netrashetty
Netra Shetty
AMETEK, Inc is a manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices with headquarters in the United States and over 80 manufacturing sites worldwide.[3]
The company was founded in 1930 and has been listed since on the NYSE under the ticker symbol NYSE: AME.[4] The company's original name, American Machine and Metals, was changed to AMETEK in the early 1960, reflecting AME's evolution from a provider of heavy machinery to a manufacturer of analytical instruments, precision components and specialty materials.[5]
Ametek today consists of two major groups (the Electronic Instruments Group and the Electromechanical Group).[6] Together, these two groups and their respective divisions combine a total of over 100 brands, including analytical instruments, monitoring, testing and calibration devices as well as electrical motors, pumps and interconnects.[7] The company's headquarters are in Paoli, Pennsylvania.
During the 1980s, one Ametek group partnered with the California Institute of Technology to assemble hypercube topology computers. It is not known how many systems were delivered, but the market came to be dominated by Intel, NCUBE, and Floating Point Systems.
On April 11,2010, AMETEK, Inc. announced acquisition of Madison, Wisconsin based 3D atom probes manufacturer Imago Scientific Instruments
Statement of the Problem
The author proposes a study that generally aims in learning how proper marketing strategy, quality and customer relations works, or moreover, to evaluate the performance of the departments concerned. Specifically, the proposed study will try to answer the following queries:
1. What is the current quality model of IPCL? Does it meet the performance that the company demands? What are its achievements? Does it need to be improved?
2. Is IPCL successful in its marketing performance? Did the company improve its sales with the application of marketing strategy projects? How effective are they?
3. What are the essential ingredients of IPCL’s CRM? Are strategies, underlying principles, and process of implementation for generating successful customer relationships of IPCL’s CRM effective?
4. What are the measures that need to be done after analysing the TQM, CRM and marketing strategies of IPCL? How crucial are these results in the future of IPCL?
Review of Related Literature
Marketing
Philip Kotler (Anonymous, 1999) carefully stated that the only winning strategy is to carefully define the target market and direct a superior offering to that target market. Furthermore, Kotler stated that the offering must be superior in one or more distinguishing ways: better quality, more features, lower price, and more value for the money. Otherwise the firm is offering an imitation of someone else's product and lacks any original appealing qualities (Anonymous, 1999).
Marketing can be described as the process of defining, anticipating, creating, and fulfilling customer needs and wants for product services (David, 2002). David (2002) stated that functions of marketing are: customer analysis; selling products/services; product and service planning; pricing; distribution; marketing research; and opportunity analysis. One of the strategies in customer analysis is to continually monitor present and potential customers’ buying pattern (David, 2002). In selling, strategies included are marketing activities such as: advertising; sales promotion; publicity; personal selling; sales force management; customer relations; and dealer relations (David, 2002). Among these tools, advertising is the most highly utilised. The overall advertising expenditures in the United States increased from $213.95 billion in 1999 to $230 billion in 2000, a 7 percent increase. Examples of companies that utilise a huge amount of advertising are Amazon Books and CUC International. Both of these companies are paying million of dollars in sales commission and advertising fees in exchange for placement in high-traffic websites, search engines, and home pages of online service providers such as America Online (David, 2002). This shows that the Internet can be a strong marketing tool.
In analysing environment, market and competitors, and customers, a company should: undertake a PESTEL analysis of the general influence on the
organization; undertake a competitor profile and identify the competitor’s advantages; explore the relationship between the organisation and its customers; identifying the importance of key factors for success in the environment; analyse individual competitors and their influence on strategy; identify the main international strategic competitive issues; explore and assess the importance of distributors; analyse the strategy implication of market segments; and position the product or service against competitors (Lynch, 2003).
The strategy of IPCL on the other hand, is to create markets for new products by educating potential customers on the benefits of these products and by working with them to create solutions for their petrochemical product needs. Furthermore, it believes that it’s established national marketing network, with its focus on customer service, product quality and reliability of supply, provides us with a competitive advantage with its marketing strategies.
