Audi Global Marketing Communication

Title: Audi Global Marketing and Communication Strategy. Audi is an automobile manufacturer based in Germany that distributes, markets, produces, engineers, and designs luxurious vehicles. The manufacturer was founded in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany and is part of the Volkswagen Group. Throughout the globe, vehicles that are Audi-branded are manufactured in nine production facilities. The organisation’s origin dates back to the early 20th-century when engineer August Horch teamed with two other manufacturers in 1932 to form Auto Union. The mid-20th century (the 1960s) saw the commencement of the modern day Audi when Volkswagen acquired Auto Union from Daimler-Benz (Audi, 2019). The Audi brand was relaunched in 1965 by introducing the Audi F103 series to the market. After the relaunch, Volkswagen decided to merge NSU Motorenwerke with Auto Union in 1969 to form the modern day structure of the organisation.

The organisation’s name is a German translation of founder’s surname – Horch. The Audi logo has four rings that signify each of the four automobile manufacturers who merged to establish the organisation’s predecessor, Auto Union. The company’s slogan “Advancement through Technology” implies that the organisation uses the latest technology to manufacture its car (Audi, 2019). In the United States, the organisation’s slogan was “Truth in Engineering” up to the year 2016 from the year 2007. Together with the Mercedes-Benz and the BMW, Audi is among the world’s most sold luxurious automobile brand. The key intent of this report is to look into the global, local and glocal strategies of Audi with regard to price and distribution; additionally, the report will select and discuss the primary target market of the organisation.

Audi marketing mix

Due to the element of globalisation, the concept of marketing has evolved immensely over time, and if companies are not able to keep up with the dynamism, they risk being overtaken by their competitors. One of the major dynamics in the marketing concept evolution is the Marketing Mix strategy that an organisation chooses to adopt (Svend, 2017). Audi being a major player in the automobile industry has managed to keep up with the dynamics in marketing by adopting different strategies in the local, international, and glocal market. It is vital to note that as Audi customers look for relevant and consistent experiences in the organisation’s products whenever and wherever they interact with them, the company is under pressure to find creative and innovative methods of marketing. Additionally, these marketing strategies are supposed to remain relevant locally while they maintain a sense of consistency in owning a global brand.

Glocal pricing and distribution at Audi

Audi recognises the fact that the digital marketing landscape is being taken over by glocalisation. As a result, the organisation has undertaken the initiative of strengthening the global brand of its products with a customised approach and flavour for the global market. However, the organisation faces a major challenge of ensuring that the global marketing campaigns of the organisation are in sync with the tastes and preferences of the local audience (Awan, 2014). In setting the prices for its products and choosing the distribution strategies as relates to glocalisation, the organisation acknowledges the fact that the major customer priorities with regards to these aspects differ from one market to another. Therefore, it is critical that these priorities are taken into consideration to establish an effective pricing and distribution strategy in the glocal market. To effectively penetrate the glocal market, Audi has incorporated hyperlocal and social geo-targeting in its overall marketing strategy.

In employing social geo-targeting in its pricing and distribution strategy, Audi can develop a deeper engagement with its customers, and it can get speedy feedback on its services, releases, and ideas. Through hyperlocal geo-targeting, the organisation can use the most recent mapping and communication technology to deliver the relevant content to their clients across the world. Therefore, this form of geo-targeting has opened up a new world for the organisation’s product pricing and distribution strategies. To ensure that the company’s brand identity is relevant while making certain of the effectiveness and relevance of the local campaigns, the organisation assesses its brand from the customer’s viewpoint, (Feurer, Schuhmacher & Kuester, 2018). This helps in ascertaining whether the company cars and other automobiles are in sync with the local demands. When the brand identity does not resonate with the local demands, the organisation takes the initiative to incorporate these demands in the local brand identity.

In ensuring that the glocal pricing distribution strategy of the organisation is successful, their staffs, working in both the local and the international sphere, has created a close association with the customers and the vision of the brand (Hinterhuber, 2017). The senior leadership of Audi is elevated within the automobile industry, and they are recognised as the face of the brand. Additionally, the staff of the organisation ensures that the local communities get the global concept of the demand, hence, making sure that they recognise with it. This way, Audi creates essential relationships with major local markets in the industry. The Audi brand has done a tremendous job in synching its global brand with local demands by using local ambassadors, sponsorships, and local partners.

Global pricing and distribution

In the global market, Audi cars are considered luxurious by all of its clients. Hence, in cashing its brand in the international market, the organisation uses the premium price strategy. Note that the automobile industry is quite competitive with Audi getting major competition from brands such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz (Sonderegger, 2011). Therefore, the pricing in the company’s marketing mix strategy is majorly founded on the competitive pricing of other manufacturers of premium cars. The company has high brand equity, and all its showrooms are filled with a variety of high-quality automobiles.

To enable customers to buy their products with ease, the organisation has a global and innovative financing option referred to as Audi Finance. Here, the clients pay for the cars using debt financing but at a cheaper rate. Additionally, the organisation has optional pricing strategies whereby its existing clients in the international market can purchase car accessories such as navigation and sound systems, and Audi Bang separately. Note that, the global prices of the organisation are also depended on the economic conditions of a particular country and geographic locations of certain markets.

