Category: Marketing Strategy

Marketing in Tourism and Hospitality: Analysis of Ryanair’s Marketing Strategy

Executive Summary

This paper is to analyze the factors that lead Ryanair Holdings to success and understand and evaluating the marketing strategy that Ryanair implement in order to be one most successful and well-known operating company in the aviation industry. This study looks at external and internal key influences of the environment of the Ryanair Company. Also assess the impact of business macro and micro environmental factors, with the use of market analysis and relevant theories, and examines and evaluate how the marketing management functions actually are being applied in Ryanair Company.

Introduction

Ryanair Holdings plc (Ryanair or ‘the company’) operates low fare scheduled passenger airline serving short haul, point to point routes between the UK, Ireland, and Continental Europe, as well as Morocco. The company offers various ancillary services, scheduled services, and has hotel, travel insurance and internet services and the in-flight sale of beverages, food, and merchandise. Ryanair operational bases include Alicante, Athens, Budapest, Frankfurt main, Hamburg, Ibiza, Lisbon, Liverpool, Santiago, Stockholm and Valencia. The company markets accommodation services, holidays, car hire and travel insurance services. It also sells rail and bus tickets. The company is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Ryanair is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable entrepreneurial stories of the past 10 years in Europe. Furthermore that Ryanair has developed a very outspoken communication style, using advertising and media to a great deal to publicize its ‘revolution’ in air travel.

Mission and Vision of the Company

Ryanair’s mission is “to offer low fares that generate increased passenger traffic while maintaining a continuous focus on cost containment and efficiency operation.” “Ryanair’s objective is to firmly establish itself as Europe’s leading low-fare scheduled passenger airline through continued improvements and expanded offerings of its low-fare service.” Ryanair has been extremely successful gaining customers and growing rapidly since its inception in 1985. The airline industry is competitive, but because of Ryanair’s ability to keep fare prices extremely low, it has survived the turbulent times that many airlines have not.

Ryanair’s outlined strategy focuses on eight different strategies, as found on their website:

• Maintain low fares
• Deliver best customer service performance
• Provide frequent point-to-point service on short haul routes
• Achieve lowest operating costs in the industry
• Take advantage of the Internet
• Commit to safety and quality maintenance
• Enhance operating results through ancillary services
• Focus on growth in targeted specific markets

These strategies focus on the core competency of Ryanair to ensure that it offers exceptional value in the saturated airline market. By continuously providing the best value, growth is expected to continue for years to come.

History

“With a staff of just 25 people, the Ryan family started Ryanair in 1985 in Dublin, Ireland, with the sole purpose of creating an airline with the lowest fares in all of Europe. Ryanair has climbed to the top since its establishment in 1985. It went from flying a short hop from Waterford to London into one of Europe’s largest carriers. They acquired their first jet in 1987, two years after starting Ryanair. After the airline was taken public in 1997, the money raised was used to expand the airline into a pan-European carrier. The airline began to grow rapidly, revenues have risen from 231 million Euros in 1998, to some 1843 million Euros in 2003 and net profits have increased from 48 million Euros to 239 million Euros over the same time period. Ryanair during the 90’s decided to model themselves after Southwest Airlines, in the United States. Southwest is an airline that is known for their low-fares and Ryanair’s motto was low fares, no frills. Ryanair continues to grow.” (Ryanair, 2019)

External-Internal environment analysis

External Environment analysis is conducted to analyze the nature of the environment the firm is operating and identifies the forces that affect the company either positively or negatively and the possible opportunities, or threats Ryanair faces. The analysis will happen in two phases. First on a macro-environment level to analyze the general business environment factors and then on a micro-environment level to analyze the competitive situation in the industry that Ryanair operates.

Macro environment-PESTEL Analysis

PESTEL is an acronym for the six key strategic areas of change: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Ecological and Legal and a technique for understanding the various external influences on a business. The Pestel analysis report is a framework used to understand the impact of external factors on the macro environment that influences the business of Ryanair Company.

· Political

• Uncertainty that Brexit caused: UK’s departure from European Union in March 2019 brings in significant uncertainty with regards to the aviation business environment. If UK remains in open skies agreement with EU, thinks shall be status quo for the Ryanair and the UK aviation industry. However there is a high possibility that UK will not remain in open skies and until the final terms are decided uncertainty shall prevail. Thus Ryanair will have to focus on growth away from UK until Brexit is completed.
• Terrorism: Recently there has been an increase of terrorist attacks in Europe with targeted countries like UK, France Germany or Belgium. Governments have stepped up efforts to combat this situation. These attacks gave already affected tourism. However if these attacks continue the tourism industry will get affected and consequently the demand for air travel will go down impacting Ryanair. Also an improved security system is costly and requires regular monitoring and maintenance.

· Economical

• Oil prices: oil prices around 60$ a barrel
• Weaker GBP after Brexit The economic state of a county has a great impact on the airline industry.UK economic problems might influence Europe’s economic performance witch creates uncertainty to Ryanair and put pressure on fare prices.

· Social

• Ryanair should be aware of demographic changes because the large numbers of customers from Europe is difficult to segment
• Consumer willing to spend more on ancillaries if ticket cost is less

·Technological

• Changes on technology affect the airlines industry to a very high level. The quick adaptation to the technological change can overcome competition and increase market share. Enhancements in digital platforms, to improve customer experience. Also innovations, such as fuel efficiency, less polluting and noisy production.

· Legal

• Because of Brexit Ryanair has to comply with both UK and EU regulations
• Ryanair is being investigated by European Commission for receiving an illegal state aid to promote Montpellier as a tourist destination.

· Environmental

• EU regulation of emissions for airlines may increase costs for Ryanair. EU has passed legislation which mandates airlines to operate under the EU emissions trading scheme. If Ryanair exceeds the granted CO2 allowances the deficit needs to be procured from the market or auctions held by government agencies. If the EU changes the co2 allowances grant, it will need to further improve it environmental efficiency to reduce emissions.
• Company has to focus on environmental initiatives

SWOT Analysis

The SWOT Analysis is conducted to review the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of Ryanair

· Strengths

• Ryanair is the first low-cost, no frills airline in the European market covering more than 200 destinations and 1800 routes. Ryanair’s name has become a synonym to low airfares.
• The largest airline in Europe, transporting more passengers than any other regional airline. As a result Ryanair has a strong presence in the European market, gaining an advantage against the competition (Reuters, 2017)
• Well integrated policy that can be a key to competitive advantage(Low cost strategy)
• Stable financial performance( Ryanair,2018)
• Ryanair website offers everything from cheap flights, car rentals or accommodation to travel insurance.
• Industry Position enhances brand image: Ryanair industry position enables to improve its customer loyalty and customer retention metrics as well as enhance the brand image at a global scale. (Ryanair,2018)

· Weaknesses

• Customers are charged for their baggage when competitors are providing it for free or less cost comparatively.
• There is a public perception for Ryanair to be an airline that is obsessed on the bottom line at any cost
• Poor customer service
• Legal proceedings: Ryanair is involved to several lawsuits as aforementioned on the PESTEL analysis. For instance European commission investigates Ryanair agreements with several airports. As a consequence, such legal proceedings would adversely impact the brand’s image and result in huge financial penalties.
• Brexit: Ryanair has a strong market presence and a base in the UK and that can result to several challenges for the company such as UK regulations or fare prices pressure.

· Opportunities

• Growth of global tourism industry: The international tourist arrivals grew by 7% to reach a total of 1,326 million in 2017 and the total international tourism receipts grew 5% to a total of US$1,340 billion in 2017. Europe accounted for 51% of the overall International Tourist arrivals followed by Asia and the Pacific (24%), Americas (16%), Africa (5%) and Middle East (4%) (UNWTO, 2018). This amount of growth enables the company to exploit it and significantly increase its margins and revenues.
• AGB program (Always Getting Better): AGB program, a Ryanair’s program that launched in 2014, provides a wide range of customer service and digital enhancements such as a new website and smartphone app, new uniforms and cabin interiors, allocated seating, leisure and family products. Through AGB Ryanair can focus on customer experience.
• Network and fleet expansion will help the company to expand its market reach and customer service, and as a result bring an increase to its customer base and financial performance.

· Threats

• External factors : external factors such as rising oil price, currency movements, terrorism or recession
• Brexit might reduce prices in the UK market
• The high competition of the airline industry
• Increase in Irish corporation tax rates(IDA Ireland,2018)

Microenvironment-Porter’s Five Forces Analysis

Porter’s Five Forces is an analytical tool assists in analyzing the competitive environment for Ryanair and examines 4 parts

· Bargaining power of suppliers

There are only two suppliers of aircrafts in the aviation industry, Boeing and Airbus. The main supplier of Ryanair is Boeing. The other suppliers are the jet fuel. The price of fuel though are governed by world trade, so the price is fixed. Therefore, the bargaining power of Ryanair suppliers is high.

· Bargaining power of customers

Customers nowadays have a lot of choices for low price airlines in the market. Switching to another airline is quite simple, as there is no loyalty in low fare airlines because the customer will simply chose the lowest price. Therefore, the bargaining power of Ryanair customers is high.

