1) Give a narrative about your assigned brand in terms of value it is offering to its target

segment (s). MAX Word Limit 600 [Marks 10]

Answer:

Shah Cement is the industry pioneer and the country's No. 1 brand, making important
contributions to the nation-building process through quality goods, facilities, and knowledge
sharing. With a capacity of 5.2 million metric tons per year, Shah Cement Ind. Ltd. is
Bangladesh's biggest cement manufacturing facility. It went into production in March 2002. The
Plant employs cutting-edge manufacturing in all aspects of its operations and manufactures the
highest quality cement suitable for long-term construction. It is part of the Abul Khair Group,
one of Bangladesh's largest corporate conglomerates. The cement plant situated at Mukterpur,
Munsigonj.

Its high-tech bagging plant will produce 3 lac packs per day, and its packing unit is outfitted
exclusively with Star linger High-Tech Machinery. Shah Cement was the first company to use
stitch-free containers, known as 'Micro Perforated AD Star Bags.'

Shah Cement Plant is fitted with both inbound and outbound logistics, including its own ocean-
going boats, a large number of cover fleets, barges and bulk carriers, and transit mixer trucks
for RMC delivery in the market place on time. Shah Cement has its own power plant with a
capacity of 17 megawatts to ensure 24 hours of uninterrupted power supply to the factory. It
has its own research facility, which is outfitted with cutting-edge technology and where quality
monitoring is performed on an hourly basis. Furthermore, it is an auto quality control device
that controls grinding quality through a closed-circuit system.

Shah Cement's dedication to environmental growth, high ethical practices in business dealings,
and ongoing investments in community service programs have earned it recognition as a
responsible corporate citizen. Shah Cement's brand name is synonymous with cement and has
a high degree of equity in the Bangladesh industry. It is the only cement firm on Bangladesh's
list of Consumer Prestigious Brands.
Shah Cement Ready-Mix, a subsidiary of Shah Cement Ind. Ltd., began its journey in April 2010
with the aim of contributing further to the country's infrastructure growth.

Shah Cement firmly believes that while business is important, social welfare is an obligation.
Shah Cement has put itself in a position to improve the quality of life in Bangladesh and to
contribute to a better society. Shah cement is adamant that customer loyalty and corporate
accountability are the only ways to create a stronger and brighter future, not only for the
company but also for the country.

Shah Cement has a wide market all over the country from rags to riches because it mixes fast,
has great durability, and its compatibility in terms of work is favorable for the workers. Also it is
believed that Shah Cement the cement reduces construction time and less likely to be wasted
during the construction work.

2. Narrate the UNIQUE characteristics of your assigned Brand’s Target Customer [Max 600
Words] [Marks 10]

The name of my assigned brand is Shah Cement. Therefore, the segmentation and those
targeted customers attitudes towards this brand is given below.

Demographic segmentation:

Demographical segmentation is the most important variable by which marketer decide which
market should be targeted, based on age, gender, marital status, family size, occupation,
education etc. Shah Cement’s customers are basically people of all races, religion or beliefs and
regions.

Age: Core consumers are the earning member of a family or the heads of the corporations.
They aged between 30-60 mostly, as cement is used for construction work and these elements
requires high cost, along with stability which usually comes at the later stage of the consumers.
Social class: For urban areas the customers are mostly belong to middle class, upper middle
class and the upper class. For the rural areas the customers are mostly from upper middle and
upper class.

Occupation: People who has stable income source mostly, e.g. Any private or government job
and business.

Income: At least 25000 per month and above.

Psychographic segmentation:

Lifestyle: People who seeks stable, secure and sustainable life in terms of living and workability.

Attitudes: People who seeks the best quality in term of products, specially when it comes to
necessity goods.

Personality: Customer who seeks longevity of their products regardless the price.

Behavioral segmentation:

Behavioral segmentation is key in terms of a cement industry as it reflects the behavior of the
customers towards the brands. Therefore, following are applicable for Shah Cements.

Occasions: Shah cement is used based on necessities, when construction works happens and
such quality is needed in terms of sustainability.

User status: Usually people of all class use cement, but based on its price and quality, Shah
cement’s consumer are from middle class to upper-class people, along with corporate entity
who requires multi floored buildings. Again, the frequency is comparatively low, as this cement
is meant to be durable, so users use it or believes to use it once in terms of one construction.

Usage rate: With high birthrate, new accommodation has always been a must for civilization.
Therefore, usage of Shah Cement is always high, whenever there is in need of building any
house, bridge, buildings and the rest concrete made structure.
Loyalty status: Strong, mainly hardcore and split loyalty and doesn’t switch frequently.