Nearly a third of smartphone users will research travel plans via mobile this year
Smart device apps and mobile-optimized websites are changing the way people travel, from trip planning to boarding an airplane to how they experience destinations.
This means new and richer opportunities for marketers to connect with consumers before, during and after their trips.
eMarketer estimates that nearly 25 million US mobile users will research travel information on their mobile devices before making a trip this year.
Nearly 12 million will use the mobile channel to book their plans. The vast majority of both groups will be made up of smartphone users.
“Mobile has dramatically altered the travel experience,” said Noah Elkin, eMarketer principal analyst and author of the new report, “Mobile Travel Takes Off: Emerging Trends and Best Practices for Marketers.”
“From pre-trip planning to in-flight and on-property services to context- and location-aware destination information, mobile devices promise to transform every phase in the travel process, putting vital information—and new marketing opportunities—within hand’s reach.”
By next year, 34% of smartphone users and 31% of mobile internet users in the US will research travel via mobile. At the same time, 18% of smartphone users and 16% of mobile internet users will book travel the same way.
As consumers integrate their mobile devices into their travel plans, marketers that want to keep pace must develop innovative approaches that fit with their audience’s habits and preferences.
“An integrated, comprehensive approach will serve brands best,” said Elkin. “The more flexibly brands can offer to help their customers manage their travel—using a mobile-optimized website, apps and integration between mobile, online and offline channels—the more effective they will be. Mobile travelers, especially those carrying smartphones, are demanding, and expect suppliers to get it right the first time.”
Most small businesses owners who want to build sales and marketing muscle don’t have the budget to call in market research experts. Marketing expertise is helpful but business owners can learn a lot from doing the market research themselves.
For those without a marketing bone in their bodies, the task might sound daunting, but the payoff from doing the primary research yourself can save you money, and the results are instantaneous.
If, for instance, you are considering introducing new products or services, a sure way to fail is to do so without determining whether there’s an actual need or desire for your new product. That’s basic business. So an easy, cost-efficient method of research is to simply talk to your existing clients as well as potential customers to measure their interest.
This may mean telephoning people you don’t know very well, a challenge for nonsales types; but by polling these clients about whether they want or will use the proposed product or service, you’ll have instant market information from a particular user group on how its members feel about your idea. Their feedback will help you determine which direction to go with it. Talking to customers also works well for businesses owners who are trying to determine their company’s position in the market.
If you do decide to do this yourself, there are a few things to keep in mind. The person from your business who is conducting the interviews or leading the conversation must listen to what people are saying. Remember, you asked for their opinion, and whether they are critical of or excited about your new product, you need to pay attention to what they are saying. Maintain a certain cheerfulness and professional tone even in the face of criticism. Clients often have good ideas, but you must listen with an open mind.
Whenever you poll, you are bound to encounter people who do not want to answer your questions, but those who do respond can offer helpful information about the market and the perception of your product or service. With that information, you can redevelop sales material or pick a new tact for how to go after the market.
Testing the market directly with your product is another way to gauge whether your idea makes sense. For instance, a personal trainer who produced a weight-training video thought marketing his program in sports stores was a good idea, but a limited budget meant he needed to be sure before launching into a major distribution program. He found an expert, although he could have easily done it himself, to seek out a few key stores that would allow interviews with customers about whether they would buy his product. Sports stores, it turns out, weren’t a good fit, so he went another route, avoiding a costly in-store sales effort.
If you are trying to expand into the Midwest, call 50 stores in the Midwest and see if they want your product.
Sometimes the marketing objective is more complex than getting a product into a store, but personal research can help in these situations, too. For instance, when a small plastics company that manufactured a recycled edging and irrigation product wanted to open up in markets across the country, its owners decided to analyze the green architecture industry. Through their research, the company recognized industry trends that provided insight in deciding intelligently where and when to expand.
