Harvard Business School Case Study No. 2069.
700-1000 words (use sub-headings as shown below to organize and divide the work)
(1) Identify the problem (problem is a management dilemma and does not contain the solution and is not a decision)
(2) The External Environment:
Competition
- Identify the firm's major competitors (brand, product, generic, and total budget).
- Identify the characteristics of the firm's major competitors with respect to size, growth, profitability, target markets, products, and marketing capabilities (production, distribution, promotion, pricing).
- What other major strengths and weaknesses do these competitors possess?
- List any potential future competitors not identified above.
Economic Growth and Stability
- Identify the general economic conditions of the country, region, state, or local area where the firm's target customers are located. How are these economic conditions related to customers' ability to purchase the firm's products?
- Describe the economics of the industry within which the firm operates. These issues might include the cost of raw materials, patents, merger/acquisition trends, sales trends, supply/demand issues, marketing challenges, and industry growth/decline.
Political Trends
- Identify any political activities affecting the firm or the industry with respect to changes in elected officials (domestic or foreign), potential regulations favored by elected officials, industry (lobbying) groups or political action committees, and consumer advocacy groups.
- What are the current and potential hot button political or policy issues at the national, regional, or local level that may affect the firm's marketing activities?
Legal and Regulatory Issue
- Identify any changes in international, federal, state, or local laws and regulations affecting the firm's or industry's marketing activities with respect to recent court decisions, recent rulings of federal, state, or local government entities, recent decisions by regulatory and selfregulatory agencies, and changes in global trade agreements or trade law.
Technological Advancements
- How have recent technological advances affected the firm's customers with respect to needs/wants/preferences, access to information, the timing and location of purchase decisions, the ability to compare competing product offerings, or the ability to conduct transactions more effectively and efficiently?
- Have customers embraced or rejected these technological advances? How is this issue related to customers' concerns over privacy and security?
- How have recent technological advances affected the firm or the industry with respect to manufacturing, process efficiency, distribution, supply chain effectiveness, promotion, cost-reduction, or customer relationship management?
- What future technologies offer important opportunities for the firm? Identify any future technologies that may threaten the firm's viability or its marketing efforts.
Socio-cultural Trends
- With respect to the firm's target customers, identify changes in society's demographics, values, and lifestyles that affect the firm or the industry.
- Explain how these changes are affecting (or may affect) the firm's products (features, benefits, branding), pricing (value), distribution and supply chain (convenience, efficiency), promotion (message content, delivery, feedback), and people (human resource issues).
- Identify the ethical and social responsibility issues that the firm or industry faces. How do these issues affect the firm's customers? How are these issues expected to change in the future?
Summary:
The assignment in management is a case study from Harvard Business School bearing No. 2069. The case study is about a company named Mountain Man Brewing, a family owned business where Chris Prangel, the son of the president joins. Due to increase in the preference for light beer drinkers, Chris Prangel wants to introduce light beer version in Mountain Man. An analysis into the launch of Mountain Man Light over the present Mountain Man Lager is discussed in the solution.