As you look over Kudler Fine Foods and the areas of business covered both last week and this week, are any of the concentrations appealing to you? Do any relate well to particular issues at Kudler Fine Foods?
The area of business that I find more appealing and for which there is a concentration is Marketing. One of the most interesting topics for me is Consumer Behavior. Consumer behavior was what determined KFF origins (Kathy wanting to buy gourmet food), and is decisive to establish KFF’s growth opportunities. Also, consumer behavior influences how KFF makes planning and inventory decisions. So, besides of the traditional marketing concept of communication, promotion, branding, etc., marketing affects the operational matters in a business like KFF.
Marketing could help KFF resolve some of its business issues. For example, accurate knowledge of the target consumer and knowledge on how to analyze demographics would help KFF determine profitable geographic expansion opportunities. Understanding of advertising and promotion methods and their effectiveness would help KFF capitalize their marketing investments and be more successful in persuading the consumers. Knowledge on product and market development would be useful to help KFF diversify their current product portfolio and/or value proposition. And as I mentioned before, awareness and analysis of consumer behavior would improve KFF’s planning efforts and thus optimize inventory reducing costs without sacrificing customer satisfaction. As KFF has intentions of developing e-commerce capabilities, the topic on Technology Applications and e-Marketing would be also useful.
I think marketing is a comprehensive concentration which could help me either if I’m working for a company or establishing one of my own. In business, there is always a client for which to create and deliver value, so I believe this concentration could be useful to any type of organization.