| Course | BUS 530 Marketing Management |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | Marketing value analysis |
| Length | About 1,011 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | MBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for BUS 530 Module 1
Winning Back the Contractor at 6:45 a.m.: Customer Value and Market Orientation at a Family Hardware Chain Facing Big-Box Competition
Student Name
MBA Program, Aspen University
BUS 530: Marketing Management
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Winning Back the Contractor at 6:45 a.m.: Customer Value and Market Orientation at a Family Hardware Chain Facing Big-Box Competition
Ozark Trail Hardware, a composite family-owned chain, operates seven stores in small and mid-sized towns in southern Missouri. For forty years it has served homeowners, farmers and local contractors. In the past two years, two national home improvement superstores opened within twelve miles of its three largest stores, and a growing share of small items is bought online. Contractor sales fell 18% in a year, and homeowner traffic fell 9%. The chain's owners have discussed cutting prices to match the superstores, but they cannot match the buying power of national chains. This paper uses marketing management concepts to identify where the chain can still offer superior value and what management should change.
What Customer Value Means
Woodruff (1997) defined customer value as a customer's perceived preference for and evaluation of product attributes, the consequences that arise from using them and how well they help the customer achieve goals in particular situations. His value hierarchy has three levels. At the bottom are attributes, such as a product's price or brand. In the middle are consequences, the results customers experience, such as a job finished on time. At the top are the customer's goals, such as keeping a crew productive or making a home safe. Woodruff argued that companies often compete at the attribute level, where rivals can easily match them, while customers decide at the levels of consequences and goals.
Two Segments With Different Goals
Ozark Trail's customers fall into two main segments. Local contractors, plumbers and electricians need specific parts quickly, often before 7:00 a.m., and lose money every hour a crew waits. Their goal is crew productivity; a fitting that costs a dollar more but arrives an hour sooner is worth far more than the dollar. Homeowners doing repairs and small projects often do not know exactly what they need. Their goal is a repair that works the first time, and advice is part of the value they seek.
Comparing the Value Offered
The table shows that Ozark Trail cannot win on shelf price but already leads on advice, trade stock and speed in the store. It loses contractors mainly on opening hours and delivery, the consequences that matter most to their goal of crew productivity.
| Dimension | Ozark Trail Hardware | Home improvement superstores | Online sellers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shelf price on common items | Higher by 5% to 15% | Lowest | Low, plus shipping |
| Open before 7:00 a.m. | No, opens at 7:30 | Yes, at 6:00 | Not applicable |
| Trade-specific parts in stock | Strong in plumbing and electrical | Broad but thin | Very broad, slow |
| Knowledgeable advice | Strong, long-tenured staff | Uneven | None |
| Delivery to job sites | Occasional | Scheduled, with minimums | Next day or later |
| Time to find an item and check out | About five minutes | Fifteen minutes or more | Varies |
Market Orientation and Profit
Narver and Slater (1990) studied 140 business units of a large forest products company and measured market orientation through three behaviors: understanding buyers, tracking rivals and getting departments to work together on value for buyers. They found a substantial positive relationship between market orientation and profitability for both commodity and noncommodity businesses. For Ozark Trail, the finding suggests that its advantage lies in organizing the whole company around a detailed understanding of its customers, from purchasing to store hours to delivery, rather than in any single promotion.
The chain already has the raw material for this. Store managers know many contractors by name and know which parts they buy. But that knowledge stays in managers' heads; purchasing decisions are made centrally from sales reports, and store hours were set decades ago.
Value Propositions, Not Products
Vargo and Lusch (2004) argued that marketing should be seen as service-dominant: companies do not deliver value embedded in goods but offer value propositions, and value is realized when customers use what they acquire. Goods are a means of delivering service. For Ozark Trail, the implication is that its real offer to contractors is not pipe and wire but a working day without delays, and its offer to homeowners is a repair done right. This framing changes what management invests in. Early hours, job-site delivery and advice become the core product rather than overhead.
What Management Should Change
First, the three stores near the superstores should open at 6:00 a.m. on weekdays, staffed by experienced employees who know trade parts. Second, the chain should start a job-site delivery van for orders placed by 9:00 a.m., with no minimum for contractors with accounts. Third, store managers should meet monthly with purchasing to share what contractors are asking for, so that stock reflects local demand. Fourth, the chain should offer free repair clinics for homeowners on Saturday mornings, turning advice into a visible part of the offer. Fifth, prices on the 200 items customers compare most often should be brought within 5% of the superstores, while prices on specialized trade items remain unchanged.
