Contemporary Issues in Marketing Management †Click Now!

Question: Write a report to show you understand the relationships and responsibilities in various sectors. Answer: Importance of Relationship Marketing Does The Intricacy of The Topic Intimidate You? Tame Your Fear with Unmatched Assignment Help Services from Professional Writers. Knowledge Management with Customer Relationship Management Knowledge management is defined as a procedure to capture, develop, share and use the organizational knowledge in a multi disciplined approach for achievement of organizational goals by leveraging best of the knowledge. The objectives of knowledge management focus on competitive advantage, shared lessons, innovation, enhanced performance, and continuous performance of the organization. Knowledge management is deployed for the scientific tasks of managing and optimizing intangible assets of the organization. The theories of knowledge management is segregated into techno centric focusing over technology for knowledge creation; organizational management focusing over design of the organization and ecological knowledge management with focus over interaction and collaboration of knowledge, identity, people, environmental factors pertaining to complex adaptive systems. Knowledge management strategies are available in abundance and hence companies do exploit their resources and key skills t o refine the system of knowledge management. The framework of strategies include rewarding system for motivation, storytelling for transferring tacit knowledge, reviews, cross project learning, competence management, best practice transfer, inter project knowledge transfer, social softwares like blogs or bookmarking, collaborative technologies, knowledge mapping, proximity and architecture, master apprentice relationship, reporting of intellectual capital (Rowley, 2004) etc. There are numerous technologies related with the knowledge management like workflow (creation and utilization of documents and forms), enterprise portals (websites aggregating all the information), groupware (technology for threaded discussions, sharing, uniform emails), eLearning (customized training and education software), content management (automation of web content), telepresence (for virtual meetings like videoconference) and scheduling (use of tools like Microsoft Project, Microsoft Outlook for schedulin g and planning tasks). With marketing trends transitioning from result orientation towards customer orientation, organizations are investing their resources heavily in customer resource management by intellectual implementation of information technology and wise utilization of knowledge management. Knowledge management in the domain of customer relationship is basically a signboard for policies and strategies of the organization. Implementation of customer relationship management requires acquisition, documentation, transference and usage of knowledge both internal and external to the organization. The influence of knowledge management comprises of elements including customer interaction, customer value, customer knowledge, customer satisfaction etc. It is a key to understand the experiences in a sharp and intelligent manner relating customers. Successful companies interrelate the features of customer oriented policies with customer knowledge to make efficient business decisions. Integration of Knowledge M anagement with Customer Relationship Management can aid the companies to navigate and keep a record of complex problems of support. Knowledge management is the catalyst in the process of customer relationship management by the means of knowledge acquisition to develop insights, skills and relationships to enable the customers to go through a self expansion process to go out the boundaries of business; knowledge documentation in which documents, spreadsheets, pictures, databases, illustrations, emails, web pages, and such resources are consumed by the process to enhance customer knowledge to be reused for the future purposes dealing with changing customers trends; knowledge transfer via which customer information can be transferred by the means of codified communication, personal communication, embodied KT; knowledge creation to involve ontological dimensions and domains including explicit and tacit knowledge innovation at customer, group or organizational level (Arnett, 2005). Role of ICT in CRM Technology have made the research, review and discussion of the customers views and requirements on an online base. The new challenges for the business are to understand the behavior of the customers for retention and to adapt to the services and expectations for customer relationship management. ICT make it easier to get in touch with the customers by management of calls, advertisements, channels etc. Business is made easier by the integration of information and communication technology to refine the customer relationship. The contemporary customers are connected, demanding, networked and therefore the business processes are adopting the features of ICT to meet up the expectations of the customers and to make them satisfied. Business needs to focus their knowledge and resources to give customers a high degree of response which is possible by integration of ICT by the means of online complaint system, online chat rooms for customer problem appraisals, call center services, voice hand ling tools and many more such technological services available for customers. Use of service clouds (Jayachandran, 2005) which is a gift of ICT is effectively used to manage customer database for effective services provided in future. Customer reachability is enhanced by integration of new