Category: Marketing Strategy

Benefits of Social Media Essay

Social media has become an increasingly powerful tool over the last number of years due to rapidly evolving technology. Social media is used daily among consumers, clients, and businesses to communicate brand messages, share stories, promote products, entertain, and more. There are a number of positive and negative effects social media can have within businesses which can lead to various pros and cons as social media is such a powerful platform. The role of social media has become extremely influential over recent years as the average adult spends approximately two hours and forty minutes on social media daily, which is increasing every year (Clement, 2020). Hence, it is crucial for businesses to take full advantage of this power and use it to the best of their ability for a positive outcome. From reading various journal articles on the effects of social media in businesses it is evident that it has positive and negative effects. Businesses and firms often face internal and external pressures to adopt social media presence which can result in various outcomes (Tiago and Veríssimo 2014). Negative effects can be seen through the power of web 2.0, social media backlashes, misuse of metrics, and when viral content goes wrong which can cause risks for a business (Berthon et al. 2012). On the other hand, positive effects can be seen through the growth of companies profits and KPIs, by enhancing customer relationships (Hanna, Rohm, and Crittenden 2011), Also through the use of celebrities to influence consumers and to essentially grow a larger consumer base (Laroche, Habibi, and Richard 2013). Businesses and companies can also have a large impact on customers sharing their Corporate social responsibilities via social media (Luiten, 2020).

Social media has a large role to play within firms which can be critical to the impact of their business. These roles include providing information to consumers, connecting with stakeholders, heightening communication flow, creating hype about products, growing a larger audience base, expanding out beyond competitors, and thus generating sales. Journal article ‘Digital marketing and social media: Why bother?’ discusses how businesses and marketers must focus on relationship-based interactions with their customers in order to improve social media engagement (Tiago and Veríssimo 2014). Through the rise of social media, consumers have become increasingly dependent on one another to value peer judgements and reviews on products more so than firm promotions which is an indication of a shift in persuasive power. (Berthon et al. 2012). Social media has shifted from one-way communication of direct marketing, e-mails, television, and radio to a two-way model of communication where consumers can interact and engage with businesses via social media. According to Taneja and Toombs (2014), there are four main factors that should be taken into consideration when deciding to integrate social media into their business (Morales et. al 2017). These include determining what social media platform would best work with their business for either B2B or B2C marketing, determining the potential benefits from the use of social media, how the use of social media will differentiate them from competitors, and determining the impact of their marketing efforts. (Morales et. Al, 2017)

According to a survey conducted on marketing managers from Portugal, eighty-seven percent of respondents identified digital presence as an effective means of information exchange, stating that it established direct contact with the consumer and helps the businesses internal and external relationships. (Tiago and Veríssimo 2014). Eighty-two percent of surveyed managers also rated digital marketing extremely important to build their brand. Seventy-eight managers rated it important to improve brand knowledge and seventy percent said it was crucial for brand communication. The survey also evaluated the marketing managers’ perceptions of how best to measure social media effectiveness within a business. The conclusion showed that the best metrics to measure effectiveness is from actions that provide engagement. From page views, click-through rates, and cost per thousand impressions there are several features to collect necessary data (Tiago and Veríssimo 2014). Means to measure these metrics have dramatically advanced in the last number of years with a wide variety of tools available such as google analytics, HubSpot, Hootsuite, and more. Despite the fact social media proved to have many advantages in the survey, one manager stated that “Without clear objectives and strategy definition it is better not to use social media at all” (Tiago and Veríssimo 2014, p. 707). This shows that for social media to be fully effective the firm must use various social media platforms correctly and to their full advantage to reap the benefits which can be a difficult task.

Negative effects of social media include conflicting feedback or engagement from consumers, the pressure of constantly having to keep updated and up to speed against competitors, and errors or distasteful events within a company that can face backlash. The way in which consumers interact and share information with one another has evolved rapidly in recent years through the combined use of blogs, forums, social networking sites, and podcasts known as Web 2.0. (Berthon et al. 2012). This term originated in 2004 by the O’Reilly media web 2.0 conference where they stated the original use of the web was for consumers to retrieve information, however, now it is used to both create and consume information. This can be difficult for businesses to keep up to speed and stay engaged with consumers, especially for international marketing strategies which can face several problems worldwide. The way in which different countries and nationalities interact with social media depends on an array of factors that businesses must take into consideration for social media planning. These include the countries infrastructure and the enabling of technology and social media, the culture and shared values of the nation, and the government’s rules and regulations (Berthon et al. 2012). For example, YouTube is less popular in emerging markets where it uses a considerable amount of bandwidth and data as opposed to European countries or America where the infrastructure allows for it. Another example includes Facebook, Instagram, and many social media sites being blocked in China due to government restrictions (Berthon et al. 2012). These are important factors when it comes to social media in businesses as different regions must be targeted in various ways. These factors can also cause trouble for businesses as social media posts and events seldom remain local and can quickly cause a backlash if negative stories or posts become viral.

Social media has seen a dramatic shift in power away from the firm and towards consumers and communities. When we think of social media content that has gone viral often comical, entertaining, and interesting images come to mind. However, this is not always the case and companies can often find themselves in difficulty when a negative post, story, or video goes viral which can impact their business. For example, ‘United Breaks Guitars’ quickly became a viral backlash for United in 2009. Passenger Dave Carroll flew with United to discover his guitar was broken upon arrival at his destination. After a year of trying to claim for damages and to no avail Carroll informed the airline he would be writing a song about his experience. After the video was uploaded on YouTube and Twitter it quickly started trending, being shared and aired on T.V channels such as CNN. When the story was published in The Times London, United Airlines’ market capitalization declined by twenty percent which was a significant one hundred and eight-million-dollar loss in value to shareholders. This was a huge downfall and backlash against United and it shows the impact of social media, how quickly it spreads to international markets.

Marketers need to listen and learn, take the right tone and actions when engaging with consumers (Berthon et al. 2012). Consumers build up trust and bonds with products and companies through loyalty and communities and feel betrayed when businesses have faulty products, services, or cover-ups. Another example of a social media backlash in a company was when Apple admitted they slowed down older iPhones in order to get consumers to either upgrade to a newer iPhone version or replace their battery. Apple explained to consumers that the older the battery gets it becomes harder to supply the maximum current needed for the iPhone’s processor at full speed.

The Analysis of Green Marketing Strategy in Fashion Based on the Stakeholder Theory: Company, Consumer and Environmental Organization

Introduction

Green is becoming the mainstream. When the fact that the fashion industry has become the second largest polluting industry, of which fast fashion has made a huge impact (Chavero, 2017), is discovered, many fashion companies which use toxic chemicals, produce lots of waste and pollute the environment have been facing serious problems. To build better brand impression on consumers, promoting a series of marketing strategies which is related to green has become more popular among those companies. This might include advocating green consuming, producing and advertising green products as well as encouraging everyone to lead a green life. Two fast fashion brands, H&M and MUJI, launched fair-trade products and organic collections is a typical example of applying green marketing strategy (Choi et al., 2012). It may somewhat arouse social attention and response. However, the actual effect of these green marketing strategies needs evaluation. This paper will analyze the green marketing strategy in fashion from three stakeholders’ view in detail as well as provide some suggestions on its application.

The stakeholders of green marketing in fashion

The stakeholder theory

“Stakeholder” refers to the individual or group that can affect or is affected by the performance of a company, such as, customers, suppliers, governments, employees and owners (Freeman, 2010). Companies that have a deeper understanding of who their stakeholders are, what they want as well as how they are going to get there, probably have better management skills, which is the main part of stakeholder theory (Frooman,1999). This framework connects the management with business ethics, creating a new method to understand management theory (Parmar et al., 2010).

Parmar et al. (2010) also compare the stakeholder theory to “a genre of management theory” to discuss the variety of uses. It is a framework that can summarize the commonality as well as contain diversity, which means that it allows different uses in various conditions.

Green marketing

According to American Marketing Association (2017), green marketing means that the development and promotion of products is environmentally safe, which includes production, promotion, packaging and reclaiming process. Stanton and Futrell (1987) explain this from the view of purpose —- the activities of green marketing are used to fulfill human needs with the lowest impact on the natural environment. These statements show that the core of green marketing is to protect the environment.

As Bashir, Yousaf and Wani (2016) discussed, green marketing emerged because of people’s concerns about the environment and future of our planet, which then drew the attention of industrialized nations that gave pressure on companies to be ecologically friendly. In recent years, as more consumers start to change their consumption concepts, such as, trusting the brands gradually, regarding services and being more focus on the value (Ottman, 2017), this strategy has become more popular. From the ethic aspect, it is also a tool of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that can increase profits and competitive advantages of companies (Bashir, Yousaf & Wani, 2016).

Stakeholders of green marketing in fashion

According to Ottman (2017) as well as the definition of stakeholder above, nearly everyone is a stakeholder in green marketing, including, customers, employees, environmentalists, government, investors, children and even the unborn. To facilitate follow-up analysis, the classification of the relevant stakeholders is needed.

Durmaz and Yasar (2016) explain that green marketing idea is developed in companies because of government policies and environmental organization’s pressure, which indicates that company is one of the main stakeholders in green marketing in fashion. The term “company” here contains every entity that is the part of fashion company, including employee, company owner, competitor, supplier, manufacturer and so on.

The starting point of green marketing strategy is protecting the environment, thus the voice of the environmental organization is quite important, for it can give more professional evaluations on the actual effects of green marketing strategy.

Green marketing strategy is a way to gain competitive power for fashion companies, which means that high consumer satisfaction is crucial. Companies satisfy their consumers by meeting their values, providing good services and qualified products. Thus, consumer is also an important cluster that facilitates the generation of green marketing and affects the profits and reputation of fashion company.

In many professional sustainability related papers, government is always considered as a significant stakeholder. However, the role of government in green marketing in fashion is not the point in this paper, for the green marketers usually operate without government assistance and there is no certification for green marketing practitioners (Ottman, 2017).

The analysis of green marketing strategy in fashion based on three stakeholders

Company

The fashion companies that use green marketing strategy can leave socially responsible and environmental concerned impressions to consumers, of which Patagonia is a typical example. Patagonia donates 1% of sales to the grassroots environmental organizations and participates in “1% For the Planet” league and has already provided 89,000,000 dollars to relevant organizations and the number is still growing (Patagonia, 2018). It does not loss money, instead the fashion company shows its care for the environment, thus more people are willing to pay as well as employees have a more comfortable life.

Another kind of example is that the company pay more attention to designs that may convey the environment protection idea, rather than using ecological-friendly materials, such as choosing patchwork as the main motif because patchwork means recycling and reusing. This idea is quite popular among fashion companies today because it can combine fashion and ecology concept without much green cost as well as arouse attention within a certain period, but may be not conductive to the long-term development of green marketing.

One concern from some fashion company is that applying green marketing strategy can somewhat increase the production cost of the products because of using new raw materials, research and development, detection, disposing waste, using some techniques and donations. Because of this, some of them may quit this strategy, while others may try another way—-“greenwashing”.

If a company claims that it uses organic materials, correctly disposes toxic chemicals and follows a sustainable production line, but does not achieve actually, it is called “greenwashing”. This concept refers to companies that overstate their antipollution efforts purposely by providing misinformation to gain more attention from consumers (Zellweger, 2017). This is not a rare green marketing phenomenon in fashion industry today. Take the example of H&M that is cited at the beginning. The company claims that it uses green materials and tries to build a sustainable image. But it is then exposed that it burns 12 tons of redundant clothing every year. The failed green marketing incident like this can decrease the image of the fashion company immensely, may causing the loss of consumer trust. When the fashion company completely regards the green marketing strategy as a tool to earn money, fail to meet consumer’s high expectations and neglect the benefit of environmental organization, it tends to result in serious financial losses (Walker & Wan, 2012).

Environmental organization

There are quite a lot of environmental organizations, some of them devoted in fashion industry, such as Clean Clothes Campaign and Centre for Sustainable Fashion. Although the working directions are different, the aims of these organizations are similar, making improvements to the ecology and human through observations and researches. Environmental organization often serves as a bridge connecting fashion companies and environment. They can supervise the green marketing of companies, whether they meet the emission standards and whether their techniques are effective, and provide some suggestions for them to improve. Fashion companies also donate funds to the organizations to participate in protecting the environment.

Consumer

There are different attitudes among consumers to green marketing, some may support, while others cannot accept or have no feelings. But according to Lee (2011), consumer’s concern to the environment has increased observably during the past few years, which becomes one of the major factors in consumer decision making, indicating that their interests to green marketing is rising. Anguelov (2016) also discusses that consumers have high environmental and social issues awareness. These concerns and awareness somewhat promote the development of green marketing because consumers who have more knowledge about fashion industry prefer to support ethical business practices through their purchases (Shen, Wang, Lo & Shum, 2012). It also makes them easier to identify the facticity of companies’ claims and less likely to be duped, which also pushes the companies to do better (Lee, 2011).

[bookmark: _Hlk24507960]Consumers usually do not simply pay attention to the green garment itself, but focus on every aspect of the fashion company and expect that all of them can accord with “green”, sustainability and responsibility. For example, the situation of sweatshop labor is their most important concern when making apparel purchase decisions (Tomolillo and Shaw, 2004). It is a kind of generalized “green” perception. This phenomenon is might because once the fashion company uses green marketing strategy and advocates being “green”, it declares that it is a responsible company and can arouse close attention from external environment, which can give it pressure to provide better quality clothes to some extent.

Discussions and suggestions

The green marketing strategy in fashion companies today is becoming more popular but not mature. More companies are trying to apply green marketing strategies but only some of them achieve the goals. Despite of the “greenwashing” that discussed above, the appropriate choice of the strategies is also quite significant. When making green marketing strategies, it is necessary to take the target consumer and the brand positioning into consideration. Fashion companies that have different target markets and different positionings can have different choices of green marketing strategies. For most of the common fashion companies, their green marketing strategies usually emphasize on one part of the whole technique, for example, from the raw material aspect, Zara and MUJI use organic cotton, while from the recycle aspect, H&M uses coupons to convince consumers to bring their old clothes instead of throwing them away. Another kind of green marketing is achieving green roundly. Companies like Patagonia keep the “green” concept throughout its production, using recycled plastic, donating funds to environment organizations and recycling old clothes. And by doing green marketing concentratedly, it has a specific loyal customer, even American President is proud of wearing it.

The information that the fashion companies provide should be the truth. Because of the attention from consumer and environmental organizations, “greenwashing” is neither a permanent way to make money for the companies, nor a correct choice to protect the environment. Fashion companies should pay more attention to seek new green marketing strategies, such as developing new materials and production methods and trying new marketing skills.

The environmental organizations should also support green marketing in fashion, and give pressure to the companies to ensure promotion facticity.

Although consumers’ cognitions of green marketing are different, with the improvement of their ecology concerns, green marketing in fashion will receive more attention and support, which is also positive for them to choose green products.

Conclusion

This essay explains the possible effects of application of green marketing strategy to fashion companies, environmental organizations and consumers, providing a reference for the companies to choose proper strategies. Although there might be some problems, such as increasing the production cost and greenwashing, it is certain that the starting point of green marketing is protecting our planet, thus from the sustainable view, the implement of green marketing strategy needs to be deep and abiding. Because of the limitation of statistics and information, this essay may lack of deeper analysis of these three stakeholders. More marketing researches can be conducted in the future to increase the depth. Due to the varying quality of green garments, there are quite a lot of voices of green marketing. No matter what their attitudes are, fashion companies cannot give up because of challenges while environmental organizations and consumers cannot be tired, for the problems have already exposed and it is the time for progress. Only when green marketing is developed healthily can the environment be in a positive cycle.

Reference list:

1. American Marketing Association. (2017). Definitions of Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.ama.org/the-definition-of-marketing-what-is-marketing/
2. Anguelov, N. (2015). The dirty side of the garment industry: Fast fashion and its negative impact on environment and Society. CRC Press.
3. Bashir, M., Yousaf, A., & Wani, A. A. (2016). Green Marketing & CSR: A Proactive & Innovative Tool to Gain Competitive Excellence. Journal of Supply Chain Management Systems, 5(2).
4. Bruce, M., Moore, C., & Birtwistle, G. (Eds.). (2004). International retail marketing: a case study approach. Routledge.
5. Chavero, S. T. (2017). The unsustainability of fast fashion. Datatèxtil, (36), 56-62.
6. Choi, T. M., Lo, C. K., Wong, C. W., Yee, R. W., Shen, B., Wang, Y., & Shum, M. (2012). The impact of ethical fashion on consumer purchase behavior. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal.
7. Durmaz, Y., & Yaşar, H. V. (2016). Green Marketing and Benefits to Business. Business and Management Studies, 2(2), 64-71.
8. Freeman, R. E. (2010). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Cambridge university press.
9. [bookmark: _Hlk23990834]Frooman, J. (1999). Stakeholder influence strategies. Academy of management review, 24(2), 191-205.
10. Lee, S. (2011). Consumers’ value, environmental consciousness, and willingness to pay more toward green-apparel products. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 2(3), 161-169.
11. Ottman, J. (2017). The new rules of green marketing: Strategies, tools, and inspiration for sustainable branding. Routledge.
12. Parmar, B. L., Freeman, R. E., Harrison, J. S., Wicks, A. C., Purnell, L., & De Colle, S. (2010). Stakeholder theory: The state of the art. The academy of management annals, 4(1), 403-445.
13. Patagonia. (2018). 1% for the Planet. Retrieved from https://www.patagonia.com/one-percent-for-the-planet.html
14. Stanton, W.J. & Futrell, C. (1987). Fundamentals of Marketing, 8th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
15. Shen, B., Wang, Y., Lo, C. K., & Shum, M. (2012). The impact of ethical fashion on consumer purchase behavior. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 16(2), 234-245.
16. Walker, K., & Wan, F. (2012). The harm of symbolic actions and green-washing: Corporate actions and communications on environmental performance and their financial implications. Journal of business ethics, 109(2), 227-242.
17. Zellweger, T. (2017). The Dark Side of Fast Fashion-: In Search of Consumers’ Rationale Behind the Continued Consumption of Fast Fashion.

A Marketing Strategy Based on Consumer’s Perception of Pet Food Industry and Brand in Korea

Introduction

Background

Recently, the pet industry in Korea has grown greatly. According to the nonghyup economic research laboratory (2019), the market size, which stood at 1.8 tillion won in 2012, has grown rapidly to 2.89 trillion won in 2018 and is expected to grow to 5.8 trillion won in 2020 (The domestic pet market is worth 3 trillion won. Get the peddlers, get the petfam! 2019). As the pet market grew, there were even new words ‘Petfam’ (pet+family) and ‘Petconomy’(pet+economy) which is reflecting the growth of the companion animal market. With the continued growth of ‘petfam’ which reach 10 million and ‘petconomy’, interest in the pet food industry, a part of the pet industry, has risen (The age of 10 million pets ‘Evolving petcony’ 2019). However, according to the Korea Customs Service’s Export-Import Trade Statistics (2019), imports of dog and cat food amounted to $148 million in 2015, increasing 13.8 to 22.5 percent from a year earlier between 2016 and 2018. The trade deficit also expanded 18.5 percent annually until 2018 from $135 million in 2015 (280 billion won in imports and 17 billion won in exports…Pet Products Foreigner’s Owner’s 2019). In other words, most of the pet food in the pet market in Korea is imported brands. According to KB Economic & Finance Institute, the combined sales of 26 local pet food companies account for only 20 percent of the pet food market, while 50 to 60 percent of the pet food market is income (280 billion won in imports and 17 billion won in exports…Pet Products Foreigner’s Owner’s 2019).

Through this Korea’s current situation, I want to examine why Korea should import more than half of Korea’s pet food market and why they don’t use domestic brands, and the reason of this problem is a consumer perception problem for Korean domestic brands, or whether it’s a Korean domestic brand’s marketing strategy problem. Therefore, this study will investigate the current status of Korea pet food industry, and identify problems in Korean domestic pet food, present marketing strategies for growth of Korean domestic brands that fall behind foreign brands, and study consumers’ perception about Korean domestic pet food brand and consumers’ consumption status in order to develop their marketing strategies.

