Introduction
Various matrix techniques have been used throughout the history of Marketing in order to investigate the launch of new products, analyze and design the components of the business portfolios of organizations, etc., most of these tools, are They have been prepared by teams of consultants who have worked and materialized their experiences trying to find useful tools so that managers can decide feasible strategies for each purpose.
As pointed out by Alvarez, et al (1985) “Among the main methods for the quantitative analysis of the product portfolio are the BCG, developed by the Boston Consulting Group and the ADL or Artur D. Little; which are based on the analysis of the relative participation in the market to evaluate the competitive position of a product ”.
The qualitative analysis of the business portfolio also highlights the one developed for the General Electric firm by the McKinsey company, and the New Products Evaluation Matrix, developed by Barry M. Richman and which has been adapted by various authors, the latter part of the evaluation of a series of factors considering the relative importance of each of them and the position of the organization (level of competence) in each factor.
Another tool, the RMG matrix is a Spanish tool that has been successfully developed by the consulting company that gives it its name (RMG & Asociados). The RMG matrix, also qualitative, analyzes the internal and external factors of the company that can be decisive to know its degree of competitiveness, as well as the acceptance or rejection that a certain product or service receives from the market.
Considering that it has been defined as a consensus in the opinion of the main specialists on the subject that the Marketing variables are the PRODUCT, the PRICE, the PLACE and the PROMOTION and taking into account that no matrix system has yet been articulated that conceptually responds in a way direct to such variables, the present work proposes a new tool, Cuban, which allows to assess the state of the various variables in the analysis of the portfolio of products or businesses of an organization, so that there is a useful instrument to make decisions in the order of the strategies to be adopted by managers in the monitoring and control of the so-called Marketing Mix.
Development
The procedure for applying the matrix is as follows:
1. Select indicators that characterize the behavior of each of the four marketing variables (PRODUCT, PRICE, DISTRIBUTION AND PROMOTION) and that are associated with the peculiarities of the products or businesses to be studied. The indicators proposed in this document may be used or those that are more closely suited to the product or business under study may be chosen, taking into consideration that the services with their intangible characteristics are very diverse and cannot always be valued as is. value a tangible product itself.
2. Weighted values will be assigned for the total of indicators selected for each variable that in total add up to the unit, based on the previously made qualification of: Very Important (MI), Important (I) and Less Important (-I), and always considering the following:
60% for Very Important indicators
30% for Important indicators
10% for Least Important indicators
3. A coefficient will be drawn up from the division between the weighted value of each type of indicator MI, I and –I and the number of indicators that are decided to be considered of each type.
It must be verified that the coefficients of the degrees of importance (indicators MI, I and - I) always result in descending order, so that they certainly adjust to the degree of importance, that is, it cannot happen that a coefficient of a Less important indicator return a higher score than an Important or Less Important.
For example, for the variable PRODUCT:
to. For the Very Important indicators, with 60% of the weighting value, and 2 indicators thus valued, the coefficient offers a result of 0.30.
b. For the Important indicators, with 30% of the weighting value, among 3 indicators thus valued, the coefficient offers a result of 0.10.
c. For the Least Important indicators, with 10% of the weighting value, and 2 indicators thus valued, the coefficient offers a result of 0.05
(See Annex No. 1)
4. Each of the indicators will be evaluated with the qualification of:
3… (Excellent or Very strong), 2… (Good or Strong), 1… (Fair or Weak) and
0… (Bad or Very weak)
5. For each indicator, the value of the previous qualification will be multiplied by the coefficient calculated in point 3.
Example:
PRODUCT Variable Indicator:
Quality certification according to international standards (evaluated as Very Important because it is an unavoidable requirement to be able to commercialize the product in the market)
Weighted coefficient of 0.30 * rating of 0 (because the product is not certified with international standards) = 0.90 (See Annex No. 1)
6. We will proceed to evaluate the position of each variable within the mixture and to locate the position obtained by each one of them on the axes of the matrix. This score can range from 0 - 3 because it is the evaluation range of this matrix (See Annex No. 2)
In the evaluation of the position based on the result of each variable in the corresponding quadrants, it is important to note that, for an indicator to be considered evaluated with an Excellent rating, it must cover at least 90% of the 3 points (that is, 2.7) and to obtain Regular you must achieve at least 60% of 3 (or 1.8). In this sense, the axis of the columns will not be proportional, but must be aligned as 0 - 1.8 - 2.7 - 3 points.
This score is repeated for each axis, that is, for P.
If it is considered that there is no Less Important indicator (- I) then it will be necessary to distribute the percentage that corresponds to that type of indicator, that is, 10% among the Very Important (MI) or Important (I) indicators but always they have to add 100 to the total of the points, that is, 100%.
It is important to take into account that the Very Important indicators are those that are considered vital or essential for the product to access the market, the Important ones are those that influence the final result but are not essential, such as the Very Important and the Less Important are those that do not decide directly on the final result, that is, they are less significant in the marketing decision, therefore, when applying the matrix it should be taken into account that not all indicators are vital and therefore the number of Very important indicators should not be excessive.
The figure that identifies the CE Matrix is the following:
CE matrix
In the Red (Low) zone, the location of the variables whose general rating achieved results below 1.8, that is, up to 60% of the 3 points, will be represented.
In the Yellow zone (Medium), the variables whose general rating reached results between 1.81 and 2.7, that is, between 60% and 90% of the 3 points will be represented.
In the Green zone (High), the variables whose general qualification reached results between 2.71 and 3, that is, between 90% and 100% of the 3 points will be represented.
