QUESTION
Assignment 1
600 words
As discussed please present the attached virgin case in word format. The case should be presented in below section
Case facts
Alternative solution
Your recommendation
Current information
Conceptual connect
No refernce required for this
The Virgin Case
Virgin roared onto the British stage in the 1970s with the innovative Virgin Records, brainchild of Richard Branson, who signed unknown artistsand began a marathon of publicity that continues to this day.
The flamboyant Branson sold Virgin Records (toThorn-EMI for nearly $1 billion in 1992) but went on to create over
200 companies worldwide whose combined revenues exceeded €11.5 billion (about $16.2 billion) in 2009.
The Virgin name—the third most respected brand in Britain—and the Branson personality help to sell such diverse products and services as planes, trains, finance, soft drinks, music, mobile phones, cars, wine, publishing,
and even bridal wear. Branson can create interest in almost any business he wants by simply attaching the “Virgin”
name to it. He supplies the brand and a small initial investment and takes a majority control, and big-name partners come up with the cash.
The Virgin Group looks for new opportunities in markets with underserved, overcharged customers and complacent competition. Branson explained, “Wherever we find them, there is a clear opportunity area for Virgin to do a much better job than the competition. We introduce trust, innovation, and customer friendliness where they
don’t exist.” Some marketing and financial critics point out that Branson is diluting the brand, that it covers too many businesses. There have been some fumbles: Virgin Cola, Virgin Cosmetics, and Virgin Vodka have all but disappeared. But despite the diversity, all the lines connote value for money, quality, innovation, fun, and a sense of competitive challenge. And then Virgin’s vaunted marketing expertise kicks in.
A master of the strategic publicity stunt, Branson knew photographers have a job to do and they’d turn up at his events if he gave them a good reason. He took on stodgy, overpriced British Airways by wearing World War I–era flying gear to announce the formation of Virgin Atlantic in 1984. The first Virgin flight took off laden with celebrities and media and equipped with a brass band, waiters from Maxim’s in white tie and tails, and free-flowing champagne. The airborne party enjoyed international press coverage and millions of dollars’ worth of free publicity.
When Branson launched Virgin Cola in the United States in 1998, he steered an army tank down Fifth Avenue in New York, garnering interviews on each of the network morning TV shows. In 2002, he plunged into Times Square from a crane to announce his mobile phone business. In 2004, introducing a line of hip techie gadgets called Virgin Pulse, Branson again took center stage, appearing at a New York City nightclub wearing a pair
of flesh-colored tights and a strategically placed portable CD player. Although he eschews traditional market research for a “screw it, let’s do it” attitude, Branson stays in touch through constant customer contact. When he first set up Virgin Atlantic, he called 50 customers every month to chat and get their feedback. He appeared in airports to rub elbows with customers, and if a plane was delayed, he handed out gift certificates to a Virgin Megastore or discounts on future travel. A nonprofit foundation called Virgin Unite has started
to tackle global, social, and environmental problems with an entrepreneurial approach. A team of scientists, entrepreneurs, and environmental enthusiasts consult with Virgin about what it needs to do on a grassroots and global level. The goal is to change the way “businesses and the social sector work together—driving business as a force for good.” Clearly, Branson cares about Virgin’s customers and the impact his companies have on people and the planet. That’s why he recently made corporate responsibility and sustainable development (CR/SD) a key priority for every one of his companies. Each must act socially responsible and lower its carbon footprint. Branson stated, “I believe that in the future, we will be able to enjoy healthy and fulfilling lifestyles whilst minimizing the negative impact we have on the world.” Virgin categorizes its businesses into eight socially responsible and sustainable groups: Flying high, We’re all going on a summer holiday, Staying in touch, Watching the
pennies, Getting from A to B, My body is a temple, Out of this world, and Just get out and relax. Each is to do exceptionally good things in its industry as well as help to alleviate the bad things that come with the category. Virgin Wines strives to purchase only from small farms and pay fair prices while promoting responsible drinking. Virgin Games, an online gambling Web site, promotes responsible gambling and helps identify and alleviate gambling addiction. Virgin Money focuses on fair lending, and the list goes on. Virgin Aviation is perhaps the toughest challenge; it represents 7 million of the 8 million tons of CO2 Virgin emits each year. Branson, however, has turned the problem into an opportunity. In 2006, he announced that all dividends from Virgin’s rail and airline businesses “will be invested into renewable energy initiatives . . . to tackle emissions related to global warming.” That effort has evolved into the Virgin Green Fund, which invests in renewable energy opportunities from solar energy to water purification and is estimated to reach $3 billion in value by 2016. But Branson hasn’t stopped there. In 2007, he established the Earth Challenge to award $25 million to any person or group who develops a safe, long-term, commercially viable way to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Submitted inventions are now being reviewed by a team of scientists, professors, and environment professionals. Once known as the “hippie capitalist” and now knighted by the Queen of England, Sir Richard never does anything small and quiet. Whether looking for a new business, generating publicity in his characteristic style, or encouraging research to help the planet, Branson does it with a ban.
