Marketing Club 99

CLUB MED: MAKING A COMEBACK

2012-06-30T17:39:00.001-07:00

Case Study 1: Global Marketing's Theory

Reference: Kotabe and Helsen. "Global Marketing Management", Fifth Edition

Publisher: Wiley

Case 1: Club MED: Making A Comeback

Club Mediterran´ee (Club Med), a corporation in the all inclusive resort market, manages over 140 resort villages in Mediterranean, snow, inland, and tropical locales in over 40 countries.Its resorts do business under the Club Med, Valtur, Club Med Affaires (for business travelers), and Club Aquarius brand names. Club Med also operates tours and two cruise liners: Club Med 1 cruises the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and Club Med 2 sails the Paciﬁc. The company also arranges specialized sports facilities. Club Mediterranee's clientele is about one-third French, with the rest being mainly from North America and Japan.

Club Med found that its all-inclusive price is not as widely accepted today as it was in the past and that consumers’ preferences have changed. Vacationers are not willing to spend large amounts of money for vacations that include many activities they are not using as much as they had been in the past. This change in preference poses a problem for the company because Club Med’s competition has been able to customize travel packages for each consumer at prices that vacationers feel more comfortable with.

Although it appears easy for Club Med to customize travel packages, the company is at a disadvantage compared to its competition. Most of the competitors are found in a small number of locations, whereas Club Med has resorts scattered all over the world. Currency devaluation and political boycotts are some of the situations that Club Med faces worldwide on an ongoing basis. These external factors are reducing the company’s ability to increase sales and gain new customers.

BACKGROUND AND HISTORY

Club Mediterran´ee, otherwise known as ‘‘Club Med,’’ was originally founded by a group of travelers, headed by Gerald Blitz, in 1950. However, through the years, as this group was increasing in size, it was becoming increasingly more difﬁcult to manage. Blitz, therefore, took the opportunity to turn this ‘‘association’’ into a business, with the aid of Gilbert Trigano, in 1954. Trigano sought to establish this organization, and by 1985, Club Mediterran´ee S.A. was transformed into a publicly traded company on the Paris Stock Exchange. Club Med Inc. became the U.S.-based subsidiary of Club Mediterran´ee, headed by Trigano’s son Serge. Today, Club Med encompasses over 114 villages, on six continents, and 33 countries (see Exhibit1). In addition, Club Med has two cruise ships.

Exhibit 1.

Differences between Sales and Market Orientation

2012-06-29T18:08:00.002-07:00

On the previous posts, We have already discuss about two topics: What is Marketing? and Marketing Management Philosophies. Now I am gonna drive you on the topic: Differences between Sales and Market Orientation. That differences are very substantial. At least that are two orientation that we can make comparison or to be compared in terms of five characteristics: That five characteristics are shown below:
Five characteristics:

The organization's focus
The firm's business
Those to Whom the Product Is Directed
The Firm's Primary Goal
Tools used to achieve those goals

Alright, lets discuss it one by one progressively

Marketing Management Philosophies

2012-06-29T17:53:00.001-07:00

Marketing management philosophies is strongly related to the Lamb, Hair, McDaniel said, about the first facets about marketing, it is a philosophy, an attitude, a perspective, or a management orientation that stresses customer satisfaction. Lamb, Hair, McDaniel said at least there were four competing philosophies strongly influence an organization's marketing processes. These philosophies are commonly referred to as production, sales, market, and societal marketing orientation.

Okay now let discuss it one by one, the topics about the Marketing management philosophies. I am gonna simply write it down and conclude it from the various reference I've got, as shown below:

The marketing management philosophies are:

Production Orientation
Sales Orientation
Market Orientation
Social Marketing Orientation

What is Marketing?

2012-06-29T16:13:00.001-07:00

What is marketing?
can you explain or describe it?...
What do you think about marketing?

is Marketing has same meaning with selling? Marketing is too important to be left only to the marketing department.

So, what does the term marketing mean to you? "What is marketing" is an interesting question to be answered. Many people in the world think it means the same as personal selling. Others think marketing is has same meaning with selling, and others think marketing is the same as advertising. Still others people also believe that marketing has something to do with making products available in store, arranging the best displays (eye catching), and maintaining inventories of products for future sales.

What is marketing? Actually, marketing includes all of these activities and more.

So, what is marketing? lets find out the answer and discuss it together, as shown below.

According to Lamb, Hair, and McDaniel's opinion, marketing has two facets:

It is a philosophy, an attitude, a perspective, or a management orientation that stresses customer satisfaction.
Marketing is an organization function an a set of processes used to implement this philosophy.

What is marketing? according to The American Marketing Association's definition of marketing is focuses on the second facet from Lamb, Hair, and McDaniel's perspectives. What is marketing? The American Marketing Association's define Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.