Proyecto de participación en los canales de distribución (relación proveedor – distribuidor: clientes intermedios) en el mercado de comercialización de equipos de protección personal (EPP´s) en las ciudades de Bogotá y Medellín

El trabajo de grado fue inspirado en la primera experiencia laboral del autor en Proaño Representaciones, una empresa comercializadora del Equipos de Protección Personal (EPP’s) y seguridad industrial en Quito, Ecuador. Durante la primera etapa de esta experiencia se pudo ser parte de diferentes iniciativas, especialmente en el tema de la gestión de la comercialización, dentro de ellas se evidenciaba el interés de la empresas por introducirse en le mercado de la seguridad ocupacional en los países vecinos, Colombia y Perú. De la mano de lo anterior, se le presento a la empresa una propuesta donde se planteaba hacer una investigación de mercados en el sector de la salud ocupacional en las principales ciudades de Colombia, Bogotá y Medellín, la iniciativa en un principio tenia dos frentes, la intervención en los canales de distribución (pequeños distribuidores y fabricantes) y por otro lado la participación en contrataciones estatales. Pero a lo largo del desarrollo de la iniciativa se replanteo la iniciativa, los dos ejes no podían ser trabajados simultáneamente, se decidió que fueran pasos a seguir, ósea, en un principio intervenir los canales de distribución en Bogotá y Medellín, y después la participación en la contracción estatal. Durante el desarrollo de este trabajo de grado se tuvo la oportunidad de ser parte de círculos de aprendizaje especializados, visitas a empresas protagonistas del sector como por ejemplo ARSEG, todo lo anterior se llevo a cabo tanto en la ciudad de Bogotá y Medellín. Igualmente desarrollar esta iniciativa permitió un acercamiento a entidades de gobierno como lo fue el Ministerio del Trabajo.

Métodos de análisis de las comunidades de clientes mediante la relación estratégica comunitaria y el marketing.

En este proyecto analizaremos como las organizaciones se relacionan con el medio y marketing. La idea es determinar cuáles son los métodos de análisis de las comunidades de clientes mediante la relación estratégica comunitaria y el marketing. Por medio del mercadeo se puede conocer el entorno y determinar qué métodos de análisis utilizar para conocer a la comunidad de clientes. Las personas de mercadeo se ocupan de todo lo que ocurre en el entorno, de estar al tanto para saber cuándo hay oportunidades que puedan ser provechosas para la organización o por otro lado cuando hay amenazas de las que debe tener cuidado. Dependiendo del entorno, la organización diseña sus actividades de mercadeo enfocadas en satisfacer las necesidades del consumidor. Las actividades del consumidor se conceptualizan en producto, precio, promoción y plaza que se definen y diseñan basados en la comunidad en la que este inmersa la organización. Es importante buscar información confiable sobre el grupo objetivo al cual se le va ofrecer el producto o servicio, ya que toca analizarlos y comprender a estas personas para diseñar una buena oferta que satisfaga sus necesidades y deseos. Esta persona que recibe el producto o servicio por parte de la organización es el cliente. Los clientes son las personas que llegan a una organización en búsqueda de satisfacer necesidades a través de los bienes y servicios que las empresas ofrecen. Es esencial determinar que los clientes viven en comunidad, es decir comparten ideas por la comunicación tan estrecha que tienen y viven en conjunto bajo las mismas costumbres. Debido a estos es que hoy en día, los consumidores se conglomeran en comunidades de clientes, y para saberles llegar a estos clientes, toca analizarlos por medio de diversos métodos. El uso de las estrategias comunitarias es necesario ya que por medio del marketing se analiza el entorno y se buscan los métodos para analizar a la comunidad de clientes, que comparten características y se analizan en conjunto no por individuo. Es necesario identificar los métodos para relacionarse con la comunidad de clientes, para poder acercarnos a estos y conocerlos bien, saber sus necesidades y deseos y ofrecerles productos y servicios de acuerdo a éstos. En la actualidad estos métodos no son muy comunes ni conocidos, es por esto que nuestro propósito es indagar e identificar estos métodos para saber analizar a las comunidades. En este proyecto se utilizara una metodología de estudio tipo teórico-conceptual buscando las fuentes de información necesarias para llevar a cabo nuestra investigación. Se considera trabajar con El Grupo de Investigación en Perdurabilidad Empresarial y se escogió la línea de gerencia ya que permite entrar en la sociedad del conocimiento, siendo capaces de identificar oportunidades gerenciales en el entorno. Es interesante investigar sobre estos métodos, ya que los clientes esperan un servicio excelente, atento y que se preocupe por ellos y sus necesidades.

