Natural Cereals Case Study

                                           Case 3 – Natural Cereals Case                                        Name-Syed Mohammad Shaya, Sub-Individual and Group Behaviour, Roll No.-P39113(Sec-B)

Situation Analysis

Introduction
BFI has hired three assistant branch managers. One of them is Sally who has been allotted a major project to improve market share in the adult cereal market through advertising and labeling strategies.
Joe has been appointed to supervise Sally for the project.

Sally has come up with three marketing strategies:
(i)To promote the product as a vitamin B enriched product that provides an energy boost and also a low fat containing product.
(ii) To appeal on bran and fiber as possible preventatives to cancer.
(iii) Option 3 is to the product as a high fiber, low fat and natural food. She can along with this promote their new ‘Resalable Pack,’ which allows the inside bag to be resealed for freshness. Along with this she can allow discounts on t-shirts and cookbook featuring recipes using Natural’s cereals.

Joe upon looking suggests that the campaign should be a combination of option (i) & option (ii).
Sally feels that Tom (a person of high integrity) under whom she is working might not like it as it may lead to involvement from FDA.
Joe has said to Sally that whatever he will suggest, Tom will agree with it. Even if he doesn’t, he won’t overrule him.

Statement of Objective
The primary objective of Sally is to arrive at a decision for marketing which would ensure the success of her project.

Decision Problem
Sally has to choose an option which will increase the market share of the product making sure that FDA rules are abided.

Criteria for decision making
There are majorly three criteria against which the alternatives should be measured. First and foremost Sally should make sure that whichever marketing strategy is chosen, it should comply with FDA regulations. Secondly, Sally has to keep in mind that she is the one who will be solely responsible for the decision she makes as we can observe from Joe’s behaviour that he is the kind of boss who will take the credit for the good work but would not take the blame if something goes wrong. Sally also has to make sure that organizational hierarchy is maintained and she should arrive at a solution which her immediate superior Joe should support. There shouldn’t be any insubordination as it might negatively affect her image.

Decision Process

Generating Alternatives
There are three major alternatives which stems out of the decision problem. Sally has to make a decision to choose one among the below mentioned alternatives based on the criteria decided:
(1) Sally complies with Joe’s suggestion and develop a marketing strategy based on option (i) and option (ii) i.e., promote the product as a vitamin B enriched product that provides an energy boost and also a low fat containing product and appeal on bran and fiber as possible preventatives to cancer.
(2) Sally can choose option (iii) i.e., promote the product as a high fiber, low fat, natural food. She can along with this promote their new ‘Resalable Pack,’ which allows the inside bag to be resealed for freshness. Along with this she can allow discounts on t-shirts and cookbook featuring recipes using Natural’s cereals.
(3)Sally can develop a new marketing strategy which would include educating the customer and using it as their product’s USP. This option will also include the features of option (iii).

Evaluating Alternatives
Choosing Alternative (1) might lead to interference from FDA. Also, we can see from trend that the company which initially made such claims to promote their product grew in the market but the second company which did that was not able to garner any profit out of it and was just at break-even. There are a lot of chances that if they use the same strategy, company might incur loss.
Choosing Alternative (2) will add to broad-based marketing appeal without relying on campaigns making false health claims. This would help in avoiding any interference from FDA but implementing it will affect the relationship between Joe and Sally. Also, Sally will have to get in touch with Tom separately which lead to subordination which even Tom wouldn’t like. Also, Sally has just started her career. If there are any issues with the implemented strategy, the chances of being backed by Joe will decrease.
Choosing Alternative (3) i.e., creating a new strategy which involves educating the customer and using it as their product’s USP. It will also be a mix of option (iii). This alternative would ensure that there is compliance of FDA regulations. Also, Sally can convince Joe by using the examples of companies which have become successful by telling customer the truth as it develops trust on the company. Also she can show Joe the trend of how companies adopting alternative (1) have become less profitable. Proper convincing might garner approval from Joe as well which will be an added positive point for the project.

Chosen Decision
Going by the criteria, Alternative (3) seems to be the best choice as it would avoid any conflicts between Sally and Joe. It would comply with FDA rules. There are huge chances that the product sales will be boosted as company will develop trust from the customers by educating them. Success of project will also boost Sally’s career.