Attitude towards product: Positive

3) Marketing MIX of your assigned Brand [Marks 3 X 10 = 30]

Answer: Shah Cement follows an ideal marketing mix right now which are key for them to
succeed in their competitive market. Therefore, the required marketing mix of Shah Cement
with possible alteration and the reason behind it is given below:

a) Products: The current products of Shah Cement offer distinguish value for their customers
in terms of the requirements right now. The brand has categories their products as CEM I,
CEM II and CEM III along with a ready-mix solution which has started to be available after
2010. The details and functional benefits of these products are given below:
CEM I – PORTLAND CEMENT: Ordinary Portland cement (OPC), also known as Portland
cement, is the most widely used cement for a wide variety of applications. Shah Cement
Portland Cement meets or exceeds the specifications of BDS EN 197-1:2000 CEM-I 52.5 N
Grade. It is made from high-quality clinker ground with high-purity gypsum. Shah Cement
Because of its optimal particle size distribution, superior crystalline structure, and balanced
phase composition, Portland Cement gives high strength and longevity to structures.
Functional Benefit:
CEM II – PORTLAND COMPOSITE CEMENT: Ordinary Portland Cement usually gains strength for
90 days, while Shah Cement Special gains strength for much longer due to its pozzolanic and
latent hydraulic reaction. Shah Cement's hydration process generates C-S-H gel, which
guarantees solid concrete and is beneficial for gaining more long-term strength. Shah Cement
Special manufactures concrete with a higher density and lower permeability, resulting in less
voids and increasing the longevity and lifespan of the structure. Plastering would appear
cleaner, better, and more appealing as limestone is applied to Shah Cement Special.
Functional Benefits:

CEM –III BLAST FURNACE CEMENT: Blast furnace slag is combined with Portland cement clinker
and gypsum to produce Blast Furnace Cement (BFC). Around the world, BFC is used to construct
long-lasting concrete structures. BFC is commonly used in Europe, and is becoming more
common in the United States and Asia, expanding the lifetime of buildings from 50 to 100
years. BDS EN 197-1: 2003 CEM-III/A, 32.5 N. Shah Cement- Blast Furnace Cement exceeds the
requirements of BDS EN 197-1: 2003 CEM-III/A.
Functional Benefits:

Ready-mix Concrete: Ready-Mix concrete is a form of concrete that is created by combining

clay, sand, crushed stone, and water with admixture. This imported concrete is delivered
directly from the mixing plant in a freshly mixed and ready-to-use state by transit mixer truck.
And it can be used for placement right away. Ready-Mix concrete is made from materials that
are accurately calibrated to the correct volume using automated machine control, ensuring the
consistency and material.

New Product Strategy: The products of Shah Cement are sold at a higher quantity which is
about 40 kg per package. Again, right now they are only selling the cement materials which are
keys for construction work along with the ready-mix system. But, in these categories, there is so
far no mention of “Colored Masonry Cement”. Color Masonry Cement is made by combining
mortar Masonry Cement, colored pigments, and white masonry cement, as required. To ensure
the highest quality colored masonry cement, their laboratory will closely monitor the mixing of
these products during processing. To prevent fading, iron oxide pigments are used.
Color Masonry Cement catalogs should be used to make color selections. The mortar strips in
this package are real color samples the length of a standard masonry joint. As right now,
everyone wants to make their house or office unique and identical, the masonry cement will be
key and easy to work with for them. Again, being available in multicolor will enhance the
beauty of it regardless any wall color that are often used right now.
b) Promotion: Right now, Shah cement is promoting through TVC using emotional
advertisement tool and couponing through scratch-cards. They also promote mentioning
the identical structures that are built using Shah Cement. Here, you can see one sample of
it.
Therefore, Shah cement can pair up with real estate brands such as Sheltech and Navana and
do branding as well with the building they make along with the real estate company name.
Because, people tend to prefer actual work than virtually made advertisement, so that people’s
acceptance towards Shah Cement will increase.

4) Competitive Strategy of your assigned Brand [Marks 10]

Answer: The cement industry is booming. The pace of urbanization has reached alarming
proportions. Roads and houses are being built at a faster rate than ever before, necessitating an
ever-increasing market for one of the primary ingredients, cement. Customers are often in
search of goods available at their convenient sight for the shortest lead time and construction
in our country often requires unexpected materials due to a lack of reliable scheduling and
preparation. Customers need cement as soon as possible and on extremely short notice.
Specifically, Shah Cement has capitalized on the demand by introducing “on-time on-site”
operation across the board which brought enormous success to them in terms of popularity
and sales.

To gain this competitive advantage, Shah cement implemented these following ideas.

a) Using rivers and roadways as per convenience;

b) Stocking a larger lot than is required so that no customer return without delivery.;

c) Creating small hub or retailer points all across the country to reach the consumers faster; and

d) Maintaining a consistent inventory to up to the date their stocks.

New Competitive Strategy and the reason for its change:

Right now, most of the area of Bangladesh has been touched and are under development due
to modernization, electricity, internet and good transportation facility. Also, there are dealers
of brands like Shah Cement all across the country. Due to this, it’s not the same scenario as
before, where home delivery is such important requirement as people can easily visit their
nearby store and purchase the cement.
Therefore, if Shah cement implement forward vertical integration, and starts to provide expert
construction workers who can utilize the capacity of the cement most effectively and efficiently
then this can give them an edge over the competitor as people always hire workers to do the
construction work. Here, the workers will also obtain secure payment based on their working
hour regardless the place and the situation. Also, with expert workers, the customer is tending
to be pleased and likely to be loyal to the brand. Again, with the help of internet and customer
service, effective support and feedback is also possible along with convenient order processing
system which can be implemented online as well.