Marketing Strategy Case

CASE: WHAT THE HELL IS ‘MARKET ORIENTED’?

SUMMARY

The article, written by Benson P Shapiro, is mainly about the trouble, which Wolverine Controller Company faced, both in domestic and foreign market. There was a meeting in French Link, Indiana. Recent results were bad for them. Sales and earnings were off. Market share was down in all product lines.

In the first day, they discussed about being customer driven’ or ‘market oriented’ which, the CEO thought that the only way to get out of these problems. The marketing vice president was not agree with the CEO and he mentioned that they’ve got to be more ‘marketing oriented’. And lots of discussions took place. Each vice president defended his or her function or unit and set out solutions. Namely they do not see the departments as a whole; they just act as a self-centered. The CEO said that he is going to get all of them coordinated. Before that enlightment, the departments were competing among selves. And this was the cause of the conflicts between the departments. Also, these conflicts influenced the productivity of the company badly. They figured out that the collaboration and communication between the departments was insufficient. This scarcity of integration was the main reason of their recession. By the end of the first day directors understood that they have poor and unsatisfactory information about their market, customers and competitors. On the second day, the directors decided to develop a plan and give specific objectives and tasks to the executives in order to focus on their main customers’ needs. Therefore, it means that they need to modify their organizational structure to become more reactive to the changes of the external environment.

A year later, Wolverine’s executives met again in the same place. They realized that new plans and objectives go very well.

RESPONSE

The case Wolverine Controller Company mentions the lack of communication and interaction inside the organization. This absence leads...