The present paper analyzes the Conway Engines case study with the view to determining if Harry Comstock, the company’s CEO, should continue to back Vern’s no-holds-barred authenticity approach.
The company gets its competitive strengths from a popular brand name and a satisfied customer base that believes in Conway’s products. Additionally, the company uses its eco-friendly marketing strategy to attract customers and has a strong teamwork orientation. One of the main weaknesses evident in the case is that the company’s marketing strategies are unable to ensure optimal customer experiences. Additionally, there is a perceived disconnect between the marketing team and the orientation to become a fully authentic company. Lastly, some marketing strategies (e.g., targeting the youth market and expanding geographical reach at the expense of existing customer base) have failed to achieve the intended competitive advantages.
A look into the company’s external environment shows that it has many opportunities to expand its customer base if effective marketing strategies are used to support growth. However, there is intense competition from other firms and regulatory requirements seem to support helmet safety rather than bike safety. An analysis of these findings shows that, to ensure growth and reinvigorate competitiveness, the company must support a marketing strategy that aligns employees and customers with the real Conway experience of providing freedom and ensuring satisfactory experiences. In my view, the company has a great potential for growth due to its popular brand name and a strong marketing team. However, it must ensure that its marketing initiatives are aligned with what the brand stands for.
An analysis of the corporate-level strategy demonstrates that the company’s brand embodies confidence, safety, and freedom to make choices. However, it is evident that the company has in the recent past deviated from this strategy. In business-level strategy, Vern is proposing a return to cause marketing to enable customers experience the honest and authentic perspective of the company’s motorbikes in what is known as no-holds-barred authenticity approach. An analysis of implementations shows that Vern’s strategy can be effectively operationalized based on the fact that the company has creative and hardworking staff, highly differentiated marketing units, and dependable collaborative teams that could be used to actualize Vern’s no-holds-barred authenticity approach.
From the analysis, it is important for the CEO to continue backing Vern’s marketing approach since it has already started to show results in terms of triggering authentic experiences that in the past catapulted the company to the top. In my view, Vern appear to understand how the company’s brand should be presented to customers and why the firm’s competitive advantage has been adversely affected in the recent past. Additionally, it is evident that Vern’s past experiences with Conway’s brand have enabled him to identify why the company’s employees are unable to break even in the competitive business environment. This observation is supported in the case, as an analysis of the company’s weaknesses shows a perceived disconnect between Vern’s marketing strategy and employee expectations that substantially deviate from what the customer wants.
Based on employee resistance to the proposed strategy and feelings of marginalization, the recommended option is for Harry to continue supporting Vern’s no-holds-barred authenticity approach while ensuring that employees in the marketing department are included in the implementation process. Additionally, it is important for Harry to ensure that employees receive adequate training on the values of the new marketing strategy and how they can become involved in integrating Conway’s authentic experiences into the company’s corporate culture. Lastly, it is important for employees to be involved in efforts aimed at changing their marketing perceptions so that they internalize the same DNA as the company’s customers. Such an orientation, in my view, entails changing the company’s culture to be consistent with the authentic marketing approach. Overall, these recommendations are important in ensuring that the no-holds-barred authenticity approach receives support from employees and contributes to the achievement of competitive advantages for the company.