B2B Marketing Assignment

Note:  This assignment will require some outside research, including a trip to the library.  I would recommend getting an early start on it.

Choose a B2B company for this assignment.

Assignment

Using the company you identified for the first day of class, please complete the following tasks:  (If your company is multi-divisional, choose one of its divisions to make the assignment more manageable.  If you do not feel you can complete this assignment using the company you identified, please see me.  Again, an early start will be helpful.)

• Classify your company according to the attached list of producer types.  Justify your choice.  (If your company/division makes products that fall into more than one category, choose the major one, again justifying your choice.)
• How would you identify the majority of your company’s customers, using the textbook categories on pages 31-33 of your textbook.  Justify your category, using some major customers or industry categories to support your choice.  Again, you may have to choose one major category for your company’s customers.
• Research the primary industry your company operates in and identify at least two major macroenvironmental forces affecting it, using the categories listed on pages 37-41 of your textbook.  Be specific as to how each trend impacts your company/industry.

Format

Answer the questions above in no more than four typed, double-spaced pages using 12-point font and one inch margins.  In addition, include a bibliography listing the sources you used.  You will be graded on the depth and breadth of your research (which should include sources well beyond the company website).  Using the NAICS code and other library, business, and popular press resources can help you uncover the information necessary to answer the questions  Be sure to properly cite any information in your paper that is not common knowledge.  (For example, if one of your forces is the environmental one, we all know there was a financial crisis in 2008; I would not, however, consider industry growth/decline economic statistics common knowledge—they should be cited.  Parenthetic citations are acceptable.)

Grading

(F16)

MKT 410

Producer Types

Raw materials:  Processed only to the point required for handling and distribution (iron ore, for example).

Manufactured materials:  Processed raw materials that will generally not maintain their identity in the finished product (rolled steel, for example, or raw plastic).

Component parts:  Products assembled into the final product without further transformation; are recognizable in the final product (handle on the oven, tachometer in a car).

Capital equipment and installations:  Large fixed equipment used in the production process requiring large financial investment; also installations like land, land rights, and buildings.  These do not appear in the finished product.

Accessory equipment:  Smaller, shorter lived equipment used to facilitate production but which doesn’t appear in the final product.  Light tools and smaller, less expensive equipment (sanders, forklifts, and vacuums for example) and office equipment (copiers, desktop/laptop computers for example) fall into this category.

Maintenance, repairs, and operations (MRO):  Operating supplies that support production efforts but are not part of the final product (cleaning supplies, tools, and copier paper, for example).

Facilitating services:  Outside services that the organization can’t or doesn’t want to perform themselves.  These can be professional services such as accountants or consultants, or other services required as part of running the business such as banking, transportation, marketing support agencies, etc.  They can also be outsourced services—a company that has an outside supplier handle payroll or logistics, for example.

(F16)