The bottom line: Don’t let a lack of budget hamstring you when it comes to market research. Be creative and self-sufficient about using the resources at your fingertips, such as clients and customers who are familiar with your goods and services. Then you’ll be on your way toward a smart marketing reconnaissance plan than can help you grow your business.
Companies such as Cymfony and BuzzMetrics use software to cull consumer intelligence from the Internet.
As of April 2006, the blog search engine Technorati reported that there were more than 35 million blogs. The so-called blogosphere was increasing at such a rate that a new blog was being created every second. Considering that word of mouth is the best advertising, understanding and using the blogosphere effectively can be a key marketing strategy.
Why blogs are important
“Blogs tend to move at a faster pace and be more informal in tone, so you’re more likely to pick up conversation about a new product type or need on a blog than on a standard website,” says Jennifer Laycock, editor-in-chief of Search Engine Guide. “You have more immediate access to what is being talked about.”
Consumer-generated media (CGM) includes online forums, blogs, message boards, opinions and reviews, and any other public content contributed by consumers. A 2004 Pew Internet study found that “more than 53 million American adults or 44 percent of adult Internet users have used the Internet to publish their thoughts, respond to others, post pictures, share files or otherwise contribute to the explosion of content available online.”
“The power shift from media institutions to consumer communities means that marketers must track a diverse and growing range of influential voices,” says Peter Kim, an analyst with Forrester Research, the Cambridge, Mass. research firm.
Tracking consumer generated media
There are two ways to track CGM: in-house or outsourcing.
“Checking out a blog search engine like Technorati,
Quality
Establishing quality is important in an organisation because it aims in acquiring the trust of the customers. Thus, the quality policy should be the concern of all employees, and the principles and objectives communicated as widely as possible so that it is understood at all levels of the organization. Practical assistance and training should be given, where necessary, to ensure the relevant knowledge and experience are acquired for successful implementation of the policy. Oakland (2003) cited from Deming that “quality should be aimed at the needs of the consumer, present and future.” Furthermore, he cited from Feigenbaum that “the total composite product and service characteristics of marketing, engineering, manufacture and maintenance through which the product and service in use will meet the expectation by the customer” (Oakland, 2003). Furthermore, Crosby stated that quality is “conformance to requirement” and Juran added that it is a “fitness for purpose or use” (Oakland, 2003).
Bethke et al (1994) stated that in essence, TQM is a company-wide perspective that strives for customer satisfaction by seeking zero defects in products and services. Bethke et al (1994) added that making quality improvements was once thought to be the sole responsibility of specialists (quality engineers, product designers, and process engineers). Today, developing quality across the entire firm can be an important function of the human resource management (HRM) department. A failure on HRM's part to recognize this opportunity and act on it may result in the loss of TQM implementation responsibilities to other departments with less expertise in training and development. The ultimate consequence of this loss is an ineffective piecemealing of the TQM strategy. Thus, according to Bethke et al (1994), HRM should act as the pivotal change agent necessary for the successful implementation of TQM.
Bethke et al (1994) stressed that TQM, which has been adopted by leading industrial companies, is a participative system empowering all employees to take responsibility for improving quality within the organization. Instead of using traditional bureaucratic rule enforcement, TQM calls for a change in the corporate culture, where the new work climate has the following characteristics: an open, problem-solving atmosphere; participatory design making; trust among all employees (staff, line, workers, and managers); a sense of ownership and responsibility for goal achievement and problems solving; and self-motivation and self-control by all. The responsibilities of HRM in implementing TQM include: focus on customers' needs; focus on problem prevention, not correction; make continuous improvements: seek to meet customers' requirements on time, the first time, every time; train employees in ways to improve quality; and apply the team approach to problem solving (Bethke et al, 1994). In the case of IPCL, the company has already met this action. Training of manpower happens to be an integral component of the development strategy in quality and in other factors
The company was founded in 1930 and has been listed since on the NYSE under the ticker symbol NYSE: AME.[4] The company's original name, American Machine and Metals, was changed to AMETEK in the early 1960, reflecting AME's evolution from a provider of heavy machinery to a manufacturer of analytical instruments, precision components and specialty materials.[5]
Ametek today consists of two major groups (the Electronic Instruments Group and the Electromechanical Group).[6] Together, these two groups and their respective divisions combine a total of over 100 brands, including analytical instruments, monitoring, testing and calibration devices as well as electrical motors, pumps and interconnects.[7] The company's headquarters are in Paoli, Pennsylvania.
