International marketing plan
Executive Summary
This paper seeks to explore the marketing strategy of the creative company in Brazil. Being the first time in gaining entry into the economy, the company will have to undertake market research of the region in order to establish the customer’s wants and needs. This will give the company a clear understanding of the market destination.
This paper also provides the STEEP and SWOT analysis of the market in order to determine the market composition of this region. Implementation and control of the outlined strategies needs to be followed and adopted to the later.
Background Information
Creative is amongst the world leading firm in producing digital entertainment products. Creative is located in Singapore, it was founded in the year 1981. Creative company believed that; individuals would one day revolutionize with how they use their personal computers. This can be attributed to the characteristic behavior and revolutionary discovery of the human beings on new computer uses and applications. Therefore, the company projected that; it would be much coherent and applicable if they invested in real time technology that comprehends the needs of the customers.
The creative company is famous for its sound blaster cards and the constant launch of multimedia revolution. The company is leading the world entertainment industry with leading audio solutions, sophisticated premium wireless speakers, efficient earphone products and portable media products. Creative company has high innovative hardware, proprietary technology, services and high class applications that allow consumers to achieve a cutting-edge entertainment at any given time.
Since the discovery and launching of the sound blaster card device in 1989, the company is on the frontline in the entertainment industry since then. This simply gave the company its novelty status in the entertainment industry, given the fact; the user population of the product but then was approximately four hundred million; it is estimated that by now, the user population of this products is averagely 1.8 billion.
Creative company is now focusing on creating new product category; this is due to the introduction of sound blasterAxx audio device into the market. Other new devices include; aurvana premium headsets, creative D5xm series of modular Bluetooth wireless speakers, sound blaster wireless gaming device, cross platform sound blaster recon 3D for Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 for mac or PC. All these new products are distributed to the consumers through a worldwide marketing network that includes; original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), the internet and traditional marketing channels.
The company’s mission is to expand its dominant role in the personal digital entertainment (PDE) market through the use of; 3D technology and state of the art designs, not for the standard clients but the entire general customers. The creative company is listed in the board of the Singapore Exchange since the year 1994. Its global headquarters is located in Asia-Pacific region in, Singapore. It holds regional business operations units in California (USA), Dublin (Ireland) and Singapore (Asia).
Business Environment
Social Factors
According to statistics from the world for the year 2012, Brazil has a total population of 198.7 million people. Out of this population, the population aged 20-45 comprises 56% of the total population; this translates to 111.272 million people. The creative company targeted this population in marketing its products since this is the market destination for its entire huge collection of products (Cannon et al, 2013). Apart from the demographics, the consumer behavior plays a huge role in determining whether this market destination is viable. From secondary data, the country population is known to for entertainment consumption. Most of the cities love entertainment. This gives the company a solid market base for marketing its products.
Advertisement is another key development factor that the company needs to invest on. Advertising the creative company products to the entire population of this country will give them an insight of wanting to try out on the efficiency of the products. This gives the company a clear platform on what to improve on its products and the products that will be purchased frequently by the customers.
Technological factor;
The creative company lines of products comply with the latest technology. This gives a frontline advantage of taking over from the rest of the market players. The company’s latest chain of products is produced in respect to the latest technology. This gives it an added advantage to its target consumers. The country’s consumers love products that are technologically feasible and that are efficient. The creative company is also investing on research and development at the country’s base to determine what the consumers love. This will lead to produce a chain of products that comprehend the consumers’ wants.
Economical Factor
The creative company sets the prices of its products according to the provided set of interest rates and market interest rates. This gives the company to determine the price that is widely affordable to the entire customer base. The company also considers the population that is employed and people without jobs. This allows the company to fix an economical price that can be afforded by both societal groups.
Environmental Factor:
The environmental factor also plays a significant role in establishing the market base for the company’s products.
Political Factor:
Given the country is hosting the world come June 2014, this gives the company more insights on why they should hasten the setting up of market base in the country. The creative company products are mainly for entertainment purposes, therefore; this gives the management of the company more reasons why they should quickly move into the economy. The political environment of the country is known to be peaceful. All the elections that have been held by the country since independence gives the reason to support this; therefore, a possible instance of chaos that might affect the business environment should not worry the management at all.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths of the Company
- The company uses the latest technology across its entire chain of products
- The company has an experience of overseas marketing of its products
- The company is specific; it produces entertainment products alone
- The company has a wider network across the globe
- The management of the company invests heavily on research and development; therefore, they can explore the new market easily.