Problem definition

Recently in Korea, the spread of negative perceptions of marriage and low birth rates have caused an increase in the number of one to two-person households, along with an increase in demand for pets. In 2015, among the households that owned pets in Korea, about 27 percent were thirties single-person households, and 30 percent were first-generation households consisting of two-person households (agencyAnimal 2015). And the proportion of first-generation households consisting of only one-person and two-person households in Korea increased from about 27.9 percent in 2000 to 46.1 percent in 2019 and is estimated to reach about 50 percent in 2025 (Special Estimation of Future household 2019).

Therefore, the demand for pet-owned households and pets in Korea is expected to continue to grow in the future. With the rise of pet-owned households and the rise of living standards and overall income, the number of people who do not spare money on pets has increased, and the pet industry has also grown significantly.

Statement of Problem

Although the pet food business is growing in Korea, most consumers still use foreign pet food brand products, not domestic brands. Currently, since domestic and foreign brands of pet food have different marketing strategies, this is creating different consumer perceptions for each brand in the pet food market in Korea, which is showing different result.

Thesis objectives

• To study the comparison marketing strategy which used by Korean domestic brand, and foreign brand
• To investigate the consumer perception with comparing between Korean domestic brand and foreign brand

Research questions

• What is the perception of Korean consumer about Korean pet food brand?
• What is the perception of Korean consumer about foreign pet food brand?
• What is the marketing strategy of the domestic pet food brand in Korea?
• What is the marketing strategy of the foreign pet food brand in Korea?
• What is the marketing strategy for domestic brand to get a better perception than foreign brand?

Review of Literature

1. Definition of Consumer perception

As times change, a number of brands and products are pouring out In line with the change. And when consumer first encounter such products and brands, the consumer has their own meaning and thoughts about them. In marketing, this is called consumer information processing. At this stage, all the senses of the consumer are involved in receiving brand marketing messages (Gianluigi GuidoPh.D. 2001).

1.1.1. Process of Consumer perception

And during the processing of consumer information, there are four distinct perception steps: Sensation, Attention, Interpretation and Retention.

Firstly, ‘Retention’ describes what happens when a people’s senses are first exposed to external stimuli, such as product or brand marketing. Consumers’ sensory receptors are involved with products or brands through five-sensory senses. For example, Starbucks, which people usually use, builds all the senses and relationships in sensuous brand marketing. Customers who enter Starbucks can hear their own music and enjoy Starbuck’s own coffee flavor and taste.

The following ‘Attention’ occurs when people stays at the external stimuli of the product or brand and gives them mental processing power during the processing of information. Selective perception is for consumers to pay attention to messages which do not match consumer attitudes, beliefs, and needs. And when a product or brand does not match these factors, the consumer will push out the attention.

‘Interpretation’ occurs when people accord meaning to sensory stimulation from product or brand marketing. ‘Interpretation’ help with expectations and familiarity with products or brands. Consumers recall consumers’ memories, bringing back their previous experience of the brand or similar brands.

Lastly, ‘Retention’ is the final step in the consumer perception process. This is indicated by storing the product or brand information in short- and long-term memory. The goal of marketers is to give positive stimulus to the process of consumers storing information about products or brands in long-term memory (CrossVanessa 2019).

1.1.2. Enhance Consumer perception

Customer perception is fluid. First, as the relationship between the customer and the company develops, consumer perception of the company and its products or services will change. As the customer experience increases, their perception will shift from factual judgments to more general meanings. Over time, consumers focus more on the results of product or service consumption. Moreover, when a customer’s situation changes, the customer’s needs and preferences often. In an external environment, if a competitors of customer’s existing product or brand create a better perception, the customer’s perception can be changed. There is also the fact that public opinion can be changed by certain issues (RecklesDagmar 2015).

• Add social media to the marketing mix- Social media can further accelerate two-way communication with consumers and enable them to share information in real time quickly.
• Communicate with customers both online and offline- Social media deals with more audience, but personal engagement allows business owners to create private relationships.
• Employees are the company’s top brand ambassadors- Every phone call they receive, every email they write or receive, and their product and service sales are all important. Because employees are the public ‘face’ of the company. Therefore, regular training and motivation should ensure that the customer’s recognition process is always and consistent with the services it provides to the customer no matter what stage it remains (CrossVanessa 2019).
• Increasing market share on customer perception- Increased market share can create positive perceptions by acting as an indicator of superior quality perceived by more and more other customers. This effect is especially powerful for products in the premium price range. Customers generally think that if they can achieve such unexpected market success despite their high prices, their reason is that the product is of superior quality. And the value of a product or service can rise as the number of users using it increases (RecklesDagmar 2015).

Definition of Marketing

With increased disposable income, consumers have begun to choose products or brands that they like. To cope with this trend, manufacturers have begun to produce a concept called ‘marketing’. In other words, marketing is about looking at the market from the perspective of consumers rather than from the perspective of producers. This new concept of ‘marketing’ has had an important impact on economy. Because of this reason, companies have shifted from production-oriented to marketing-oriented. This greatly increased the proportion of sales promotion, which was followed by the growth of advertising. But even if things have changed like this, we will still have to take the ads as the right view. That is, advertising is important, but it is just one of the elements of the marketing mix (Don E. SchultzStanley 1981).

Jerome E. McCarthy defined marketing as ‘4P’ management; product, place, price and promotion. In other words, to make a successful marketing plan, consumers must be able to buy the right ‘product’ at the right ‘place’ and right ‘price’, but appropriate ‘promotion’ should be combined to ensure consumers are aware of the product and the benefits from it. Advertising is part of the corporate promotion planning sector, but it is not the only factor (McCarthyE. 2011).

1.1.3. Definition of Marketing strategy

[bookmark: _Hlk26883394]Many pet food sale-stands in large-scale supermarkets have many brands on display, each with its own marketing strategy. In fact, pet food is basically all made to feed it. However, each brand has many products and carries a different message. The reason is that the products were developed to satisfy different consumer needs. For example, some dogs may need a lot of protein for growth, while some of others may need products with high levels of care for their fur. As such, the pet food market is very fragmented in the minds of consumers. And each brand is struggling to gain their place in the market. To occupy the market, one must be able to promise something different compared to other products, or to address the problem of different consumers’ differences and communicate it clearly (Don E. SchultzStanley 1981). This is the marketing strategy.

In other words, a marketing strategy is a form of marketing message that conveys the benefits or problem-solving characteristics that a product or service can give to a consumer. The key word here is ‘profit or problem-solving characteristics’. If a commitment in a marketing strategy fails to satisfy a consumer’s needs, does not solve a consumer’s problems, or does not provide the desired benefits, the strategy fails. In addition, the promises contained in the strategy should be important to consumers and not to producers or advertisers (Don E. SchultzStanley 1981).

Consumer perception and Marketing strategy

Jim Adams, the author of ‘Sparks off my Anvil’, said about the profits of producers and the interests of consumers: “People who design marketing do not start thinking about themselves or their products at first, but first about consumers who want them to buy the product. Since sales are done by consumers, you first start with your potential consumers’ minds in order to establish an appropriate marketing strategy. In order to change the way that consumers perceive your product to be superior to any other competitor, consumers need to figure out what they need to believe in your product. If you don’t, you will get nothing out of it, even through you may succeed in getting your marketing to believe. In fact, pure products alone do not attract even a small amount of interest from any consumer. Because a product only attracts consumers’ attention when it is changed to the term consumer satisfaction, and the consumer’s perception of it changes.” (AdamsJim 1958). And there are four conditions for establishing a good marketing strategy which can change consumer perception:

• Strategies must have measures to address consumer’s interests or consumer’s problems.
• The benefits or solutions must be what the consumer wants.
• The brand shall be directly linked to its profits problem-solving solutions
• The benefits or problem solving measures shall be communicated through marketing.

Positioning strategy

Previously, ‘positioning’ was the method which manufactures applied to their products to generate the benefits that would be provide to a particular group of people. But now it has a different meaning. As Trout and Ries said, “Positioning now refers to placing the product in the consumer’s mind through advertising.” The overall concept of positioning theory is that advertising is intended to give the product a place in the consumer’s mind or to establish a foothold (RiesJack 1969). Once that position is constructed, consumers will consider buy the product when consumer needs to get the benefits which product gives or the problems which consumer faces.

Positioning serves to ensure which the product meets all the needs of a particular class of consumers rather than advertising a product with special benefits. As an example, Michelob beer has strengthen image as the best U.S. premium beer ever by creating a “First class” position (Michelob 1961). While other strategies are the same, it is always important to keep in mind which ‘positioning’ should also provide benefits and problem solving to create a good perception for consumers.

Research Methodology

The paper seeks to investigate why Korea should import more than half of Korea’s pet food market, why Koreans do not use domestic brands, and the reason of this problem is a negative consumer perception, or whether it is a wrong marketing strategy. These needs for research will lead to primary and secondary data. To get the primary data, I will conduct a survey of Koreans residing in Korea and to get the secondary data, I will use literature research methods, including papers, Internet materials and government statistics which are related to pet industry, consumer perception, etc., to develop marketing strategies for the growth of the Korean pet food brand in Korea. Since the main data in this paper will be conducted on a large number of people for a broader and more objective study, it will be carried out as a quantitative study.

Anticipated Results

The survey will be performed on people living in South Korea. The survey is thought to be relatively easy to get feedback from people in Korea, but there is a question of whether the process can go smoothly, as the target to be interviewed is a South Korean conglomerate. And other articles will also be utilized to make the study clearer overall.

Planning (Tentative Schedule to Finish the Thesis)

S/N Tasks Deadlines

1 Literature Review Jan 13- Feb20, 2020

2 Survey and Data collection Feb 10- March 10, 2020

3 Thesis Feb 20- March 10, 2020

4 Reviewing Thesis March 15, 2020

5 Submission March 31, 2020

Budget

There would be no budget to get all information and data for this paper.

