You are on page 1of 2

CASE STUDY - Steinway and Sons

Name: Madan Subramanian PGXPM -8 1. What are the sources of brand equity for Steinway? Steinway & Sons - one of their major strength and value addition is their brand equity, which is built into the long established and traditional brand identity and the perceived brand quality and image of the Steinway pianos. The Steinway piano over the years has been identified as one of the top-line premium and high priced piano with a market niche and high market share. Their Quality and differentiation have been the key strategic elements in the brand strategy of Steinway, which has been very successful and made them pioneer in the higher end markets. This strategy should not be diluted. This identity of Steinway pianos should be maintained and kept separate from other brands. At the 1867 Paris Exhibition - The jury awarded Steinway the prestigious Grand Gold Medal of Honor for excellence in manufacturing and engineering. 2. Should Steinway continue its high end niche strategy or market its pianos more aggressively? Steinway should continue its high end niche strategy by brand extension strategy and also should start marketing its pianos more aggressively. As the market is more favorable now, and more focus should be on the growing Asian market will give higher profits. The Pricing strategy needs to be modified as the Pianos are costed very high. Check to be made on the Production Control system to reduce the cost of the Pianos. Poor executive management and poor customer service ensued; potentially damaging the Steinway brand should be given more concentration for areas of improvement. Promote the uniqueness in sound of each Steinway piano by leveraging the existing relationships with current professional musicians and aggressively seek to forge the relationships with them. The Goal of the new leadership team must be propagated from Production shop floor to the boardroom floor. 3. How far down can they stretch the Steinway brand? Steinway and Son's which has a good brand equity should maintain the reputation of its existing brand and should focus more on implementing brand extension strategy. Steinway with a proper brand extension strategy, consumers can make inferences and form expectation as to the performance of a new product based on what they already know about the base brand itself.

Different brands may be designed and marketed to the market segment, keeping in mind to design a brand portfolio there by aid in maximizing market coverage, by clearly differentiating each brand. They should focus more on the growing sales by maintaining quality in the niche market segment by reinforcing mid-priced Boston and introducing new lower-priced piano to Asian market to compete against low-price competitors. 4. Should they introduce another low priced line of pianos below the Boston Line? Yes they should introduce another low prices line of pianos below the Boston Line. The mid-priced instrument manufactured by Steinway, Boston piano made by Kawai in Japan to specifications described by Steinway. Although Boston piano line represented a significant break with tradition, these mid-price Pianos are mainly for the customers who were not yet ready to acquire a Steinway. Moreover, Boston made big revenue over 600% from 1992 to 1994. To make more money Steinway needs lower price of piano than Boston. Hence they should introduce new lower-priced brand through cooperation with other Asian manufacturer except for Kawai for technology protection. 5. Should they License the Steinway name to non-piano products? Steinway has a strong established brand name in Piano segment and has a great influence in the higher end market. To capture the mid segments and to give the experience of the Steinway product it is planning to extend its brand for mid market segments with Boston to compete with the Asian markets. So in this scenario it is not advisable to use the Steinway name to other non piano products as it has created a strong presence in the Piano segment.

You might also like