Submitted by: Submitted by quyuen1
Views: 2787
Words: 2080
Pages: 9
Category: Business and Industry
Date Submitted: 09/30/2009 02:22 PM
In 1980, Cumberland Metal Industries (CMI) had developed the new product, curled metal cushion pads, to increase product lines and maximize profits when facing a 9.5% decrease in sales in 1979. Thus, CMI soon evolved from selling the metal as a finished product to selling metal products as a raw material. The main challenges to them were how to market and price the curled metal cushion pads. Planning strategically for promoting, marketing, and pricing this new batch of product to its targeted audiences, CMI first must be able to identify the strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with its new product and the current business environments. Having clearly identified those, CMI would be able to effectively respond to the current market environment by proposing and implementing marketing and pricing strategies accordingly.
SWOT Analysis:
Strength – CMI’s curled metal cushion pads had performed well in terms of long durability, reduction of downtime required for changeover, and faster pile driving time. In the both Colerick and Fazio tests, CMI confirmed that the 11½ inches curled metal pads performed better than Asbestos cushion pads that were commonly used in the pile driving industry at that time. The CMI pads drove piles 33% faster, lasted longer for the entire job, and reduced the downtime required for changeover compared to the asbestos cushion pads.
Weakness – CMI was uncertain the consistency in the performances of its curled metal pads in larger sizes except 11½ inches and didn’t thoroughly study about the popularity of the other cushion pad sizes. Also, CMI lacked sufficient information and knowledge to accurately identify the size of the potential market for the curled metal pads in different sizes. Because of that, CMI encountered difficulties in promptly developing effective pricing and marketing strategies for its new products and effectively designing the sales mix for the various sizes of its curled metal pads for...