References

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Ideal Digital Marketing Strategy: Analytical Essay

Part A

Introduction

The purpose of this essay is to explain what leadership challenges Wirkkala may face while keeping the company united in its development goals. Wirkkala was started by four university friends after they completed their graduation. The company was doing well in the starting periods, but after some years company started to face some issues regarding leadership and management. In this essay I will discuss about the crisis Wirkkala is facing and will critically evaluate and discuss the research and theories around the topic. Firstly there is a brief of leadership challenges Wirkkala may face. After that there is a detailed explanation of each challenge Wirkkala may face with relation to the relevant theories. The third para of the main body includes challenge of lack of experience among the directors, followed by lack of transparency, lack of Human resource management for growing globally, followed by the difference of opinions among the leaders and at the end there is a detailed description of what leadership challenges Wirkkala may face when it will expand itself to a global level. It is very necessary for Wirkkala to overcome these leadership challenges if the company wants to be successful in this competitive market.

Main body/ discussion

A leader is a person who works hard for achieving his goals and guides his colleagues towards the right path. Leadership is one of the most essential part of an organization. The leadership challenge is about how leaders assemble others to need to influence remarkable things to occur in organizations. It’s about the practices heads use to change esteems into activities, dreams into substances and threats into rewards (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). There are many challenges Wirkkala is facing. Some of the leadership challenges are beneath the leaders and some are faces by the leaders and some will be faced in the future. In this essay I am going to focus on four main leadership challenges that Wirkkala is facing they are: 1) Lack of experience among the directors, 2) Lack of transparency among the directors, 3) Lack of Human resource management for future development goals, 4) There are different opinions among the leaders and 5) Expansion of company on a global level.

Firstly we are going to talk about lack of experience among the directors. According to Alati (2004) 60% of the companies have leadership challenge regarding the collaboration of the leaders. All the four directors are university graduates so they don’t have enough experience in the global world. Experience is one of the most essential element of leadership and its development. Like if we take example of Diane Ugbede who has studied Business and Management but now she is playing a role in product development which is not the appropriate use of her skills and she often ends up conflicting with Kristine. Also the four members hold informal meeting once in a quarter so that is also considered as one of the major challenges in leadership because all the directors doesn’t work from the office and they don’t even conduct formal meetings so not everyone does not has an overview of what company is going through and what is the development of the company. Also the directors (leaders) employ the people who are newly graduates. The newly graduates have no experience of working in an external word and they need training. It takes a lot of time and effort to give training those employees and make them fit so they can work effectively for Wirkkala. This is also one of the major challenge of leadership because the investors would prefer experienced employees rather than newly graduates as they don’t need to be trained.

The second challenge faced by Wirkkala is related to lack of transparency. Transparency is very essential to avoid conflicts among the leaders or directors. Effective communication is one of the main key for collaborative leadership (Doherty, et al., 2018). According to the above mentioned theory it is very necessary to have communication between the leaders and everything related to company should be open and accessible to each and every member. In Wirkkala one of the challenge noticed was lack of transparency among the directors. Previously they all understood that how important it was to share information amongst one another but gradually the situations changed. They thought that if one person had some information that person used it as power. Some of them used to hide the important information and some shared information occasionally. The problem of obtaining precise data in such critical conditions can cause there are frequent problems in company’s long term and short term goals (Abidi, et al., 2013). Through this we can understand that how important it is to share information with every leader in the company. Also there is lack of transparency between the all the tree departments of the company i.e. the tree units don’t share the common information with one another. There are many different systems and it is very complex sometimes to work with multiple systems. Strategic alignment is the procedure and the aftereffect of connecting an association’s structure and assets with its system and business condition. There is lack of strategic alignment in the company and also the organisational goals are not clear. So this is a leadership challenge related to Information System (IS) as the leaders are not able to develop proper IS and this doesn’t give proper organisational goals and the company has no direction to go. Because of these things lack of transparency can be considered as one of the biggest drawbacks and leadership challenge Wirkkala may face when they keeping company united in its development goals.

Human Resource Management (HRM) is one of the most essential part in any organization. The key challenge of manager or owner of any company is to search, hire and motivate the employees. This is one of the key role of HRM or in other words we can say that this is only HRM (Dunn, 2010). Kristine Kochanski who is one of the directors of Wirkkala is in charge of managing people. Because she has studied psychology she enjoys to do it. But this will work when Wirkkala is working on a small scale, when the company will plan to expand its networks and will plan to go global then this HRM system will be ineffective. The company is planning for a global expansion and so there will be increase in production as well so there will be more employees in the company and just one person looking back for HRM won’t work. These days’ effective organizations should be versatile, strong, client focused and quick to alter course. Inside such a domain the viability of HRM is crucial to business achievement (Griffith College, 2018). Here this may be a major leadership challenge when Wirkkala will go global. The company has no proper HR department which a leadership challenge because without Hr department the company cannot complete its goals of hiring good quality people.

Moving on to the next leadership challenge is that of difference of opinions between the leaders. Trust has progressively been viewed as the key component in the ethical economy of contemporary associations, both inside among the board and work and remotely between discrete yet teaming up associations (Wang & Clegg, 2002). Through this we can understand that trust is an important element in an organisation. Not only trust but all the leaders should agree to one decision and work accordingly. If they don’t agree on an anonymous decision then they end up putting the organisation in trouble. Same is the problem with Wirkkala, here Alison feels that the company is ready for expansion and move to the consultancy services as well. Diane is ok with Alison’s decision and ready to work with her, but Kristine and Anne think that if they will take that step then the main motto of the company will shift to consultancy thing. So here this is a major challenge that not all members are ready to accept one decision that may be beneficial for the company. This leadership challenge of difference in opinion may lead to conflicts between the members of the company. Also as mentioned previously that Diane is not happy with her role as it is not fit for her according to her skills and she has conflicts with Kristine, so this is an another example of difference in opinion between the leaders. This difference can play a major role in preventing the development of the company.

Rondinelli & Heffron (2009) argues that understanding the nature and starting points of specific types of individual and authoritative initiative is critical for accomplishing monetary, social and political that advance peaceful humanistic development. Development itself is a procedure of progress that expects pioneers to assemble human, monetary and physical assets and to change individual and organisational behaviour. This is an essential element for every leader to help them to expand business globally. Here globalisation may be a leadership challenge for Wirkkala because the leaders are not experienced enough. Also there are conflicts going on in the company. The organisational structure of the company is also not well structured. So because of these factors Wirkkala may face leadership challenges in globalisation. Also one major factor that will affect Wirkkala in going global is the Brexit. It is a word that is used for UK leaving the European Union (EU). Because of Brexit there is going to be a huge change in economies of both Europe and UK and it going to be a challenge to trade easily between the two nations. Right now importing and exporting within the EU is simple but after the Brexit everything including the policies will change so this will be the most major challenge Wirkkala will face if they plan for globalisation. The leaders here have to start with all new strategies, trade will be difficult because of new policies and also they are less experienced so this may cause a big challenge to leaders. Also the two of the four leaders are planning to make Wirkkala a global brand so this is going to be very difficult as Brexit will play a major role and the changing policies will become the leadership challenges for the leaders to make this step forward for global expansion. Another challenge the leaders of Wirkkala may face is the challenge of privacy and data protection. The privacy policy differs from country to country and state to state so if Wirkkala plans to go global then leaders will face a lot of problems with the privacy and data protection of their customers as they have to understand the policies of every country differently.

Conclusion

In present time there is a huge need of cooperation and collaboration for efficient management practice and also for the betterment of the company (House, et al., 2004). I would like to conclude by saying that there are many challenges a leader will face while developing his company to next stage. Here in Wirkkala there are many leadership Challenges Company is facing and if the company wants to grow efficiently and faster than it is necessary for the company to overcome these leadership challenges. The main challenge Wirkkala may face while developing future goals is lack of transparency and difference of opinions among the leaders. Due to these challenges there are a lot of conflicts between the leaders and that hinders the development of the company. Out of all the challenges Wirkkala needs to work on these two challenges to overcome the future development goals. With these leadership challenges prevailing in the company Wirkkala there will be no unity among the leaders and then the leaders will take a wrong decision which will be not appropriate for the company. The difficulties of systematic change where progressive system is deficient will, I trust, push us to new perspectives on administration dependent on new standards. These difficulties can’t be met by confined courageous leaders. They will require a one of a kind blend of various individuals, in various positions, who lead in various ways. Hence it is very necessary to maintain coordination and discipline between the leaders in order to overcome these challenges.

Part B

Introduction

The essay will discuss about the challenges and advantages Wirkkala may face while identifying a clear digital marketing strategy. And after that we will focus on the ethical and privacy issues company may face. This part of essay is mainly focused on what will help the company to develop in future and also what are the problems they have to tackle to. Firstly there is a brief introduction to digital marketing and what digital marketing strategy is. The purpose of this is to understand how challenges and advantages will relate to Wirkkala while identifying the strategy. The second part focuses on the challenges like the challenge of adoption of technology, skills and privacy challenges. These are the major challenges that the company is going to face. After that the third part is the advantages and benefits of the strategy the company will adopt. The advantages include the advantage of learning which will give the competitive advantage to the company. After that the second advantage focusses on the benefit of gathering the information for creating customer values and the last advantage describes about how information from various sources will help the company to adopt a particular technology and benefit the process of identifying an ideal digital marketing strategy. At the end the final part gives a grief regarding what ethical and privacy challenges the company may face while developing itself and for future goals. These ethical and privacy challenges are considered the most because the customers are really worried about their information and if the information is not handled properly then it can create a bad impact on the company and also it is not ethical.

Main body/ discussion

The Internet is changing the tenets of rivalry and imagining new esteem suggestions. The progressions made conceivable by the Internet are vital and essential (Ghosh, 1998). The cooperation and mix between digital channels and customary channels is a key piece of digital marketing strategy improvement. Digital marketing strategy is basically a channel marketing strategy and it should be coordinated with different channels (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick., 2012). Through this we can understand that is it very necessary to build channels for developing the digital marketing strategy. In today’s world digital marketing is very essential for growth of the business via online platforms. A right and proper digital marketing strategy can help the company to grow better and establish its developing goals. There are many advantages and challenges of adapting a digital marketing strategy for a company.

