Degree January-June Marketing Botswana Open University Sessional Structured Timed Assignment BMK722-Principles of SECTION D -ESSAY-TYPE QUESTIONS Answer any two questions from this section QUESTION 1 Read the following extract and then answer the questions below. [50 MARKS] [25 MARKS] Xerox: Adapting to the Turbulent Marketing Environment Xerox introduced the first plain paper office copier 50 years ago. In the decades that followed, the company that invented photocopying flat-out dominated the industry it had created. The name Xerox became almost generic for copying. Through the years Xerox fought off round after round of rivals to stay atop the fiercely competitive copier industry. In 1998, Xerox's profits were growing at 20 per cent a year, and its stock price was soaring. Then things went terribly wrong for Xerox. The legendary company's stock and fortunes took a stomach-churning dive. In only 18 months, Xerox lost some $38 billion in market value. The once-dominant market leader found itself on the brink of bankruptcy. What happened? The world was quickly going digital, but Xerox hadn't kept up. On a broader level, while Xerox was busy perfecting copy machines, customers were looking for more sophisticated "document management solutions". The Xerox transformation started with a new focus on the customers. Before developing new products, Xerox researchers held seeming endless customer focus groups. As a result of this new thinking, Xerox now offers a broad portfolio of customer-focused products; software and services that help its customers manage documents and information. It has introduced more than 130 innovative new products in the past four years. However, just as Xerox's turnaround seemed complete, yet another challenging environmental force arose the great recession. 'The one thing that's predictable about business is that it's fundamentally unpredictable "says the company's most recent annual report. BOU 2024 Botswana Open University Page 7 of 1 Degree January-June Marketing Sessional Structured Timed Assignment BMK722-Principles of i) Discuss four unique characteristics that differentiate marketing of Xerox services from product marketing. (20 marks) ii) Assume that Xerox wants to use skimming pricing for its services. Outline any five (5) conditions under which skimming pricing would work well for Xerox. (5marks) QUESTION 2 [25 MARKS]