In understanding the distribution and placement strategy of the organisation, it is vital to note that Audi is one of the largest automobile brands that provide luxurious cars in the world. Although the headquarters of the organisation are in Germany, its production facilities are situated in nine places across the globe. In distributing its products, the organisation explores other markets that have not been discovered by other major players to increase its customer base. As a result, the organisation has made major investments in countries such as India and its market presence in Asia has grown exponentially over time.

The brand’s presence has been established and maintained by putting up an exclusive dealership network and centres that provide after sale services (Steenkamp, 2017). The distribution channel used by Audi in the international market involves producers who supply to distributors who sell to wholesalers than to dealers and finally to the customer. Since the organisation is driven by the urge to satisfy the requirements of the customers, its production proves uses the latest forms of technology. The global vision of the organisation is to become the most successful premium brand.

Local pricing and distribution

In the UK a new Audi A1 costs roughly 14,000 GBP whereas the same car costs 19lac rupees in India; this indicates that the local pricing strategy employed by Audi is the skimming price strategy. Although the price is high, it is justified by the quality of the cars manufactured and the organisation’s brand image. This pricing strategy in local markets is particularly important for effective brand positioning of Audi (Svend, 2017). The reputation of the organisation is good in the international market, and it is reflected on by the number of cars that are produced annually. However, in recent years, the company has experienced poor performance in some local markets, and this is majorly attributed to the increase in rates of foreign exchange.

Audi Global Marketing Communication
Audi Global Marketing Communication

The local distribution strategy of the organisation is to establish dealerships in various locations. Taking the case of India, Audi has twenty-eight dealerships in eleven states, and this has increased its sales exponentially over the years (Talke, Müller, & Wieringa, 2017). For instance, there was an increase in sales by 81% in 2014 in comparison to 2013. By establishing connections with local dealers, the organisation can push its brand to local customers, and this has enabled it to achieve some of the set long-term objectives.

Audi Target Market

Of the four common bases of market segmentation, Audi utilises three of them, and they include psychographic, demographic, and geographic segmentation. In geographic segmentation, the organisation’s decisions are based on which cars to sell and in which location (Xia, Xiao & Zhang, 2012). For instance, the organisation’s market research shows that Canadians drive larger cars as compared to Europeans. Thus, the cars sold in Europe are smaller in size as compared to those sold in Canada. With regards to countries like India, the organisation geographically segments the market into urban and rural areas. People in rural areas are more likely to purchase the Audi A3 model more than the new Audi A8.

With regards to demographics, the organisation segments its market into age, gender and income. With regards to age, the younger generation is more likely to buy the Audi A8 because it is flashy while the older generation gives little concern to the make or level of technology used in manufacturing the car.

By gender, some Audi models are more preferred by either gender because of their make or design. Income is a major determinant of whether one can afford an Audi car or not due to its prices that are considered to be high; therefore, the organisation has taken the initiative to produce cars for various individuals of different income classes (Xia, Xiao & Zhang, 2012). Finally, psychographic segmentation groups buyers according to personality traits, lifestyle and social status. As an organisation, Audi acknowledges the impact of these aspects on the purchasing decisions that are made by individuals. Since the organisation is famed for making luxurious cars, the major target market based on psychographic segmentation is the upper middle class to high-class individuals.

Conclusion

This report aimed to look into the global, local and glocal strategies of Audi with regard to price and distribution. Also, the report intended to select and discuss the primary target market of the organisation. From the essay, it has been established that Audi was founded in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany and is part of the Volkswagen Group and its slogan is “Advancement through Technology.” Being a major player in the automobile industry, Audi has managed to keep up with the dynamics in marketing by adopting different strategies in the local, international, and glocal market. To effectively penetrate the glocal market, Audi has incorporated hyperlocal and social geo-targeting in its overall marketing strategy.

In the global market, the organisation uses the premium price strategy to keep up to speed with the competitive pricing set by its key competitors. The distribution strategy of the organisation in the global market involves producers who supply to distributors who sell to wholesalers than to dealers and finally to the customer. In the local markets, the organisation uses the price skimming strategy. This strategy helps the organisation in growing and establishing its brand in the market. Locally, the organisation distributes its cars by establishing dealerships in various locations. Finally, with regards to target marketing, the organisation segments its market into psychographic, demographic, and geographic groups.

References

Audi. (2019). About Us.

Awan, M. (2014). International Market Segmentation: Exploring automobile Market of Young Adults. International Journal Of Trade, Economics And Finance, 5(2), 151-154.

Feurer, S., Schuhmacher, M., & Kuester, S. (2018). How Pricing Teams Develop Effective Pricing Strategies for New Products. Journal Of Product Innovation Management. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12444

Hinterhuber, A. (2017). Implementing pricing strategies. Journal Of Revenue And Pricing Management, 17(1), 1-2.

Sonderegger, S. (2011). Market Segmentation with Nonlinear Pricing*. The Journal Of Industrial Economics, 59(1), 38-62.

