Marketing Plan for Z-Wing

Solution Preview

Marketing Plan: Z-Wing
In order for organizations of today to succeed, business entities must have and a strategic business plan which clearly defines the company's objectives, planned approach, and outlines the resources of the organization. In addition to the business plan, organizations must establish a marketing plan which will serve as a blueprint for the organization as it undergoes changes associated with product development and implementation. The purpose of a marketing plan is to establish strategies that would maximize business profits by increasing sales and lowering costs. The marketing plan establishes the direction the organization will take in order to promote the products and services, attract customers, take advantage of available opportunities, and ultimately make the organization profitable.
Using Z-Wing as the topic of the case study/simulation, this paper will attempt to educate the readers on the importance of a comprehensive marketing plan. This paper will attempt to create a marketing plan specific to Z-Wing's situation. Doing so would aid in establishing Z-Wing as an industry leader with marketing and operational strategies that are superior to its competitors.
Executive Summary
Z-Wing is an aircraft manufacturing organization boasting revenue of $60 billion per annum and with a market cap of $35 billion. Z-Wing is the well-recognized manufacturing organization, holding the reputation as the world's largest commercial and military aircraft producer. Z-Wing has currently secured 50% of the market share; however, recent industry analysis has shown that Janssen, Z-Wing's closest competitor, has gained 47% of the market. With the whole aircraft manufacturing industry just growing by 5% per annum, Z-Wing cannot afford to be complacent and lose out to its competition. Overall the goals of increased customer satisfaction and industry leadership can be achieved by strengthening the company's commitment to quality and service and by delivering both to Z-Wing's clients in the next few years.
Situation Analysis
In the hopes of helping the company reorganize and regain focus, Aaron Weiss, chairman of the board, has expressed that the two main objectives for Z-Wing should be to stay ahead of the competition specifically Janssen and to maintain its industry leader status. In order to do so, there are three options Z-Wing's management is considering namely upgrading existing line of aircrafts, introducing a line of short, long-haul aircrafts, and introducing "In Touch" service for all passengers and aircraft crew members. Chairman Weiss has instructed the Head of Commercial Aviation that the main priority is to implement the "In Touch" Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system with the help of Abner Tech, a high-tech information technology organization providing the functionalities needed by Z-Wing. Based on current evaluations, the CRM system appears to be the most viable approach to realize growth and maintain industry leadership position.
The need to successfully implement the aviation CRM support services is validated by indirect need from airlines to provide the most innovative services. "After five consecutive years of significant losses, the global commercial airline industry is truly at a crossroads, and airline management is beginning to understand the need to focus on innovation that matters for their airline - innovation that will enable them to compete more effectively, grow revenue and reduce operating cost will ultimately enable airlines to thrive during these challenging times" (IBM, 2006). With the staggering losses in the travel industry, airlines have to be more competitive by offering better services and upgraded amenities in the aircrafts. Z-Wing benefits from this in such a way that the organization will be responsible for replacing legacy airlines/aircraft with newer, state-of-the-art aircraft carriers with features such as broadband Internet and intranet for passengers and crewmembers. Moreover, Z-Wing will benefit by providing airlines with CRM support for these new features. "It is estimated the commercial aviation support system will be worth more than $3 trillion over the next 20 years, with annual revenues considerably be more than that of the new aircraft" (University of Phoenix, 2006). Hence, the need for the CRM is validated by the need to sustain or improve customer relationship by carriers with their passengers. Air travel, in comparison to train and boat travel, is still the most preferred mode of transportation for distant travels albeit recent decline. Z-Wing is highly dependent on the need for CRM in order to maintain its profitability and leadership status.
Market Summary
Airlines providers and the military are in greater need of sophisticated aircrafts. With the introduction of Z-Wing's CRM system, airline providers would be able to better provide services to passengers who are looking value-added services and amenities. The new CRM system would incorporate electronic support services (e-services) to help the support services team, the customer and prospect profiling system to help the marketing services, and the sales forecasting to help the sales department create reliable forecasts using data.
The organization must conduct a research study which will accurately describe the target market and define the market needs. In this case, Z-Wing's clients are mostly small and large airline carriers as well as the military. In addition to this, Z-Wing needs identify the characteristics of human populations (demographics) and population segments that would ride the aircrafts and use the CRM system to communicate their needs to the airline carriers. Moreover, Z-Wing needs to consider the users of the CRM system such as the marketing, sales, and customer services departments. Level of technical knowledge, types of data needed, and functionalities needed are the type of information Z-Wing would need in design the CRM system. Z-Wing would need to use a variety of data collection techniques or methods which would include focus groups, interviews, surveys, and comparison of Z-Wing's CRM system with similar products by competitors.
The aviation industry, particularly the commercial aviation industry, is in need of a CRM system that would enable the organizations to provide timely communication with customers, generate reliable forecasts, and manage accounts. These are just some of the functionalities that the aviation industry needs; however, these are not the only functionalities that Z-Wing can offer. Flight crew support and medical services/procedures system are crucial features that many airline carriers need in their CRM system.
There is a significant growth trend in CRM functionalities; in fact, Z-Wing is hoping to maintain leadership in the industry by being one of the first organizations to offer CRM features with the aircrafts. Studies have shown that CRM services in the aviation industry will grow into $3 trillion over the next two decades. There are several functionalities that can be integrated into the CRM system such as flight support, sales and marketing, customer service, and maintenance support. By implementing the CRM system in its first phase, Z-Wing will see a productivity gain of 12.75% and with a cost savings of 5.00%. However, the first phase of the project will take 24 weeks to implement.
SWOT Analysis
Z-Wing has several strengths that can help further propel the organization into a more successful one. For instance, Z-Wing has already obtained 50% of the market share. By maintaining focus on both acquiring additional market share and retaining existing customer-base, Z-Wing will have a greater chance of maintaining leadership position. Z-Wing can benefit from the loyalty of its core clients. Additionally, Z-Wing has several aircraft models that are in high demand especially the 824, 878, and 888 models. On a human capital side, Z-Wing is led by a handful of talented individuals including Damien O'Neill who led his team to build the Z-Aero prototype within a short timeframe. Weiss, Nick Anderson, Naomi Gordon, and B. Chandrashekar are also driven, knowledgeable individuals in their fields.
Some of the key weaknesses that Z-Wing's management must consider are the short time frame, lack of knowledge, skills, and training for employees (poor employee adoption of new technologies), and inability to develop technologies internally. Chandrashekar, chief technology officer at Z-Wing, has pointed out that the company may be encountering some problems due to the lack of information and need for a more robust analytical module. Damien O'Neill, vice president of new products, have noted that the large percentage of the human capital is resisting the change, which affects productivity and diverts the company's attention from moving forward with the project. The company's inability to address such ...