Assignment 2
300 words
need refernces with link for proof in apa format
strengths and failure of automobile sector in Oman with proof . each strength and failure should be supported by any examples from any articles etc
ANSWER
Assignment 1
The Rise of Virgin
The case talks about the exploits and the unique way of marketing and commandeering by Richard Branson. Though most of the ideas and techniques used by him do seem to work, we can talk about multiple other avenues to see if a better work is possible
Facts
The case talks about the forays of Richard Branson who started the great Virgin industries by opening the Virgin records where he would sign unknown artists instead of the famous one. It talks about his rise to the limelight and his unconventional way of doing things, for example, bringing a tank to inaugurate Virgin Cola. It also shows us the target market that the Virgin serves being that of an undeserved overcharged customer with complacent competitions. The case then moves on to new forays of virgin both in the areas of CSR and also sustainability. It also talks about the challenges pit through by Branson to promote Green solution. All in all, it talks about the evolution of a hippie capitalist to a visionary businessman
Alternative Solution:
Though Richard Branson is actually doing a good job in running his products, there is in every case an alternative way of doing a thing better. I believe the UK with its lack of any specific company which boasts of giving the lowest cost services can really profit from having one. In similar lines as the southwest airlines of the US Richard Branson in continuation with his already prevalent image of trying to give the best service in the money could push on the fact that all the products that he is procuring is targeted not only towards the higher up be it wine or a flight ticket but also to the people much lower in the economic rung. This approach will not only be able to open a bigger base of customers starting from the lower paid immigrants to the staffs working in the lower band of income but will also be able to create a possible single message (We do not let price be a deterrent for you) that will be able to string together all the products that he has and thus solve the erratic and unconnected product line problem that Virgin is said to have
Recommendation
My only recommendation for virgin would be that though it has the 8 function that in brief try to portray the thought process that it follows it desperately needs to create a message or motto that will be able to string together the various seemingly unconnected businesses of Virgin. Very much in a similar way as TATA industries of India has connected its innumerable business under a single motto of TRUST. This will not only help them to create a much more stable framework but will help in tertiary and connected benefits to the various industries on the improvement of any one of them.
Current Information
The current information states that Virgin has now deeply forayed into the CSR and the sustainability parts of the industry and plans to improve on the image of being a company not only diverse but also committed as well as responsible for its ecological footprint. The present way of its aggressive marketing and launching seems to continue under the leadership of Branson, and the company should see more of the already prevalent fame it has earned in the future too
Conceptual Connect
This case gives the conceptual connection to the most basic principle of marketing that is targeting and doing it perfectly through a set of requirements that it has kept for itself which are a market with overcharged underserved customers and complacent consumers. This the most important reasons for the success of the Virgin in multiple domains and is a living embodiment to show the most basic concepts of marketing if done truly right make you a huge success.
Assignment 2
Oman has the fastest growing car industry in the middle east and as such had a great year in 2015 followed by a slump in the year 2016. A lot of factors add up to the strengths of weaknesses of the industry in Oman. Let us discuss some of them
Strength
A strongly settled automobile industry – The automobile industry in the Sultanate of Oman is one that has already passed its infancy. It is the largest growing market among the neighbouring countries and thus has become a favourite ground for many companies from Europe and US to set up their bases here and look for expansion (Asmaa , Anan (2017) ‘Oman automotive Market Report’)
Strong affinity to Brands – The people of Oman are a heavily brand conscious people about the car that they are bringing to their home. This leads to a strong understanding of quality and requirement among the car families serving therein (Asmaa , Anan (2017) ‘Oman automotive Market Report’)
Strong importance given to multiple facets of a company – It was shown in an article that the customers in Oman give heavy importance to not only the brand but also more intricate measures like the logo, employees behaviour etc. making it a much more matured market. (Asmaa , Anan (2017) ‘Oman automotive Market Report’)
Synergies between the manufactures and the customers – As per the article taking a lesson from the Chinese American in USA who prefer European and Japanese vehicles to USA due to the negative stereotype of the same by the general public the industry used the highly networked model of Oman to create customer base who would be deeply connected to the values of the company and thus act as loyalists and promoters (Akhter , Anan (2017) ‘Automotive brands in Sultanate’.)
Topography – A prominence of desert and mountains as well as a low number of public transport has led Oman to be a happy hunting ground for the automobile companies (Akhter , Anan (2017) ‘Automotive brands in Sultanate’.)
Failures
Negative stereotype given to locally produced parts – The local producers of Oman be it of the car parts, or the car itself is held in low self-esteem by the general population even though the research show otherwise. Thus this leads to a low number of OEM industries in Oman (Asmaa , Anan (2017) ‘Oman automotive Market Report’)
Heavy dependence on other volatile businesses like Oil – Oman is highly dependent on its oils businesses and oil being a very fluctuating leads to the spending capacity of the general public to also fluctuate wildly. As shown in the researches even in the recent trend of 2016 the sales of cars in Oman dropped significantly due to oil fluctuations showing us an improbability of a stable market until this dependence is removed (Asmaa , Anan (2017) ‘Oman automotive Market Report’)
Uncertain economic scenario – Another side effect of heavily depending on the oil ventures lead to fluctuating economic forecasts in Oman leading people to take often a cautious approach towards buying indirectly affecting the automotive industry (E, James (2017) ‘Automotive Sales in Oman Decline’.) Low capacity of car rental– During the economic uncertainty only a few subparts of the industry like the rental were able to stay on track, and this is quite optimal and understandable due to the fluctuating conditions to buy an own car. But it is also shown in the research that the rentals lacked the cars to actually cater to the demand showing a lack of planning and understanding (E, James (2017) ‘Automotive Sales in Oman Decline’.)
Heavy dependence on imports – The negative light home-produced goods leads to a heavy import both to two and 4 wheeler vehicles resulting in a dependant industry (E, James (2017) ‘Automotive Sales in Oman Decline’.)
References
Akhter , Anan (2017) ‘Automotive brands in Sultanate’. Retrieved on 27th January 2018
Retrieved from:
Asmaa , Anan (2017) ‘Oman automotive Market Report’. Retrieved on 27th January 2018
Retrieved from:
https://www.scribd.com/document/333886370/Oman-Automotive-Market-Report
E, James (2017) ‘Automotive Sales in Oman Decline’. Retrieved on 27th January 2018
Retrieved from:
https://timesofoman.com/article/126958
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