Marketing Engineering News
Welcome to the third issue of Marketing Engineering News. As the Fall semester passes, we gear up for another busy Spring. We are pleased to report some new developments in ME>XL as well as provide information on the latest release of ME>XL. As always, we are keen to get your feedback.
This issue contains:
- ME>XL News:
- Release 1.4 is now available. This release is primarily a minor bug release which fixes a few cosmetic issues. Two new business cases (Convergys and Northern Aero) will be added to this release.
- Discontinuation of Study.net channel.
- Updated 2009 software pricing.
- Instructor Forum: Prof. Gary Lilien shows how to combine two ME>XL models to provide more powerful insights.
- A Student's Perspective: An ESSEC MBA Graduate talks about how ME>XL has helped him determine market potential for a new business idea.
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All the best,
Gary Lilien, Penn State University
Arvind Rangaswamy, Penn State University
Arnaud De Bruyn, ESSEC Business School
Marketing Engineering for Excel News
Release 1.4, a maintenance release, is now available.
We are pleased to announce the availability of Marketing Engineering for Excel Release 1.4. This release includes
- New Business Cases
- Convergys (Customer Lifetime Value and GE Portfolio Matrix)
- Northern Aero (Customer Lifetime Value)
- Software Enhancements
- Improvements in documentation and error messages
- Minor corrections to software models
Marketing Engineering cases/software/text being discontinued from Study.Net distribution
With the introduction of Marketing Engineering for Excel software in 2007 and subsequent discontinuation of Marketing Engineering Classic v2.4, we will no longer be using the Study.Net channel to distribute materials. The new software is bundled with all cases and data sets and is available independently from the textbooks so it can be used with individual chapters from our books or with your own teaching material. The academic version of software is available for download and purchase from our website, www.marketingengineering.com, in a variety of license lengths to make it affordable for students who only need the software and cases for a short time. We welcome your feedback and suggestions as we strive to better support our academic partners.
Marketing Engineering for Excel – 2009 Pricing
When we first introduced Marketing Engineering for Excel a little over a year ago, we established an introductory 2007 price schedule which was casino great britain a 30% discount over our standard published academic rates (and over 95% off the commercial version price). Beginning in January 2009, we are reducing the discount on a six month license to the software. The 12 month license will remain the same price.
If you plan on purchasing a six month multi-user university license for the spring semester, you may order your software before the end of the year to take advantage of the introductory price discount. Your six month license will be valid from the start of class (not from the date of purchase).
Below is our 2009 academic pricing schedule:
Single User License:
6 Month License: $40
12 Month License: $50
University Purchased Multi-user License:
Number of Licenses
| |
Number of Licenses
|
|
|
10
|
20
|
30
|
40
|
50
|
60
|
70
|
80
|
90
|
100
|
101+
|
|
6 Month
|
$230
|
$430
|
$620
|
$780
|
$930
|
$1,060
|
$1,175
|
$1,275
|
$1,360
|
$1,435
|
Quote
|
|
12 Month
|
$300
|
$570
|
$810
|
$1,030
|
$1,220
|
$1,390
|
$1,545
|
$1,675
|
$1,790
|
$1,890
|
Quote
|
ME>XL Teaching Tip: Mix and Match Methods for Fun and Profit
Prof. Gary Lilien, Penn State University
One of the most powerful ways to grab students' and executives' attention with ME>XL is to demonstrate that the individual tools, while powerful in themselves, can be linked together to create more powerful insights than can be obtained with one tool alone. Some examples we will explore in future tips involve segmenting the part worth data in conjoint analysis (see Durr case), and segmenting perceptual data to identify market segments that see the market differently.
I use the ABB case to illustrate how to segment the market by switchability using multivariate choice models. In that case, each customer provides data that looks like:
After the case discussion, as throw-away, I ask if these data "remind the students of anything"? I then show them that if you rotate any individual's responses, you get a matrix that looks like this (eliminating the "Choice" row):
The students will now recognize that this looks like perceptual mapping data...and you can run a perceptual map that will show that customer 1 views the four brands as follows:
Once students get the idea, they can do positioning maps for individual customers, for groups of customers (perhaps by "brand last bought"), for the whole market (perhaps including a market share vector. But these extensions are icing on the cake--once students see the link, they will be more creative than you will in using multiple ME>XL models for greater insight.
Student Perspective of Marketing Engineering for Excel
Adrien Jorge, MBA Student, ESSEC Business School
In one of our classes, we used Marketing Engineering for Excel to study the market potential for a business idea we had. We wanted to import certain types of Vans (horse transportation) from Australia to Europe, and these specific products seemed to offer huge sales potential.
In Marketing Engineering for Excel, we mainly used segmentation and targeting to understand customers' preferences and profiles, and better understand the market structure. Eventually, we collected 700 surveys online (about 50 questions per survey) through emails and forums, and were able to identify a significant unmet demand and promising market niches.
The major strength of this software was that it was very easy to use, yet gave us a robust and almost scientific approach to marketing. Today, it's hard to imagine how we would have done without it.
