Category: Marketing Essays

Our sample marketing essays will prove helpful in formulating your own dissertation topic, objectives, literature review, methodology and analyses. Our sample marketing essays are an ideal tool for any student struggling to start their own marketing essay.

Marketing is an essential part of any business and there are many elements of marketing. By browsing our collection of marketing essays, you will get ideas for your marketing essay through the following marketing subjects:

Relationship Marketing, Branding, Direct Marketing, Marketing Cultures, Advertising, Consumer Behaviour, Marketing Trends, International Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Strategic Marketing and Marketing Ethics.

Marketing Essays

Buzz Marketing Essay

Buzz Marketing

Buzz marketing is defined as “the promotion of a company or its products and services through initiatives conceived and designed to get the media and the public talking positively about that company, product or service”, according to Kirby and Marsden (2006, p.xviii). Buzz marketing involves word of mouth propagation of the products and services of the company through the “vibes” or the buzz created through other customers or a form of a campaign driven by customer hype, says Dye (2000). According to Carl (2006), though marketers knew the power of relationship based recommendations to be very powerful as a persuader of consumer decisions, the dimension of marketers “engineering” peer opinions in social networks is little understood. Therefore, the buzz can come from paid sources who muster up support for their opinions in their social circle or individuals who voluntarily express such opinions positive for the company and both the forms of communication can be included in buzz marketing (Carl, 2006).

The key enabler of buzz marketing is the influence the opinions of individuals have on other individuals known to them. “A third party is involved in the amplification of the initial marketing efforts of the company in his or her relational networks” (Thomas, 2004, p.64). Often, a company has loyal and disloyal customers, and the disloyal ones are more influential in spreading the buzz. The loyal customer already may have influenced his or her networks and the greatest impact for marketers lies in tapping the opinions of the disloyal customers (Carl, 2006). Therefore, the company need not rely on its own customer culture for the creation of the buzz, but can actively look for counter cultures, which can be real value additions to the campaign. This implies that not all individuals have the same level of ability to influence others. Therefore, the concern of marketers is to find the most influential set of people to create the buzz if it has to succeed in its campaign, be it its own set of customers or a group of individuals who have remained out of the influence of the marketer.

Apart from the people who spread the buzz, other factors aid in the success of the marketer. People cherish owning something that most others cannot. This must be used effectively by creating the urgency in influencing the customer decision. The endorsement of a celebrity can also trigger wide spread in buzz marketing, with the critical thing being how the celebrity is made to handle such a communication, according to Dye (2000). The author cites many examples, for instance, the books selected by Oprah Winfrey for her book club invariably become best sellers and publishers lobby to get their work featured by her.

Identifying the best sources that can start the buzz is crucial and the process of identification involves grouping customers according to their purchase behaviors (buzz marketing), understanding how each group influence the other groups, identifying the paths of influential communications through simulation and finding the strongest path and group, according to Dye (2000). The structured approach also dispels the myth that buzz cannot be planned and executed, but highly random.

One of the key approaches to creating buzz marketing strategy lies in getting the influential group of people or some individuals or an individual from the group to experience the product or the service of the company. If the company is right about the selection of the group, the buzz will be created invariably because of the Hawthorne effect; when people feel valued and feel an increase in their self-esteem in being the pioneers in using a product, goodwill is created (Kirby & Marsden, 2006). Buzz marketing can be peer-to-peer and performer-to-peer. While in the former, individuals voluntarily become brand ambassadors for the company, in the latter, the company uses carefully planned seeding into relational networks through rehearsed campaigns. Marketers can also launch covert buzz campaigns, where customers are not aware that they are being marketed to. But the downside is that when customers know that they have been part of a campaign, they may fee duped and this may lead to backlash for the company, according to Kirby and Marsden (2006).

The field of marketing has become so cluttered that customers view all marketing communications skeptically and the importance of buzz marketing comes from the fact that the concept relies on communications from non-marketing sources, which are perceived to be more trustworthy by customers, say Darke and Ritchie (2007). Therefore, when a message reaches the customer from a friend with the intent of convincing him about the superiority of a brand or a product, it is bound to be a sensitive issue in the ethical sense. While the receiver of the communication may place value on the opinion of the friend, the friend may be motivated by the financial and other benefits from the company (Petty & Andrews, 2008). Thus, buzz marketing poses a big ethical question on the marketing community – to what level can marketers legally invade the lives and relationships of individuals in a conscientious manner.

Buzz Marketing
Buzz Marketing

According to research, the best way to ensure that the campaign is ethical is by being completely transparent to customers and the influencers in the initial stages of the campaign and that the credibility and the trustworthiness of the influencer were not negatively affected by disclosure of the affiliation of the latter with the marketing company (Creamer, 2005; Carl, 2006). Most covert communications happen to ensure the credibility of the influencer is not affected through any disclosure of benefits or affiliation to the brand or the product of the company. Such fears seem to be unfounded, considering the impact of any adverse reactions from customer who realize that they have been marketed to at a later stage.

The role of the internet in buzz marketing is being studied by marketers and the role of internet based social networking portals needs to be understood better. Though there is much hype about the potential of the internet in buzz marketing, the reality is that face-to-face interactions carry more influence compared to an online opinion from an acquaintance or a friend (Carl, 2006). But the potential of this media is very high, as the sophistication of social networking portals is increasing and the level of interactions which are happening between individuals at a great distance to each other physically is becoming higher (Kirby & Marsden, 2006). Therefore, the role of the internet cannot be ignored as the principal tool for buzz marketing in the future.

Corporate Reputation Management

According to the resource based view of management, organizations with valuable and rare tangible and intangible assets enjoy competitive advantage in the market and can be expected to yield superior returns. When the assets are not easily imitable by competition, the advantage of the company can be sustained for superior value creation and market dominance; corporate reputation is one such intangible asset that cannot be replicated by a competitor in the short term, according to Roberts and Dowling (2002). According to Fombrun and Riel (1997), it is relatively unexplored as a concept and its importance is realized only when it is threatened.

Corporate reputation is the collective opinion of the stakeholders of an organization based on its past record, according to Nakra (2000). Reputation management is about building and maintaining the repute of an organization and generating positive feedback or word of mouth. The reputation of a company not only impacts the ability of the company to sell its products, but also in securing investments, shareholder confidence, governmental support and hiring talented employees (Nakra, 2000). Once lost, it is very difficult to regain, says Winkleman (1999). This concept comes within the function of public relations and corporate communications, which concern how the organization is viewed by its different stakeholders (Nakra, 2000). While organizations have measures and checks and balances for the other performance parameters of the organization, including effectiveness, financial performance and other tangible factors, the factor of the reputation of the organization that aids in the achievement of the overall goals of the organization are not measured and grossly ignored (Nakra, 2000). This is critical for a robust buzz marketing campaign.

Reputation management for organizations is important due to the changing dimensions of product marketing, diverse communication channels, mergers and acquisitions and high levels of global activism against corporates, say Argenti and Druckenmiller (2004). As businesses go global, they face a number of public relations issues, in having to deal with a new culture and policy environment and this necessitates a good corporate reputation for the process to be smooth (Pinkham, 1998). Customer expectations from companies have also become more stringent, with more choices available. Customers base their decisions based on the level of information available about the company and the reputation of the company before committing to a deal (Nakra, 2000).

Reputation of organization arises from the past, where the actions and performance of the organization in various aspects determine the present reputation. Stake holders consider the performance and success enjoyed by the organization, especially the financial performance as an important indicator of the goodness of the organization, according to Roberts and Dowling (2002). In fact, the correlation between the financial success of the firm and its reputation can be very high. A reputed firm will be able to charge a premium for its products and services from the market. It also has the benefits of being able to attract and retain the best talent in the industry at the lowest possible costs among its competitors. It will be able to generate more value from its supply chain and thus be able to save costs, resulting in higher margins and realizations. Similar relationships are visible in the function of buzz marketing too; reputed organizations are able to sell more with a lower effort at the best prices, due to its superior products, better sales force, better channel partners and a number of other enablers, according to Dowling (2001). These are the views of the external world of the reputed organizations or the collective perception of the market or the society on the characteristics of the firm. This means that to manage reputation, organizations have to be critical of all their interactions with the stakeholders and society, as each of these interactions, from a product launch to a simple customer query have the potential to enhance or spoil the reputation of the company.

Buzz Marketing Reputation

The reputation of the organization is deeply embedded within the experiences of the employees of the organization and manifests itself as a dimension of the working culture. When an organization is reputed and this is part of the organizational perceptions of the managers in the company, the nature of their interactions with their employees and other stakeholders will be in the manner which safeguards the reputation, say Fombrun and Riel (1997). The culture of the organization is manifested in the behaviors and attitudes of the individuals and in their interactions with each other; the organizational reputation becomes an invisible part in the culture and influences it, according to the authors. Therefore, the actions of the individuals and their perceptions within the organization, or the internal identity of the organization is manifested to the external world by means of its corporate reputation (Fombrun & Rindova, 1996). The organizational culture, therefore, plays an important role in determining the reputation of the organization to the outside world, through its policies, stand on its role in society and its responsibility to the world and how these are perceived by the stakeholders.

The reputation of an organization cannot be managed if the perception of society is not considered in the picture. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a philosophy advocating that organizations have a moral responsibility in helping overall social development and uplift through strategic philanthropic activities, according to Carroll (1991). The sustainability of organizations depends on the environmental, social and financial sustainability (Wempe & Kaptein, 2002). The role of philanthropy and other social benefits in the development of the reputation of an organization cannot be ignored. Organizations sometime spend more on advertising their good work than doing the good work (Alsop, 2002). This has led people to view corporate philanthropy as designed for corporate gain in some covert fashion (Porter & Kramer, 2002).  This can be potentially damaging to the reputation of firms. The social responsibility when met has to be advertized at the right levels of austerity. If this is not executed properly, either the organization will be accused of doing too little or of being too brash in its claims of being a caring social entity. Therefore, the CSR activities of organizations are an effective tool for the management of corporate reputation and buzz marketing.

References

Alsop, R. (2002). Perils of corporate philanthropy. Touting good works offends the public, but reticence is misperceived as inaction. The Wall Street Journal, 16 Jan 2002, Print Edition.

Argenti, P. & Druckenmiller,B. (2004). Reputation and the corporate brand. Corporate Reputation Review, Vol.6, No.4, pp.368-374.

Carl, W. (2006). Whats all the buzz about? Everyday communication and the relational basis of word of mouth and buzz marketing practices. Management Communication Quarterly, Vol.19, No.1, pp.601-634.

Carroll A.B. (1991). The pyramid of CSR: toward the moral management of organisational stakeholders. Business Horizons, July/August(1991), pp.39-48.