Now coming to the challenges that Wirkkala may face while identifying an ideal digital marketing strategy. There are many challenges Wirkkala can face or Wirkkala will face and some challenges are inevitable. One major challenge is the challenge of technology. This can be a challenge because the brave business leaders are ready to take risks for clear reasons (Kingsnorth, 2016). Digital marketing is closely linked with technology it can be a barrier for identifying an ideal strategy for the company. For example for paid searches, display advertising and social media marketing needs technology and this technology cannot be built, they have to buy the technology. Buying such technology costs a lot of money so it is a challenge for identifying digital marketing strategy. With the invention of new technology there are a lot many changes that are to be made within the system. Also it is a challenge because it needs to gain support from the leaders for its adoption. Also the technology needs a lot of testing and examining and so it becomes a huge wastage of time and resources.

The next challenge is the challenge of skills that are necessary to operate these technological instalments. As we saw earlier how important role technology plays in digital marketing it is equally important to have skills to operate or work under such technological environment. When there is introduction of new technology and new customer behaviour service there is a lack of experience around them. There is no data regarding what is to be done and what will be the limitations or the advantages of introduction of this new technology into the business (Kingsnorth, 2016). If Wirkkala is introducing new technology then it may also need some skilled workers with a lot of experience of how to work with such technology and how to overcome the limitations that will come when they identify an ideal digital marketing strategy. To overcome this problem of skills Wirkkala has only two options, one is to train the current workers (which will take a lot of time) and other one is to recruit pre trained workers (this will utilise a lot of financial resources of the company). Thus based upon the above arguments we can say that skills will also be a major challenge along with the introduction of technology for Wirkkala while they are identifying the digital marketing strategy.

The other challenge is privacy and data protection, this will also play a major role while we identify a perfect digital marketing strategy. These challenges are the two sides of the same coin. Every country and every state has different sets of rules and regulations. The challenge Wirkkala may face is regarding the understanding ideal principles of data usage, customer protection and usage. People now a days are very cautious about the data so it is necessary to keep the data safe and secure so that privacy of people is not breached and everything is kept confidential. Also cloud storage is another problem that can be faced during this process. If they overcome this challenge during the process of developing the digital marketing strategy then they can reach another milestone and the success of the company will be at a global level.

Every coin has two sides, one side always favours us and other side is exactly opposite to our thinking. After the challenges now we will focus on the advantages Wirkkala will have while identifying a digital marketing strategy, the first advantage is the role of learning in creating competitive advantage (Day, 1994). This process includes learning about the market and customers and their needs. So while developing digital marketing strategy for Wirkkala the company needs to learn about the marketplace and customers. By doing this Wirkkala will gain a competitive advantage in the market place. By doing this the company will also gain some loyal customers. The first part of the digital marketing campaign should start with a question that, what is the company all about? (Zahay, 2015). So by learning about the company will give competitive advantage in the market while the company is identifying its digital marketing strategy.

The second advantage or the second step is to gather information about the activities that will help in the creation of values for and by the customers (Porter, 1985). These information are regarding inbound supply chain, internal operations, marketing and sales, post sales service and customer co-relation. This is a complex system to get information about the customer needs and perform digital marketing activities accordingly. This system helps will help to identify the customer trend and then deliver the information along the chain. This process is essential while we identify the digital marketing strategy because this process gives us in-depth knowledge about the customers as well as market trend. Wirkkala will also have the benefit of this thing when the company is identifying the appropriate digital marketing strategy. If the company has appropriate information then it will be easy to find their target market and work accordingly. The customer plays a positive role in relation between the values and value chain (Zahay, 2015). The process of product development and management, customer relationship management and supply chain management also adds values to the company’s customers in different ways (Zahay and Handfield, 2004).

And finally the firm gets the information from suppliers, competitors, customers and employees and then use that information for creating a great value for digital marketing development. Also the technology helps to create values at some points. The digital marketing technology helps to target a huge market and attracts more customers as compared to traditional one-to-one marketing method. For today’s world Google trends can be a useful tool in developing strategies. It is useful because it gives detailed information of the world of internet on real time basis. This information needs constant updating and should be continuously and if it is done efficiently then it can be a good competitive advantage. So technology helps to get information and information helps to form an efficient digital marketing strategy for the business.

Now coming to the ethical and privacy challenges the company may face while they keep the company’s development in mind in consideration of digital marketing. There are many challenges the company may face regarding the ethics and privacy related to the customer’s information and data. The development of web and the capacity to oversee huge scale databases in an ongoing manner has implied that advertisers can find out about us that we truly may need them to know and to follow our conduct online through assortment of components. According to the act of privacy (Carey, 1998) the data should be processed fairly and lawfully. There is an assumption that the data from where it is obtained is obtained fairly and from an authorised source. It is very complicated to obtain lawfully processed data (Tapp, et al., 2014). The challenge Wirkkala will face here is of collection of data. As stated above how difficult it is to get new technology, and without technology it is more difficult to obtain such fair and lawful data. The second thing is the data which they obtain should be accurate and should be the latest one. The data which is obtained should be relevant, and not excessive. According to the ICO’s office the data should be collected minimum and it should consist of less personal data that is required to fulfil the company’s needs. The IOC has termed this as ‘Data Minimisation’ (The Information Commission’s Office, 2012). This can be challenge for Wirkkala as they don’t know how to collect the data and how to keep it adequately.

The one major concern is the Cookie policy. The European Union (EU) had a law namely e-Privacy Directive (EUR-Lex, 2015). This law makes sure that every person agrees to the cookie policy before entering the website. There are exclusions and the directive itself isn’t excessively prescriptive, which gives adaptability. There are many apps whose functioning needs collection of user’s location data (Kingsnorth, 2016). This can be a great privacy issue because some people do not want to share their location or tell in public about their place of existence. So this can be a challenge for Wirkkala as well as in how to prevent not to breach the privacy of their customers. Cloud storage is another area of concern where individual’s personal data is kept out of the reach of individual itself. Wirkkala may also face problem with this thing. One of the major that that can hinder one’s privacy is social media sites. These sites keep individual’s personal data in open and everyone can have an excess to anyone’s data without their permission. This is also a challenge for Wirkkala as in how to keep their customers satisfied by making them sure that their data is safe and sound.

Conclusion

Nowadays, in the world of internet and technology, the traditional methods of marketing are now on the verge of extinction. Because of technological advancement, the trend has shifted to digital marketing from traditional marketing. The more social we become the more personalized goods and services we get and this is because of big data analytics (Kotler, et al., 2016). By this we can understand that how important digital marketing is. So Wirkkala will have to identify an ideal digital strategy and overcome the above-mentioned challenges and take the benefit of the advantages. Also the company will have to overcome the privacy and ethical challenges that may hinder the company’s development goals and also can play a negative role in the company’s goodwill which will eventually lead to the loss of customers. Hence to conclude, Wirkkala can become very successful globally if it overcomes the challenges and identifies the perfect digital marketing strategy.

References

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12. Kotler, P., Kartajaya, H. & Setiawan, I., 2016. Marketing 4.0: Moving from Traditional to Digital. 1 ed. s.l.:John Wiley & Sons.
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Volkswagen Car Company and Its ‘People’s Cars’

Volkswagen Group is a worldwide car producer was positioning among the main 5 brand-driven OEMs in 2015 and driving the traveller car section with 9.8MM deals. Volkswagen manufacture cars to help people from any social class can afford from their budget. With a long history (set up in 1937), Volkswagen has insisted its position and notoriety internationally and is acclaimed for its Volkswagen Golf line. When tuning in to the name Volkswagen Golf, it is about the picture of an excellent and moderate vehicle, great motor and sensible cost. It is known as the best AWD hatchback and The Golf has consistently been mainstreaming because of its mind-boggling execution and taking care of, and this cycle just enhanced that. Volkswagen Golf has been having the eighth era, the first was delivered from the late spring of 1974.

Implements Strategically

The company gather information on and investigate three key pointers for the significant traveller vehicle creating brands: net advertiser score, dependability rate, triumph rate. The vehicle brand additionally has guarantee: 2-year maker and 1-year merchant and 12-year structure security.

In the initial a half year of the current budgetary year, the business income of the Volkswagen Gathering developed by 4.9 percent to €125.2 (119.4) billion contrasted and the principal half of 2018. Gathering deals income up by 4.9 percent to €125.2 (119.4) billion (Volkswagen 2019). Today, Volkswagen is serving the various sections in Singapore. Hence it is basic to situate the Golf to address the issues and catch most of the Singapore vehicle showcase.

The Volkswagen Passenger Cars division spoke to the biggest supporter of the organization’s income with an income portion of around 35% in 2019. Buyers in China and Hong Kong purchased very nearly tenfold the number of Volkswagen-badged vehicles as vehicle customers in the US. Volkswagen and individual German vehicle brands had a 24% portion of the Chinese market among January and November 2019.

As far as income, Toyota and Volkswagen were the main automakers worldwide in 2019. As far as vehicle deals and income, Toyota and Volkswagen are considered as a real part of the best automakers around the world. Moreover, the Volkswagen Golf contends in the hatchback advertise with contender hatchback models from Toyota, Mazda and Honda (Navoda, 2012).

Marketing Concept

It has been 83 years since Volkswagen first jump into automobile manufacturing industry and famous for been called ‘people’s car’. Therefore, the company’ strategy is to focus on 18-24 years old people that are single and young and easy to afford. Beyond, married couples with children who concerned on safety and space and retired couple who may not care about speed or modern technology would be on targeted.

A creation framework which utilizes the upsides of large-scale manufacturing. Volkswagen fans will recollect the people from Wolfsburg figured out how to pack a W12 motor inside a Golf about 10 years back and as of late they had a tremendous mixture idea fitted with gullwing entryways. In addition, the R400 will undoubtedly develop into a street-going vehicle, perhaps as a R420 model to mirror its additional force.

