Mrs. Villaviray observed that traditionally, the marketing system for locally grown cashew fruits has been focused on cashew nuts. The cashew farmers earn low income from their cashew trees. This is due to two major factors: 

(a) the low buying price of unprocessed nuts, and 

b) the non-utilization of cashew apples for processing into commercially viable consumer products.56 Other marketing problems seemed to be a lack of market information, fluctuating prices and high transport cost. Aside from the cashew nut, Mrs. Villaviray knew the ripe cashew apple could be eaten raw when freshly picked. The apple juice is very nutritious as it is very rich in vitamin C. The apple could also be processed into high value products such as wines, vinegar, beverages or syrup, jams and candies, juice and juice blends. Mrs. Villaviray envisaged that four major products could be produced through her processing plant including: 

(a) roasted whole cashew kernels, 

(b) split cashew kernels, 

(c) cashew prunes (from the dried cashew apple), and 

(d) cashew wine. 

The roasted kernels could be produced in 200 g packs for retail and 20 kg packs for wholesale using plastic bags. The retail packs had to be properly labelled. For the cashew prunes, two types of packaging could be used, namely a 200 g pack in labelled plastic/Styrofoam material and a 50 g pack using cellophane as wrapper. The cashew wine could be packed in recycled 375 ml glass bottles with proper labelling. The market outlets for the cashew products identified by the market study commissioned by Mrs. Villaviray showed that the potential customers were restaurants, grocery stores, bus terminals and other customers from the province of Bataan and as far as Manila. Being CNSL (Cashew Nut Shell Liquid) free, the cashew kernel products, especially the whole cashew kernels, are considered to be of high quality. Now all Mrs. Villaviray needed to do was put together a marketing plan.

1. What positioning strategy would suit the different cashew products of Mrs. Villaviray? Explain why you would adopt these approaches and how you might verify each product positioning.

2. What options would Mrs. Villaviray have to exploit the 4Cs in developing her marketing plan? How would you advise her to move forward with developing her plan? Be specific about the steps she will need to take.

3. Does Mrs. Villaviray have anything to fear from local competition? What could she do to avoid inviting competition from the local farmers?