U1 – Discussion Question
15
15 unread replies.
15
15 replies.
After having viewed the video clips and worked through the extended reading, please respond to the below discussion prompt. You should post your initial response by the date indicated in the module calendar. Please be sure to reference your sources in appropriate Harvard formatting and to provide substantive evidence of any claims that you make. Where appropriate, include personal anecdotes, statistics, and references to additional reading or materials. After you have posted your initial response, visit the forum again over the coming days to read the responses of your peers. You should respond to at least two other students by asking them to elaborate on a point,
providing a counter-argument, suggesting a topic for debate, or referring to the extended reading or video clips.
The Mac Observer (2013)
Hindsight is a wonderful thing They say that hindsight is a wonderful thing. Of course, in fast
moving, technology-driven environments, it’s easy to be smart with hindsight. The winners are those organizations which can spot the trends before the competition and, just as importantly,are able to create and effectively deliver enduring value propositions. Two brands which didn’t keep pace with the market
leaders are HTC and Blackberry.
The Financial Times (2017) reported that the demise of HTC was due to a number of factors. In particular, they suggest that the organization may have been stung by its bet on virtual reality. “In the past few years, HTC redirected many of their best resources from phones to VR,” says Zhao Ziming, an independent smartphone analyst in Beijing. “They didn’t predict that VR would develop so slowly.”
On the other hand, The Verge (2016) argued that Blackberry’s demise was attributable to its conservatism and its complacency.
It was, in the words of the author, too interested in protecting what it already had as opposed to conquering new lands.
You can read about both of these case studies via the links recommended as additional reading for this session.
Imagine that you are a self-styled marketing technology consultant who has been drafted in to give advice to either HTC or to Blackberry just at the point before your chosen organization begins to fail. For your chosen organization, try to help it to acknowledge the new marketing realities which it is facing at that particular time.
In a report in three sections and by referring to the New Marketing Realities graphic, which is illustrated above and explained further in your suggested textbook:
1. Analyze and evaluate what you believe to be the most significant prevailing market forces currently facing the
organization;
2. Explain what you think will be key market outcomes (in terms of consumer and company capabilities) which you think that your organization should respond to, shape and develop;
3. Explain how the entire organization could adopt a holistic marketing approach to improve its marketing function.
You should aim to present a response of no more than 750 words.
