MKT2002S Marketing Management

1
Course: Bachelor of Business Studies (BBS)
Module: MKT2002S Marketing Management
Assignment Title: Assignment 1
Submitted by:
Student Number:
Lecturer: Dr Ajit K. Prasad
Submission Date:
Plagiarism :2%
Word Count: 1296
2
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………Pg. 4
2.0 Background of organization …………………………………………………………………Pg. 4
3.0 Competitor Analysis ………………………………………………………………………… Pg. 4-5
4.0 SWOT analysis…………………………………………………………………………………….Pg. 5
4.1 SWOT analysis table…………………………………………………………………………….Pg. 5
4.2 Explanation and discussion of Bain & Company’s strengths………………….Pg. 5
4.2.1 True high-performance organizational culture ………………………………. Pg. 5-6
4.2.2 Customer-oriented organizational culture ………………………………………….Pg. 6
4.2.3 Strong brand presence in the field of consulting …………………………………Pg. 6
4.2.4 Customer-focused marketing mix ………………………………………………………Pg. 6
4.2.5 Loyalty programs………………………………………………………………………………Pg. 6
4.3 Explanation and discussion of Bain & Company’s weaknesses ………………Pg. 6
4.3.1 Technological and educational practices that are not unique ………….. Pg. 6-7
4.3.2 Lack of differentiation in their goods and services………………………………Pg. 7
3
4.4 Explanation and discussion of Bain & Company’s opportunities……………Pg. 7
4.4.1 Emerging new technology ………………………………………………………………….Pg. 7
4.4.2 Growth of existing markets………………………………………………………………..Pg. 7
4.4.3 Asia markets and growing economies …………………………………………….. Pg. 7-8
4.5 Explanation and discussion of Bain & Company’s threats……………………..Pg. 8
4.5.1 Extremely high levels of competition from existing industry players……Pg. 8
4.5.2 Changing regulations…………………………………………………………………………Pg. 8
5.0 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………..Pg. 8
Reference list ………………………………………………………………………………………. Pg. 9-10
Certification of Plagiarism ……………………………………………………………………….Pg. 11
4
1.0 Introduction
The advent of technology in the phase of globalization increases the importance for
companies to identify their internal strengths and weaknesses as well as their external
opportunities and threats, to attain competitive advantage for sustainable growth and
development. This is especially true for organizations that have already reached a
high level of success and wants to sustain their reputation. Hence, the author shall
look into the background of one of the world’s most successful managementconsulting firm, Bain & Company.
2.0 Background of organization
Bain & Company’s mission statement is to aid management groups generate high
levels of economic value that redefines the corresponding industries. Their most
critical concerns and opportunities; allowing top executives to make better decisions
and altering their actions according to those decisions, hence enabling them to achieve
the sustainable success desired (Company, 2016). Bain & Company has a four-decade
track record for aiding to alter the world’s great organizations to gain growth through
long-term organizational involvement processes. According to Forbes, Bain &
Company has a $2.3 billion revenue and has advanced to become one of the big three
management-consulting companies, along with Boston Consulting Group and
McKinsey (Media, 2016).
3.0 Competitor analysis
The top competitors for Bain & Company are McKinsey & Company as well as the
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) (Inc, 2016). The similarities between the services
that are supplied by Bain & Company as well as McKinsey & Company namely
advice for many corporations relating to a wide array of issues such as information or
business technology and marketing strategies, make them direct competitors with
close substitutes (Inc, 2016). As the name ‘Big Three MBB (McKinsey & Co., Boston
Consulting Group And Bain & Company) firms’ suggests, McKinsey & Co. is still
much ahead of Bain & Company as compared to BCG. This could possibly be
attributed to the founders of Bain & Company being former partners from BCG as
they would have transferred their previous skills and knowledge to Bain & Company.
McKinsey is also much more established than both BCG and Bain & Company
partially due to its many more years of being in the industry, allowing them to obtain
5
more exposure to align their marketing strategies according to the demographics of
the target markets. This makes them the strongest competitors for Bain & Company
especially since there are so reputable worldwide, especially with their common target
market (admin, 2011).
4.0 SWOT analysis
The SWOT analysis consisting of strength, weakness, opportunity and threat is
extremely vital as it gives marketers a better understanding of the business
environment, which helps them to align the appropriate business strategy and
decision-making process to the requirements of the business environment (Michael
Bryant, 2016). Hence the following is evaluated.
4.1 SWOT analysis table

