Entrepreneurial Marketing at Shields Environmental Plc - Coursework Example

 Entrepreneurial marketing at Shields Environmental Plc Abstract Starting and running an entrepreneurship requires acute business management skills. Form being able to notice an opportunity and assembling all the requirements needed to start a business. In most cases, individuals other than existing enterprises have been responsible for handling most entrepreneurials. Gordon Shields, founder of Shields Environmental has steered the company from humble beginnings to glory in short period. The company has been listed as one of the best performing and creative entrepreneurials and has received monumental recognition in environmental conservation. In fact it was awarded a platinum level for environmental excellence in 2008. Again the company’s Environmental Management System is certified to ISO 14001 (in 1995) and registered with the European eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS). Entrepreneurial marketing The company was started by the current chairman, Gordon Shields in 1979. The company is involved in helping other companies in the telecommunication industry to recycle and reuse with maximum financial and environmental efficiency. The company prides itself in selling end to end products and services for enhanced environmental management. The company has a number of services that they offer chief among them financial and environmental reporting, buying of assets, import and exports handling, deinstallation and logistics, inventory evaluation etc. At the moment, the company has its head offices at Kerry Avenue, South Ockendon in the UK with others in the US, France and the Czech Republic. The company’s growth is spurred by the increased need to utilize resources efficiently and conserve the environment. The company’s vice president, Toni Gibbs says that the company’s growth is based on their ability to provide more than one service/product and also laying emphasis on quality other than price. She says that the old adage of “the best price takes it” no longer applies in the modern business environment. She says that end users are more aware of quality and depth of service involved. In this light, the company has been progressing at a time when the global economy is hurting and having the same effect on small and big businesses. Shields Environmental qualifies as an entrepreneurial going by the definition given by various authors on the criteria of entrepreneurial and small businesses. In general, a business qualifies as an entrepreneurial if the initial financing of the business is supplied by one individual, operations of the business are geographically limited to a small are and that comparison with existing businesses shows that the business is small. However, it should be noted that businesses are usually set up for growth and expansion. As such, the definition of an entrepreneurship that applies to a single business or firm may tend to vary. Burns however limits the definition of an entrepreneur as someone who invents a new product or service and introduces it to the market. He does not recognize a person opening up a new competing business to an existing one as an entrepreneur but rather just a small venture. On the other hand, any modification of an existing product or service or even management concepts qualifies a new venture as an entrepreneurship (p 19). In the case of Shields Environmental, there had been existing firms offering one or more of the number of products and service that they offer but still qualify as an entrepreneurship on the basis that they have invented new services and also management and marketing concepts. Drucker says that “indeed entrepreneurs are a minority among new businesses. They create something new, something different; they change or transmute values.” (p 20). Shields business concept was and still is supported by speedy technologic growth that ha seen mobile phone usage on the increase. As new and better phones with even more complex features are unveiled every day, households are discarding their old phones for the new ones. Again such speedy change in mobile phone technology has seen old inventories pile up as they become obsolete or lose their place in the market. As a result more and more mobile phones and associated accessories are discarded every month. According to Hodges and Grayson, “some 15 million mobile phones are discarded each year translating into 1 500 metric tones of potential landfill” (p 106). Going by the composition and substances making up mobile phones, harsh regulations on the disposal of such was on the way. Far from regulation also, ethical behavior by firms requires them to dispose off harmful materials properly. Failure to do, the firm faces discredit in the market which is the perfect recipe for a failed business. With the business concept already in mind, the market entry strategy remains the next big step that the owner manager would make that would ensure success of his venture in the market. In the case of Shields Environmental, we trace the steps that were available when the owner-manager then, Gordon Shields was starting up the business. According to Wilson and Stokes, (p 238) say alternative market entry methods have to be applied in order to give the new venture a good head start in the company. The authors identify 3 main ways of starting up a business as beginning an existing business or to buy existing business or the legal from that means from scratch. These three main ways are further subdivided into other categories. In the case of starting an entrepreneurial from an existing business, there two options: start-up and franchise (where both are either carried out as format franchise or as through product and trade mark agreement). On the other hand, starting an entrepreneurial has the conventional options of sole trader, partnership, limited company and cooperative. In the case of Shields environmental, limited company was the most appealing option. The company has since inception remained as a limited company as expressed in the company’s name. Shields as an owner manager of the company was solely responsible for the success of the company as he was entirely responsible for the marketing of the company’s products also. In essence he had to develop a tailored marketing strategy to suit the size of his business and the market environment keeping in mind the resource constraint facing him. According to Stokes and Wilson, this would require a more creative and less sophisticated approach, which is basically entrepreneurial as compared to classical marketing characteristic of big firms. As a result, this would allow the owner manager to be introduced to new processes and actions that would have otherwise not been visible to him. Based on environmental conservation and protection, Shields value proposition is; To provide a totally auditable and long term solution that enables whole life-cycle management for telecommunications, data and IT equipment through re-use and recycling thereby bringing