Steenkamp, J. B. (2017). Global Brand Equity. In Global Brand Strategy (pp. 243-273). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Svend, H. (2017). Global Marketing. England: Pearson Education M.U.A..

Talke, K., Müller, S., & Wieringa, J. E. (2017). A matter of perspective: Design newness and its performance effects. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 34(2), 399-413.

Xia, Y., Xiao, T., & Zhang, G. (2012). Distribution Channel Strategies for a Manufacturer with Complementary Products. Decision Sciences, 44(1), 39-56.

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Top 10 Business Studies Essays

Top 10 Business Studies Essays

In this post we will give you an insight into our Top 10 Business Studies Essays for college and university students. These essays and assignments will prove valuable reading and will assist you in structuring your own business studies assignments. We have many titles that will help university business studies students. Subject areas that we provide include: business management, HRM, marketing, economics, finance and accounting, all of which will be covered off in a business studies degree.

Below are some outstanding business studies essays and assignments to get you started. Be sure to reference all material in accordance with your university’s guidelines and code of conduct.

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Innocent Drinks Brand Marketing Strategy

Innocent drinks was created in 1999 by three young entrepreneurs and has been 90% owned by The Coca-Cola Company since 2013. They produce smoothies, juices and veg pots which are sold in the UK and in a few European countries. The innocent drink brand values are healthy, natural, sustainable and ethically responsible. These values are reflected in their products, made exclusively with natural and sustainable sourced ingredients, with no added sugar and no concentrate, and whose 10% of profits go to charity. Innocent drinks communicate their brand values through above-the-line and below-the-line advertising by using subtle marketing techniques that seek to communicate the brand’s personality. According to academics core values are essential to defining the corporate brand identity and support the brand promise being made to the customer, and they guide internal and external brand building.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Innocent Drinks Marketing
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Innocent Drinks Marketing

Managing Human Capital

Human resource is the most crucial asset of a firm since the organizational growth and profitability are determined by the effective human resource management, according to Reece (2013). When a firm successfully places the best employee to the suitable position, the productivity tends to increase. In this case, an effective and efficient employee adds value to the organizational well-being. The employees of a firm deal mostly with the customers and service delivery to the customers is determined by the level of motivation to the employees. A motivated employee tends to engage with the job with higher intensity and persistence. This higher intensity and persistence result in quality and timely service to the customers. Hence, customer satisfaction is closely linked with the employee motivation. Employee satisfaction as well as customer satisfaction leads to the organizational growth and profitability for a firm, claimed by Truss et al (2012). In this case, the role of customer satisfaction on sales turnover can be referred. When customers are satisfied, the loyalty of the customers increases. Besides this, the customers also do word of mouth marketing for the firm which lead to growth in sales. Thus, the profitability and growth of the firm is ensured.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Human Capital Management
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Human Capital Management

Corporate Finance – Mergers and Acquisitions

Business organisations are primarily instituted with the rationale of maximizing shareholder value through growth. To achieve this end, businesses will have to operate in a competitive landscape characterized by high uncertainties. Given the kind of environment they operate, businesses can be affected by financial volatility such as the credit crunch of 2008. One of the strategies to offset this financial distress is through Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). This report will carry out a performance review in the banking sector on the acquisition of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) by Lloyds Banking Group within the precarious times of the global financial recession in 2008.

Drawing on qualitative and quantitative information this report aims to establish the profitability effect of the acquisition on acquirer. The report also reflects on the rationale that necessitated this acquisition and the effect its announcement had on shareholder value. Secondary data in the form of profitability ratios (2004 to 2013) will be sourced from OSIRIS and FAME financial databases. Other qualitative information for analysis will be sourced from annual reports of the banks and credible news agencies. Share prices to be used to perform the event study will be sourced from Yahoo Finance. Performance indicators in the form ratios will be analysed using graphical interpretation of results with the help of Microsoft Excel. The event study will be performed using the market model in deriving the abnormal returns on the day of the announcement. The performance of the acquirer will be bench-marked through a trend and peer analysis review.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Corporate Finance Mergers Acquisitions
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Corporate Finance Mergers Acquisitions

Psychographic Segmentation Of Luxury Goods

Market segmentation can be defined as the division of a market into smaller segments of buyers with distinct needs, characteristics or behaviors that might require separate marketing strategies or mixes. Psychographic segmentation is a mechanism of market segmentation that is utilized to divide the heterogeneous whole market into sub markets whereby each individual shares homogeneous traits, socioeconomic statuses, personality or behavioral characteristics. The luxury goods industry is a market that consists of copious products that present themselves as being of superior quality and functionality in juxtaposition to competitors, while also attaining esteemed regard and a high perceived quality by consumers in the market.

