Marketing Management

MKT202_JUL_2018_ExamPaper.pdf

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MKT202

Examination – July Semester 2018

Marketing Management

Wednesday, 21 November 2018 10:00 am – 12:00 pm ____________________________________________________________________________________

Time allowed: 2 hours ____________________________________________________________________________________

INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS:

1. This examination contains THREE (3) questions and comprises SEVEN (7) printed pages (including cover page).

2. You must answer ALL questions.

3. All answers must be written in the answer book.

4. This is a closed-book examination.

At the end of the examination

Please ensure that you have written your examination number on each answer book

used.

Failure to do so will mean that your work cannot be identified.

If you have used more than one answer book, please tie them together with the string

provided.

THE UNIVERSITY RESERVES THE RIGHT NOT TO MARK YOUR

SCRIPT IF YOU FAIL TO FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS.

You must answer ALL the questions. (Total 100 marks)

Question 1

Nokia phones return to Singapore with relaunch of retro favourite Nokia 3310

priced below $100

After a three-year hiatus, Nokia mobile phones are officially returning to target

Singapore consumers. The first of them is the revamped version of the classic Nokia

3310. The talk-and-text-centric “dumb” phone from the year 2000 will be on sale here.

The phone will work on Singapore telcos' 3G networks and will go for less than $100.

Finnish start-up HMD Global, which owns rights to the Nokia brand, believes that

demand will come from consumers wanting to relive their nostalgia, and parents of

young children.

The redesigned Nokia 3310 was first launched in early 2017 in select markets as it

worked only on 2G networks. It was not available here as Singapore shut down its 2G

networks in April 2017. "We saw demand in some markets, including Singapore, which

have switched off their 2G networks. So, we decided to support 3G on 3310 to allow

more people to enjoy a modern classic reborn," said an HMD Global spokesman.

The Finnish brand was once synonymous with mobile phones, but lost substantial

market share when touchscreen smartphones became popular. In 2014, Microsoft

bought over Nokia's ailing mobile phone business but wrote off the purchase a year

later. In May 2016, HMD Global acquired the exclusive rights to use the Nokia

trademark from Microsoft until 2024.

The revamped 3310 hits the sweet spot for bookstore owner Jennifer Jiang, 35. "Nokia

was my first phone and will possibly be my son's too," Ms Jiang said with nostalgia.

She would give the 3310 to her eight-year-old son to arrange for his pickup on days

when he stays back in school for co-curricular activities. "I don't want him to be

distracted by smartphone games or be exposed to social media at such a young age,"

she said.

Housewife Samantha Seow, 45, would also give the 3310 to her seven-year-old

daughter for emergency calls. More importantly, she will know where to get a

replacement phone for her 73-year-old mother if her current "dumb" phone breaks

down. "My mother is averse to smartphones. She only needs to make calls," said Ms

Seow.

Adapted for academic purposes: Nokia phones return to Singapore with relaunch of

retro favourite Nokia 3310 priced below $100, by Irene Tham, The Straits Times, 28

September 2017, page B2.

(a) Explain the consumer needs, wants and demands for a “dumb” phone such as

the Nokia 3310. Analyse one (1) possible development in the technological

environment that is likely to have an impact on consumer demand for the Nokia

3310.

(12 marks)

(b) Examine appropriate demographic and behavioural segmentation variables to

describe two (2) likely target markets of the Nokia 3310 phone.

(8 marks)

is currently in, and describe the typical characteristics of a product at this stage

of the product life cycle.

(8 marks)

(d) Based on the stage of the product life cycle that you have identified in Q1c,

implement appropriate marketing communications and channel design strategies

(based on types and number of intermediaries) for the Nokia 3310 phone in

Singapore.

(12 marks)

Question 2

Retail brands from China defying stereotype

When Chinese sportswear brand Li Ning set up shop in Singapore in 2009, it took one

month to sell its first badminton racket. Former world No.1 shuttler Lin Dan may have

endorsed the brand, but in the eyes of Singaporeans, one detail stood out: that it is a

brand from China. Consumers doubted the quality of China-made brands. But today, Li

Ning products are distributed to 70 retailers here. Consumers are beginning to

recognise that the quality of their products is comparable with other established brands.

As more retail brands from China make their way here, they find themselves having to

fight the perception that their products are of poorer quality – never mind that China

has long been the factory of the world where products from iPhones to Uniqlo clothing

are made.

