Answer to Question #280361 in Marketing for Sumaya

Question

japan's sony  corp expects operating income to slip only 4.3% following record profit from dales of music, games and other content to people forced to stay at home by covid 19 lockdown measures

(A) use the five product levels of product heirarchy to explain the products of sony corp

(B) explain two strategies used by sony to maximize its sales oppurtunites by building connections with its brand or product so that customer will see its brand name more often

Answer 1

A.   Kotler's 5-Product-Level Model offers firms a tried-and-true method for arranging their product portfolio to target a variety of client segments. This enables them to conduct a structured analysis of product and client earnings (sales and costs). By organizing merchandise according to this model, a company's sales processes can be aligned to its customers' needs, making it easier to focus other operational processes around them, such as design and engineering, procurement, production development, cost accounting and valuation, logistics, and sales and marketing. Modeling and sales, as well as production and new product development, are aided by grouping products into product families that fit with client categories. Sony can leverage the Augmented Reality function to design items with additional features, allowing them to be more appealing to customers.

The fundamental benefit of a product is that it fulfills the product's need, want, and basic demand; for example, a Sony camera's basic benefit is to take photographs. The core product is the most fundamental level, and it basically considers what customers want to buy and what benefits the creator wants their product to provide. A camera is intended to take images, but the producer may desire other features such as a wide lens, facial recognition, and high-definition films. Actual product examples include the Sony Handy Cam, which is packaged, has a convenient design that allows you to grasp it, and has playback capabilities. That provides the desired benefits while maintaining a high level of quality. The fundamental nontangible benefits that a product can provide are included in an augmented product. After-sales support, help lines, warranties, and free shipping are all important factors in this level of competition. Buyers of Sony camcorders get more than just the camcorder.

B.    To a considerable part, the Sony brand was characterized by its ability to innovate. Sony rose to global prominence as a result of its capacity to invent items even before others could think of them. Furthermore, Sony had the ability to understand and predict consumer preferences, and via its inventive products, it was able to establish entire product categories. It exemplified the classic law of branding success, in which a demand for a brand and accompanying equity is created where none previously existed. No one can forget Sony's iconic Walkman and Discman brands, which gave birth to the portable music player category and the desire to listen to music "on the move." For a long time, Sony's innovation-driven culture set it apart from other consumer electronics businesses.

In its recent years of collapse, Sony has mostly lacked visionary leadership. Sony was founded in 1946 by Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka, and this charismatic combination led the company during its early years of success. Following that, the company has had a variety of CEOs, with Kazuo Hirai succeeding Howard Stringer as President and CEO in April of 2012. It lost the visionary leadership required to take an organization through difficult times somewhere between the transitional phases between CEOs and large loss-making operations across the corporation.