Volkswagen Golf is the greatest selling model of Volkswagen in worldwide with seventh- generation since the first one was produced in 1974 that has as of recently selling more than 25 million pieces around the globe. Another advantage of an item augmentation is it upgrades client devotion to Volkswagen and furthermore pulls in new clients. As a result, they will spread positive verbal exchange of Volkswagen Golf vehicles (Linton, 2016). Subsequent to discharging the first Volkswagen Golf vehicle in Singapore, Volkswagen has been including new innovation and reviving the outside and inside plans of the vehicle. The most recent range likewise incorporates the most developed motor, security highlights and a cool outside viewpoint. In 2015, Golf R-Line the new Golf has a friendly mode for family, with new highlights like the all-encompassing sunroof (Volkswagen Singapore, 2016). Volkswagen can expand the Golf vehicle item life cycle by adding new developments to the current golf vehicle all the time, similar to the innovative highlights, propelled motor, outside and inside structures (Lorette, 2016).

The high contribution to nature in the buy choice requires a broad buyer manner of thinking and makes high post-buy cacophony. Individual retailing will be led by the business power from retail tasks, to give data, address purchaser concerns to manufacture relational relationship. This customized experience delivers vulnerability of purchasers to inspire buy choice.

Customary promoting systems, for example, TV or magazines will be utilized to arrive at an enormous objective crowd. This makes more prominent intrigue towards the Golf as needs be to the psychographic profile of the objective market who esteems trusted and recognizable brands. Communicating advertising through online life stages, for instance, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram fill in as commitment devices and make two-way correspondence.

Marketing Objectives

Volkswagen has a technique to expand deals of the Golf by 80% inside 3 years and increment piece of the pie in Singapore to 25%. They expect the business income of the Volkswagen Group to develop by up to 4% in 2020 and the business income of the Passenger Cars Business Area to be tolerably higher than the earlier year figure and the organization also gauge a working profit for deals in the scope of 6.5%–7.5% in 2020.

Volkswagen targetted to have 550,000 in total car market and target market raise 100,000 (1.8%) in Singapore. The Golf is a claim to fame great that require high inclusion in the buy choice. The procedure takes into consideration the most elevated level of authority over other appropriation techniques. This gives chances to concentrate on submitted and concentrated individual selling, joined with broad after-sales administration to keep up the selective nature of the Golf.

Volkswagen makes more prominent intrigue towards the Golf as needs be to the psychographic profile of the objective market who esteems trusted and recognizable brands. Moreover, they are going to change client essential such as present more eco-friendly models are likewise numerous fewer outflows of carbon dioxide in every single car brand, to meet new client needs (green vehicle), and upgrade the brand notoriety (Strategic Management Insight, 2012).

The Golf will be supported for explicit occasion that have the pertinent properties that make a direction toward an energetic picture such occasions recognized incorporate F1 and Singapore Motor show. Advertising (PR) would be utilized to produce exposure and impart brand esteems. These will build up the Golf towards the ideal market situating while assembling great associations with the market. This is significant in reducing the effect of the current negative picture related to Volkswagen.

Despite the fact that that sounds excellent, it isn’t adequate to accomplish their objectives put in a safe spot for 2018 (Volkswagen 2011e). Over the long haul, Volkswagen expects to build unit deals to in excess of 10 million vehicles per year, catch a better than expected offer as the significant development markets create and increment its arrival on deals before duty to in any event 8% so as to keep up its strong money related position in any event, during troublesome market periods (Volkswagen 2011h).

Conclusion

Volkswagen has taken the steps to move with time from their distinguished past as war vehicle makers to world-class vehicle creator that has gained notoriety for quality and extravagance vehicles particularly the ‘Golf’ and Volkswagen has always remembered what its spirit design was: to be the ‘people’s car’. The company’s capacity to re-develop itself to alter to purchasers’ needs in each degree of the general public has kept them pertinent to the car business.

Reference

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4. UKEssays (2018) Volkswagen Marketing Strategies and Marketing Mix. [Online] Available at: https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/the-unique-selling-proposition-marketing-essay.php (Last Accessed: 1 May 2020).
5. Clayton, A., Charles, B., Ferrell, B., Wilcher, W. (2011) Volkswagen Group: Marketing Strategy Analysis and Profile. Muncie: John Vann.

Toyota’s Marketing Mix Analysis

In 1937, Toyota Motor Corporation was found internationally. The Japanese origin, global firm, is world’s major automobile maker in bulk. Toyota was originally known as ‘Toyoda’. This name came from the founder’ s name and he was an automatic loon manufacturer. They sell around 7.5 million models in a year, all over the world. Toyota’s values and principles have shaped the firm today (https://articles.marketrealist.com/, 2016).

Toyota Motor Corporation in 2008 was known for being the largest automobile manufacturer in the world. They have 600 subsidiary firms that operate in automobile manufacturing, spare parts and commercial and heavy vehicles. The Toyota city in East of Nagoya, Japan is Toyota’s headquarters. The current president is Akio Toyoda. Toyota has always contributed towards the society through their sustainability practises that have been incorporated by them in their business practices. They have worked towards improving the environment and protecting Earth. Toyota introduced their first car in 1957, in the USA. Toyota Motor Sales, USA and Inc., was born and their first headquarter was established. The Toyopet Crown sedans also known as Toyota Corona (redesigned version for Americans) and Land Cruiser were the vehicles that were sold in the USA in the beginning. Then they listed their company on various stock exchanges. Few competitors of Toyota in automobile industry are Honda Motor, General Motors and Ford motors. The brand Lexus are owned by Toyota and was used to give competition to luxury cars segments like BMW, Jaguar and Mercedes Benz (Brian Duignan, 2019).

Marketing mix and strategies of Toyota

Product/Position

Toyota has wide range of products. They earned their reputation in the market because of the automobile manufacturing. Besides, the automobiles that is Toyota and Lexus it also deals in automobile spare parts and accessories, automatic looms, Marine products, rubber manufacturing, steel, real estate and housing units, engines and motor sports. They also import and export raw materials across the globe. They also deal in WELCABS which are taxis designed for people who are older or are disable. The firm has their assembling plants and distributors across different countries. Toyota expanded in the automobile segment by targeting the luxury segment by introducing Lexus cars and sold first hybrid (fuel efficient car or green car). It is less harmful the environment Lexus car which gave competition to BMW, Jaguar and Mercedes Benz. Toyota using the product innovation as their product strategy where they work on new cars which are zero emission cars which are electrical cars and are charged using renewable energy sources, hybrid cars which have engines designed in a way which reduce CO2 and petrol costs, fuel efficiency of the current cars, automated mobility where they introduce concept cars and theses machines understand the driver’s emotion to function in partnership, build cooperative intelligent transport systems that are build to take care of the road safety and are currently working on fuel cell vehicles, that are the cars that will use hydrogen as fuel and will be emission free (Toyota Australia, 2019). Toyota keeps its customers interest on top due to which they have research centres to know what kind of products and quality is expected by people from Toyota. They have invested millions in in research development. Hence, they have worked on innovative range of cars.

Pricing

Toyota deals in a wide product line and has all cars in different pricing category from budget friendly cars to luxury cars. They follow market-oriented pricing strategy that means that prices are decided based on the price of the competitors and the market conditions. Most of the products like sedans come under this strategy. It also uses value-based pricing which implies deciding the prices based on profit value and cost value of the cars. This strategy is used for expensive or high-end cars like Lexus. The selling price is determined by the customers. Also, the government policies like tax and duties impact the price. Their price range starts from AUD 15,390 approximately and goes till more than AUD 53,000 and for Lexus cars the prices are even higher. They use the TPS due to which they can provide their customers with best quality, low cost and shortest lead time by removing the waste at the same time. This is their competitive advantage as they invested in this long time ago (Toyota, 2019).

Place/Distribution

The customers have the tendency to impact the business if they don’t the reach to the products. Therefore, it is necessary for the firm to have their products ready at the right time and at the right place (Barcik and Jakubiec 2013). Toyota reaches its customers through their retail stores and dealerships. People can buy their cars at these stores or dealerships. The spare parts and accessories are sold at the retail stores as well. They rely on these two ways to reach their target market. Their teams is trained well to inform the customer about their products as well as finance insurance and any customer demands in any case. They reduce the supply chain costs and provide reasonable customer service to their customers with high quality products. They work in a systematic manner in their assembling plants they have different suppliers in first level where the product development is done then the second level or tier has different supplier who work on individual parts of the product and their staff helps the supplier in-case of over work load. They use B2C distribution strategy that is business to consumer for selling the products.

Promotion

Toyota not only sells using dealership and retail stores but have their staff trained where one on one sales takes the sales person speaks to its customers. In Japan they use to provide door to door service. They promote their sales using social media, advertising in news-papers, on you-tube, radio, TV commercials, bill-boards, collaborations with TV shows and sponsoring events as well as movies or TV series. They sometimes use celebrities to promote their cars. Also, the cash back offer or short-term sales promotional schemes that firm uses to sell their products. Toyota also promotes its products by using their Toyota Together Green program which is an initiative towards protecting the environment and other programme which is Meal Per Hour program where food is donated by their Food Banks. This results in creating a positive brand reputation in the market. They have wide range of promotional strategies. For their corporate clients they sell directly. They use above the line strategy as they are selling through their retail stores and have huge campaigns to promote their sale. They are also using below the line promoting strategy as they have a segment for car racing and are sponsoring a player and associate themselves to other programs.

Summing up, it should be said that Toyota has performed well in the past 25 years in terms of high sales and giving out market share. This resulted in a valuable and strong reputation of Toyota in the market.

Overview Telstra’s Pricing Strategy Decisions

Pricing strategy decision plays one of the most crucial roles for media transmission. Before rolling out an improvement on valuing they need to consider how and where they are going to situating the business. They have to contemplate obvious objective clients.

Pricing strategy decision is also affected by market segmentation. Demographic segmentation, geographic, psychographic and behavioural segmentation plays a vital role for taking pricing strategy decisions. The primary target market of Telstra is the working class and the youth and secondary target market is the low-income group which also impact on pricing decisions.