Darke, P. & Ritchie, R. (2007). The defensive consumer: advertizing deception, defensive processing, and distrust. Journal of Marketing Research, Vol.44(Feb), pp.114-127.

Dowling, G.R. (2001). Creating corporate reputations using buzz marketing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fombrun. C & Riel, Van C. (1997). The reputational landscape. Corporate Reputation Review, Vol.1, No.1&2, pp.5-13.

Fombrun, C.J. & Rindova, V. (1996). Who’s Tops and Who Decides? The Social Construction of Corporate Reputations’, New York University, Stern School of Business, Working Paper.

Kirby, J. & Marsden, P. (2006). Connected buzz marketing: the viral, buzz and word of mouth revolution. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN: 978750666343, 075066634X.

Nakra, P. (2000). Corporate reputation management: CRM with a strategic twist? Public Relations Quarterly, Summer(2000), pp.35-42.

Petty, R. & Andrews, C. (2008). Covert buzz marketing unmasked: a legal and regulatory guide to practices that mask marketing messages. American Marketing Association, Vol.27, No.1, pp.7-18.

Porter M.E. & Kramer, R.M. (2002). The competitive advantage of corporate philanthropy. Harvard Business Review, December 2002, pp.18-27.

Pinkham, D. (1998). Corporate public affairs: running faster, jumping higher. Public Relations Quarterly, Summer(1998), pp.33-37.

Roberts, P. & Dowling, G. (2002). Corporate reputation and sustained superior financial performance. Strategic Management Journal, Vol.23(2002), pp.1077-1093.

Thomas, G.M. (2004). Building the buzz marketing in the hive mind. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Vol.4, No.1, pp.64-72.

Winkleman, M. (1999). The fickle finger of reputation. Chief Executive, Vol. 44, No.1, pp.79-86.

Wempe, J. & Kaptein, M. (2002). The Balanced Company: a Theory of Corporate Integrity. UK: Oxford Univ. Press.

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Essay Facebook Marketing

Facebook Marketing Essay

Facebook Marketing Essay – Marketing in the current era is believed to take a different dimension to hit its target. With the fast growing technology in the current word professional marketers are widely relying on technology to promote and advertise their goods and services. For this initiative to perform comfortably they need to ensure that engaging customer interrelation by electronic means will work effectively and deliver the best result. When using technology or online marketing sometimes it does not seem to be real to customers and internet users, and they get to prefer television marketing which might be effective to the surrounding environment.

This act as a problem or difficulty in effective marketing and it will automatically lead to poor responsiveness on the organization. Some of the social network working well is face book marketing, they have handled there problems effectively when it gets to advertising measurements. For instance the click-through rate for face book marketing which has done very well over throwing placard advertisement which has dropped over time.

(R., U.M., & A., 2005) Supported that there is a study that published the part of customer overview of social network marketing; this networks grow quickly over a short time of period. In this case study, little is discovered on the behavior of online marketing to the internet users. Due to problems and difficulties capital ventures produce incorrect and insufficient facts which lend to a problem for the advertisers loose track and cannot even identify the targeted viewers.

The new research is carried out to accomplish the research on internet users approach to social networks marketing. The area of study will be Facebook. Facebook is a one of the popularly, most used and known social network used by both young and old. It is commonly used for business matters or personal matters.  Facebook marketing is much different from other customary marketing. This is a service that is mostly used by start-up organization to involve the social network people. This means that Facebook marketing is still at its early age and it is a beginning dimension of marketing which is growing very fast.

However this research entailed aims and objectives, a purpose and also some of the encountered problems. The purpose of this study was to analyse Facebook marketing on how to approach it, measurements on how to appraise their efficiency and also Facebook marketing strategies. There are some challenges and problems of this study this include increasing a close view and analyse measurement of Facebook marketing strategies adapted by different organizations.

The main aim of this study is to find out what influences users on quantity of time they spend on Facebook. This was done at a view point of the kind of usage, brand and how much they are involved in advertisement. The managed result also showed that Facebook usage was on: post on timeline, fun, looking for friends and during free time. It also showed that gender and marital status contribute to the time spent on Facebook. Objectives of this study are:

  1. To view Facebook marketing activities
  2. To evaluate the intensity of Facebook marketing strategies
  3. To examine the consequence of Facebook marketing activities
  4. To charge the helpfulness of Facebook marketing measurements in terms of importance of social network sites
  5. To find out how marketers are adapting to the advertisement changing world.

Reason for the study

Facebook was first discovered in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, it was confined to college students requiring users to use their email ids connected with their colleges. Facebook movement enlarged new has association and today Facebook gets 200000 memberships daily and 54 billion standard page view. Social networking sites they are no longer innovative but Facebook marketing has tried to improve and maintain its users. Facebook is a website equipped with different types of software that are needed in the internet to allow user to perform activities that can be performed on different website making it an outstanding social networking. Apart from the marketing function, Facebook marketing is also used for public communication and personal private communication like sending family pictures.

View of the study

Communication occurs where there is a sender and a receiver of a message being transmitted. Computer application is one of the ways that that is used to communicate; IT modification has developed the mode of communication making it acceptable for social work communication to be accepted. This has allowed users to acquire widespread awareness. Availability of different software that make up Facebook it is possible to use Facebook marketing instead of using other different websites to promote and advertise you product.

This are things like uploading an image or a video so as customers can view all the features of the product. It has also been discovered that most of the users do not pay attention to the advertisement in there profile and this can lead to companies developing a communication direction with their clients and this is much better than social marketing (Bakker, 2003).

Social networks

Social networking has affected individuals differently. The networks link connect individually online all around the word. IT development has put together the daily lives activities of individuals. Out of curiosity people have widely accepted social networking and they engage more on social networking. They send links to their friends and also write more on their profiles. Some websites have restrictions on who is to join in terms age, gender or religious and others group there members into different categories like mutual racial or gender but there are some other groups that do not carry any restrictions and anybody can join.

Competitive market structure

Social networking is based on a competitive market where they work hard for each website to increase its competitiveness advantage for each site to emerge the best then they should be creative and come up with something unique.  This is done by working and coming up with new and more resolution to get hold of their clients. Marketers work on this by making simple online brand communities, this are social sites that depend on structure position of their relationship among their brand followers and they are focused; non- geological limit communities.

This communities influence their customer intentions and behavior due to their good relationship. They also create an easy working environment for their customers like providing contact information. Facebook being one of the social network sites with billions of users they take advantage the relationship to market products. They are different methods used to market in Facebook like rumor marketing, dispersal of modernization, buzz marketing and viral marketing. Rumor marketing is one that is mostly used.

Social network analysis

Social network examination is quite important to search for the best technique to determine “who talks to whom” in a group of people. It is also very important to analyse a social network to understand which group suits you and also to understand the type of information that is required.

Importance of Facebook marketing

Facebook marketing has become one of the best marketing channels in the word of businesses. One of the major importance of Facebook marketing is has varied areas and also makes things appear to be more real. It can also advise and help organizations on how to get new clients. The development of Facebook marketing has helped user to rely on online communication whereby you don’t have to appear face to face. Facebook has turned out to be one of the social networks which have grown drastically in rumor marketing.

In most cases rumor Facebook marketing requires a face to face appearance so as it can be more effective for buyers to buy the product. Companies that want to introduce a new product in the market mostly go for internet marketing. This is because there are several users and also rumor marketing is more effective if used on social sites. This is also cheaper than employing other classical advertising channels and also Facebook is managed by individuals and their relationship among each other helps them to communicate effectively.

You should also consider the most effective and persuasive to use for good promotion. Nielsen researched and found out that 78% of 26000 Facebook users are invited by the Facebook old members. Deloitte consumer products group found out that 62% percent of clients are influenced by user appraisal to read more about products.

Empirical researches inspected that new ideas are passed through interpersonal statement. In the current generation every business has have an online Facebook account this helps in targeting the young generation are also it gives everybody an opportunity to give out there views. (Bakker, 2003) defined the Facebook marketing method as that includes electric media of channel where a buyer and seller interact. These suggest that e-marketing is concerned with promoting products through technology.

Facebook Marketing Essay

Facebook marketing and business

According to researcher It was discovered that Facebook marketing has altered marketing communication in business and company. Most of the vendors use Facebook marketing to look compare and contrast products and services offered by different companies. This also helps to analyse the strength and weaknesses of the rival company. Clients also consider the security of each website.

(Kozinets, 2009, pp. 252-264) Confirms that business that engage in Facebook and e-marketing grow by 46% quicker than those that use classical advertising. Online usage of marketing by companies has believed to be of an advantage over their rival companies. Facebook is the most essential social media platform in e-commerce business has large companies. For instance Ebay and Amazon are the largest e-commerce to reach its vast extensive users.

(C.M., Anthony, & E.A., 2004, pp. 90-204) investigated on possible measure that Facebook marketing can advice the development of the young and growing business to increase their sales and their profits. On the other hand (Henkin, 2006, pp. 109-483) insists that Facebook marketing can be used as an outstanding media off communication and can also assist clients to come up with what they want. (DiClemente & Hantula, 2003, p. 785) emphasized that there was truth in (Henkin, 2006) suggests that Facebook can be used by small companies to gain big numbers of people and increase their sales.

Facebook creates a good customer relationship; this is by a close supervision to assess the customers’ feedback and also to monitor your rivals at a close watch. Del and Fedex Company are some are some of the companies that employ Facebook marketing to promote their products. For instance Del uses Facebook to get rid of the supply chain offer this will offer a reader a design of how straight selling has contributed to the company to be the word class firm while Fedex company concentrate on creating a simple order which directs them to the achievement of the courier organization not only in America but everywhere in the word. (C.M., Anthony, & E.A., 2004).

The development of technology has helped Facebook marketing to play other important role other than just helping in business representation or supervising in the supply chain then they can help the company to understand how they can produce their products.  (Briggs & Burke, 2002). To achieve an efficient firm then Facebook can advice on it is important for firm to have self belief and also put more effort in Facebook marketing. In a number of cases Facebook marketing is believed to have achieved the best like. Big companies like Amazon, Fedex and Dell they have grown rapidly and this is made possible the individual examination of each company to ensure that face book marketing is working effectively in the companies.

Marketing plans

To come up with effective marketing plans the organization should involve the community to get opinions on what their products should have and what is the best time to release their products this will help the organizations to have the best market plan. Advertising is one of the ways that you can involve the viewers and get their opinions. This can be done through television advertisement. In the current years Facebook advertisement is considered to be the best since the viewers can easily live there comment. (Steinfield Ellison Lampe 2008 434–445). This is essential to Facebook marketing plans.

