Marketing Management – 1

Individual Assignment – 1
Competitive Response Matrix

Submitted To:
Prepared By: Shashank Gupta
Roll No.: 221445
Division D
MBA-FT (2022-2024)
Institute of Management, Nirma University
Introduction:
The primary goal of marketing is to add value for customers and turn them into the
category of apostles. Companies use the marketing mix factors of product, price,
promotion, and place to provide customers the proper value.
The comparative response matrix aids in comprehending how rivals respond to a
firm's actions. It aids in putting different business strategies that may be used by both
organisations into perspective. Three components of the marketing mix are targeted
by the comparative response matrix:
1. Price
2. Quality (Product)
3. Advertising (Promotion)

This 3x3 matrix shows the actions and responses of two businesses. Company A's
actions are shown in the column, and Company B's reactions are shown in the rows.
The 9 cells of the matrix show the coefficients of the likelihood that the proposed
method would be successful. The total of coefficient of each column is 1.
Coefficient of matrix explanation:
1. Cp,p - In this case, the company changes the price of the value it offers by
raising or lowering it, and the rival company responds by altering the price of
their own product. The competitors typically engage in a pricing war as a
result.
2. Cq,p - Here, firm A raises the standard of its product, and in response, the
rival lowers the price of their goods.
 3. Ca,p - In this scenario, firm A is engaged in product promotion while company
B is attempting to regulate the price of the product being supplied.
4. Cp,q - A circumstance in which the quality of a competitor's goods improves
as a result of a price reduction.
5. Cq,q - Results in quality wars amongst the firms.
6. Ca,q - When the advertising strategy of company A leads to quality
improvement of product of company B.
7. Cp,a - In this case, company A lowers the price of its product, and company B
responds by launching an advertisement campaign for their own product.
8. Cq,a - If one rival raises the standard of their product, rival B will start an
advertising effort to appear more appealing to customers.
9. Ca,a - Leads to advertisement wars between competitors.

The brand and product of interest in this assignment is Realme smartphones.

 Brand of Interest: Realme
Product: Smartphones

Realme is a Chinese smartphone manufacturing company. It began operating as a

BBK Electronics subsidiary in May 2018. Realme is well-known in India for its high-
quality and incredibly affordable products, which include anything from smartphones
to TVs and headphones offered under the moniker "Realme". With an 831% growth
rate, Realme then emerged as the 5G smartphone brand with the quickest rate of
growth in Q3 2021.

In this assignment, only the smartphones of Realme brand and its rival brands will
be assessed, so that we can get a better idea at how other companies in the
smartphones market are reacting to the actions taken by Realme in terms of prices,
quality and advertising.

In this assignment I have tried comparing Realme smartphones and their

competitor’s actions and reactions using the comparative response matrix.
Scenario 1: Cp,p (Price vs. Price)
In May 2018, Realme launched its first ever smartphone in India, the Realme 1
which had a much lesser price than other premium smartphones, while packing the
same performance.

Following reactions were noted later that:-

 The price of Redmi k20 Pro was reduced by Rs. 2000.
 Release of Xiaomi MI A2 at a relative rate during 2018.
 Launched of one plus 6 of same features but at a higher price.
Scenario 2: Cpq (Price vs. Quality)
In October 2019, Realme launched its flagship smartphone, Realme X2 Pro, which
had a much lesser price than other smartphones, while having the same
performance.
Following reactions were noted that:
 Launched of One plus 8 Pro, which has better performance than that.
 Release of One plus Nord, with almost similar price range but the building
quality was much better than realme.
 Release of Xiaomi Poco F3, which has better performance and gaming-
centric features.
Scenario 3: Cp,a (Price vs. Advertising)

Released in February 2020, Realme 6i. The unique selling point (USP) of
this phone was its 90 Hz refresh rate IPS LCD display, which was the
first time we had ever seen this feature in a reasonably priced, well-
rounded phone.
Another Chinese company, POCO, began advertising the POCO X2 as a
gaming phone in response to this release by showcasing its 120 Hz
refresh rate display technology. Despite being released before the
Realme 6i, this phone quickly became popular among mobile gamers
searching for a high-end smartphone for under Rs. 20,000.
Scenario 4: Cq,p (Quality vs. Price)

One of the greatest all-around smartphones to buy under Rs. 30,000 is

Realme's brand-new Realme X3 Superzoom, which was released in
June 2020. It boasts a flagship chipset, 120 Hz IPS LCD display, and
quad cameras with Superzoom features.

Following responses were recorded later:

 OnePlus launched their mid-ranged product, OnePlus Nord in August 2020,
at the price of Rs. 27,999 which is much cheaper than other OnePlus
phones.

 Apple reduced the price of their iPhone SE 2020 from Rs. 42,500 to Rs.
35,999 in order to attract customers looking for a premium experience at a
much lower price.
Scenario 5: Cq,q (Quality vs. Quality)

During March 2022, Xiaomi launched their brand new Redmi Note 11 Pro Plus
smartphone, with digital zoom camera feature, wide angle of resolution with
AMOLED display making it one of the best all-round smartphone to buy under Rs.
20,000.

In response to this, Realme launched its smartphone Realme 9 Pro at the same
price of that of Xiaomi, in March 2022. It has graphics of Adreno 619L, wide alngle
of resolution with IPS LCD display, which is much more efficient in terms of quality
and battery life. This phone also supports 5G connectivity bands, making the phone
futuristic than any other phone in this price range.
Scenario 6: Cq,a (Quality vs. Advertising)

In June 2020, Realme announced its brand-new Realme X3 SuperZoom, one of the
greatest smartphones to buy under 30,000 rupees thanks to its flagship chipset,
120Hz IPS LCD display, and Qaud-camera with SuperZoom capabilities.

In response, Samsung uses television advertisements and online advertising on

social media, YouTube, and Google to promote its line of budget-friendly
smartphones, including the Galaxy Note 10 Lite and Galaxy S10 Lite.
Scenario 7: Cap (Advertising vs. Price)