CASE STUDY MARKETING
BAY CITY STEAM FITTINGS,INC
I. DISTINCTIVE COMPETENCE
Bay City Steam Fittings, Inc. started as a steam equipment engineering company. Jerry Ball founded Bay City in the spring of 1970. Jerry had developed a new type of thermostatic steam trap that had broad application in variety of industrial steam systems. The Bay City products were known immediately for quality workmanship, and a low need for maintenance upkeep. Bay City never really developed a good marketing plan as the word of their products was spread word of mouth and the sales representatives were "old school", not pro active or very forward thinking. They were ripe for picking and Jackson Shipping in "Hot-lanta" was lurking on Bay City Steam Fittings horizon.
II. CORPORATE STRATEGY
In the early years, the company's expertise was entrenched in manufacturing processes and product quality. While embracing these qualities as its roots, the company attempted to develop a distribution and marketing plan. Continuous years of success put an increasing emphasis on the importance on manufacturing processes and product quality, thus Bay City evolved incrementally in respect to distribution and marketing. Bay City did not have a distribution mold to use as a reference. As a result, the incremental changes overlooked some of the previous doctrine already in place, leaving holes in their working distribution strategy.
III. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Bay City Steam Fittings exact problem was their lack of a forward looking marketing plan. Bay City did not adhere to their marketing strategy, because they did not really know who their competition was. In their Sales, Distribution, and Pricing Policy, they defined a Class A dealer as major in ...