SAMPLE ANSWER – 02 ARU

Anglia Ruskin University

Marketing Design and Innovation

MBA Top up / Advanced entry

December 2012

Kindly note that these sample answers have been

developed in lieu of the assessment term mentioned in

the cover page and may not necessarily reflect the

structure that you are required to present in your final

answer. You are advised to use this only for reference

and not as a guideline for structure, content and

presentation.

1

Executive summary

The study aims to explore a critical evaluation of one of the popular mobile handset

‘SamsungGalaxy3’ from the marketing design and innovation perspective. Here it is

important to indicate that marketing designing in terms of 7Ps and bringing innovation by

adding more value added service into the product play a key role in determining the success

of the product and the organization as a whole. The findings also indicate that the Samsung

Galaxy now not only a oral communication device but there are some features that put it into

a unique position for its innovative and stylish design particularly for its multitasking

capacity. On the other hand efficient and proper choose of marketing strategy and distribution

channel made it a global brand while the other especially its main competitors Apple is a

regional brand. Furthermore there are some weak side of its main competitors in term of

‘’call failure’, ‘short battery life’ or ‘weak network connectivity’. But the Samsung brand is

totally free from this kind of problem that is playing a key role in increase the brand appeal.

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Page No

Table of contents

Front page 5

Executive summary 6

Table of contents 7

1.1 Introduction and background information 8

Task 1

1.2 Rationale of the study 8

1.3 Objective of the study 9

1.4 Discussion and analysis 9

1.5 Significance of marketing design 10

1.6 Significance of innovation 11

1.7 Objective one: Critically assess the value and benefits derived by the customer from the

product Samsung Galaxy S3 12

1.8 Objective two: Critically identify the uniqueness of Samsung Galaxy S3 in term of shape,

colour, design relevance and imagination 13

1.9 Objective three: Critically assess the brand appeal of Samsung Galaxy S3 in relation to

other competitors in the market. 15

1.10 Conclusion 19

Reference and Bibliography

2.1 Reflective essay with respect of learning outcomes of the module Marketing Design and Innovation 20

Task 2

2.2 Characteristics of product from marketing perspectives 21

2.3 Key characteristics of designing process and the importance of design and innovation in enhancing competitiveness 21

2.4 Importance of intangible resources 22

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Task 1

1.1 Introduction and background information: Marketing and designing are two major

interrelated functions performed by every organization to meet their organization objectives

(Pettinger 2007). In one hand marketing can be very difficult if the design fail to meet the

demand of customers, on the other hand if design meet the all demands of customer but

marketing cannot create value for its customer then the organization fall in problem to

achieve organizational objective. Marketing is a continuous process of delivering the value of

product and services to its customer that can meet the customer demands and organizational

goals (Kotler et al. 2007). On the other hand innovation is process of adding more value to

the existing or new products (Jordan 2000). Now it can be concluded that marketing design

and innovation are two major organizational function on which the success of that

organization depends very deeply (Jordan 2000). In the current globalized business

environment the designing the product and choosing appropriate marketing mix put the

organization in a challenging position to win the customer. The mobile telecommunication

sector is one of the very growing sectors in the current corporate environment (Jordan 2000).

The study aims to identify the major benefits and values derived from the Samsung Galaxy

S3 mobile hand set, what are the major characteristics of Samsung Galaxy S3 and its brand

appeal in the present contemporary mobile hand set market.

1.2 Rationale of the study: The According to Portion research till the end of 2012 there

were 6.5 billion mobile customer across the world while annual shipments is increasing 2.15

billion till 2016. It is not too far back when it was assumed that there may not be any

competitors of Nokia which was covering more than 60 percent of total market demand but in

the current smart mobile hand set market their share is very minimum and decreasing day by

day (Ritchie 2012). Here it is mentionable that when the Apple released iPhone in 2007 that

created a new era in the mobile industry and continued to grow in an increasing rate in the

smart mobile phone market which was a completely new product of Apple. But the current

market conditions reveals that in the smart mobile phone market the mobile handset model

Samsung Galaxy S3 produced by Samsung is made the market very competitive and in some

instances it exceeds the success of smart phone leader iPhone of Apple. Therefore one of the

main reason that act as the major reason to select this product is its pleasure ability, usability

and function ability that successfully create competitive advantages over its rival like iPhone,

Blackberry, Nokia and other in the smart phone market.

