Export Marketing Capabilities and Export Venture Performance - Case Study Example

Strategic Marketing Pan Name Institutional Affiliation Strategic Marketing Plan The strategic marketing planning implies the process in which the managerial, as well as the operational staffs of firms, undertakes, in order to create and implement effective marketing strategies for their business. There are several aspects considered in the marketing plan, which include the identification of the promotional opportunities, market opportunities evaluation, researching, and the identification and analysis of the target market. Further, the marketing plan also incorporates the developing of the strategies on how to implement these strategies, implementation preparation as well as assessing the results. More practically, strategic marketing plan addresses strategies such as pricing, distribution, promotion, segmentation of the market as well as a promotion. In relation to this, the present paper presents a comprehensive strategic marketing plan for the UNE Life. The plan will involve identification of the mission, the Industry of the UNE Life, attractiveness of the industry and the market research relevance, as well as the overall market segmentation. UNE Life Mission Relevance UNE Life implies the business that was established in 2014, following the collaboration of the SportUNE and the ServicesUne. Its mission is geared to the provision of streamlined and consistent approach, toward the provision of services as well as facilities at the University of New England (UNE). The main objectives of the business are the establishment of the stimulation of the on-Campus activities, and creating a conducive and enjoyable atmosphere for the students, the staff, and the general community. Generally, it aims at transforming and making the university life at UNE much easier, as well as enjoyable as possible. To work toward achieving its mission and the above objectives, UNE Life operates through a hierarchy of strategies. It follows the advice presented by Kash & Deshmukh, (2013), which indicates that achievement of a firm's objectives and mission could only be possible if these missions and objectives are SMART. These strategies include a range of 9 businesses, which include sports and fitness facilities, popular and accommodative students bar, night clubs, campus essentials such as stationery, health workshops among others. A match between the goals of the business and the strategies adopted clearly reveals that these objectives are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic as well as Timely, (SMART). The Competition Industry of the UNE Life As illustrated by Izvercianu & Miclea (2015), the most effective way of assessing the industry in which a business is operating, as well as the competitiveness of the business in such industry is through application of the Porters five competitive forces. From the analysis of the general mission, objectives, goods and services offered by the business, UNE Life operates in the education industry. Apart from experiencing gradual changes in terms of technological changes, the industry is quite competitive. Therefore, for the UNE Life to remain competitive and viewable in the overall industry, it has to implement effective competitive strategies, under the assessment of the Porter’s five forces. Under the application of the Porter’s five competitive forces, the business should consider several aspects. First, there are limited threats of new entrants. One if the reason for this is that the business is connected to the operations of the university (Todor, 2014). Therefore, apart from strengthening the economies of scale, it makes it difficult to gain the distribution for the new entrants. However, there is a significant threat to the suppliers bargaining power. The reason is that the business experiences significant cost of switching its suppliers, and the product of the suppliers contributes a significant part of the value added of the buyer. At the same time, with regard to the products, UNE Life experiences quite limited threats of the substitute products and services. One of the reasons for this advantage is that it is the only business, which specializes in offering such services to the business. Though there is bother external business offering the same business services such as entertainment, they are not directly connected to the UNE (Kendrick, 2006). Therefore, this limits the alternative products types or performing the same functions essentially. With regard to the buyers, the business UNE Life relies on the students and staff of UNE as the main buyer of its products and services. Therefore, there are several factors, which contribute to the increased bargaining power of the buyers. These include the high level of buyer concentration, and the inability to switch the cost, which can reduce the bargaining power of the buyer (Myrland, 2011). In addition to this, there is an intensive competition in the overall industry. There are other competitors associated with other universities, as well as operating independently, offering the same services. Further, there is quite limited product differentiation and ability of the customers to switch from one product to the other easily. Market and industry attractiveness As noted earlier, UNE Life operates in the education industry. To understand the attractiveness of this industry in the most effective manner, the best way is to perform the macro and micro level analysis. Macro-Level Analysis As indicated by Foxall (2014), the factors at the micro level of any business are very significant for the current performance and future success of any particular business. With consideration for the education industry in which UNE Life is operating, it has quite a large size of the market. This large size of the market is because of a large number of student, requiring to attend institutions of higher learning, UNE in particular. Therefore, the education industry in Australia is quite broad. Further, the bushiness has the capacity of offering many services, which could add value to its buyers, which include the UNE students and the staff. However, the main challenge affecting the business is the high level of competition in the industry, as well as the difficulties encountered in retrieving accurate and actual information in the industry. Micro Level Analysis Under the micro levels analysis Bettencourt, Lusch & Vargo (2014) indicated that it is significant to understand the business attractive opportunities in the market. In the case of UNE Life, there are several factors, which are attractive for this business. The first one includes the high potential for expansion of the business. This can be achieved through the growth the target market segment, which can be achieved through the increase in the number of students