Marketing Simulation: Managing Segments and Customers

Das  Narayandas

Simulation | 2010

Marketing Simulation: Managing Segments and Customers

Abstract

In this single-player simulation, students assume the position of CEO of a medical motor manufacturer and are tasked with executing a successful business-to-business marketing strategy over a period of twelve fiscal quarters. Students determine all aspects of the company's go-to-market approach (including sales-force deployment and distribution channel strategy) and associated elements of product policy, including pricing and market positioning of the company's product line to both small and large volume customers. Students also prioritize the manufacturer's efforts in acquiring and retaining customers in order to achieve a combination of sustainable revenues and profits and maximize cumulative profits at the end of the simulation. The simulation also illustrates the benefits of investment in market research. Ideal for core marketing 101 courses (as a Capstone session) or in the introductory module of an advanced marketing strategy course. This simulation can be used in advanced undergraduate, MBA, and executive education programs.

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Salesforce Management; Distribution Channels; Price; Product Positioning; Customer Relationship Management; Profit; Revenue; Cost vs Benefits; Policy; Manufacturing Industry;

Language: English

Format: Electronic

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Citation:

Narayandas, Das. "Marketing Simulation: Managing Segments and Customers." Simulation and Teaching Note. Harvard Business Publishing, 2010. Electronic.

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Launched as a private brand in 1980 to counter the increasingly brand-conscious consumer in Japan, MUJI offered beautifully designed, fairly priced, no-frills quality goods. The once modest private label brand with 40 products had expanded significantly by 2019 to more than 7,000 products with more than half its 975 stores outside its home market in Japan. It had even expanded into the service industry, opening hotels. President Matsuzaki of Ryohin Keikaku, MUJI’s operating company, was charged with reorganizing the product portfolio and prioritizing new initiatives, tasks complicated by the absence of a clear definition of “MUJI-ness,” the meaning of which had always been intentionally left open.

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Marketing Simulation: Managing Segments and Customers

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