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1.3 Objective of the study: The core objectives of the study are

I. Critically assess the value and benefits derived by the Samsung Galaxy S3

II. Critically identify the uniqueness of Samsung Galaxy S3 in term of shape, colour,

design relevance and imagination

III. Critically assess the brand appeal of Samsung Galaxy S3 in relation to other

competitors in the market.

1.4 Discussion and analysis: Marketing is a value adding process for its customer which is

highly depends on the marketing mix of that company. Among the 7ps the ‘product’ is

referred as the first and most important element. So it can be said that the success of a

product for any organization depends on its marketing and design option. There are three

major core characteristics of product in terms of the following. The findings indicates that the

life cycle of mobile handset is very is very limited. So to increase the brand appeal and sales

and image it is very important to innovate the product very continuously to meet the

diversified and consumer expectation towards the product (Ritchie 2012). According to

Doole and Lowe (2008) the brand and product appeal along with the marketing strategy plays

a key role in determining the success of the organization. According to Jordan (2000) there

are three key characterises of a product that can be described in the following ways

Functionality

Usability

pleasure

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Again the product life cycle which is represented by the following diagram it is evident that

the sales of product fluctuate significantly with the passage of time.

The figure 1reveals that during the introduction stage teh sales increases at a decreasing rate

and sales increase at a increasing rate during the growth stage and sales becomes maximum

during its maturity stage and after that the sales starts to decrease. So it is very important to

design marketing elements (7Ps) and innovate the product especially during the maturity

stage so that the duration can be extended. According to Kotler et al. (2009) each and every

product requires a huge investment for the research and development purpose and time, so

continuous innovation process and design the marketing activities effectively can increase the

range of product life cycle and help the organization to get maximum return of their

investment towards the development of that products and services. Here it is very important

to say that the ‘Samsung Galaxy S3’ mobile handset is electronic consumer product which is

to go through a very competitive business and external environment. So successful marketing

design and continuous innovation process are the key elements behind the success of this

product.

1.5 Significance of marketing design: The marketing design process is a combined aspect of

marketing mix in terms of product, price, place or distribution, promotion, people, physical

and process. So the higher the efficiency of the marketing designing the higher the possibility

of becoming success in the market (Wu et al. 2013).

Intro

duct

ion

Gro

wth

Mat

urity

Dec

line

Sale

s

Time

Figure 1: General product life cycle

Source: Kotler et al. 2009

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1.6 Significance of innovation: According to Maslow hierarchy of needs human beings are

very demanding and by nature they fall within a hierarchy of need that can be described in

the following figure.

From the above diagram it is evident that at the primary stage people looks for satisfying their

psychological need and when these needs are satisfied then they look for higher mean safety

need. After that they look for belonging needs and in this way they would like to go higher

level of needs day by day. From this perspective it can be said that once it was enough for the

consumer when they can communicate by the mobile handset with one another through

exchanging their conversation. But the current application and feature of mobile hand set is

far developed from that situation. Now the mobile hand set is not only a device of

conversation (Whale et al. 2012). The mobile handsets are now being used as a complete

solution of communication due to its involvement into the internet connection (Whale et al.

2012). Form the above discussion it can be said that marketing design and innovation play a

key role in determining the success of any product manufacturing company.

Safety needs

Belonging and love needs

Esteem Needs

Self actualization needs

Psychological needs

Source: Jordan 2000

Figure 2: People’s hierarchy of needs

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1.7 Objective one: Critically assess the value and benefits derived by the customer from

the product Samsung Galaxy S3

The value and benefits derived by the Samsung Galaxy S3: According to Doole and Lowe

(2010) there are three basic elements of a product from the global perspective that can be

described in the following diagram.

From the above diagram 3 it is evident that there are three key elements of any product these

are follows

Product benefits: The consumer perceives in meeting the demand and gets satisfied by

product performance and image.

Product attributes: The range of elements that are deeply associated with the product

specification, features, packaging and branding

Marketing support service

Attributes

Benefits

Product benefits and service

Performance

Quality

Size and colour variants

After sales service

Delivery

Figure 3: Three elements of product

Standardisation Adaption

Image Perceived value

Brand name Design

Features Packaging

Guarantee Installation

Adaption

Source: Doole and Lowe 2010

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Marketing support: It is highly associated with the after sales service in term of guarantee,

warrantee.