The fundamental indicators that can be valued for each variable are the following:
Product variable:
- Quality certification according to international standards. Product novelty. Brand recognition. Condition of the container. Compliance with the label requirements. Aesthetics. Comfort. Durability. Application of the extended product concept. Manufacturing technology. Availability of raw material. for manufacturing Availability and qualification of the workforce Financing
Price variable:
- Cost-benefit ratio Incentive to purchase Competitor's price Existence of substitute products State of demand Perceived value of the product Situation of supply
Variable distribution (or square):
- Functioning of the distribution channels Knowledge of the needs in each distribution points Physical position (location) of the distribution points Transportation of products Collection of production (It can be separated into its various functions: reception, handling, storage, conservation, etc.) Transformation, Contract or Order.
Communication variable:
- Funding sources for the Communication mix. Use of Advertising tools. Use of Promotion tools. Use of the Sales Force. Existing Communication Channels. Operation of Merchandising.
Each axis represents a variable: P1 (PRODUCT or SERVICE), P2 (PRICE), P3 (DISTRIBUTION, PLACE OR PLACE) and P4 (PROMOTION OR COMMUNICATION).
The location of the variables in the different areas will make it possible to identify the degree of strength that the product or business evaluated has in their application.
The products or businesses studied whose variables are located in the green zone, make a correct use of the mixture for the variable in question, those that are located in the yellow zone have improvements to make in the application of their development strategies and those located in the zone red present an alarm situation, which should be studied by the entity's managers.
The CE matrix offers a useful and easily applied instrument by entrepreneurs and specialists in this science in order to make decisions in the order of developing strategies associated with Marketing variables.
The procedure used by this matrix essentially starts from aspects evaluated by matrices already proven for the analysis of the business portfolio, such as the General Electric Matrix and the New Products Evaluation Matrix.
Conclusions
The use of the CE matrix offers a useful instrument in order to achieve the monitoring and control of management and the establishment of strategies associated with marketing variables.
The procedure that it uses essentially starts from aspects valued by already proven matrices for the analysis of the business portfolio, such as the General Electric Matrix and the New Products Evaluation Matrix.
It is unknown that there is another similar instrument that allows assessing the implementation status of marketing variables in the analysis of the main offers that make up the business portfolio of companies for tangible products or services.
Annex No. 1.- Calculation of the Position of the variables.
|
Variable / Indicator |
Degree of importance of the indicator |
Coefficient |
Qualification |
Variable position |
| PRODUCT | ||||
| Quality certification according to international standards |
ME |
0.30 |
3 |
0.90 |
| New product |
I |
0.10 |
two |
0.20 |
| Brand recognition |
I |
0.10 |
3 |
0.30 |
| Esthetic |
- I |
0.05 |
two |
0.10 |
| Application of the extended product concept |
ME |
0.30 |
0 |
0 |
| Manufacturing technology |
I |
0.10 |
one |
0.10 |
| Financing |
- I |
0.05 |
two |
0.10 |
| Subtotal |
1.00 |
///////////// |
1.70 |
|
| PRICE | ||||
| Cost benefit relation |
ME |
0.20 |
3 |
0.60 |
| Incentive to buy |
I |
0.15 |
0 |
0 |
| Competitor price |
ME |
0.20 |
0 |
0 |
| Status of the claim |
I |
0.15 |
two |
0.15 |
| Product perceived value |
- I |
0.10 |
3 |
0.30 |
| Supply situation |
ME |
0.20 |
3 |
0.60 |
| Subtotal |
1.00 |
//////////// |
1.65 |
|
| SQUARE | ||||
| Operation of distribution channels |
I |
0.15 |
two |
0.30 |
| Knowledge of the needs of each distribution point |
- I |
0.05 |
one |
0.05 |
| Storage possibilities |
ME |
0.60 |
0 |
0 |
| Physical position of distribution points |
I |
0.15 |
0 |
0 |
| Transformation |
- I |
0.05 |
one |
0.05 |
| Subtotal |
1.00 |
//////////// |
0.40 |
|
| PROMOTION | ||||
| Funding sources |
ME |
0.30 |
3 |
0.90 |
| Use of Advertising tools |
I |
0.15 |
two |
0.30 |
| Use of Promotion tools |
ME |
0.30 |
0 |
0 |
| Possibilities of access to the communication mix |
I |
0.15 |
0 |
0 |
| Merchandising |
- I |
0.10 |
one |
0.10 |
| Subtotal |
1.00 |
///////////// |
1.30 |
| Variable |
Position |
| PRODUCT |
1.70 |
| PRICE |
1.65 |
| DISTRIBUTION |
0.40 |
| PROMOTION |
1.30 |
Source: Prepared by the authors of the matrix.
Appendix 2
CE matrix
Note: The asterisk * shows the location of the analyzed product in each of the axes corresponding to the four Marketing variables.
Bibliography
- Álvarez Cabrera Margarita, Pacheco Bello Mirna, Margarita Pié Jiménez, Lázaro Ramos Morales Editorial Academia. La Habana, 1985. Marketing approach applied to research - development of new products. Havana. Editorial Academia. p. 36. Kotler, P. 2004. Matrix of portion of growth of the BCG ”Available at: http://pdf.rincondelvago.com/mercadotecnia_kotler.html Morea Lucas, 1997. Evaluation matrix. From strategy to strategic direction. An approach to the integration of the strategic levels. Available at: http://www.monografias.com/trabajos13/tacope/tacope.shtml#anatáctico and operational. Muñiz González Rafael. Marketing strategies. The RMG Matrix.. Available at: www.marketing-xxi.com/la-matriz-rmg-ii-22.htm). Trujillo Clara M.The marketing subsystem as a management instrument in entities in business improvement. P. 130. 2005. Trujillo Rodríguez, Clara María; Cuesta Mazarredo, Eduardo.; Mucau Fidel Kiala. Study of the application of marketing in companies in business improvement in the province of Havana.. p.18. May 2004.
