Microsoft

uncertainty 1Developing customer conversance is necessary for developing a sustainable competitive advant eon. Whether the products of an organization will gift any market potential depends on whether the customers like them or not. whence the management of an organization will stick away to develop an intimate judgment of the customers tastes and preferences if that organization is to stay of ahead of the competition.The process of developing customer fellowship is to conduct periodic market research on what the customer expectations be. champion of the first companies to market itself through developing customer intimacy was dingle Computers. Michael Dell wanted to build computers not through idea genesis from its internal engineering personnel but through data hookup on what the customers tastes and preferences were.The founder of the company himself spent a signifi dropt count of quantify with the customers to determine what they wanted to see most in a computer. T he hardware manufacturing company also developed a website by mover of which the customers could share their opinions with the company. As a result, the company hit the fortune cholecalciferol list in a very short time. Being in constant touch with customer requirements enabled Dell to develop customer intimacy that also enabled them to develop their products and run very quickly.Question 2The immaterial environment of an organization is the industry in which it operates. The industry is bear upon by a number of forces such as political, economic, sociological and technological. Therefore a melody organization in particular has to conduct a infestation analysis periodically. A company such as Microsoft has to take into vizor the forces of the external environment very carefully. On first appearances, the political environment would not seem to affect Microsofts operations signifi sighttly.However Microsoft is frequently thrust into anti-trust suits the come outcome of whi ch would depend assumeably on the prevailing political environment. The company would be hard hit if the country it is operating in went through an economic downturn. Whenever there is an economic downturn, companies tend to invest slight and one of the first operations that experience cost-cutting is information technology.Therefore, necessitate for Microsofts products and services would go down when the economic environment is unfavorable. Corporate tender responsibility is a very critical issue in at presents business environment. Therefore Microsoft has to fund community projects from time to time in tar stomach to endear itself to the caller. That is part of the sociological environment. Also germane(predicate) in this respect is how the society views the complexities of adopting new technologies. Microsoft would also be affected very significantly by technological shifts. For example, when the use of the internet caught on, Microsoft had to reengineer itself entirely to stay in business because previously it had decided not to assume the Internet.Question 3 equipment casualty is the lay on the line that is at the forefront of the customers minds when fashioning a purchase. When making a purchase, consumers mustiness make sure that the expenditure they are remunerateing is equivalent to the value they are receiving in return. If this risk remains high for the customer, and then the company will have a negative image in the minds of the customers. Therefore the management of that company must work to reduce that risk. One method is to offer customers toll guarantees.This fashion that the customers will be paying the lowest possible price visible(prenominal) anywhere. Some companies even offer to lower the price even get on by a certain percentage if after purchase, the customer comes crosswise another company offer a lower price still. Price guarantees are an admirable way to attract customers in the current age of the Internet because a lot of customers prefer to make their purchases online if the products they are look for are available there.This enables to them go price shopping. Rather than walking miles to equate prices, customers shopping online can simply surf and compare sitting in the comforts of home. If they come across a certain company offering price matching or price beating, then customers will be hooked immediately because they can stop price shopping proper there. Another perceived consumer risk is how they will be viewed by the society when they buy a certain product. The way to mitigate this risk is to gain certain products as status symbols and the demographics of the mess who purchase those products. That will have a positive effect on the customer psyche.Question 4The phenomenon of price sensitiveness is a function of demand and supply. When prices are lower, people buy more and vice versa. However there are quantify when demand peaks and during these times there is lower price sensi tivity. Business organizations can take advantage of these times to raise the prices of their products and services in order to maximize their revenue. For example many people like to go move during school vacations. As a result, skiing resorts raise their prices when school is in half term because that is the time when demand for skiing is very high. all in all the parents like to take their kids skiing during that time and they are willing to pay a higher price at the time. So peaks and troughs in demand are the top influencers of price sensitivity. In other words, the management of the business organization has a powerful tool in the form of price sensitivity by taking demand seasonality into consideration. However price sensitivity also depends type of goods. If the goods in question are necessity goods, then price sensitivity will significantly affect buying behavior. If the goods are status symbols however, then raising prices will not affect demand.Question 5A business organ ization must promote its products and services in order to attract demand. The management has four methods with which to conduct the promoting. It world power want to go for advertising. Usually the media used for this form of conference is radio, tv set or the internet. It is a non- personal form of communication. The advantage with this form of communication is that it has a wide reach. If the advertising is broadcast by means of the television for example, then millions of people will be exposed to the message. It also has a high emotional value.The second form of communication is personal selling. As the name implies, this has a personal touch because usually the company sends out its sales representatives door to door promoting its products and services. The advantage with this form of communication is that consumers can ask questions and find out whatever they need to find out about the products immediately. Another form of communication is sales promotion whereby consumers get something else into the bargain when they purchase a product.The advantage with this form of communication is that it motivates the consumers to consider buying something that they had not bought before. Last but not the least in the list of communication techniques is public relations. This promotional technique is most effectual when the management is trying to build a good corporate image.BIBILIOGRAPHYKotler, Philip., and Gary Armstrong. Principles of Marketing. assimilator Hall. 2005.Cateora, Philip, and John Graham. International Marketing. Prentice Hall. 2005.Kerin, Roger A., et al. Marketing. McGraw Hill/Irwin. 2005.Nagle, Thomas T., and John Hogan. The schema & Tactics of Pricing A Guide to Growing More productively . South western college pub. 2007.