Desarrollo y posicionamiento de productos mediante la relación estratégica comunitaria y el marketing

En este proyecto se determinara cómo se realiza el desarrollo y el posicionamiento de productos mediante la relación estratégica comunitaria y el marketing. A lo largo del tiempo se han venido observando diferentes cambios en el marketing. Anteriormente este era visto como un vínculo entre los procesos sociales y económicos más que como un conjunto de actividades que buscan satisfacer las necesidades del cliente. Por medio del marketing, las organizaciones se enfocaron en la importancia de ofrecer productos altamente competitivos los cuales satisficieran las necesidades de cada uno de los clientes con el fin de generar productos únicos, con una buena posición en el mercado y que no fueran remplazados por su competencia. Es por esto que ofrecían productos con estándares de alta calidad, disminuyendo costos de producción y tiempo para implementarlos en el mercado y satisfacer la demanda de los clientes. Hoy en día, los mercados están saturados es por esto que es de suma importancia que el cliente se encuentre satisfecho con el producto para que vuelva a comprarlo y se cree una relación perdurable y satisfactoria tanto para la compañía como para el cliente. Por este motivo las organizaciones que tengan la capacidad de innovar ya sea mejorando uno ya existente o creando uno totalmente nuevo serán más reconocidas por los consumidores, y así podrán desarrollar productos con precios elevados incrementando su rentabilidad. El marketing relacional tiene una visión un poco más amplia, la cual explica que así como la fidelización de los clientes es importante para una compañía, se debe tener en cuenta a todo el personal que trabaja en esta para mantenerlo satisfecho y crear confianza entre el vendedor y el cliente. En este proyecto utilizamos un enfoque cuantitativo siendo un estudio de tipo teórico-conceptual, seleccionando las bases de datos, las fuentes de información y los documentos más representativos o que proporcionen la máxima información. El proyecto se sitúa dentro del grupo de investigación en perdurabilidad empresarial, en la línea de gerencia, para lograr identificar oportunidades que privilegien a las organizaciones, y en el proyecto de relación de las organizaciones con el medio y marketing.

Aplicación de la técnica del marketing interno a la gestión de los centros educativos.

Identificar la palabra márketing con información y todo el proceso que ello conlleva. Tocar el tema referente a la política de personal de una empresa, empresa que no busca beneficio. Esa política de personal es lo que atañe estrictamente al márketing interno. Nuestro propósito consiste en analizar esa política de personal de un centro docente para potenciar el beneficio desde la gestión de hombres bien formados, objetivo esencial de un centro educativo, a través de la herramienta del márketing interno. Nuestros centros de últimos del XX tienen una estructura y unas bases de planificación, para que se puedan constituir como empresas, aunque sean de beneficio social y no beneficio crematístico, un centro necesita adquirir estas características; autonomía de gestión, financiación con riesgo y responsabilidad de resultados. Hay esperanzas sobre la autonomía de gestión en los centros. En cuanto al producto se convierte en servicio y adquiere unas características que van a marcar definitoriamente el márketing peculiar aplicable a una institución educativa. El márketing interno en los centros educativos ha de efectuarse en modo de motivación y estudios estadísticos fundamentalmente y para el personal que trabaja desde dentro de esta empresa educativa. Para lograr alcanzar la garantía de una calidad educativa..