communication channels provided by ICT such as messages, emails, feedback, online surveys etc. With technology of web mining consumer profiles and data can be efficiently handled and managed. Email marketing is used for CRM which have various features imbibed in plethora of models like newsletters, surveys, reminders, campaigns, alerts etc. Nowadays the trend is not just to feed the information into the conventional databases but CRM have paved the path for continuous updating of customer needs and their level of acceptance towards new technologies. Role of CRM in retail industry Customer Relationship Management is the key for successful enforcement of techniques to ensure customer loyalty and retention to increase the sales and purchases of the company. In retail sector, CRM programs have played a key role in transforming the business from buyer led organizations towards customer focused groups. Some innovative features like loyalty cards and offer coupons helps the companies to know more about the preferences of their customers and further aid to segment the market to make customized decisions. Online retailing is another innovation to enhance the feature of CRM. CRM is really beneficial to the retail industry by incorporating various steps such as database formation by the means of loyalty or future cards, customer profitability analysis, interaction on an individual basis and segmentation based over needs. Various companies handle the system for CRM in retailing by the means of screening, investigating, acknowledging, formulating a solution, responding an d following up. Operational CRM is used in sales force automation for tracking the customer preferences, to administer the retail sales, to forecast the future sales, to manage the accounts, and to manage the performance metrics. It is also used in customer service support for retail industry for automation and coordination for service requests, product returns, enquiries and customer complaints and also for support services like call centers, web portals, remote virtual interaction to contract centers (Cuthbertson, 2004). CRM in retailing is also used for enterprise marketing automation to apply technology in retail marketing, to deal with macro environmental factors, to campaign for segments and to increase the retail marketing efficiency. Recommendation to improve CRM in banking sector 1. Potential banking customers must be involved prior to the introduction of the CRM in banking sector so as to have a pre execution review. 2. Staff must be trained as per the strategies of CRM and they must be on their toes to serve the loyal customers of the bank which can be very well evaluated by implementation of CRM software in the industry. 3. A constructive feedback facility should be available and customers must be approached for constant meetings or rewards so as to enhance their loyalty towards banks. There should be incentives set apart for them falling under the domain of CRM. 4. Introduction of eCRM for banks will be a competitive edge (Liu, 2007) to efficiently manage the accounts and ease up the process of communication. System and software development should be implemented to assess credit risk management and to include business intelligence software under the light of sophisticated CRM. 5. Capacity of the staff must be developed pertaining to human resource development and organizational setting to handle vast economic market for enhancement of quality and satisfaction. ROLE OF MARKETING IN NON TRADITIONAL CONTEXT Stakeholder analysis of Public sector organization Stakeholder Role Interest Influence Facts Expectations CEO administrator high high Demand of complete information and hold Frequent updates and engagement in important tasks and decisions MD manager high high Demand of overall control and monitoring Engagement in special tasks and decisions. PROJECT HEADS Team Leaders high medium Interested in results and not details Resource consumption reports, deadline respect, quality work CUSTOMER SUPPORT Support services medium low For general public issues or complaints Quality services within required timeframe EMPLOYEES workforce medium medium Workforce for execution of tasks Dedicated work as per the directions within budget and time CUSTOMERS End users low Low Stakeholder analysis for voluntary organization Stakeholder Role Interest Influence Facts Expectations MD Manager high high Demand of overall control and monitoring Engagement in main tasks and decisions LEADER Main head high High Voice and face of the organization Every detail, information, result and report handling EMPLOYEES Voluntary workers High medium Workforce for voluntary tasks Long term association with organization VOLUNTEERS OR FOLLOWERS End followers or believers for support High medium Free supporters for social cause Long term association with the voluntary team Relationship of non-profit organizations with customers The sole aims of nonprofit organizations are drifted away from financial gains or economic profits and benefits and can be related to social work or dissemination of some socially important information. For non-profit organizations performing social works, there is a direct and open relationship with the customers so as to enhance their support and interaction (Drucker, 1995) with the organization for charity purposes like orphanages or old age homes. Customers are treated as a part of the voluntary organization with cordial and warm environment. However, on the other hand, the non profit organization related with spreading of a social message have least or no interaction or relationship with the end customers as the main aim is to disseminate information rather than building