This document was submitted as part of coursework at MICA, India. All rights reserved.

1. B2B Marketing
Group 8
Aditya Dubash (098) | Ankita Madan (016)|
AvanindraJha (113) | Ayushi Mona (024) | Charmy
(028) | Jessica (129)| Robin (152) | Sagun (64)| Smriti
(164) | Sumedha (168) | Vaidya (175) | Vasudha (176)

2. Ques 1 - TG and segmentation

3. Identify the Target Group of at least three brands of any B2B
industry sector and find out the segmentation technique used
Brands taken:
Industry:
ITES

4. IBM
According to IBM, The Company's organization model is created to support two principal
goals:
1. "In helping customers succeed in providing business value by transforming more
innovative, efficient, capable and competitive by the use of business ideas and
information technology (IT) solutions".
1. "Providing enduring value to stakeholders. The business model has been built over
time by means of strategic investments in potentiality and technologies that will
bring the long-term stability, growth and profitability. This goal will be based on
customer value delivery in the business.

5. Target Group
Medium to large corporations in all business sectors selling server and mainframe
hardware and related hardware products, system and productivity software, and IT
services. Client base of IBM includes HP, Microsoft,
Apart from this, resellers, distributors, retail outlets, MNCs, government
institutions are also included in the target group of IBM.

6. Segmentation Technique Used
Needs Based Customer Segmentation
IBM segments customer based on the need of the client. On basis of this IBM has
roughly following segments:
Industry, Product/ Services, Business needs (Business intelligence, ERP etc),
IT Support (Disaster Recovery, distribution management etc.),
Technology used by customers (Cloud Computing, Networking system, operating
solutions etc).

7. Accenture
Accenture solves clients' toughest challenges by providing unmatched
services in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations.
Partnerships with more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500,
driving innovation to improve the way the world works and lives.

8. Target Group
Fortune 500 companies and other big organizations looking for solutions to
business problems through consultation.
Partnering with organizations that are looking towards cutting costs. Thereby,
targeting their higher management (executives with high decision making power
and capability).

9. Segmentation Technique Used
Money Mindset Based Segmentation
A segmentation model built on money mindsets—experiencers, balancers, explorers and
achievers—could have a number of benefits:
● Improved return on equity and investments. Focus investments on “valuable”
segments, and avoid investing in “poor” segments and unprofitable customers-
Revenue Segmentation
● New products and revenue sources. Evolve away from a traditional product-based
portfolio to a needs-based ecosystem of services, to explore new sources of revenue
based on real needs and behaviors of consumers.From Revenue based they are moving
to Firmographic segmentation

10. ● Competitive advantage. Put data to work to understand if there is a dominant mindset
in the customer base or if there are emergent mindsets that are not being served. Get
intimate with changing client behaviors and expectations, and serve them according to
their digital lifestyle.
● Surgical precision in service design. Identify the need for new products and services, or
improve experience in poor performing segments. Design, build and manage different
sets of services for each segment to get the most value for them.
● Design the services of the future. Gain a more vivid picture of customers, and their
needs and behaviors, rather than using generic visions that overlook what customers
really want.

11. TCS
TCS works on the following strategic mission:
“Our mission is to help customers achieve their business objectives by
providing innovative, best-in-class consulting, IT solutions and services and to
make it a joy for all stakeholders to work with us”.

12. Target Group
The target group and clients of TCS are large corporate organizations (both
domestic and international) across diverse sectors and geographies that
require IT expertise to maintain and expand their businesses.
TCS also follows a differential strategy that aims at targeting first time
outsourcers in diverse industries like manufacturing, retail and telecom
across geographies.

13. Segmentation
TCS uses two segmentation strategies:
● Industry/Firmographic Segmentation - A broad industry-wise
segmentation of their clients across 10 industries ranging from BFSI to
Communications & Media to Retail, Manufacturing, Life Sciences and
Public Services.
● Needs-Based Segmentation - Within each industry vertical, TCS follows
a needs based segmentation that focuses on pinpointing which of its
products will help each client foray into a particular industry as well as
new areas that they would like to explore.

