Theoretical Background:

Product Diversification
The route of growing business prospects through additional market
prospective of an existing product is product diversification. This strategy is
used by companies to modify their existing product range and add new
product to their portfolio. It can be expensive, risky, time consuming and
requires enough resources. Before implementing this strategy, business
should consider all the angles or pros and cons of the particular product.

Market Segmentation:
A marketing term market segmentation refers to the process of sub
dividing buyers into groups or segments that have common need, want and
demand attitudes as they will respond similarly to a marketing action. The
purpose of this is to satisfy every consumer based on their attributes and
manage anticipation of consumers to maximize business growth. Usually
three criteria used for market segmentation and they are given below

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Product Positioning Strategy:

Product positioning refers to consumers' insights of a product's characteristics,
uses, value, and benefits and disadvantages relative to competition brands. It
is a marketing technique intended to present products in the best possible
way to differentiate target audiences as marketers often conduct marketing
research studies to analyze consumer preferences and to construct product

position maps that plot their products' positions in relation to those of

competitors' offerings."
Pricing
Pricing
Retailer
Mix
Retailer
Mix

IMC Mix
IMC Mix

Competitor
Claims
Competitor
Claims

Product
Positioni
Product
ng
Positioni
ng

Product
Features
Product
Features

Media &
Reviews
Media &
Reviews

Word of
Mouth
Word of
Mouth
Packaging
Packaging

Brand Management:
It is the tactical development and management of diversity through an
exclusive parameter and a communication function in marketing that
includes analysis and planning on how that brand is positioned in the market.
As the world is changing at a faster rate, brand management helps business
to continuously innovate their product and service offerings to create
consumer moments and satisfy their demands. It can be explained from
three point of view. They are Strategic
Categories

Operational
Superior Brands

Organizational
Organizational Structure

Customer Segments

Communication

Budget

Architecture

Price

Monitoring

Placement
Quality
Promotion

Case Study: Answer to Question 1

Mark & Spencers fortunes took a dip due to the below activities

Supply based company rather than demand based company.

Out dated and old fashioned product line especially in Clothing.
Non-consumer centric approach.
Over reliant on suppliers and unwillingness to outsource to cheaper
alternatives.
Continuous increase in profit margins and shift from their core value of
value for money approach.
Failed to comply with continuous brand innovations and sticking up
with same products.
Over dependent on consultants rather than relying on internal
employees.
Irrelevant cost generating projects continuation (like unused lands or
shops, financial services etc.).

But they were successfully addressed the problems and due to proper and
timely initiatives, they were again in the upward trend. The below activities
brought them good fortunes

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Smart and Effective Product Positioning:

They introduced different clothing lines like good, better and best in
distinctive price and quality, customized and fashionable furniture to
enhance and included Coca Cola, Kelloggs, and Bovril to their food chain to
entice consumer even more.
Modern and Timely Consumer Centric Approach:
They change their core value by becoming a demand oriented company from
supply based endorsed famous models like David Beckham, Twiggy, Myleene
Klass etc. and targeted organic foods and energy efficiency products which
are more consumer driven ones.
Maximize Cost Optimization through Outsourcing and Vendor
Reshuffle:
They changed their suppliers to go for more cost effective solution and
outsource many product materials, trimmed down non feasible lines, sold or
leased the unused lands and spaces to reduce operating expenses. And
decreased over reliance of consultants and focused more on in - house
suggestions.
Innovation:
They focused on continuous innovation in clothing (like machine washable
mens suits), branded electronic products inclusion, designer furnitures,
superior consumer service like instant feed backs or furniture delivery and
others.
Minimizing the Adverse Effect of Change Management:
Although senior management changes lead to new ideas and objectives,
they were able to keep the changes towards greater well fare of the
company which resulted in overall sustainability of the business time to time.