Weaknesses of the Company
- The company is not interested in product differentiation
- The company has never carried out its operations in the economy
Opportunities for the Company
- The huge young population gives it a wider market for its products
- The country is hosting a world event later in the year; this gives it a wider market base for its products
- The country’s economic status is stable, therefore, this gives it a solid reason to invest in the economy
- The country attracts a wider capacity of tourists each and every year, therefore; this gives the company more reasons to invest in the country.
- The country has various capital cities; in a nutshell, the country is modernized. Therefore, this gives the company an added advantage of investing in the economy.
Threats to the Company
- The possible threat to the company is the financial crisis. This will melt down the services of the company considering that it is venturing into a new economy.
- The company can face possible competition from the entrance of other leading worldwide entertainment product providers.
Market Analysis
The market analysis of this country is comprised mainly of the young generation i.e. persons aged 20-45 years old. The products from this company will mainly target such a young population. From the available statistics, it is estimated that this population is approximately 111.292 million people. This gives the company more insights on why they should invest in the economy.
Since the company, will seek to fulfill customer satisfaction. Possible questionnaires need to be provided for the entire population that will be purchasing all these products. This will give the company the missing gap on where it has not invested on effectively.
Marketing Strategy
The marketing that the creative company seeks to adopt is the ‘challenger’. Given the fact that Sony Company and Ampex Company have already taken root at the country market destinations; the creative company needs to adopt a strategy that will favor the company into gaining entry into the market easily. Sony Company is the most dominant company in the market due to its novelty in producing world class products. The best strategy for the creative company is challenging these two companies. Reduction of prices and investing heavily on advertisements will give the company goes ahead in gaining entry into the market. Though this strategy will be costly for the company; the company remains with no other options but to follow this strategy in order to win the consumers into buying its products (Akroush, 2011). The profits can be worked on at a later stage when the company has taken root of its services on the economy.
Objectives
The creative company needs to maintain the design of its products to be at the highest level of uniqueness in order to win the market capacity. Consumers love new products, but the purchasing power will be determined by how the products are uniquely designed. To achieve this, the company needs to develop research and development team that will evaluate on the consumers’ needs and designs. This will, therefore, give the company insight into developing its products according to the consumers want. By so doing, the company will achieve a strong market base.
Target Markets
The target markets for these products are the general public. There is no specific target market that the company will direct its products to. The company doesn’t discriminate a given age set from using its products. But from the statistics, consumers aged between 21 and 45 uses the products from this company most often; therefore, this gives the company interest to satisfy the wishes and interests of these consumers as much as possible.
Market Positioning
The creative company is scheduled to position the market destination of its products at Rio de Janeiro, which is the capital city of Brazil; this will allow the company to operate at environment where most of the businesses are set in the region and carries out most of its operations in this region. This will, therefore, enable the company to position itself and determine the market feasibility and the purchasing power of the consumers (Fang, 2013). This also gives the company an added advantage of staging its operations at the most secure city of the world. Being the capital city of this country, Rio de Janeiro serves as the most secured city of the world.
Marketing Mix
The creative company has no apparent strategy of developing a marketing mix; this is because the company mainly produces entertainment products. Therefore, it will be impossible for the company to develop a strategy of producing a marketing mix of its products.
Porter Five Forces
Just like any other firm, Creative Inc. must deal with competing forces in the market while executing its business activities. Among these forces is the Porter five forces put forward by Michael Porter that consist of buyer bargaining power, the power of suppliers, the threat of new entrants, threat from existing rivals, and the threat from substitute products (Porter, 2008). To succeed in Brazil, Creative Inc. must examine these factors strategically in order to increase the level of competition within the market.
Brazil is one of the fastest growing economies in the globe and it rebounded very fast after the effects of the global economic outbursts that followed the recession (Banco do Brasil S.A., SWOT Analysis, 2013). The country also has one of the fastest growing middle class demographics that are willing to spend their disposable income on entertainment products. With this increased amount of money in circulation, Creative Inc. is in a better position of establishing itself and excelling in the Brazilian competitive landscape.
Buyer and Supplier Power
The power of buyers and suppliers create a profound effect on the entertainment industry. Beginning with the supplier’s power, buyers demand an increased volume of entertainment products because of the increased volumes of disposable income. This means that the suppliers can exert a certain level of pricing power over the buyers in the form on increasing prices for their products and services (Dobbs, 2014). For this reason, supplier's bargaining power in Brazil cannot be overlooked.
