Brand Society of Tesco - Essay Example

Brand Society of Tesco EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Tesco is a modern manufacturing company that is hell-bent on branding and brand identity as one of the sure ways of promoting its products in the world market. Corporate branding and identity is well intended and well in line with the simple visions missions and objectives of Tesco incorporation. While the proposed strategy of differentiation of the company products is in line with the company products and service delivery, it is still advisable that the management devise other ways to bust the delivery of the product. The company should also try to retain its current strengths like provision of products at customer doorsteps while trying to eliminate the weaknesses that have drugged the progress of the company. Intensive promotion and marketing strategies will also support the branding strategy in the penetration of the product into the consumers (Anholt, 2007). The strength of Tesco Corporation of quality delivery of its products has facilitated efficient operations of the company. Tesco apart from better business management practices also offers itself to dedicated corporate social responsibility as a way of keeping in touch with the local community. This has acted as a differentiation strategy that identifies it among its competitors like DHL and others. 1.0 INTRODUCTION Branding is an integrative aspect of an organization identity that got its very long time ago, about 1200’s. It is part of any company as well as their policy to establish their products distinctively to ensure their competitiveness; this is done through the creation of what we call a brand, propagated through brand names. In the olden days, brand names could be created using very uncouth means such as burning, drawing using ordinary equipment like stones or metals. This has been propagated by the fact that at the time technology was at its lowest and people had to use much energy and effort to arrive at minimal results. Branding improved with industrial revolution and improvements in technology up to the moment that it is at its pick and as well used to define the success of any organization in terms of turnover and even performance. Many organizations have given branding an edge having even above advertisement since branding itself is advertisement (Hatch, 1997). This has been arrived at after extensive research and finding that the resources that could be used in advertising could be used in making a brand and employing brand strategies to realize results which if not more than the same as those which would have been derived from advertisements. A brand is a name that distinctly defines one product from the rest of almost the same kinds to fuel and propagate the sales of such products or services. Brand has several elements, which would include logos, signs, colors, symbols, or even names. All these elements combined in various mixes results in various strong brands. Brands exist as both global verses local brands. Global brands are those that are designed to reflect the sames features and characteristics of the organization worldwide, global brands move around the world like cross fire intertwining the relationship between the organization and its customers and even other customers. This is positive for the development of the product in terms of sales and liking. Other benefits of global branding that they enhance economies of scale and their related benefits, they lower even further marketing costs, promotes and fuels the international awareness of the products through publicity hence increasing international business and quicker identification of the corporations products. This has been observed in TESCO manufacturing company itself through its creation of a wide and strong customer base around so many countries in the world. Other global brands include MasterCard foundation and Nike corporations among others. Global brands are majorly normally only limited by the fact that the world hosts diverse cultures making international brands be limited to uniform and limited commodities. This is to the detriment of the consumer, as Tesco majors in the production of metal and steel items that are generally consumed worldwide. Local brands on the other hand are those that are confined within a narrow geographical region, such brands may only. 2.0 DISCUSSION 2.1.0 Strategies to create competitive advantage Corporate branding involves creation of brands while corporate identity involves the swaying of customer reliance (Arvidsson, 2006). This means that Tesco should employ competitive strategies that are geared towards creating brands that can attract customers such as modern rebranding of its existing products and services, effective, attractive and quality packaging of the products. Among the ways that and effective competitive advantage strategy can be created entails; production strategy, promotion strategy, distribution strategy, customer retention strategy and many other strategies. The strategies above should be employed on calculative basis taking into consideration that Tesco Corporation is an internationally recognized company, which attracts competition from diverse directions. 2.1.1 Production strategy Production techniques employed by Tesco should be those that support its major course of business that is creating a niche through branding (Morley, 2009). Therefore, technology employed in production should be geared towards quantity and quality production at the cheapest production costs possible. The costs would be dictated right from acquisition of raw materials and whether they are bulky or not. Their nature would as well dictate the location of the company to minimize on the transport costs of the raw materials that in the case of Tesco the bulk is metallic. The products produced should also be able to accommodate the branding process of Tesco. 