This report fundamentally examines the luxury goods industry with relation to aspects such as size, brand leaders, competition, market trends and consumer decision making, while subsequently utilizing theoretical knowledge of psychographic segmentation to explore managerial implications and strategies associated with the presence of certain consumers in the luxury goods industry. All information will be substantiated by expertise knowledge in the form of peer-reviewed journals, while also utilizing market-specific information derived from the passport database to enhance statistical and theoretical knowledge of the industry, and the methods of psychographic segmentation implemented to assess the luxury goods market.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Psychographic Segmentation
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Psychographic Segmentation

Leadership – A Critical Assessment on Leader-Member Exchange (LMX)

Leadership is the key to ensuring the desired efforts by different parties within a firm to achieve the goals and visions whereby the stakeholders are inspired and motivated for the achievement of individual goals as well as organisational goals. As the application of proper leadership theory can ensure the growth of a firm, the choice of leadership theory is often described as a complex decision to make. Considering the vision and mission of a firm, the leaders must choose to implement a leadership theory that can truly contribute to the organisational growth as well as employees’ professional development.

Through innate qualities and hard work, leaders make a firm competitive in the industry. On the other hand, by showing flexibility; leaders transform their leadership style based on the opportunities and threats from the internal and external environment. In this paper, by focusing on a single approach different theories of leadership are assessed comprehensively. These theories of leadership are the benchmark for leaders to reinforce their control throughout the organisation. Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory of leadership is critically assessed in this paper to comprehend the development and implication of the theory in organisational framework.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Leader-Member Exchange
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Leader-Member Exchange

Professional and Personal Development – Leadership Theories

To be a successful leader in any organization, leadership theories help to give guidance of skills and character to people. Several leadership theories like trait theories, contingency theories, behavioral theory and Leader –Member Exchange theory will be described here that helps to give different guidance in different situations. Among all these leadership theories, trait theories are one of the effective theories. In this study, Trait theories significance and empirical reviews are determined properly that helps to determine habitual pattern of behavior. Traits are different in different situations in different types of people that influence behavior. Leaders should be transforming their leadership styles in different situation to adjust with market demand and to enhance leadership qualities and approaches. When leaders can get effective leadership skills and attributes, then they can handle any type of situation easily and enhance organizations well-beings as well as individual development.

The objectives of this study are given here:

  • To analyze some leadership theories and determine one important and effective leadership theory
  • To inscribe a reflective evaluation of preferred theory to understand substantial body of academic and professional knowledge about this theory
  • To trace out development of leadership approach

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Leadership Theories
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Leadership Theories

Marketing Analysis on Red Bull Company

Red Bull was the first company to offer Energy Drinks throughout the world, creating a completely new category on the consumer beverage marketplace, therefore becoming synonymous with energy drinks for a large number of consumers. This new category of Energy Beverages is sold in over 169 countries worldwide, making Red Bull Energy Drink market extremely broad. The product Red Bull sells is of course the drink and as described above there are some variants, but in the essence it is all based on the traditional recipe of the energy drink. Red Bull offers the customer a refreshing beverage that includes various stimulants. However a big part of the product is the branding; e.g. the substance found in the cans of Red Bull might seem extremely similar to competitors, the brand name, including the iconic packaging, is what defines the product that is offered by Red Bull and creates value for the customer.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Marketing Analysis Red Bull
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Marketing Analysis Red Bull

Marketing Management Energy Drink Industry

Managing and appraising the funds and activities of firm relates with the marketing management. In order to reduce the costs and increase the profitability of a firm, managing the marketing issues effectively is crucial. A start-up energy drink company has decided to launch their products. In this case, the United Kingdom (UK) environment will be considered to assess the internal and external environment of the new firm. With the help of different models like PEST, SWOT, Five Forces, etc. the firm’s internal and external issues as well as competitive factors will be assessed. A marketing plan will be developed considering the SMART objectives along with the 7P analysis of the firm. The energy drink industry is a competitive industry with giants like Monster, Rockstar, Red Bull, etc. operating in the industry. To formulate the marketing strategy of the start-up, a critical assessment of the marketing and promotional assessment of the giant firms will be conducted.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Marketing Energy Drink Industry
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Marketing Energy Drink Industry

Strategic Management – British Airways Business Environment

Strategic management deals for better arrangement of corporate strategies and strategic significance to maintain optimum administration practices. Any business strategy gives the guidelines and ways of enhancing company’s profitability and achieving competitive advantages. This report will be described several terms and concepts of strategic management based on British Airways Company. As a consultant of British Airways, I have to suggest business new or incremental strategy for business resilience and sustainability. At the very first part of this report, internal and external environmental factors will be described by using SWOT analysis and Porters five forces model. A new or incremental strategy will be recommended based on company’s strategic capabilities, competitive analysis and organizational structure. Recommended strategy will be critically analyzed and developed a relationship with human resource capital, financial conditions, operational conditions and technological conditions in the second part. Change management program will be determined in the last part of this report and factors to be determined that may hamper or enhance change management program here.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - British Airways Environment
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – British Airways Environment

