Regulation and It’s Role in Marketing

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In Chapter 3 of Essentials of Marketing we discuss the role the greater market environment has on marketing decisions.  Legal changes along with cultural and social movements can have a profound effect on marketing.  One example would be Germany’s recent decision to ban high-polluting diesel cars starting with some models next year and others in 2019, as detailed in this article.  The move is similar to a broader ban passed by France last year (read more in this NY Times article).  In this case, France will ban all gas and diesel cars by 2040.

Regulations like these have significant impact to automobile manufacturers and can significantly impact their product roadmaps.  That won’t be a surprise to most students but what they might not think about is the opportunities that can be created as well.  In this particular case, public transit companies have an opportunity to look at service expansion and companies working on low-emission vehicle technology have an opportunity for significant growth.  For the automobile manufacturers, this can create opportunity as well.  Those that saw the trend coming have an opportunity to get to market faster and capture market share.  Companies can also redirect their promotional strategies to highlight compliance with the new regulations.

The Invention of the Price Tag

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The video linked here is a short 3 minute video sourced from NPR’s Planet Money.  It provides a brief, entertaining perspective on the history of the price tag.  Students may be surprised to know that haggling was standard practice in this country for many years.  The video does a good job of discussing not only the change itself but also various factors that led to the change – ethical considerations and issues with scale.

 

 

Flip Your Marketing Class!

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A few years ago, I (Joe Cannon) flipped my marketing class. It went well and I began to research active learning and the flipped classroom to learn how to do it better. After doing all that research, I wanted to share my learning and my experience. So I wrote Flip Your Marketing Class. I am making the book available as a free eBook for anyone interested. To give you a better idea of what the book is about, I briefly describe the chapters below. To get your free PDF copy of the book, email Joe Cannon please put “Flip Your Marketing Class” in the subject line.

  • Chapter 1: What is this book about? This chapter sets the stage, so an interested reader can determine what value the book might offer them, and how it is organized in case they want to focus on select topics.
  • Chapter 2: What is active learning? This chapter provides definitions and explanations of learning, active learning, and passive learning.
  • Chapter 3: What is a flipped classroom? This chapter introduces the flipped classroom. It discusses the costs and benefits of flipping your classroom.
  • Chapter 4: What educational theories and concepts inform the design of a flipped classroom? This chapter provides a selective review of the academic literature on teaching, learning, active learning, and the flipped classroom. It specifically looks at a few relevant theories including Bloom’s Taxonomy, constructivism, and scaffolding. It also looks at the empirical evidence supporting active learning more generally and the flipped classroom model.
  • Chapter 5: How did you flip your classroom? In this chapter, I share my experiences flipping the classroom. I discuss planning for the class and how I implemented the model. I include a variety of tips and tricks that I found helpful. I also offer other options that I considered but did not end up using.
  • Appendices: Here, I provide sample syllabi, in-class activities, teaching notes, and sample PowerPoint slides, and more.

 

Essentials of Marketing 16e is now published and ready for your review…

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We are excited to announce the publication of the 16th edition of Essentials of Marketing. The new edition features extended coverage of marketing analytics, more active learning supplements, and of course many updates for currency. If you want more information, click through to the book’s information page, check out our emag, contact your McGraw-Hill sales rep or drop Joe Cannon an email.

Struggling with Market Maturity

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Smartphones have been one of the most disruptive innovations of the past decade.  They’re so ubiquitous it’s not surprising to see them in the hands of a 4 year old, a centenarian, or anyone in between.  Their success has been a boon to manufacturers like Apple and Samsung.  In Apple’s case, iPhone sales now represent approximately 70% of all company sales.  The challenge that can come from that success is continued sales once the market reaches maturity and has been fully saturated.

To maintain that revenue stream companies have to continue to invest in innovation to develop new versions with features that compel customers to upgrade to a new model.  Over time that becomes harder and harder to do as you get diminishing marginal returns with each successive generation.  That challenge appears to be hitting the smartphone industry according to the Wall Street Journal article, Your Love of Your Old Smartphone Is a Problem for Apple and Samsung.  (See access note below)  The article talks about similarities between the smartphone market and the automobile market.  The devices have reached the point that improvements from one model year to the next are no longer as compelling as they once were so more and more users are choosing to continue using an older device or buy a secondhand/refurbished device rather than buy the newest models.  The combination of less compelling reasons to upgrade coupled with the continued increase in price is taking a toll on new phone sales.  Consumers are now waiting 31 months on average to replace their phones as opposed to a 23 month average 4 years ago.

Ask your students what they would do if they were a smartphone manufacturer.  Do you hold price to maintain margins or drop price to increase unit sales?  Do you delay new releases to have more impactful versions and spread the costs out over a longer period?  Do you decide the market is moving from maturity into decline and formulate an exit strategy and harvest what you can?

Please note that we generally try to avoid using articles from the Wall Street Journal because a subscription is required but they do generally provide trial access to allow non-subscribers an opportunity to view a few articles.