B2B Marketing: End Term Examination

MBA (BM) 2019-21. Full Marks- 40

Time- 1 hour 15 minutes

Answer any four questions. Each question carries 10 marks. In case you answer more than
four questions, only the first four will be evaluated.

Plagiarism: The system will check your answer with content in Internet using Turnitin
software. It will also check your answer with those submitted by your batch mates. Any
match score above 5% lead to an F in the entire course. No explanation will be sought
and none entertained.

1. A company is planning to enter the industrial wear sector. They will design and
manufacture uniforms used in various factories. On the service front, they would also
start an industrial dry-cleaning for such uniforms. A) How should the company go
about designing the channel for such products and services?

Ans- A) The target group of the company is factories.

The steps that can be taken to design the channel are:
a) Define customer segments
b) Identify and prioritize customers’ channel requirements by segment
c) Assess the firm’s capabilities to meet customers’ requirements
d) Benchmark channel offerings of key competitors
e) Create channel solutions to meet customers’ needs
f) Evaluate and select channel options

For the company which is planning to enter industrial wear sector, an indirect channel can be
implemented. The market is fragmented and also low transaction amount prevail here.

This has to be communicated to the customers properly.

Once a channel structure is specified and goals set, marketing managers need to:
a. Develop procedures for selecting intermediaries
b. Motivate them to meet goals
c. Resolve conflict between them
d. Evaluate performance

Also the company is providing additional service to the customers.

The role of the distributor here is:

1) Contact the potential customers
2) Make the products available to the customers.
B) What will be your specific recommendation to the company in this case? (5+5).
Make suitable assumptions, if required and clearly state them.

The recommendation to the company will be:

The channel has to be designed properly. For this the key measures taken are:

1) The use of distributor since manufacturing locations is generally concentrated.

2) Reverse logistics should be in place and properly controlled.
3) They should start with low-cost high-quality service.

Since the company is entering to the industrial wear sector, it has to communicate the value
to its potential customers. It has to communicate with target segment so that the value
of the company reaches the customers and creates points of differentiation in the mind
of the customers. In provides not only core feature(that is the uniform here) but in
addition to that it also provides additional features. The value to the customer has to
be communicated properly. They need to focus on commitment and competence
when they are meeting their customers.

The communication strategy that can be adopted includes:

1) It can start a Discussion forum on which participant can contribute online discussions
by posting opinions and questions related to particular subjects.
2) They can also start Blogs maintained by an individual who uploads content intended
to information, express opinion, etc
3) Opening pages in Social media sites where people can
4) It can take about the benefits of using this apparel in terms of safety and talk about the
total cost of operation associated with owning these apparels. Since they are providing
additional service like dry-cleaning, the total cost of operation will be less. So there is
additional maintenance that is there. The customers don’t need to purchase the
apparels frequently since the quality will be maintained.
5) It can advertise the product so that the information reaches to the maximum
customers.
6) The company should try to build a relationship with the customers and gain their trust.
It can also focus on relationship management programs and communicate to its customer that
total cost of ownership will be less here.
2a) What are the different types of customer relationships seen in the B2B market? Give
examples of each.

Examples from internet

2b) Vikram Traders supplies low cost tools to Indian Railways as well as many other
customers. It has decided to appoint a key account manager to better deal with the Railways.
Discuss if this strategy of appointing key account manager is appropriate. (3+7)
3) a) Discuss Customer Based Brand Equity ? (3)
3) b) Honeywell is a champion in building management system which is used by the corporate
offices and the system is positioned as a high performance solution that maximizes
energy efficiency of a building. Honeywell provides not only a high performing system
but also backs up with value added services. The Honeywell customers feel the brand to
be reliable while using such solution. What relationship the customers bear with
Honeywell Brand and why? (7)

4) a)What are the conditions of using direct sales force, distributors and manufacturing
representatives? (3)
Direct and Indirect Channels
• Direct is when the manufacturer performs all the marketing functions
• Indirect is when some type of intermediary sells or handles the product
Direct Sales Force Required When:
 Sale is complex
 Product/service is highly customized
 Customers are large
 Products are complex
 Sales involve extensive negotiations
 Professionalism is required
 Customer requires direct contact
 Then, seller must control the process to ensure proper implementation of total product
package and to guarantee quick responses to market conditions

Indirect Distribution:
 Markets are fragmented and widely dispersed.
 Low transaction amounts prevail.
 Buyers typically purchase a number of items.

Distributors full service intermediaries, provides credit, delivery, wide product assortment,
technical assistance, etc
Manufacturer Reps When a business has a complex technical product and needs a strong
selling job, manufacturer reps are solutions. These are outsourced sales persons.

4 b) IBM supplies it solutions to multiple entities like small and business enterprises which are
dispersed but considerably high in number, Government departments, institutions, big
corporate. Suggest a distribution strategy for each of these entities. (7)

IBM’s massive sales organization concentrates on large corporate, government and institutional
customers.
Industrial distributors serves thousands of other IBM customers SMEs. These channel partners
play a vital role in IBM;s business at a global scale. It provides high level support including co
marketing opportunities, customer lead generation, extensive training, and technical assistance.

Multi channel strategy is used when it is necessary to reach a large business market that
is composed of large, mid and small sized customers.

First, arrange customers in terms of relative cost of sales ” from top to bottom. Use:
1. Direct sales for large accounts
2.Indirect distribution for middle and smaller accounts.

5) For a Cement company Cemes India Ltd, Infrastructure and roads project are important
sectors. The demand of cement went down owing to pandemics. One of the ways to keep
one’s share in market is to be in consistent representation of the brand through
communication and a communication strategy supports in producing the content that a
B2B buyer is looking for during this down trend. But typically, advertising budgets are
linked to percent of sales as a thumb rule. The sales have gone down during this
downtrend. Is any increase in advertising expenditure justified during this recession?
How can you justify the consistent representation of brand through communication
during this recession period? Please assume that the company in this case has a sound
financial health. (10)

6) It is observed that because of increasing use of data and application of Artificial

Intelligence and Machine Learning, predictive asset management services has high impact
score but it scores low in the area of data capture. Data capture is the capture of operational
data of assets used in manufacturing facility, while impact score reflects the impact of
predictive asset management services on the cost driver of a business model of a
manufacturing company. What is the implication of such trends for Bord India, an Original
equipment Manufacturer (OEM) that supplies machine to Essel Propack Ltd, a packaging
company in Goa?