Sanitex Limited - Marketing and Competitor Analysi - Research Paper Example

?Sanitex Limited Case Background Sanitex Limited, a company offering pest control services is eventually a growing company in West London. Its estimated worth is ?500,000. Mr. Griffins, its CEO is ambitious to expand the company from West London. However, with substantial background in accounting rather than in marketing, Mr. Griffins needs a professional advice from the Marketing Manager prior to doing this activity. Mr. Griffins has limited idea about customer behaviour so he needs professional advice from a marketing manager especially on the customer’s buying process, buying behaviour and competitive environment. Furthermore, Sanitex is occasionally affected by seasonal fluctuation in the pest control business. That is why it needs to expand its product portfolio including carpet cleaning and distribution of sanitary products. However, Sanitex failed to attract potential new clients outside West London area due to its being a non-branded business. Clearly, Sanitex is faced with the issue of improving its entire business operation by augmenting its marketing activity in the pest control business. As marketing manager of Sanitex, the goal of the proponent is to steer the company forward, and be responsible for understanding how its decision making process and decision making unit have been impacted by the recession. Marketing research and competitor analysis Under the goal of Sanitex for product expansion is to actually create significant sales for the company even in tough economic conditions. However, there are two important issues concerning in this area. The first concern is to understand customer behaviour and next to it would be the prevailing value of the company created for its customers compared to its competitors. In other words, the company should create a remarkable strong company brand while taking into account the prevailing customer behaviour in the pest control business and the competitive advantage that its competitors are holding. In order to do this, marketing research and competitor analysis are necessary. Under marketing research, there is a need to gain information about customer behaviour, potential market population, estimated market demand, market growth and trends in pest control business. On the other hand, competitor analysis is necessary to evaluate Sanitex’s both internal and external capacity in the pest control business. The following are potential tools that could be used in the competitor analysis. Internal value chain analysis Activities are found in a firm or organisation. These could be separate when they have to work together but they should be linked so as to effectively transform inputs into outputs, and each step to be undertaken should add value to the process that will eventually put in customer value (Ward and Daniel, 2006). Internal value chain analysis is proven effective especially in trying to come up with competitive advantage which has to be focused on differentiation and price strategy. The 7 Ps of marketing It is common to find 4 Ps in marketing textbooks which primarily include Product, Price, Place (distribution) and Promotion (advertising, public relations) (Boone and Kurtz, 2006). However, to complete the seven Ps, People, Partnership and Purpose should be added. It is important to find the intersection of these 7 Ps in order to effectively determine the target market, and making the target customers use or purchase the firm’s product or service offerings (Ivanko and Kivirist, 2008). Resource appraisal Unlike the SWOT analysis which at some point is broad enough because it considers both external and internal environment, the good thing about resource appraisal is its ability to focus entirely the on internal environment into the following categories of resources: equine, physical, human, financial, and intangible (Eastwood et al., 2006). This ensures a much more focused or detailed analysis of a firm’s internal environment. Physical asset Any tangible assets such as modification of products, special plant and equipment or location are called physical assets which are easier to value (Flynn et al., 2010). Financial asset Financial asset is an integral part of economic asset which usually the ownership rights are imposed (International Monetary Fund, 2010). Equity Equity is what would remain after deducting liabilities from assets (Ernst & Young LLP, 2008). PESTLE analysis This analysis is a macro-environmental analysis with factors such as politics, economic, social, technology, legal and environment which have the capacity to alter and affect businesses (Haberberg and Rieple, 2008). SPICC analysis SPICC are external factors outside an organisation which primarily consist of suppliers, publics, intermediaries, customers and markets and competition (Wright, 1999). Porter’s five forces model This model seeks to explain the intensity of rivalry among existing firms based on understanding the threat of substitute products or services, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants, and bargaining power of buyers (Porter, 1998). Recommendation Market research The goal of this market research activity should be able to understand prevailing customer behaviour to gain considerable idea on customer’s buying process, buying behaviour and competitive environment. This at some point may be broad in its sense, but this has to be