Participation of future pharmacists in a professional development certificate scheme; the paradox of personal identity

The white paper ‘Pharmacy in England’ advocates establishing a new pharmacy regulator, building leadership and integrating undergraduate education.[1] Students must morph into competent pharmacists with the skills, expertise and confidence to lead the profession to 2020 and beyond.[2] One way individuals are encouraged to ‘professionalise’ is through participation in personal/professional development schemes. The British Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (BPSA) and the College of Pharmacy Practice have operated a professional development certificate (PDC) scheme since 2001. The scheme rewards students with a joint certificate for evidence of participation in five accredited activities in one academic year. Although the scheme is relevant to development of students, less than 2% of BPSA members take part annually. We wanted to understand the reasons for the low uptake. Our primary objectives were to examine the portrayal of the scheme and to investigate what it signifies to individuals. We describe our attempts to apply social marketing techniques[3] to the PDC, and we use ‘logical levels of change’[4] to highlight a paradox with personal identity.

Coaching SME managers: business development or personal therapy? A mixed methods study

While a growing number of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are making use of coaching, little is known about the impact such coaching has within this sector. This study sought to identify the factors that influence managers' decision to engage with coaching, their perceptions of the coaching ‘journey’ and the kinds of benefits accruing from coaching: organisational, personal or both. As part of a mixed methods approach, a survey tool was developed based upon a range of relevant management competencies from the UK's Management Occupational Standards and responses analysed using importance-performance analysis, an approach first used in the marketing sector to evaluate customer satisfaction. Results indicate that coaching had a significant impact on personal attributes such as ‘Managing Self-Cognition’ and ‘Managing Self-Emotional’, whereas the impact on business-oriented attributes was weaker. Managers' choice of coaches with psychotherapeutic rather than non-psychotherapeutic backgrounds was also statistically significant. We conclude that even in the competitive business environment of SMEs, coaching was used as a largely personal, therapeutic intervention rather than to build business-oriented competencies.

The international marketing strategy of grocery retailers – the strategy of adaptation and standardization

Research question – The research question, that this study attempts to answer, is, what and why grocery retailers, which specifically work with the strategy of standardization, adapt in their marketing mix to the host market. Main adaptations are analyzed with regard to psychic distance in terms of consumer characteristics. Methodology – This study presents a qualitative research design. Secondary data, in-depth interviews and personal observations were used, in order to identify adaptations, which were conducted in a grocery retailer in Germany, which is its home market, and in Sweden, which is considered to be a host market. Findings – The main findings of this research indicate that grocery retailers that specifically work with the strategy of standardization, adopt their core strategy at the host market, in order to keep their economy of scale. However, the standardization strategy may cause negative financial results, which is why adaptations, in order to attract new customers, are required. Conclusively, a mix of both, the adaptation and standardization marketing strategy, has to be utilized.

Marketing position taxonomies : an empirical analysis

Despite the continuing need for an empirically validated classification of marketing positions, for theoretical and practical purposes, it appears that no such schema exists. This study contributes to the development of such a taxonomy through an empirical examination of marketing positions. Specifically, the research extends an existing taxonomy by empirically investigating personal selling marketing activities. Based on the taxonomy developed by Darmon (1998), data were collected about the information load, information complexity, and time and relationship management activities of marketers. Various analytical techniques were used to investigate specific features of the instrument and the taxonomy, as well as to provide convergence for the conclusions drawn by the researchers. It was established that sales positions can be more meaningfully identified, and, therefore, better categorised, by six dimensions than by job title or job role. Further, it appears that marketers in the same selling position vary significantly on these dimensions. These findings have important implications for marketing theory, applied research and management. However, future research should refine the instrument used in this study, since some anomalies emerged in the findings, and extend the study by investigating a wider range of marketing positions. Such research may also explore whether the dimensions identified in this study influence the performance and job satisfaction of marketers, and the extent to which marketing managers account for these variations.

A comparative analysis of personal values of international postgraduate students from Asia studying in Australian universities: a cross cultural study

The rising expectations of university students with regard to quality, service and value for money, and the growing diversity of student populations have challenged universities to become increasingly student focused. Marketing theory suggests that a clear understanding of customer needs and expectations is central to being customer focused and to facilitate targeting of products and services to appropriate segments. The process requires the marketer to have insights into the cultural backgrounds of customers where the study of personal values becomes a critical component in understanding consumer needs and preferences. The results of this study indicate that personal values are useful in explaining differences amongst the student cohorts with regard to age, gender and nationality. Recommendations are made with regard to developing the educational product for the international student, based on underlying value domains of Self-efficacy and Hedonism.