Perceptions of advertising relevance and value

In another research it discovered that clients have a different reaction of online marketing. These reactions can be identified on the use of Facebook marketing. One of the client behaviors is seen on Facebook marketing offered as a two level arrangement showing widespread insight of Facebook marketing and the personal insight with marketing. The other effect is seen at an individual level where one is able to converse with each other regardless the distance (Alwitt & Prabhaker, 2004). Facebook has gain popularity and it is highly praised for its power to influence more and more people to use.

It contains unique measures like image sending, text sending and also sending video links. It is possible and very easy for Facebook marketing affiliates to access information regarding a company when they view the multilingual profile of the business. It also helps business organization to describe more about their products in there profiles (B. & Ellison, 2007).

Advertising avoidance

This may appear mostly when viewers don’t pay attention to the advertisement this can occur when people don’t pay attention to the pop ups in the internet or when people revolve to other programs on the television when there is a ads break. Others don’t even pay attention to the ads place on the newspaper. Advertising confusion may appear when there is over advertising in a well known advertising media (Palmer and Koenig Lewis 2009 pp 162-176).

Credibility

Credibility can be defined as the belief or a personal thinking of something. Media and marketing credibility could be described as the perspective of the customer thinking and customer believe about media advertising. It has been discovered that online media credibility can be measured. Another research carried out discovered that internet information is not restricted. This makes online information not to be trusted since it is not restricted. Peoples mostly don’t pay attention to online pop up advertisement because they don’t trust in it.

Privacy

Privacy matters in social internet sites have become one on of the problems. People don’t trust internet with their information. Some people end up exposing extremely personal information on their website which can be accessed by everybody.

Evaluation

Social media use different methods to converse which are innovative shift. Some of the social media are blogs, wikis which are similar to Facebook as well as LinkedIn. With the developing technology more and more social sites are coming up but customers’ use this websites after lawyers have inspected them and they are found fit to use.

New FTC Guidelines Implicate Social Media

The Federal trade Commission issues testimonials or improvement guidelines that are relevant to social media whether it is a sponsor or not. In Inadvertent liability may affect not present wary monitor. In fabric association a company as well as a blogger or tweeter, it has got to be released by the blogger or tweeter as well as accountability for deteriorating.

Company Sponsored Social Media

Companies using Facebook marketing, YouTube and all the other social media they need there pages to be well regulate in matters of law or trademark and copyright infringement. Facebook is one of the sites that are much easier to regulate and still deliver all your messages.

Employers/Employees Issues

Both the employers and employee play a role in the development of the company. The two parties use social media for business and personal matters. This requires one to be more careful about the laws governing the company. All business is based under laws that that should be well followed by both the employs and the employer.

Employee Use of Social Media

If a company is not allowed to use social media the employees should be fully educated on the consequences of social media participation and they should also know how to differentiate their private and professional life. If a company uses social media then they should know how to handle the business matters to portray a good picture of the company.

Employer Use of Social Media

Companies are more application amusing media to

  1. Awning abeyant job applicants.
  2. Investigate doubtable counterfeit claims for workers’ advantage or unemployment benefits.
  3. Adviser agent conduct, which may reflect ailing on the company.

This amusing media is still evolving in the favor of accepting an accounting policy. As an employer you should acknowledge any risk that can be encountered by the company if the product is posted online.

Intellectual Acreage Issues

For a company to be full recognized it should have a trademark or a copyright to help it protect the company brand. This trademark should appear on the ambit of the product or article for it to be recognized easily.

Policing One’s Bookish Acreage is Essential

This is analyzing amusing media sites for crooked use of a company’s batter name, logo or more bookish property. By quickly policing a company’s bookish acreage on amusing media sites, an aggregation can more acceptable bulwark off an affirmation. Although this can be time arresting there are abundant accouterments a business may use to advise the web.

Trademark Aegis in Basic Worlds

The use of barter names and logos are so essentials and it has become a rising concern. The law is much concerned on these items. Brand support argument has become one of the issues that are a concern online.

Misappropriation of Corporate Bookish Acreage for Amusing Media User Names

Misuse of logo and name is growing rapidly and it has become of allot of concern. People have been using logo and names that resemble. An example is where there are hundred Starbucks sucks pages and groups as well as fake and totally disapproved hundred Starbucks suck pages and groups. Facebook is one social site that has adopted an action to accord with incidents of brand imposters and fake brands.

Copyright Infringement

Agenda Millennium Absorb act was established to the accepted amusing media sites has created a specific action to approve dispute. Most of the sites have begun these procedures that are the agreement of service and a quicker action and also a sure way to accomplish copyrights than litigation.

Facebook Marketing and Litigation Issues

The development of technology is governed by lawsuits that are not supposed to be violated by the company or the users. The use of the amusing media is all about having fun and a lot of excitement. In most cases amusing media acutely expands the cosmos of potentially accountability abstract and impact destruction. In all cases of social media legal matters should be kept into consideration despite the category of the social media.

Contemplating the Close Consumption Experience

A lot of research and investigation have been carried out about the amusing networking website. This website frequently pop up questions like “What is on your mind?” to the members this question helps people to give their real life emotions and experience. These make a lot of users to spend a lot of their time examining their own thoughts. In a business with a customer research may encounter problems during their research. If a business uses Facebook marketing then it will help the owners to get the real expression of the customers. According to Mathews inculcated a thoroughly civil appearance of empiric absoluteness beyond all bookish disciplines, such that the article of our observations is accepted to disentangle in a law like way, uninterrupted by chat with its assemblage or eruptions of anapestic self-disclosure or promptings of close will.

For Virginia Woolf, it was a moment of being; for James Joyce, an epiphany; Ezra Pound, a magic moment; Walter Benjamin, shock; and for T. S. Eliot, the still point of the axis world. Introspection then, bedridden with what a lot of accurate scholars, and absolutely customer ability theorists, would accede a too baby sample, never had a chance, (Wasserman Faust 2004 46-90) which is an abashment accustomed its inherent abeyant to abduction the abstruse moment. Companies like Google and Facebook they have a secret writing system which cause the rising of salaries.

Some of the well paid technology professionals are from Silicon Valley rose. In 2011 it was 5.2% to breach $100000 barrier, while pay rose just 2% nationally, according to a contemporary bacon survey. One admission academy senior, announcement anonymously on the Web, claimed that Facebook marketing office offered a $100,000 salary, a $50,000 signing bonus, and $120,000 in banal options. According to the announcement filed in affiliation with Facebook’s planned antecedent accessible alms of stock, the company’s headcount jumped from 2,127 to 3,200 full-time advisers in 2011. Unlike some ample companies, Facebook marketing does not leave recruiting programmers to its animal assets department.

One thing is that most companies don’t hire for specific jobs Facebook puts new hires through a six-week Cossack affected area they circle through projects, allotment one that apparel them best. “Facebook marketing and added companies accomplishing this are saying, (Simonite 2012) ‘You can plan for us and still be ambitious and actualize your own thing.

Although the coder antagonism looks like a fun and able meritocracy, it as well reflects problems in the U.S. apprenticeship system. Very few women participate, and a lot of the winners are from overseas. “Facebook [is] aggressively traveling to added countries because there aren not abundant accomplished humans in the U.S. Facebook marketing has a able ability of ‘hacking’ and already a month, advisers are accustomed 24 hours to absorb developing a new app. Successful ideas, which were prototype at a drudge day, cover the Like button and Timeline.

The affair of the day was ‘distribution’ via the Open Graph API. By positing user ‘actions’ (such as read, share, like, ate etc) to the Open Graph (OG), this advice can be aggregate beyond the After three added circuit of academician teasers, Facebook marketing will fly the top 25 coders to its arch appointment in Menlo Park, for an adrenaline-soaked after piece this March that will accolade the best $5,000. In return, Facebook marketing gets an attempt at hiring the stars apparent forth the way.

Online marketing has become one of the most leading systems of marketing that is applied by both large and smalls business, both old and new they all engage in online marketing. Some of the social website that rare widely used is Facebook marketing. Therefore, Facebook marketing is believed to be one of the modern ways that people can use to promote and advertise their products. In the current year email marketing and mobile marketing are used. What makes Facebook the best among is that it contains both Emails marketing and online marketing to.

Companies that use Facebook marketing capture more clients thus making more sales. The coming up of Facebook marketing and all other social networking websites in businesses and observation of laws ensuring that they don’t violate any laws has created a remarkable marketing environment for business and its client. Facebook having its positive side it still have some negativity that might cause damage to the business.

Some of the problems faced by Facebook marketers are: some of the people may end up revealing their personal information on the website which will be accessible by anybody; this shows that Facebook does not provide privacy. Social website also does not restrict information this can lead to people sending counterfeit information which is not reliable to the users. This leads to many viewers not relying on internet advertisement and they prefer to use TV advertisement.

This causes decline of sale in internet marketing. For a business to be successful on e-marketing they should educate there both the users and the employees on how they should use the internet without violating the laws. According to the objectives of the research it has been proved that most of the marketers and business owners have adapted technological method of promoting their products. All the problems that were encountered by the marketers were noticed and it became easy for them to come up with the effective solutions. All the measure of how to appraise Facebook marketing strategies were analysed and they can now be practiced.

References

A., A. S., & M., P. (2007). Online Social Networks and Insights into Facebook Marketing Communications. Journal of Internet Commerce.

Adamic, L. A., & Huberman., B. A. (2010). The Nature of Markets in the World Wide Web.Quarterly Journal of Electronic Commerce.

Alwitt, L. F., & Prabhaker, P. R. (2004). Identifying Who Dislikes Television Advertising: Not By Demographics Alone. Journal of Advertising Research.

B., B., & Ellison, B. (2007). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 13.

Bakker, G. (2003). Building Knowledge about the Consumer: The Emergency of Market Research in the Motion Picture Industry. London: Frank Cass and Company Ltd.

Briggs, A., & Burke, P. (2002). A Social History of the Media. Cambridge: Polity Press.

C.M., C., Anthony, S., & E.A., R. (2004). Seeing What’s Next Facebook Marketing. Boston: Harvard School Publishing Corporation.

Cowan, R. S. (2007). Communication Technologies and Social Control Facebook Marketing. New York:: Oxford University Press.

D, B. (2006). Friends, Friendsters, and MySpace Top 8. Friends, Friendsters, and MySpace Top 8.

DiClemente, D. F., & Hantula, D. A. (2003). Optimal Foraging Online: Increasing Sensitivity to Delay. Psychology & Marketing.

Geyskens, I., Gielens, K., & Dekimpe, M. G. (2002). The Market Valuation of Internet Channel Additions. Journal of Marketing, 66.

Hardin, G. (2008). The Tragedy of the Commons. Science – Facebook Marketing.