During the 1980s, one Ametek group partnered with the California Institute of Technology to assemble hypercube topology computers. It is not known how many systems were delivered, but the market came to be dominated by Intel, NCUBE, and Floating Point Systems.
On April 11,2010, AMETEK, Inc. announced acquisition of Madison, Wisconsin based 3D atom probes manufacturer Imago Scientific Instruments
Statement of the Problem
The author proposes a study that generally aims in learning how proper marketing strategy, quality and customer relations works, or moreover, to evaluate the performance of the departments concerned. Specifically, the proposed study will try to answer the following queries:
1. What is the current quality model of IPCL? Does it meet the performance that the company demands? What are its achievements? Does it need to be improved?
2. Is IPCL successful in its marketing performance? Did the company improve its sales with the application of marketing strategy projects? How effective are they?
3. What are the essential ingredients of IPCL’s CRM? Are strategies, underlying principles, and process of implementation for generating successful customer relationships of IPCL’s CRM effective?
4. What are the measures that need to be done after analysing the TQM, CRM and marketing strategies of IPCL? How crucial are these results in the future of IPCL?
Review of Related Literature
Marketing
Philip Kotler (Anonymous, 1999) carefully stated that the only winning strategy is to carefully define the target market and direct a superior offering to that target market. Furthermore, Kotler stated that the offering must be superior in one or more distinguishing ways: better quality, more features, lower price, and more value for the money. Otherwise the firm is offering an imitation of someone else's product and lacks any original appealing qualities (Anonymous, 1999).
Marketing can be described as the process of defining, anticipating, creating, and fulfilling customer needs and wants for product services (David, 2002). David (2002) stated that functions of marketing are: customer analysis; selling products/services; product and service planning; pricing; distribution; marketing research; and opportunity analysis. One of the strategies in customer analysis is to continually monitor present and potential customers’ buying pattern (David, 2002). In selling, strategies included are marketing activities such as: advertising; sales promotion; publicity; personal selling; sales force management; customer relations; and dealer relations (David, 2002). Among these tools, advertising is the most highly utilised. The overall advertising expenditures in the United States increased from $213.95 billion in 1999 to $230 billion in 2000, a 7 percent increase. Examples of companies that utilise a huge amount of advertising are Amazon Books and CUC International. Both of these companies are paying million of dollars in sales commission and advertising fees in exchange for placement in high-traffic websites, search engines, and home pages of online service providers such as America Online (David, 2002). This shows that the Internet can be a strong marketing tool.
In analysing environment, market and competitors, and customers, a company should: undertake a PESTEL analysis of the general influence on the
organization; undertake a competitor profile and identify the competitor’s advantages; explore the relationship between the organisation and its customers; identifying the importance of key factors for success in the environment; analyse individual competitors and their influence on strategy; identify the main international strategic competitive issues; explore and assess the importance of distributors; analyse the strategy implication of market segments; and position the product or service against competitors (Lynch, 2003).
The strategy of IPCL on the other hand, is to create markets for new products by educating potential customers on the benefits of these products and by working with them to create solutions for their petrochemical product needs. Furthermore, it believes that it’s established national marketing network, with its focus on customer service, product quality and reliability of supply, provides us with a competitive advantage with its marketing strategies.
