Managing the Environment (MEWK3 DQ1) - Essay Example

Question Key Success Factors HSBC has created a brand which it has greatly marketed to its in a very personal way - personalize marketing is the way to go. Kotler and Keller said that "Marketers are abandoning the mass-market practices that built brand powerhouses in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s for new approaches that are in fact a throwback to marketing practices a century ago, when merchants literally knew their customers by name" (2008, p. 266). Hence, in spite of the depth and width of its global operations, "the bank works hard to maintain a local feel and local knowledge in each area" (Kotler & Keller 2008, p. 269). It has been successful so far.

Another key success factor is the marketing activities of the bank, as a matter of fact all its activities no matter how trivial, are geared towards building its brand as the world's local bank. In other words, the bank had successfully created a holistic marketing strategy and was able to follow through. Question #2: Vulnerability As it is building "the world's local bank" brand, the bank is very vulnerable to making that brand work. Hence, it must focus on acquiring local knowledge in each area it operates in, and put that local knowledge to customizing the bank's marketing activities to the locality's preferences and characteristics.

Another vulnerability is that competitor banks might leverage on their being 'local' in designing marketing activities and compete head on with the bank's "the world's local bank" strategy. This will surely questions the integrity of such campaign - say, hw can HSBC be that area's local bank wherein the competitor bank is truly local in every senseQuestion #3: Going Forward Going forward and aligned with the company's "the world's local bank" image, a more decentralized structure with regard its marketing department should be adopted.

This way the branch is given the authority to design and implement its marketing plans. After all it is the branch which has a direct interaction with the bank's clients and should be the best point to know what these clients want and need. Moreover, a decentralized marketing approach would allow the bank's branches the opportunity to leverage on their secondary associations. Kotler and Keller said that a brand may associate itself with other entities that have their own associations (2008, p. 272). Specifically, "[t]he brand may be linked to certain source factors, such as the company (through branding strategies), countries or other geographical regions (through identification of product origin), and channels of distribution (through channel strategy); as well as to other brands (through ingredient or co-branding), characters (through licensing), spokespeople (through endorsements), sporting or cultural events (through sponsorship), or some other third-party sources (through awards or reviews)" (Kotler & Keller 2008, p. 270). In this regard, it is the local bank which is in the best position to identify what source factor to use to best leverage on the bank's secondary association, and hence contribute most to the bank's "the world's local bank" brand campaign.

Works CitedKotler, P. & Keller, P. 2008, Marketing Management, Pearson/Prentice-Hall, New Jersey.