Hart, K. (2007). Online Networking Goes Small, and Sponsors Follow,. The Washington Post.

Henkin, D. (2006). The Postal Age: The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

J.H, M., J., S., & H, K. (2002, january). Building Brand Community. Journal of Marketing.

Kozinets, R. V. (2009). E-Tribalized Marketing? The Strategic Implications of Virtual Communities of Consumption,”. European Management Journal, 17.

Kreshel, P. J. (2003). Advertising Research in the Pre-Depression Years: A Cultural History.Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 15(1).

R., A., U.M., D., & A., H. (2005). The Social Influence of Brand Community: Evidence from European Car Clubs. Journal of Marketing, 69, 19–34.

R., G. M. (2008). Facebook Marketing Stranger Danger and the Online Social Network. Berkeley Technology Law Journal Annual Review, 23.

T., H. M. (2008). An Ethnography of Social Network in Cyberspace: The Facebook Phenomenon. The Hong Kong Anthropologist.

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Marketing Essays For Students

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International Marketing

International Marketing – Exploring New Products and New Markets

Any company which aspires to expand into new overseas markets faces a significant challenge in selecting the appropriate international marketing strategy to do so. An organisations strategic and managerial depth is severely tested. The challenge lies in understanding the new market, and designing and fabricating a suitable marketing mix for the dynamics of the market.

The challenge lies in being able to analyze the market for existing players, market size, and future of the industry. Expanding into a new country takes significant investment from the company in terms of organizing logistics, administration and controls, storage facilities, promotions and management costs. Hence, the right strategy to enter and exploit the market could mean a significant financial implication for the organization in the medium and long term.

Vic’s Premium Quality Meat is a family business established in a small way which has grown into a global business. Meat business in Australia was saturated, with little differentiation in products, which is when Vic’s decided to differentiate the product to create a price premium in the market. The company has to expand into overseas markets to be able to survive in the meat business. The company has decided to expand into China with its premium meat products because of China’s potential of huge demand. The market for Australian meat in China has grown by over 1500% from the mid-1990s (Bernoth, 2007). Hence, succeeding in this market is going to be very important to the company.

Perhaps the most important part of the international marketing strategy in entering a new market with a new product is the function of the marketer and the role he plays in making the venture a success. Product knowledge and a socio-cultural and economic awareness are necessary for marketing to succeed.

Organizational Strategies and Bearing on International Marketing Strategy

Porter categorized strategies into cost leadership, differentiation and focus (Porter, 1980). While the first two are generic strategies, focus is an increased attention on the business if either strategy is adopted (Dess & Davis, 1982), and hence a necessary strategic recourse in this case. Hence, between the generic strategies of cost differentiation and differentiation, a company’s entry strategy can be understood as four distinct positions taken by the company in the market (White, 1986). See Appendix 1. These four positions are as follows:

Pure Cost Position

This is a strategic position where cost differences between competitors are low, and there is little or no differentiation between products available in the market. Vic’s entered the market when the market was positioned like this, and successfully created a market for a product line which was priced higher. Hence, this international marketing strategy could mean that the company has to regress on its corporate strategy. Also, a low cost position is not viable in a market like China, which has the lowest cost structures for production anywhere in the world. Hence, Vic’s cannot use this strategy to enter China.

Pure Differentiation Position

This is a strategic position where product differentiation is high, because of which the implications of costing is low. This strategy is suitable for companies which target a niche segment of the market and hence aim to be highly profitable, at the same time be assured of business. This is the strategy Australian meat importers in China are following at present. This could be a suitable international marketing strategy for entering the market for Vic’s, as the primary strength of the company is the superiority of its products compared to local produce. Its assured customers are expats and the affluent and middle class Chinese who want safe and exclusive meat for consumption.

Differentiation and Cost Leadership Position

This is a strategic position in which the company is unique in its offerings and also prices competitively. This is suitable strategy for companies who find that the products and services they offer are unique, but the local and other substitutes that are available could compete with them. This strategy could be suitable for Vic’s in China because of the fact that there are several Australian companies who are into the meat importing business already and there is the threat of local produce which is much cheaper than imported meat.

No Competitive Advantage Position

This is an international marketing situation which is similar to a commodity market, where there are several products in the market and they are all equal in price, quality and uniqueness (Zahra et al, 2000). This situation does not apply to Vic’s business or its entry into China

The Apt Strategy

Out of the four strategic alternatives discussed above, Pure Differentiation and a combination Cost and Differentiation strategies could be the most suitable for Vic’s. Let us now explore these two strategies to find the most suitable. In both these strategies differentiation is common. Vic’s has to differentiate its products from the local produce and the existing Australian meat producers and importers to gain competitive advantage.

Vic’s has to gain cost leadership in the market with respect to the other Australian meat companies because it does not have the first mover advantage in this market. Hence, to gain competitive advantage Vic’s must be innovative and careful with its pricing strategy during the entry stage.

Vic’s has to adopt a combination of cost leadership and differentiation strategy to enter the Chinese meat market.

Coming to focus, the company needs to focus on gaining market knowledge in China, the dynamics, regulatory and the competitive forces. China has an embargo on meat imports from America, and this is aiding Australian companies in China (Australian Trade Commission, 2010). This situation could change in the future, and Vic’s has to be prepared for increased competition from other countries. Australian players in China are primarily focused on the metropolitan cities, and the new focus areas could be tier II cities, which are growing at a massive rate. This will take some serious understanding of the logistics and supply chain operations within China.

A company with a pure cost leadership position has relatively simple management bandwidth required in marketing and other functions. Its production and sales are synchronized. It produces goods at the cheapest cost and marketers sell them for as low as they can afford to. This requires a very simple management structure, low autonomy and frequent low complexity of reporting (Porter, 1980).

However, when a company goes in for product differentiation strategy, the coordination required between the various departments is high (Porter, 1980). The company has to have a senior management team to be functioning in China, as the business complexity is high. This entails a higher cost outlay for the expansion project and suitable individuals to be available for recruitment at a very senior level. Organizing its command structure and organizing its operations is the next significant complexity for Vic’s expansion into the Chinese market via a robust international marketing strategy.

The implication of the entry strategy for the country is the most critical position to take from the marketing perspective. If the pricing is too high or if the segment catered is too small, the venture could be a disaster. If the pricing is too low and if the segment cannot be defined properly, resulting in a sell to everyone situation, the company cannot survive in the long run. Thus, planning for market entry in an international expansion scenario (international marketing) is a challenging and engaging process for any organization. Vic’s has chosen to have a strategy to market its products based on its product differentiation and cost leadership or competitiveness and these are two factors which need careful balancing, as these are two opposing approaches to pricing and product development.

The Product Portfolio

Vic’s is a meat wholesaler, supplying to restaurants, butchers and customers, based out of Australia. Australian meat is known for its purity and this is a major leveraging factor for meat exports. Meat, beef, lamb and pork are the largest export products from Australia, with more than 60% of the meat produced being exported and Australia being the second largest exporter of beef, after Brazil (Australian Trade Commission, 2010). China has a meat embargo from the USA and this is a major factor for driving focus of Australian meat industry towards China, which, owing to its size is a large meat consuming nation (Ausmeat, 2010).

Vic’s deals with primal cuts in beef, lamb, pork, poultry, game and exotic meat and more processed food like handmade sausages. The products are procured from farms and butchered at Vic’s state of the art processing plants and dispatched to their ultimate destinations. These products are exported as sealed, vacuum packed containers and shipped to worldwide destinations, where they are packed and marketed. Beef and lamb are specialized into signature series, with special grass and grain fed meat being sold at a high premium because of the assured quality and meat tenderness. Such meat is sold as specialized portions, available to customers, primarily butchers, restaurants and supermarkets, who need specialized cuts to attract customers and to reduce their complexity in acquiring butchering licenses and maintaining inventory at the shop level of these special customer preferences.

international marketing dissertation topics
international marketing dissertation topics

Vic’s also procures and markets a number of exotic and game meats, including venison, Spanish Jamon, rabbit, ducks, kangaroo and crocodile. Such exotic meats are preferred by large restaurants who seek differentiation in their offerings with such meat, which are usually signature presentations of their chefs.

The entire product range of Vic’s is assured of hormone free feeding and exclusive breeding conditions and processing with hygiene and health consciousness. Though the meat industry is mature and there are very few new opportunities in the global arena, the ultimate factors which interest consumers in meat products are price, quality, volume and traceability, with the last factor being the latest to be added because of the increasing focus on food safety and knowledge and awareness of the consumer (Australian Trade Commission, 2010).

The competitive advantage of Vic’s is the fact that its products are considered and intended to be of the best quality. The impact of the increase in awareness among consumers is a major factor which accounts for its premium pricing and quality. Due to its status of being an evolved meat consuming nation and due to its cutting edge standards in the meat processing industry, Australian meat has become one of the most preferred choices in quality and premium meat (Ausmeat, 2010). Also, the competitive advantage will lie in serving customers in China, which takes a lot of understanding of power, logistics and supply chain practices.

Vic’s practices the Ausmeat language in all its trading and product marketing and for developing specifications for its products (Vic’s, 2010). This unified language enables meat producers to phrase and specify their products as per industry standards set by Ausmeat, and thus to ensure quality of products delivered to customers (Ausmeat, 2010).

Marketing Strategy – Vic’s China

Vic’s has firmed up its strategy, organizational structure and command structure. Now it has to begin identifying the marketing strategies for itself. Vic’s has to follow a Polycentric Orientation of marketing in the EPRG framework, which places marketing entirely in the hands of the subsidiary (Wind et al, 1973). An organization’s different countries function as different business units with different marketing approaches, depending on its market dynamics.

When an organization is entering a new market, it has to understand the market in its present condition. This understanding is brought about by market segmentation. The market may be segmented in a number of ways, and discussed below are two options.

The demographic segments in the market for meat in China are,

  1. Chinese families who buy local produce at a low cost
  2. Chinese middle class families who can afford costlier meat for its safety
  3. Expats – Aussies and other foreign nationals who may be resident in China
  4. Chinese middle class families in Tier II cities who don’t have access to imported meat

Australia shipped more than 24,000 tons of sheep meat to China in 2009 and 13,000 tons of beef. This makes China the largest consumer of sheep meat and the fourth largest beef consumer in the world. Vic’s has to target to acquire about 5% market share (1850 tons) in these shipments during the first year, doubling its share in the next year (3700 tons). The premium meat demand in China grows at about 15-20% every year (Bernoth, 2007) and consumption of all meat is rising at the rate of 3-5% per annum (Thepigsite, 2007), because of change in consumption practices. The average price of a kilogram of beef is at about $7 in the open market. But this is the price of local produce and premium beef is offered at anywhere between $15-20 depending on the portion and cut (Bernoth, 2007 & Pugh, 2010). Considering an average price of $17 per kg of beef, the estimated revenue size of Vic’s could be at $314 million in the first year, doubling to over $650 million in the second year.

