Menton Bank Case Study

This week's case study on Menton Bank. I don't know if it is a real bank, but I cannot find it's information or website in the internet, no wonder the presenting group did not give additional info about the bank in their presentation earlier. I guess, the bank is opened for the sake of learning only! hahahaha..

To be honest, when me and my group worked on answering the questions, we didn't think that there are some flaws in the case. But then, Mr. Sandy mentioned it to us that the new job description of CSR is kinda inappropriate. He said that CSR only needs to be fast and accurate, they must not do cross-selling since the target market is now in the retail segment (many people will be waiting in line to meet with the CSR). The cross-selling and any other prospecting and marketing job should be done by CAR instead. More than that, the change in target market itself (from corporate to retail) will become a trouble. Once the focus is changed, then the whole company operation will have to be changed as well.

What I learned from this case is that, in business, we have to stay focused! A business that decided to operate in a niche market should stay in that area. The sales volume may not as big as businesses operating in mass market but the profit margin earned in each transaction can be much bigger, thus the sum of profit cannot be determined from sales volume only. If this business concentrates on performing well and keep on innovating in its niche market, then it can be the market leader of this small unexploited market. More than that, the competition is not as intense as those in mass market. Each market has its own difficulties and challenges, once we made our decision of which market we're going to serve, then we have to really differentiate and strive to be the market leader.

I have my own small pastry business, it is called Delicate patisserie. I sell different types of cakes ranging from loaf cakes (banana, carrot, cotton cheesecake, brownies and marble cake) to birthday and festive cakes (cheesecake, black forest, fruitcake, etc.) I chose to operate in a higher class of the market, that's why none of my selling price is below Rp. 50,000. I use high quality raw materials and people can even have a customized order. The population of my target market might not be too large, but I have my own loyal customers. What I need to do is to focus on exploring more about this target market and finding more information about what they like and what they need. I will not want to switch my operation to the mass marketing and sell way cheaper cakes because the market is too saturated and I don't think I have the channel to obtain the lowest priced raw materials.