Point of Presence Advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Point of Presence Advertising - Essay Example The author planned to purchase a movie named Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring on recommendation of a friend and came across a pack of all the three movies of Lord of the Ring series at a price that was 20% less than the overall cost had the movies been purchased separately. The author realized that he anyway had to purchase the other two movies to complete the story and was delighted to get all the three of them at 20% discount. In the second purchase instance, the author was delighted to realize the value of the package as he owns both a Sony digital camera and Handy Cam. The total price was cheaper by 15%. Such product promotion advertisements resulted in positive impact on the author because the overall value of the buying decisions improved although the author didn't had planned for part of the purchase. The effectiveness of these two "Point-of-Sale" advertisements resulted in win-win deal for both the store and the author - the store increased the net sale value and th e author got more useful products at lesser cost. The author was not at all annoyed but was happy with the sales girl for introducing these offers. Massy and Frank (1966. pp383) presented the findings of an exploratory study on behavior of retailer advertising thus establishing some interesting empirical generalizations. They could prove that the brands sell differently in different stores and the support to a brand depends upon the brand's market share in a particular store type. The author discovered a linkage of this theory with the research by Kumar and Leone (1988. pp178-179) which stated that many customer packaged good manufacturers have resorted to funding short term sales promotion at the store level which primarily has two distinct advantages - the effectiveness of promotions can result in on the spot sales activity and the store management takes pride into participating in on the spot campaigns given increased margins & commissions. Both the manufacturer and the store management gain in this process - the former achieves brand promotion & quick sales and the latter achieves improved profitability of the store. Howeve r the store management normally achieves short term benefits but the manufacturers achieve long term benefits by achieving strong customer franchise through brand substitution. From the author's perspective one good observation about this model is that the on the spot promotional activities sometimes are effective enough to modify the purchase plan by the customers that they had made before visiting the store. Bucklin and Lattin (1991. pp24) observed that "point-of-purchase promotion is particularly attractive given the large pro-portion of grocery purchase decisions made after entering the store". They further observed that "two-thirds of supermarket purchases are the result of an in-store decision". Culturally speaking, such campaigns has promoted a culture of "fun buying" even avail such promotions to just find out what's hot on the day and carry out on the spot purchase decisions. Many a times, customers just get impressed by the sales skills of the sales person and do not bothe r what brand they are buying. Hence the

Case Study of Supply Chain Management in Larsen & Toubro Ltd Essay

Case Study of Supply Chain Management in Larsen & Toubro Ltd - Essay Example In fact, some of the most amazing business successes in the past 20 years are direct results of finding more efficient supply chains in delivering products to customers. Supply chain management emerged only a decade ago together with the emergence of the word "supply chain" in the business scene. This development started from the business world's recognition of the importance of integrating and managing the processes within a business entity. The new revolution in supply chain management significant changed business processes and introduced radical revolutions which promote the operation efficiency of companies and gain competitive advantage in their respective industries. Perhaps, the most successful in revamping its supply chain is Dell Computers. In fact, supply chain management is often referred to as the Dell's model (Cavinato, 2002). Currently, supply chains generally perceived as the "proper blending of physical resources with financial, informational, and relational resources-all within the strategic context of competing in the marketplace (Cavinato, 2002)." Experts argued that there is no "one size fits all" supply chain and that different businesses need to employ unique business models to run their operations. The shift in business model necessitates major changes in a comp... The first section will give a brief profile and background of the company. Next, it will look at the costs of shifting to a more streamlined value chain. Afterwards, it will explore the importance of technology in the new supply chain as well as its long-term collaboration with its supplier's to the system's efficiency. An analysis of the material procurement system of the ECC will be presented. The paper will end with its findings and recommendations. The Company: Larsen and Toubro Limited (L&T) L&T traces its origins by the partnership formed by two Danish engineers Henning Holk Larsen and Soren Kristian Toubro in 1938. The firm is engaged in the manufacture of a wide array of engineering products, earthmoving equipment, chemical and industrial machinery, switchgear valves, welding alloys and cement manufacturing machinery. The ECC division of L&T handled the turnkey industrial and infrastructure projects in civil, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation engineering as well as turnkey construction services. The division is headquartered in Chennai and has operations dispersed in other countries like UAE, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and South Africa. The company's thrust of utilizing a business model to integrate the division's operations into a more cohesive one is the driving force in revamping the company's supply chain. From its manual operations, the company opted to employ a web-based SCM solution which took advantage of the recent trend in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector. Thus, the company was able to streamline its supply chain and boost the efficiency of its operation. Challenges in Integrating