Nearly a third of smartphone users will research travel plans via mobile this year
Smart device apps and mobile-optimized websites are changing the way people travel, from trip planning to boarding an airplane to how they experience destinations.
This means new and richer opportunities for marketers to connect with consumers before, during and after their trips.
eMarketer estimates that nearly 25 million US mobile users will research travel information on their mobile devices before making a trip this year.
Nearly 12 million will use the mobile channel to book their plans. The vast majority of both groups will be made up of smartphone users.
“Mobile has dramatically altered the travel experience,” said Noah Elkin, eMarketer principal analyst and author of the new report, “Mobile Travel Takes Off: Emerging Trends and Best Practices for Marketers.”
“From pre-trip planning to in-flight and on-property services to context- and location-aware destination information, mobile devices promise to transform every phase in the travel process, putting vital information—and new marketing opportunities—within hand’s reach.”
By next year, 34% of smartphone users and 31% of mobile internet users in the US will research travel via mobile. At the same time, 18% of smartphone users and 16% of mobile internet users will book travel the same way.
As consumers integrate their mobile devices into their travel plans, marketers that want to keep pace must develop innovative approaches that fit with their audience’s habits and preferences.
“An integrated, comprehensive approach will serve brands best,” said Elkin. “The more flexibly brands can offer to help their customers manage their travel—using a mobile-optimized website, apps and integration between mobile, online and offline channels—the more effective they will be. Mobile travelers, especially those carrying smartphones, are demanding, and expect suppliers to get it right the first time.”
Most small businesses owners who want to build sales and marketing muscle don’t have the budget to call in market research experts. Marketing expertise is helpful but business owners can learn a lot from doing the market research themselves.
For those without a marketing bone in their bodies, the task might sound daunting, but the payoff from doing the primary research yourself can save you money, and the results are instantaneous.
If, for instance, you are considering introducing new products or services, a sure way to fail is to do so without determining whether there’s an actual need or desire for your new product. That’s basic business. So an easy, cost-efficient method of research is to simply talk to your existing clients as well as potential customers to measure their interest.
This may mean telephoning people you don’t know very well, a challenge for nonsales types; but by polling these clients about whether they want or will use the proposed product or service, you’ll have instant market information from a particular user group on how its members feel about your idea. Their feedback will help you determine which direction to go with it. Talking to customers also works well for businesses owners who are trying to determine their company’s position in the market.
If you do decide to do this yourself, there are a few things to keep in mind. The person from your business who is conducting the interviews or leading the conversation must listen to what people are saying. Remember, you asked for their opinion, and whether they are critical of or excited about your new product, you need to pay attention to what they are saying. Maintain a certain cheerfulness and professional tone even in the face of criticism. Clients often have good ideas, but you must listen with an open mind.
Whenever you poll, you are bound to encounter people who do not want to answer your questions, but those who do respond can offer helpful information about the market and the perception of your product or service. With that information, you can redevelop sales material or pick a new tact for how to go after the market.
Testing the market directly with your product is another way to gauge whether your idea makes sense. For instance, a personal trainer who produced a weight-training video thought marketing his program in sports stores was a good idea, but a limited budget meant he needed to be sure before launching into a major distribution program. He found an expert, although he could have easily done it himself, to seek out a few key stores that would allow interviews with customers about whether they would buy his product. Sports stores, it turns out, weren’t a good fit, so he went another route, avoiding a costly in-store sales effort.
If you are trying to expand into the Midwest, call 50 stores in the Midwest and see if they want your product.
Sometimes the marketing objective is more complex than getting a product into a store, but personal research can help in these situations, too. For instance, when a small plastics company that manufactured a recycled edging and irrigation product wanted to open up in markets across the country, its owners decided to analyze the green architecture industry. Through their research, the company recognized industry trends that provided insight in deciding intelligently where and when to expand.
