be crucial to your understanding of the case. It won't always fit everything but then, what does? YOU ARE EXPECTED TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS, IN YOUR ANALYSIS, TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY! YOU ARE EXPECTED TO"FLESH OUT" THIS BARE-BONES STRUCTURE SO THAT YOU WILL HAVE A DETAILED UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE CASE AND CAN WISELY ADVISE THE ACTION PEOPLE IN THE CASE. If you fail to do this, you fail the case 1. Examine the firm's management, services, financial structure, and general and specific goals. Remember that companies do not do things; people do. Consider the managers'value systems, and estimate their(value systems')impact upon objective olicies and strategies 2. Take the customers' viewpoints and try to understand such factors as the following a. Who are the customers? Classify them according to pertinent socioeconomic, demographic, and marketing characteristics. (These tell you more about why they patronize the firm) b What products and services do they use? c. Where do they buy these products and services? Consider market geography regional differences, and types of companies patronized d. When do they buy? What is the frequency of use? Time of the day and week? Are here seasonal(cyclical)influences? e. How do they buy? Is help required to make the purchase? Do customers seek advice because of their lack of experience? Does personal selling play an important f. Why do they buy? You may not be able to infer motivations, but you can consider related literature, findings of the behavioral sciences, and your(personal) experiences that pertain to the product and/or service and to the circumstances in the case 3. Define the nature of the product/service a. What are its similarities to, and differences from, competitive offerings? (Me too products are harder to sell) b. After carefully evaluating how people choose and use the products and services ask the question, "How can the firms marketing system adapt its product-service capabilities to the requirements of the buying-using(consumer/end user )system?2 be crucial to your understanding of the case. It won't always fit everything but then, what does? YOU ARE EXPECTED TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS, IN YOUR ANALYSIS, TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY! YOU ARE EXPECTED TO “FLESH OUT” THIS BARE-BONES STRUCTURE SO THAT YOU WILL HAVE A DETAILED UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE CASE AND CAN WISELY ADVISE THE ACTION PEOPLE IN THE CASE. If you fail to do this, you fail the case. 1. Examine the firm's management, services, financial structure, and general and specific goals. Remember that companies do not do things; people do. Consider the managers' value systems, and estimate their (value systems') impact upon objectives, policies, and strategies. 2. Take the customers' viewpoints and try to understand such factors as the following: a. Who are the customers? Classify them according to pertinent socioeconomic, demographic, and marketing characteristics. (These tell you more about why they patronize the firm) b. What products and services do they use? c. Where do they buy these products and services? Consider market geography, regional differences, and types of companies patronized. d. When do they buy? What is the frequency of use? Time of the day and week? Are there seasonal (cyclical) influences? e. How do they buy? Is help required to make the purchase? Do customers seek advice because of their lack of experience? Does personal selling play an important role? f. Why do they buy? You may not be able to infer motivations, but you can consider related literature, findings of the behavioral sciences, and your (personal) experiences that pertain to the product and/or service and to the circumstances in the case. 3. Define the nature of the product/service. a. What are its similarities to, and differences from, competitive offerings? (Me too products are harder to sell) b. After carefully evaluating how people choose and use the products and services, ask the question, "How can the firm's marketing system adapt its product-service capabilities to the requirements of the buying-using (consumer/end user) system?