Scenario Sauber, Inc. is a German consumer electronics company that manufactures large appliances for the home including washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, ovens, and stoves. It currently serves the European market with its sleekly designed, high-efficiency appliances. Sauber is currently exploring opportunities for an expansion to the United States. You have been hired as the Marketing Manager responsible for the U. S. market expansion. Your boss, the VP of Marketing, informs you that the product Sauber will first introduce to the U. S. market is its All-in-One washer-dryer combination appliance, which is its top seller in the European market. Currently, Sauber has 47% of the European washer-dryer market, which is 12% more than its closest competitor.

Requried:
a. List and discuss the major bases for segmenting consumer and business markets.
b. Explain how companies identify attractive market segments and choose a market-targeting strategy.
c. Discuss how companies differentiate and position their products for maximum competitive advantage.

David burdick is the ceo of acme bubblegum, a successful public company. as one of the cofounders of the company, burdick has enjoyed speaking and writing about the success of acme bubblegum for several years. typically, he speaks at conferences or directly to the press, but recently, he has been blogging about his firm anonymously. specifically, he defended a recent advertising campaign that was unpopular among consumers and pointedly attacked one of acme bubblegum’s competitors. burdick deeply enjoys his anonymous blogging and believes that none of his readers actually know that he works for acme bubblegum.should burdick be allowed to praise his company’s performance anonymously online? should he be allowed to attack his competitors without disclosing his relationship with the company? how would you feel if the ceo of a company at which you shopped was secretly writing criticisms of his or her competition? how would you feel if you knew a writer for your favorite blog was actually closely involved in a company that the blog discussed? 1. define the ethical issue? 2. who are the primary stakeholders? 3. what are the possible alternatives? 4. how could you evaluate the ethical implications of the alternative actions (use appropriate decision rules)? 5. what action would you recommend and why?