Consultancy Report – GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

This report has focused on the need for strategic change within GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) a UK based global pharmaceutical manufacturer and distributor. The report has identified the strategic need of change within the international value delivery system of GSK. This report has identified that GSK is facing problem with its current hierarchical organisational culture which has been resulted in interrupted organisational communication and inefficiency in the value delivery process. The factors driving the change process are volatile financial performance, changing customer buying behaviour and the intensity of the market rivalry. McKinsey’s 7S Change Model has been suggested to bring the strategic change within GSK. The challenges to the change process that have been identified are employee resistances to change, resource constraints and ideological resistances to change. The change process is aimed at enhancing organisational efficiency, organisational value, uninterrupted organisational communication and employee engagement.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - GlaxoSmithKline Consultancy Report
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – GlaxoSmithKline Consultancy Report

Analysis of Supply Chain Management at IKEA

The purpose of the paper is to evaluate three dimensions of supply chain management at IKEA. The supply chain management is wide concept and IKEA retail business is familiar with it. The IKEA business is being evaluated in its first dimension the structure adopted by it. Logistics structure, supply chain structure and product development structure are being studied in this report. The second dimension of report has showed that what kind of issues and problems in its current logistics structure. Lastly, it has showed that how structure is recommended so that it can meet challenges in future while adopting business in most competitive business. The first part of report also showed that what is uniqueness of business and show it has adopted that uniqueness ideally. The business nature of business and retailing process development are core elements of report. The main concern of report is to identify that how much IKEA is responsible towards society and its customer and even with its suppliers. This is only possible with low cost production, just time model n supply chain management and cost effective supplier selection. The report has ensured with several mindsets about supply chain management that how IKEA is leading in retail industry.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - IKEA Supply Chain Management
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – IKEA Supply Chain Management

Cultural Influence on International Marketing

The era of globalization is here as economies are integrating with other economies, expanding and are exposing themselves to universal marketing decisions. Marketers in the international market need to understand that promotion of a product is adversely affected by cultural patterns in various countries. The demand trends for various products and choices of people depend on cultural values, customs, and tradition of a specific region. Culture is depicted entirely by the attributes and way of life of a particular group of people. This entails the way people speak, believes, their dressing styles, learning, attitudes values, and norms. Many factors are there which affects the marketing process for a product like economy, competition, target market, and budget but culture play an essential role on impacting consumer preference which was not seen as a critical element many years ago. Marketing processes relate to planning, product promotion to cope with cost control, maintaining quality and competition.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Culture International Marketing
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Culture International Marketing

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Marketing Situation Analysis for Netflix UK

A Situation Analysis for Netflix UK

This report has completed a situation analysis on Video on Demand provider Netflix. Through doing so, digital marketing objectives have been constructed. To perform the situation analysis, four primary areas have been explored; the overview of business, the industry, competitors and the target market. Findings suggest that Netflix is a highly successful company based upon both financial success and brand recognition.

With few competitors, Netflix has established a business model which allows them to offer a high quality product at a competitive price. With various revenue streams, the business is profitable and has displayed abilities to adapt to technological change. However, a lingering threat of piracy persists with the potential to adversely affect profitability. This is particularly prevalent as Netflix’s target market has been identified to primarily consist of students, of whom have lower levels of disposable income.

Situation Analysis for Netflix UK
Situation Analysis for Netflix UK

Despite this, Netflix has grown in popularity across both males and females, with users across age ranges. The popularity can be attributed to the variety of content, but also the user’s ability to access it from almost any internet enabled device. Research further highlighted that almost all those living in the UK have a form of internet access. This emphasised the potential Netflix has to grow their brand and product.

Based upon the analysis, the following five objectives have been constructed:

  1. Increase revenue within the UK by 15%, by March 2017 (12 Months)
  2. To Increase Facebook engagement by 20%, by September 2016 (6 Months)
  3. Increase use of Netflix on mobile platforms (smart phones and tablets) by 35% amongst existing users, by September 2016 (6 Months)
  4. Increase traffic to the website by 25%, by March 2017, through paid for and organic means (12 Months)
  5. Increase market share within the UK by 10%, by March 2017 (12 Months)

Marketing Assignment Contents

Executive Summary

Overview of Business
Brand, Domain Name and URL
Business Scope
Product and Services
Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
Competitive Advantages
Revenue Streams

The Industry
Business Environment
Opportunities & Threats
Key Success Factors
Stakeholders

Competitor Analysis
Amazon Prime
Sky Go
WatchSeries
Strategic Grouping

Target Market
Demographic
Age
Income & Social Grade
Gender
Geographical
Psychographic
Product Usage
Usage Rate
Usage Barriers

Objectives

References

Appendix
Competitor Analysis

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Marketing Management SWOT Analysis Toyota

Strategic Management: SWOT Analysis

Strategic management is a technique used by managers to give a firm a long-term direction and involves a systematic analysis of decisions, actions that create a competitive advantage. It involves the analysis of strategic goals, vision, and mission and the internal and external environmental factors in a firm. SWOT is an acronym standing for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. SWOT analysis involves the assessment of a firm’s internal strengths, weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats (Henry, 2008). This analysis helps to identify the strengths and capabilities to minimize weaknesses, along with identifying opportunities to overcome threats. In reference to Toyota Company, leading automobile firm, a SWOT analysis on the company’s Strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities are as follows.