together the world’s resources through reuse and protecting the environment from landfills among other pollutants. Manage and minimize environmental risks arising from company operations and support service. In this sense the company was to later introduce logistics as one of the support services Maintain 100% regulatory compliance record and helping client firms to do the same Establishing an evaluatable Environmental management system (EMS) and publicly report on environmental performance annually. Facilitate compliance and better understanding between environmental conservation requirements set out by the law and key suppliers, and co-operate with suppliers, customers and stakeholders to achieve higher environmental standards for the benefit of all. Minimize the impact on the environment of our operations as related to the emissions of Green House Gases (CO2) to help combat climate change. With the above objective in mind, the company had positioned itself in the market as a leader by example that would help other companies achieve its feat in environmental excellence. This was to be achieved also through voluntary endeavors both nationally and within the local community adding to the popularity of corporate e responsibility. In this light, responsible corporate responsibility on the side of clients has the potential to market the clients in the hands of consumers in this case, mobile phone and telecommunications equipments users. Recent reports as shown in appendix 1 indicate that environmental conservation has topped the list for priorities for companies. This has created more business opportunities for firms such as Shields Environmental that directly deal with environmental matters. However, this company’s case is a notch higher in that it does not entirely seek in offering service to companies but also helps them in developing a comprehensive and sound environmental policy that has financial benefits to it. According to the company’s environmental statement, beneficiaries of the company’s services reduce wastage as 90% of telecommunication equipment collected for discard are remarked a lower market price in remote markets with the client receiving a certain percentage of the revenue. This aspect has popularized the company’s product as individuals are eager to dispose off their equipments for a substantial refund of their money. Consequently, this has acted as a very strong marketing tool as word of mouth for Shields Environmental (Hodges and Grayson p 105). Corporate responsibility According to the company’s website, the firm has progressed as corporate responsibility solutions provider for existing firms by providing sound environment management program that seeks on turning liabilities into revenue streams. Shields corporate responsibility agenda is articulated in three directions as environmental management, recycling and regulation and lobbying for the best environmental policies. Similarly, the company’s research and development department is involved in researching into the development of less harmful products. This is most necessary as health reports have continuously highlighted the dangers posed by irresponsible disposal of telecommunication equipment where a large percentage of them are radioactive in nature thus posing a lot of danger to the environment. Green marketing In this era of going green, Shields Environmental has basically markets itself as the ultimate solution for firms opting to go green. According to Hodges and Grayson (p 106) the company has adopted green marketing, a name coined to identify firms selling environmentally safe products and services as per the American Marketing Association. Shields progressed in the market to market a new concept for firms dealing in potentially harmful products to the environment. In his own way, he acted in the spirit of an environmentalist in asking for big corporations in the telecommunications industry to be more responsible of their business activities. However, his approach to the problem was not the conventional one used by environmental lobby groups. His idea was based on transforming potentially harmful business operations and processes which on one hand increase cost of running business and turns them in to revenue streams. One of the most successful services offering that he introduced in the market was inventory evaluation. In this product, Shields sought to evaluate an existing firm’s inventory and identify potential items to be written off. In this concept, he developed an idea where the writing off procedure would be eliminated by selling the items before they depreciated completely or lost their residue value. Such items would alternatively be a liability to such a firm in two ways The usefulness of the item lost The cost of disposing off the item Almost all sectors including the telecommunications industry is faced with decreased sales following the ongoing global recession. This has created huge unprecedented build up of inventory in many companies. As earlier said, the sensitivity of the materials used in the telecommunications industry calls for specified disposal of such items. Shields environmental have thus seized the opportunity to provide practical solutions to players in that industry. The company offers solutions in helping the company remarket its surplus inventory before it loses its residual value and at time of the hard hitting credit crunch, provides additional and much needed revenue to such companies. Stokes and Wilson (p 357) note that during the early days of operations, entrepreneurs are faced with the difficulties of marketing their products and services to the potential market in case the product is new or there are existing players already in the market or the entrepreneur has little or no proven performance. As such, the power of the word of mouth as a marketing tool comes in handy. Unfortunately, for business to business scenarios the situation is not as easy as it would have been if households were involved. In the case of b2b marketing, decisions made by the business client often involve a number of decision makers who have to make a unanimous decision that may take time. It would thus be expected that, Shields as the owner-manager of the company faced a daunting task where he had to negotiate with boards and of such huge companies such as Vodafone and convince them of the suitability of the product. Fortunately, the business idea that Shields stands for is well aligned with environmental laws and regulations. According to the company’s report on environment, the company has incorporated environmental protection in all processes such that the company has been publicly availing its environmental report. This has in fact endeared the company to many stakeholders and attracted the media whereby other firms are challenged to publicly release their environmental report. Again this free media coverage has marketed the company well as compared to other firms operating in different industries. Fonebak program In line with company’s environmental policy and business