| AMA CASE STUDY ON HUMMER WINS COMPETITION
On April 1, Julia Borland a
VCU School of Business junior with a marketing minor, found herself
unexpectedly joining two University of Richmond marketing students,
Molly Frazee and Steven McCann, to compete in the American Marketing
Association (AMA) case study competition. They pulled together their
skills, knowledge and background to win first place and share a $500
prize.
Second place winners were all from VCU School of Business: Melissa
Hodges, Velisia Escober and Heather Swinson, '06. Each of the VCU
students is a current or past officer of the VCU AMA chapter.
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Julia Borland a VCU School
of Business junior
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The winning team came together unexpectedly the
morning of the event, when scheduled teammates dropped out, leaving
Julia Borland
without a partner. So she joined Steven McCann and Molly Frazee,
both marketing majors from University of Richmond.to go on and
win the competition. Julia recounts some of those moments here:
“The Case Study we worked on was entitled "GM: Downsizing
the Hummer".
Each of the groups was given about three hours to work on the case,
drawing from information given to us in a handout. We analyzed
the information to answer a set of questions and ultimately make
recommendations for GM as to what direction they should take the
Hummer, and whether or not they should develop an H4 model,” said
Julia.
“GM provided a very comprehensive package of information:
background history of the development of the Humvee from its original
conception in the military leading into it's first entrance into
the market, with a civilian version (the Hummer or H1) in 1992.
Next we were supplied with information about GM's market research,
its target market, marketing strategies, and advertising campaigns
used to introduce the Hummer models H1 through H3. We were also
supplied with information about the launch of the Hummer, specifically
characteristics of the H2 and H3, it's success rates, and target
market.
“After reviewing the information supplied, we were asked
to answer questions about GM's use of market segmentation variables
in positioning the Hummer against competitors in the SUV market,
target market decisions GM made in selecting a market for the H2--
how those differ from the original target market for the H1. What
has been the positioning strategy for the H2? To analyze the purchase
decision consumers make with the Hummer. And, ultimately, what
segmentation,
targeting, and positioning recommendations would we make to GM
for the
H3, along with any other marketing recommendations.”
Julia considers the competition a wonderful experience. “I'm
marketing minor, so I've taken a fair amount of marketing courses,
and although I am currently a junior, I feel that I was fairly
prepared for this case study. In preparing for the event, Julia,
met with Dr. Frank Franzak, marketing chair, who went over a typical
case study with her and explained how it would work.
Julia has only praise and enthusiasm for her partners.
“
It was great working with them-- after going over
the case together as a team, and sharing ideas, we split up and
each picked two questions from the case analysis to answer, then
compiled our answers at the end. We ended up having a solid,
consistent paper, with a lot of great ideas of where to take
Hummer in the future, and of course recommendations for the present
market development.”
Julia plans to continue her studies at VCU, working toward both
a minor in Marketing and Global Studies, and applying to the Fashion
Merchandising program in the fall for her major. After graduation
she would like to pursue her interests with a corporation on an
international level.
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