Problem Solution: Teratech

Problem Solution: TeraTech

TeraTech is a five-year-old Customer Relationship Management solutions provider in the pharmaceutical industry. The CRM product line has only recently arrived as a solution for companies desiring to build greater relationships with their clientele. Many suppliers offer CRM technology to help implement the concept, but CRM is not merely an outgrowth of software solutions. True CRM looks beyond the technical solution and ensures that the entire business is focused on serving the customer.

Currently, TeraTech is a dominant player in this new arena. There are several other major players but as CRM offerings go beyond basic functions and into modeling and analytics, there may well be room for more. Logically, TeraTech would like to be a frontrunner as these applications develop, and is presently looking for growth opportunities. Though the company has been successful in providing operational CRM tools to pharmaceutical companies, it has proposed a new product that would combine TeraTech's CRM expertise with analytics and modeling; the results would allow pharmaceutical companies to maximize the value of their data and refine their marketing efforts for maximum effectiveness.

Describe the Situation

Issue and Opportunity Identification

TeraTech has evolved and grown to become a presence in the Customer Relationship Management field for the pharmaceutical industry. But along with the growth and success, issues have arisen which need to be countered by identifying potential opportunities. One of TeraTech's primary issues is the lack of understanding of the CRM solution in the pharmaceutical industry. It is overwhelmingly apparent TeraTech has not performed a marketing mix analysis. TeraTech is in the dark on the most important issues of their product and how it relates to the customer. The clear opportunity is to unite upper management and perform an honest marketing mix to push their product to the next level. Another major issue is the declining growth in sales toward the end of last year. A new company depends on growth for survival. The opportunity from declining sales derives from the realization upper management needs to make either a tactical or strategic shift in marketing strategy. TeraTech can take a tactical approach and market their product in increased strength, or a strategic approach of shifting to new markets or a new marketing campaign altogether. An example would be XXXXXXXXXxXX. The third major issue TeraTech faces is the overall lack of corporate understanding. As Christine points out, a SWOT analysis needs to be performed in order to fully develop their corporate marketing strategy. The clear opportunity is once the SWOT analysis has been performed, TeraTech will benefit from the critical knowledge necessary to create a successful marketing strategy.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

TeraTech has three main stakeholders, each with their own perspectives and set of ethical dilemmas. The primary stakeholder for TeraTech is the cadre of upper management. They currently have several different concepts of where the company should be going and how to move the company forward. Particularly at odds is XXXXXXX and AAAAAAA withÐ'.... The next stakeholder is the customers of TeraTech. TeraTech has an obligation to its customers to continue to lead the way with providing CRM solutions and product diversification to meet the customer needs. The ethical dilemma with this relationship is the constant demand of from the customer and the cost to TeraTech associated with meeting the demand. The final group of stakeholders is the employees and their situation with management's decision not to hire more staff, in spite of the increased expectations and demand on the staff. Employees will be faced with increased workload or leave the company. TeraTech management will need to reconsider this policy, or be confronted with the potential for talent leaving.

Frame the "Right" Problem

TeraTech will become the global pharmaceutical CRM solution provider through critical internal and external analysis, progressive marketing practices and product diversification.

Describe the "End-State" Vision

TeraTech's end-state vision will be comprised of a combination of understanding and conquering internal and external factors. Internally, after taking advantage of a SWOT analysis TeraTech will be able to have a thorough understanding of their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Externally, TeraTech will be able to examine their Marketing Mix to effectively market their CRM product and future product lines. The culmination of mastering the internal and external factors will take TeraTech to their end state vision where they are diverse, stable and at the necessary profit horizon to insure perpetual success.

Identify the Alternatives and Benchmarking Validation

Issue: TeraTech does not have a clear product strategy.

Opportunity: TeraTech can use the lack of knowledge as an opportunity to conduct a Marketing Mix analysis to gain clarity on their four P's Ð'- Product, Promotion, Price and Place.

Alternative Solution: An alternative to the Marketing Mix analysis would be to perform an 80/20 analysis where TeraTech can look into expanding the 20 percent of their customer base which provides 80 percent of their business.

Issue: Declining growth and sales while competition has began to erode into TeraTech's business.

Opportunity: TeraTech can re-examine their marketing tactics and strategy.

Alternative Solution: Perform market analysis to determine customer base, increase targeted marketing strategy to that base.

Issue: TeraTech lacks corporate understanding of their overall business and marketing.

Opportunity: TeraTech can perform a SWOT analysis to gain firm understanding of where they stand, and how to move forward.

Alternative Solution: If TeraTech cannot perform an overall SWOT analysis, then they need to perform a department by department investigation and gain a better understanding of what is done and who is doing it.

Evaluate the Alternatives

The TeraTech alternatives provide a weighted display of how they address the known issues. My first alternative solution was to conduct a Marketing Mix Analysis for an in-depth understanding of how their product stacks up. When sized against the