14. Ques 2 - branding

15. Differentiation Brand Strategy Brand Architecture
Accenture
Moderately
differentiated
● Personality (brand positioning).
They focus on reliability, and
providing high performance.
● The golf player Tiger Woods,
famous for his precision and
sophistication, used to feature in
their communication.
Corporate Brand
IBM
Very well
differentiated
● Brand identity (holistic
branding). They talk about being
on the cutting-edge of
technology, and creating both a
smarter planet, and cognitive
businesses, through their
solutions.
Umbrella Brand
TCS
Poorly
differentiated
● Doesn’t seem to follow a clear
branding strategy, and that
reflects in the fact that it isn’t
well-differentiated in its category
in the Indian market. Its name is
used interchangeably with
Infosys and Wipro.
Not well defined

16. ● High performance, delivered.
● Case studies, online ads, billboards at airports & corporate
offices.
● Big clients featured in communication.
● They have the same communication across 35 countries
● The branding of Accenture has:
Relevance:The hoarding of Accenture always show top clients
like Unilever and Marriott whose problem is solved,this is an
assurance to other brands that the big brand believe accenture so
they can believe it too.The C suite Executive is targeted through
Airport advertising
Consistence:It has not only consistently delivered on great
performance(for 15 years) but also has an Accenture Institute for
High Performance,a global research centre.
Symbology:The little arrow by accenture,shows that it is always
in the path of progress.
Accenture Branding:

17. ● IBM partnered with Ogilvy & Mather – first
on its “e-Business” campaign and most
recently on “Let’s Build a Smarter Planet.”
These campaigns articulated the congruency
of IBM’s service offerings with its purpose
and brought the company back into cultural
consciousness. And like any great campaign,
they also served to unite, excite, and inspire
employees
● They deal with a holistic identity as their
primary purpose is to make a smarter planet
● The ads of IBM do show how the technology
is cutting edge,they also have individual ads
about the product while always keeping a
smarter planet concept in mind
IBM Branding:

18. ● TCS is a brand that is just known for its work,it is
the second most valuable IT provider.
● It is not that well differentiated, and it has a hybrid
type of branding,recently it is seen to move from
Product differentiation to slowly towards brand
personality (adjustable and same output in every
part of the world .
● Branding Initiatives:
1) At the World Economic Forum at Davos last month,
TCS launched a brand campaign titled #DigitalEmpowers
that highlights the role of technology as a force for good.
2)TCS Amsterdam marathon has significantly
strengthened the company's brand in the Netherlands.
3)Collaborating with renowned brand- Microsoft and TCS
venture could become a dominant force in the Chinese IT
services market
TCS Branding:

19. Recommendations
for the three
brands
Accenture: Accenture has been currently promoting the solutions
it has architected for different global giants, but this service based
differentiation strategy does not hold for a long time. Instead,
Accenture should go back to its Personality based branding
strategy, in the lines of “High Performance, Guaranteed” and use
of a strong brand ambassador.
TCS: TCS has to find a brand positioning to differentiate
itself. It tried to showcase its cultural sensitivity and
adaptability in one communication, that was not efficient.
But TCS can take the position of the most culturally
adaptable ITES firm. Their communication should try to
alleviate the misgivings many foreign clients have about
outsourcing to India due to cultural mismatch. Using this
positioning it can immediately stand differentiated from its
competitors like Wipro, Infosys, Cognizant etc.
IBM: IBM is fantastically differentiated and should maintain
its branding strategy

20. UTC Supplier Case Study

21. Case Summary
● UTC is major diversified technology
group.
● Suppliers need to meet business
standards, operational excellence
parameters and environmental
capability.
● 75% of what is needed comes from
suppliers.
● Section of Indian suppliers growing
rapidly for multiple critical components.
Problems Identified:
1. Categorize Vendor Into Categories
2. Categorization must be from a perspective such that UTC is able to provide varying levels
of support through its policies and programs.

