Ingro-Micro and Legend Corp sales systems, there is an opportunity to identify the participants involved in this case (refer to chart 1) and outline the relationship of participants (refer to chart 2). Despite these strengths, there are gaps in E-Mode's actuality and capability that cannot draw the attention of Legend Corp due to their insistence of not selling products other than computers.

There is potential for Legend Corp's management to support digital cameras, as there is currently no relationship available. However, investing more resources into this unpredictable capability may not be worth it. Ingro-Micro is attracted to E-Mode's "good product," but it may not be strong enough to address their balance concerns. E-Mode has strong technology capabilities and could create an exclusive product for Ingro-Micro to help them balance with other providers. However, it is uncertain if this will be effective for neutral participants. As a subsidiary of Legend Group, Legend Computer Ltd has significant influence over Legend Corp. They would cooperate with other manufacturers if their products can promote their computers. Thus, combining E-Mode's business with Legend Computer and adding it to

the sales channel of Legend Corp could be beneficial. Other computer companies have a similar position, but have medium influence on Legend Corp.

E-Mode will have more chances to sell its digital camera. Chain Store of Legend Corp is managed entirely by Legend Corp and has minimal impact on it. Prioritizing our resources for the more significant relationship - Legend Computer Ltd - is advisable. The Ingro-Micro dealers do not share Ingro-Micro's constraint in balancing other product providers. They intend to enter the digital camera market for more income and considerable influence on Ingro-Micro.

The product providers of Ingro-Micro will allow E-Mode to sell digital cameras in Ingro-Micro's distribution system only if E-Mode signs a similar exclusive agreement with them. If not, they will challenge Ingro-Micro's unfair agreements with E-Mode and cancel their cooperation. It is not recommended to persuade these providers separately for a non-exclusive agreement between E-Mode and Ingro-Micro. The goal is to minimize their negative influence on Ingro-Micro.

Methods to Improve

* Legend Corp Method (refer to Chart 3): Use the Combination Move and Bypass (Avoidance) Move from the Five Networking Moves (Smith, P.)

According to a suggestion in a previous study (2000: 77-78), E-Mode can team up with Legend Computer Ltd to offer a joint promotion. Specifically, they can provide a discounted package deal that includes a digital camera with the purchase of a Legend computer. In order to motivate Legend Computer Ltd to participate, E-Mode should use its advertising budget to subsidize the lower price of the digital camera. This will not conflict with Legend Corp's policy of only selling computer products, as the digital camera will not be sold separately

in chain stores. However, it is important to note that this joint promotion is a one-time event, and it would not be cost-effective for E-Mode to invest additional resources in supporting it in the future. Therefore, after the success of this promotion, E-Mode should consider transforming the digital camera into more of a computer accessory than a peripheral product to continue bundling it with Legend computers.

Given E-Mode's extensive technological expertise, it's possible to easily customize digital cameras in terms of software and design to closely match those of Legend computers. This makes it feasible for E-Mode to enter the Legend Corp market and offer their digital cameras in their chain stores. Additionally, if this partnership with Legend Computer Ltd is successful, E-Mode could consider expanding it to other computer companies. The process for doing so is outlined in Chart 4 and referred to as the Method to Ingro-Micro.

Ingro-Micro's distribution system can be expanded to include digital cameras by employing two networking moves from Smith's Five Networking Moves (2000: 77-79), namely the Bypass (Flanking) Move and Separation (Blocking) Move. E-Mode can utilize the Flanking move to convince key Ingro-Micro dealers to sell digital cameras first. E-Mode can offer these dealers an additional sales margin as an incentive, which should be appropriately allocated as promised. Other dealers are not required to be entirely covered since financial resources are limited, so they may participate in the business for its profit. Consequently, other dealers may purchase digital cameras from key dealers directly or request them from Ingro-Micro for a normal sales margin and additional incentive.

Two issues will arise from the situation. Firstly, Ingro-Micro's key dealers will present

a threat as they have the capability to sell products to other dealers - a scenario that Ingro-Micro would prefer to avoid. Secondly, there will be increasing pressure on Ingro-Micro from other dealers regarding digital cameras. This means that the conflict between E-Mode and Ingro-Micro has now extended to include key dealers and other dealers as well. To resolve the issue, Ingro-Micro should consider reevaluating their digital camera strategy. Additionally, E-Mode should modify their digital camera to be more similar to Legend computer as previously mentioned.

The original model has become an exclusive product for Ingro-Micro, and E-Mode can sign an exclusive agreement with Ingro-Micro for this model. This allows Ingro-Micro to maintain its principle of doing business exclusively, while minimizing negative effects from other providers. However, there are still issues that need to be considered when implementing these methods in practice.

Issues

E-Mode needs to subsidize its digital camera for joint promotion with Legend Computer Ltd to strengthen their relationship. If Legend Computer Ltd wants a low price for further bundle cooperation, E-Mode needs to consider modifying its digital camera for Legend computer or other brands computer, which can be seen as a Lock-in Move according to Smith, P.

In 2000, it was suggested to attribute modifications made to digital cameras to E-Mode directly instead of a specific computer company like Legend Computer Ltd. This decision could potentially limit E-Mode's ability to effectively trade the modified cameras through various channels, especially given the current challenges in cooperating with Legend Computer Ltd. Additionally, there may be concerns about potential exclusive agreements with Legend Computer Ltd when attempting to expand partnerships with other computer companies. Despite this, it was through

bundling with Legend Computer that E-Mode gained access to Legend Corp's chain stores.

The key dealers of Ingro-Micro will have their incentives reduced by E-Mode when the former distributes digital camera to them. As a result, the reaction of these key dealers is uncertain, and while some issues that arise may be addressed by another round of CBM approach, others cannot be accurately estimated.

Conclusion

After reviewing the CBM approach to E-Mode discussed above, it is apparent that E-Mode's marketing problem is typical in the current business environment. In fact, even more complex marketing situations may arise in real life.

Conventional marketing techniques are insufficient to solve interconnected problems. This is possibly due to our focus on the present and building efforts based solely on current situations. Capabilities-Based Marketing (CBM), rooted in relationship-building, diverges from traditional marketing and provides a fresh outlook on marketing difficulties. CBM takes a softer approach compared to traditional marketing and suggests addressing marketing hurdles through present or augmented capabilities. By prioritizing capability over actuality, CBM broadens our perspective and expands our options.

Despite the existence of CBM and its implementation challenges, traditional marketing techniques such as Product Innovation, Price and Promotion are still necessary to support the approach. In fact, ideas from CBM can be utilized through CM techniques. It's important to note that the current business environment is complex and many marketing problems still need to be resolved.

It may be necessary to enhance both CBM and CM and it is prudent to use them together in contemporary society.