2a.

Marketing orientation James Watkinsons business is concentrated in one place because he married the daughter and he got the loan from his father-in-law. He focused on product and product excellence backed by strong technical sales support. Means he care the most about the quality of his product. Watkinson believed that if the product was well designed and manufactured to the highest level of quality, there would be a market. 2b. Marketing mix He rely on hard sell tactic. He made his salesperson threaten the clients by focusing on the negative outcomes if they dont use his products. Also, there were very little advertising and sales promotion. So petiole might not know about the company or products. Price: standard prices for one-off customers and differentiated discounts for account holders/frequent purchasers. He does not aim to be the cheapest. Its aim to provide value for money and a service that customers can rely upon. Product: He needs to be aware of lifestyle and changes when it decides which products are offered for sale. Many products are standard building materials but adding value to the product is important. Promotion: Delivery times were slow compared with the average in the industry and there were few discounts for large order quantities, with the salesperson first having to clear such discounts with accounts before agreeing to such an arrangement. 2c. The product life-cycle During the previous five years, from being a relatively successful company, market share for Mephisto products dropped substantially. The market became much more competitive with many new entrants. Many of these market entrants had introduced new and updated products, drawing upon recent advances in electronics. These new products were seen by the market as being technically innovative, but the view taken by Mephisto management was that they were faddish and, once the novelty had worn off, customers would revert to Mephistos superior products. Jim Bullins was worried by developments over the past five years and felt there was a need for many changes. Furthermore, he knew from talking to other people in the industry that such companies considered sales to be an integral part of marketing. At a recent meeting with his senior staff, he mentioned to the sales manager the possibility of appointing a marketing director. Then he decide to put someone in charge of marketing (appoint someone as marketing manager).