Research Paper Example: Diversification Technique in a Marketing Campaign

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research is to explore the nature of Marketing Management principles being applied by our case firm, Microsoft Lumia. The research examines whether possible diversifications implemented by the marketing management could improve the redundancy and the repercussions created by a repugnant marketing environment created by Nokia Lumia. The research will originate the problem indicating how Lumia problems now were a problem that Nokia engineered hence construct a hypothetical environment. Given the wide state of the research, a hybridized experimental design will be applied. The hybrid is a mixture of the qualitative and quantitative research. There is no survey, however there are a totality of 26 research questions with 6 hypothesis assigned to three variables and three research questions. The goal is originate the research problem and situation that is repugnancy, repercussions and diversifications and show that indeed Lumia can salvage the situation. There are two set of discussions, the literature review and later the discussion sections, providing deeper research on the nature of topic to be investigated. Given the methodology to be adopted in this research, the recommendations should indicate that Lumia situation can salvaged now.

DECLARATION

I declare that the works in this dissertation has been duly developed by me. There are five chapters in this research; each of these chapters has contribution from other researchers as well as this research. The composition of this work was meant to reflect on my personal opinion; however, external information supports the development of this research. Any external information has been duly cited, and author/s of the publication accredited.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to acknowledge the presence of several stakeholders who motivated or contributed to the development of this research. I acknowledge that the expertise surrounding this research was not personal efforts but a collective influence of different researchers who engineered the collective and spirited development of this research. I personally thank instructor XXXXX who resourcefully encouraged me to reconsider my methodology section. His personal efforts encouraged me to consider experimental design over survey. I also acknowledge the importance of instructor XXXXX whose work in my previous years sharpened my literature review approach. Other stakeholders include the dissertation panel presenting the dean. Their work provides control mechanism for this research, igniting me a sense of responsibility, discipline and professionalism that are required in the field of work. I also appreciate my social life stakeholders, friends and relatives. My constant moral and resource support from my parents and siblings have constantly facilitated me, encouraged me and motivated me to keep up the hard work during schooling, and eventually their contribution in this dissertation. Finally, I would like to pass sincere respect to the deity; GOD has morally, resourcefully and spiritually equipped me to continue working hard for this research to continue growing progressively and creatively.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Introduction

In the 21st century, most technology companies seem to be tidal locked between investor demands and meeting customer expectations. With research and development being the most critical way to solve this problem, one easily notes that competition almost flushes out critical innovations. The alternative approach for today corporate body is a stronger marketing management department, one that delivers the product to the customer as it is expected. In this research, there are several studies, and opinions from other researchers as well as contributions of the experimental design that help in proving with repugnant marketing techniques do have repercussions to the future market performance of a products, as well as strong argument whether diversification as a technique can save the marketing campaign.

1.2 Background

1.2.1 Definitions

Under the proper definition of marketing, one can view marketing as a set of activities, processes, decisions for creation, communication about products and delivering products in the market, products meant to improve the value of customers or partners in the wide society. As a reflection, the marketing philosophy involves creating a philosophy of doing business based on the shared values and beliefs (Ama.org, 2017). In reflecting marketing, one should consider when the word marketing began becoming popular.

The word became popular first in 1897 when there was a derivation to the Latin Word Mercatus (Olsenmetrix.com, 2017). Researchers, however, agreed that marketing is the act of marketing performance, culture and the possible studies surrounding marketing. The rise and possible improvements of consumer culture have been at the centre of marketing evolution. For instance, recently, the emergence of social media as part of the consumer culture has played an important role in shaping marketing as it was before social media. As such, researchers believe that modern marketing believes that the present day marketing began in during the industrial revolution where professional marketing strategies were employed. With time, the focus has been shaping taste and preferences of consumers that enable that emergence of marketing strategies that solve marketing problems. Modern marketing approach and professional practice allow possible positioning, product differentiation, and communications. Planning a marketing strategy involves using tools such as branding, packaging, and advertising that surrounds the marketing campaign. As such, the focus is largely on the distribution and the exchange mechanism. As well, the focus spreads deeply to the personal branding mechanism that allows a deeper adoption marketing strategy and campaign. One can, therefore, agree with various researchers that marketing is all about revolution.

The most important aspects of marketing involve the development of functional, tactical, and strategic approaches that are essentially a composition of various marketing activities and strategic decisions.

Strategic - The category is a composition of proactive decisions that help in guiding the company efforts in the marketplace which is a generally a composition of best practices that help in positioning the firm.

