Marketing case study (analysis) - Essay Example

13 September 2008 Marketing Case Study The failure of Jim’s Service, Inc is contributed by factors bothinternal and external to the business organization. Reading the case, it could be noted that the carpet cleaning firm is unable to adopt an appropriate strategy which disabled it to adapt to its external environment. Jim’s Service, Inc follower strategy falls short of differentiation required to compete head-on with the market leader. Furthermore, the company fails to recognize, identify and respond to the critical factors in its external environment.

Jim has been very confident in his own knowledge about the carpet cleaning sector brought by his experience in Bullard’s firm. Armed with his savings and determination, he ventured into business where there are only two players—Bullard, the market leader and another which is rumored to close because of bankruptcy. Before finally making up his mind to offer carpet cleaning services, he should have conducted a thorough environmental scanning in order to understand the risk associated with his decision.

Looking at the situation of the industry, he should have noted that aside from the peak seasons where Bullard cannot accommodate all prospective customers (he actually knows that population triples in summer and doubles during winter) one firm might be enough to provide all the services for the entire Petoskey. Thus, he could have ventured in a more profitable industry or choose to offer services only in summer or winter. Secondly, he should have conducted a market research as to why customers are drawn to Bullard and why all his competitors fail to capture the customers.

In order to compete efficiently, he should be able to pinpoint the success factors related to the business. Internally, Jim Services Inc lacks a comprehensive marketing strategy which will enable to differentiate it from Bullard. It should be noted that the firm launched is a copycat which did not strive to build its own image in order to snatch customers. What Jim did is to employ a “me-too” strategy by claiming to offer the same service as the market leader. In so doing, the company did not influence the customers to shift to its services but only becomes as a ready alternative when the market leader cannot accept other carpet cleaning services during summer and winter.

Jim Services Inc could have differentiated itself through the provision of other value added or offering lower prices. After noting the factors which contribute to the failure of Jim, this paper recommends that his cleaning services be offered only during peak seasons when its competitor is operating in full capacity. This alternative is chosen over differentiating himself noting that the entire market is already satisfied with the incumbent’s services making it impossible to capture try to capture them.

Thus, Jim will be operating seasonally absorbing orders which cannot be accomplished by Bullard. In order to find something to do during off-peak, Jim could opt to venture into other businesses which are particularly in demand within the area. This time he should conduct a thorough market scanning and come up with an efficient market strategy in order to become successful or even mere survive.