· Threat of substitute products and services

Ryanair mostly operates short-haul routes. There are several substitutes for traveling short distances such as train, bus, car or sea transport. However, factors such as time, and price affect customer decisions. At the moment for short-haul routes, low fare airlines are the most convenient option. Furthermore, Ryanair provides price and time comparisons in their website with the trains that grant the same routes. (Ryanair, 2019) Therefore, the threat of substitute products and services are low for Ryanair.

· Threat of new entrants

The entry barriers of the aviation industry are extremely high. It requires huge capital, deals with airports, it’s really difficult to get flight routes. In general the aviation industry can be characterized saturated as there is already a huge number of airlines operating and it’s a really difficult and expensive industry to enter. Therefore the threat of new entrants is low.

· Competitive Rivalry

There is a huge number of competitors within the aviation industry. It’s a very competitive industry, with each airline using a strategy to profit from the industry. As for the no frill policy that Ryanair follows, there is a number of low cost airlines that form the head competition for Ryanair, such as Easy Jet, Wizz Air, and British Airways. The number of choices of the buyer give them high bargaining power and increase the competition amongst airlines. All of the above, form a high competitive rivalry for Ryanair.

Marketing Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (STP)

· Segmentation

Market segmentation is the process of dividing a market into segments, based on certain characteristics. The segments created symbolize the consumers who will be attracted by similar marketing strategies because of similar interests or needs. “The division of the marketplace into distinct subgroups or segments, each characterized by particular tastes and requiring a specific marketing mix.” (CIM, 2018) The major segmentations are geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioristic.

· Geographic

Ryanair operates throughout the European region across 37countries, connecting to 226 destinations.

· Demographics (Age)

Age demographic of Ryanair passengers: Age demographic of Ryanair passengers:

• 9 % are between 18 to 24 years
• 31 % are between 25 to 34 years
• 23 % are between 35 to 44 years
• 20 % between 45 to 54 years
• 16 % are 55+ years (Ryanair customer service survey, 2016)

According to the table 83% of Ryanair’s passengers are between 18- 54 years old. This is an age group that usually intend to travel more often.

· Psychographic

Psychographic segmentation is a method used to group prospective, current or previous customers by their shared personality traits, beliefs, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles and other factors (‘Psychographic Market Segmentation | Directive Group’, 2019)

1. Schedule optimizers: have to reach destination by a certain time and select their flights accordingly.
2. Corporate troopers: choose an airline and a class that has been selected for them by their company.
3. Mile accumulators: Consider flights as a way of building up their air miles entitlement.
4. Reluctant travelers: do not enjoy travelling and seek services that will make their experience bearable, such as special privileges and frequent flyer programs.
5. Tour takers: want everything to be arranged in advance.
6. Travel seekers: love travelling and are eager to have new experiences.
7. Frugal flyers: seek out the cheapest airlines, but still expect to enjoy their flight experience.

· Targeting

Ryan Air as a low cost carrier in the aviation industry, they provide some of the most competitive fares for consumers. According to the age group table, 83% of the passengers are between ages 18 to 54, with the largest percentage being the 25-34 age group, which demonstrates the target market of Ryanair is young and price sensitive. Examples of such, are young travelers who wish to save money, leisure travelers who are usually loyal, people visiting friends or relatives who usually look for the cheapest flight without need for amenities or low budget business travelers. Ryanair does not target travel agents because agents have a fixed commission and that would increase Ryanair’s costs and as a result reduce in their profits.

· Positioning

Ryanair as a low fare airline implements the ‘’less for much less’’ value proposition, as brilliantly described by Kotler and Armstrong in the 5 winning value propositions theory. This means that Ryanair meets their customer’s lower performance requirements for the less cost. Ryanair implements this strategic positioning because their operating costs are too low, being able to sell cheap tickets. Also, not many people actually need extra amenities during a flight or the best service available, that’s why their targeted audience is in the middle class.

· Marketing Mix

A marketing mix is a combination of seven variables (product, place, price, and promotion, physical evidence, people and process), which can be arranged in different ways to develop marketing strategies to meet organizational objectives. Let’s take a closer look to Ryanair’s marketing mix.

· Product or Service.

Ryanair is a Low cost, no-frills air travel company to European destinations Food and drink are income streams, so there are no free amenities on the plane. There are other ancillary revenue. Other examples include phone cards and bus tickets. About 16% of profit is made this way. This way the costs are decreased

Ryanair is a European low cost airline. Low cost or no frills marketing strategies are of great interest to marketers since the marketing mix employed tends to run in opposition to what makes a great brand – and Ryanair is a great brand and a very successful business. In a nutshell Ryanair sells the cheapest tickets that you can buy

· Price

• Ryanair has low fares.
• 70% of seats are sold at the lowest two fares.30% of seats are charged at higher fares. The last 6% are sold at the highest fare. ( Ryanair, 2018)

· Place

• Ryanair does not use travel agents so it does not have to pay the very high agency commissions. It uses direct marketing techniques like the disintermediation strategy to gain customers and to extend products and services to them. This reduces costs.
• Ryan Air implements its reservation system called Skylights which allowed the customers to book their flights directly through their website saving them 15% on agency fees.
• Many of Ryanair’s destination airports are secondary. Secondary airports are smaller regional airports. Costs are lower and aircraft can be turned around faster.

· Promotion

• They spend as little as possible on advertising.
• They do not employ an advertising agency. Instead all of the advertising is done by Ryanair. For example they advertise themselves on their planes. They use simple adverts highlighting the low prices of the airlines.
• Ryanair uses controversy to promote its business. Ryanair and especially their CEO try to give a ‘’bad boy’’ image to their company because bad publicity spreads faster and wider than good publicity. Extreme statements from executives are a common phenomenon. For example, CEO Michael O’Leary once stated that larger passengers should be charged more [image: ]

· People

• Ryanair prefer hiring pilots when they are young as pilot cadets.
• Cabin crew pay for their uniforms to be cleaned. They invest in their own training. They are mainly responsible for passenger safety as well as ancillary revenues onboard.

· Physical Evidence

They pay as little as possible for the airplanes. Ryanair tries to obtain planes in the right moment meaning that after certain facts like for instance the cancelation of an order then Ryanair make an offer to BOEING for example that is their primary producer and obtain aircraft with discount.

· Process

• There is no check in.
• You cannot select a preferred seat. It is first come, first served.
• There are no air bridges. You walk or are bused to the aircraft.
• Baggage is deposited directly onto the terminal which reduces waiting time but increases danger of loses in my opinion.

Ryanair’s Marketing Strategy

Ryanair highlights its widely available low fares, route choice and service which has been enhanced by Ryanair’s AGB customer experience program. Ryanair primarily advertises its services in national and regional media. Also with the use of social media, press conferences and publicity stunts and topical advertising. Other marketing activities include the distribution of advertising and promotional material and cooperative advertising campaigns with other travel-related entities, including local tourist boards. Ryanair also regularly contacts people registered in its database to inform them about promotions and special offers.

Ryanair’s Social media infographics

Mentions and Engagement over Time

Ryanair performances per dimension

Conclusion

After thorough research and analysis of Ryanair’s profile, it’s clear the interesting marketing mix of company. In my opinion, no other company advertise the way Ryanair does and get so much publicity. However, it is a smart way to market yourself and get publicity even if people do not always agree. The cut costs policy seems to be a success story.

References

1. A brief history of Ryanair. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/brief-history-ryanair/any-other-business/article/1449458
2. Ahmed. (2019). Strategic Analysis of Ryan Air. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/rahiqahmed52/strategic-analysis-of-ryan-air
3. (2019). Retrieved from https://investor.ryanair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Ryanair-FY-2018-Annual-Report.pdf
4. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.ryanair.com/doc/advertise/ExteriorBranding.pdf
5. Case Study on Ryanair. Ryanair’s low fares business model, operations and strategy. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.casestudyinc.com/Ryanair-low-fares-airline-case-study
6. Corporate Tax Rate in Ireland | IDA Ireland. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.idaireland.com/invest-in-ireland/ireland-corporate-tax
7. EU Commission investigating if Ryanair received illegal state aid. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/eu-commission-investigating-if-ryanair-received-illegal-state-aid-1.3554061
8. lorisangella. (2019). Retrieved from https://easyjetryanairbrandaudit.wordpress.com/author/lorisangella/
9. Marketing glossary | CIM Marketing Expert. (2019). Retrieved from https://marketingexpert.cim.co.uk/glossary/
10. Official Ryanair website | Book direct for the lowest fares | Ryanair.com. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/about-ryanair/always-getting-better
11. Porter’s 5 Forces. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/porter.asp
12. Ryanair (@Ryanair) on Twitter. (2019). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/Ryanair?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
13. Social media analytics for Ryanair. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.talkwalker.com/industry-research/airlines/ryanair-social-media-analytics#

Marketing Strategies of Walt Disney: Analytical Essay

Executive Summary:

The purpose of this project is to understand Entrepreneur and their marketing strategies. The entrepreneur that I selected is Walt Disney. Walter Elias Disney was an American entrepreneur, animator, voice actor, and film producer. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. The project consists of Walt Disney the marketing strategies and growth strategies. The project helped us gain in-depth knowledge of how marketing concepts can be used to analyze and judge the growth as well as the working prospects of a company and its strategies.