The Toyota Corporation is a leading automobile manufacturing in the world among other companies such as Ford. It has a strong production process that is effective and efficient in saving costs, this creates a competitive advantage. Cost savings helps to set affordable prices of their products to end users, over the competitors. The firm utilizes resources and eliminates unwanted costs in the production process. This strategy creates a competitive edge for Toyota, by reducing costs and increasing the production capabilities and efficiency

Toyota has strong horizontal integration merge verses the competitors who have vertical integration relationships. Strong relationship with supplier creates a competitive advantage, and it informs of updates or any developing changes (Henry, 2008) Horizontal merge proves to be cost effective, reduce risks and increase benefits. Merging helps to pool together resources of the combining companies, creating a favorable business environment. Synergy is one of the benefits of combining companies, and sharing of resources e.g. distribution channels. Toyota opts for best suppliers in Japan.

Toyota has a strong culture advantage, employees’ devotion in their jobs, performance and desire to improvement. It treats it employees with legitimate sense of respect and loyalty. The Japanese value work differently from competitors for instance the Americans this is reflected in their quality products they offer to the market. Toyota in invests more its employees empowers them to be creative and innovative (Hino, 2012).  A strong sense of respect of hierarchal authority enables fast decision-making and implementing Strategic plan.

A weakness is something or a condition that hinders a firm from achieving it objectives. It is a competitive deficiency (Henry, 2008) Toyota offers financial services such as insurance, credit cards. These services report low profits to the firm than other segments. Such financial services can render a competitive edge as well as a deficiency in for firms the financial strength.

Toyota use the just in time system which gives Toyota a competitive advantage, but too much dependency of this system can lead to malfunction if the supplier provision does not meet the requirements of the firm. Failure to meet these requirements affects the products quality in addition, to the manufacturing system.

Toyota capitalizes on the strengths to meet its threat and take advantage of the external opportunities. Toyota has a strong cultural advantage that enhances the organization structure, focuses on teamwork rather than individual efforts. It inspires creativity and innovativeness to employees to improve the quality of its products. Loyalty when dealing with employees and a unfailing sense of respect of the authority. Top managers make decisions, the employees respect their high figures, and this enables quick decision-making. It internal leadership and management helps Toyota to dominate the automobile industry. Toyota depends too much on its suppliers, this leads to a strong reliable relationship with it suppliers (Hino, (2012). Although this could be a weakness but it gives Toyota a competitive advantage over the competitors such as General Motors.

SWOT Analysis Toyota
SWOT Analysis Toyota

Toyota is a dominating automobile firm, its produces affordable cars and other automobile related products. A SWOT analysis identifies Toyotas strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. Internal analysis involves the assessment of the firm’s internal environment factors such as the organization structure, leadership and management among others. Toyota has a stable structure and principled leadership design (Hino, 2012).  The quality of the products and employees loyalty dictates the strengths of the firm. Toyota is loyal to employees and produces quality products.

However, Toyota faces threats such as competition from existing and emerging firm in the automobile industry. It takes advantage of the internal strengths to take advantage of opportunities and minimize threats. Toyota Company has a strong relationship with its suppliers. This helps to fight the upcoming firms and the existing firms in the industry. A complex distribution channel discourages competitor’s efforts. Toyota uses it strengths to take advantage of opportunities, it has high producing capacity at minimum costs. They produce quality and affordable cars in the market (Hino, 2012).  They differentiate their products to meet the consumers emerging desires. Toyota has incentives and discount programs that help improve the profitability of its financial services segment.

Conclusion

In Strategic, management SWOT analysis is a continuous process since the environment is changing. Toyota needs inspires its employees to continuously think of strategic changes that enhance improvement in quality of products in the future. It requires strong strategic plans difficult to duplicate, corrective actions to maintainable a competitive position of a leading automobile in the world.

References

Henry, A. (2008). Understanding strategic management. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hino, S. (2012). Inside the mind of Toyota: Management principles for enduring growth. New York, N.Y: Productivity Press.

Pearce, J. A., & Robinson, R. B. (2004). Strategic management: Formulation, implementation, and control. Boston, Mass: McGraw-Hill.

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Nespresso Marketing

Marketing Management and Strategy

The term ‘shared value’ was first introduced by Michael Porter and Mark Kramer in an article for the Harvard Business Review (HBR). The aforesaid term essentially means creating value for the business in a way that also creates value for the society by addressing its requirement and challenges to the business entities (Kashani and Miller, 2000). Many business entities including Nespresso have adopted the approach of shared value. Various objectives of adopting the approach of shared value are described below:

Risk Prevention

This approach is helpful in preventing the potential business risk and ensures that the business is not contributing to unacceptable level of harm to the society and environment. Thus, adopting the approach of shared value is helpful for companies to prevent risk to the external environment (Sirianni, Bitner and Mandel, 2013).

Nespresso Corporate Reputation Management

Developing an image of responsible corporate citizen has become prime objective of the contemporary organization to achieve long term sustainability. A positive corporate image appeals to regulators, investors, customers that is helpful in maintaining dignity of the entity in the market. Thus, shared value approach enables company to develop a positive image in the eyes of its stakeholders.

