A Marketing plan [for IBM]

The IBM POWER server/station 220 (CHART 1) is part of the RISC System/6000 (RS/6000) family(CHART 2), this is the latest among the low-end open systems which was launched on January, 1992. Open systems are systems which can integrate into a functioning unit several components such as printers, computers and other computer related equipment even if they have different manufacturers. This drives down the cost of computing, or at least stimulate greater performance from an investment in them. Open systems also encourage investment in new applications, since there is a far larger group of potential customers for a new product. In short, computing will reach more people and businesses, at lower cost, and be more effective. As a positioning technique, IBM maintains a certain price level. However, they do not price their products too high as to be intimidating to the buyers and ensure its competitiveness in the market. They applied this principle to the RS/6000 model 220. It is priced against the high-end PCs which have lesser capabilities and also against the low and UNIX based systems of competitors which offer similar functions. The selling effort of the RS/6000 machines will be handled by the Business Partners. They will also be trained to give advice and expert recommendations regarding the ways they can achieve maximum utilization of the system. At the start of the year, a sufficient inventory of the product will be kept available in the stock room. But in case huge volumes of sales are made, then they will have to request additional stocks from IBM main office in the U.S.A. IBM will be targeting large and medium-sized garment exporting companies included in the MACS listing. The group\u27s overall objective is to penetrate 40% of the potential market in the garment industry. To achieve this objective, the company will use print advertising as a way of communicating the product to the market. IBM will also make use of brochures and posters showing the RS/6000\u27 features and advantages focusing on model 220 itself. To generate interest during the initial stage of the implementation, a discount will be given to the first few clients of the company via a discount on the hardware and software application ERICA. Finally, to be able to effectively evaluate the results of the formulated marketing activities, management is advised to meet at regular intervals (quarterly), and also after every activity to reassess the results. Surveys will also be used to get the feedback from the market itself, regarding the activities