His unconventional approach has helped the company generate profit constantly. Throughout the course of this project, a thorough analysis of the company was done. The tools used for the analysis were

• Disney’s Creative Strategy: The Dreamer, The Realist and The Critic
• Disney’s Generic Competitive Strategy & Intensive Growth Strategies
• The Walt Disney Company’s Generic Strategy for Competitive Advantage (Porter’s Model)
• The Walt Disney Company’s Intensive Strategies for Growth

About Walt Disney:

Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) became an American enterprise entrepreneur, artist, voice entertainer and filmmaker. A pioneer of the American motion enterprise, he supplied a few improvements in the introduction of kids indicates. As a moviemaker, Disney holds the record for most Academy Awards earned by way of a person, having won 22 Oscars from fifty-nine assignments. He becomes given two Golden Globe unique fulfillment Awards and an Emmy Award, among different distinctions. Some of his films are integrated into the countrywide film Registry by way of the Library of Congress.

Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney built up an early enthusiasm for illustration. He took craftsmanship lessons as a kid and determined a brand new line of work as a business artist at 18 years antique. He moved to California in the mid-Twenties and installed the Disney Brothers Studio with his sibling Roy. With Ub Iwerks, Walt built up the person Mickey Mouse in 1928, his first fantastically widely recognized success; he likewise gave a voice to his creation within the early years. as the studio evolved, Disney grew to become out to be step by step daring, imparting synchronized sound, complete-shading three-strip Technicolor, complete length children’s suggests and specialized upgrades in cameras. The results, located in highlights, as an instance, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio, Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942), superior the development of the vivified movie. New energized and actual lifestyles films trailed international warfare II, consisting of the basically fruitful Cinderella (1950) and Mary Poppins (1964), the final of which were given five Academy Awards.

In the course of the Fifties, Disney increased into the entertainment park enterprise, and in 1955 he opened Disneyland. To subsidize the assignment he was more desirable into television programs, for an instance, Walt Disney’s Disneyland and The Mickey Mouse Club; he was additionally engaged with arranging the 1959 Moscow honest, the 1960 iciness Olympics, and the 1964 NY global fair. In 1965, he began the development of another amusement park, Disney global, the middle of which turned into to be any other kind of city, the ‘Exploratory Prototype network of the next day (EPCOT). Disney become a big smoker for a super period and gave up the ghost of lung malignant increase in December 1966 preceding both the undertaking center or the EPCOT challenge had been finished.

Disney was a shy, self-deprecating and insecure man in person but followed a heat and outgoing public persona. He had excessive requirements and high expectations of those with whom he labored. Although there were accusations that he became racist or anti-Semitic, they were contradicted by means of many who knew him. His recognition changed in the years after his loss of life, from a purveyor of homely patriotic values to a consultant of Yankee imperialism. He although stays a vital discern in the history of animation and in the cultural records of the USA, in which he’s considered a countrywide cultural icon. His movie paintings remain proven and adapted; his namesake studio and enterprise continue to excessive standards in its manufacturing of famous enjoyment, and the Disney entertainment parks have grown in size and variety to draw traffic in numerous countries.

Strategies of Walt Disney:

Disney’s Creative Strategy: The Dreamer, The Realist, and The Critic:

Recently, we introduced a number of methods and tools to fuel innovation and creativity inside organizations through innovative questioning and brainstorming, as an example, Lego Serious Play, De Bono Six questioning Hats, and Reversed Brainstorming. Disney’s innovative strategy is any other apparatus for resourceful reasoning and turned into roused through Walt Disney.

He became successful in finding inventive thoughts and changing over them into the real world. In mild of a close-by accomplice, he used to the country ‘There were absolutely three different Walts: the visionary, the pragmatist, and the spoiler. You never knew which one became going to the gathering.’

Walt Disney’s method became featured and confirmed later in 1994 by using NLP grasp Robert Dilts. He characterized the strategy as Disney’s technique for transforming his myth into the actual global. On this approach, the gathering of people makes use of a specific reasoning circulation that fabricates parallel reasoning that may be applied to create, examine, investigate the mind, and address problems.

Even though the technique becomes now not fully advanced by Walt Disney, it bridges the gap between creativity and truth. The creative method unlocks the thoughts’ capabilities to dream and shape unexpected ideas and answers for current problems. But, those answers may not be relevant in reality and may not be able to be implemented as a strategic plan. Therefore, one if the advantages of Disney’s creative strategy method are balancing both dream and reality as a way to build a feasible layout.

Preparing for Disney’s Creative Strategy:

In order to prepare the team for Disney’s creative strategy; four parts of the room are set for each questioning method. The primary part is for dreaming and imagination, the second component is for realists and/or making plans, the third component is for critics and the fourth component is for purchasing the thoughts outside the thinking flow.

The idea of putting a wondering location for every level within the method is to put together the team thoughts to exchange thinking modes from one to some other. The region can be a room, an open space workplace or an outdoor garden.

The team gathers with a goal to acquire, this target may be a dream to show into fact, a layout to visualize, a hassle to clear up or a technique to improve. But, the history of Disney’s method qualifies it to fit with innovative brainstorming to assist flip dreams into relevant projects.

The strategy is based on three main stages; the dreamer, the realist, and the critic. Each stage represents a style of thinking and it should be applied in the same sequence as below:

The dreamer:

Usually, any innovative idea starts off evolving with a dream complete of passion and exuberance. In normal meetings, this dreaming fashion is halted with the aid of truth and does no longer have the space to head similarly on. Mentioned in the information. In this Disney innovative method, the primary stage allows the group to proportion their dream without no restrictions or grievances. This helps to construct a pool of creative ideas. Some of these thoughts are feasible and others aren’t. Figuring out viable innovative concepts comes later because of the second and third thinking styles.

The realist:

Now, finally, follows the realist style. The institution switches the spot and mode to assume in a gradually sensible arranging fashion. In view of the number one stage, the contributors imagine that the delusion is viable and begin setting intends to accomplish it. The planned way to convert the nonexistent mind into a realistic pastime plan. To this degree, every one of the issues have to be valuable and goal reworking the thought right into a real plan.

The Critic:

After having a plan to turn the concept into reality, the critic-questioning tends to find out the limitations of making use of the idea and how to conquer it. In this consultation, the team presents a positive critique for the idea on the way to locate the susceptible points and clear up it the very last solution.

Disney’s Generic Competitive Strategy & Intensive Growth Strategies

This business analysis reflects strategic management efforts. The company’s generic strategy focuses on developing competitive advantages based on innovation in product development. Disney’s intensive strategies are implemented with strategic objectives for maximizing the growth benefits of such innovation. For example, the company grows by introducing technologically enhanced products, such as movies for customers in the international market. In the context of Michael Porter’s model, The Walt Disney Company’s generic competitive strategy and intensive growth strategies are aligned for product-focused development.

The Walt Disney Company’s Generic Strategy for Competitive Advantage (Porter’s Model)

Disney makes use of product differentiation as its conventional method for aggressive benefit. Michael Porter’s version states that this method includes precise merchandise furnished to many market segments. As instance, the industrial organization employer offers its entertainment merchandise to almost anyone in worldwide, mainly with a middle emphasis on family-oriented programming. In this frequent aggressive approach, first-rate and forte via innovation differentiate the commercial enterprise company’s products from the opposition. The subsidiary Walt Disney Imagineering research & improvement, Inc. has devoted organizations to ensure the uniqueness of amusement reviews inside the enterprise’s subject count number of parks and hotels. The business enterprise’s widespread growth strategies and associated strategic objectives are carried out along this typical method, with emphasis on differentiated aggressive benefits to useful resources and managing employer growth.

The Walt Disney organization employer’s popular aggressive method pushes for product-centered strategic desires. Such business employer recognition is important for supporting product improvement efforts to distinguish the organization from the competition. For instance, the strategic aim of growing new augmented truth merchandise provides to the uniqueness of Disney revel in. based totally on this significant approach, a few different applicable strategic purpose is to enhance competitive advantages thru advertising techniques that red meat up the individuality of the business company’s emblem. Those advertising and marketing techniques are a part of Disney’s marketing and marketing advertising and marketing blend or 4Ps. moreover, associated managerial efforts make contributions to the success of Disney’s organization

assignment and imaginative and prescient statements within the worldwide marketplace for entertainment, mass media, and subject-depend park merchandise. Brand region of know-how permits in carrying out business enterprise manipulation. Considering the differentiation normal competitive approach in Porter’s version, substantial techniques must include differentiation to increase the commercial enterprise.

The Walt Disney Company’s Intensive Strategies for Growth

Product Development (Primary):

Product Development is The Walt Disney business enterprise’s number one in-depth increase approach. This strategy entails imparting new products in the enterprise’s modern or existing markets. As an example, the agency releases new films with corresponding products to generate greater profits from its target customers internationally. This employer evaluation additionally sheds mild on the importance of Disney’s organizational shape, which gives the organizational layout to effectively manipulate product development. This in-depth method hyperlinks to the differentiation regular aggressive strategy in emphasizing specialty in product improvement. An associated strategic objective is to obtain business increase through correctly persuading customers to buy Disney’s merchandise on the idea of their particular attributes, together with in leisure experience.

