Conseco (NYSE: CNO), originally Security Life of Indiana, is a financial services organization based in Carmel, Indiana. Conseco's insurance subsidiaries provide life insurance, annuity and supplemental health insurance products to more than 4 million customers in the United States. These products are distributed through independent agents, career agents and direct to customers through television advertising and direct mail.
Conseco is currently ranked 503 on the Fortune 1000 with 2007 revenues of $4.5 billion.

accommodation, spa treatments and dining services. The main offering of Stobo Castle is its spa treatments and therapies. However, the spa also caters to guests that want to stay longer in the castle. Stobo Castle has a number of rooms where guests or residents can stay. Lastly, Stobo Castle also offers dining services through its restaurants.
Price – the price of the packages at Stobo Castle are aimed at the A and B market. These market segments are health conscious and are willing to spend much on wellness and spa treatments.
Place – the place where service is distributed to the guests is accessible to the target market. The castle presents a unique concept that adds to the attraction of the spa. Also, the castle radiates a feeling of exclusivity, tranquility and privacy to the consumers.
Promotion – the promotion is usually centered in the website of the spa. Brochures are the primary promotion tool of the spa.
People – as a service-oriented organization, the staff plays an important role in the marketing of Stobo Castle’s products and services. The staff is the ones who facilitate the service encounter. Stobo Castle employs professional and well-trained staff.
basic analytical tool in management that has become popular in recent years. SWOT analysis is often used by strategic planners and top management in developing competitive strategies. It is typically used to decide corporate strategies and to make product or market level analyses (Reddy 1994). SWOT is a widely used thinking framework for identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It enables key factors to be visibly recorded as a high-level summary of a business. SWOT analysis is a summary that is simple but powerful. The technique is commonly used by consultants to document the key factors arising from the review of a particular project or business. The use of SWOT enables an assessment to be made of the overall internal state of a business and the direction in which it is heading, through looking at its Strengths and Weaknesses. It also enables a judgment to be made about aspects of the external business environment, which can affect the performance of the business, through looking at the Opportunities and Threats it faces in the wider world (Elkin 1998). The SWOT analysis on its own is not a strategy. It is merely a tool that helps an organization in making informed decisions. The SWOT analysis is primarily used to identify and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, as well as the opportunities and threats exposed by the information collected of the external environment. The SWOT analysis is a simple yet useful tool in analyzing both the internal and external e

combination to create a defendable position and to outperform competitors, whether they are within an industry or across nations. Porter states that the strategies are generic because they are applicable to a large variety of situations and contexts. The strategies are (1) overall cost leadership; (2) differentiation; and (3) focus on a particular market niche. The generic strategies provide direction for firms in designing incentive systems, control procedures, and organizational arrangements. Following is a description of this work.

OVERALL COST LEADERSHIP STRATEGY

Overall cost leadership requires firms to develop policies aimed at becoming and remaining the lowest-cost producer and/or distributor in the industry. Company strategies aimed at controlling costs include construction of efficient-scale facilities, tight control of costs and overhead, avoidance of marginal customer accounts, minimization of operating expenses, reduction of input costs, tight control of labor costs, and lower distribution costs. The low-cost leader gains competitive advantage by getting its costs of production or distribution lower than those of the other firms in its market. The strategy is especially important for firms selling unbranded commodities such as beef or steel.


Figure 1
Competitive Advantage Through Low Cost Leadership
Figure 1 shows the competitive advantage firms may achieve through cost leadership. C is the original cost of production. C is the new cost of production. SP is the original selling price. SP is the new selling price. P is the original profit margin. P is the new profit margin.

If we assume our firm and the other competitors are producing the product for a cost of C and selling it at SP, we are all receiving a profit of P. As cost leader, we are able to lower our cost to C while the competitors remain at C. We now have two choices as to how to take advantage of our reduced costs.

Department stores and other high-margin firms often leave their selling price as SP, the original selling price. This allows the low-cost leader to obtain a higher profit margin than they received before the reduction in costs. Since the competition was unable to lower their costs, they are receiving the original, smaller profit margin. The cost leader gains competitive advantage over the competition by earning more profit for each unit sold.
Discount stores such as Wal-Mart are more likely to pass the savings from the lower costs on to customers in the form of lower prices. These discounters retain the original profit margin, which is the same margin as their competitors. However, they are able to lower their selling price due to their lower costs ( C ). They gain competitive advantage by being able to under-price the competition while maintaining the same profit margin.
Overall cost leadership is not without potential problems. Two or more firms competing for cost leadership may engage in price wars that drive profits to very low levels. Ideally, a firm using a cost leader strategy will develop an advantage that is not easily copied by others. Cost leaders also must maintain their investment in state-of-the-art equipment or face the possible entry of more cost-effective competitors. Major changes in technology may drastically change production processes so that previous investments in production technology are no longer advantageous. Finally, firms may become so concerned with maintaining low costs that needed changes in production or marketing are overlooked. The strategy may be more difficult in a dynamic environment because some of the expenses that firms may seek to minimize are research and development costs or marketing research costs, yet these are expenses the firm may need to incur in order to remain competitive.
 
