Reference no: EM132168789

Question: Ethical Issues in Product Segmentation

Marketing managers sometimes face ethical issues decisions when selecting segmenting dimensions. Problems may arise if a firm targets customers who are somehow at a disadvantage in dealing with the firm or who are unlikely to see the negative effects of their own choices. For example, some people criticize athletics shoe companies fro targeting poor, inner-city kids who see expensive athletic shoes as an important status symbol.

Using at least one mainstream popular medium (e.g., magazine, newspaper, web link, et al) find one news-worthy marketing-related article that best provides an excellent and current example that will allow you to fully discuss consumer behavior and "product," the first "P" in the marketing mix. The more recent the article, the better. Your selection should be an article that has "consequence" (is important to a lot of people for a lot of reasons) and will serve to illustrate marketing-related concepts.

It doesn't matter if the article relates to a consumer or business product. What IS important is that it is timely " news" about a brand currently being (or soon to be) marketed, or a marketing environmental change. The article ideally will allow you to briefly summarize its newsworthiness, as well as any important product and/or consumer behavior-related points that you can tie in from your textbook readings.

All submission should be via the weekly Assignment folder on Blackboard. However, at the beginning of each face-to-face class, you may be asked to briefly share your article with the rest of the class...so keep a hard copy for yourself.

In CLP-2, in the first paragraph or two, cite the name of the article, the author, the source, and the date. Then briefly summarize the essence of the article (who, what, when, why, where, how?). As the final sentence in this paragraph answer the question: "Why is this article a good choice to help us learn more about product and the ethical issues selecting segmenting dimensions?"

In the next paragraph or two, (as best you can) do a web search and briefly provide relevant ethical and social responsibility analysis and information about the brand. If it's a new product, then give a brief description of the industry as a whole. Note: If the brand is publicly traded you may want to visit a financial website (e.g., CNNMoney.com), type in the stock symbol and find detailed information regarding that company's finances, sales, size, etc.

In a another paragraph or two, briefly identify and explain any current or future external favorable and/or unfavorable economic, technological, political, legal, cultural, social, and other environmental factors and trends (including competition) that you think may impact the product-market you've identified. Some of these may be mentioned or can be inferred from the article you selected; others are open to what you think.

In a another paragraph or two, briefly discuss what you think (or can find via additional research) are possible segmenting dimensions such as demographics, geographics, etc.), as well as the potential size (number of people, dollar purchase potential, likely growth), and any key psychological and social influences on buying the product (e.g., what needs does this product satisfy?). Again, this information may or not be obvious within the news article. Read related assigned textbook chapters to get some ideas about all of these issues so that you can expand your thinking and go beyond what was just reported in the article. Also, a visit to your brand's website may give you more useful information.

In a final paragraph or two, do two more things: Identify 1) who the current (and potential) competitors are for this brand; and 2) the product's potential competitive advantage (i.e., unique selling proposition)?

You may want to visit the company or organizational website to see if you can find the organization's objectives (especially marketing goals). By applying your critical and analytical thing analysis you may be able to add useful information not included in the original article Again, your textbook, PowerPoints, and the assigned chapters will give you many insights to this paper. . Keep this second CLP focused on exactly what I asked for and in the order that I ask for your responses. Dare to go beyond what's included in the article you selected by researching other valid and reliable secondary sources (including your textbook), and thinking clearly. Make sure the final CLP is well proofread and editted so that it looks like it was written by a single author.