Market Penetration (Secondary):

The Walt Disney Corporation achieves a boom partly thru market penetration. As a secondary intensive approach, marketplace penetration lets in increase thru developing income of existing products in the enterprise’s contemporary markets. For instance, one of the company’s strategic desires is to use aggressive advertising and marketing to increase its revenues from merchandise released inside the international enjoyment corporation. The enterprise strengths tested in the SWOT assessment of Disney contribute to fulfillment in implementing this in-depth increase method. A strong brand based on the differentiation common approach creates a competitive advantage to draw clients to the enterprise’s products and to govern customers’ expectations.

Market Development:

Market development is an extensive increase strategy that is less frequently used inside the Walt Disney employer’s enterprise. In developing the business, this extensive method requires the business enterprise to introduce its existing merchandise to new markets or marketplace segments. As an example, the boom is performed through setting up operations in new markets, which includes a brand new Disneyland enjoyment park to capture a regional marketplace. Regardless of aggressive demanding situations, access into new markets can grow the enterprise’s strengths to manage the industry’s competitive forces shown in Porter’s five Forces analysis of Disney. A key strategic objective in market development is to apply the differentiation generic aggressive strategy to correctly introduce the enterprise’s merchandise into new markets.

Diversification:

The Walt Disney enterprise makes use of diversification as an assisting extensive approach for business increase. Developing or obtaining new organizations is the standard method on this intensive increase approach. For example, thru the status quo of the Disney Cruise Line, the corporation grew by means of coming into the cruise line marketplace of the tourism and hospitality industries. The differentiation prevalent strategy develops the competitive gain of recent enterprise operations that use the business enterprise’s logo. Beneath diversification, a strategic objective is to control aggressive challenges via growing new companies that grow the employer’s presence and logo recognition in the worldwide market.

How it inspires students to become entrepreneurs?

The way Walt Disney encourages me to grow to be an entrepreneur is within the fashion industry. Being a student who has a passion for fashion it inspires me to apply and broaden Walt Disney. Being in the style enterprise creativity in fashion and design is precipitated by means of the need to grow quality, the need to increase the price for cash, achievement of brand identification and individuality. As an end result, most style designers have portrayed their pastimes in wondering about new layout ideas. Now that we’ve got hooked up on how important creativity is to business success, ways to get your employees engaged in extra innovative questioning and thoughts. With a place of attention in each marketing and style vending. Importance of Creativity in commercial enterprise Innovative commercial enterprise thoughts set organizations other from one another.

Creativity is critical for companies nowadays, specifically whilst the marketplace is depending on a progressive, breaking era. The collaboration of creative minds has the potential to push creative enterprise ideas into truth. Creative thinking increases productiveness. Other than a strong concept, one of the maximum important components of a business is increased productiveness. It is had to ensure that demands are met and that clients are glad. Specific advantages of creativity inside the place of work include: … leads to boredom, however too much challenge ends in emotions of being beaten. Stable goals are also crucial due to the fact it’s miles hard to paint creatively toward a transferring goal. One of the vital matters that an enterprise needs to be successful is creative thinking. Creativity in fashion and design is triggered by the need to increase quality, the need to increase value for money, achievement of brand identity and individuality. As a result, most fashion designers have portrayed their interests in thinking of new design ideas each business must be able to compete with their competition and preserve up with today’s tendencies within the industry. They ought to make some decisions to ensure that the productivity of the enterprise increases. “The Importance of Creativity in Business. Organizations today operate in a highly competitive, global environment, making creativity crucial. Creativity is what fuels big ideas, challenges employees’ way of thinking, and opens the door to new business opportunities. You can have great ideas, but not be innovative.”

Conclusion:

As a result of the three main stages above in Disney’s creative strategy, the team reaches a stable innovative concept with a motion plan to use it. The first stage focuses on the creative aspect and sharing creative ideas and solutions. The second stage focuses on truth and how to show the idea into an action plan and finally, the third stage aims to identify the weakness in the idea and overcome it in the final plan.

Walt Disney Company is an enterprise that is a model for other businesses. they’ve many enterprise gadgets that have the capacity to generate huge quantities of revenue. With an envisioned Internet worth of over $85 billion dollars, Walt Disney has different its hobbies to always provide earnings to the commercial enterprise. If Disney can place a few recognition at the threats and weaknesses they face, it’ll supply them greater opportunities to extend into an even greater explosive company. The growth into growing countries will permit them to truly develop and expose countries to their many ventures to experience the happiest area on the planet. “Disneyland, Walt Disney and their characters have given a lot of happiness inside the previous few decades that people have forgotten that they’re also a profit-making enterprise.” (Bhasin, 2016) The inner analysis is, in reality, one this is first-rate because in each ounce of study shows their strengths and opportunities out weight their threats and weaknesses. Walt Disney is a strategic enterprise and is a version to businesses striving to acquire greatness as they make they’re proper their higher and they’re better at their best. Disney is an extremely aggressive business that offers excessive levels amusing and entertainment for all and sundry is willing to visit or put money into their merchandise. They’ll remain a first-rate dealer of joy, and this may permit them to continually provide enjoyment in contrast to every other.

While other creative thinking methods such as Six Thinking Hats do not restrict a specific sequence for the steps, Disney’s Creative Strategy needs to follow the steps as stated above.

References:

1. Elmansy, R. (2016, April 07). Disney’s Creative Strategy: The Dreamer, The Realist and The Critic. Retrieved May 29, 2019, from https://www.designorate.com/disneys-creative-strategy/
2. How Creativity is Quickly Shaping Modern Fashion. (n.d.). Retrieved June 9, 2019, from http://www.delphineballey.com/2017/09/06/how-creativity-is-quickly-shaping-modern-fashion
3. Kyanadishone1. (n.d.). Conclusion Walt Disney Company is a business that is a model for others. Retrieved June 9, 2019, from https://www.coursehero.com/file/p4c37qd/Conclusion-Walt-Disney-Company-is-a-business-that-is-a-model-for-other/
4. Walt Disney. (2019, April 28). Retrieved June 9, 2019, from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney
5. Williams, A. (2019, March 06). Disney’s Generic Competitive Strategy & Intensive Growth Strategies. Retrieved June 9, 2019, from http://panmore.com/disney-generic-competitive-strategy-intensive-growth-strategie

Marketing Principles of Samsung: Analytical Essay

Executive Summary

This report was written to show what is Samsung’s marketing strategy and how do they promote their phones using different marketing mixes. This report draws attention to the fact that Samsung is leading the market share against Apple and other brands in the last year at 26.15%. Thus, the report shows how Samsung stays at the top while knowing its positioning in the market. Samsung also have specific target customers, so it can focus its products to be more eye-catching to the customers. Thus, they have profiled their target customers and foresee those potential customers in the future. It also shows marketing mix considerations that Samsung takes to promote their products and how are the products promoted such as through advertisement, billboards and social media. Additionally, Samsung also faced some social and ethical issues as they promote their smartphones such as environmental, health and safety issues. Lastly, the report also shows an example of a marketing plan for the product chosen.

1. Introduction

Samsung is one of the world’s largest producers of electronic devices. It has become one of the most recognizable names in technology. First released in July 2009, the first Samsung Galaxy really put Samsung at the forefront of people’s minds when it came to Android. Samsung has been dominating and price ranges of the Android market from the Galaxy S series of phones. In the first quarter of 2012, Samsung became the world’s largest mobile phone maker by unit sales. Currently, Samsung has launched many different Samsung Galaxy Series, which have been very well-known in the market. Samsung Galaxy smartphone series not only became the company’s most admired product but also often topped lists of the best-selling smartphones in the world annually.

1.1. Product Description

• Samsung Galaxy S9

Samsung Galaxy S9 comes with a 5.8 inches LCD screen, Android 8.0, and Octa-core. It is dual sim compatible and allows a microSD card. It has an internal memory of up to 256GB with a 4GB ram. The back camera is 12 megapixels while the front camera is 8 megapixels. The phone comes with a fingerprint scanner, facial recognition, and iris scanner as different features to unlock the phone. The battery is a Li-Ion 3000mAh battery that allows wireless charging.

1.2. Projected Sales Revenue

Samsung’s difficulties in the mobile market have been worsened by its lack of innovation to improve the sales of its premium Galaxy series smartphones. The mobile business billed 2.7 trillion won ($3.25billion SGD) in quarterly operating profit. There is a drop of 34 percent from the previous quarter.

1.3. Potential Market Share

Mobile Vendor Market Share Singapore from Jan 2018- Jan 2019

Samsung has had a little over one-fourth of the mobile market share in Singapore in the last year. Compared to their competitors Apple and Xiaomi, that has only 13-14% of the market share. This shows that Samsung has double the market share of its competitors.

2. Key Marketing Concepts & Principles

2.1. Positioning in the market

Samsung delivers cheap and innovative products without an emphasis on design. This is an important factor where Apple’s success won Samsung. It was the design on its iPhone. Now Samsung puts more focus on design so that they are able to compete with Apple in a more effective way.

