In this Assessment, you have the opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of concepts from your reading as applied to the scenario. First, read the background concerning the scenario company and then read the transcript of the marketing department meeting of this well-funded startup company. It will also provide details of which you need to be aware to more successfully complete the Assessment.

You will choose one of three product lines you want to be responsible for.

The first products within these three product lines that Adaptive Home Products (AHP) will introduce to the market in three months will be offered in white, blue, black, green, and grey unless otherwise stipulated.

The marketing director at AHP meets with her marketing management team to begin developing the marketing strategy and marketing plan. Read the transcript and then address the checklist items.

Adaptable Home Products Company (AHP) is a new home products company that uses technology to enhance convenience in regular home products including furniture to accommodate those with disabilities and physical challenges.

This brand new startup company has just hired you on as one of three new marketing product line managers reporting to the marketing director. Several years in the planning, the start-up is now becoming operational. The founders are technology entrepreneurs/engineers and a former financial director. They have many enthusiastic investors who appreciate the founders experience and innovation. Besides hiring based on specific qualifications for the particular job, they only hire marketing professionals who have technology or rehabilitation/medial supply marketing expertise. They allow the first two weeks at the company for intensive training concerning their technology and processes to become thoroughly familiar with the products. The advertising is done via magazines and streaming television programs and the company website.

All production is done within the United States (U.S.), and regional mechanical engineers (who have been trained by AHP) install the products if needed, once they are shipped. Either Installers National Franchise Co. installers for the largest (Product #3) items, and local or other regional installers.

The founders want to keep the company relatively small in staff but with a potentially global market. The headquarters is located outside of Scottsdale, Arizona, as well as their production facilities (which predominantly uses robots for actual production work) and large warehouse, are ADA compliant and they hire veterans when possible.

The mission of the company is: We make quality home products to help improve lives anywhere.

The objectives, according to the executives of AHP, are:

•  Create products that are attractive, affordable, and better enable customer use.

•  Design quality products harnessing technology that makes peoples’ lives easier. The department has hired you as one of three new marketing product line managers

  (you can read the general product manager job duties).

  Product line 1. Furniture (push button adjustable height (1) arm chairs, (2) sofas, (3) entertainment centers, and (4) kitchen tables that with push of a button adjust height along with optional adjustable chairs.

  Product line 2. Kitchen Appliances: (1) Adjustable tabletop small ovens that defrost, cook, and deliver the meal to the table with the push of a button (sensors determine to defrost/cooking times); (2) refrigerator/freezers that upon selection place the frozen item in the tabletop oven (when bought in tandem); (3) two-sided dishwashers that can send out clean dishes from one side and retrieve dirty ones to the other; (4) cookpots that auto-cook stews and sauces by cutting and sautéing ingredients placed in to “feed tube” and then cooking over low heat for several hours.

1

Product line 3. Adjustable Screens: (1) Television (consumer); (2) computer monitors; Business to Business line: (3) tablet and cell, and (4) industrial monitors of all types that adjust to light, time of day, and visual needs of the viewer while protecting their eyes from harmful light.

*Disclaimer: The organization and characters depicted in this exercise are fictional. Any resemblance to real organizations or individuals is purely coincidental. This exercise may include actual companies and

brand names solely for instructional purposes; this exercise is not associated with any such actual company or brand name. All trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.

AHP Company Structure:

Transcript of the AHP Marketing Department Meeting:

Marsha, the marketing director (MD) speaks to her three new product line managers who have just been trained:

“Welcome to AHP! You three product line managers have been hired based on not only your experience in the home technology and appliance realm but on your experience in either marketing and/or sales among other qualifications.” As new hires at AHP, you are part of a revolution in adaptable home products. The most important thing to remember is that our mission is to make quality home products to help improve lives anywhere.

Our company-wide objectives are to:

•  Create products that are attractive and better enable customer use.

•  Design quality products harnessing technology that makes peoples’ lives easier. We currently have three AHP product lines...
  Product line 1. Furniture
  Product line 2. Kitchen Appliances

  Product line 3. Adjustable Screens

  Three months from today we will be rolling out our initial three product lines we have successfully market-tested for a soft launch at the beginning of April. There are a few products in each line right now. Since you all have experience in medical and rehab areas, I want you to decide which product line each of you wants to take responsibility for in your role as a product manager. So decide quickly, and then go back to your offices and address the emailed projects that are on your laptops that you need to begin right away. In the meantime, I will get working on the department’s budget and marketing plan for the year. Are there any questions?”

  Fr: Marketing Director
  To: Product Line Managers
  Re: To-Do List for the marketing project

  Hi all,
  Here’s where I want you to start:
  1. Do some research on the Internet concerning the competition for your selected product line (indicate the product line as 1, 2, or 3.).
  2. Decide the company’s core competencies (we will discuss this later and come to a consensus). 3. Provide a general company SWOT Analysis for AHP.
  4. Which marketing strategy should we pursue? Explain.

5. What distribution strategy should be used for your chosen product line based on AHP doing business via the internet? Should AHP consider strategic alliances for your product line? Why or why not?
6. Take your first chosen product from the product line you chose and provide a description of the first of the 4 P’s. Explain how your chosen strategy above impacts what the 4 P’s will be for one (1) of the products from your chosen product line.

Get back to me soon and we will move on from there.
Again, thanks for coming to work for this ground-breaking team!

Marsha

checklist: Based on your analysis of the information provided regarding AHP:

• Describe the company’s core competencies based on the limited information in the scenario.
• Identify your chosen AHP product line and summarize research on the competition on the Internet.
• Based on your analysis of the company scenario, provide a general company SWOT analysis.
• Explain which of Porter’s three overall marketing strategies from the Learning Activity the company should use and why.
• Explain the distribution strategy that should be used for this product line. Should AHP consider strategic alliances for its product line? Why or why not?
• Identifying your chosen product line, analyze how your chosen strategy above impacts what the 4 P’s will be for one (1) of the products from your chosen product line.
• Respond in a minimum of 350–500 words in a Microsoft® Word® document using APA format and citation style.