concept, Shields Environmental PLC launched 'Fonebak' program in 2002. This was to be the world's first mobile phone recycling scheme with the support of all the UK’s mobile network providers, distributors and retailers, the government and other stakeholders in the telecommunications industry. The European Union’s requirements on Waste on Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) allowed the company to anticipate demand from phone producers and distributors to take back and recycle handsets and accessories by 2004. The national scheme in the UK alone processes over 130,000 phones monthly. However, the company has restricted itself to ethics by not seeking to create demand in an unethical manner. This is accomplished by fully testing and evaluating the phones credibility for wastage and sparing them if they seem reusable. Actually, the company aims to reuse as many phones as possible to minimize environmental impact and the cut off the cost of recycling. In the same sense of ethics and agreement between the company and the phone makers, Shields Environmental is not allowed to reintroduce or remarket reusable phones in the local market. Such phones are resold into world markets that could not uphold the price of a new phone, often spreading telephone communication to some of the under developed markets in the world. This scheme has had tremendous impact on the business as a marketing strategy and on the environment as a whole. i.e. Employment opportunities: Shields has created well-paid jobs with outstanding training and development opportunities in Ockendon as an area seeking rejuvenation as it has relatively minimal industries and corporations. Client firms have enjoyed cost-effective and sustainable solutions to demanding future European environmental legislation, while protecting and enhancing their corporate brand in the market. Underdeveloped markets benefit from quality reusable goods from developed markets at very reasonable prices that introduce and prepare them for new products from the firm’s clients. Environmental conservation is upheld as potentially hazardous waste is rerouted from landfill and the energy-intensive comparable mining of scarce metals such as gold and copper present in telecommunications equipments avoided Builds and strengthens business relationships. The 'Fonebak' initiative enhances Shields' business relationships with mobile phone network providers and their clients while also creating a significant business opportunity. In one way the relations with multinational telecommunication operators opens up more business opportunities for the company. In addition, Shields reputation as an environmental conscious company has improved across boarders. Positive media coverage. Media interest in the project has had a positive impact on staff morale, while generating interest from organizations outside the initial 'Fonebak' sponsors, including large retail chains, major corporations, and a range of charities. The key elements of EMS 1. An environmental policy for best environmental practice, 2. A review of all environmental effects created by our activities and to determine their significance. These effects are held in a register, and subject to annual review and inclusion within the improvement plan. 3. The creation of a Register of Environmental Legislation, ensuring that our legal duties are met. 4. The development of a routine audit plan to ensure maintenance of the EMS and to identify any areas for improvement. 5. Environmental management review meetings, to review performance and to set objectives and targets for improvement and identify training requirements. Shields environmental has in recent years received favorable coverage in media as one of the best performing entrepreneurial. The founder, Mr. Gordon Shields has acted as an advisor to the UK government on environmental issues. Recognition for the company has thus come both in excellent business performance and from excellent environmental management. Both opportunities have been utilized for marketing purposes thereby crating more corporate brand recognition in the market. Again, individuals are more aware of the effects of irresponsible disposal of mobile phones and other electronic equipments. Such early recognition in the market has acted strongly as a barrier for other interested players in the industry. However, the company still receives minimal competition from supposed environmentalist whose sole purpose is to explore the benefits of remarketing discarded goods. This was highlighted by Daniel Jones, Group Finance Director. However, Mobile Phone Exchange is making headway in this market as it targets individuals and households to trade off their mobile phones for a small amount of money.   Commentary As a PLC, tracing the company’s financial performance is impossible given that much of the information obtained was obtained from secondary data and from the company’s websites. The same case applies to other past publications discussing the company. As such, the information included in this paper is limited in depth as pertaining to the success of the marketing strategies applied by the company in financial terms e.g. revenue and profits. Success of the firm or rather evidence of the marketing strategies utilized is best assessed as per this paper using qualitative measures. On the other hand, with no definite theory on how to manage and run an entrepreneurial, abstract information regarding the company is used to develop a theory which might not be always the case. References Buirns, P entrepreneurship and small business London: Palgrave Drucker, Peter, Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and Principles 2007 Stokes D. and Wilson, N. Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship, London Cengage Learning EMEA, 2006 Hodges, D and Grayson, A. Corporate Social Opportunity!: Seven Steps to Make Corporate Social Responsibility Work for Your Business, London: Greenleaf Publishing, 2004 Mobile Phone Xchange, Retrieved on 25th April 2009 from, http://www.mobilephonexchange.co.uk/recycle.html Shields Environmental, Retrieved on 25th April 2009 from, http://www.shields-e.com/Default.aspx Downing, P. and Dawkins, J. The Mobile Footprint and consumer expectations, Retrieved on 25th April 2009 from, http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/debates/article/3785/ Appendices Appendix 1 http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/debates/article/3785/ appendix 2 Environmental Balance Sheet for Shields Environmental year 2006 Metric tones Totals Equipment and materials processed 2,268.601 Equipment re-used 145.419 Equipment recycled 1,798.355 Materials recycled containing hazardous substances 243.237 Materials sent for waste to energy incineration 56.500 Materials land-filled (non-hazardous) 0.000 0.00 Materials specialized landfill (containing hazardous substances) 0.00 Materials sent for high temperature incineration 0.000 0.00 Packaging for re-use or recycle 25.090 25.09 Total Equipment and materials processed 2,268.601 Read More