1. Describe the role of MIS in market decision making.

Ans. The role of the MIS in an organization can be compared to the role of heart in the body.
The information is the blood and MIS is the heart. In the body the heart plays the role of
supplying pure blood to all the elements of the body including the brain. The heart work
faster and supplies more blood when needed. It regulates and controls the incoming impure
blood, processed it and sends it to the destination in the quantity needed. It fulfills the needs
of blood supply to human body in normal course and also in crisis.

The MIS plays exactly the same role in the organization. The system ensures that an
appropriate data is collected from the various sources, processed and send further to all the
needy destinations. The system is expected to fulfill the information needs of an individual, a
group of individuals, the management functionaries: the managers and top management.

Here are some of the important roles of the MIS:

i. The MIS satisfies the diverse needs through variety of systems such as query system,
analysis system, modeling system and decision support system.

ii. The MIS helps in strategic planning, management control, operational control and
transaction processing. The MIS helps in the clerical personal in the transaction processing
and answers the queries on the data pertaining to the transaction, the status of a particular
record and reference on a variety of documents.

iii. The MIS helps the junior management personnel by providing the operational data for
planning, scheduling and control , and helps them further in decision-making at the operation
level to correct an out of control situation.

iv. The MIS helps the middle management in short term planning, target setting and
controlling the business functions. It is supported by the use of the management tools of
planning and control.

v. The MIS helps the top level management in goal setting, strategic planning and evolving
the business plans and their implementation.

vi. The MIS plays the role of information generation, communication, problem identification
and helps in the process of decision-making. The MIS, therefore, plays a vital role in the
management, administration and operation of an organization.
 2. If you are a marketing manager how will you identify and analyze competitors?

Ans. A marketing competitor analysis is a critical part of your own marketing strategy. By doing
the analysis, you can formulate how to run your business. This can be seen as a reactive
approach. That is to say that you are basing your strategy as a reaction to how your competitor
will run his company. How to do a Marketing manager identify and analyze Competitor.

The first step of performing a marketing competitor analysis is to identify your current
competitors. Not only that but you also need to identify your potential future competitors. There
can be two ways of doing that;

Look at them from a customer’s point of view

Look at them from their point of view

By looking at them from a customer’s point of view, you are looking at their major strengths and
flaws. In other words, you are doing the first part of the SWOT analysis. You think like a
customer would. Why would a customer go for their services? Is it because they do things
differently or their quality is top notch? Either way these things are like strengths for the
competitors. You put yourself in the customer’s shoes and wonder why you would go for them
instead of coming to your own company.

On the other hand looking at them from their point of view will help you understand their firm
better. You look at their assets and how you would play them in the marketing field. You try to
see what their weaknesses are and how you would compensate for them. Once again, you are
doing a SWOT analysis for your competitors.

PEST analysis

PEST is the acronym for; Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors. PEST analysis
is done so that a company knows how to react when there is a change in any one of the four
mentioned factors above. So how is it important for a marketing competitor analysis?

While doing the marketing competitor analysis you have to consider everything in SWOT. For
that, you need to assess the external factors. This is where the PEST analysis comes into play. By
doing the PEST analysis, you are getting to know how your competitors will react when there is
a change. Will they consider that change an opportunity to do better or see it as a threat? This
will give you an idea as to how your rivals operate.

Questions that are needed to be asked

Before doing a marketing competitor analysis, one has to ask the right questions. Without these
questions, you cannot do your analysis. The following are some of the common questions while
doing a marketing competitor analysis;
Who are your competitors?

What products or services are they selling?

How much market share do they have?

What were their past strategies?

Are they using the same strategy?

How aggressive are they on the advertising front?

How competitive are they?

Are their strengths and weaknesses the same as yours?

How big of a threat are they to you?

How do their strategies affect your business?

Competitor Array

Another interesting technique to determine the marketing competitor analysis is by using the
competitor array. It’s a simple tool where you follow a few steps to determine how your
competitors are doing. The steps include the following;

Define the industry: The nature of the industry you and your competitors are in. The scopes
available to produce your goods and services.

