Marketing Environment

The cases on the marketing environment are mainly focused on the micro- and macro-environmental factors, some of which are controllable, others beyond the control of the company. In both instances, effective adaptation is must and the absence of this can cause severe damage (or harm) to a company including its demise or existence on the fringes. In the following cases, three key environmental factors, specifically competition, technology, and social issues are presented to show how they impact the life of companies and how their adaptive strategies enable them to survive or perish. The first case of this section focuses on how misreading the competition turned a mainstream toiletries brand Tibet (from Kohinoor Chemical Industries Ltd.) into a marginal brand within a short period. This case highlights how a lack of organizational capabilities to sense market competition proactively and adapt to it with agility forced a market leader to be relegated to operate as a niche marketer. The case also highlights how organizational inertia and maintaining the status quo made the Tibet brand fade from the consumer spotlight. The second case relates to the impact of social issues on the evolving food industry of Bangladesh. This case particularly focuses on Chef's Table, a leading food court in the country that serves multicultural cuisines under a single roof. This case highlights how the different societal shifts such as splitting joint families and the dominance of nuclear families, long-term orientation to short-term orientation, changing role of women in society, increasing participation of women in work, and higher need for lifestyle consumption are impacting the food-related variety-seeking behavior of Bangladeshi people and create opportunities for food court like Chef's Table. This case also sheds light on what short and long-term strategic issues Chef's Table considers while offering its food mix, modifying the existing food mix, and adding new products and services to the portfolio. The last case of this section is on the ride-sharing industry in Bangladesh. It presents how the availability of enabling technologies along with certain socio-infrastructural deficiencies of the country facilitated the growth of this industry. The case also highlights that a lack of strategic fit between social and infrastructural factors is restraining the riders and customers from using ride-sharing services in Bangladesh in a formal way. Deliberation on how the industry is adapting to this macro-environmental challenge by formulating intelligent marketing strategies concludes this case.