• Oppo
• Xiaomi
• Samsung
• Apple
• Perceptual Mapping for Samsung and Competitors

2.2. Types of Segmentation

Samsung’s geographical segmentation targets 80 Countries Worldwide. While their demographic segmentation targets both males and females from the age of 18 to 65. Most of the consumers are probably students and working adults. Samsung’s behavioral segmentation targets consumers based on what benefits they are searching for such as excellent quality and beautiful design. While their psychographic segmentation targets middle- and upper-class people, based on their lifestyle and personality.

2.3. Profile of target market

Samsung mobile targets a huge range of consumers. The target age of customers ranged from the early 20s to the 60s. Thus, if a person can afford to buy and use the product, Samsung has products for them.

Teenagers to young adults aged 18 to late 20s. This age group of customers is Samsung’s mobile main target customers as they are mostly technology savvy. This group of customers is increasing as Samsung foresees that this group has better spending power in the future.

Adults were aged 30 to 65 and above. This specific group of targets, the biggest portion of Samsung’s target market. This group of consumers has the most capability to purchase any of Samsung’s products in the market. This group of customers will continue to increase in future years.

3. Marketing Mix Considerations

3.1. Product

Samsung Galaxy series are among the most innovative presently out there in the market. The whole series consists of various models, and most of them acquired more fame than expected. S9 and S9+ are two well-known models whose main feature is the innovative camera that acquired its admiration from famous media brands. Samsung has included extra features to make the phone more attractive such as exclusive rewards for using Samsung pay. Data security has become a huge problem. Thus, Knox-like features are important for smartphones to ensure that your data is kept safe and confidential. Additionally, the S9 and S9+ come with facial recognition features. Samsung has always done its best in providing its users with an immersive experience.

3.2. Place

Samsung products are sold in the market through different channels such as sales and service dealers, local retailers, and distributors. Samsung retailers sell products through multiple third-party dealers concentrating on the demand and opportunities. In Singapore, there are many retailers and distributors selling Samsung products. Some such as Singtel, Starhub, and M1. Samsung also has its own stores in Singapore to cater to sales and service. However, a huge part of sales now takes place online. Galaxy phones and accessories are also available at other e-retailers like Lazada and Zalora.

3.3. Price

Samsung has different pricing methods. Some limited-edition products, which are only found in certain countries, are generally more expensive to meet the demands and use skimming prices. Samsung uses the skimming price technique, whereby they get a high price for their own product before their competitors enter the market. However, if the product becomes old or overtaken by others, Samsung decreases its price. In some cases, Samsung also uses competitive pricing schemes to be able to surpass the competitors in the market.

3.4. Promotion

Digital channels are the primary promotions of Galaxy S9 such as social media, technology blogs, and paid advertising. The phone has earned great levels of coverage in media owing to attractions like its impressive camera and facial recognition features. Tech blogs have reviews and more information on its specifications and pricing. E-retail brands that sell Galaxy smartphones played a huge role in the promotion of the S9. Famed celebrities are made as its brand ambassador to support the promotion of their smartphones and their brand. Samsung’s strategy is to use part of its revenue produced from sales to use for promoting its product.

4. Socially Responsible and Ethical Issues

4.1. Ethics

Health and safety risk poses a threat to consumers as the phone may emit strong radiation. For example, Samsung released the Galaxy S7 in 2016, which exploded due to battery problems. The cause of the explosion was Samsung’s failure to check the safety of the phone due to the rush for the release date. Many consumers were victims of the situation, and Samsung was unable to recall the phone in time. Due to this many consumers lost trust in Samsung. Therefore, Samsung compensated consumers with refunds or another model of Samsung phone.

Environmental problems are caused by producing smartphones. The impact of smartphones on human lives isn’t as simple as it is. Once they are spoilt, thrown away or recycled, smartphones will find themselves in e-waste dumps in China and low-income countries. Only 10% of the smartphone is recycled, workers would salvage valuable materials and metals. The rest of the parts are then tossed into the e-waste dumps. Workers will burn the e-waste causing pollutants into the surrounding environment and to workers themselves.

4.2. Social

Privacy can be another issue of ethics in society. Most of the world currently carries a smartphone with them everywhere. Thus, smartphones are a way for people to keep data that are confidential for easy access. This can be a huge problem as hackers can easily invade one’s data and gather information quickly. Thus, many companies, for example, Samsung is trying to improve the security in their smartphone to prevent the invasion of privacy and stealing of data.

Smartphone overuse is a problem to the current society as people are consuming most of their time on their smartphones to an extent that it affects their life negatively. Smartphone addiction is a form where people cannot stay away from their phones and many issues arise from this addiction. Due to the extensive impact on our everyday life, people become unaware of their surroundings and unable to communicate face to face properly. The overuse of smartphones caused society to have more physical problems such as neck pains and bad eyesight. This caused society to also have a weaker interpersonal relationships with others.

5. Information Communication Technologies

5.1. Place – Social Media

Samsung Mobile is solely used for promoting of Samsung smartphones on Twitter. It updates news related to upcoming Galaxy models regularly. Besides Twitter, other social media websites are used to promote its products and engage its customers. YouTube is the most reliable website for video promotion. They have a larger and wider audience. Samsung has made many magnificent videos to advertise its Galaxy smartphones. In this way, Samsung has used many different channels including social media to promote its Galaxy S9 and S9+.

5.2. Promotion – Digital Marketing

Samsung relies a lot on digital technology for the marketing of its products. Firstly, Samsung promotes its Galaxy smartphone through its website. Furthermore, Samsung uses many types of media to promote its smartphones. S9 was also promoted through events so that the product could be exposed to the public swiftly. A huge population of people can be found online as smartphones are designed to help us stay connected. Thus, this allows people to know about Samsung’s new product rapidly. Samsung adopts digital marketing techniques that include paid commercials, video marketing, brand website, and social media. However, once their product has been known in the market, it is easy to reach out to potential customers as Google will do the rest of the job. Any search for Samsung Galaxy S9 results from Lazada and other e-retailers will be shown at the top and websites including Samsung’s own website.

6. Marketing Plan

The objective and goal of Samsung is to generate sales profit from promoting and selling of the Samsung Galaxy S9. Thus, they must find a way to be able to win the competition against Apple and other brands. Therefore, Samsung will have to promote the innovative features of the Samsung Galaxy S9 which is the camera and the facial recognition feature.

The strengths of Samsung are that they are innovative, great with design, low-cost production, and a large market share. The weaknesses of Samsung are that they have very strong competitors, low-profit margins and products may not always be user-friendly. The opportunities for Samsung are they can improve in the quality of their products and take advantage of the raising smartphone market. Some threats that Samsung are facing are more competition in the market with new brands, a slow market for developed countries and a rapid change in technology. Samsung will plan to promote its new Samsung Galaxy S9 through every type of social media. As currently, almost everyone is always connected to the internet. Samsung will implement things such as pre-ordering of the phone and promotions to get regular customers to upgrade or buy the phone. Such as pre-ordering the Samsung Galaxy S9 will be given a free Samsung wireless charging pad and free screen protector. This will boost the sales of the phone as it sounds like a good deal for customers. Some resources that Samsung needs to promote the Samsung Galaxy S9 is that they need material such as advertisements, social media, and retailers to get the word out to the public. They also can run events to further promote to the public through the physical product itself. All the events require manpower thus they need to hire people to help support their promotion.

7. Reference

1. Specifications | Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 | Samsung Singapore. (2018, June 21). Retrieved from https://www.samsung.com/sg/smartphones/galaxy-s9/specs
2. Bhasin, H., Prateek, Bhasin, H., Modi, A., & Bhasin, H. (2018, January 09). Marketing mix of Samsung galaxy, Samsung galaxy marketing mix. Retrieved from https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-samsung-galaxy/
3. Telecomlead. (2018, July 31). Samsung revenue dips 4% to $52.28 bn as Galaxy S9 sales drop. Retrieved from https://www.telecomlead.com/smart-phone/samsung-revenue-dips-4-to-52-28-bn-as-phone-sales-drop-85603
4. Mobile Vendor Market Share Singapore. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://gs.statcounter.com/vendor-market-share/mobile/singapore/#monthly-201801-201901-bar
5. Bondarenko, P. (2018, October 24). Samsung. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Samsung-Electronics
6. Pratap, A. (2018, November 15). Marketing Mix and Marketing Strategy of Samsung Galaxy S9. Retrieved from https://www.cheshnotes.com/2018/07/marketing-mix-and-marketing-strategy-of-samsung-galaxy-s9/
7. Samsung Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning: Multi-segment, imitative and anticipatory. (2017, October 12). Retrieved from https://research-methodology.net/samsung-segmentation-targeting-positioning-multi-segment-imitative-anticipatory/
8. Davis, M. (2018, October 05). To make a smartphone, lose your ethics. Retrieved from https://bigthink.com/matt-davis/to-make-a-smartphone-lose-your-ethics
9. Smartphone Overuse – A Growing Public Health Issue. (2017, February 28). Retrieved from https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/smartphone-overuse–a-growing-public-health-issue-2161-0487-1000289.php?aid=86257
10. Singh, S. (2017, November 09). Is Samsung an Ethical Company? Retrieved from https://soapboxie.com/social-issues/Is-Samsung-An-Ethical-Company
11. A brief history of Samsung phones – the past, present and future. (2019, February 15). Retrieved from http://www.three.co.uk/hub/brief-history-samsung-phones/

Research Paper on Walt Disney Marketing Strategy

Marketing Strategy

Entrepreneurship

“Walter Elias Disney was an American entrepreneur, animator, voice actor and film producer. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons.” Walt Disney started in 1923 in the back of a small office occupied by Holly-Vermont Realty in Los Angeles. That is where Walt Disney and his brother Roy, produced a series of short live-action/animated films collectively called the Alice Comedies. In 1937 Disney’s innovative first full-length animated would feature the now well-known Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. “In order to expand and meet the expectations of his audience which later led him to expand his studios to over 51 acres of land in Burbank. The American Multinational is the leader in not just the American entertainment industry but other countries as well. Walt Disney offers a diversified group of services that include live-action, theme parks, and television. Walt Disney currently operates in four business segments which include large mass income per segment, Consumer Products & Interactive Media with an income of $1.97 billion, Studio Entertainment with an income of $2.70 Billion, Parks and Resorts with an income of $3.29 billion, and Media Network being the highest with an income of $7.75 billion.