Find out your competitors: An industry is likely to have multiple competitors. You need to find
out who is your genuine competitor that can match your level.

Determine the customers: Find out who your customer base is and what their level of
expectation is

Key success factors: You find out what factors are the leading prospects in becoming
successful. It does not matter if those factors have been used by you or your competitors.

Rank those factors by weighing them

Rate your competitors: You give your competitors a rating based on how much they each
weight on those key factors.

This process will help you realize which competitor is contributing more in the market. It is a big
part of the marketing competitor analysis. Once you figure out who is the leading pack among
the rest, you can make your marketing strategy based on them.
 3. How do you measure the brand equity of Lux soap? Write in detail.

Ans. Brand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand name and symbol,
which add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service. Brand equity refers to a
value premium that a company generates from a product with a recognizable name, when
compared to a generic equivalent. Companies can create brand equity for their products by
making them memorable, easily recognizable, and superior in quality and reliability. Mass
marketing campaigns also help to create brand equity.

How to Measure Brand Equity of Lux shoap?

How does one go about measuring this intangible known as brand equity? Take a look at the
following considerations and action-steps. You may need to commit several months and be
prepared for long periods of market research, but by being aware of these 6 considerations, you
can begin to measure brand equity. Here is how:

Clarify Brand Equity Perspective

Brand equity can be viewed from several different perspectives. The hard-line perspective is that
of financial outcomes which look at price premiums. That is, how much more will a consumer
pay for a product or service that is branded over a product or service that is generic?

A softer perspective looks at brand extension and the value that a brand leads to the introduction
of other products. This approach also considers the reverse dynamic of the impact of a new
product or service on the existing brand.

There is also a third perspective — customer-based brand equity — which looks at how
consumers think, feel, and act with respect to the brand.

It might help you if you first clarify which perspective you would like to adopt by pinpointing
what outcome you are after.

Determine Brand Equity Research Goals

Brand equity market research falls into one of three camps: Tracking, exploring change, and/or
extending brand power.

Market research that focuses on tracking makes comparison among competitive brands or
products against a benchmark.

When exploring change is the research goal, customer brand attitude is tapped regarding
branding decisions that might result in repositioning or renaming products or services. A deeper
examination of extending brand power is carried out when substantive additions to a brand are
considered. Each research goal requires a different tact.
Understand Customer Brand Attitude

A customer-based perspective in the measurement of brand equity focuses on the experiences

that consumers have with a brand. The stronger the brand, the stronger the customer's attitude
toward the products or services associated with the brand.

When customers experience a product or service, they gauge the overall brand quality and tend
to infer certain brand attributes. If these experience measures are positive and endure over time,
brand loyalty typically results. Today, customers can — and do — easily communicate the
strength of their brand attitude to others via customer reviews and social sharing.

Identify Brand Equity Components to Measure

Awareness, reach, and image association are all aspects of brand equity that may not be closely
associated with consumer experience.

These measures of brand equity may reflect the impact of traditional advertising campaigns, and
the influence of social or interactive media.

Brand awareness is an indicator of how branding efforts spotlight a product or service. Reach
indicates how far and wide that spotlight shines. And image association reveals what the brand
promises and what it stands for in the eyes of consumers.

Measure Perceived Brand Differentiation

Product differentiation is a lynchpin for brand loyalty, confidence in a brand, and the potential
for brand switching. Customer perceptions about brand differentiation tend to be strongest when
an actual product or service experience has occurred, but brand differentiation is not immune to
the influence of advertising.

Differentiation may float on product or brand recommendations in social media rather than any
personal experiences with a brand.

Because differentiation is so susceptible to social influence, it lends itself to measurement across

multiple media channels.

Take Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches to Gathering Brand Equity Data

Ideally, brand equity measurement will include both qualitative and quantitative
approaches. Focus groups can provide a good forum for exploring customer perceptions and
motivation. Conjoint analysis can reveal key consumer decision-making processes.