The bottom line: Don’t let a lack of budget hamstring you when it comes to market research. Be creative and self-sufficient about using the resources at your fingertips, such as clients and customers who are familiar with your goods and services. Then you’ll be on your way toward a smart marketing reconnaissance plan than can help you grow your business.
Companies such as Cymfony and BuzzMetrics use software to cull consumer intelligence from the Internet.
As of April 2006, the blog search engine Technorati reported that there were more than 35 million blogs. The so-called blogosphere was increasing at such a rate that a new blog was being created every second. Considering that word of mouth is the best advertising, understanding and using the blogosphere effectively can be a key marketing strategy.
Why blogs are important
“Blogs tend to move at a faster pace and be more informal in tone, so you’re more likely to pick up conversation about a new product type or need on a blog than on a standard website,” says Jennifer Laycock, editor-in-chief of Search Engine Guide. “You have more immediate access to what is being talked about.”
Consumer-generated media (CGM) includes online forums, blogs, message boards, opinions and reviews, and any other public content contributed by consumers. A 2004 Pew Internet study found that “more than 53 million American adults or 44 percent of adult Internet users have used the Internet to publish their thoughts, respond to others, post pictures, share files or otherwise contribute to the explosion of content available online.”
“The power shift from media institutions to consumer communities means that marketers must track a diverse and growing range of influential voices,” says Peter Kim, an analyst with Forrester Research, the Cambridge, Mass. research firm.
Tracking consumer generated media
There are two ways to track CGM: in-house or outsourcing.
“Checking out a blog search engine like Technorati,
Quality
Establishing quality is important in an organisation because it aims in acquiring the trust of the customers. Thus, the quality policy should be the concern of all employees, and the principles and objectives communicated as widely as possible so that it is understood at all levels of the organization. Practical assistance and training should be given, where necessary, to ensure the relevant knowledge and experience are acquired for successful implementation of the policy. Oakland (2003) cited from Deming that “quality should be aimed at the needs of the consumer, present and future.” Furthermore, he cited from Feigenbaum that “the total composite product and service characteristics of marketing, engineering, manufacture and maintenance through which the product and service in use will meet the expectation by the customer” (Oakland, 2003). Furthermore, Crosby stated that quality is “conformance to requirement” and Juran added that it is a “fitness for purpose or use” (Oakland, 2003).
Bethke et al (1994) stated that in essence, TQM is a company-wide perspective that strives for customer satisfaction by seeking zero defects in products and services. Bethke et al (1994) added that making quality improvements was once thought to be the sole responsibility of specialists (quality engineers, product designers, and process engineers). Today, developing quality across the entire firm can be an important function of the human resource management (HRM) department. A failure on HRM's part to recognize this opportunity and act on it may result in the loss of TQM implementation responsibilities to other departments with less expertise in training and development. The ultimate consequence of this loss is an ineffective piecemealing of the TQM strategy. Thus, according to Bethke et al (1994), HRM should act as the pivotal change agent necessary for the successful implementation of TQM.
Bethke et al (1994) stressed that TQM, which has been adopted by leading industrial companies, is a participative system empowering all employees to take responsibility for improving quality within the organization. Instead of using traditional bureaucratic rule enforcement, TQM calls for a change in the corporate culture, where the new work climate has the following characteristics: an open, problem-solving atmosphere; participatory design making; trust among all employees (staff, line, workers, and managers); a sense of ownership and responsibility for goal achievement and problems solving; and self-motivation and self-control by all. The responsibilities of HRM in implementing TQM include: focus on customers' needs; focus on problem prevention, not correction; make continuous improvements: seek to meet customers' requirements on time, the first time, every time; train employees in ways to improve quality; and apply the team approach to problem solving (Bethke et al, 1994). In the case of IPCL, the company has already met this action. Training of manpower happens to be an integral component of the development strategy in quality and in other factors
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