Marketing research and small travel agents: an exploratory study

The research study reported on in this paper examined the marketing research (MR) orientation of small Australian travel agents. A survey was undertaken involving personal interviews with 91 travel agents in Melbourne, each agency having fewer than 20 employees. Agents were asked about their organisation with regard to MR, which MR activities were undertaken and wich MR techniques were employed. Additional questions gathered data on organisational and individual demographics, and some perceptual and attitudinal data. Although approximately half the respondents had no employee assigned to MR, the majority of agents reported engaging in most of the MR activities nominated, although most agents did not use most of the MR techniques covered in the study. Most general demographics were not related to MR participation, although greater devotion of resources to MR was reflected in more comprehensive usage of MR, and a more positive attitude to the cost-effectiveness of MR in small organisations. The desirability of travel agents considering seriously the role of MR in assisting in clarifying the future options for the sector is noted.

Employer (dis)satisfaction With Australian marketing graduates: the development of a research framework

The gap between the skills and competencies of graduates on finishing their degrees and those required by employers is well documented in the literature with the development of educational curricula in business, and particularly marketing, being the subject of much research and debate over the past two decades. Nevertheless no comprehensive model appears to have been developed or tested within the Australian education sector to ensure the provision of adequate information on which to base decisions in this field. This paper attempts to contribute to this research area by presenting preliminary investigations into the needs of Australian businesses mainly in relation to marketing skills of graduates. Using a mail survey to collect data from 194 Australian businesses, a Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to investigate the significant differences between the importance and satisfaction levels placed by employers on various graduate attributes. Findings of this research show that marketing skills appear to be valued at a lower level than general graduate attribute skills and that marketing programs may need to focus on basic marketing skills, more general skills and personal attributes rather than the higher level marketing skills that we currently teach at Australian universities.

Personal acquaintance measure : distinguishing among friends and good and bad customers

Evidence from social psychology confirms that strong relationships are founded on deep knowledge of others gained over long periods after sharing personal information. The existence, benefit, and management of relationships are also topics of increasing interest in Marketing. This paper reports on the results of a study of sales persons’ assessments of their personal acquaintance with friends and customers. The results indicate that personal acquaintance as a construct and measure can be successfully employed in a business context and used to distinguish among friends and good and bad customers. The findings open the way for the use of the construct in a commercial context as well as in the development of marketing theory. Limitations and avenues for future research are given.

Interaction perspectives of individuals and destination marketing organizations in the tourism network of Australia

This paper seeks to assess the nature, perspectives and characteristics of interactions in the tourism network in Australia. The pattern of interactions between network participants is crucial in defining the network and its boundaries. Ford and Hakansson (2007) develop a structure of interactions between participants in a network. Time dimensions of the interactions are sequence, ordering and trajectory. Relativity dimensions are jointness, interdependence and heterogeneity. Interaction can be problem solving both incurring costs and producing benefits.
There are two stages of this research. The first stage obtained the perspectives from 35 organizations regarding the challenges facing tourism, key growth segments, brand and promotional strategies and customer insights and satisfaction levels. The second stage of this research uses follow up personal interviews and assesses the interaction patterns among network participants. The sequence, ordering and trajectory of the interactions are examined as are the jointness, interdependence and heterogeneity of the interactions. A network map is produced based on the frequency and importance of the communications and interactions. The research will also address key questions identified by Johnston, Peters and Gassenheimer (2006). Is the network characterized by tighter or looser coupling? How important is collaboration to the survival (or success) of each participant?

Marketing cultural attractions : understanding non-attendance and visitation barriers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to draw together the previous academic and industry research on non-attendance of cultural attractions, followed by qualitative in-depth interviews to identify commonalities or gaps in the previous research on barriers, constraints and inhibitors, as well as to propose linkages between these.

