Brand Extensions: SWOT Analysis And Porter's Five Forces Model

Executive Summary

Keller described a brand as “a set of mental associations, held by the consumer, which add to the perceived value of a product or service”. Aaker mentioned that “managing a brand equity needs consistent efforts towards building brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality, brand associations and other proprietary brand assets like competitive advantage”.

In this project assignment, we have analyzed the failures of three different technology products from branding and marketing perspectives. Our methodology consisted of reviewing literature on technology brand failures, brand equity and marketing material before deciding on individual caselets which can form basis for further analysis.

From an analysis standpoint, we decided to breakup each

SWOT Analysis and Porter’s 5 forces model used to understand the market forces.

 Analyze Growth Strategy by using the GAP model/Ansoff matrix on two dimensions – Products and Markets.

 A startup has to understand its competitors and come up with a strategy to tackle an industry giant. David cannot slay Goliath head-on - it needs to understand its competitor and work its way or strategize to become victorious. Netscape could have effectively used the Judo Strategy in the second phase of the browser wars.

 Developing partnerships and product differentiation is the key for sustainability.

 Brand Extensions should be developed with long term focus. Short term profitability should be put to the back burner if it impacts the brands value.

 Understanding the dynamics of a market and its players helps in implementing better planning and execution strategies. For example: Microsoft’s predatory pricing and product bundling along with Windows 95 is probably a strategy that Netscape should have guessed at the first place. Netscape was caught off guard when Microsoft used this as a trump against