in the university, or opening of additional university campuses. Further, under a clear the marketing strategies, UNE Life have clearly and confidently identified its customer needs, and the particular market segment to serve. Further, the products and services offered to the customers directly attract the customers, in addition to being beneficial to the customers. These services include the sporting and entertainment facilities. A close examination of these services further reveals that these services are unique. In connection to this, the business is trying to incorporate processes, capabilities as well as resources, which other companies have difficulties in duplicating. Therefore, from the macro and micro analysis of these factors, it is clear that the industry and market in which UNE Life is operating is quite attractive. The relevance of the marketing research for the strategic decision-making of the UNE Life's business According to Berthon, Pitt, Plangger & Shapiro (2012), most of the successful business in the world periodically conducts market research, in order to remain updated regarding the changes in the market trends, as well as remain in the competitive edge. They further clarified that regardless of the stage in which the business is, conducting market research is very vital for several reasons. One of them is to remain updated regarding the traits of the target market, as well as issues concerning the ROI, profit, revenue and the overall success of the business (Morgan, Katsikeas & Vorhies, 2012). In addition, market research is very significant when making the strategic decisions concerning the business. The reason is that it involves understanding all the factors, which affects the performance of all business activities. In the case of UNE Life, such researches are much significant in making decisions such as the pricing strategies to be adopted by the company. Further, such market research information is helpful in making the resource allocation decisions, so as to gain the competitive advantage in the market. Further, it acts as a significant guide to what product-market UNE Life should focus on. Such research could also be of great assistance to the UNE Life when formulating and defining its corporate objectives. For instance, when developing the growth strategies, new products development, adopting diversification strategies, and increasing the penetration to the new market. When making the marketing decisions, there are many factors that UNE Life need to take into consideration. These include the 4Ps, which are product, place, pricing and promotion policies. In the case of UNE Life, how well these factors are integrated will determine how successful the business will be successful in the market. With regard to the products, the business will have to offer products that satisfy the buyers, Further, the products and services will be distributed to the areas where they can easily be accessed by the buyers. The pricing of the services should be affordable to all its buyers. Therefore, UNE Life has to put the four factors into consideration when drafting the marketing strategies. Significance of the overall segmentation, targeting, differentiation and positioning strategies These are market strategies that UNE Life need to adopt, to ensure market success. With regard to market segmentation, it cannot be appealing to all the customers since they have diverse needs. Therefore, segmentation would help the business to identify the right market niche, and establish a right, close and loyal relationship. Besides having market segmentation, the firm should perform the market targeting (Saunders, 2015). It involves evaluating the attractiveness of the various market segments and focuses its energy and resources to the most attractive one. This would ensure maximum profitability to the UNE Life. In this assessment, the business should consider three factors, which include growth and size of the business, the structural attractiveness as well as resources available to the company. Differentiation would also be quite helpful in achieving the competitive advantage of the UNE Life business. It would involve producing and offering products and services, which are unique and preferential to the buyers and in the market. Further, it would be helpful maintaining the loyalty of the customers to the business products and services. UNE Life could achieve this by adopting product differentiation, channel differentiation, service differentiation, people or image differentiation. More importantly, the product positioning could be quite beneficial to the customers. It could involve the establishment of how the product and services are defined by the consumers, depending on its attributes. This would help to improve the perception, impression as well as feeling buyers towards the products and services of the business. References Berthon, P. R., Pitt, L. F., Plangger, K., & Shapiro, D. (2012). Marketing meets Web 2.0, social media, and creative consumers: Implications for international marketing strategy. Business horizons, 55(3), 261-271. Bettencourt, L. A., Lusch, R. F., & Vargo, S. L. (2014). A Service Lens on Value Creation: MARKETING'S ROLE IN ACHIEVING STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE. California Management Review, 57(1), 44-66. doi:10.1525/cmr.2014.57.1.44 Foxall, G. (2014). Strategic Marketing Management (RLE Marketing) (Vol. 3). New York: Routledge. Izvercianu, M., & Miclea, Ş. (2015). MARKETING PRACTICES IN SMES. CASE STUDY: MALTA. Review Of Management & Economic Engineering, 14(2), 403-415. Kash, B. A., & Deshmukh, A. A. (2013). Developing a Strategic Marketing Plan for Physical and Occupational Therapy Services: A Collaborative Project Between a Critical Access Hospital and a Graduate Program in Health Care Management. Health Marketing Quarterly, 30(3), 263-280. doi:10.1080/07359683.2013.814507 Todor, R. (2014). THE IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING AND REBRANDING FOR STRATEGIC MARKETING. Bulletin Of The Transilvania University Of Brasov. Series V: Economic Sciences, 7(2), 59-64. Myrland, N. (2011). Integrating Marketing Plans: How to Coordinate Goals, Strategy and Tactics with Your Overall Strategic Plan [article]. Legal Management, (5), 35. Morgan, N. A., Katsikeas, C. S., & Vorhies, D. W. (2012). Export marketing strategy implementation, export marketing capabilities, and export venture performance. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(2), 271-289 Kendrick, T. (2006). Developing Strategic Marketing Plans That Really Work : A Toolkit for Public Libraries. London: Facet Publishing. Saunders, L. (2015). Academic Libraries' Strategic Plans: Top Trends and Under-Recognized Areas. The Journal Of Academic Librarianship, 41285-291. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2015.03.011 Read More