Marketing Management

Case Kimura

Kimura K.K. Can this customer be saved?

What is value for a customer like Kimura?

Although it is stated that the decision was made based on the fact that
Pramtexs equipment would minimize the learning and start-up curve, and that it
was also important that the equipment was delivered on time, I believe that the
true value for a client like Kimura K.K. was customer relationship. Kimura K.K.
wanted to feel like it was a special client and that it could trust its partner relying
on its suppliers equipment as an important part of the process to manufacture
Kimuras final product. It can be observed during the development of the case
that Kimura K.K. was satisfied with special treatment received by other suppliers,
and that it was disappointed with several unprofessionalism of Pramtex team,
culminating with the poor assistance after a breakdown. The lack of
professionalism and the untrusted relationship, as it was valued to Kimura K.K.,
led to a non-rebuy of Pramtexs merchandise.

Who are the key players at Kimura in the purchasing decision? What are
their respective roles and interests?

The key players at Kimura in the purchasing decision are Mr Kimura, the
President of the company and final decision maker The decider; Mr Nomura, the
Senior R&D advisor and admirer of Spartacus The influencer; Dr Komoda, the
Chief of production and the one who will be dealing with possible problems of
Spartacus The User; Mr Hashimoto, the finance director, who is against the
acquisition of Pramtex products The Buyer; and finally Ms Yamashita who
alerted John for his unprofessionalism The gatekeeper.

Even though all of the players want what is best for the company, they all
have different motivations to achieve that goal. As Finance director Mr Hashimoto
is more concerned with reducing the costs of the machines and its maintenance
expenses than with its performances. Contrarily, Dr Komoda is exclusively
worried about the performance of the machines. For Dr Komoda it is essential
that he has time to test the machines before having to deliver the first major
project that would be done on Spartacus. It is also crucial that the machines can
handle the production of the 15,000 DVDs per day that he had planned. Although

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Case Kimura

being an advisor, Dr Nomura has a large responsibility in the final decision since
he his a high influence on Mr Kimura. Dr Nomura was an important bridge during
the negotiation of the contract, since he was a big admirer of Dr Max Scorses
work and classified his machine as being the best in the market. Mr Kimura was
the one taking the decision, influenced by the needs of his workers. His final
decision took to consideration the minimization of the learning and start-up curve
so that its production team could adapt faster to the new machines, and satisfy
Kimura K.K.s clients.

Why did Pramtex fail in Japan? What could/ should it have done differently?

The lack of professionalism and no special attention to an important client,

led Kimura K.K. to see Pramtex as an untrusted partner. Failing the first major
contract in Japan passed an image to the Japanese that Pramtex wasnt the best
partner to be making business.

Although considered by some as being the Rolls Royce of the category,

Spartacus wasnt convincing enough to Kimura K.K. Since Pramtex was relying on
Kimuras contract as a reference to get more contracts with the largest
companies in Japan, it should have taken more care of it. There were several
situations in which Pramtex showed unprofessionalism. One was when John failed
to call with the new quotation, other was when there was confusion with the
delivery of a payment and the most damaging one was when there was a failure
in one of the Spartacus, aggravated by the fact that when the source of the
problem was found, Pramtex had no problems shifting the responsibilities to a
third party.
After having delivered the first three machines, Pramtex was satisfied with
its business, and decreased its attention towards the client. When clients like
Kimura K.K. work in a tight schedule to achieve their goals, they are looking for
partners and nor mere suppliers to help them deliver their final product. The first
time that they faced a problem, Pramtex let them down. How can a company that
wants to position itself as technology leader, fail to offer adequate maintenance
services. In my opinion the problem that occurred with one of Pramtex machines
was the main responsible for the company failure in Japan. Not because of the
problem itself, but because of the lack of confidence that came with it.

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Case Kimura

When facing an equipment failure that cant be solved by the inside

engineers, the production team was expecting the collaboration from Pramtex to
be immediate or close to it. The first thing that Pramtex did wrong was to
postpone the resolution of the problem to after the weekend. Kimura K.K.
couldnt afford to loose all this time to fix the problem. The second time that
Pramtex didnt act accordingly was that it took 4 days to put two technicians on
their way to Japan to figure out what was wrong. Coincidently in the same day
Kimuras Engineers found the possible source of the failure. The third mistake
that Pramtex made was when Dr Max Scorse excused the failure of the machine
by saying that the problem was in a component that wasnt produced by them.
Even if not produced by Pramtex it surely made part of Spartacus.
The last failure was when Pramtex took three days to find the spare part
that was needed. In short, it took Pramtex 8 days, of the tight Kimura K.K.
schedule, to solve a breakdown in one of its equipment.
With this successive events, it is possible that Kimura K.K. rose the following
questions: Do we really need the Rolls Royce if cant solve a breakdown quickly?
Should we have very sophisticate equipment that cant be fixed by our inside
engineers? Can we trust Pramtex assistance? What if next time a machine breaks
down we are in the middle of the production of an important contract for us, can
we wait 8 days? Will it be only 8 days next time?
After raising all these questions, I believe Mr Kimura got more concerned in
having a reliable equipment that fulfilled its company production needs, and with
which its production team could work easily.
What Pramtex failed to do with Kimura K.K. was what was essential to
Kimura K.K. with Disney to win their confidence.
After loosing the confidence of Kimura K.K., Pramtex lost the confidence of
the Japanese market.

In order not to loose the Japanese market, Pramtex should have focused
better in the company that they were relying on to be a reference for the rest of
the market.
First of all, Pramtex should have tried to understand what were Kimura K.K.
truly needs. Pramtex should have invested its time understanding what was value
to its client. If it had spend some time studying its client, Pramtex would have
understood that Kimura K.K. was concerned with a trustworthy relationship with
its suppliers, that Kimura K.K. wanted to feel being taken care off, and that

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Case Kimura

Kimura K.K. equipment needs were not for the most complete machine, but for
one that delivered a specific amount in a determined time, not more nor less.
In order to build a trustworthy relationship, Pramtex could have done the
following:
Educate its employees to be as most professional as they possibly
can;
Provide the best assistance possible;
o Assure that the repairing time is the shortest possible;
o Have spare parts available, even if they are manufactured by
a third party;
Assume responsibility on every component of their offering products;

In order to fulfil Kimura K.K. operational and financial needs, Pramtex could have
done the following:
Develop a machine that could be customized only with the
specifications needed by the client, not more nor less, thus
decreasing its costs;

By failure to satisfy Kimura K.K., Pramtex missed the opportunity to be seen

as a trustworthy and competitive choice in the Japanese market.

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