Evaluation of the Level of Standardization of Sonys Marketing Mix - Case Study Example

International Marketing Evaluation of the level of standardization of Sony’s marketing mix This paper will analyze Sony Corporation and the extent to which its marketing mix is standardized. A marketing mix is a concept in marketing of brands which involves analyzing all the activities of a company undertakes in order to gain a competitive edge on the market and meet its organizational objectives by using different marketing techniques. Sony seeks to meet its organizational objectives of marketing its products to the international market by engaging in different marketing strategies. The marketing strategy of Signy is highly standardized as it has successfully established itself in the market and has been able to compete with other international brands albeit stiff competition. To critically present the support for the stand of this paper, the marketing mix of Sony is presented herein by presenting its four primary variables which are products and services, price, place and promotion. Products A product is the object which the company produces and offers it to the market to meet the customers’ needs while at the same time meet the organizational goals of making a profit. Sony’s products making part of the marketing mix are diversified and range widely into the market. While products offered into the market fulfill different needs among them that of attention, acquisition or consumption, Sony offers tangible products which are fit for attention and acquisition but not for consumption purposes. The diversified brands of Sony fall under nay of the following g categories; Television and Projectors, Home video, Home Audio, Portable Audio, Home Theatre system, Home Theatre system, Digital Photography, cameras, Computer Peripheral, Mobile phones, Storage and Recording media among other accessories. Offering many products which satisfy different needs enables Sony to encroach more into the market and sustain loyal customers. The marketability of Sony products globally is influenced on the quality of their products, safety, and style, support of products by offering products accessories, adequate warranty, investing in the brand name, maximizing the functionality aspect of their products and offering service for their clients any time they need help through customer care services. The category of Sony products are differentiated according to needs and preferences of their customers by carrying out customer analysis and obtaining feedback. Their ability to manipulate different aspects of the products such as functionality, price or style to fit into different people’s preferences allows them to cater for a larger global market since different regions prefer different styles, functionality or prices of the products. The standardized can also be effectively analyzed by looking at the improvement of Sony products. Sony regularly upgrades its products according to the technological advancements, writes off obsolete products which no longer make sense in the market and make relevant adjustments in line with operations of its competitors so as to stay afloat the market. Furthermore, Sony has been able to establish reputable household names globally such as Walkman and VAIO laptop in the computer category and more others in portable games, mobile phones, MP3 and computers. Promotions promotion is another aspect of the marketing mix which involves creating awareness of the products to the customers and potential customers purposely to increase the sales of the company. Sony Corporation has invested heavily globally in marketing its products to different regions by suing different promotional techniques. The promotional strategies of Sony are strategically formulated to target the intended market by appealing to the customer’s perception of their needs and gasp in the market. By so doing, the company is able to not only satisfy their clients’ needs but also to increase their market share growth. The marketing mix of Sony has diverse marketing strategies such as Advertising in both written and electronic media, public relations and other promotional activities such as offering of free samples, discounts during festive seasons like Ester of Christmas, coupons, premiums and exchange offers. Advertising is done by the use of different media popularly used in different target regions. The television has been the remote media through which Sony promotes it products. For a long time now, television has been promoting Sony’s products because they reach many people in a short time and therefore, they can be relied upon to deliver the awareness of Sony products to the customers. Effective Sony advertisements are linked to favorite and most watched programs so that most people are able to see the program while watching their favorite programs. Such programs include sports or trending series. Advertisements of Sony products are also done by promoting them during major events. For instance, it used the England premiere league to promote its games PlayStation and also used Miss India 2008 in promotion of other products. Sale promotions are used is different events especially in the launching of new products, during the festive seasons, when remolding its products. During such events especially launching products, the company promotes its products so as to enhance many customers during the products so as to attract a niche in the market. Such promotional activities would include offering free samples, gifts, discounts and offers such as buy one get one free. Price Sony’s marketing mix is standardized as seen in its prices. Despite the stiff competition in the market, the corporation as successfully kept the prices of its products higher than those of its competitors. Their products depict a luxury product due to its high price but also due to the high quality. Different prices are offered for various products through segmentation. For instance, the computer category segments the laptops into different series which differ in style, performance, mobility, user and purpose. As such, different series attract different prices in the market. In India, the Sony VAIO model has the following series, VAIO SR, VAIO CR, VAIO NR, VAIO tokage, VAIO TZ , VAIO FW and VAIO SZ. The different models are differentiated in various aspects which vary the price among them. Sony’s products are manufactured in Japan where the production is technology intensive thus giving their customers the quality