Strategic Reorganization of Walt Disney

In March 2018, Walt Disney introduced their Strategic Reorganization of Walt Disney. “New Structure Consolidates the Company’s Direct-to-Consumer Services, Technology and International Media Operations into a Single, Worldwide Business to Capitalize on Growth Opportunities” Kevin Mayer named Chairman of the Direct-to-Consumer and International Segment. Bob Chapek was named Chairman of the Parks, Experiences, and Consumer Products Segment. Some of the executive leaders who bring tremendous experience, visionary thinking and a shared commitment to excellence, creativity, and innovation to the day-to-day operation of Walt Disney include Robert A. Iger (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer), Alan Bergman (Co-Chairman, of The Walt Disney Studios), Alan Braverman (Senior Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary).

Primary segments

One of the primary segments of Walt Disney is children who are targeted especially through their animated cartoons, merchandise, and theme parks. However, Disney has such an influence on many lives that even adults become the target to their segments. Walt Disney offers services that are meant for all different age groups and that would allow Disney to use a differentiated target strategy to serve their large customer base. With Walt Disney being the second largest media company with such a high value it harvests a high share of heart and share of wallet in the industry.

Advertising and promotion

Walt Disney has a wide range of advertising and promotions. “Disney’s ownership of media networks such as ABC, Disney Channel, and ESPN is a strategy the company is using to market its brand to Americans. This includes a systematic approach to television advertising, as well as radio commercials, print, outdoor advertising, and mobile initiatives, promoting discounts on resorts, and family packages.” To reach an older group such as teenagers, Disney Land came up with the idea to launch advergaming, which puts ad messages in online and video games. Disney’s goal was to reach kids and teens directly and encourage them to urge their parents to visit a Disney park for the ultimate family experience.

SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats)

Strengths in the SWOT Analysis of Walt Disney would include their characters Disney reached their highest peak because of the characters that everyone adores. Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, Ariel, Cinderella, and Snow White just to name a few are the main revenue generators for Walt Disney. Walt Disney wouldn’t be who they are today if it weren’t for these characters and many other characters.

Some of the Weaknesses in the SWOT of Walt Disney would be that the “company is missing out on the online market as all its presence is offline-Today’s children prefer staying online than going out in the real world. Of course, that’s harmful but that’s how it is, right?” Since children today prefer to be online, Warner Brothers decided to launch Pottermore, which is an online Harry Potter World. Being that there are many online games that are present today it is hard for Walt Disney to compete in that area which becomes a weakness for them.

Some of Walt Disney’s opportunity advantages would be they could develop in other countries such as India, Brazil, and Argentina. With Disney moving into countries such as these it would not only allow these countries to enjoy the kingdom of Walt Disney, but it would also raise much revenue for not only Walt Disney, but for the country itself.

Many cartoons right now are considered threats right now for Walt Disney, such as Cars, and Monsters, Inc both are Pixar cartoons and many of Pixar and other competitors are currently drawing large groups towards them in the film sector of it. Another threat that Walt Disney faces are all the video games that children, teens and even adults indulge in such as Madden, Fortnite, and Apex Legends. These are all threats to Walt Disney, but with proper planning, and the introduction of new items such as video games Disney wouldn’t be faced with these threats. Bootleg movies are another threat that Walt Disney is faced and they are starting to crack down on people who are selling bootleg copies of their cartoons, and movies. Disney has also cracked down on ticket holders who purchase souvenirs in the theme parks and resell them online through eBay and other online sites to make a few extra bucks. “The Orange County Register reports that Disneyland is quietly revoking annual passes of guests who buy and resell souvenirs.” By Walt Disney cracking down on people reselling their merchandise they are able to get control over this and eventually it won’t be such a threat to them.

Economic Factors

Economic Factors that Impact The Walt Disney Company would be the Macro environment such as inflation rate, savings rate; interest rate, foreign exchange rate, and economic cycle determine the aggregate demand and aggregate investment in an economy. While micro environment factors such as competition norms impact the competitive advantage of the firm. The Walt Disney Company can use the country’s economic factors such as growth rate, and inflation, and the industry’s economic indicators such as the Entertainment-Diversified industry growth rate, consumer spending, etc. to forecast the growth trajectory.

Globalization

While operating not only in America but overseas Walt Disney faces many global challenges of Global Strategy for media companies. In June Walt Disney opened its doors to consumers that are every bit as engaged in the Disney brand as their western counterparts. Disney had decided to invest significantly in China, considering that the price tag for the latest theme park was more than $4.05 billion dollars more than Disney paid for Lucas Films which is the owner of the Star Wars Brand. “In 2012 Disney spends $4.24 billion dollars to purchase Marvel Entertainment. Even though Disney’s Parks and Resorts segment of Disney’s generates over twice as much as its Walt Disney Studios segment it still helps to underline the costs involved for the conglomerate in building the world’s most expensive theme park to date.”

In conclusion, Walt Disney built a huge empire that is a model for other businesses. They have many business units that could generate large amounts of revenue. With an estimate worth over 85 billion dollars. Walt Disney has diversified its interests to continually provide profit to the business. If Disney can place some focus on the threats and weaknesses they face, it will give them more opportunities to expand into an even larger company. The expansion of possibly developing into other countries will also allow them to really grow and expose countries to their many ventures to experience the happiest place on earth. “Disneyland, Walt Disney, and their characters have given so much happiness in the last few decades that people have forgotten that they are also a profit-making organization.” Walt Disney is a strategic business and is a model to businesses striving to attain greatness. Walt Disney Company is an extremely competitive business that offers high-level fun and enjoyment for anyone that is willing to visit or invest in their products. They will continue to be a major supplier of joy, and this will allow them to continually provide an experience unlike no other.

Towards New Marketing Era: Social Media Marketing Adoption by SMEs

Abstract

Despite the recent growth in usage and adoption of social media as a marketing tool in globally to support firm operations through offering unique opportunities, very little empirical research focuses on Small and Medium Enterprises. The study is mainly focused to identify factors affecting towards adoption of social media marketing by SMEs in Sri Lanka. In particular, it measured the impact of top management perception, ease of use, facilitating conditions, and social influence on social media marketing adoption by SMEs. To test the proposed research hypothesis, it was administered a structured questionnaire to 150 SME managers. Results of the study concluded that top management perception, ease of use, and social influence significantly impact towards on social media marketing adoption by SMEs.

Keywords

Small and Medium Enterprises, Social Media, Social Media Marketing

Introduction

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the novices in the business cycle and are identified as one of the main contributors to economic, development, and employment growth (Dahnil, Marzuki, Langgat, & Fabeli, 2014). The large-scale organization had a history of its childhood which it was in a small scale. The growth of the population cannot be handled with government careers. Consequently, the unemployment rate is going up in Sri Lanka. In 2017, it is indicated a 4.2 percent unemployment rate and first and second quarters of 2018 unemployment was 4.50 percent and 4.60 percentages respectively (Sri Lanka, 2018). It was acknowledged SMEs as the backbone of the economy of Sri Lanka and it is recorded as more than 75 fractions of the total number of enterprises which is provided 45 percent of the employment opportunities and 52 fraction contributions towards the Gross Domestic Production (GDP). As well as SMEs endorse broad-based on equitable development and deliver more opportunities for Women and Youth participation in the economic development of Sri Lanka (Ministry of industry commerce, 2017).

Despite it plays a major role in today’s world economy and the revolution of the internet and communication channel has transformed the way of conducting business today, SMEs is well known for having limitations and acceptance barriers in adopting new technology (Dahnil, Marzuki, Langgat, & Fabeli, 2014). Recently, a number of consumers engage with Social Networking Sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube getting higher and Social Media has become a new marketing communication tool in a rapid and dynamic pace (Godey, 2016). Furthermore, it is highlighted that internet usage of digital citizens in Sri Lanka going up at a weighty rate from 20 percent to 25 percent in every year, and starting from mid – 2016, the number of Facebook users increased from 4 million to 5 million and today it is 6 million users (Sorav Jain, 2018).

