EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Harvest Farm is a brand of canned and frozen fruits and vegetables as well as condiments.

While the firm has been around for over 127, their profits have started to decline. From the statement given by the former president of Harvest Farm Foods (text, pg. 648), it can be deduced that the firm has a production oriented marketing concept (text, pg. 16). Rather than producing to meet a need, the firm is producing in anticipation of a need. In late 2008, there was a stockholders revolt that forced the then president of the company to resign (text, pg. 648). The new president, Patrick Webb has taken on the task of trying to figure out why the company has not grown or increased its profits like its competition has. The company has several strengths that if improved upon will help capture more market share. However there are serious threats that Harvest Farm Foods, should immediately address and move forward with a new Four Ps based strategy and focus on reevaluating their objectives (text, pg. 63) to reflecting focusing on marketing and value proposition to a customer satisfaction, profitability and company effort focus. I. CURRENT OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES Harvest Farms current strategy is one that employs a strict emphasis on sales volume, combined with a multiproduct-line policy. The company objective is to sell good products that are produced in large volume. Harvest Farm also focuses on mass marketing (text, pg. 34), aiming at everyone rather than target marketing a specific group such as busy families. II. CURRENT STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND THREATS A. CURRENT STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES 1. Strengths carried by major supermarket chains varied product line well-known name after being around for 127 years Board of Directors not afraid to make drastic changes. 2. Weaknesses not placed in any smaller stores low profit levels sales volume has not increased in recent years Growing number of products B. CURRENT OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS 1. Opportunities Placing products in smaller stores New product markets available to expand to The ability to produce new products Expand product line to vertical market segments(text, pg. 66) 2. Threats competitors took advantage of expanding vertically chain store pricing is very particular customers are unselective no control over price in the market

III. STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS In 2008, there was a stockholders revolt that forced the then president of the company to resign. The new president, Patrick Webb has been trying to figure out why the company hasnt grown or increased its profits like its competitors. IV. CURRENT PROBLEMS Harvest Farm, Inc. is a 127-year-old food processing company 2008 showed a severe decline in profits down to $500,000 Sales volume has not increased much from the 1987 level Harvest Farm Foods has a line-forcing policy, requiring any store carrying its brand must be willing to carry most of the 65 items in the line. In the past 13 years, competitors had an average profit return on shareholders' investment of 5 to 9 percent, while Harvest Farm only averaged 1.5 percent. V. ALTERNATIVE OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES Harvest Farm Foods should re-evaluate their market focus and value proposition, to a more customer valued concept (text, pg. 19). By replacing an ineffective market concept to one that focuses on customer satisfaction, profit and total company effort, as consumers are likely to be more satisfied when the customer value is higher and when benefits exceed costs by a larger margin. Another alternative would be to switch from an expanding, breadth of their product line like they have in the past. By changing to a depth centered strategy. This would mean creating brand new products and selling them to a targeted market (text, pg. 66) such as organic food stores. VI. RECOMMENDATIONS The recommended solutions to help Harvest Farm will improve the lack of growth in profits, employee morale, re-establish shareholder confidence and consumer. The first recommendation would be to expand the brand into specialty markets (text, pg. 249) by realizing the importance and opportunity of specialty products. Competitors of Harvest farm have expanded into vertical markets and are showing profits far above Harvest Farm. This would mean that they would have to develop adjustments to the product line that they currently produce and make them either better or different, by repackaging (text, pg. 242) or even making the logo more modern and generation friendly. I would also recommend that they Do away with the line-forcing policy and place a major focus on the four Ps of marketing for addressing the objectives of the company (text, pg. 63). Using the four Ps, my recommendations would be; Place and Product: Focus on where specific items sell best (text, pg. 52). For example, sell condiments and canned foods in supermarkets and frozen fruits and vegetables in specialty health food stores. They should also take advantage of the product placement promotions the stores offers, by placing products in key areas of stores (front of aisle or in a special display) in order to grab the consumers attention and maximize sales. Price: Keep prices within the lower range for the processed food market. The highly competitive pricing in supermarkets is crucial as the consumers are typically very aware of prices. Also having a higher price to make up profit margin in higher-end health food stores, is a very necessary step to reestablishing shareholder confidence. The consumers that shop at the higher end stores are not so conscious about price (text, pg. 11). They are there because of a specific need (text, pg. 13) and price depends on the measure of value.

Promotion: Along with switching to a new logo and packaging. Placing more emphasis on the brand that has been around for 127 years is something that you can trust (text, pg. 238). In addition to those recommendations, make more coupons available for the supermarkets as they are willing to honor them (text, pg. 648) and the more conscious consumer will buy the product because of it. Finally, remove the limitations on how many items of Harvest Farm Food products a store must carry. This would open the product up to be seen more in higher visibility areas of the stores. Also this would help smaller stores carry the brand.

Short Answer Questions: Please indicate your answer to the following seven questions. All questions are worth six points (42 pts), except for question number 8 that is worth 8 points. Total = 50 pts.