perception of their products. Furthermore, the managerial, labour and financial obligations of manufacturing products in Japan are very high and thus, the customers pride in buying high quality products from the most credible manufacturers. However, Sony differentiated its products in terms of functionality and style in order to offer service to a wide range of customers. As such, they manufacture other products which are cheaper to offer to different regions of customers in the market. Furthermore, prices may differ in different countries due to variation in the currency exchange and distance from the manufacturing location. Furthermore, different countries face different levels of market volatility and inflation which may raise the prices of the Sony products. Place The place element of the marketing mix will wrap this analysis. Sony Corporation makes its products in Japan and therefore, they have to be distributed to its markets in diverse places all over the globe. Place elements focuses on the distribution of Sony products from the place of manufacture unto the market where they are accessible to the customers. Distribution decisions are made depending on the nature of the products to be transported, the distance and centralization of the target customer. Sony uses an exclusive and intensive network of product distribution by being selective of the different places to distribute their products to. This is done by working with credible and reputable dealers and wholesalers who are able to attract the market for the products at their disposal. Sony uses SONY World to select the most suitable dealers to distribute their products to. This allows Sony to connect with the global market and promote their products internationally. Sony uses other channels to distribute its products such as the internet. It has a website where the customers can log in and identify the nearby dealer of Sony products for any products they may need. Other distribution channels include; Zero-level channel, one level channel and two-level channel. From the above analysis, it is prudent to imply that Sony has been very successful in establishing and maintaining a standardized marketing mix. The products offered are high quality and are very diverse which increases their level of satisfying customers’ needs. In the other hand, they are deeply connected through their network of distribution channels which ensures that customers in any region are able to access their products locally. The prices of Sony products are standardized. The high prices are linked to high quality of Sony products since their quality of manufacture is capital, labour, technological intensive. However, products are segmented to offer customers different prices for the products. By producing high quality and diversified product, Sony has been very successful in the global market and attracting the perception of the market a can compete favorably with its global competitors. Internationalization Process Theory (IPT) The Internationalization Process Theory (IPT) which ‘best’ describes the internationalization process that Sony has undertaken is ‘Joint Ventures’. This is a process by which two or more company’s specializing in the same service or product areas arrange to work together in the production and distribution of their joint products with an aim of increasing their competitive advantage through the combination of their resources, finances and expertise. The joining company make an agreement of how sharing would be implemented in terms of responsibilities, control, costs as well as the revenue. Joint ventures can be formed under short term purposes such as those which are project-based, in which case ti is dissolved after successful competition of the projects. On the other hand, there are long tern joint ventures which target to engage in a collaboration of products production for a longer period of time. Sony has joined into different ventures in order to internationalize its products. Sony entered into a joint venture with Samsung to form S-LCD Corporation which produces LCD panels which are utilized during the manufacture of LCD plasma televisions for both Samsung and Sony. Another joint venture is Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer with stakes worth 45%. The recent and mega joint venture was with Ericson where the tow companies joined their efforts in the manufacture of a mobile phone; Sony Erickson. This joint venture saw Sony contribute its expertise with Erickson to manufacture the wireless handset and penetrate in wireless handset market which it had not ventured before. The nature of Sony’s joint ventures is mostly long term which goes beyond launching a single product and them terminating the venture. The Ericson venture is viewed as very plausible venture since both companies have the technological and expertise functionalities and above all, they complement each other’s skills and strengths. Joint ventures enable the companies involved to complete their efforts and competitive advantage, weaken their challenges and thus launch products which are more marketable than when done individually. According to Hill (2007, p. 493), joint ventures enable the involved firms to benefits from each other’s knowledge and also gain more insights into the perception of the local communities, languages and the business systems of other regions which could be an advantages to a firm targeting to go global and market their products to a wide market regardless of their language or their culture. The joint venture with Ericson is a powerful strength to the Sony Corporation as it will enable it to not only penetrate the wireless handset market but also to innovate the looming smartphone market. Considering that Sony acquired the whole Sony Ericson joint venture makes it possible and convenient for it to act independently in the company and innovate fully to also establish itself in the tablets market. Although this form of joint venture is very expensive, it provides Sony with exclusive control and rights over the Ericson firm such that it is able to enjoy the benefits of increased and retained markets, high quality products with all the technical and technological knowhow and above all, all the profits resulting from the venture. As such, Sony’s move to join into this venture can be termed a strategic move on the wake of the new smart technology. Bibliography Hill, C.W.L., 2007. International Business Competing in the Global Marketplace, Irwin: McGraw Hill. Read More