The primary targets for Vic’s are upscale restaurants, hotels, expats from Europe and America and the local middle class which can afford premium meat. The scope for business expansion exists because of the fact that the per capita meat consumption in China is 67 kg per person in 2008, compared to an Australian average of 120 kg per annum. High growth projections discussed above are possible because of the fact that premium quality meat is still new in China, with the main competition coming from local, small time meat enterprises and smuggled meat from North America.

Vic’s China’s Marketing Mix

  1. Product – Vic’s should deliver top quality products in the market in line with its strategy. Its products must reflect the tastes of the customers in China, in terms of the cut, animal and the portions. The products launched by Vic’s must add significant value against the products of its Aussie competitors, in terms of variety, packaging quality and finish.
  2. Price – Vic’s should go in for on par pricing with its Aussie competitors in China, but a premium position to the local produce. It could even enter at marginally lower price than its Aussie players in China, to bring enjoy a cost leadership in the market.
  3. Place – Vic’s must be distributed through super markets, its own retail shops and also through the digital channel – internet and phone ordering. Vic’s meat must be available within reach to any Chinese or expat customer who lives in the geography concerned.
  4. Promotion – Vic’s must promote its products through various media. Expats in China can easily be targeted by social networking sites and online media, while the Chinese segments have to be catered to with the mass media. The plan would be to go in for a grand launch of a retail showroom of Vic’s in Beijing or Shanghai and then building the brand from there, using various other media.

The Target Market

The target market for Vic’s is constituted of consumers and businesses that can afford and realize the value of quality meat. Australian beef importers have been primarily targeting expats and the affluent restaurants of the major cities. This is an attractive segment which is readily available, already being catered to by other importers and brands. But this could also be a segment where there is significant competition and set customer preferences, considering that Vic’s is a late entrant in the market.

There is a large market with Chinese who buy meat from the local grocer or butcher, and considering Vic’s competency in being a wholesaler of meat in Australia, this could be a segment which could provide it the success and the volumes necessary. With increasing demand for quality food products from the affluent middle class (Garnaut, 2010) and with increasing reliance on imports for meeting meat demand, the local market could be the biggest and most lucrative market for Vic’s.

The size of the affluent in China was about 2.9 million and expected to rise to 8.5 million by 2015. Adjusting for purchasing power parity, an income of $60000 per annum in the largest cities of China could be equal to $1, 00,000 to $ 1, 50,000 per annum in the US. The affluent class in China is very young (86% less than 43 years old), highly educated (83% with university degrees) and very busy (23% has less than 10 hours leisure in a week). These figures show the perfect target for a meat brand which understands the customers, is prepared to educate and elevate its customers towards quality food and create a valuable premium market for itself. This could be a very valuable segment, if it can be sold directly to, through various channels of distribution.

Considering that meat consumed per person in about 70 kg per annum in China, this affluent segment is bound to be the leader in consumption, consuming average or above average quantities of meat. The numbers of these affluent is concentrated in the three major cities of China, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong (33% in 2007 and estimated to be more than 50% by 2015). This shows a concentrated set of customers who are educated, affluent and shop in supermarkets, are bound to expect high quality of food and general quality of living. Consumption decisions of the affluent class in China are hinged on luxury or social status, environmental consciousness or high quality and convenience (Hedrick-Wong, 2007).

By being present in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangdong, Vic’s could target 33% (1 million households) of the affluent population, with potential consumption of 70 million tons of meat (at the rate of 70kg average consumption per individual per annum) in the first year. This is a sizeable market which is available to Vic’s to exploit and grow. The key will lie in understanding consumer behavior of this class of people, where they buy, why they buy and what they buy. The socio-economic factors, ethnocentricity and culture of the locale are also very important because of the cultural diversity in a large country like China.

Competition

The main competitors for Vic’s in China are local butchers and other Australian meat brands already present in China. While the local butchers could be eventually unviable and become dependent on imported meat, due to lack of support from Government and due to sheer un-suppliable demand (Garnaut, 2010), other Australian meat brands could be the major competitors for Vic’s.

As of 2008, premium meat had touched only about 5% of the market available for such quality meat (Pugh, 2010). This means that Australian have a lot of space to grow and expand within China. But the real competition is going to come from other meat exporting nations, like the US, Brazil and New Zealand. Each of these countries has their own strengths in meat exporting. US beef is banned; aiding other countries, but this is a medium term advantage and could go away. Brazil is a low cost producer of beef, and also the largest exporter of beef and with its low cost production capacity. This makes Brazil a significant competitor for Australian beef. New Zealand is strong in game and exotic meats, with even Aussie companies procuring such meat from the Kiwis.

Another factor in competition that needs to be considered is that China’s meat consumption is composed of 65% pork and 20% poultry (Liu & Deblitz, 2007). This preference could place significant strain on Vic’s which is string in beef. This also presents an opportunity to cater to the top of the pork eating segment with the exotic pork it serves in the form of Spanish Jamon. The changing consumption patterns also mean that beef consumption holds significant opportunity for Vic’s, whose strong point is beef production.

The largest Australian player in mainland China is Elder’s, one of the pioneers in exporting meat to Australia and holds 50% of the market for premium meat exported from Australia. Other meat importers are marginal and small players. Elder’s is a major meat producer in Australia and is right now targeting supermarket chains and internet business to touch retail customers. It has all among been targeting restaurants and expats through ultra-high pricing, to customers who look for Australian meat specifically and for signature dishes in upscale restaurants.

The market position as of 2010 finds the industry for restaurants and expats being stagnant, with meat importers having to set up their own supply chain to cater to the other segments in the market. This creates an attractive opportunity for Vic’s to get its business model right and go for the mass market, which its other Australian competitors are only now beginning to target.

Price

Vic’s, like its Australian competitors has to import meat in containers and process, package and market its finished products in China. This serves two purposes – to cater to the differences in meat consumption preferences in China and also to reduce costs by handling bulk of the processing in China and utilizing its low cost labor and other infrastructure. This will also enable Vic’s to have much leverage in promoting and discounting its product, by having much better control over its cost and hence it’s pricing structure.

The cost of production, transportation and processing and delivering products to customers takes about $10 per kg for Vic’s, to get the product to shelves in supermarkets, as per the study conducted by the management team which designed the market entry vehicle for the company early in the year. This provides a leeway of about $7-10, depending on the product, for Vic’s to leverage on for its profits and its marketing expenses.

In such a scenario, Vic’s can practice simple markup pricing to support a fixed profit for each product unit sold, and utilize a portion of these profits for its marketing budgeting. This method of pricing is suitable because the price is not the deciding criteria and because the competition in the premium meats segment is still low. This allows the few players present in the market to effectively exploit being the pioneers in the industry in China, this must be factored into the international marketing strategy.

Also, the decided marketing strategy of the company is to use a combination of product differentiation and cost leadership in its business. Such a pricing strategy will allow Vic’s to set its expectations of profit at an early stage and then fix its price to accommodate for these strategic positions it intends to take.

Vic’s can fix a markup of 50% approximately on all its products and allocate 10-20% of this to promotions and discounts. This will allow the company to be strategically placed in the supply channel and retail segment and also afford it a healthy to very high profit margin in China. The discounting could be to the retailer and the butcher, as discounting a premium product to the customer could erode the value of the upscale brand in the long run. Thus, the discounts passed on to the channel will enable Vic’s to command a special position within its channel and thus create valuable loyalty from butchers and supermarkets.

Channels of Distribution

Vic’s will enter as a wholesaler of meat, by setting up its cold storage and warehouses in Shanghai. It will start operating through supermarkets and restaurants in its first phase. It will have a sales team of 5 people, under a sales head, who will market the product to supermarkets, retail chains and large butchers. The ordering mechanism will work on a daily basis, considering the perishable nature of the products. The customer will place an order through the phone or through a dedicated internet account with Vic’s and the order will be fulfilled the next day. This mechanism will enable its channel to be fast and responsive to evolving market demands, this must be incorporated into the international marketing strategy.

To enable such a channel, Vic’s has to develop its logistics capability in China. Chinese logistics providers are traditionally single person operated with low costs and standards of operation quality. Since meat transportation is a complex operation and considering the value of the merchandise, Vic’s will set up its own logistics service, which will deliver products based on orders. This is not different from the logistics model it uses in Australia, with its own fleet for servicing orders in the market.

This initial channel setup will require a management team, to handle sales and logistics and also investments in resources like commercial vehicles, software and other management tools. The sales team will be composed of 5 people at the initial stage, to build relationships with major clients, and the proposed compensation for each sales person would be $12000 per annum, considering that the middle class of China earns above $6000, and this salary could bring in experienced sales people from the meat industry in China. They will be supervised by a sales manager, who will be paid approximately $25000. The sales team will be supported by a back end operations team which will be three strong and will cost the company $25000 per annum.

From the second year onwards, Vic’s will start targeting its consumers and butchers, through its own retail outlets and e-commerce. This will enable consumers to directly buy from Vic’s and buy all of Vic’s products under one roof. This will also enable Vic’s to earn higher margins, by cutting down on the discounts or margins it has to afford when selling through the channel. This channel strategy will take better understanding of the market and consumer behavior in China, which is why this plan is deferred to the second year.

Advertising, Sales Promotions and PR Plans

In the first year, when Vic’s is going through the retailer and the trade, it need not go in for mass marketing and advertising. It knows who its customers are and it can directly contact them for generating business. So, during the first year, the business promotion will be focused on PR and sales promotions. After a grand launch of the brand in Shanghai, Vic’s must embark on a PR mission to ensure that all stakeholders and major decision makers in the meat trade in China perceive Vic’s as an important player in the market and a serious competitor and value addition in the market. This could involve participating in trade shows, agriculture meets, food fests, chambers of commerce and prominent business councils and key ingredient in international marketing strategy.

Depolying an international marketing strategy, Vic’s must embark on a sales mission to get Vic’s into as many supermarkets, menus and restaurants as possible, in as many meat shops as possible. This will be possible through aggressive sales promotions, having great discounts for retailers and butchers, who prefer to stock Vic’s in their stores. The focus of the promotion must be in adding value to the customer, in enabling the restaurant to utilize its premium status among its consumers and to enable them to make better margins by selling Vic’s rather than other meat brands.

