Measuring market orientation of Muscle Pharm Corp. (MSLP:US) May 2014 | Page 24

Equity Research - Company Valuation: Diamondcorp PLC
6. MSLP periodically reviews the likely effect of changes in the business environment (customer
preferences, regulation) on customers (2/7 POINTS): MSLP meets fans and consumers at trades
shows and expos where they share their opinions about the products with end users in order to
review them later. MSLP has to keep up to date with the latest safety standards (Gregory & Pyatt,
2013). As a consequence, it can be assumed MSLP reviews the regulatory environment on a
constant basis.
7. MSLP has interdepartmental meetings at least once a quarter to discuss market trends and
developments (5/7 POINTS): Jeremy De Luca (owner of bodybuilding.com) is a real industry
expert who meets with the board of MSLP to deliver the latest trends (Gregory & Pyatt, 2013).
However, the company is mainly product orientated and does not pay too much attention to the
with the latest trends in the industry.
8. Marketing personnel at Muscle Pharm spends time discussing customers future needs with
other functional departments (3/7 POINTS): Not a lot is mentioned regarding this issue.
However, according to Gregory and Pyatt (2013), the main objective is to be the industry leader
and become a mainstream brand to lift sports supplementation to the next level which indicates
that MSLP is focused on its position in the sector achieved with its products than with discussing
the future requirements of the clients. Gregory and Pyatt (2013) also stated that they are working
on a new weight-gainer which should be an amazing product unlike any other weight-gainers
that are currently on the market. This underlines that MSLP is focused on producing products that
are better than those from competitors as opposed to discussing what the clients/customers
need.
9. When something important happens to a major consumer or market, the whole company
knows about it in a short period (5/7 POINTS): Bodybuilding.com is the biggest retailer of MSLP
products. Should there be any review, be it positive or negative, MSLP would be up to speed due
to its good network of retailers and partners (Gregory & Pyatt, 2013).
10. Data on customer satisfaction isdistributed at all levels within business unit on a regular basis
(6/7 POINTS): MSLP only has 47 employees that are mostly based in Colorado, Denver, USA. Due
to this it can be assumed that information can be disseminated to all employees rather quickly
(BloombergBusinessweek, 2014).
11. When one department finds out something important about competitors, it is quick to alert
other departments (5/7 POINTS): As previously mentioned, MSLP is focused onwhat they are
doing and does not really know what others are doing. However, any revolutionary product from
a competitor would definitely alert the departments within MSLP very quickly as the company is
relatively small with short communication channels. The 47 employees have strong relationships
with people within the industry as well as the retailers (Gregory & Pyatt, 2013).
12. It takes MSLP only a very short time to decide how to respond to our competitors price
changes (6/7 POINTS): MSLP responds very quickly on price changes. The price changes are more
in form of promotions. If the competitor Optimum Nutrition offers ta buy three for two
promotion, MSLP responds with a similar offer with its most iconic product (Bodybuilding, 2014).
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