Download Práctica 5: De Mar´s product strategy

Práctica 5: De Mar´s product strategy
What is De Mar´s product? Identify the tangible parts of this product and
its service components:
De Mar is a company focused on producing air-conditioning, heating and
plumbing systems. This is the tangible part of the product, whereas the
given text deals with the service components of this company, which are
even more interesting and important for the customers. Basically, De Mar
intends that all their customers have the feeling they can rely on the
company no matter what happens to their products: their aim is to solve the
customers´ problems as soon as possible, as good as possible so that they
feel very satisfied. For instance, De Mar offers a 7-day, 24-hour a day
repairing service with no extra charge for moving to the customer´s home
whenever he needs something to be repaired urgently. Moreover, De Mar
guarantees that the done work will last at least one year without any
problem. That way, on the contrary to other companies whose main goal is
money but let customers down, De Mar tries to show to the customer that
he can trust the company, so that he feels confident. As a result, this
company has become one of the most successful ones in the area.
How should other areas of De Mar (marketing, finance, personnel) support
its product strategy?
On the one hand, De Mar´s personnel should have certain features. As it is
written in the text, the person who wants to work at De Mar should be
willing to go to the customer´s home whenever he needs help, even if it is
at 3 o´click in the morning. Moreover, this person should be able to work
well and make sure that his repairing will last at least one year. But even
more important than this is that the employee should not aim for a “nine-tofive-job”, that means this person should be willing to work hard and not try
to work as little as possible for lots of money.
On the other hand, De Mar´s marketing strategy should be focused on
persuading the customer that they have the best customer service and that
they can trust the company no matter what it happens, although their
products are not necessarily the best ones.
Even though De Mar´s product is primarily a service product, how should
each of the 10 OM decisions in the text be managed to ensure that the
product is successful?
The OM decisions taken by De Mar can be structured into different groups:
Concerning selective hiring, ongoing training and education, they are
related to the workers education. Basically, if employees and skilled
workers are trained regularly and well paid, they will be prepared to face
difficult situations and solve problems in a short period of time; if they are
even well paid, they will be encouraged to do it better and to stay in the
company instead of moving to another one. On the other hand, performance
measures, compensation, peer pressure and empowerment mean that the
employees´ work and their education are checked continuously so that the
customer is offered the best service. In addition to this, workers are trained
to work in team, so that they learn how to solve problems together with
their colleagues. This is important, as problems are usually not solved
individually, but in groups. We cannot forget that aggressive promotion
means strong publicity leading to look for new customers or to remember
old customers that De Mar is a company they can rely on.