From the second year, Vic’s has to enter mass international marketing through various media, including television, radio and outdoor advertising. This is necessary because of the fact that the segments catered are larger and more widespread to target through rich media, like a direct sales pitch. The focus of these advertisements has to be the natural taste of Australian meat and beauty of Australia and the heritage of Vic’s. This will create a strong connection with the affluent customers who are being targeted in this channel. Such advertising will also create run offs to the wholesale business also.

The multi-pronged international marketing strategy of promoting the product through attractive trade discounts is a push strategy and advertising and communicating directly with consumers is a pull strategy. When both the push and pull strategies are applied in tandem, the effectiveness of the marketing program is higher than using just the push or the pull strategies in isolation from each other.

Budgeting

The first two years will need high marketing expenditure, with the brand needing to be established in the market and with each year targeting a new segment of customers, from the trade to the consumer. This will reduce profits from the first two years, but considering the string growth in meat consumption; such expenditure is justified as shown below:

  2018 2019 2020
Units Sold (Metric Tons) 1,850 3,200 4,000
Cost/ton (USD)* 10,000 11,000 12,000
Advertising / Promotion expenditure per ton(USD) 2,500 2,500 2,200
Management Expenditure per ton(USD) 500 600 600
Total Cost/ton(USD) 13,000 14,100 14,800
Price/ton(USD) 15,000 16,000 17,000
Profit/ton(USD) 2,000 1,900 2,200
Total Profit (USD Million) 3.7 6.4 8

*Cost/Ton includes cost of logistics, transportation, taxes, packaging and other levies and duties

Conclusion

Vic’s is entering China, a very promising market for meat producers in Australia. The environment at present is very conducive to expand into this country, and hence the company is building its strategies to find the best way to enter the market and cater to Chinese customers. The company has so far firmed up its entry strategy, organizational structure and control mechanisms and marketing strategy. Now the company has to go ahead and start its China project, by working towards setting up its supply chain in China, getting the necessary clearances and licenses and recruiting the people required.

Appendix 1

International Marketing Strategic Entry Positions for a New Market

Strategic Entry Positions for a New Market
Strategic Entry Positions for a New Market

Source: Roderick E. White (1986). Generic Business Strategies, Organizational Context & Performance: An Empirical Investigation. Strategic Management Journal, Vol 7, Pp 217-231.

References

Australian Trade Commission (2010), Meat overview international marketing journal Vol 1:54

Thepigsite (2007). The story behind China’s rising pork prices.

Pugh, Wendy (2010). China to buy more Australian meat, Rabobank’s Voss

Liu, Hongbo & Deblitz, Claus (2007). Determinants of meat consumption in China. Asian Agribusiness Research Center, Working Paper 40.

Garnaut, John (2010). Getting Aussie beef into Chinese hot pots. International Marketing

Dr. Hedrick-Wong, Yuwa (2007). Understanding the affluent consumers of China. The Insight Bureau, Issue 17-July 2007.

Bernoth Ardyn, (2007), Slow roast to China.

Dess GG & DS Davis (1982). An Empirical Examination of Porter’s (1980) Generic Strategies: an Exploratory Field Study and a Panel Technique. Academy of Management Proceedings.

Porter ME (1980). International Marketing Competitive Strategy Techniques for analyzing Industries and Competitors. NY: The Free Press

Roderick E. White (1986). Generic Business Strategies, Organizational Context & Performance: An Empirical Investigation International Marketing. Strategic Management Journal, Vol 7, Pp 217-231.

Vic’s Premium Quality Meat, Company Profile (2008).

Wind Yoram, Douglas P. Susan & Perlmutter V. Howard (1973). Guidelines for developing international marketing strategies. Journal of Marketing, Vol 37 (April 1973), pp 14-23

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Example Marketing Dissertations

Marketing Plan Essay

Marketing Plan

In this essay the discussion focuses mainly on the importance of a marketing plan and the role it plays for the development of businesses. In due course the nature of a marketing plan and the key elements of it are also discussed. Whether the elements of a marketing plan are linked or independent? This key issue is discussed elaborately explaining the links between different elements of the marketing plan.

A marketing plan is different from a business plan and these differences are also highlighted in this essay. The essay would not be considered complete if the misconceptions about a marketing plan are not discussed. There are some misconceptions prevailing about marketing plan and they are discussed briefly in the essay. The essay has been concluded with a brief summary of the discussion made here.

Role and nature of marketing plan

Before discussing role and nature of a marketing plan it is important to understand what is marketing. Marketing is a function of an organization which involves several processes of creation, communication and delivery of value to customers and management of customer relationship in such a order that the organization as well as its stakeholders are benefited.

In other words, it is a process to identify, anticipate and satisfy customer with profit. It is science and art to create change in the market for the benefit of the organization. Understanding the need and want of the market and to earn profit is called marketing. Marketing is done with a strategic plan (Hatch & Schulz, 2003).

A marketing plan is a written document describing the external and internal business environment, aims and objectives of the organization, its strategy, plan of action and control. Marketing plans for different companies vary according to the requirements and the strategy of the company.

Occasionally some companies have only one plan and they call it a business plan but a business plan includes plans of all the functions performed by a company like Research & Development, Production, Financial Management, Human Resource Management, IT as well as Marketing. Hence, a marketing plan is only a part of a business plan (Einwiller & Will, 2002).

 A marketing plan is built on the strengths of an organization to exploit it for the maximum benefit of the organization. An integrated and well coordinated marketing plan makes an organization proactive and not reactive. It successfully communicates the purposes and the intent of the senior management. It sets the objectives for actions and it is target oriented. A written plan provides the scope for adjustments (if needed) and monitoring of marketing activities.

Besides these reasons marketing plans are used for understanding the needs and wants of the customers for their satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is the prime objective of any marketing plan and that can be measured by meeting their needs and wants efficiently. Needs and wants change with time. Hence, a satisfied customer may be dissatisfied tomorrow with the change in need and want. This makes marketing a rigorous and continuous process. (Ferrel and Hartline, 2005).

A marketing plan is based on the information and data from various sources and lack of reliable data is one of the biggest difficulty in making a marketing plan. Complete firm’s picture, product line, present and future of the situation, internal and external environment and customer satisfaction are the key features of a marketing plan. Structure of a marketing plan vary from company to company. (Mathewson, 2009).  Generally a marketing plan is structured in the following manner:

Executive Summary

Challenges

Situation Analysis

  • Customer Analysis
    • Concentration of customer base for particular products
    • Decision Process
    • Value Drivers
    • Type
    • Numbers
    • Company Analysis
      • Focus
      • Strengths
      • Weaknesses
      • Market Share
      • Goal
      • Culture
      • Climate
        • Economic Environment
        • Technological Environment
        • Political and Legal Environment
        • Social and Cultural Environment
        • Collaborators
        • SWOT Analysis

Following environmental factors are needed to be organized for the SWOT analysis of a business environment

  • Strengths and weaknesses of the organization should be considered as internal attributes or internal environment
  • Opportunities and Threats are to be considered as external attribute or external environment
  • Competitor Analysis
    • Market Share
    • Market Position
    • Strengths
    • Weaknesses

Market Segmentation

  • Segment 1
    • Description
    • Sales percentage
    • Wants of the customer
    • Way of using the product
    • Support
    • Way of reaching them
    • Price
    • Segment 2
      • ABC

Alternative marketing strategies

Selected marketing strategy

Product

  • Brand
  • Quality
  • Scope
  • Warranty
  • Packaging

Price

  • Price list
  • Discounts
  • Terms of payments
  • Financial options
  • Options for lease

Distribution (Place)

  • Channels for distribution as intermediaries, distributors, retail and direct
  • Motivation of channels
  • Evaluation of channels
  • Locations
  • Logistics as supply, transportation, warehousing, etc.

Promotion

  • Promotional programs
  • Public relation
  • Advertisement
  • Budgeting
  • Estimating results of promotions

Marketing Plan Dissertations
Marketing Plan Dissertations

Long term and short term projections

Conclusion

Appendix

Exhibits

Recommended reading

In some cases the structure of the marketing plan of a company is not as detailed and extensively elaborated as above and it is short and simple but focused. It depends on the size and the need of a company. Even a simple marketing plan should be structured as follows:

Summary of Strategic Situation

Objectives and Targets

Positioning      

Budget

Sales projections

Strategy for product

Strategy for price

Strategy for distribution

Strategy for communications

Market research

Conclusion

A marketing plan is used to serve the end result of building a customer base and creating an environment which could lead a company to success. It serves other functions as well such as a marketing plan is used for introduction of a new product into market, for exploring new markets for a product, for setting up gals and targets and achieving it and for establishing, directing and coordinating between sales and marketing efforts of a company. The potential differences between different structures of marketing plans depend on the nature of the business of the company and their requirements. The end results are same for all the marketing plans.

Elements of marketing plan and links between them

The key elements of a marketing plan are Executive Summary, Challenges, Situation Analysis, Market Segmentation, Alternative marketing strategies, Selected marketing strategy, Product, Price, Distribution (Place), Promotion and Long term and short term projections. These elements are interdependent and complementary to each other.

Executive summary is the brief overview of the content of a marketing plan. It describes the objectives of the plan. It has the description of the strategies of the company for marketing, Before discussing the plan and the strategies for marketing in detail the marketing managers prefer to discuss the challenges which may come across in marketing or the challenges of the market for the company. The business world is changing very fast and the growing competition in the business world is reducing the margins of the businesses and extensive marketing is required to meet this challenge which is again very expensive. Challenges can only be tackled in favorable situation which further requires situation analysis (Hatch & Schulz, 2003).

Situation analysis is done to understand various situations or it can be said that situation analysis is of several types like customer analysis, company analysis and climate analysis. Customer analysis involves factors like number of existing customers and expected number of new customers, types of customers, decision process of customers, value drivers for customers and finally the concentration of customer base for particular products (Einwiller & Will, 2002).

The end result of a marketing plan is satisfaction of customer and customer analysis is a very important. Analysis of company means study of strengths and weaknesses of the company, the market share of a company for a particular product, the culture of the company because the output of a company also depends on its culture, the goal of the company and the focus the company has to achieve that goal. Then comes climate which means environment of different types like economic environment, political and legal environment, social and cultural environment and technological environment. In some marketing plans they are also analyzed as external and internal environment (Ferrel and Hartline, 2005).

Collaborators are also called as stakeholders by marketing managers. Stakeholders may have stakes in the company in different ways that is why there are different types of stakeholders. Stakeholders range from customer to the top management of the company which includes workers, employees, suppliers and many others and a good marketing plan must not overlook their stakes. The company keeps the required data about its stakeholders for various purposes including making a marketing plan (Mathewson, 2009).

