Focusing on premium brands

Bachelorarbeit von Johannes-Cornelius Adari, Henrik Thrane, Pascale Taube

Abstract:

The word marketing is always appearing in most articles and books dealing with selling, the word has been watered down and in many cases lost its true value and sense. Most people mistakenly identify marketing with selling and promotion - but selling is only the tip of the marketing iceberg. It is simply one of several marketing functions, and often not the most important one. If the marketer does a good job of identifying consumer needs, developing appropriate products, and pricing, distributing, and promoting them effectively, these goods will sell very easily.

Companies have to search for buyers, identify their needs, design appropriate products, promote them, store and transport them, negotiate, and so on. Such activities as product development, search, communication, distribution, pricing, and service constitute core marketing activities.

We have defined the core marketing activities; supporting the sales force in their pursuit of revenues and profit. The marketing department have to focus multiple tasks ranging from product development to pricing.

Often the marketing department is so intertwined in the sales processes that the marketing and sales division is one division, in order to maintain the direction required in order to achieve the objectives set up by the management.

In the first part of this case we will look at the general term; strategic marketing and set up fictitious examples of how a company in the automotive industry would deal with strategic marketing and look at the tools available to the marketing department and how they are implemented.

Being a multinational company like BMW you need a strategy for virtually prior to make a decision and this applies to marketing as well. The company has the past two decades developed from an international company to a global player, where the set of standards are different and the requirement for setting up a marketing strategy has changed.

We have decided in this case to analyze the decisions behind launching certain products; such as the roadster; the Z Series and the X Series, which meant that BMW for the first time in its history ventured into new segments normally being dominated by other manufactures.

The decision to leave the traditional segment where BMW had for years been successful and diversify the product line will be analysed and in the introduction we will try to cast a light on the tools and means behind such decisions.

In the middle of the 80’s BMW decided to build a new car; the roadster Z1 and later on the Z3 and Z4 followed and in the Off Road segment BMW introduced the X Series.

The marketing department were deeply involved in the process of providing information’s relevant for the management of BMW; giving the management all the data required in order to decide, what segments could be served by BMW.

Gathering information’s from all major markets and from consumers; figuring out what the competition were selling, who would be a potential customer, what do the focus group what, what price would they be prepared to for a similar BMW product, what features would the car need in order to a success, how do we meet their demands, expectations and desires.

All these information is gathered by the marketing department using several tools; ranging from interviews within their own customer base and gathering information from the customer buying a car from the competition.

Looking closer at the process involved on behalf of the marketing department, we will have to look at the entire process.

In the following parts of the case study we will highlight the strategies on behalf of the BMW Group and look at the results of their strategies. It is clear to most observers within the automotive industry, the BMW Group has probably one of the best strategies and it has helped BMW to keep expanding and surviving on the market.

Zusammenfassung:

Die vorliegende englischsprachige Projektarbeit behandelt das Thema strategisches Marketing in der Automobilindustrie am Beispiel der Premium-Markenstrategie der BMW AG. Ziel der Arbeit ist es, das Wesen, die Zielvorgaben, die Konzeptionierung und Umsetzung als auch die finanzwirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen von strategischen Marketingentscheidungen aufzuzeigen.

Die Arbeit ist in 6 Teile untergliedert. Im 1. Teil werden die allgemeinen Marketinggrundlagen von Ansoff, Porter, McKinsey, BCG, etc. beleuchtet.

Ein Überblick über die wesentlichen Strategien des BMW Konzerns seit der Übernahme von Rover erfolgt im 2. Teil. Alle dort behandelten Strategien verfolgen den Zweck, BMW in unterschiedlichen betriebswirtschaftlichen Bereichen von einem internationalen zu einem globalen Konzern umzuwandeln. Nach dem Scheitern der Strategie des externen Wachstums anhand der Rover-Übernahme rief im Jahr 2000 der neue BMW Vorstand eine Mehrmarken-, Premiummarken- und Produktlinienstrategie aus, die das Wachstum des Konzerns gewährleisten soll und die im 3. Teil der Arbeit ausführlich untersucht wird.

Dort werden die drei Elemente einer Premiummarkenpolitik, die Schaffung von Markenidentitäten und das Markenmanagement der BMW AG erörtert.

Anschließend wird im 4. Teil der Automobilmarkt des Jahres 2000 aus der Sicht der BMW AG und anderer Hersteller untersucht, sowie die Entwicklung des operativen Geschäfts der BMW AG bis Ende des Jahres 2003.

Die Investitionen der BMW AG in neue Produkte und die Entwicklung des Aktienkurses stehen dabei im Mittelpunkt der Untersuchung und im 5. Teil einer umfassenden Bewertung unterzogen.

Die Arbeit schließt mit der Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse im 6. Teil ab.

Table of Contents: