4.2 Marketing planning questions for IB Business Management

Kliphuis Rooibos Co-operative

[1] Kliphuis Rooibos Co-operative (KRC) was formed in 2016 by 38 small rooibos tea farmers in the Cederberg region of South Africa. Until now KRC has sold its dried tea leaves in bulk to large packers, who blend them with leaves from other farms and sell the tea under their own brands. Members receive about R42 per kilogram.

[2] The co-operative’s chairperson, Nomvula Mokoena, believes members would earn much more if KRC sold its own branded tea. She points out that rooibos grown only in the Cederberg has a story that customers value: it is organic, picked by hand and grown by families who have farmed there for generations. A packaged 40-bag box (about 100 g) of branded rooibos sells for around R55 in South African supermarkets.

[3] Some members are cautious. Gerrit Steyn, the treasurer, notes that building a brand takes years and money, and that the large packers might stop buying from KRC if it becomes a competitor. KRC has R600 000 in its reserve fund and could apply for a small loan from a rural development bank.

[4] Nomvula has proposed a brand called Cederberg Roots, with packaging that shows photographs of members and their farms. She wants to start by selling online and through health-food shops in Cape Town, then approach supermarkets once the brand is known. A marketing student has suggested that KRC should also target tourists who visit the region’s wine and tea farms.

Hallingmeieri

Hallingmeieri ASA is a Norwegian public limited company that has led the national yoghurt market for more than 20 years. Its best-known range, Halling Klassisk, uses traditional recipes and is stocked by every supermarket chain in Norway. Hallingmeieri’s managers believe that its size gives it lower unit costs than any rival.

In 2023 a smaller rival, Fjellmeieriet, launched a range of high-protein and plant-based yoghurts aimed at young, health-conscious adults. Hallingmeieri’s marketing director, Siri Haugen, warned that Hallingmeieri was “selling what our factories have always made rather than what shoppers now want”. Hallingmeieri did not change its range.

In early 2026 the largest supermarket chain in Norway told Hallingmeieri that, because Fjellmeieriet is now the best-selling yoghurt brand, Fjellmeieriet will be given the best shelf positions. Hallingmeieri’s board is considering a NOK 90 million plan to win back market leadership, including a new high-protein range and a large advertising campaign.

Table 1: Sales revenue in the Norwegian yoghurt market (NOK million)

Hearthwise Retrofit CIC (HRC)

Read the resources and answer the questions that follow.

Hearthwise Retrofit CIC (HRC) is a community interest company* in Liverpool, UK, founded in 2019 by Joanne Okoro, a former social worker, and Gareth Pryce, a builder. It trains young people leaving the care system as installers and fits insulation, new windows and heat pumps in cold, damp homes. Most of its work is for low-income households under a government energy-efficiency grant scheme. HRC employs 38 people, 22 of them care leavers.

* community interest company (CIC): a UK limited company for social enterprises; its assets must be used for the community and dividends to shareholders are capped.

Image: a red-brick terraced house wrapped in scaffolding; a young installer in an HRC hoodie fixes white insulation boards to the wall while a grandmother watches from the doorstep with a mug of tea. Slogan: “Warm homes, bright futures”.

Resource 1 – News article from the *Merseyside Business Post*

Grant delays leave small installers out in the cold

Installers working on the government’s home-energy grant scheme say they now wait an average of 90 days to be paid after a home passes inspection. “We pay for materials and wages up front, then wait three months,” said Joanne Okoro of HRC. “We are busier than ever and have never had less cash.” The government says it is “working to speed up payments”.

Resource 2 – Social media posts from Bernadette, an HRC customer

Forty years in this house and the first winter I haven’t had black mould on the bedroom wall. My gas bill is down by a third. The lads from Hearthwise were polite, tidy and told me all about their training. [1/2]

Only thing – they had to stop for two weeks halfway through because “materials hadn’t been paid for yet”. Hope they’re OK, they’re a credit to Liverpool. [2/2]

Resource 3 – HRC’s final accounts

Table 1: Statement of profit or loss for the years ended 31 December (£000)

Table 2: Statement of financial position as at 31 December 2025 (£000)

In 2024 HRC’s current ratio was 1.64, its acid test ratio 1.18 and its ROCE 46.32 %.

Resource 4 – Internal email from Gareth Pryce to Joanne Okoro

From: Gareth Pryce, Operations Director

To: Joanne Okoro, Managing Director

Subject: Cash, contracts and choices

We have reached our £150 000 overdraft limit. Two opportunities have come up:

1. Mersey Homes, a housing association, wants us to retrofit 300 homes over two years at £8 000 per home. Margins are like our grant work (gross profit margin about 28 %), and it pays 60 days after each home is finished.

2. Private homeowners in the wealthier suburbs keep asking for quotes. Private work earns a gross profit margin of about 40 %, and customers pay a 30 % deposit before we start. At present it is only 15 % of our revenue.

A social bank has offered a £250 000 loan at 7 % over six years; our overdraft costs 12 %. Joanne, I know you worry that private work is not why we exist. But if we run out of cash, we help nobody.

CONFIDENTIAL: this email and any attachments are intended only for the named recipients.

Resource 5 – Comparison of HRC’s work (2025)

Resource 6 – Interview with Kyle, aged 20, an HRC trainee installer

“I left care at 18 with nothing. HRC gave me a trade and a team that actually checks I’m OK. When we fit a heat pump for a pensioner who’s been cold for years, that feels like the point. I wouldn’t mind doing some posh houses too if it keeps us going – but I wouldn’t want that to be all we do.”

