netrashetty
Netra Shetty
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel was a steel manufacturer based in Wheeling, West Virginia, which is located at the edge of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. In December 1968, Pittsburgh Steel Company was merged into Wheeling Steel Corporation to form the Wheeling-Pitt. As of January 1, 2009, Wheeling-Pitt is part of Severstal, a Russian steel manufacturing conglomerate.[1]
The company has six major manufacturing centers in Eastern Ohio, the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania. Due to the downfall of the American steel industry, Wheeling-Pittsburgh is a shell of its former self. While Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel has kept itself profitable by diversifying and moving the majority of its manufacturing plants to the South or overseas (but keeping headquarters and a few plants in Pittsburgh), Wheeling-Pittsburgh has kept all of its main operations in the former Steel Belt. This has led the company to post losses for many years, including in 2000, when they filed for bankruptcy protection.
ghai Hotels, Ltd. (HSH), a holding company that is engaged in the ownership and management of prestigious hotel, commercial and residential properties in key destinations in Asia and the USA (HSH 2005). In 1928, the original Peninsula was built in Hong Kong, and majority of its shares was acquired by the Kadoorie family, and still run by their descendants nowadays. The Grande Dame is he only surviving historic hotel in the city. Later on, the Kadoorie family built up a first-class group by acquisition and development in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Peking, and recently in Beijing. As of now, Peninsula Hotels is considered as a brand that is known for its deluxe-plus comfort, with unmatched service, that is represented by 8 properties in Asia and America and soon to be 9th opening in Shanghai (Peninsula Hotel Group 2009). The mission of the group is to set their sights high, their standards higher and aims to always delight their customers, and in many cases, serve the third generation of their loyal guests (Peninsula Hotel Group 2009). The vision of the company focuses on maintaining its unique identity among the leading hotels in the world and operates prestigious luxury properties in other major cities and places in the world (Peninsula Hotel Group 2009).
IV. Marketing Effectiveness Evaluation
In evaluating the effectiveness of marketing initiatives of any company, it is important to focus on 5 factors: customer philosophy, integrated marketing organization, adequate marketing information, strategic orientation and operational efficiency.
A. Customer Philosophy
The first important factor to be considered in terms of effectiveness of marketing efforts is the importance of designing the company in order to serve the needs and demands of the chosen markets. In that case or aspect, it can be said that the company had been successful in focusing on their marketing initiatives, because of the fact that the company had been able to redeveloped and improved the entire structure of the company in order to cater to the different demands and needs of their customers. For example, the expansion of each and every hotel in different parts of the globe was a movement that was done in order to meet the growing demand of their loyal customers. In addition to that, the plan of the group to focus on the different local cultures and qualities of each hotel in respective country enables the customers to experience the culture of the respective country. It can also be seen in the effort of the group to offer 4 unique services such as: hotels, spas, boutiques, together with academy programmes.
Another important factor is the process of developing offerings and marketing plans that will target different segments of the market.
This is because the said process is important aspect together with needs identification and measurement of customer perceptions (Nykiel 2007, p. 282). Aside from that, the idea of dividing up a market into homogeneous segments and targeting each with a distinct product or message is already considered as the heart of marketing theory (Croft 1994, p. 2). The said factor is considered as one of the edges of the group, this is because the company focuses on giving different unique services to different groups, such as business and family. Aside from that, the group also focuses on the different demands of age group: adult and children. For younger guests, the hotel provides car-beds and medley gifts, which include teddy bears etc. Furthermore, the group also offer special treatment for the pet lovers, the pet-friendly hotel offer monogrammed pillows and beds, together with walking services for dogs (Chin 2008). Above all, the company focuses on whole marketing-system view which focuses on the effort and needs of their suppliers, channels, competitors, customers and environment in the process of planning the entire business.
The company has six major manufacturing centers in Eastern Ohio, the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania. Due to the downfall of the American steel industry, Wheeling-Pittsburgh is a shell of its former self. While Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel has kept itself profitable by diversifying and moving the majority of its manufacturing plants to the South or overseas (but keeping headquarters and a few plants in Pittsburgh), Wheeling-Pittsburgh has kept all of its main operations in the former Steel Belt. This has led the company to post losses for many years, including in 2000, when they filed for bankruptcy protection.
ghai Hotels, Ltd. (HSH), a holding company that is engaged in the ownership and management of prestigious hotel, commercial and residential properties in key destinations in Asia and the USA (HSH 2005). In 1928, the original Peninsula was built in Hong Kong, and majority of its shares was acquired by the Kadoorie family, and still run by their descendants nowadays. The Grande Dame is he only surviving historic hotel in the city. Later on, the Kadoorie family built up a first-class group by acquisition and development in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Peking, and recently in Beijing. As of now, Peninsula Hotels is considered as a brand that is known for its deluxe-plus comfort, with unmatched service, that is represented by 8 properties in Asia and America and soon to be 9th opening in Shanghai (Peninsula Hotel Group 2009). The mission of the group is to set their sights high, their standards higher and aims to always delight their customers, and in many cases, serve the third generation of their loyal guests (Peninsula Hotel Group 2009). The vision of the company focuses on maintaining its unique identity among the leading hotels in the world and operates prestigious luxury properties in other major cities and places in the world (Peninsula Hotel Group 2009).
IV. Marketing Effectiveness Evaluation
In evaluating the effectiveness of marketing initiatives of any company, it is important to focus on 5 factors: customer philosophy, integrated marketing organization, adequate marketing information, strategic orientation and operational efficiency.
A. Customer Philosophy
The first important factor to be considered in terms of effectiveness of marketing efforts is the importance of designing the company in order to serve the needs and demands of the chosen markets. In that case or aspect, it can be said that the company had been successful in focusing on their marketing initiatives, because of the fact that the company had been able to redeveloped and improved the entire structure of the company in order to cater to the different demands and needs of their customers. For example, the expansion of each and every hotel in different parts of the globe was a movement that was done in order to meet the growing demand of their loyal customers. In addition to that, the plan of the group to focus on the different local cultures and qualities of each hotel in respective country enables the customers to experience the culture of the respective country. It can also be seen in the effort of the group to offer 4 unique services such as: hotels, spas, boutiques, together with academy programmes.
Another important factor is the process of developing offerings and marketing plans that will target different segments of the market.
This is because the said process is important aspect together with needs identification and measurement of customer perceptions (Nykiel 2007, p. 282). Aside from that, the idea of dividing up a market into homogeneous segments and targeting each with a distinct product or message is already considered as the heart of marketing theory (Croft 1994, p. 2). The said factor is considered as one of the edges of the group, this is because the company focuses on giving different unique services to different groups, such as business and family. Aside from that, the group also focuses on the different demands of age group: adult and children. For younger guests, the hotel provides car-beds and medley gifts, which include teddy bears etc. Furthermore, the group also offer special treatment for the pet lovers, the pet-friendly hotel offer monogrammed pillows and beds, together with walking services for dogs (Chin 2008). Above all, the company focuses on whole marketing-system view which focuses on the effort and needs of their suppliers, channels, competitors, customers and environment in the process of planning the entire business.
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