(self-developed, 2016)
4.2 Explanation and discussion of Bain & Company’s strengths
4.2.1 True high-performance organizational culture
Bain & Company’s high-performance organizational culture implies a unique culture
while fostering similar behaviors in the organization, which allows them to achieve
6
competitive advantage as such a culture inspires employees to contribute beyond their
job scope by going the extra mile without being told (Company, 2016).
4.2.2 Customer-oriented organizational culture
Their customer-oriented organizational culture is attributed to their ability to possess
the same values and behaviours, allowing them to focus on consumers instead of
internal politics, which in turn leads to an increased customer value where customers
feel valued and would become brand loyal to Bain & Company (Company, 2016).
4.2.3 Strong brand presence in the field of consulting
Bain & Company’s strong brand image is the result of their 43 years of high brand
equity that has shown various services providing differential advantage to that of
competitors. To establish their differential advantage, they currently possess features
such as private equity that gives clients access to large amounts of funds to have a
large stake in the industry and the ability to stimulate growth or recover from
financial challenges thus making Bain & Company very attractive to reputable clients
who are in need of such stake and stability in the market (Blackman, 2014).
4.2.4 Customer-focused marketing mix
Their customer-focused marketing mix encompasses a series of customer experience
approaches relating to branding and offerings, allowing them to double a company’s
organic revenue growth rates, making them highly appealing to clients that are
looking for monetary results (Company, 2016).
4.2.5 Loyalty programs
The loyalty program that Bain & Company designed and organized aids in developing
and enhancing customer relationship, which is the key to retain valuable clients in the
long run so that they can sustain their global reputation (Company, 2016).
4.3 Explanation and discussion of Bain & Company’s weaknesses
4.3.1 Technological and educational practices that are not unique or cutting edge
Bain & Company does not have exceptional nor customized technological and
educational practices that are considered as a huge differentiator (Consulted, 2016).
This results in Bain & Company not being very outstanding in terms of these
7
practices, which might cause them to be unable to give customers the fullest and most
memorable experience in terms of its service that comes with exceptional technology
and education.
4.3.2 Lack of differentiation in their goods and services
Being a management-consulting firm, Bain & Company’s services are not much
different from their competitors namely business technology and marketing strategies.
The similar services that they provide causes them to be unable to have more market
share in the industry nor have the monopolistic ability to have some control over their
pricing levels, which may result in a lower profit level than if their goods and services
were differentiated.
4.4 Explanation and discussion of Bain & Company’s opportunities
The following opportunities would allow Bain & Company to achieve even greater
success in terms of competitiveness and reputation if they were to embark and tap into
these aspects before their competitors.
4.4.1 Emerging new technology
The emergence of new technology allows them to become more efficient and
productive as well as to effectively attain more holistic and quality research in a
shorter period of time. This would lead to cost-effectiveness for Bain & Company too.
4.4.2 Growth of existing market
The growth of the existing market is the result of the increasing demand of
organizations seeking means to improve their marketing mix and management skills
in order to catch up with the rest of their competitors. If Bain & Company taps into
this opportunity to widen their reach to these organizations, they would be able to
obtain a wider global reach and reputation.
4.4.3 Asia markets and growing economies
These Asia markets and growing economies may require Bain & Company’s
expertise in order to become have a good start-up and sustainability. The ability to
render their services with a strong brand image to them would allow Bain &
8
Company to gain customer loyalty due to the progressive results that are achieved by
these clients.
4.5 Explanation and discussion of Bain & Company’s threats
4.5.1 Extremely high levels of competitions from existing industry players
The inability to continue advancing with the corporate world and the rest of the
industry would widen the gap between them and the competitors, causing them to lose
their competitive edge.
4.5.2 Changing regulations
Changing regulations could be a threat as well because it is not in the control of Bain
& Company and hence might not be able to adjust to the regulatory compliance or
alter their strategies to the new regulations that may not be as effective as their present
strategies (Katie Jensen, 2016).
5.0 Conclusion
In essence, Bain & Company has been extremely successful considering that it has
not been in the industry for as long as its competitors. Through the SWOT analysis, it
is evident that the strengths and opportunities outweigh the weaknesses and threats.
Although it has been performing very well globally, it has to tap into the opportunities
and reinforce its strengths while seeking improvements to reduce its weaknesses and
eliminate the threats as much as possible. This would require expertise as well as
adaptability and as much as it is also time-consuming, it is very vital to invest in these
measures in order to upkeep its competitive edge in the corporate world.
9
Reference List
admin, 2011. MBB consulting firms. [Online] Available at:
https://managementconsultingjobs.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/mbb-consulting-firms/
[Accessed 4 August 2016].
Blackman, A., 2014. The Pros and Cons of Having Private Equity Firms Invest In
Your Business. [Online] Available at: http://business.tutsplus.com/tutorials/the-prosand-cons-of-having-private-equity-firms-invest-in-your-business–cms-19887
[Accessed 6 August 2016].
Company, B.&., 2016. About Bain & Company. [Online] Available at:
http://www.bain.com/about/index.aspx [Accessed 2 August 2016].
Company, B.&., 2016. Building relationships and profits through customer loyalty.
[Online] Available at: http://www.bain.com/about/client-results/buildingrelationships-and-profits-through-customer-loyalty.aspx [Accessed 6 August 2016].
Company, B.&., 2016. Customer Experience. [Online] Available at:
http://www.bain.com/consulting-services/customer-strategy-and-marketing/customerexperience.aspx [Accessed 2 August 2016].
Company, B.&., 2016. Performance Culture. [Online] Available at:
http://www.bain.com/consulting-services/organization/performance-culture.aspx
[Accessed 2 August 2016].
Consulted, M., 2016. 9 factors to consider when comparing McKinsey – Bain – BCG.
[Online] Available at: https://managementconsulted.com/managementconsulting/mckinsey-bainbcg/?nabe=5070351282733056:1&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co
m.sg%2F [Accessed 7 August 2016].
Inc, H., 2016. BAIN & COMPANY, INC. Competition. [Online] Available at:
http://www.hoovers.com/companyinformation/cs/competition.bain__company_inc.40144336d09f949b.html [Accessed 3
August 2016].
Inc, H., 2016. McKinsey & Company, Inc. Company Profile. [Online] Available at:
http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/companyprofile.mckinsey__company_inc.46fb3e18326ccceb.html [Accessed 3 August 2016].
Katie Jensen, s., 2016. Possible Market Threat in a Marketing Plan. [Online]
Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/possible-market-threat-marketing-plan-
51614.html [Accessed 8 August 2016].
Media, F., 2016. #203 Bain & Co. [Online] Available at:
http://www.forbes.com/companies/bain-and-company/ [Accessed 2 August 2016].
10
Michael Bryant, s., 2016. Why Is a SWOT Important to Marketers? [Online]
Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/swot-important-marketers-43933.html
[Accessed 5 August 2016].

The post MKT2002S Marketing Management appeared first on My Assignment Online.

Expert Help With This Assignment — On Your Terms