MuevePlus

[1] MuevePlus is a private limited company that runs three gyms in Santiago, Chile. Its gyms have modern equipment, small-group classes and qualified personal trainers. Members pay CLP 45 000 a month, about 30 % more than at the large budget gym chains. Most members are professionals aged 25–45 who live close to the gyms.

[2] In 2026 MuevePlus will open a fourth, larger gym in Maipú, a fast-growing residential area of the city where average household incomes are lower than in its existing locations. Two budget chains already have gyms in Maipú and charge CLP 22 000 a month. The fourth gym will have twice the floor space of the others, so it must attract about 2 500 members to cover its costs.

[3] The operations manager, Camila Soto, suggests penetration pricing: charging CLP 19 900 a month for the first year, then raising the price gradually. She believes this will fill the gym quickly and that members will stay once they experience the classes and trainers.

[4] The marketing manager, Diego Fuentes, disagrees. He wants to charge CLP 39 000 a month and position the gym as a premium alternative to the budget chains, with free personal-training sessions for new members. He fears that a low price will damage the MuevePlus brand and lead existing members to ask for lower fees.

Dalbit Beauty

Dalbit Beauty (Dalbit) is a South Korean cosmetics company known for its 10-step skincare routine, pastel packaging and advertising featuring Korean pop (K-pop) stars. It sells the same products, packaging and advertising in South Korea, Japan and Thailand, which keeps its costs low.

Dalbit wants to enter Brazil, one of the world’s largest beauty markets. Its market research shows that many Brazilian consumers prefer lightweight, sun-protective products suited to a hot, humid climate, and expect shade ranges for a wide variety of skin tones. K-pop is popular among Brazilians aged 15–24, but older consumers rarely recognise the stars.

The marketing director, Jang Hye-jin, wants a standardized approach: “Our brand is Korean; customers buy it because it is Korean.” The head of international sales, Camila Reis, who is Brazilian, believes Dalbit must adapt its products and promotion. Brazilian regulations also require all product labels to be in Portuguese.

Table 1: Dalbit’s forecast first-year results in Brazil under two approaches (BRL million)

Dugub Délice SARL (DD)

Read the resources and answer the questions that follow.

Dugub Délice SARL (DD) is a social enterprise in Thiès, Senegal, founded in 2014 by Aïssatou Ndiaye. Dugub means millet in Wolof. DD buys millet from 900 smallholder farmers, paying 10 % above the market price, and its 40 women employees clean, grind, steam and dry it into traditional products – thiéré (millet couscous), arraw and sankhal – sold in hygienic 1 kg packs in shops and supermarkets. Preparing these foods from raw grain takes hours, so DD saves families time. Its mission is “to keep Senegal’s grains on Senegal’s tables”.

Image: a row of colourful 1 kg packs of millet couscous with a pattern of woven baskets, next to a steaming bowl of thiéré with a vegetable sauce. Label: “Dugub Délice – le goût de chez nous” (the taste of home).

Resource 1 – News article from *Dakar Économie Hebdo*

Bread or millet? The battle for Senegal’s plate

Senegal imports almost all of its wheat. Young people in Dakar increasingly eat baguettes for breakfast and pasta at lunch, while the traditional millet dishes of their grandparents take too long to prepare. After world wheat prices rose sharply, the government launched a “Consume Local” campaign and is considering a rule that bakeries must mix 15 % local cereal flour into bread.

Table 1: Market for packaged local-cereal products in Senegal

XOF = West African CFA francs. USD 1 ≈ XOF 600.

Resource 2 – Social media posts from Fatou, a 26-year-old office worker in Dakar

My grandmother makes the best thiéré in the world, but it takes her half a day. I tried Dugub Délice and it was ready in 15 minutes – almost as good as hers! Proud to eat local. [1/2]

But why is it only sold in big 1 kg bags with old-fashioned packaging? I live alone. Give me small packs, quick recipes, maybe a millet breakfast cereal – then I’ll stop buying croissants. #ConsommonsLocal [2/2]

Resource 3 – Internal email from Aïssatou Ndiaye to DD’s management team

From: Aïssatou Ndiaye, Founder and Managing Director

To: Management team

Subject: Two ways to grow

Boulangeries Sunugal, a chain of 60 bakeries, wants to buy 1 200 tonnes a year of fine millet flour to blend into bread if the 15 % rule is introduced. This would more than double our volume and make us a major player in local flour. But the margin is small and our mill can handle only 1 500 tonnes a year in total; a new mill would cost XOF 150 million.

The alternative is to grow our own consumer brands: smaller packs, ready-to-cook flavoured couscous and a millet breakfast cereal for young city people. That would need market research and new marketing.

We have always made the products we know how to make. Perhaps it is time to start with what customers want.

CONFIDENTIAL: this email and any attachments are intended only for the named recipients.

Resource 4 – DD’s product and cost information

Resource 5 – Market research: survey of 400 consumers aged 18–35 in Dakar

Resource 6 – Interview with Moussa Diouf, president of a farmers’ group supplying DD

“DD pays us more and pays on time – our children are in school because of it. If DD sells to the bakeries, we can grow more millet; we have land. But the bakeries will push the price down every year. I would rather see our millet on supermarket shelves with our story on the pack than hidden inside a baguette.”