Abstract
It is imperative to note that conducting a research study prior to any interview is crucial. This is important when one is applying for a marketing manager position with multiple firms at the same time.
When a research study is carried out before undertaking the process of an interview, it helps an individual to gather background information on the business organizations that are of interest to an individual. Moreover, this will help in answering some of the questions which most employers present to interviewees seeking jobs in their companies.
In most cases, questions that are asked are usually similar in nature. The inquiries are often meant for testing how conversant the concerned individuals are with the history, operation, policies, goals and financial status of the company. In this case, research data can then be used to assist in securing the desired position especially in the case of a marketing manager who is seeking to be employed in any of the established companies.
Introduction
Interviewing for new job positions in organizations is a common practice when companies are in need of hiring competent and most qualified workforce. On the same note, business organizations ought to identify suitable marketing opportunities even as they hire workers in various capacities so that they can fully tap on the market potential for optimum profitability.
It is worth noting that most companies do not fully exploit marketing opportunities at their disposal (Charan, 2006). Besides, any process of interview should aim at the needs of an organization in terms of the available marketing opportunies. Nevertheless, business organizations should embark on opportunities that are not very obvious to avoid competition (Charan, 2006).
Having such an idea is critical especially for marketing managers who attend to interviews in certain companies. As a marketing manager, preparing for an interview is very crucial. For instance, it is essential to research about a particular company before the interview. This is due to the fact that employers always have questions which they use to test your knowledge about the company (Goldsmith, 1997).
Furthermore, researching about a company provides you with adequate background knowledge on how you can help the company to maximize its marketing opportunities. This paper aims to analyze three firms in terms of available marketing opportunities, risk of pursuing each opportunity, how the marketing opportunity would reflect upon the firm as well as the effects.
Companies of choice and reasons for identifying them as worthy of pursuing
The Big Blue Company which is well known as International Business Machine is a multinational company that deals with computer and information technology (Charan, 2006). The company’s history dates back in 1880s and it mainly specializes in manufacturing and selling computer hardware and software products.
Moreover, IBM largely offers infrastructural, consultation and hosting services. The company headquarters is in New York. Additionally, the company hosts almost 388,000 workers all over the world and it is also one of the most profitable companies across the globe (Charan, 2006).
This company is dedicated to delivering innovative services and goods with the aim of transforming the lifestyle of its consumers. To improve operational efficiency, the company has got several branches spread all over the world in countries such as Italy, Britain and Australia.
The reason behind my interest to pursue a management position in the company is that the organization has good network to market, supply and invest its products, hence, fetching attractive returns. In this case, as a marketing manager, I will be able to use the opportunity to deal with the potential challenges facing the company and, hence, increase its performance beyond regional borders.
Another company of interest is Hennes & Mauritz (H&M). It is located in Sweden (Hauge, Malmberg, & Power, 2009). H&M is well known to manufacture and market both men and women clothing materials and has branches in almost 43 states all over the world. It is imperative to note that the company ranks position two among the largest clothing wear companies in the world.
H&M was established way back in 1947 and has hugely expanded a factor that has made the company to target numerous customers all over the world (Hauge, Malmberg, & Power, 2009).
My interest to pursue the position in this company has been driven by the fact that H&M has managed to lay solid global strategies on how to meet the need of its consumers. These strategies have made it possible for the company to increase the benefits and decimate the drawbacks. Moreover, the company has a comprehensive management network that has successfully implemented modern strategies of indentifying marketing opportunities.
On the same note, General Motors Company is also a multinational company situated in the United States of America. It is the largest automaker for vehicle manufacturing with branches in more than 150 countries all over the world (General Motors, 2009).
GM has different brands of vehicles such as Holden, Buick, Chevrolet and Opel. My interest in the company is because of the fact that it is fully competitive, self-sustaining and profitable. The company has also been able to employ necessary technology to comply with the environmental situation (General Motors, 2009).
Moreover, GM is committed to exclusively restructure and retool its merchandises to ensure that it fully competes with the competitors in producing quality goods and services. Besides this, GM significantly invests to produce automobiles that are fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly, a factor that makes it serve a mass scale of consumers in the market segments.
Categories and discussion of their marketing opportunity (low-hanging fruit, home runs, or singles)
The marketing opportunities for the aforementioned companies can be described as single to some extent since their returns are determined on the amount of effort they put towards production.
In this case, in spite of the fact that the three companies have achieved long-term stability in growth and performance, they have also put in place short-term strategies that have propelled them to a point of earning attractive returns (Charan, 2006). For instance, the companies have managed to come up as a team of employers and managers who work to improve on their service delivery, hence, making a legacy for their brand names all over the world.
Moreover, one can also argue that their marketing opportunities are categorized according to the level of low-hanging fruits. This can be deduced from the fact that these companies use solid strategies with guaranteed returns. As a matter of fact, they begin to produce goods that have ready market as they continue to identify other imperceptible need for customers (Charan, 2006).
Discuss the risk in pursuing each opportunity
One of the possible risks of pursuing low-hanging fruits type of marketing opportunity in business organizations is that there is no complete guarantee of high-margin returns (Samsiki, 2011). In this case, because of the companies target to enter the market from the bottom, it might not be easy to move up since the amount of profits anticipated are not guaranteed.
Whenever the companies rely heavily on this method, they might spend lot of time and effort to gain returns rather than think innovatively on how to invest in other means (Goldsmith, 1997). In line with this, home runs or singles does not also guarantee that effort put will land the investors in the right zone (Charan, 2006).
This is due to the fact that strategies used to achieve set goals might not be applicable in certain situations such during inflation. In this case, hitting the target might become difficult especially when there is lack consistency in the operation. Another risk is that the technology applied might not fit the business and, hence, losses are incurred.
Without actually trying to determine each project’s ROE, which would you most strongly recommend implementing, and why?
Despite the risks, I recommend the single marketing opportunity as an appropriate mode of investment for any company. This is due to the fact that it is less expensive and little time is required. In this case, companies can fetch attractive returns for a short time (Samsiki, 2011). In addition, the single approach opens up the minds of company owners in the sense that whenever an opportunity emerges, they readily take advantage of it.
Explain how the marketing opportunity would reflect upon the firm. Would it have a positive or negative public relations effect on the firm? Would it result in great financial improvements, or only a minor improvement?
It is vital to note that depending on the effectiveness of technology used, singles marketing opportunity has positive impacts on companies since they can conveniently meet customers’ needs. In this case, this mode improves the fundamentals of any business which possibly results into impressive revenue base. The fact that singles has limited risks comes in handy in assisting businesses to produce more goods and services within a short time and, hence, result into a major financial improvement in any of the companies (Samsiki, 2011).
References
Charan, R. (2006). Profitable Growth is Everyone’s Business. New York: Crown Business Press.
General Motors (2009). Corporate Responsibility Report. Detroit: GM Communications, Inc.
Goldsmith, A. (1997). Fast Company. Web.
Hauge, A. Malmberg, A., & Power, D. (2009). The Spaces and Places of Swedish Fashion. European Planning Studies, 17(4): 529.
Samsiki, S. (2011), Marketing Opportunities: Home Runs, Singles, and Low Hanging Fruit. Web.