supportive contacts. To cite examples of both the types of relationship, we will take into consideration, a non profit organization which is closely related with protecting cause of children worldwide and another which is responsible for spreading cancer protection awareness. BICE is an international organization with have a direct relationship with the end clients i.e. volunteers, children, and other organizations in relation with it. Breast Cancer Care is an organization which though is not directly related with the patients but is responsible for spreading awareness and conducting programs for breast cancer in UK. Marketing in public, private and voluntary sector Each of the public, private or voluntary sector have different marketing techniques with different marketing mix targeting different segment of the markets with all-together different purposes. The main aim of private sector companies are to increase the profit by either extending their product range and diversity, by investing in high quality advertisements, having longer operational hours for the marketing team, having plethora of distribution channels like TV or papers or social media etc. Another marketing purpose is to attract new customers or to build up refined form of existing customers. With the public sector, money is not the goal for marketing as it is basically oriented towards use of the entire population for a good cause or general requirements. They do not include specialized or customized products that would require specific advertising or aid of media. Their marketing techniques are supportive or preventive at certain times when it is related with government or such regulatory bodies. Voluntary organizations make marketing as an important tool to highlight their contributions and to appeal to the potential customers to work with their organization. Sometimes, the aim of marketing is to seek for money but that money is focused for charitable cause which is explicitly mentioned in their marketing and distribution mediums or channels. There have been a up rise in competition which have made marketing strategies focused towards customer attraction irrespective of private or voluntary sector but leaving the public sector untouched for a general benefit or holistic target. Issues in marketing of virtual organizations Virtual organizations are formed by collaboration of firms to provide high quality of innovative products and services responding to customers demands. But virtual organizations take upon really challenging and complex forms when it comes to planning of marketing strategies, need of new management and blurring of marketing boundaries. Strategic planning and marketing strategies pose up challenges to effectively define core competencies of the virtual organization. A common vision and a common agreement is quintessential for the partners in the cooperating firms (Kirkman, 2002). The virtual organization needs to have leaders who are able to manage the change and innovate in a manner which is strategically suitable and matching up with the marketing approaches of all the participatory firms and businesses. With almost minimal or no face to face interaction, it is really challenging and difficult to devise common plans which are practically possible and executable. Marketing strategies can be flawed to a great limit due to lack of direct communication among the virtual organization. Moreover, effective supervision is another challenge if the work within the marketing team is not properly delegated. Therefore, marketing department in the virtual organization will face plethora of challenges and issues which can be overcome by online training sessions, open communication and common goal setting. EXTENDED MARKETING MIX Use of extended marketing mix in hospitality industry Extended marketing mix comprises of factors like product, price, promotion, people, place, process, physical environment. By the right use of this marketing mix, the hospitality sector, which can ensure that the right kind of services reach the market at the very right time clubbed up with right promotional strategies to target the market segments. Effective evaluation of this extended marketing mix will actually help the business to remain competitive in the market and extend its share and influence over other rivals. A suitable marketing mix is made up several different ingredients which is truly different for every customer. Hospitality industry specifically relates to marketing mix as the sole purpose of the industry is to provide world class services regardless of other characteristics of the business. Extended marketing mix will add components of people, process and physical environment to the basic conglomerate of product, price, promotion and place to extend the functionaliti es covered in the market analysis so as to give a better and a bigger picture internal to the service industry. A very unique feature for hospitality industry pertaining to marketing mix is that, they have to focus upon pre marketing mix to influence consumers, encounter marketing mix at the point of sales, and post encounter mix to influence customers after service experience. An efficient marketing mix is used for indication of marketing variables used by sales team for targeting specific guests or the marketing segments such as transient, conference, leisure, corporate, groups (Jeong, 1998) etc. Every hotel in hospitality department should have a toolkit of right services and definition of good promotional strategies in an online and offline manner combining it with the right pricing. Product Mix to enhance Customer Value Marketing mix of product is the most important element of the mix to