2.1.2 Distribution strategy The next strategy is that of distribution, distribution through a number of intermediaries has severally proved to be expensive since at each stage there is a cost involved. Tesco should employ the shortest means possible to ensure their products reach their consumers worldwide wherever they are and with the greatest convenience honoring the companies VMO’s. Appropriate distribution strategies are a requirement in this case since Tesco is majorly a product provider as opposed to companies whose major business is service provision. Distribution strategies employed by Tesco should be of variety depending on the product that is to be distributed. Again, multiple distribution strategy should also be employed as opposed to single line strategy. Distribution channels must frequently be upgraded depending on the operation environment at the time to ensure that distribution operations are up to date. Rigidity and unwillingness to embrace innovation has always influenced negatively on many organizations. This is relevant in cases where companies insist in the use of outdated distribution strategies, which are equally bureaucratic in nature hence much costly. Such must be avoided at all cost by Tesco. 2.1.3 Promotion strategies Promotion in any company is the most vital and the most important since it is they income generating activity. Without thorough creation of awareness of the existence of a product, buyers and prospective clients may not know of the existence and even purchase the products. Promotion strategies’ are varied among which is the promotion of products. Products by a company can be promoted by use of several means, which may entail; advertising through the media both print and electronic. Print media is applicable within local zones i.e. where overseas trading is not involved. Tesco, which is an international company embraces and frequently updates its online advertisement through the creation of attractive website and appealing campaign slogans. Products can as well be promoted through creation of events where products are displayed to the consumers. At such events, persuasive tactics such as sample provision to the clients can be performed to try convincing the customers to buy. Sales pitches and networking between companies and partnerships should as well be embraced; useful networks may be self-customer directed and provide support. 2.1.4 Customer retention strategies For a business to prosper the customers requires to be treated as the bosses. They are the ones who make a company what it is and should be what it is or crumble. Without respect and service delivery to the customers, most frequently it will be realized that they will flee to other competitors in the industry. This would give the competitors an edge. Several tools of customer retention are available. One of such is the after sales services and their quality and convenience to the customers, free transport costs and packaging costs can as well be motivating to the consumers. Quality should not be compromised if the consumers are to remain brand loyal; therefore, production of quality products is a core to customer retention. 2.1.5 Marketing strategies Sales strategies involve the employment of the 4p’s. The 4p’s are product, price, place, and promotion (Beverland, 2009). The sales mix of these four components should be made appropriate. The pricing though not integral with the affluent plays a lot in determining the number of units that can be sold. A product in the marketing mix is required in terms of the choice, specification, and ultimate requirement of any consumer. Tesco should be in the position of providing a product that is required by the consumer at the required time. The moment the product is developed and put in place, the only thing that is left would be to differentiate the product into brands that depicts the corporate identity. Price on its side is what would distinguish one corporation from the other. Pricing is very sensitive and any slight change in prices is likely to reduce a corporation’s product in a mere commodity (Kornberger, 2010). Prices of Tesco products ought to be established with considerations to those of the competitors. They should not be that lowered to cut on the profitability of the firm but again they must not be so high to scare away clients or customers. Efficient and appropriate promotional mix strategies should be employed with the sole object of creating awareness of the product. Attractive packaging and branding is a key in this situation hence effective promotional basis. The place aspect majorly deals with distribution, which is intensively taken care of above. International distribution strategies should enhance timely delivery of products to customers at the most reduced prices and costs. 2.2 Mechanisms of evaluating the strategies above The strategies of corporate and brand management above if employed as directed, should be in a position of realizing general growth and development to Tesco Corporation. The mechanisms that can be used to evaluate the success in the employment of the above strategies entail. Sales volume; if Tesco realizes a boost in its sales volume and hence increased profitability, then it means that the strategies employed are successful and that customers have developed a liking and taste towards the products of the company. Increase in production runs is another measure of the success and identity of the products not excluding their brands. Increased production runs only shows that there is efficiency in production and that production is of quality and quantity due to the presumed involvement of modern technology. If Tesco does realize an improvement in the production then it only needs to conclude that it is headed in the right direction in terms of establishing its corporate identity and branding policy. Another indicator is the improvement in planning and administration activities that is the core of any successful organization (Fournier, 1998) . With busted performance of the operations of Tesco, management and planning should well convince all the stakeholders of the corporation that it is headed for the best in the future. Increased performance of Tesco in the financial market denotes stability in what the company offers as products and services. Corporate banding performance is determined by the extent and the frequency with which the corporations’ products can be accessed. The access can be by the major stakeholders in