Telstra implements the tactic of economical evaluating in its promoting strategy and label its merchandise very smartly. Telstra has special pricing for all its products and packages like broadband, tv, movies and home phone. It implements its strategy of minimum cost to maximum cost per year that customers will accept under their policy and contracts.

Some factors that plays vital roles while taking decision for pricing their products and services as follows: 1) primary target market (major cities); 2) secondary target market (lower income group); 3) services like 3G, 4G, and 5G; 4) new technology lovers; 5) big and low data usage customers; 6) lifestyle and personality of customers; 7) simple mobile phone plans and sim only plans that attracts customers towards their products; 8) promotions and offers.

Telstra mainly focus on 4P’s while taking pricing strategy decisions: product, price, place and promotion.

Innovation has changed retail forever. Telstra encourages motivation buys, backing to upsell and strategically pitch and lift efficiency from head office to the shop floor. Telstra associate’s organization crosswise over Australia with new advances and tools. Telstra has structured an associated retail vision outline to furnish its clients with the most noteworthy worth and a guide to what’s to come in future. Telstra holds and controls many retail locations known as Telstra stores which are legitimately had and worked by the Telstra firm and some are worked by licensees. On May 2016, Telstra claimed around 360 retail locations crosswise over Australia and this incorporates disclosure stores which incorporates new shows, computerized passes, accessory shops, and a lot more capacities (Anon, 2019). 109 Telstra’s stores are worked by Vita group which is an open organization with a market capitalization of around $600 million by the date of 2016 (Web.archive.org, 2019).

Telstra wholesale is more than Australia’s leading distributor of innovation and system administrations. Telstra wholesale gives a wide scope of innovation items and administrations conveyed over Telstra systems and related emotionally supportive networks to media communications and innovation suppliers, who in turn boost all degrees of the business and purchaser commercial centre. Telstra wholesale additionally gives operational help to its clients and offices for global clients, for example, worldwide information and IP transport. Telstra wholesale is the occupant and prime retailer of ADSL administrations to other Internet Service Providers. Telstra introduced the first DSLAMs in quite a while before 2000 and started wholesaling access in late 2000. Telstra wholesale has a far-reaching system of ADSL DSLAMs and permits contenders to access to each Telstra DSLAM at up to ADSL2+ speeds if accessible, and at ADSL1 velocities ought to 2+ be inaccessible (Anon, 2019).

It’s significant that stock chain partners are interlinked to one another, their exertion and their customers. Telstra is committed to structuring innovation that does in addition to presents cost-diminishing mechanization and method improvements. By coordinating accomplice frameworks in the cloud, for instance, we help organizations to gather constant information. It would then be able to be consequently figured into factors – from evaluating to conveyance dates, supply volumes, and stock accessibility – without manual information. Telstra is carrying new efficiencies to move armadas with dispatches that disclose to us where they are, activating pickup or move arrangements naturally (Telstra.com.au, 2019).

References

1. Anon, (2019). [online] Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20090327022021/http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/investor/docs/tls542_fyr2007.pdf [Accessed 16 Sep. 2019].
2. Anon, (2019). [online] Available at: https://whirlpool.net.au/news/?id=118 [Accessed 16 Sep. 2019].
3. Telstra.com.au. (2019). Increased Productivity, Minimum Risk – Transport & Logistics. [online] Available at: https://www.telstra.com.au/business-enterprise/industries/transport-and-logistics [Accessed 16 Sep. 2019].
4. Web.archive.org. (2019). Retail – Telstra Careers. [online] Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20160531224554/https://careers.telstra.com/Career-Paths/Retail [Accessed 16 Sep. 2019].

New Product Development Example

An example of a product that for example, Oceanic Co. can produce is Ocean Bracelets that are made from unrecyclable products removed from the ocean. The money used to buy the bracelet can help in removing more unrecyclable products affecting our ocean.

Old Gen Zers represented 20% of the U.S population in 2018 (Hoefel, 2018). They are more aware of the environmental, political and socially economic problems occurring in the world. Thus, they would buy products that would reflect certain factors affecting their buying process. For example, Gen Zers are motivated to buy from firms that are eco-friendly and sustainably responsible. Their lifestyle consists of spending time and resources to contribute towards a positive purpose. Gen Zers want to represent their values and their expectations of themselves and their peers i.e. they are motivated by self-esteem (Jorgensen, 2017).

Gen Zers consider the relationship with their peers and people they interact with every day more important compared to celebrities. They are more likely to buy a product recommended by their peers rather than on the television or celebrities (Jorgensen, 2017). They are less likely to be influenced by repetitive advertising or linking a brand to the idea of making ocean bracelets. Old Gen Zers document their life on social media and always try to find means to be unique and save money at the same time. Thus, ocean bracelets can help them to create a more meaningful picture of the world.

To develop ocean bracelets for the old Gen Zers, Oceanic co. must conduct a market research on ocean bracelets. First of all, Oceanic Co. needs to define the problem i.e. to make the old Gen Zers aware that the company is helping in preserving our oceans through money collected through sale of bracelets. It must also establish its measure of success i.e. making sales of ocean bracelets and making people aware of environmental issues. Oceanic Co. needs to design a research plan and specify its probability sample i.e. ocean bracelets. For example, the sample can be a shopping sample i.e. consumers must make efforts planning and making consumer decisions. The oceanic bracelets must have a desirable attribute, be unique and represent the old Gen Zers market. The product idea can be presented to a sample of the 15-20-year-old segment with a description to gain attitudes and buying intentions. Oceanic Co. can use these attributes to produce bracelets.

The company must also collect relevant information online since the segment market is socially active. They can evaluate the responses of old Gen zers to non-conscious stimuli in a way that they respond without recognizing it. Data can also be collected through individual interviews and depth interviews. Old Gen zers care about our planet and they care about talking of awareness and what people are doing for the environment. Thus, interviews are a good way of communicating with them. Syndicated panels, and universities can be a good way of collecting data. The company must also be careful about its financing of collection of data and use both reliable and low-cost ways. Oceanic Co. can obtain information from reviews of what Old Gen Zers think of their product. For example, data may suggest that consumers love eco-friendly packaging. Survey questions can be “how would you describe the bracelet you will buy?” or “where do you want to buy the ocean bracelet?”.

The company can also test its product and modify it based on how consumers react to it. This can lessen the risk of failure and help the company to understand its weaknesses and adjust. However, it might be expensive, and competitors might interfere. Oceanic Co. can also make use of social media to be aware of how much of the market share its competitors own and how positively or negatively old Gen Zers are reacting to eco-friendly bracelets.

However, data cannot be collected through census data because there are few companies that have been eco-friendly in the past and information may be unreliable due to companies experiencing trial and error. Once data is collected, it can be analyzed through presentations of charts or graphs showing how are sales of competitors and which specific factors affect sales. Whether the product fits into the segment market, the environmental and competitive changes taken into account.

After analyzing data and presenting its findings, Oceanic Co. must undertake marketing decisions i.e. target households with teens and young adults ages 15-20 and gain strength in this segment. Oceanic co. can finally develop action recommendations such as developing a program targeting 15-20 age group and providing services to this segment market during global events such as climate change walks or environmental walks, or during festivals, natural sites clean ups and so on. Oceanic Co. can also develop special events on social media such as beach clean ups and invite old Gen Zers to contribute through buying ocean bracelets. It can also undertake advertising research on 15-20-year-olds and their families.

Oceanic Co. can also implement a sales forecasting measure to show the total sales Oceanic. Co expects for a certain period, if there are no changes in consumer preferences and competitors’ prices. The company must also consider changes in the economy or regulations. For example, if regulations state that companies producing recyclable products must have a patent right in doing so, the company must make sure to be legally producing the bracelets and make sure that its competitors are not illegally stealing its customers. As Oceanic Co. uses the money obtained to help clean the environment, sales need to be forecasted. If, Oceanic Co. understands how the consumer works and how market research can be done, it can develop its oceanic bracelets and sell them to help increase its profits and help to clean the environment thus, maximizing its objectives.

Marketing Strategy in Automotive Industry: Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai

About the industry

The automobile industry has developed substantially over the previous decade. Computerized innovation, change in client notion and financial well-being have assumed a fundamental role in this advancement. OEMs and other key industry players are observing this development and investing vigorously in non-commercial strategic approaches of assembling vehicles.

Substitute income sources are quickly assuming control over the market. Transport organizations, for example, Uber have grown exponentially in the course of the most recent couple of years and established innovation organizations like Amazon and Microsoft are crunching back-end car information. Associated innovation has turned out to be much increasingly significant and essential to the progression of vehicles, acquiring a large group of new features and contributions.

Like earlier years, patterns like declining car deals, expanding elective fuel powertrains, particularly electric vehicles, and more value-added services in advanced retail will keep on prevailing in the car business. New and alternative types of vehicle proprietorship are winding up increasingly prevalent, particularly membership services and e-powered ride-hailing administrations.

Market Leader:

As per Statista, the market leader in the automotive industry is Toyota with a market share of about 9.46%

The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937, as a spinoff from his father’s company Toyota Industries to create automobiles. Three years earlier, in 1934, while still a department of Toyota Industries, it created its first product, the Type A engine, and its first passenger car in 1936, the Toyota AA. Toyota Motor Corporation produces vehicles under five brands, including the Toyota brand, Hino, Lexus, Ranz, and Daihatsu. It also holds a 16.66% stake in Subaru Corporation, a 5.9% stake in Isuzu, a 5.5% stake in Mazda, as well as joint-ventures with two in China (GAC Toyota and Sichuan FAW Toyota Motor), one in India (Toyota Kirloskar), one in the Czech Republic (TPCA), along with several nonautomotive companies.

Toyota is the world’s market leader in sales of hybrid electric vehicles, and one of the largest companies to encourage the mass-market adoption of hybrid vehicles across the globe. Toyota is also a market leader in hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Cumulative global sales of Toyota and Lexus hybrid passenger car models achieved the 10 million milestones in January 2017. Its Prius family is the world’s top-selling hybrid nameplate with over 6 million units sold worldwide as of January 2017.

