Week 1

This first Week we had the honor of learning about the brand Kalyx, a Sports Bra company. They were a struggling company that went to Shark Tank for help. However, while there the views from the investors weren't the best, and when it came down to it the Kalyx didn't know how to answer the question of, "How in the world are you going to compete?"


To compete, Kalyx needs to create some sort of competitive advantage for themselves. They are going up against large companies with huge brands such as Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, and Champion. They need something to set themselves apart from these big names and create their own personal brand.

Some ways to do this as explained in the MKTG 10 textbook is:

Cost Efficiency
To be cost efficient Kalyx needs to cut back on production costs, labor costs, to be able to profit more. Also if they receive cheaper assets for their product it will then help them in the long run.

Product Differentiation
For product differentiation to occur in Kaylx they need to be different from their competition in some sense. They cannot just offer the lowest price they need to improve their product to a certain extent to be able to wow the consumers.

Niche
Being Niche is when the target market is very segmented and the product is very differentiated. Kaylx's market is too large with woman and not differentiated enough to be niche. It would benefit them more to be cost efficient or differentiated.

Going on to what we learned in the book and class it was more or less a basic introduction to what marketing is along with the purpose of business. We were introduced to Peter Drucker who was an author that wrote about the philosophies of business. The one quote that stuck with me was him saying that the purpose of business is to "create and keep a customer." For me that is key to maintaining a good business.



However through the book there were marketing management philosophies that also spoke to how to keep a good thriving business. The philosophies were production orientation, sales orientation, market orientation, and societal marketing orientation. All looked at what or whom the focus of the business should be, whether it is the internal capabilities, the desires of the marketplace, the customers needs, or what the business whats to produce. The different philosophies help the business to choose what they want to do and be able to better themselves. Marketing also helps to do this.

Marketing was defined as an activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients partners and society at large (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel). Marketing helps businesses to grow. By developing marketing plans, businesses create objectives to be able to achieve their goals and be a successful business. The week focuses primarily on marketing and the basis on how it benefits a business and why we should study it.










Lamb, Charles W.; Hair, Joe F.; McDaniel, Carl. MKTG (New, Engaging Titles from 4LTR Press) (Page 2). South-Western College Pub. Kindle Edition.