Resource Efficiency

Another important objective of creating shared value by the businesses is to reduce the consumption of scare resources such as energy, water and other materials. This will not only help company to become responsible citizen but it will also be helpful in reducing cost to the company (Klepper, 1996).

Nespresso has also adopted shared value approach to achieve above described objectives. It is the brand name of Nestle Nespresso S.A. which is an operating unit of Nestle group. At the heart of Nespresso’s success as a brand lay its commitment to exceptional cup quality. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nespresso has already committed the organization with the concept of shared value as an operating principle. Share value approach recognizes societal needs in addition to the conventional economic needs (Nespresso and Alliance, 2003). Furthermore, it also recognizes social harms and weaknesses that frequently create additional internal cost to the company in terms of energy waste, costly accidents and the need for remedial training. It is evident that coffee industry is facing significant social and environmental challenges therefore; companies like Nestle have adopted the shared value approach. The principle of shared value was developed by Harvard professors Michael Porter and Mark Kramer in year 2006. According to this principle, companies do not only have responsibility towards shareholders but for communities also in which they operated from farmers to customers and ultimate consumers.

Nespresso concept was developed on the basis of an espresso extraction system that enables discerning espresso coffee consumers for preparing excellent quality espresso coffee at home. The Nespresso business model is based on a threefold commitment to the unique extraction system that is an innovative and efficient direct to consumer club membership model (Markides and Charitou, 2004). Thus, Nespresso brand has created iconic luxury brand image along with exceptional quality and use of advanced technology. The shared value approach is strategically relevant to the brand because customers were found motivated with the different aspects of brand and product that also includes a group of 16% consumers who define the brand as ‘eco committed’. Customers of this brand believe in liking good things but in a responsible way. Thus, shared value approach has helped company to reel in greater number of customers because they are significantly interested in sustainability program of Nespresso.

Nespresso Marketing
Nespresso Marketing

Figure 1: Perspectives of value (Source: Porter and Kramer, 2011)

There are various perspectives of shared value which can be discussed in context to Nespresso. The company has its own key drivers of Free Cash Flow and Weighted Average Cost of Capital that can be placed by strategies intended to create shared value. Nespresso offers eco-friendly coffee products in form of outputs which creates societal value. The assessment of the case of Nespresso reveals that the unique features of the Nespresso business model has led exponential growth rate i.e. 30% per annum in recent few couple of years (Lovell, 2014). As a result of this, Nespresso has become Nestlé’s fastest growing businesses as the company has managed to grow at a faster pace. One of the major strategic challenges which are faced by Nespresso is to manage the growth in all areas of its business including human resource, supply chain management and marketing.

Michael Porter and Mark Kramer have addressed the reasons for carrying out sustainability programs by the company. The shared value approach provides that companies are required to identify the connection between activities of a company and activities and needs of the society. This will help company to attract new customers and secure higher level of brand loyalty as customers are inclined towards eco-friendly products and services. Thus, the creating shared value has been adopted by Nestle that uses the framework for creating value for different stakeholder groups including society (Porter and Kramer, 2011). Hence, Nespresso has identified water, rural development and nutrition as main strategic shared values by using the model of Porter and Kramer for shared value. Thus, this coffee brand has identified its own social opportunities with wider society. Nespresso has launched an integrated shared value framework, “Ecolaboration” in order to group together its sustainability efforts in varied areas such as carbon footprint reduction, sustainable coffee farming and spent capsule recycling (Alvarez, Pilbeam and Wilding, 2010). Thus, this business unit of Nestle has used this framework to successfully implement its business strategies and achieve its mission and vision. From the above discussion, it can be said that Porter’s and Kramer’s shared value model has significant strategic relevance to the case of Nespresso.

Critically Evaluating Nespresso’s Positioning

Nespresso’s marketing campaigns seek to convey a brand story that positions Nespresso as ultra-premium coffee brand. The positioning strategy of this coffee brand of Nestle has been discussed in relation to its Product Life Cycle (PLC). In marketing management, Product Life Cycle is an important concept which is used in the development of appropriate strategy. It is essential to have clear understanding of PLC and its stages for discussing positioning strategy of a company in relation to its PLC for achieving sustainability (Matzler, Bailom and Kohler, 2013). Every product goes through four stages in its life including introduction, growth, maturity and decline. The sequence of these stages is known as Product Life Cycle which is used for developing strategy in order to achieve mission and vision by the company. The four stages of Product Life Cycle are explained in brief under the following heads:

Stages Description
Introduction stage This is the most expensive stage in the life cycle of a product because it is launched with heady expenses on advertisement. In addition to this, company is required to spend higher amount for customer testing and research & development activities. Nespresso is a globally managed business which was established in 1986. The product consisted of high quality coffee packed in aluminium capsule in specially designed machines for exclusive use (Staff, 2009). Thus, initial stage of this product demanded higher expenses on research.
Growth stage It is the second stage which is generally known by a strong growth in sales and profitability of the company. This is because company gets benefit from economies of scale in production. It is helpful for the company to invest more money in various activities related to marketing and product promotion (Anderson and Zeithaml, 1984). Nespresso is one of the fastest growing businesses of Nestle and its many products have passed from this stage.
Maturity stage It is a stage in which product is well established in the market and the aim of the owner of the company becomes to maintain the same market share as in growth stage. Thus, it becomes a competitive time for the company as wise decisions regarding investment in product are required to be taken (Achabou, 2014). In addition to this, significant changes in the products are also made in order to maintain the market share.
Decline stage This is the last stage of a product’s life cycle as market starts shrinking in this stage. There can be various reasons of shrinkage of market such as entrance of new brand, consumer switching or saturation. In this stage, rather than expending on marketing, companies are recommended to adopt less expensive production methods to make some profit (Matzler, Bailom and Kohler, 2013).