necessarily done in order to successfully initiate product expansion. Prior to the implementation of competitor analysis for instance, important data from the customer or within Sanitex’s industry should be generated and this eventually prove the significant role of market research for Sanitex’s corporate objectives. Secondary data Secondary sources of data could be used in order to gain information about potential market population, estimated market demand, market growth and trends. These data could be descriptive in nature and their ultimate function is to provide specific detail describing specific information about something else. As mentioned, these data could be potentially used in order to enlighten, say for example a decision maker particularly on the firm’s potential market population, estimated market demand, market growth and trends. In fact, these matter a lot to the decision maker at Sanitex. That is why it is important that the said company should be able to acquire important data that would totally address the need to unveil significant market information prior to the actual decision-making process. Since their purpose is to give detailed description prior to the actual decision-making process, secondary data can actually be arranged in detail using graphs and other statistical tools that could organise them into something more meaningful. For example, the potential market population could be arranged based on segments and these could be properly illustrated using pie graphs or bar graphs and other related visual representation. Moreover, market growth and trends could be represented as well using line graphs that will elaborately show the detail of downward or upward movement of the data. On the other hand, secondary data could also be used in order to generate more meaningful information. These data could be statistically analysed for instance. There are various statistical tools that could analyse information from certain data and extract significant information for decision making process out of them. For example, by simply plotting the data for understanding market growth and trends could only be purely descriptive in nature and nothing more than that. It might just end up someone only seeing the actual picture of the data without knowing its statistical significance. The use of statistical tools in understanding data is a systematic way of knowing the statistical significance of certain evidences created out of the data. This particularly is of great importance in every marketing research activity or even in marketing research that tries to come up with empirical evidences. Competitor analysis All of the above mentioned tools for competitor analysis could be potentially used by Sanitex Limited. However, the company needs to substantially understand the prevailing and potential customer’s buying process, buying behavior and competitive environment in order to attract new clients and improve its company brand. To make it more comprehensive, it is therefore recommended to use Porter’s five forces model analysis, PESTLE analysis, SPICC analysis and the 7 Ps of marketing. Based on their definition and specific features discussed above, these tools would make a comprehensive output that could potentially identify the necessary answers for understanding customers and existing external and internal environment of Sanitex. Furthermore, they would also help ensure Sanitex to understand or even measure the level of its competitive advantage in its industry particularly on the level of its company brand. Conclusion Sanitex Limited is a specific case of a company that could not potentially stand without the aid of marketing activity. Its goal for expansion cannot just be implemented without the aid of basic marketing principles. In its case, it is crucial on its part to understand widely the issue about customer behaviour and its competitive environment. Thus, marketing research and specifically competitor analysis should be a complete necessity in its case. References Boone, L. E., and Kurtz, D. L. (2006) Contemporary Marketing. 12th ed. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Eastwood, S., Jensen, A. R., and Jordon, A. (2006) Business management for the equine industry. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons. Ernst & Young LLP (2008) International GAAP 2008: Generally Accepted Accounting Practice Under International Financial Reporting Standards. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons. Flynn, B., Morita, M., and Machuca, J. (2010) Managing Global Supply Chain Relationships: Operations, Strategies and Practices. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Inc. (IGI). Haberberg, A., and Rieple, A. (2008) Strategic Management: Theory and Application. Oxford: Oxford University Press. International Monetary Fund (2000) Monetary and financial statistics manual. Street NW, Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund. Ivanko, J. D., and Kivirist, L. (2008) ECOpreneuring: putting purpose and the planet before profits. Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers. Porter, M. E. (1998) Competitive Strategy. New York, NY: Free Press. Ward, J., and Daniel, E. (2006) Benefits management: delivering value from IS & IT investments. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons. Wright, R. (1999). Marketing: Origins, Concepts, Environment. 2nd ed. Cornwall: Cengage Learning EMEA. Read More