place live display board indicating customer turnaround time B u s i n e s s F i n a n c e

Please read the article that provided on PDF file then answer these questions as following

questions

Case questions:

Analysis:

1.How has Natureview succeeded in the natural foods channel?

2.What are the two primary types of growth strategies under consideration by nature view?

3.How do the three options compare financially in terms of yearly revenue, gross margin, required investment, and profit potential?

4.What are the strategic advantages and risk of each option?

Recommendations:

5-What action plan should the company pursue? (mention changes in the current marketing mix, sales, brand and channel partner arrangements)

Case Report Instructions

Case reports are to be a maximum 2 pages single spaced 12 pt. font. All tables or documents should be in an Appendix. All submitted documents should be in MS Word format..

Reading the case

Have a look at the case questions before reading the case. Use the reading as an opportunity to create a map of where thing are in the case and to relate them to your analysis. If you come across matters relating to question 1, write q1 beside the information or you can label the information pricing, branding etc. If the case is lengthy, it may be more efficient to go through the exhibits at the end rather than flip to an exhibit each time one is mentioned.

Responding to case questions:

My preference is for a series of short paragraphs—usually not mere than three to four sentences (may do more). Determine 3 to 5 essential supporting arguments for the position you will take/make on a particular question and explain each point using a short paragraph.You can bullet each paragraph if you like.This approach forces students to come up with multiple separate supporting arguments. Avoid long drifting paragraphs. Don’t become preoccupied with filling up two pages.If the question asks for pros and cons or the benefits of something, do a bullet list of points with complete sentences (single or multiple).

There is no need for an introductory summary of the case. Go straight into answering the questions.

If the decision or position is not clear, present pros and cons of the situation and then on-balance recommend or conclude.

Avoid rewriting sections from the case in your reports. Certainly you need to present supporting arguments but this should not involve restating the case verbatim. Assume that the professor is familiar with the case. Rewriting sections of the case takes a lot of space but brings into the question a student’s ability to prioritize information and draw inferences.

Draw inferences and insights from the facts of the case: These are not explicitly stated in the case but follow logically from the facts of the case. They may require a leap-of-faith, but nonetheless reveal strategic options. Calculate ratios for comparison and state things like price and market share relative to major competitors.

Challenge the opinions of key actors in the case. Students sometimes rely too assuredly on the opinions of case actors when in fact these opinions need to be challenged.

Identify trends in the case that hold implications for your recommendations.Some important trends related to: how customer (consumers and firms) behavior are changing; are the key attributes that influence the purchase decision changing; what is the relative importance of price in customer decision; what are the competitive trends; what are the significant advertising and promotion trends.

Making recommendations

It is my experience that students unintentionally avoid making recommendations.It takes a little deliberateness and effort to do well at this. Typically, the last question is a “what should the company do. It definitely gets better with experience over the course. One mistake students make is to review the issues of the case and put a single recommendation in the last line of the paragraph. I recommend that the first sentence of your recommendation be the recommendation. “I/We recommend the……. Each recommendation should be a decisive statement followed by “how details.” The following are examples.

Review existing service standards and develop new service standards and communicate these standards to customers. Specifically, 2 service standards need to be changed.XYZ restaurant needs to add 1 more drive through window.Until this is done, a 7 minute customer turnaround is more likely than a 3 minute turnaround during peak service. Place live display board indicating customer turnaround time if it exceeds 7 minutes.

Launch a new brand of cell phones to be called ZZ-UP targeted at the under-20 age group.A launch budget of $15m is recommended.This should be spent on event sponsorship and display vehicles at locations and events frequented by the target market.20% of the budget should be spent on some key magazines and web sites frequented by the target market (try to be specific). Be creative in your suggestions.

Launch a premium brand to appeal to customers who have progressed in economic and social status and wish to remain loyal to XYZ Company. Follow up with “how” details suggesting key aspects like brand name, positioning, pricing etc.

Your recommendations should be financially realistic given the circumstances.Don’t make recommendations that cost $50M (e.g. launch national television campaigns) if the company’s turnover is $30M.

Recommendations are typically assessed on the basis of (1) logical flow from analysis and facts of the case, (2) effort and (3) creativity.

Read over your case report. It is important to not have typos, especially obvious ones.Typos in (especially in group work) may be an indication of insufficient effort.

Your recommendations should be strategically important in solving the major issues in the case.

Bad recommendations:

Generic recommendations: It is important that your recommendations not appear generic. To avoid this, your recommendations must be embedded in the facts of the case.This is the purpose of the “how” part of the recommendations. Be specific in your recommendation statements. Don’t say: “introduce new services or products to attract more customers.”This applies to any company or situation.

Recommendations do not flow logically from the analysis. This is a frequent problem with case reports. Often the recommendations do not address the problems identified in the case. The analysis may have revealed that customers do not believe the brand has the reputation to support the new product being suggested or that the product will not appeal to the target market. The analysis may indicate that the firm should exit a market and re-focus rather than expand. Recommendations should build on strengths to exploit opportunities.

Don’t recommend that the marketing function be outsourced because the firm is not good at marketing or for some other reason.Marketing teams are relatively inexpensive compared with an outsourced agency, which will expect a percentage of sales.Even if this case can be made, the question still remains: what will the strategy of the sub-contractor be?