Now the question is what are the benefits and values derived by the consumer of Samsung

Galaxy S3. According to Whale (2012) the benefits derived from a product is represented by

its features, specification. The major benefits derived from Samsung Galaxy S3 can be

described in different ways. The findings indicates that passing information from one media

to another media, transferring data from one media to another media and storage or capacity,

access to the internet, scheduling and making appointment, keep in touch of personal online

profile and update on the go, video conference, multitasking, update social and professional

status on the go are the key major benefits and values derived by the product Samsung

Galaxy S3.

1.8 Objective two: Critically identify the uniqueness of Samsung Galaxy S3 in term of

shape, colour, design relevance and imagination

Table 1: A comparative aspect of three popular mobile hand set brand

Product

features

Samsung Galaxy

S3(Android)

iPhone 5 HTC (Android)

OS Android 4.0.4

(touchWiz5)

iOS6 Sense 4.1

Screen size 4.8 inch

(1280*720)

4inch (1136*640) 4.7 inch

(1280*720)

Processor Qualcomm 1.5

Ghz

Apple A6 (duel

core)

Qualcomm 1.5

Ghz

RAM 2GB 1GB 1GB

Storage 16/32GB 16/32/64 GB 16/32GB

SD card Yes No No

Data speed LTE LTE LTE

Rear

Camera

8MP 8MP 8MP

Front

camera

1.9MP 1.2MP 1.3MP

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Blue tooth 4.0 4.0 4.0

Wifi 802.12 802.12 802.12

Size 136.6*70.6*8.6mm 128.8*58.6*7.6mm 134.4*69.9*8.9mm

Weight 133g 112g 130g

Battery 2100mAh 1440 mAh 1800 mAh

Wireless

charging

Yes No No

Application Google play App Store Google play

Source: Ritchie 2012

From the above table the key features and specification of three popular brands reveals that

the htc and Samsung are aloes related brands and they are using and featured their product

more or less similar specification and same operating system. But there are a number of

differences in different areas. Say for example in their design and looking area.

Beside the physical layout the uniqueness of Samsung from its main competitors can be

evident from the features of long lasted battery life, wireless charging facilities, stronger front

camera, the size of RAM and the Samsung product is designed in flexible storage system

which allow the user to install extra or additional SD card which is not match with the

product features of iPhone. In addition to the above the longer battery life and keeping free

from ‘call failure’ that still push the Apple Brand into a deep trouble and they are still

surviving to resolve this problem.

Figure 4: Differences in designing layout

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Global and efficient distribution channel: According to marketing theories each and every

market reach in its saturation point therefore it is very important to extend the business

internationally and different emerging economies to reap the benefit of higher purchasing

capacity of people (Ren et al. 2010). In this case the Samsung brand is far advance than its

main competitor’s apple. Say for example the Apple has only 14 own managed retail store

and they are still going through the policy of ‘grey marketing’ to keep control over their

product and increasing brand image. But in this regard the Samsung is following the policy of

global marketing through applying the competitive marketing tools of ‘product

differentiation’ and depending on the market situation ‘cost leadership’ and niche marketing.

So in fine it can be said that the competitive business strategy of ‘Samsung’ is stronger than

the other competitive brand in the present market.

1.9 Objective three: Critically assess the brand appeal of Samsung Galaxy S3 in relation

to other competitors in the market.

Brand appeal is one of the very important intangible resources on which the survive of a

brand depends largely (Hsu 2011). As people does not live without the company of other

people, so any brand cannot live or survive without the strong relationship with its consumers

(Hsu 2011). There are two types of brand appeal which can be described in the following

ways

I. Emotional brand appeal

II. Rational brand appeal

There are different factors that determine the brand appeal along with the associated with

product and services. In couple of years back when iPhone and some other Android operated

mobile hand set dominates the smart phone market (Mothe et al. 2010). But now the situation

change a lot. While the competitive pricing, effective and global distribution channel,

innovative features, sleek design have made Samsung Galaxy series a unique brand in the

smart mobile hand set market.

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Table 2: Key statistics about the Samsung brand

Sector Electronics

Origin Korea

Ranking 1st

No. of employees 150000

Operation 62 countries

Market Worldwide

Products Mobile handsets, television, audio visual,

camera, computer, home appliance

Source: www.samsung.com

The following diagram represents the major factors that lead the Samsung a strong strategic

position in the worldwide smart mobile market.

Figure 5: The influencing factor for strong brand appeal of Samsung

Increasing trend of market share: How strong the brand appeal of a product or brand is

closely associated with its market share and people attitudes towards the brand. The

following table show a comparative aspect of different mobile hand set brand in the global

smart phone market.