22. Solution: Two - Tier Vendor Categorization
Level 1: Hygiene/ Firmographic Segmentation
Firms must meet these standards to be able to
supply to UTC as per standards required. Factors
include:
1. Location: Connectivity with Supplier should be strong.
Closer suppliers will reduce costs.
2. Technical Capability: Resources/Manpower to
produce as per specification needed.
3. Production Capacity and Efficiency: Ability to meet
the entire demand with 100% quality.
4. Certifications/Registration: Approval of all due
authorities.
5. Ethical Standards Maintained: In terms of compliance
with regulations, labour laws, environmental
guidelines.
Level 2: Behavioural Segmentation
Once firms meet hygiene criteria, they must fulfill
advanced measures that make them preferred firm
and other suppliers can be assigned improvement
guidelines according:
1. Rigidity v/s Flexibility: Firms that follow rigid
production standards and behave accordingly are
preferred by UTC>
2. Ease of Doing Business: Firms that have lower
paperwork with quicker turnaround time and swifter
processing are preferred.
3. Ability to adapt/ Manage Contingencies: Suppliers
that are better at responding to changes are
preferred.

23. Approach Followed for Arriving at Categorization
The parameters for classification arrived at were basis the following:
1. Availability of Historical Data: Supplier Profile, past business
records etc available with UTC for the last decade when these
businesses were in operation.
1. Paper Trail: For understanding business practices, certifications
available etc.
1. Feedback from Procurement Manager for understanding attitude
towards partnership/ behaviour in greater detail.

24. Segmentation Structure
We will follow the following structure for coordinating and categorising the vendors so as to put them in mainly
three categories i.e Red, Yellow and Green:
I. We will rate the vendors on various factors in both Firmographic & Behavioural Categories on a 5-Point or 3-
Point Scale (1- ‘Extremely Poor’ and 5- ‘Extremely Good’).
II. Allocation of color codes to each vendor is done on the basis of the rating provided to him.
A. Green: Extremely Good (Rating of “>3 on 5-point scale” and, ‘High’ on 3-point scale)
B. Yellow: Moderate (Rating of “2-3 on 5-point scale” and, ‘Medium’ on 3-point scale)
C. Red: Poor (Rating of “1-2 on 5-point scale” and, ‘Low’ on 3-point scale)
III. The vendors with the Green color code are the star vendors which need to be kept happy so as to ensure a
healthy business relationship. They are to be provided with various incentives from time to time to keep the
business going in the right direction.
IV. The vendors with the Yellow color code are the vendors which need to be nurtured by providing suitable
assistance to upgrade them into the star vendors. They can be incentivized suitably on a case by case basis (
example:logistics, technical support etc.) to ensure higher yield and promote efficiency.
V. The vendors with the Red color code should be allowed to leave as they are not reliable and hence not good
enough to be continuing business with. This list is considerably fast moving and continuously changing as
compared to the other two because of constant lookout for better options.

25. Solution Led Approach
The key behavioural pattern behind
assigning a Vendor a Green post
clearance of hygiene factors is
ascertaining if the vendor scores
high on the parameters of being
able to execute successfully and at
the same time provide product
centric and collaboration led input
that can help strengthen UTC’s
product line.
Execution
Centric
Supplier
Knowledge & Collaboration Centric

26. Performance
Rewards:
The company will maintain
an internal record of the
performance of
various vendors and will
reward them suitably on
annual basis thus
encouraging better
performance and creating a
structure conducive for
growth.
Last mile logistic
support for the star
vendors:
The firm can deploy its
resources to help the star
vendors overcome
logistical issues.
Technical assistance:
Given the global reach of the
organization, the star vendors
will receive
technical support and
guidance from the company to
help them flourish and
enhance their
productivity. Thus, creating a
win-win situation.
Shorter Credit
Cycles:
The credit cycles can be kept
shorter for the star vendors,
thus ensuring
regular cash flow and
building a relationship of
trust.
Policies and Programs
Aim:
To build and sustain long term relationship with the suppliers who meet the required
expectations of UTC standards by the means of rewards and policies aimed at encouraging them
for better performance.