Mr White Wang, vice-president of streetwear brand Hotwind which opened its first

store here in November 2016, recalled how a business associate from Singapore told

him not to include Chinese characters in the shop's signboard as Singaporeans do not

think highly of Chinese brands. But Mr Wang did, placing Hotwind's English

and Chinese names side by side.

It is a prejudice that Hotwind, which sells clothing, shoes and accessories, at highly

affordable prices, aims to change by ensuring its products are of a high quality. “We

have over 900 stores in China, despite not doing any advertising. People find out about

us mainly via word-of-mouth so it's a testament to our quality. I'm confident Hotwind

will take off here once we open more shops," said Mr Wang.

Singaporean student Samantha See, 21, feels that many China-made products, which

are sold at low prices, are not likely to be of good quality. "Unless I'm buying

something to use once and then throw away, I won't buy something that is China-

made," she said.

More Chinese brands are expected to open here in the next 12 months. These brands

are looking to expand overseas. And Singapore is an obvious choice, given its status as

a gateway to the region. Their brand presence in prime shopping centres here could be

seen as an indicator of quality and prestige, which will make it easier

for Chinese brands to expand internationally in future.

Adapted for academic purposes: Retail brands from China defying stereotype, by

Melissa Lin, The Straits Times, 23 April 2017, page A14.

(a) Many of the benefits and attributes that make up points-of-difference and

points-of-parity are negatively correlated.

(i) Explain the above statement by using the Hotwind brand as an example

to support your answer.

(6 marks)

(ii) Employ an effective brand positioning approach to help Hotwind

overcome the negatively correlated attributes and benefits associated

with its brand.

(4 marks)

(b) Based on your understanding of consumer perceptions of China-made brands,

discuss the importance of message source (who to say it) in marketing

communications and how companies like Li Ning can make use of message

source to change consumers’ negative perceptions of its brand.

(10 marks)

products. Propose two (2) other possible types of marketing communications

tools that Hotwind can use to build brand awareness and drive sales.

(10 marks)

Question 3

A good eye for glasses

Eyewear businesses are offering a wide array of fashionable spectacles at lower prices

compared with a decade ago, luring shoppers to buy numerous pairs to wear as fashion

accessories. The trend is good for business. Sales at Owndays Singapore more than

doubled from 2014 to 2016. Other leading eyewear brands here, including Oblique

Eyewear and Observer Optical, have also seen sales rise by up to 25 per cent in the

same period.

No longer are spectacles big-ticket, once-yearly purchases – made only when the old

pair has broken or when one's prescription has changed. Mr Edwin Choo, co-founder of

Oblique Eyewear, says: "It used to be that customers would come in either to replace a

broken frame or make a new pair if their prescription had changed. But now, we see

more people buying new frames just for a change and also because they are more

affordable. The uncool stigma of wearing glasses is gone."

The affordable prices are likely the result of increased competition in the eyewear

market since Japanese eyewear brand Owndays opened in Singapore in 2013. The

brand launched a game-changing concept: all-in-one pricing inclusive of prescription

lenses (between $98 and $198), wide choices and the promise of glasses being ready

for collection within 20 minutes of payment. As the brand has full control of its entire

value chain, this has made it possible for Owndays to sell its high quality spectacles at

affordable prices. This was a welcome change for consumers who, up till then, had to

contend with a cumbersome pricing system of frames and lenses sold separately, wait

times of a week or longer, limited choice of frames and a staggering $300 to $400 bill

for an average-looking pair of spectacles.

So popular are glasses these days that even those with perfect eyesight are putting them

on. The trend, retailers say, was set by South Korean celebrities, most of whom have no

qualms being seen wearing spectacles in public or on television. Oblique Eyewear says

that 5 to 10 per cent of their customers do not need a prescription, but buy glasses to

wear as a fashion accessory.

Wearing spectacles is no longer viewed as being uncool. The bespectacled Mr James

Wong, an office manager says: "I've been wearing spectacles since I was a child and it

has become a part of me. What I wear affects how I look and what people think of me,

so naturally, I wear spectacles that make me look more attractive."

Adapted for academic purposes: A good eye for glasses, by Alyssa Woo, The Straits

Times, 20 April 2017, page D4, D5.

(a) Analyse two (2) likely personal factors which may have influenced consumer

buying behaviour for spectacles.

(10 marks)

(b) Discuss the services differentiation strategy and pricing method adopted by

Owndays to compete successfully in the eyewear industry in Singapore.

(10 marks)

to help Oblique Eyewear build market share for its eyewear business.

(10 marks)

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