MY UBIS-CLASS

Message from Anh Tho Andres

Anh Tho Andres is a professor in Marketing and Communication at UBIS University based in Geneva, Switzerland.

As a multilingual Translator and Interpreter, and Lecturer in Communication, Anh Tho understands the challenges faced by Professionals in a globalized Corporate World.

Working on her DBA Degree at Paris-Est University (France), Anh Tho Andres is authoring a series of articles on Intercultural communication. She is also working on a series of glossaries in English-French-and Vietnamese on Management subjects. Contact: anhtho.andres@gmail.com for further details.

On this blog, Anh Tho is sharing with students and colleagues her research findings as support material to her ON-GROUND and ONLINE classes.


Marketing - SWOT Analysis - Week 3


SWOT Analysis 
Evaluating Opportunities in the Changing Marketing Environment

Learning Objectives

  • Know the variables that shape the environment of marketing strategy planning;
  • Understand why company objectives are important in guiding marketing strategy planning;
  • See how the resources of a firm affect the search for opportunities;
  • Know how the different kinds of competitive situations affect strategy planning;
  • Understand how the economic and technological environment can affect strategy planning;
  • Know why you might be sent to prison if you ignore the political and legal environment;
  • Understand the cultural and social environment and how key population trends affect strategy planning;
  • Understand how to screen and evaluate marketing strategy opportunities;
  • Under the important new terms (in red).
The Marketing Environment
  • Economic environment
  • Technological environment
  • Political and legal environment
  • Cultural and social environment
Company's objectives should shape the direction and operation of the whole business. 
Setting whole-company objectives - within resource limits - is the responsibility of top management.
Top management must look at the whole business, relate its present objectives and resources to the external environment, then decide what the firm wants to accomplish in the future.

3 basic objectives provide guidelines - should be sought together to avoid failure of the business:
  • Specific activities that will perform a socially and economically useful function
  • Organisation to carry on the business and implement its strategies;
  • Earn enough to survive.
Mission Statement
  • Sets out the organisation basic's purpose for being.
  • Should embrace on a few key goals rather than embracing everything.
  • Should supply guidelines when managers face difficult decisions.
Objectives
  • Whole firm must work toward the same objectives
  • Company should lead to marketing objectives
  • Both company objectives and marketing objectives should be realistic and achievable. 
Company objectives: Production- Finance - Marketing - Human Resource - R&D
Marketing objectives: Product - Place - Promotion - Price
Promotion objectives: Personal Selling - Mass Selling - Sales Promotion

Company resources may limit search for opportunities >>Strengths & Weaknesses
>>Competitive Advantage
To find its strengths, a firm must evaluate its functional areas (production, research and engineering, marketing, general management, and finance). By analyzing successes or failures in relation to the firm's resources, management can discover why the firm was successful - or why it failed in the past.
  • Financial strength
  • Producing capability and flexibility
  • Marketing Strength
Analysing Competitors and the competitive environment >>Threats & Opportunities
  • Choose opportunities that avoid head-on competition - marketing mix
  • Competitor-free environment are rare - government agency
  • Monopolistic competition is typical - and a challenge - USP
Competitor Analysis
  • Analyse comptetitor to find a competitive advantage
  • Anticipate competition that will come
  • Watch for competitive barriers
  • Seek information about competitors
  • Ethical issues may arise
  • Competition may vary from country to country
The Economic Environment
  • Economic conditions change rapidly
  • Interest rates and inflation affect buying
  • The global economy is connected
The Technological Environment
  • Technology affects opportunities
  • Technology transfer is rapid
  • Internet technologies are reshaping marketing
  • Technology and ethical issues
The Political Environment
  • Nationalism can be limiting in international markets
  • Regional groupings are becoming more important
  • The unification of European markets
  • NAFTA is building trade cooperation
  • Consumerism is here and basic
The Legal Environment
  • Trying to encourage competition
  • Antimonopoly law and marketing mix planning
  • Prosecution is serious - you can go to jail
  • Consumer protection laws are not new
  • Food and Drugs are controlled
  • State and local laws vary
  • Consumerists and the law say 'let the seller beware'
The Cultural and Social Environment
  • Where people are around the world (demographics)
  • The shift to urban and suburban areas
  • There is no market when there is no income (GDP)
  • Developed economies have most of the income
  • Reading, writing and marketing problems
  • Much segmenting may be required
Use screening criteria to narrow down to strategies
  • Developing and applying screening criteria
  • Whole plans should be evaluated
  • Total profit approach can help evaluate possible plans
Example
  • Quantitative criteria
    • Increase sales by 1.5ook per year for the next five years
    • Earn ROI of at least 25pc before taxes on new ventures
    • Break enven within one year on new ventures
    • Opportunity must be large enought to justify interest but small enough so company can handle within resources available
    • Several opportunities should be pursued to reach the objectives - to spread the risks.
  • Qualitative criteria
    • Nature of business preferred
      • Should take advantage of our Internet order system and website promotion
      • New goods and services to resent customers to strengthen relationships and customer equity
      • 'Quality' products that do not cannibalize sales of current products
      • Competition should be weak and opportunity should be hard to copy for several years
      • There should be strongly felt (even unsatisfied) needs - to reduce promotion costs and permit 'high' prices.
    • Constraints
      • Nature of businesses to exclude : manufacturing / any requiring large fixed capital investments / Any requiring many support people who must be 'good' all the time and would require much supervision.
      • Geographic: US/Mexico/ and Canada only.
      • General: Make use of current strengths / Attractiveness of market should be reinforced by more than one of the following basic trends: technological , demographic, social, economic and political.
      • Market should not be bucking any basic trends.
Planning grids help evaluate a portfolio of opportunities
  • See example business strengths vs. industry attractiveness
  • Strategic business unit may help (focus on some product-markets)
Evaluating opportunities in international markets
  • Evaluating the risks
  • Risks vary with environment sensitivity
  • What if risks are still hard to judge?
Key terms to know
  • mission statement
  • competitive environment
  • competitor analysis
  • competitive rivals
  • competitive barriers
  • economic and technological environment
  • consumerism
  • cultural and social environment
  • gross domestic product
  • strategic business unit
End of lesson.

IMPORTANT NOTE: 
Please be informed that from today there will be 4 hours a week and not 3h30 for this module. Therefore the Registrar has deciced to split the classes into 2 times. Please note that we need to discuss how to catch up with the two missing sessions (2 Fridays - on weeks I and 8). 

Thanks,

Professor Anh Tho Andres











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