While having the technology adoption barriers, applying Social Media Marketing by SMEs might produce not only a lot of openings but can change the shape and nature of their trade all over the world (Dahnil, Marzuki, Langgat, & Fabeli, 2014). Moreover, it is highlighted that Businesses can reach to their targeted customer more easily with the advance of social media. In Sri Lanka, most of the top management in companies have a traditional marketing mindset and pose resistance to adopting a social media marketing strategy (S. Sabraz Nawaz, 2015). Accordingly, the technology-driven era guide to answer the question what are the factors affecting the Social Media Marketing adoption by SMEs? Hence, the study mainly focused to identify factors affecting towards adoption of social media marketing by SMEs in Sri Lanka.

Literature Review

Small and Medium Enterprises

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) haven’t been universally accepted definition and it is defined in a variety of ways using the benchmarks such as the total number of employees, annual turnover, and total investment. Not only the different countries but also different regions used different definitions within the country (Gamage, 2003). In the Sri Lanka context, Medium enterprises are defined as organizations that have less than 300 employees and earned 251 million to Rs.750 million turnovers per year. Furthermore, it is defined that Enterprises which is earned less than 250 million turnovers, and if the number of employees is between 11 to 50 it is called a small type organization (Ministry of industries and commerce, 2017). As well as SMEs has a significant contribution to many countries’ economies to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth (Dahnil, Marzuki, Langgat, & Fabeli, 2014). According to Wickramathilaka (Wickramathilaka, 2018), 75 percent of SMEs contribute 52 percent to the GDP and 45 percent contribute to employment.

Social Media

Social Networking Sites have become an interrelated phenomenon with the human blood because millions of social networking sites users tend to stay on their sites as a part of their daily lifecycle. And Social Networking Sites have turned into an important point of online communication rather than face-to-face communication (Kujath, 2011). As well as Friendster, Trible, LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter are the most popular social networking sites which can be identified in the world. Among them, Facebook is the most famous social networking site with the largest database that can be available to anyone through a valid e-mail address (Fonseka & Sakalasooriya, 2015). ). Furthermore, it is stated that Social Media is a medium to people intermingle to create, share, and exchange information in virtual social networks through internet-based applications. As a marketing tool, Social Media has significant differences such in quality, reach, usability, and frequency among others rather than other forms of media such as Television, Newspapers, Film, etc. Social Media not only reaches to centralize to one place or region like traditional media but also a variety of people to reach, attract and retain (Kaplan. A. M. & Haenlein M, 2010).

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing can be viewed as a new field and new business practices involved with marketing goods, services, information, and ideas via online social media (Dahnil, Marzuki, Langgat, & Fabeli, 2014). According to (Eagleman, 2013), Social Media offers a unique marketing communication method and social media is used as an extension of traditional marketing via online applications which allow to the production of information and collaboration among users (Kaplan. A. M. & Haenlein M, 2010). Besides, Social media influence mobile and web-based technologies to create a cooperative medium where users and groups member share, co-creating, discuss and modify known as user-generated content (Kietzmann, Hermkens, Mccarthy, & Silvestre, 2011). As well as through manipulating the user-produced content has enabled businesses to forecast the future purchasing behavior of their customers more accurately (Kim & Ko, 2011), heighten brand post popularity (Vries, Gensler, & Leeflang, 2012), attract new customers (Michaelidou, Siamagka, & Christodoulides, 2011), build consciousness, increase sales and build loyalty. Furthermore (Michaelidou, Siamagka, & Christodoulides, 2011) distinguished that using social media does not require an excessive financial investment relatively low cost.

Related Theoretical Model of Technology Adoption

Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

Davis et al (1989) originally formulated Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in an endeavor to understand why people agree or throw away information Systems (Davis. F.D, 1986). TAM is one of the most popular and widely used theoretical models for predicting and explaining whether users will accept the development and application of new IT or other systems. Furthermore, the previous meta-research highlighted that TAM is a flexible tool for measuring user acceptance as well as examining and evaluating strategies that promote user acceptance (Y.Lee, 2003). Moreover, Bernadette szanjna (Szanjna, 1996)confirmed that TAM is a valuable tool for predicting the intention to use an Information system. According to Fanny, 2015 TAM is most utilized and powerful framework for understanding and predicting on technology adoption when relating to other models. To determine the behavioral intention towards technology applications, which consequently affect the persons’ behavior TAM postulates that people’s attitudes towards various behaviors and subjective criteria (Davis. F.D, 1986). TAM indicates that technology adoption is based on two constructs: perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness (Davis. F.D, 1986).Figure 1: Technology Acceptance Model Source: (Davis. F.D, 1986)

Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT)

The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT) was formulated with linking eight dominants and frameworks which is included Dispersal of Innovations Theory, Decomposed Social Cognitive Theory, Motivational Model, Model of PC Utilization and Technology Acceptance Model (Venkatesh. V. & Morris. M, 2013). Social influence, facilitating condition, performance expectancy and effort expectancy are four main influential elements in UTAUT. According to Gunther & Krasnova, 2009 UTAUT and Technology Acceptance Model is used to define social media adoption in the business environment and it is discussed the adoption factor as personal intention or the usage behavior of an entrepreneur towards a system. Figure 2: UTAUT Model Source: (Venkatesh. V. & Morris. M, 2013)

Social Media Marketing Adoption Factors by SMEs

It was reviewed the literature by determining the preliminary databases that could be considered as possible publications outlets in the field of Electronic Marketing, Internet Marketing, and Social Media Marketing. As the theories and methodologies applied in the literature related to domains such as E-Marketing, Internet Marketing, E-Business, and E-commerce are mostly highlighted the following factors such as top management perception (Sarah Tsitsi Chikandiwa, 2013), ease of use (Davis. F.D, 1986), social influence (Venkatesh. V. & Morris. M, 2013), and facilitating conditions (Venkatesh. V. & Morris. M, 2013) as the factors impact on social media marketing adoption.

Top management perceptions

Porter and Miller formulated an integrated model of information system (IS) adoption of SMEs and determined that top management perception or characteristics are mainly impact to the SMEs adoption (Michael E. Porter, 2016). Furthermore, it was used top management support as a factor that significantly impacts the IS adoption of the business (GPremkumar, 1999). As well as (Ministry of industry and commerce, 2017)stated that promoting, facilitating and supporting entrepreneurship development, conducting awareness programs and building capacity at schools, universities, technical and vocational training institutions and focusing on Youth and Women, and strengthening the capacity of institutions providing a training and skills development on entrepreneurship and SME development for enhancing the businesses managers perception towards gaining competitive advantages within the modern world. Accordingly, the first hypothesis is formulated as,

1. H1: There is a significant impact of top management perceptions towards social media marketing adoption by SMEs.

Ease of use

In 1986 Technology Acceptance Model (Davis. F.D, 1986) highlighted that Ease of use affected towards on using or adoption of information systems. Moreover, it was emphasized that ease of use is the vital thing that is why people use Social media marketing for their marketing activities (Gbadeyan. R. A, 2010). Accordingly, the second hypothesis is formulated as,

1. H2: There is a significant impact of ease of use on social media marketing adoption by SMEs.

Social influence

(Venkatesh. V. & Morris. M, 2013) As stated in their study social influence as a condition that needs to be considered at the technology adoption framework. Moreover, it is highlighted that when using social media, online network service information sharing attitude and Internet end user’ behavior is highly affected by Social influence and it acts as the main role that influencing adoption of social media as well as social media marketing (Kim & Ko, 2011).

1. H3: There is a significant impact of social influence on social media marketing adoption by SMEs.

Facilitating condition

(Venkatesh. V. & Morris. M, 2013) Formulated that UTAUT framework with facilitation condition which is the impact to users’ behavioral intention of using new technology.

1. H4: There is a significant impact of facilitating conditions for social media marketing adoption by SMEs.

Methodology

In order to conduct a study for social media marketing adoption by SMEs, the primary data collection method was applied to collect data relating to “top managers;’ requirements, perspectives about the social media marketing adoption by SMEs”. A structured questionnaire with 27 questions and consisted with close-ended and five Likert scale questions were filled by 150 respondents from Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Sri Lanka. Scarified method was used to select the sample from 81,531 (Statistics, 2015) population. The five Likert scale questions it was measured the adoption of Social Media Marketing. In behalf of that, an examination of research articles, books, and websites regarding the factors affecting the adoption of social media marketing was used as a method of secondary data collection.

Finding and Discussion

The sample of the study was made up with 73 firms from the manufacturing sector, 55 firms from the service sector and the remaining from the retailer sector. The contribution from the male portion is 62 percent and 38 percent from the female part. Furthermore, the demographic profile highlighted that most of the respondents are owned to age 20 to 30 category (56.7%) and 51 to 60 category is denoted least participation (0.7%) as the Small and medium entrepreneur.

The reliability of the construct was confirmed that the items are most suitable to test the social media marketing adoption by SMEs by exceeding all Cranach’s alpha values by more than 0.7.