What the Chain Should Not Do
The analysis also rules out some tempting moves. Matching superstore prices across the whole store would cut margins on the specialized trade items contractors buy without asking the price, and it would still leave the chain more expensive on the items superstores use as traffic builders. Copying the superstores' broad assortment would spread inventory thin and erode the depth in plumbing and electrical parts that contractors value. Heavy advertising of low prices would tell customers to judge Ozark Trail on the one dimension where it cannot win.
Measuring the Results
Management should track contractor account sales, the number of active contractor accounts, early-morning transactions and repeat visits from clinic attendees each month for a year, comparing stores near the superstores with those farther away.
Conclusion
Ozark Trail cannot win a price war, but customer value is not price alone. By focusing on the consequences and goals that matter to contractors and homeowners, organizing the company around what it learns from them and treating service as the core offer, the chain can deliver superior value in the places its larger rivals serve poorly.
References
Narver, J. C., & Slater, S. F. (1990). The effect of a market orientation on business profitability. Journal of Marketing, 54(4), 20-35. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224299005400403
Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2004). Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. Journal of Marketing, 68(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.68.1.1.24036
Woodruff, R. B. (1997). Customer value: The next source for competitive advantage. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 25(2), 139-153. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02894350
What the BUS 530 Module 1 instructions ask for
Aspen describes BUS 530 as pulling together the models, tools and processes a manager uses to run a coordinated marketing program, and an opening paper commonly asks students to explain marketing management and customer value through an organization. The Module 1 prompt in your classroom has the specifics; this example treats it as an applied analysis. Define customer value precisely, citing research rather than a dictionary. Identify target customers and what they are trying to accomplish. Compare the value competitors deliver, not only their prices. Explain what kind of organization consistently creates superior value and what evidence links that to profit. Apply each idea to a real or composite company. Finish with management actions that follow from the analysis, written so a manager could start on them.
How the BUS 530 Module 1 example is put together
The paper begins with Ozark Trail Hardware's problem: two superstores opened within twelve miles, and contractor sales fell 18% in a year. Woodruff's definition of customer value as perceived preferences for attributes, consequences and goals frames the analysis. Two segments are separated, contractors who need the right part early in the morning and homeowners who need advice. A table compares the chain, the superstores and online sellers on price, speed, advice, availability of trade items and delivery to job sites. Narver and Slater's study of 140 business units shows how a culture that watches customers and rivals and pulls every department toward them relates to profit. Vargo and Lusch's argument that firms offer value propositions rather than goods supports a shift toward services. Five actions close the paper, from 6:00 a.m. contractor hours to a job-site delivery van.
Reading the BUS 530 Module 1 grading rubric
MBA marketing papers at this stage are marked on whether core concepts are defined accurately and applied with evidence, whether customers are segmented thoughtfully and whether recommendations follow from the analysis. This example attributes its definition of value to Woodruff's article in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and uses Narver and Slater's Journal of Marketing study for the link between market orientation and profit, describing that study's sample and method briefly. The competitor value table makes the comparison concrete and shows that price is only one dimension. Vargo and Lusch's Journal of Marketing article supports reframing services as the core offer. Each recommendation is traced to a gap in the table, and the paper is candid that price competition cannot be won, which shows strategic judgment.
Common BUS 530 Module 1 mistakes, and how to avoid them
The most common weakness in Module 1 is defining marketing as advertising or selling. Marketing management is about creating and delivering superior value to chosen customers, and promotion is only one part. Another is treating customers as a single group; segment them by what they need. Compare competitors on more than price, using dimensions customers actually weigh. Support claims about strategy and performance with research, and say what the research studied. Avoid recommendations that any company could make, such as improve customer service; tie each action to a gap your analysis found. Keep the scope manageable by focusing on one company and one or two segments. Finally, write as a manager would, with clear priorities and an honest view of where the company cannot win.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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BUS 530 Module 1 questions, answered
What does BUS 530 Module 1 usually ask for?
Aspen's BUS 530 begins with marketing management and value creation, so a paper explaining how an organization creates superior value for target customers is typical. Check your classroom prompt.
What is customer value?
Woodruff describes it as a customer's perceived preference for product attributes, the results of using them and how well they help the customer reach goals in a given situation.
What is market orientation?
An organizational culture that focuses on understanding customers and competitors and coordinates all functions to deliver superior value, which Narver and Slater linked to profitability.
Where can I find a free BUS 530 Module 1 sample paper?
The full paper is above: a family hardware chain competing with superstores on customer value, with a competitor comparison table, research on market orientation and five management actions.
Can a small company compete with big-box stores on value?
Often yes, by focusing on segments whose needs the big stores serve poorly, such as speed, expertise or delivery, rather than competing on price.