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Conseco (NYSE: CNO), originally Security Life of Indiana, is a financial services organization based in Carmel, Indiana. Conseco's insurance subsidiaries provide life insurance, annuity and supplemental health insurance products to more than 4 million customers in the United States. These products are distributed through independent agents, career agents and direct to customers through television advertising and direct mail.
Conseco is currently ranked 503 on the Fortune 1000 with 2007 revenues of $4.5 billion.

accommodation, spa treatments and dining services. The main offering of Stobo Castle is its spa treatments and therapies. However, the spa also caters to guests that want to stay longer in the castle. Stobo Castle has a number of rooms where guests or residents can stay. Lastly, Stobo Castle also offers dining services through its restaurants.
Price – the price of the packages at Stobo Castle are aimed at the A and B market. These market segments are health conscious and are willing to spend much on wellness and spa treatments.
Place – the place where service is distributed to the guests is accessible to the target market. The castle presents a unique concept that adds to the attraction of the spa. Also, the castle radiates a feeling of exclusivity, tranquility and privacy to the consumers.
Promotion – the promotion is usually centered in the website of the spa. Brochures are the primary promotion tool of the spa.
People – as a service-oriented organization, the staff plays an important role in the marketing of Stobo Castle’s products and services. The staff is the ones who facilitate the service encounter. Stobo Castle employs professional and well-trained staff.
basic analytical tool in management that has become popular in recent years. SWOT analysis is often used by strategic planners and top management in developing competitive strategies. It is typically used to decide corporate strategies and to make product or market level analyses (Reddy 1994). SWOT is a widely used thinking framework for identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It enables key factors to be visibly recorded as a high-level summary of a business. SWOT analysis is a summary that is simple but powerful. The technique is commonly used by consultants to document the key factors arising from the review of a particular project or business. The use of SWOT enables an assessment to be made of the overall internal state of a business and the direction in which it is heading, through looking at its Strengths and Weaknesses. It also enables a judgment to be made about aspects of the external business environment, which can affect the performance of the business, through looking at the Opportunities and Threats it faces in the wider world (Elkin 1998). The SWOT analysis on its own is not a strategy. It is merely a tool that helps an organization in making informed decisions. The SWOT analysis is primarily used to identify and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, as well as the opportunities and threats exposed by the information collected of the external environment. The SWOT analysis is a simple yet useful tool in analyzing both the internal and external e

combination to create a defendable position and to outperform competitors, whether they are within an industry or across nations. Porter states that the strategies are generic because they are applicable to a large variety of situations and contexts. The strategies are (1) overall cost leadership; (2) differentiation; and (3) focus on a particular market niche. The generic strategies provide direction for firms in designing incentive systems, control procedures, and organizational arrangements. Following is a description of this work.

OVERALL COST LEADERSHIP STRATEGY

Overall cost leadership requires firms to develop policies aimed at becoming and remaining the lowest-cost producer and/or distributor in the industry. Company strategies aimed at controlling costs include construction of efficient-scale facilities, tight control of costs and overhead, avoidance of marginal customer accounts, minimization of operating expenses, reduction of input costs, tight control of labor costs, and lower distribution costs. The low-cost leader gains competitive advantage by getting its costs of production or distribution lower than those of the other firms in its market. The strategy is especially important for firms selling unbranded commodities such as beef or steel.


Figure 1
Competitive Advantage Through Low Cost Leadership
Figure 1 shows the competitive advantage firms may achieve through cost leadership. C is the original cost of production. C is the new cost of production. SP is the original selling price. SP is the new selling price. P is the original profit margin. P is the new profit margin.

If we assume our firm and the other competitors are producing the product for a cost of C and selling it at SP, we are all receiving a profit of P. As cost leader, we are able to lower our cost to C while the competitors remain at C. We now have two choices as to how to take advantage of our reduced costs.

Department stores and other high-margin firms often leave their selling price as SP, the original selling price. This allows the low-cost leader to obtain a higher profit margin than they received before the reduction in costs. Since the competition was unable to lower their costs, they are receiving the original, smaller profit margin. The cost leader gains competitive advantage over the competition by earning more profit for each unit sold.
Discount stores such as Wal-Mart are more likely to pass the savings from the lower costs on to customers in the form of lower prices. These discounters retain the original profit margin, which is the same margin as their competitors. However, they are able to lower their selling price due to their lower costs ( C ). They gain competitive advantage by being able to under-price the competition while maintaining the same profit margin.
Overall cost leadership is not without potential problems. Two or more firms competing for cost leadership may engage in price wars that drive profits to very low levels. Ideally, a firm using a cost leader strategy will develop an advantage that is not easily copied by others. Cost leaders also must maintain their investment in state-of-the-art equipment or face the possible entry of more cost-effective competitors. Major changes in technology may drastically change production processes so that previous investments in production technology are no longer advantageous. Finally, firms may become so concerned with maintaining low costs that needed changes in production or marketing are overlooked. The strategy may be more difficult in a dynamic environment because some of the expenses that firms may seek to minimize are research and development costs or marketing research costs, yet these are expenses the firm may need to incur in order to remain competitive.

Hey netra, as we all know that marketing research report on is very important for any one who is preparing the projects. Well, i appreciate your work and thanks for sharing report on Conseco. BTW, i am also uploading a document on Conseco which would help others.
 

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