The correlational results of table 1 clearly show that social media marketing adoption factors such as top management perceptions, social influence, facilitating conditions, and ease of use have significantly positively correlated with social media marketing adoption by SMEs at the 0.01 level.

According to the multiple regression results presented in table 2, all the predictors of the model (Top management’s perception, Social Influence, Facilitating conditions, and Ease of use) explained 40.4 percent variation in social media adoption behavior. F value, 26.254, with p

Key Steps Necessary to Start Planning Digital Marketing Strategy

There are different digital marketing strategies since prioritizing is very important; it can get a little overwhelming when you’re trying to decide which one type of strategy to implement. Marketers looking for the ultimate digital marketing strategy need to have a, product, and demographics before choosing a digital marketing strategy that will be effective for their needs. When it comes to your digital marketing campaigns, you should avoid wasting your time by targeting the wrong demographics with your strategy, keeping in in mind that your lead generation efforts could drain your pockets if not properly implemented.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is a term that applies to online marketing efforts. It includes the use of online marketing channels like search engines, social media, and websites to connect with customers. Some people simply call it online marketing. Digital marketing strategy or plan both are the same things defining a set of actions that could help you in achieving your goals based on the latest Digital marketing trends.

So, a digital marketing strategy is a marketing strategy focusing on the digital side, fairly self-explanatory. Your business may have already implemented a digital strategy, or you may think your business does fine with traditional marketing, which it might at the moment. But trends show that more and more people and businesses are using the internet as the main resource in purchasing decisions and research. Meet your customers where they are – on the web, with a digital marketing strategy.

How to structure a digital marketing plan?

An integrated digital strategy will give you a foundation for all the key online marketing activities we recommend in the digital marketing planning framework. You can use essential multichannel marketing activities covering all parts of the customer life-cycle like:

• Plan – which is the most important, Use a data-driven approach to review your current digital marketing effectiveness, customize analytics, set up SMART objectives create a strategy of prioritized improvements to how you deploy digital marketing media, technology and data to increase leads and sales
• Reach – Build awareness using online marketing techniques that will drive visits to your site.
• Act – Encourage interactions on your website or social media to help you generate leads for future
• Convert – Use re-targeting, nurturing and conversion rate optimization to remind and persuade your audience to buy online or offline if phone and face-to-face channels if these are important to you.
• Engage – Increase sales from existing customers by improving personalized communications using web, email and social media marketing with customized re-targeting.

1. Determine What You Want to Accomplish

What do you want your digital marketing strategy to accomplish? Do you want to build name brand recognition? Do you need to Generate leads? Get more sales, or email subscribers? Great! Whatever it is that you want, though, you need to plan it and make it happen. This is yet another way that marketing has an online dating crossover comparison. If you go on a bunch of blind dates with no idea what you’re looking for, you might settle down with the first person who you can tolerate. If you have an actual list of traits you want in a person, you’re much more likely to find your match. Your goals matters, and you’ll need to take specific steps to accomplish each one. We’ll look at this more in-depth a little further down.

2. Research your target audience

Making assumptions is a dangerous game for marketers. And thanks to the sheer wealth of demographic data and social media analytics tools out there, you really don’t have to get confused about finding your audience anymore. So much of what you need to know about your audience to influence your social media marketing strategy is already out in the open for you, you only need to select, customize and keep going. Take today’s social media demographics. These numbers speak directly to which networks your brand should approach and what types of content to publish. Here are some key takeaways:

• Facebook and YouTube are both prime places for ads due in part to their high-earning user bases.
• The majority of Instagram’s are millennials or Gen Z, signaling the strength of bold, eye-popping content that radiates with personality.
• Women vastly outnumber men on Pinterest, which is noted to boast the highest average order value for social shoppers, if you have a product targeting women, well.. Pinterest should be your prime target.
• LinkedIn’s user base is well-educated, making it a hub for in-depth, industry-specific content that might be more complicated than what you see on Facebook or Twitter.

See how no platform is one-size-fits-all? And although the demographics data above gives you insight into each channel, what about your own customers? Further analysis needs to be done before you can truly know your customer demographics on social media. That’s why many brands use a social media dashboard which can provide an overview of who’s following you and how they interact with you on each channel.

3. Start blogging now.

Sure, you could start a blog. If you don’t have a blog for your business, then you need to start one immediately. Most people find blogging mundane because they lack visibility. The truth is that your blog is going to be like a barren desert unless you know what you’re doing. But this isn’t just about posting your ideas on your own blog. You should start authority blogging. Use platforms like Medium to post content. Answer questions on Quora and Reddit. Or get out there onto LinkedIn’s publishing platform. These are all authority domains that anyone can post on, which have massive audiences, giving you instant and immediate reach right now. When you do blog, ensure that you blog effectively. Don’t post thin content. Think about adding value. Worried about revealing all your business secrets? Don’t be. Give people so much value that you instantly become an authority in their eyes. This is one of the most powerful strategies you can use to market any business.

4. Content Marketing

Content marketing is a big part of attracting a targeted audience. What’s essential about content marketing is that you need to make your content valuable, relevant, and consistent to make it worth the time of those consuming it. In today’s time, you need to focus on creating content that can solve pain points and stay evergreen. Using shortcuts or black hat SEO tactics just to move to the top of search engines won’t work anymore, a hard slap which will take you to page 59 will be on your way as soon as you get caught, thanks to Google’s all-seeing eye. As they say, “content is king,” but only if we execute it correctly. It’s essential to keep in mind that everything you do for your business growth counts as content, whether it’s in the form of text, images, or videos. As a brand, it’s crucial to focus on mobile-optimized content, native advertising, email content, and other forms of content. However, this content will not be effective unless it’s appropriately distributed to your audience through blog posts, websites, social media, email, and SMS marketing, using marketing automation tools. Think seriously about mobile content because smartphones are already making up 50% of all global devices. This is going to affect digital advertising, and how influencers promote your brand. Automation tools send content to prospects on their mobile devices at just the right times.

5. Email marketing

Each time you publish a new blog post, you should send out a newsletter. It takes minutes to do, and it sends thousands of people to your blog. But this didn’t happen overnight… In this way, you can easily build your email list, in a short amount of time you can have tens of thousands of subscribers who actually want to hear from you. So if you haven’t yet pulled the trigger when it comes to email marketing, the best time to start is right now.

There are plenty of ways to do that, but blogging with SEO in mind is the best long-term strategy. The next step is to convince those people to sign up to your newsletter. There are lots of tips and tricks for doing this: Lead magnets, content upgrades, etc. But the thing that unites all of these tactics is providing something of value. It might be a PDF version of the post (content upgrade), a free 7 day email course (lead magnet), or something else. Just remember that list building is not something with a beginning and an end. It’s an ongoing process, so don’t put off emailing your list because you’re scared it’s not big enough. Make an effort to keep subscribers engaged and send them valuable information — even if you don’t have many. Do that consistently over time, and you’ll have an engaged, responsive list of people that actually enjoy hearing from you.

6. Choose The Channels You Want to Use

In your digital marketing campaign you will probably want to utilize as many channels as possible. If you are a business to business company you should not be using the exact same channels as a business to Consumer Company. You can advertise on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and even Pinterest. Google Ads are popular as well and can quickly get your company website to the top of search results. As we mentioned the importance of email marketing above, Don’t leave email marketing out of your digital marketing campaign. Sending emails is often neglected by companies but this is one of the best ways to grow your business. A combination of marketing on social media channels, sending emails, optimizing your website and using Google to advertise can build a strong strategy if done correctly. With all of these strategies working together, there’s a lot of room for user error. Of course, you can learn how to build an amazing digital marketing campaign yourself.

Sales Growth with 185% by Offering Highly Qualitative Case Studies

Smart and effective digital tactics are a gold mine. Case studies as well. Not to mention the conversion optimization rates you can get with them. Case studies have a huge potential to grow traffic, sales, and revenue if you offer quality results and show your product brings value. The Content Marketing Institute conducted research where they saw that 63% of UK marketers believe that case studies are an effective digital marketing tactic. Case studies are the fifth most popular marketing tactic used out of 12, after social media, newsletters, blogs and blog posts. Neil Patel, one of the top 10 marketers according to Forbes, conducted a study to see the influence of the use of case studies on his own site. He witnessed a growth in his revenue by 185%.

Growth Hacking

If you’ve been paying attention to recent trends in the digital marketing industry lately, you probably have heard a fair amount about growth hacking. In growth hacking, every strategy you execute, tool you install, and technique that you use to gain traction is informed by your desire for growth. Often, in growth hacking, traditional processes take a back seat to results. Growth hackers view the digital landscape as a battleground and see their job as fighting in that battleground and rising above the competition at whatever the cost. They use data as their weapon and creativity as they vehicle.

Growth hacking often employs small techniques, known as “hacks”, that help companies to drive demand and growth. Often, these strategies are in a moral gray area, which is one of the reasons why growth hacking has remained on the outskirts as a strategy. However, companies see the results that the practice is able to provide and want it for themselves, which is why we will see growth hacking take an even larger jump into mainstream marketing circles in 2020. Try these simple digital marketing strategies out on your website and see for yourself how much of a difference they can make. If you want your business to grow, digital marketing is the place to start.