Kellogg on Marketing, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 3The Framework for Marketing Management

Alexander Chernev

Imagine you are a manager in charge of a new offering. Like many other managers in a similar situation, you are faced with a plethora of business decisions. Some of these decisions concern the specifics of the offering—a product or service—that is being readied for market launch. For example:

• What features should the new product include?
• What services should the company offer?
• How should the offering be branded?
• At what price should it be offered?
• What, if any, sales promotions should it involve?
• How will potential customers know about the offering?
• How will the offering be delivered to these customers?

Other questions are more general and focus on the market in which this offering will compete and the value it aims to create in that market:

• For which customers should the company develop an offering?
• Why would these customers buy this offering?
• What other offerings are available to these customers?
• What resources must the company have to create an offering that fulfills this customer need?
• Whom should the company partner with?
• How will new technologies influence the ways in which the company creates value for its customers?
• How will economic conditions and government regulations influence the company's ability to create a successful market offering?

Overwhelmed by the complexity of some of these questions and by the sheer number of issues to be addressed, many managers tend to ignore such questions, hoping ...