2. Discuss the universal functions of marketing and those functions that would apply to the products/services provided by a fictitious firm of your choosing. Universal functions of marketing consist of buying, selling, transporting, storing, standardization and grading, financing, risk-taking and market information. Digital Document Solutions will use; Buying- Ensuring products being offered by DDS are available in sufficient quantities to meet customer demands in a timely fashion. Selling-Using advertising, personal selling and sales promotion to match products to customer needs by performing a needs analysis when on sales calls at customers locations. Transporting-Moving products from our warehouse to the customers locations after purchase. Storing-Warehousing products until needed for sale and installation. Standardizing & Grading-Ensuring product offerings meet quality and quantity controls of size, weight and other variables Financing-Providing credit for customers for leasing copiers. Risk taking-Dealing with uncertainty about future customer purchases Securing Marketing Information- Collecting information about consumers, competitors and prospective customers for use in making marketing decisions

3. Reread the Course Lecture about Market Plans listed twice under the weekly units and provide a succinct overview of the key components of a marketing plan. Executive Summary: It is a brief overview of the entire plan and covers only the main points The executive summary is also useful internally, as it helps to remind you and your employees of the organization's desired marketing goals and how to achieve them. Situation Analysis: The situation analysis helps you to determine where your organization presently stands. SWOT Analysis: Conducting a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis is essential in assessing the company's position and serves as a guide to developing marketing plans. Marketing Goals: Goals are the overall accomplishments that you'd like to make and objectives are benchmarks to meeting those goals. Marketing Strategies: Identify the primary, secondary, and tertiary target markets and their purchasing characteristics.

Marketing mix elements (product, price, distribution, and promotion) as they relate to product or service. Evaluation and Control -- it serves as a guideline for what to do or not to do in the next marketing planning period.

4. Discuss the 4 Ps (marketing mix) Product: is the actual commodity or service to be sold in return for money. The company needs to consider the quality of the product, its uniqueness in the marketplace and the branding that will be used. Promotion: Promotion is very important when selling a product. It is a way of making the public aware of the product and the company. This can be done via newspapers, television, trade shows and the Internet. Promotion is to place in the customer's mind a need for the product. Price: Done on the products producer end to the final customer price. Distribution must also be taken into account, and if the product is to be sold in stores, the retailer's mark-up will need to be considered. Other aspects, such as business competitors prices and financing plans for the product, are also included in the pricing. Placement: Where and to whom you sell your product must be considered. Who your target audiences are and which niche of the market you are aiming for should also be well thought out. The quality of the product will help determine who your target audience is and where you place your product. There are several channels of distribution for a product, and exact placement is key.

5. Discuss the dimensions for segmenting markets Demographic: used to describe the size and composition of the population including age, gender, amount of income, level of education, and other such attributes. Psychological: refers to the characteristics of peoples spirits and minds and also lifestyles. Geographic: relates to where people live Behavioral: relates to benefits sought and expected use by the customer.

6. Discuss, in detail, several psychological purchasing variables (PSSP) and why they are important to marketers. Beliefs: a persons opinion about something. Beliefs may help shape attitudes but dont necessarily involve any liking or disliking. Attitudes: a person point of view toward something. Also involves liking or disliking Physiological needs : Biological needs (food, shelter)

Safety needs: protection and physical well-being (health, security) Social needs: things involve a persons interaction with others ( love, status, sense of belonging) Personal needs: individuals need for personal satisfaction (self -esteem, self-realization, freedom) Marketers may focus on different levels of needs considering the economic development level in the target market. A particular product may satisfy more than one need at the same time

7. Discuss the adoption process as it relates to a fictitious product of your choosing. My product for the purposes of this exam will be glasses that video games can be played while being worn called iPlay. Initially only a small group of younger or more technology informed or those financially well off people will buy into the product. We will gather a group of industry opinion leaders or the early adopters will then buy the product and tend to be a target for marketing companies wishing to gain an early foot hold. The early majority is slightly ahead of the average, and follow. Then the late majority buys into the product, followed by any others interested.

8. Your best friend owns a small children's consignment store (clothing store where the store will sell your "used clothing" and will share the proceeds with you) located in the downtown area of a community of 50,000 citizens. Business has been slow the past year due the construction of several new strip malls and a new Wal Mart store (Increased competition). She recently discovered you were taking an online marketing class and has asked you for your advice for ideas that will increase her sales. Use the concepts you learned in chapters 17 and illustrate their application in your response to your friend. The very first thing I would do is to tell my friend that I know very little about marketing as the midterm nearly killed me. I would then recommend to her that she hire a marketing manager and be prepared to research, research and research more. Since it is a close friend and I am playing with house money, I would give her the following advise; Marketing is the key to success in just about all businesses. It's not unusual, in fact, for a mediocre product with great marketing to outperform a good product that is poorly marketed. She would have to perform a SWOT to see exactly where she stands Also do a business plan to keep her goals and objectives active and in sight. Be different. Take her cue from big advertisers and brands that have the money to spend in marketing and find something that distinguishes her from the competitors then promote the difference. Form strategic alliances with other businesses. She could look for businesses that reach the same target market and consider ways you can work together. Segment the market and create products or develop specialties that appeal specifically to the needs of each segment that is created.

Get involved in social media. Do a survey while customers are in store and ask customers which social networks they participate in, and then spend a few minutes a day participating in the one or two most customers use most. Give away something useful with a purchase over a certain dollar amount. She could give an inexpensive lint brush with clothing purchases over $100, say, or a gift cards and coupons to new customers who add them to Facebook.

Above all the advice I would tell her to be patient and now that she will not get rich overnight. I would tell her to keep marketing as she may have to keep at it until she finds what works for her. Then, if she wants to continue the momentum of successful marketing, she will have to keep on marketing.