tailieunhanh - Evaluating Opportunities in the Changing Marketing Environment

There are four reasons why earnings are a poor measure of performance compared to changes in shareholder value. First, unlike cash flow, which underpins SVA, accounting earnings are arbitrary and easily manipulated by management. Different, equally acceptable, accounting methods lead to quite different earnings figures. Prominent examples include alternative ways to compute the cost of goods sold (LIFO versus FIFO), different methods of depreciating assets, and the various choices in accounting for mergers and acquisitions. Different countries have different accounting regulations too, so international companies are frequently quoting different earnings on different stock markets. Not surprisingly, the flexibility of reporting procedures gives management ample opportunity to manipulate. | chapter 4 Evaluating Opportunities in the Changing Marketing Environment When You Finish This Chapter You Should 1. Know the variables that shape the environment of marketing strategy planning. 2. Understand why company objectives are important in guiding marketing strategy planning. 3. See how the resources of a firm affect the search for opportunities. 4. Know how the different kinds of competitive situations affect strategy planning. 5. Understand how the economic and technological environment can affect strategy planning. 6. Know why you might be sent to prison if you ignore the political and legal environment. 7. Understand how to screen and evaluate marketing strategy opportunities. 8. Understand the important new terms shown in red . Marketing managers do not plan strategies in a vacuum. When choosing target markets and developing the four Ps they must work with many variables in the broader marketing environment. Marketing planning at Rubbermaid shows an unusual economic environment. The cost of plastic resin a key raw material had doubled. However prices for most consumer products were holding steady. Thus powerful retailers like Wal-Mart resisted the price increases that Rubbermaid wanted. Ultimately Rubbermaid had to settle for lower prices and thinner profit margins. why this is important. Over the years Rubbermaid s marketing managers built a respected brand name in plastic housewares. Their focus was on developing new products that make everyday life easier and more enjoyable. For example marketing research revealed that consumers were annoyed by trash cans that cracked in winter To address such threats Wolfgang Schmidt the top executive at Rubbermaid saw that it was essential both to enter new product-markets and expand overseas. To steer marketing managers that way he told them that by the year 2000 he wanted 30 percent of sales to come from abroad and he still wanted one-third of revenues to come from new prod- weather. So a Rubbermaid team .