Samsung

Copetitive pricing

Innovative distribution

channel

Sleek design Representati

on of consumer

expectation

Innovative features

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Table 3: Smartphone market share in quarter 2012

Handset Brand Quarter4 2012

Samsung 30.60

Apple 24.10

Nokia 8.20

Others 37.1

Source: Strategic analytics 2013

Table: Number of smart phone shipped

Time Samsung Apple Nokia

Quarter 3 2012 27.80 17.10 16.08

Quarter 4 2012 36.50 37.0 29.60

Quarter1 2013 44.50 35.10 11.90

Source: Strategic analytics 2013

Figure 6: Comparative aspect of mobile brands with respect of market shipment

From the above tables and graphical presentation it is evident that the brand appeal of

Samsung is increasing day by day which is represented by its increasing trend of covering

market share and market coverage.

27.8

17.1 16.08

36.5 37

29.6

44.5

35.1

11.9

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Samsung Apple Nokia

Quarter 3 2012

Quarter 4 2012

Quarter1 2013

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Image, identity and status: The brand appeal is not a single issue which combined a number

of aspect associated closely with the it’s product and services that takes long time to grow

(Ngo et al. 2011). As the brand appeal is highly associated with the association of consumers

and media coverage. The marketing strategy plays a key role in building and maximizing

brand appeal. Although the main competitors of Samsung named Apple is placed themselves

ahead of all other competitive brands due to their marketing management in term of

segmentation of market, continuous product innovation, stylish designs and so on. In addition

to above the brand identity social involvement or giving back to the community plays a key

role in developing strong brand appeal.

Say for example the brand ‘Samsung’ is one of the proud sponsor of English Premier league

qualifying team ‘Chelsea’ current UEAFA champions that actually strengthen the identity

and place a key position

Figure 7: Samsung Sponsorship deal with English Football giant Chelsea

In a report of BBC on 7september 2012 it is revealed that Chelsea and Samsung sign a new

shirt sponsor deal for £18 million a session until 2015. The product range or market coverage

playa key role in building product identity, status of the brand and image of the brand (Wu et

al. 2011). The findings indicate that the product range of Samsung is much greater than the

other competitors currently operative in market. The widely used product that creating and

placing the brand in a unique position can be described as mobile handset, computer,

television, home appliance. Camera etc. But in case of other competitors like apple which is

only producing computer and mobile hand set or accessories that actually confined it behind

the Samsung in creating and developing strong brand image.

Source: BBC news

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1.10 Conclusion: From the discussion and analysis it can be said that the success of any

organization of product depends significantly on its marketing design and product innovation.

The marketing design is important to identify the customer, identify their demand and needs,

delivering the product through proper channel and create customer perceived value that in

one hand increase the customer base and increase the loyalty level of customer toward the

organization and products. Here it is also mentionable that producing body or the

organization must make sure that the features and innovation brought by the organization

meeting the customer expectation otherwise the product fail to capture the market and satisfy

the customer otherwise the customer switch from it and put the brand into a very tough

challenging and struggle position in the present very competitive and globalized business

environment.

Reference and Bibliography

Books

Doole, I., Lowe, R. (2010). International Marketing Strategy; analysis, development and

Implementation: 5th ed. United Kingdom: South Western Cengage Learning.

Jordan, P.W. (2000). Designing pleasurable products: An introduction to the new human

factors. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.

Grant, R.M. (2013). Contemporary strategy analysis. 8th edition. John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

Kotler, P. (1997). Marketing management. 3rd edition. United Kingdom: Sage Publication ltd.

Pettinger, R. (2007). Introduction to Management. 4th edition. United Kingdom: Palgrave

Macmillan.

Slack, N. Chambers, S., Johnston, R. (2007). Operations management. Fth edition. United

Kingdom: FT Prentice Hall

Whale, P., Nahe, A. (2012). Essential of Mobile Handset design. 1st edition. United

Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

Journals/Articles

Ren, L., Xie, G., Krabbendam, K. (2010). Sustainable competitive advantage and marketing

innovation within firm. Management Research review. Vol. 33, Iss:1, pp. 17-26.

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Hsu, Y. (2011). Design innovation and Marketing strategy in successful product competition.

Journal of Business and Industrial marketing. Vol. 26, Iss:4, pp. 47-58.

Mothe, C.,, Thi, U.N. (2010). The Link between non-technological innovation and

technological innovation. European Journal of innovation management. VOl. 13, Iss.3, pp.

114-121.

Ngo, L.V., O’Cass, A. (2011). The relationship between business orientation and brand

performance: A cross national perspective. Asia pacific Journal of Marketing and logistics.