Design/methodology/approach – A multi-method approach is used – where barriers, constraints and inhibitors are identified by means of thematic content analysis of the literature. A set of probing questions is developed based on these themes and is then examined in in-depth interviews with individuals that had not visited cultural attractions in the past two years, in an attempt to triangulate data, as well as to identify connections between barriers.

Findings – From the literature, eight interconnected barriers to visitation are identified: physical access; personal access; cost; time and timing; product; personal interest and peer group; socialisation and understanding; and information. The in-depth interviews generally support these, although it is also identified that there are complex interrelationships between the issues.

Originality/value – This paper addresses the neglected question of why people do not attend cultural attractions by triangulating thematic findings from the content analysis of diverse literature with in-depth interview responses from one non-visitor segment. This results in an interconnected model of barriers that can be used to assist managers to develop strategies addressing low visitation rates within targeted segments.

Marketing across cultures : an investigation into place specific dimensions of service quality in sport

Abstract The purpose of this study was to identify place-specific dimensions of service quality in spectator sport settings and determine if the importance of these dimensions differed across cultures. The study was limited to the soccer industry and involved the collection of responses from identified soccer spectators to a range of items presented in a survey instrument. The survey was distributed to respondents face-to-face on a match day of the club they supported, or mailed to their home address. Responses were obtained from spectators from two clubs from Australia (n=277), one club from the USA (n=199), one club from the Netherlands (n=245) and one federation from Malaysia (n= 100). Based on the findings of a number of authors, six categories of potential place-specific dimensions of service quality in spectator sport settings were created and the research instrument contained a number of items that could be categorised under one of these headings. These categories were Home, Religion, Social facilitation, Sensory, Uncertainty of outcome, and Personal attention. In this thesis it was assumed that place-specific service quality issues are similar for sport spectators of different cultures, although differences in degree of importance of these dimensions (etic approach) were likely to emerge. In other words, although it was expected dimensions per country to be similar, differences in degree of importance of these dimensions were expected. Given the lack of confirmatory statistical evidence pertaining to the specific country samples, it was concluded that differences per country are likely to be more than just differences in degree. Both the overall structure and structures per country could not be confirmed, and hence the conclusion was drawn that differences in nature between the countries were present. In other words, what is a dimension of place-specific service quality in one country is not necessarily a dimension in another country. The results of a content analysis of ‘core component’ structures per country compared with a (full sample) core component structure delivered six components (referred to as place-specific dimensions of service quality) that were defined as Home, Hedonist, Religious follower, Safe atmosphere, Hospitality and Personal Attention. It was found that in most cases the cultural orientation of soccer spectators reflects the cultural orientation of the country as a whole as proposed by Hofstede (1991). However, in line with Huntington (1997), it was also argued that grouping people based on their country of origin as a proxy for their cultural orientation, will increasingly lead to flawed and incomplete research findings. As noted by Yoo etal. (1999), the identification of a person's cultural orientation is likely to deliver more direct results when measured at the individual level In that regard it is concluded that it may seem prudent to view Hofstede's dimensions of culture with increased conceptual scrutiny. Although having been replicated in multiple studies, it becomes increasingly unlikely that Hofstede's dimensions cover the complete spectrum of an individual person's cultural orientation. In conclusion, this study identified that soccer spectators (from a number of clubs) from Australia, the USA, the Netherlands and to a lesser extent Malaysia, perceive a range of place-specific service quality dimensions in spectator spoil settings to be important when visiting a soccer match. Before research into satisfaction with and value of place-specific dimensions of the spectator sport service product is initiated, it is pertinent the identified dimensions are further explored and confirmed in different country (culture) settings. The confusion that still exists about the place of the value concept (in relation to quality and satisfaction), where Holbrook (1994) defines quality as a type of value and Chelladurai and Chang (2000) argue that value is a type of quality, further underpins this necessity. It needs to be clear what are the targets of service quality before this information is integrated in larger holistic research frameworks. In the final section of the thesis a conceptual model for international services marketing research in the sport industry was presented as a first attempt to integrate the findings of this research and other researchers.