develop effective customer value creation techniques and strategies. This value creation for the customers is for sales growth and sustainability of the business. Other elements of the marketing mix revolves around the product mix strategies. A product marketing mix must be developed focusing over product differentiation which will identify the concept of product positioning and understands the product lifecycle for customer value creation. For meeting up the expectations of the customers, it is required that the product have right and desirable features as demanded and expected. The product mix is the central point of focus for marketing energies. This includes a process to find out techniques to make the product, set up the production line, provide the finance related to the product development (Yoo, 2000), and to critically be concerned about what the product means to the customers. The range of the product may b e diversified, the features of the product might be refined and enhanced, new product line shall be introduced or a product might be repositioned to make it better and more acceptable to the end consumers to form a long term partnership. The offerings by an organization presented by the means of marketing mix (more focused over product factor) are not only the collection of tangible assets or benefits leveraged out of the service industry but something that will provide a meaning and enhance the customers life. Solutions for marketing challenges in hospitality industry The hospitality industry have been faced with abundance of challenges may it be cost management, branding, technology, distribution revolution, social media, marketing segmentation, increased guest sophistication and many such issues. Cost savings for the marketing strategies should be achieved with the help of effective operational strategies to aim at doling right things in a right way to contain the cost within the present techniques. The overlapping of brands due to the concept of franchising have made a single brand competitor of itself. Therefore, there is a need to check the number and quality of franchises distributed for a brand so as to uphold its essence and not imbibe a sense of competition in the brand. The segmentation of market should be done after a thorough analysis and each and every segment must be targeted with some or the other strategy. Customers have become tremendously sophisticated and selective (Victorino, 2005) in the terms of facilities provided in the hot els or motels and hence, lack of a specific recreational requirement may not appeal to the guests being served. The reputation of the hotel is created in the digital space with the help; of feedback and reviews from the clients and therefore, marketing must go online or adopt online mode for offers, coupons, discounts, reservations, feedback and opinions. Business intelligence is being applied along with guest profiling so as to give them best of the experience. Therefore, challenges pertaining to service marketing can be overcome with effective solutions by amalgamating features of guest profiling, social media, branding and many more such domains. Role of IT in financial service marketing management IT plays a pivotal role in processing, storage and accessing of information to improve the service sector and its marketing management by providing innovative solutions of products and for their marketing. Financial and banking sectors have been major and responsible users for ICT utilizing management information softwares, high speed data networks, distributed computing services, relational database management system, open systems etc. ATM services have gone viral in the financial service sector and is a contribution from IT providing various services to the banking customers. Virtual banks is a multimedia technology to bring banks at the doorstep of the customers and is usually termed as Kiosk or customer activated terminal (Nguyen, 1998). Smart phones with programmable microprocessors have led to home banking services to access variety of services from home. Electronic Fund Transfer at Point of Sales have buy now and pay later advantages. Smart cards and credit cards provide numer ous customer benefits. Electronic Data Interchange are used for paperless financial transactions to carry out funds transfer, open credit letters, cash flow management etc. Decision Support System like investment decisions, credit risk appraisal, forecasting loan delinquencies are most promising developments with effective implementation of neural networks for detection of credit card frauds. Image processing technology being a subset of IT can be used for automatic identification or the features of character recognition for scanning of cheques or documents. Therefore, IT have commendable role to play to provide increased services in the marketing management of financial sector including service sector. ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN MARKETING Current ethical and social marketing issues Ethics in marketing have attracted so many reviews as it has become an essential element of marketing. Some of the key ethical issues uprising in marketing are invasion of privacy and some sorts of stereotyping. Ethical issues relate to vulnerable audiences in few of emerging markets or selective markets. Hiding of truth in the advertisements of products and services is a major ethical and moral issue upcoming in marketing process. Sexual innuendo and harassment with various other forms of violence are harmful for advertising aimed for children or adults. There have been inclusion of negative advertising techniques and strategies to highlight the disadvantages of competitors to excel in the field. Direct delivery channels like electronic spam mails (Robin, 1987) or controversial advertisements have pushed ahead the borders of ethical and legal morals. Deceptive marketing taking help of humor is a poignant target for social marketing. Switching and baiting have become prevalent form o f obstacles emerging in marketing scenario. Seven basic ethical and social standards are ruined, violated and degraded leading to bad and immoral code of conduct in marketing. Truth is usually disguised; privacy is invaded in the light of frauds; showcase of negative and inappropriate behavior; offensive marketing and advertising; unfair and imbalanced strategies; historic or sexual stereotyping; exposing negativities to children and much more. Marketing with all the ethical and social violations have become evil because of various pitfalls. Corporate Social Responsibility in healthcare industry Corporate Social Responsibility is a key to long term success of the company as it highlights the human face of a business by correctly aligning the values and ethics of a business to match them up with the needs and expectations of the customers. CSR must become a part of the corporate DNA of the business as it includes various issues like sourcing, governance, environment management, labor standards, social equity, human rights, stakeholder engagement etc. Healthcare companies must lay special focus on the needs of the community, workplace and marketplace to plan successful CSR programs to provide competitive advantage to business. CSR will help the healthcare industries to elaborate over the ethical and social issues to enhance stakeholder engagement. Utilization of a holistic CSR program will contribute in getting license to operate in a sustainable manner. There will be efficient utilization of resources resulting into substantial cost savings. CSR plans also helps in building u p reputation of the business along with enhanced level of patient loyalty contributing towards overall growth. CSR should be made an industry norm in the healthcare sector to make the industry ethically sound and socially responsible. The morale of the employees and trust of the customers will help in attracting the quality customers to boost social, financial, economic and environmental performance (Leisinger, 2005) of the sector. There will be responsible competitiveness and would be able to attract the financial incentives provided by the government. Role of volunteer pressure group for influencing ethical and social marketing policies in tourism industry Volunteer pressure group in tourism industry have major focus over modulating the policies pertaining to ethical and social marketing. Volunteer tourists lay much focus over the ethical and social policies adopted by the business or tourism group as the sole motive of volunteer tourism is based over social work including ethical and moral values. Volunteer group will primarily influence the tourism companies to include volunteerism as a social cause in their code of ethics and adopt ethical marketing techniques to make the volunteer tourism famous and widespread among the target marketing segments. Marketing practices must be targeted towards social cause as it is the main essence of this pressure group. Volunteer tourism influences the tourism industry in a positive way as it enforces rules and regulations of marketing principles throughout the business. This pressure group will have an impact over the entire tourism industry in enforcing ethical and social marketing strategies so a s to gain a competitive advantage and gain a large customer base with this contemporary trend in tourism industry. Marketing for tourism must comply with certain laws of truth, ethics, morals, strategies and guidelines. Role of Media in influencing ethical and social marketing The media industry is an important stakeholder in published or broadcast specialization to deliver content and information either in a direct way or an indirect form. The role of media is exemplary in shaping the consumers attitude towards the organization which is complying by the ethical and social standards of marketing. Media plays a role in software companies to maintain ethical environment within the organization. Media plays a major role in providing bulk of information in both the ways i.e. incoming to the organization and outgoing from the organization. Blogs, brochures, newsfeed, reviews, feedback, newspapers, internet, television, radio and many such mediums disseminate information and allows the software companies to periodically monitor their code of ethics and implement those within the organizational culture. Media is the catalyst to shape the opinion of the company (Christians, 1987) and its consumers towards adoption of ethical practices concerned with marketing scen ario. Broadcast media acts as an asset in marketing mix as it is an integral part of advertisement for the software companies to reach a broader mass in remote regions and ensure the consumers that the company do follow ethical standards as set by the government. Media is fundamentally revolutionizing the nature of ethics in a way of socializing and highlighting the important internal facts of the software business. Social marketing policies are also modulated by broadcast media as published and broadcast media cannot be completely ignored as a major form of communication because it reaches more audience than conventional new media. References 1. Rowley, J. 2004, Partnering paradigms? Knowledge management and relationship marketing,Industrial Management Data Systems, 104, no. 2, pp. 149-157. 2. Arnett, D. 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