On the other hand, the buyers have increased powers when it comes to purchasing entertainment products. This can be attributed to the increased availability of these entertainment products and the high level of competition within the industry. The buyers seem to exert an upper hand when it comes to negotiating the exact amount of prices they are willing to pay for the products (Porter, 2008). New firms might also fall victims and become susceptible to buyers that request lower prices for their products. This could bring a difficult challenge to firms in the end because reduced costs for products exert a negative impact on products supplied by firms. For this reason, Creative Inc. must be ready to tackle such powerful market forces in order to succeed in the market.
Threat of new firms
Strong entry barriers exist in the Brazilian market and this prevents new firms from entering the market. Established firms enjoy a distinctive competitive advantage over other firms within the market. As such, the threat of new entrants is low. Because Creative Inc. is an established company, it will use its economies of scale to counter challenges associated with barriers to entry that prevents other firms from succeeding in the market.
Threat from Substitute products
Different entertainment tastes and preferences coupled with the sheer availability of a wide range of entertainment alternatives makes it difficult for firms in the industry to satisfy all the needs of consumers within the industry. Brazil has a wide range of substitute products that enter its market on a yearly basis. The high level of substitute products might cause new firms to struggle in satisfying the needs of consumers because they can easily shift to consuming products from alternative suppliers (Porter, 2008). Creative Inc. is aware of all the potential substitutes available to consumers and is ready to offer a wide range of products to prevent consumers from switching to substitute products.
Competitive Rivalry
With a highly promising economy and a wide range of opportunities to benefit from, rivalry among entertainment companies is fierce (Porter, 2008). Many firms providing entertainment products and services exist in the Brazilian market and all these firms are doing their best to try to gain a piece of the market. To manage these rivalries, Creative Inc. has selected and designed products that are ready to compete with leading brands such as Beats Corporation, BOSE, and Pioneer.
Implementation and Control
An effective marketing plan is determined by the implementation and control process. The management team should focus on establishing organizational objectives and various timelines; this measure ensures that the firm implements the formulated strategies within the scheduled conditions (Allan, Sniehotta, & Johnston, 2013). A company should set a control team to oversee the implementation process. The company in this case seeks to commit and own the plan in an attempt to facilitate efficiency in the execution of the programmed strategies. Involving personnel from various departments will foster effectiveness in the execution process. Individuals can exchange ideas, which help to increase the creativity and innovation levels.
A thorough market research will be useful in identifying the customers’ preferences. Clients’ demands change on a daily basis due to the emerging trends in the global business. The research will focus the target market segments. The responses from potential customers will enable the company to tailor products in accordance with the clients’ demands (Allan, Sniehotta, & Johnston, 2013). Customer satisfaction is the priority of the firm; this measure will be achieved by enhancing a high level of customer concern. The high level of competition from firms such as Sony and Ampex will be counteracted by increasing the company’s competitive advantage.
The management from all the company’s departments will be in charge of implementation and control process. An audit team will assess the execution process to identify that the company does not overuse the set revenue. The duration for the implementation and control process is essential in determining the performance of the company (Allan, Sniehotta, & Johnston, 2013). The process should use a maximum of eight months to achieve the short-term objectives, which include market research. The evaluation team will assess whether the company is making any profit or losses. The information derived from the process will be useful in product development.
Business Conclusion
The dynamics of business is quite straightforward in nature. It provides that, in every market setup, there are no barriers to entry; free entry and free exit, both losses, and profits are to be incurred. This, therefore, gives the company a platform to take necessary precautions when gaining access into the new market destination. As much as the company is focused on making profits, the company should also ensure that customer satisfaction is maintained at the highest levels possible. This will give the company a strong market base for its products.
References
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Allan, J., Sniehotta, F., & Johnston, M. (2013). The Best Laid Plans: Planning Skill Determines the Effectiveness of Action Plans and Implementation Intentions. Annals Of Behavioral Medicine, 46(1), 114-120.
Banco do Brasil S.A., SWOT Analysis. (2013). Banco do Brasil SA SWOT Analysis, 1-7.
Cannon, J. N., Cannon, H. M., & Low, J. T. (2013). Modeling Tactical Product-Mix Decisions: A Theory-of-Constraints Approach. Simulation & Gaming, 44(5), 624-644.
Dobbs, M. E. (2014). Guidelines for applying Porter's five forces framework: a set of industry analysis templates. Competitiveness Review, 24(1), 32-45
Fang, H. (2013). Enterprise Marketing Strategy Research Based on Product Life Cycle. Management Science & Engineering, 7(4), 65-67.
Porter, M. E. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 78-93.