Vol 23, Iss:5, pp. 56-69.

Wu, P., Wang, Y. (2011). The influence of electronic word-of-mouth message appeal and

message source credibility on brand attitude. Asia pacific Journal of Marketing and logistics.

Vol. 23, Iss:4, pp. 53-64.

Wu, P., Wang, Y. (2013). Brand counter extension for fight back and appeal strategies.

Management decision. Vol 51, Iss; 4, pp. 17-31.

Online reference

Ritchie, R. (2012). iPhone 5Vs Samsung Galaxy S3: which phone should you buy. Available

on < http://www.imore.com/iphone-5-vs-samsung-galaxy-s3 >. Accessed on 2nd May 2013

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Task 2:

Course Relevance

Learning Outcomes

The course, “Marketing design and innovation” was a very relevant course in respect to the

current scenario of the market around the world. The world is changing and becoming global

village. Globalization is taking place while consumption patterns are rapidly changing. Markets

are being more open to competition as information is being transparent day by day. Competitors

are easily coming into markets where profitability is sensed. Customers are being allowed with

more and more choices and so, businesses have to improve on their operations, marketing, and

every possible controllable factor in order to gain the customer’s attention.

Learning from the Assignment

Companies that are more inclined towards innovation targeting the customer needs are being

successful. It is true in every aspect, in the final assignment for this course a lot was also learned

on how cellphone companies had to keep up on innovation in order to survive. Right now, the

top cellphone companies- Samsung and iPhone are competing based on the level of innovation

they bring in their devices. Nokia has recently been able to catch up due to its massive switch in

strategy towards innovation. It previously focused its expenses towards the environment and

corporate social responsibility which led it to ignore research and development costs leading to a

huge loss of market share to Samsung and Apple. Similarly, innovation isn’t only on the

consumer product level but also has to be there with businesses dealing in industrial products

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such as Corning which collaborates with its business partners to develop new products and

improve itself.

Innovation- a Challenge

This course can easily challenge one’s mind with the word innovation. Before studying the

course, innovation seemed to be only coming up with new products. But there is so much more

to it. Innovation can come in the form of business processes, advertising products, and

convincing customers in addition to developing new products. The course brought out challenges

like thinking of examples about the different innovations of large companies like Nokia,

Samsung, Toyota and Wal-mart. It became more challenging when it was learned that innovation

and marketing design is made up of different concepts especially communication,

commoditization, consumerism and patents.

A Deeper Look into Innovation

A whole new perspective was put forward after learning about these concepts. It was learned

that communication is very important in designing new innovative products. A flaw in the

communication process will delay the process and lead to problems like errors and faults in the

prototype and delays in the product release and this is not good in a rapidly changing market

where if a competitor releases something before the company, then all efforts are wasted- time

and money included. One can relate to the importance of communication in college assigned

group work. If one person fails to share information about his part, then different team members

will work based on the limited information and risk chances of duplication and lack of coherence

in the final work.

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The concept of consumerism also puts one into thought about what has been happening in the

past without even realizing that it has a name for it. One cup of coffee a day leads to another cup

of coffee and then suddenly it becomes a necessary part of one’s life. An unhealthy choice and

an unneeded expense is slowly and unconsciously made and built into one’s lifestyle. This type

of learning leads one to think twice before purchasing and be more conscious when buying

products , freeing oneself from the bounds of corporate advertising, attaining the power to reject

what corporations throw at them.

The importance of patenting has also explained a lot about why the world is not able to produce

certain items that seem to be easy to manufacture. Companies put in a lot of money into

developing products and processes that need to be protected though it seems to be an unfair

practice to exploit customers who have to pay excessive amounts. Companies should develop

ways to recover this research and development costs innovatively for example how Apple’s

itunes has been able to make copyrighted music easily available and affordable to music

listeners.

Concluding Words

There is not much that can be said against the lectures in the course. Everything learned is

practical and applicable in the real life. It is all seen happening in the real world. There is no

denying it. This course will be very useful in future and will be much more useful compared to

now since by then, demands will be too high and changing much faster than now, innovation will

be heavily required for companies to succeed and using this knowledge, the different concepts

involved in creating a marketing design- the importance of information transparency, the

different steps in designing process, the importance of patenting etc, all will be used in future

whether one will be working for a company or starting one’s own company in order to avoid

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failures and mistakes that many companies make and to succeed like top innovative companies

and personalities like Steve Jobs.