MARKETING RESEARCH

Marketing Research

Marketing Research

Introduction

This paper discusses the marketing mix in a holistic context, and describes the marketing mix elements by selecting an organization and describing the way through which all the four marketing mix elements (Product, price, place and promotion) affects the development of the organization's marketing tactics and strategy. The chosen organization for this paper is Nike. The paper also discusses briefly the chosen company (i.e., Nike) and the industry in which the company is currently operating.

Discussion

The 4Ps of marketing and the marketing mix are frequently utilized as synonyms for one another. In actual fact, both of them are not essentially the same thing. The 4Ps, first articulated in 1960 by Jerome E McCarthy, are a technique, most likely the extensively acknowledged technique of describing the marketing mix. On the contrary, 'Marketing Mix' is a common phrase utilized for describing the various types of choices that firm's have to make within the complete procedure of bringing a service or a product to the market (Pickton & Masterson, 2010, Pp. 396).

The four Ps comprise of:

Product (or service);

Price

Place, and

Promotion.

The model of four Ps is merely one of the numerous lists of marketing mix, which have been built up in the past. Among the differed models of marketing mix, which got developed with the passage of time is the Bitner and Boom's seven Ps, occasionally referred to as the expanded marketing mix that includes the above mentioned 4ps along with three additional Ps (which are Physical layout decisions, people and processes) (Groucutt, Leadley & Forsyth, 2004, Pp. 21). One more approach of marketing mix is the four Cs by Lauterborn that presents the marketing mix components from the customer's perspective, rather than the company/firm's perspective. The model of four Cs comprises of the wants and needs of the Customers (corresponding to the Product in the four Ps model), Cost (corresponding to Price in the four Ps model), Convenience (corresponding to the Place in the four Ps model) and Communication (corresponding to the Promotion in the four Ps model) (Solis, 2011, Pp. 201).

Overview of the company:

Nike is a top distributor, designer and marketer of athletic accessories, foot ware and apparel for an assortment of fitness and sports activities. Nike employs around 38,000 employees and is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon. The company mainly operates in Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Americas. Throughout the FY2011 (the financial year ended in the month of May of the year 2011) revenues of 20,862mn dollars were recorded by the company, which is a 9.7% increase when compared to the financial year figures of the preceding year 2010. The revenue increase was mainly because of elevated contribution from Nike's various businesses and the Brand NIKE. Nike's operating profit was 2,815mn dollars in the financial year 2011, which is a 13.8% increase when compared to the financial year figures of the preceding year 2010. The company's net profit was 2,133mn dollars in the in the financial year 2011, which is an ...