the industry. Customers are considered the major stakeholders since they are the major target in the industry. Online advertisement is the most appropriate for large firms most so those that deal internationally like Tesco. Tesco’s performance in terms of access of their services online, and the frequency with which customers visit the sites of the company is measurable. Then the corporate identity and branding is effective. Companies operating in the international scene face many risks including market risks, foreign exchange risks and import and export trade risks (Keller, 2008). The risks if not well taken care of by the management can on the adverse lead to the collapse of the company during economic crunch. The level of risks as shown by the analysis is of paramount importance in determining the performance of a company’s brand. This is so in the event that the company has varied brands. Risk free operations for a long duration makes a corporate have an identity of the relevant firm. 2.3 Corporate branding and identity with reference to globalization Globalization is the process where a local company plans and executes its operations in the foreign markets. The aim is normally to look for more market abroad for their products that may have expanded and outweighed the local market (Cheney, 2004). The other reason is that the company may be looking for a country where the production of the product that it deals in can be produced at a cheaper production cost. Globalization may take place as either green field projects where a completely new industry is built (Keller, 1993). This is dependent on whether the country is willing to attract foreign investment or not. In circumstances, that a country is in need of foreign investment then it would offer incentives that would benefit the investor and allow them invest at cheaper costs. Other ways of globalization include; licensing of another form in the foreign land to produce on behalf of the parent firm. Here, the parent firm loses control of its operations. Mergers and acquisition can also be employed to advance operations abroad and to the extreme, a country can opt to trade abroad import and export trade (Cheney, 2009). Globalization has a variety of benefits to both the country of investment and the investing country. To the country invested in, there is the benefit of increased employment opportunities for the country’s citizens. The country is also able to develop its infrastructure in form of roads and industry buildings. Balance of payment is not influenced negatively since there are the inflows of foreign currency (Hackley, 2005). For our case, Tesco will accrue several fruits from its international operations since; it will have the opportunity of promoting its corporate brand and identity in the international scene. Results of proper corporate and brand management of Tesco is likely to impact positively in the operations of the company in the global arena. This is solely because of the existence of a wide market base that the company is going to have access. If its marketing strategy is as well appropriate and well in line with the objectives of the company. Then with well-developed and established brand and identity, the company is able to sway a bigger share of the market to its side leaving a very minute percentage to its competitors. The result of a bigger market share means that there is likely to be an expansion in production scales due to a scale up in the demand provided by both the local and international market. Scaled up production would in turn lead to problems of transportation in form of increased costs. Therefore, an overhaul or complete reengineering of the business operations is necessary if the business projects to expand its operations in the international scene (Cheney, 2004). Globalization also gears towards leading to a change in the communication modes employed by companies (Holt, 2002). Tesco can benefit from the reduced costs of accessing online services if its brand and identity allows it to attract investment that employs the most modern technology. Modern technology is normally cheap and efficient and even reduces production costs (Chemey, 2009). 3.0 CONCLUSION Corporate branding and corporate identity as discussed above has seen prospects that businesses can perform better if they are exposed well. The ways of exposing any form of business entity is developing a good name to and making the world be aware of the business, develop their trust in the business and make them be part of the firm culture through several strategies. Two most important and efficient strategies are the corporate branding followed by exposing the corporate identity. The impact of the above two aspects on the organizational performance in relation to globalization has also been seen to be positive in terms of boosting the growth of the business and sales of the products that the business is engaged. Tesco is an internationally recognized company that only needs to even widen its market by furthering its foreign direct investments in other countries whose markets it has not penetrated. This is in line with any shareholders holding and profit maximizing objectives. Therefore, corporate branding and corporate identity are two major aspects of any organization that should be preserved and kept for the benefit of the organization. References Anholt, S, 2007, Competitive Identity, The New Brand Management for Nations, Cities and Regions, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan. Arvidsson, A, 2006, Brands, Meaning and value in media culture, London, Routledge. Beverland, M, 2009, Building Brand Authenticity, 7 habits of iconic brands Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan. Fournier, S, 1998, Consumers and Their Brands, Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 24 No.3 pp343-73. Hackley C E, 2005, Advertising and Promotion, Communicating Brands London, Sage. Hatch, M. J. and Schultz, M, 1997, Relations between organizational culture, identity and image, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 31 No. 5-6, pp. 356 -65. Holt, D. B, 2002, Why Do Brands Cause Trouble? 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