SWOT analysis means study of strengths and weaknesses as well as study of opportunities and threats. A good marketing plan must analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the company, product as well as customers. Similarly it should analyze the opportunities for the company, product and the opportunity of the market. Opportunities never come without threats and it will be mistake if the threats are not analyzed in a marketing plan. For SWOT analysis information are needed to be collected from both the internal sources of the company and from the market (Freeman, 1984).

There is hardly any business without competitor and the success of a marketing plan substantially depends on the proper analysis of the competitors. Marketing managers must know the position of the competitor in the market, the market share of competitor for a particular product or different products and strengths and weaknesses of the competitor.

Marketing mangers divide the market into different segments and the process is called market segmentation. Needs and wants of all the markets are not same and the market managers have to analyze which segment of the market is useful for a particular product. The factors needed to be kept in mind for market segmentation are the percentage of sales in that segment, description of the segment, what do the customer need or want, how do they use the product, how to reach them, whether the price is suitable for them, etc. They need to collect the information from the external sources. (Mullins, Walker, Boyd and Larreche, 2005)

Every plan should have an alternative plan which can be used if needed. Efficient and experienced marketing managers always ready with an alternative marketing plan. The plan which they execute is called selected plan. Marketing plans have detailed description of the factors like product, price, promotion, distribution, etc (Mullins, Walker, Boyd and Larreche, 2005).

Product is the key factor of the marketing plan and it revolves around it. Ultimately product is the tool through which the company reaches to customers and wishes to satisfy them meeting their needs and wants. It is the responsibility of the marketing manager to ensure branding f the product and to analyze the quality of the product and the scope for it in the market, Proper packaging of the product with genuine warranty adds value to it. After all it is the product only which decides the success and failure of a company.

Price is another key factor and it should be relevant to the market, customer and the competitor. Customers always prefer quality product at affordable price. The marketing managers offer some options for the market to make the offers attractive. They offer discounts, different payment options, financial support and sometimes options for lease. All these information should be provided clearly in the pricelist (Jones, 2005).

Distribution ensures the success of a product and alternatively of a company. All these efforts of marketing will go waste if an adequate system of distribution is not set up. Distribution of products is done by various methods like making channels for distribution such as distributing through intermediaries, distributors, retail or direct. These network need to be evaluated regularly for its proper functioning and the stakeholders associated with the distribution network must be kept motivated. The selection of location for the network should be done carefully and proper care of regular supply, transportation and warehousing must be taken (Dickson, 1996).

Last but not the least another key factor of marketing is promotion and promotion is done by following promotional programs, making public relation, advertisement, budgeting and finally estimating the results of promotion.

Some elements of a marketing plan are interlinked while others are independent. For example, challenges can be estimated by understanding the situation and pricing can be done by valuing the product and the promotion of the product is done (Freeman, 1984).

Assumptions

There are many misconceptions about marketing plan. The most common misconception of customers is that they generally think that the companies make marketing plans to manipulate things and the aim is to deceive. In fact, a marketing plan is made to ensure satisfaction to customers. The aim of a marketing plan is to reach to the customer to satisfy his needs at the affordable price. The advertisement sometimes becomes illusionary and creates confusion (Jones, 2005).

The most common misconception of companies is that a marketing plan and its implementation is an expensive and difficult to measure process to evaluate the return on investment on it. Actually a perfect marketing plan ensures tangible return on it. A marketing plan is made by marketing manager after extensive research and it is aimed to ensure success and earn profitability for the organization. Companies think that investment in marketing plan can be made only if the cash flow allows for it. In fact, marketing plan is the factor which ensures the cash flow and projects in advance the rate of cash flow if planned and implemented efficiently (Dickson, 1996).

Conclusion

A marketing plan is a key to success for any business but unfortunately many businesses confuse marketing plans with investment on advertisements with no assured returns. A marketing plan is a simple act of bringing products and services to market and providing right message to right person at right time. Actually marketing plan can only assure the success of a business by guiding businesses to follow the processes required for its success. Those processes include how to analyze marketing environment, how to decide marketing segment, how to choose the marketing mix. Marketing mix includes five important Ps of a marketing plan. They are Product, Price, Promotion, Place and Process.

References

Hatch  M. J. & Schulz, M. 2003. Bringing the corporation into corporate branding. European Journal of Marketing, Vol 37(7/8), pp; 1041-64.

Einwiller, S. & Will, M. 2002. Towards an integrated approach to corporate branding – an empirical study. Corporate Communications, Vol 7(2), pp; 100-9.

Ferrel, O. and Hartline, M. 2005. Marketing Strategy, 3rd Edt.Thomson

Mathewson R. 2009. Misconceptions about Marketing, Maple Marketing

Dickson, P.R. 1996. The static and dynamic mechanics of competition: a comment on Hunt and Morgan’s comparative advantage theory. Journal of Marketing | October 1, pp; 102  –

Freeman, R. 1984.  Strategic Management: a stakeholder approach, Boston

Jones, R. 2005. Finding sources of brand value: Developing a stakeholder model of brand equity. Journal of Brand Management, Vol 13(1), pp; 43-63.

Mullins,J., Walker Jr, O., Boyd Jr, H. and Larreche, J. 2005. Marketing Management: A Decision-Making Approach, 5th Edt, McGraw-Hill / Irwuin, Sydney

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Smartphone Market Apple

Apple’s Position in the United States Smartphone Market

The smartphone market in the United States is comprised of all firms that manufacture and sell smartphone’s specifically to U.S. consumers. According to Cromar (2010. p 4.), a smartphone is a mobile phone which is run on an advanced operating system. The operating system makes a smartphone to have advanced computing capabilities such as installing of new applications and can connect to the internet.

There are five major players in the U.S. smartphone market. They include:

  1. Apple Inc. (a U.S. corporation)
  2. Research in Motion Limited (a Canadian corporation)
  3. HTC Corporation (a Taiwanese corporation)
  4. Motorola Inc. (a U.S. corporation)
  5. Samsung Electronics (a subsidiary of a Korean corporation)

This article will mainly focus on Apple’s presence in the smartphone market.

Apple’s Market Share

According to new statistics released by comScore – an analytics firm – on February 2013, Apple and Samsung have continued their two-horse race for the U.S. smartphone subscription over the last quarter of 2012 (Campblell, 2013). For three months ending in December 2012, Apple’s iPhone had maintained its dominance in the U.S. smartphone market which raised its share of the market by 2% up from 36.3% in the previous quarter. However, Samsung, the biggest competitor to Apple had experienced the most positive change over the same period by controlling 21% of the market. These two smartphone giants were trailed by HTC and Motorola, which unfortunately were experiencing declining results with market shares of 10.2% and 9.1% respectively (Campbell, 2013). The following table shows a percentage share of smartphone subscribers for the period between September 2012 and December 2012

Smartphone Market 01
Smartphone Market Apple

Source: comScore (2013)

This was a representation of 125.9 million people in the United States who were owning smartphones during the last quarter of 2012 (Jones 2013). As Apple was dominating in smartphone subscription, Google’s Android Platform operating system was leading with a 53.4 % of the market share in the fourth quarter of 2012 (Paul, 2013). This made Apple’s iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy SIII the bestseller in Q4 leaving HTC, LG and RIM struggling to get a share of the lucrative market.  The following table according to Jones (2013) shows a tabulation of Apple’s position in the period between December 2011 and December 2012

Dec-11 Mar-12 Jun-12 Sep-12 Dec-12 +/-
Android 47% 51% 52% 53% 53% 6%
Apple 30% 31% 32% 34% 36% 6%
RIMM 16% 12% 11% 8% 6% -10%
Microsoft 5% 4% 4% 4% 3% -2%
Symbian 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% -0%
Other 1% 1% 1% 1% 0% -1%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Source: comScore (2013)

Threat Analysis

Apple’s dominance in the smartphone market for many years can be attributed to the advantage that the company takes from vital synergies that are available in its electronic ecosystem of electronics, computers and software (Comar 2012 p 31). Before the company released the iPhone, Apple already had an existing broad base of users for its iPods, computers and software like iTunes. The iPhone is a smartphone that can be easily integrated with other Apple products such as the Apple TV. It is the success of Apple’s other products that were carried over and integrated into the iPhone making it an unmatched smartphone with highly differentiated and integrated user experience.

As of 2010, most of Apple’s competitors were facing significant challenges in market share control due to Apple’s availability of a highly integrated electronic ecosystem.  However, Samsung has in the past two years revolutionized its smartphone presence in the United States making it Apple’s main competitor.  This has led to patent counter suits between Apple and Samsung being experienced in especially the last one year. Samsung has fully utilized its wide range of consumer products such as the manufacture of computer chips, PCs, TVs and printer to influence its smartphone innovation in recent years, a technique that Apple largely relied on in the earlier days.

Apple’s Weaknesses

The biggest challenge that Apple as a smartphone manufacture is facing today is the growing competition in smartphone operating system application platform. Apple smartphones use iOS which is a mobile operating system created exclusively by Apple. Over the last couple of years, Apple has been experiencing a significant long term risk in gradual loss of smartphone market share specifically to the Android platform. This trend has reduced Apple, a one-time smartphone giant, to a mere niche player in the U.S. smartphone market. The following image show’s Apple’s iOS market share as compared to other mobile operating systems for the period between January 2009 and June 2012 (Blodget 2012)

Smartphone Market Dissertation
Smartphone Market Dissertation

The Android platform that is giving Apple’s iOS a run for its money is a software stack of mobile devices which includes an operating system that is designed mainly for touch screen devices such as smartphones. Android, which is owned by Google, has played a key role in challenging the success of Apple’s smartphone by handing companies like Samsung an easy to use mobile operating system.

The reason why Apple’s smartphone market share is under siege is essentially because the smartphone market is a ‘platform’ market. Apple’s weakness here is that in a platform market, third company markets like Google build products and services on top of other companies’ platforms (Blodget 2012). In this case, Google continues to build the Android application for use by companies such as Samsung on their smartphones. Currently, Android and Apple are continuing to dominate the smartphone market with Apple’s share declining in a rapid manner in the last two years.

Another area of Apple’s weakness is its spending on research. According to Chen (2013), smartphone manufacturer, Samsung, outspent Apple by 2012 on research and development with Samsung spending 5.7% of its revenues on research as compared to Apple which has spent only 2.2% of its revenues. Research is essential, especially in a mobile based platform, since a company will always be abreast with not only emerging trends, but also reading the current trends of consumers.

