In eleven pages this paper examines how to improve brand equity and attempting to regain a market share that has been lost in a case study of Marks and Spencer and a report issued by one of its board members. Eleven sources are cited in the bibliography.
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old company with a long history with its customers. Profits fell from "$942 million last year to $775 million for the financial year through March and are continuing downward.
Merrill Lynch & Co. is forecasting a further drop to $720 million for 2001" (Bowes, 2000; p. 12). The problem is that Marks
& Spencer formerly was associated with good quality at reasonable prices, but perception of quality has declined and given prices the appearance of being too high. As other competitors
entered the market and became aggressive in it, Marks & Spencer appears to have stood still (Bowes, 2000). The issue here is to
define and discuss brand equity, along with measures Marks & Spencer can undertake to increase theirs. The report is in the form of one to the companys board.
Brand Equity London Business School professor Tim Ambler has recently published Marketing and the Bottom Line,
in which he states that the purpose of marketing is to increase cash flow, and therefore should receive greater attention from boards of directors which generally are focused on operations,
financial matters and related issues. Amblers research indicates that "on average, boards spend 90 per cent of their time discussing operational issues, supplies and suppliers, corporate governance, financial matters
and so on, but only about ten per cent of their time focusing on the motivations of the ultimate customer. In other words, they devote nine times more attention to
spending and counting cash flow than wondering where it comes from and how it might be increased" (Mitchell, 2000; p. 30). Because the