The above discussion on stages of product life cycle provides insightful information regarding strategic relevance of assessment of PLC of a company. Nespresso can also analyze its product life cycle in order to make strategic decisions. The positioning strategy can also be discussed in relation to PLC for sustainability of the brand. This coffee brand has positioned itself as a premium brand which creates high quality coffee products. Furthermore, it has adopted differentiating positioning strategy with an image of exclusivity due to high quality service and extensive customer service. Thus, the company has positioned itself as a high quality luxury brand and created a sense of belongingness to an elite group of customers which justifies the price (Day and Payne, 2014). This positioning strategy may not be appropriate in the introduction stage of its PLC because it requires huge investment on advertising and marketing activities.

The products and services offered by Nespresso are costly as the company targets elite group and additional expenses on marketing will increase overall cost to the company. For any business entity, profitability is the prime concern for achieving sustainability but in introduction stage, this positioning strategy may not be appropriate. Nonetheless, complete cost of marketing is charged by ultimate consumer therefore, it may not be appropriate to associate cost with the sustainability of the company. In the similar fashion, the positioning strategy of the company can also be discussed in context to growth stage (Sheinin, 1998).

Most of the Nespresso’s products are in the growth stage where company earns profit with considerable market share growth. As described above, growth stage in PLC assists company to invest more money in advertisement as company witness strong growth. Positioning of Nespresso as luxury brand can offer even stronger growth and prosperity to the company. In this stage, this positioning strategy can said to be appropriate from the perspective of sustainability of the brand in long run. In this stage of Product Life Cycle, benefits of economies of scale can be achieved by the company therefore; more investment can be made in marketing and advertising activities (Staff, 2009). This would help company to establish itself as a strong and premium brand by investing in campaigns based on the approach of shared value and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

In the similar fashion, positioning strategy has also been critically examined for other stages including maturity and decline. In these two stages, the discussed positioning strategy of the company may not be appropriate because in this stage, customers start switching over other brands and find alternatives. Thus, investment in marketing does not remain workable and therefore, companies need to cut the cost and find the cheaper ways to make some profit (Achabou, 2014). In such a case, Nespresso may not sustain if it continuous to offer those products with premium brand appeal. Nonetheless, new products can be introduced or modifications can be made to retain customers. Thus, from the above discussion, it can be said that positioning strategy is effective and correct from the perspective of sustainability.

References

Achabou, M. A., 2014. Brand influence on consumer preference for environmental labels. ICT.

Alvarez, G., Pilbeam, C. and Wilding, R., 2010. Nestlé Nespresso AAA sustainable quality program: an investigation into the governance dynamics in a multi-stakeholder supply chain network. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal. 15(2). pp. 165-182.

Anderson, C. R. and Zeithaml, C. P., 1984. Stage of the product life cycle, business strategy, and business performance. Academy of Management journal. 27(1).  pp. 5-24.

Day, C. and Payne, D., 2014. God and Devil Terms in Corporate Discourse: Shared Value and the Transformation of CSR. In Academy of Management Proceedings. pp. 53-56.

Kashani, K. and Miller, J., 2000. Innovation and Renovation: The Nespresso Story. IMD, Lausanne, IMD case study.

Klepper, S., 1996. Entry, exit, growth, and innovation over the product life cycle. The American economic review.  pp. 562-583.

Markides, C. and Charitou, C. D., 2004. Competing with dual business models: A contingency approach. The academy of Management executive. 18(3).  pp. 22-36.

Matzler, K., Bailom, F. and Kohler, T., 2013. Business model innovation: coffee triumphs for Nespresso. Journal of Business Strategy. 34(2). pp. 30-37.

Lovell, N., 2014. Case studies: Nespresso and the coffee brand.

Nespresso, N. and Alliance, R., 2003. Memorandum of Understanding between Nestlé Nespresso and SAN.

Porter, M. E. and Kramer, M. R., 2011. Creating shared value. Harvard business review. 89(1/2). pp. 62-77.

Sheinin, D. A., 1998. Positioning brand extensions: implications for beliefs and attitudes. Journal of Product & Brand Management. 7(2).  pp. 137-149.

Sirianni, N. J., Bitner, M. J. and Mandel, N., 2013. Branded service encounters: Strategically aligning employee behavior with the brand positioning. Journal of Marketing. 77(6). pp. 108-123.

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