Samsung’s Competition on Apple

Even though Samsung came in second in the U.S. smartphone market share, Samsung was the only company that recorded significant growth especially in the last quarter of 2012.  Paul (2013) points out that with increase in competition in innovativeness in smartphone design, Samsung’s growth rate was slightly more than Apple’s which consequently heightens the prediction of its market share results in the first quarter of 2013.  Samsung has not only been experiencing growth as a mobile phone manufacturer in the United States alone. Globally, for the first time in 13 years, Samsung toppled Nokia in the global mobile phone business on an annual basis at the end of 2012. Samsung accounted a growth of 29% in mobile phone business in 2012 which was up from 24% in 2011 (Wayne 2012).

Chen (2013) also concurs that for many years Apple has not face a challenger like Samsung, who can make very popular and profitable smartphones and tablets.   Whereas Apple is staking its success on creating new markets and then dominating them, Samsung is investing heavily on studying existing markets and coming up with new innovations inside them. Samsung’s strategy has seen the Samsung Galaxy SIII smartphone to be the first smartphone to engage on a neck-to-neck competition with Apple’s iPhone in sales (Chen 2013).

Samsung’s success over competitors like Apple and Nokia is being mainly forged by the company’s competitive edge in the smartphone sector. According to information and analytics provider HIS, on a global perspective, Apple and Samsung ended 2011 in an absolute two-horse race over smartphone market share, with only 1% separating the two (Wayne 2012) .

Business Analysis tools and techniques

There are many business analysis techniques and tools that can be used to analyze different business problems. This paper shall focus on four of the majorly used tools. They include:

  1. SWOT Analysis
  2. The PESTLE Technique
  3. The 5 Whys Technique
  4. CATWOE Analysis

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is one of the most commonly used tools for analyzing and auditing the overall strategic position of a business and its environment.  SWOT is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.  For purposes of understanding the business environment of a company through SWOT analysis, strengths and weaknesses mainly focus on the internal factors while opportunities and threats focuses on the external factors.

Whereas a business cannot change the external factors affecting it, it can change the internal factors affecting its business environment. SWOT analysis do help companies for instance to understand the external environment of a business and how they can strategize on sustainability and performance.  SWOT also helps a company to identify a strategy that creates a concrete business model that best matches a company’s capabilities and resources to the environmental requirements. It is basically a foundation in which a business evaluates its internal potential and probable limitations in comparison to opportunities and threats posed by its external environment. Arguably, a consistent SWOT analysis of the environment that a business is operating enables a company to adequately predict changes in trend and also helps in factoring them in the decision making processes of the company.

Strengths

The strengths of a business are the unique qualities that enable a company, for instance, to accomplish its mission and vision. They form the basis on which the continued successes of a business are established and sustained.  The strengths of a business are what the business is well specialized in or the expertise it has, the traits and the exceptional qualities that its employees poses and the distinctive features as compared to others in the industry that gives the business its consistency.  They are simply the attributes within a company, which can either be tangible or intangible that give the business a competitive edge over others. Some of these beneficial aspects of a business may include: customer goodwill to the brand loyalty, human competencies, financial resources, products and services, etc.

Weaknesses

Weaknesses are the attributes and qualities that prevent a business from accomplishing its mission and consequently achieving its desired full potential. In SWOT analysis, these are factors that prevent a business from achieving successful results since they simply deteriorate a business’ growth. They are internal factors in a business that make the business not to meet the required standards that the business opts to be meeting. They may range from insufficient research and development capabilities as in the case of Apple Inc. when compared to Samsung Electronics, to narrow product range and depreciating machinery. Analyzing weakness assists the management in a business to know the areas in the business that need to be improved. Weaknesses precisely impact on the profitability of a business and if not well controlled, they may make a company to go out of the business.

Opportunities

Opportunities are essentially the possibilities that a business has in increasing their profit margins or improving on performance.  They are presented by the environment within which a business is operating. Opportunities arise when a business takes an advantage of the conditions posed in its operating environment to plan and execute strategies that could drive it to more profit making. Businesses have to be very keen in identifying opportunities and grasping them immediately they rise. It could be something as simple as releasing a new product line to targeting a new customer niche. Conducting a SWOT analysis on opportunities involves examining external factors to a business such as technological advancements and the state of the overall economy.

Threats

Threats to a business rise when external factors in a business environment compromise the profitability and reliability of the business. They create a vulnerability that is faced by a business when compounded to its weaknesses. They are peculiar external factors which cannot be controlled. For instance, the economic downturn of 2008 was factor that most businesses could not control. Political and social trends can also be possible threats to a business. A good example is the current social and political push for products that are more environment friendly as compared to those that are not.  An essential part in analyzing the threats of a company has to involve a look at the strengths of its competitors.

SWOT analysis is advantageous in that it presents valuable information since a business can evaluate the four elements either independently or as in combination (Nordmeyer, 2010). It also involves the integration of qualitative and quantitative data which is an essential part in formulating a business strategy. SWOT analysis is preferred by many since one is not required either have technical skills or training to conduct the analysis. This in turn makes SWOT analysis one of the most affordable business analysis tools that also requires a fairly short time to conduct.

The PESTLE Technique

The PESTLE technique is a business analysis technique that is mainly concerned with the external aspects of a business such as the environment. PESTLE is an acronym that stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological and Legal Environment (Financez 2012).  This method is mostly used in analyzing a business environment and making market evaluations at the initial stages of the business. According to Marx (2010), the PESTLE technique primarily consists of four main phases.  These phases are:

  1. Formulating the external factors list
  2. Identifying the implications of these external factors
  3. Determining the relative importance of the impacts of the external factors
  4. Formulating alternative scenarios

Political – When generating a political-factor list, one is expected to concentrate on the key political factors that will affect a business. The taxation policy, for instance, especially during elections is one of the main political factors that a business needs to internalize and factor in its strategy analysis. How foreign policy will affect exports and imports especially to a business in such a field can also be a cognizant factor.

Economic – In this analysis, one is considered to factor the overall economic situation, the strength of consumer spending in business’ main product and service segment, both current and future government expenditure and how it may affect the economy among many other factors.

Social – When considering the sociological aspects in business analysis, it is important to concentrate on the cultural aspects that are likely to impact on the business (Marx 2010). Cultural and social trends have great influences on a consumer of any product or service. Therefore, it is important to consider factors on demography, lifestyle patterns, fashion, and work attitudes as well as religious and ethnic differences when analyzing a business environment.

Technological – This is one area that has greatly changed the lives of many people today. For a business to easily sustain itself in today’s world, it has to adequately factor technological advancements available to improve its overall performance. Having a big eye on technology is a major factor that creates a competitive edge of a business over its rivals (Financez, 2012).

Legal – Legal and political factors are closely related but for good business analysis, they are distinguishable. Current and pending legislation ultimately do have implications on a business which makes them a compulsory business analysis consideration as this technique provides. Legislation may affect employment, taxation, health and safety requirement, as much as many other aspects of a business.

Environmental – These are factors in business analysis that may have a connection with the environment. Aspects on pollution capabilities and recycling possibilities in the product and services of a company are important factors in business analysis.

The 5 Whys Technique

The 5 Whys technique is a problem-solving technique that assists one in getting to the root cause of a problem quickly (Manktelo & Carlson 2011). This method simply helps in determining the cause-effect relationship in a problem or failure event (Sondalini 2008). This technique was made popular by Toyota especially in the 1970s when they were developing their manufacturing methodology. The 5 Why’s technique simply involves looking at a business problem and asking ‘why’ and ‘what caused the problem’. In using this strategy to solve a problem, one simply starts with the end results and works backward in asking ‘why’ in a repeated manner until the root cause of a problem is apparent.

Five is a rule of the thumb and that is why this technique is called the 5 Whys technique. It is not a must for one to ask 5 ‘whys’ since one may ask more or less before finding the root cause of the problem. When one, for instance, in business is facing a certain problem, you start with a statement of the situation and ask why it is occurring. Then turn the answer to this questions into a second ‘Why’ question. The answer to the second ‘Why’ questions becomes the third ‘Why’ questions and so forth. Repeatedly asking why peels away ‘layers’ in an issue which then leads one to the root cause of a problem. When one refuses to be satisfied with an answer, this increases the odds of coming up with the underlying root cause of the problem (Sondalini 2008).  Some of the benefits attributed to this technique are:

  1. Simple – it does not require the use of advanced mathematical tools.
  2. Effective – it quickly helps to separate symptoms from causes
  3. Flexible – It can be used alone or in combination with other techniques

CATWOE Analysis

CATWOE analysis is a business analysis technique where an analyst prepares a report, that is analytical, to solve a particular problem. CATWOE is an acronym that stands for Clients, Actors, and Transformation, Worldview, Owner and Environmental constraints.  In business, it is a technique that is very useful in checking the features existing in a defined problem. The CATWOE technique is mostly preferred when identifying a business problem that requires prompting critical thinking on why it is really necessary to be solved.

Clients – The clients of a business have to be analyzed on so as to understand who are on the receiving end of the business’s products and services.

Actors – This comprises the employees who form part of implementing the business strategy or changes to achieve a desired mission.

Transformation – It comprises of an analysis of probable changes that have been introduced in a business. It also factors on the analysis of the processes involved in transforming inputs into outputs.

Worldview – In other words, this is the world view. This describes an analysis on the bigger picture that a certain situation or a problem in business fits.

Owner – Having a look on the stakeholders and identifying needs of the owners or shareholders of a business is crucial.

Environmental constraints – It includes an analysis on the external environmental factors in which a business is operating.

References

Blodget H. (2012). This Trend is very worrisome for Apple. Business Insider

Campbell M. (Wednesday, 6th February 2013). Apple and Samsung pull further ahead in U.S. smartphone market, iOS gains on Android.  Apple Insider

Chen B. (February 10th, 2013).  Samsung Emerges as a Potent Rival to Apple’s Cool. New York Times

Comar S. (November 29th, 2010).  Smartphone in the U.S. Market Analysis

ComScore (February 6th 2013). ComScore Reports December 2012 U.S. Smartphone Subscriber Market Share

Financez (2012). What is Business Analysis: 2 – PESTLE Technique

Jones C. (February 2013). Apple’s and Android’s U.S. Smartphone Market Share Continues to Increase.

Manktelow J. & Carlson A. (2011). 5 Whys – Quickly getting to the root of a problem. Mind Tools

Marx C. (July 20th, 2010). The PESTLE Strategic Marketing Analysis Technique: Compiling the list of External Factors. Yahoo! Voices

Nordmeyer B. (2010). Advantages and Disadvantages of SWOT Analysis. Houston Chronicle.

Paul C (2013). Apple top US smartphone market with Samsung second. TechBeat.

Sondalini M. (2008). Understanding how to use the 5 Whys for Root Cause Analysis. Lifetime Readability Solutions

Wayne (December 18th, 2012). Samsung displaces Nokia as Top Cellphone Brand in 2012 and takes decisive Smartphone lead over Apple.  HIS Supplier

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