Marketing Strategy of Toyota:

Toyota’s marketing strategy is a mix of penetration pricing marketing strategy and guerilla marketing strategy.

The purpose of the penetration pricing marketing strategy is to maximize sales nand to attain widespread market share within the market a company is competing in. The penetration pricing marketing strategy has the objective of capturing a large market share rapidly by setting low prices for products that a company sells. Penetration pricing is best executed when consumers are sensitive towards the price of the product.Toyota’s usage of the penetration pricing marketing strategy which states that Toyota sell their cars in the low end of the price spectrum. This strategy caters to price-sensitive consumers.

Toyota’s incorporation of the guerrilla marketing strategy which outlines that Toyota’s main reason for using the guerrilla marketing strategy is to attract the younger crowd i.e. young adults. We notice out that companies such as Toyota conduct this strategy by placing advertisements on objects that are used every day e.g. food or drink packaging. Toyota also uses alternative methods for the guerrilla marketing strategy such as placing advertisements in locations where people commute frequently.

Market Challenger:

Volkswagen

As per Statista, the market challenger in this particular industry is Volkswagen with a market share of about 7.38%.

Volkswagen, otherwise called VW, is a German automobile manufacturer established on 28th of May, 1937 by the German Labor Front under the aegis of Adolf Hitler, headquartered in Wolfsburg. In the event that deciphered, ‘Volkswagen’ is German for ‘individuals’ vehicle.’ notwithstanding Hitler’s aspiring effort to manufacture a system of autobahns and restricted access roadways crosswise over Germany, Fuhrer’s pet undertaking was the improvement and large-scale manufacturing of a quick yet reasonable vehicle that could be sold for less than 1,000 Reich marks. In request to guarantee that he got what he has imagined, he called Austrian car engineer Ferdinand Porsche. At first, the organization had confronted a lot of obstacles (World War II and the vehicles memorable Nazi association) which came about in ended creation. In 1959, a promoting organization by the name of Doyle Dane Bernbach propelled a milestone crusade, naming KdF-Wagen as ‘Creepy crawly’ and displayed its small size as an unmistakable preferred position to customers. Today, Volkswagen is a name to figure with eating income of 230,682 million Euros. The Wolfsburg-based organization has 12 marks under its which incorporates Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini among numerous others and unquestionably Volkswagen Business Vehicles. It has likewise ventured into different business fields which incorporate huge bore diesel motors, turnkey power plants, and turbochargers among numerous others.

Marketing Strategy:

Volkswagen has always been forceful with its ad campaigns. As a part of its marketing strategy, Volkswagen has used 360 branding to promote not only the parent company, but all its cars individually. With higher grade of tensile strength used in its steel, greater depth and shine of paint, higher craftsmanship of its cabins and better equipment levels has helped Volkswagen drive ‘higher quality’ as a trait of all of its car and most of its promotions in developing countries advertised the same. Abuse friendly build and solid construction along with longevity was advertised in India and helped it gain important sale numbers. Aggressive promotional activities using social media networks and online platforms including Twitter, Facebook, You Tube and Instagram help Volkswagen remain at the top of the promotional game as competitors are increasingly heading into online space. Product differentiation is one marketing tactic used in the creatives for promotional activities of Volkswagen and safety and German build quality are two traits used most often in campaigns of its vehicles.

Market Followers:

1. With economic backlashes being already felt by the company, FORD has failed to innovate and differentiate itself in their product categories as well, ending up as a follower to the market leader.

Ford is the second-largest U.S.-based automaker and the fifth-largest in the world based on 2015 vehicle production. The company was established in 1903 by Henry Ford. At the end of 2010, Ford was the fifth largest automaker in Europe.Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial workforce using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines; by 1914, these methods were known around the world as Fordism. Ford owned the Swedish automaker Volvo from 1999 to 2010. In 2011, Ford discontinued the Mercury brand, under which it had marketed entry-level luxury cars in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Middle East since 1938.

With economic backlashes being already felt by the company, the company has failed to innovate and differentiate itself in their product categories as well, ending up as a follower to the market leader.

The company went public in 1956 but the Ford family, through special Class B shares, still retain 40 percent voting rights.During the financial crisis at the beginning of the 21st century, it was close to bankruptcy, but it has since returned to profitability.Ford was the eleventh-ranked overall American-based company in the 2018 Fortune 500 list, based on global revenues in 2017 of $156.7 billion.

Marketing Strategy:

Ford tries to create an emotional bond with the customer. The company does not have a lot of innovation and differentiation to offer and hence it uses this tactic. However, the latest marketing strategy if far bolder. They say that with their new strategy they are trying to target those who do not like or consider Ford while making purchase decisions.

2. Hyundai has allowed more dominant firms to lead the way in the automotive industry. It has kept a close watch on market leaders like Volkswagen, Toyota and the likes to be able to guage their strategy and play safe in the market.

The Hyundai Motor Company, commonly known as Hyundai Motors, is a South Korean multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Seoul. The company was founded in 1967 and, along with its 32.8% owned subsidiary, Kia Motors, and its 100% owned luxury subsidiary Genesis Motor, altogether comprise the Hyundai Motor Group. It is the third-largest vehicle manufacturer in the world.

Hyundai operates the world’s largest integrated automobile manufacturing facility in Ulsan, South Korea which has an annual production capacity of 1.6 million units. The company employs about 75,000 people worldwide. Hyundai vehicles are sold in 193 countries through some 5,000 dealerships and showrooms.

Marketing Strategy:

Hyundai’s marketing strategy is differentiated marketing. The primary consumer target is middle to upper-income professionals, who need value for their money and a comfortable ride in city conditions. The primary business target is mid-sized to large-sized corporates that want to help their managers and employees by providing them a car with ease of transport.

Market Niche:

All the market trends today, point towards sustainability. This is true for any given sector. In the automotive industry, there is no bigger and better name than Tesla to be considered a market niche. With a mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy, Tesla was founded in 2003 by a group of engineers who wanted to prove to the world that they were not compromising on the quality of a car when they are deciding to buy electric vehicles. They wanted the world to show that electric vehicles can be a viable and better option than gasoline cars and definitely more fun to drive. Tesla has been a game-changer in an industry that has always been criticised for causing most harm to the environment and hence has always been shackled by its regulations of it.

Marketing Strategy:

The automotive industry is starting to experience the kind of disruption that is altering the status quo. BMW, Ford, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Toyota, and other big names are facing challenges from a new generation of electric and autonomous vehicles. The most fascinating is the incredible strength of Tesla from a social media marketing perspective. It’s a brand founded just 15 years ago, makes less money compared to auto giants, yet on social media, it’s in the top 3 – outperforming Volkswagen, Ford and Toyota.

References:

1. https://www.statista.com/statistics/316786/global-market-share-of-the-leading-automakers/
2. file:///C:/Users/senso/Desktop/SIMC/Semester%203/Marketing%20Strategy/GLOBALAUTOINDUSTR Y2018ATACROSSROAD.PDF.PDF
3. https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/dotcom/client_service/Automotive%20and%20Asse mbly/PDFs/McK_The_road_to_2020_and_beyond.ashx
4. https://www.statista.com/topics/1487/automotive-industry/
5. https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2017/01/global-automotive-executive-survey- 2017.pdf
6. https://www.statista.com/statistics/275520/ranking-of-car-manufacturers-based-on-global-sales/
7. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/volkswagen-is-founded
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault%E2%80%93Nissan%E2%80%93Mitsubishi_Alliance
9. https://focus2move.com/ford-global-performance/
10. https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-strategy-volkswagen/
11. https://www.talkwalker.com/blog/tesla-marketing-strategy-social-ceo

Why I Want to Get an MBA in Marketing

Early-on, as a teenager, I would read through the profiles of leading marketing executives and successful entrepreneurs. It became increasingly clear that a strong majority of them started early in their marketing careers. I therefore decided to “get my feet wet” after pursing my B.B.A from the CV Raman University. After extensive efforts and networking, I found my first job with chattarpur farms, a nationally reputed Event Management company. The exciting role involved direct reporting to Managing Director and Heading the marketing sales department.

At Chattarpur Farms, I realized that it does take a trained eye to identify marketing opportunities. The company turned out to a world in itself! By now, I have developed a keen sense of detail for marketing and sales strategies. As the Head of the department, I have been supervising more than 300 highly-skilled event managers. The role has brought in immense management skills through the supervision of personnel far more senior to me, age and experience- wise. On a daily basis, I make complex marketing strategy calculations and decisions – I also took on the challenge of instituting the usage of the technology based marketing analytics. The results have been more than satisfying – it boosted our company bookings by 120% in period of 6 months. The bookings cascade across the entire set of operations with an amazing impact on the revenues of the company.

My near-term plan is to work in the sales and marketing function of a leading, multinational companies. This enable me to identify and assess new market opportunities, effectively promote and launch new products and grow to senior leadership positions in the business. It will help me towards building competencies in sales and marketing and achieving my long-term goal of being a successful marketing entrepreneur. Work experience in a multi-national corporation would also bring in environments to team up with individuals from a range of backgrounds and to learn from their perspectives and experiences. I believe that academic credentials accompanied with social and leadership qualities, gives a complete edge to one’s persona. I had the privilege to work with Rotary International and impart training and guidance to underprivileged students in an event – RYLA, India.

A global Master’s program thus becomes essential towards achieving critical at this juncture of my career. While my Bachelor’s degree did equip me well for the objectives at that stage, a International Business program from your university will help me learn a range of new techniques for the product positioning, new product development, media planning and marketing communications. I also hope to equip myself with advanced analytical tools and techniques that will foster marketing efficiency. Graduate education in management at Hult Business School will thus help me train my instincts through the case study method of teaching and develop a structured approach towards refining ideas and developing fail-proof implementation plans.

The culture of teamwork during the Master’s program will definitely help me strengthen my team skills in a cross-national environment. A “global” Masters from Hult Business School will provide significant opportunities for professional and personal development – to learn from “The Best of The Best” and set new benchmark for growth.