Jones-Blair Company sells paint and related products throughout select states in the southern United States. Alexander Barrett, president of JBC, is trying to identify the company's best marketing strategy in an environment of declining paint demand. Not only is demand declining, but the company is also faced with increased competition from national companies, such as Kmart, Wal-Mart and Home Depot, who have the ability to mass merchandize their paint products. The paint industry is divided into three segments: architectural, OEM coatings and special-purpose coatings. Currently, Mr. Barrett is faced with maximizing his marketing efforts to best serve the architectural coating segments.
             A few of the issues that face Mr. Barrett are:
             Ø Segmentation – The company needs to identify its target markets by deciding if their market is urban or rural, household or professional. Each market needs to be evaluated based on size, growth potential and influences of possible buying behavior. Using this information, JBC will be better informed as to which segments will provide the best opportunities to increase sales and therefore increase profits.
             Ø Opportunities and Threats – The current environment possesses many opportunities and threats which will need to be considered when formulating marketing plan. For instance, the competitive pressures as a result of the increased presence of private and store brands sold by national companies could be viewed as a threat or an opportunity depending on the company's decision as to product positioning and which markets they try to capture.
             Ø Conflicting recommendations from Company officers – Mr. Barrett and his officers have been unable to reach a decision in their discussions over marketing strategy. Conflicting proposals from the company's key officers are to add more sales representatives, increase advertising, r
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