Functional - The category is an assumption that marketing is a composition of a functional area where responsibility is driven towards product and technology development functions.

Tactical - The category illustrates that implementation involves developing marketing tools that are executed reliably and consistency through the strategic functioning of decisions. The approach is naturally a composition of tools that would help empower marketing.

1.2.2 Marketing as a Strategy

Essentially, it is clear that marketing management houses the strategic activities and decisions that vital in fueling the direction of the firm towards achieving reliable results. Hence, without proper marketing management, the firm will underperform in the market. Most firms in the tech business have formal marketing departments, however, due to the significant competition of firms in the same market. Efforts to stabilize and empower firms to approach the market in a lucrative way are the entire concept of marketing. In such light, there is need to rethink whether the marketing approach is sufficient and compatible with the products. Previously, Nokia Lumia had very lucrative products and properly marketed. For instance, the 21*21 Lumia advert for Nokia Lumia 1020, was a game change to the marketing. However, as illustrated, there has been a problem as iPhone and Android phones have continuously dominated the market. The worst problem is that Lumia might be going the blackberry way, where it is being swallowed by Android. This is a clear indication of the strategic failure in the market

Effective operations at the strategic level in the market involve ensuring that there is responsible guidance towards the product in ways of achieving the right strategic goals. As such, the focus is essentially on the performance of the firm in relation to the product management portfolio. With this in mind, the goal is structured to reflect whether the firm competency and possible research objectives are accurate enough based on the parameters of targeting and positioning. The question is whether the firm is willing to implement decisions arising from the general strategic planning process. The focus of the study is therefore on the strategy, resources and discipline available.

One will also wonder why did Lumia strategic collapse. What happened to Lumia products, was it a product or marketing problem? Either way, one easily notes that the strategic planning process encompasses formulating a strategy that helps in addressing social and global problems as well make strategies where the economic profits reflect on the social benefits as well.

1.2.3 Usefulness of Managerial Decisions

Likewise, it is important to evaluate the functional activities and decisions making concerning marketing performance. The approach is geared towards the general product development, hence considering whether a firm applies marketing theories to achieve marketing stability. Marketing theories, for example, 7Ps are considered important marketing tools that remain critical to a management issue. The mix involves ensuring consistency where all decisions involve supporting the position of the marketplace. The high-quality products depend on high distribution channels that provide useful support services that are vital for the product to perform properly in the market. Arguably, the responsibility of such diverse marketing functions is scattered across different units for the organization hence the product development group is naturally concerned with engineers that are involved in research and development activities. Some of these companies involve product development where the element of collecting and conducting the market strategy, involves quality market segmentation where the positioning activities surround the ability to launch products in the market for the product management cycle.

Clearly, the section attempts to show that marketing is largely a philosophy of doing business. Considering that, our Lumia brand did significant market, and their products were useful and diversified. However, Android grew steadily, with brands such as Smartphone now commanding the market. The problem with Lumia is not an open source system. On the other hand, buyers believe that the open source status of Android is free, such that one buys the phone and gets the operating systems. The philosophical war ranges because Microsoft dominates the PC brand hence it arguably not advisable to have both a windows PC and Lumia phone both from Microsoft. In such an environment, diversification remains the only salvation boat. Additionally, another major problem is the apps, Lumia users do not seem to enjoy that they cannot access most applications as compared to Android. However, the reality is, Microsoft has more application has compared to Android, given that the Windows PC has many apps that can be used effectively on a Lumia brand.

As such, one notes there is a huge failure of tactical decisions. Tactical decisions involve the development of perfect innovation where research and development functions are fast changing with the competitive environment being in place. As to be illustrated later, the RD plays a very integral role in the development of the Lumia brand. The competitive environment becomes more aggressive but more orderly if the technological efforts are applied effectively towards the marketing, not production. Google for instance concentrated with the application development while other firms made the hardware. Google through its several products such as Google Search, Gmail, Hangouts, or Youtube etc, concentrated on the RD to achieve marketing efforts and not RD to achieve production efforts. However, Lumia has selfishly guarded competitors against penetrating its little market. As such, there should be more attention where companies view marketing as a strategic consideration while recognizing the success of high tech marketing firms surrounds decisions that surround best opportunities in the market environment. The background has clearly established what the research seeks to solve in terms of Lumia dying market environment. The shared understanding where the specific realm of high technology market depends on the choices that needs to be achieved for a firm to achieve full objectives.

Study Area

The research conducts an experimental design from data generated online. Most...