Executive Summary
Due to changes in business dynamics, technology and increase in pressure on Companies and businesses to diversify their operations and capture a greater market area, numerous products have being produced. This has affected Sony Ericson negatives as it has reduced its sales. In 2007, for example, when Apple produced ipods, the sales of Sonny Ericson reduced by 12.05%. Business diversities and technology have great impacts on the marketing of a product especially the electronics. It is due to technology advancement and lack of customer satisfaction with existing phones that we have come up with Windows 7 phone. Windows 7 phone is fast, reliable, portable and small-sized.
In the market analysis, we have realize that majority of phone sellers do use offline marketing strategy to cover their targeted market. This has limited their chances of expanding to international markets as well as maximizing their profits (Kabala, 2005). We feel immense pressure to ensure that we redesign our operations so as to make the most out of available chances. The competition faced by international companies is high and so the need for our Company to emphasis on the strategies to be used to improve our positioning in various market segments and so the reason for the market plans (Maurer, 2009). Through marketing, we opt to build our reputation in the selected market segment and even beyond. Though competition has been stiff in California and surrounding areas, but Windows 7 phone will sell well due to its added merits. The marketing strategies and market segment targeted are illustrated by this marketing plan.
Factors affecting Sonny Ericson
This macro-environment describes all the factors that have an influence in the IT industry and which the company has no direct control of whatsoever. Although the government regulation and political factor discussed above also fall under the macro-environment for the Sony Ericsson, other factors are the wider social factors and the economic factors. Sony Ericsson Company is affected by the changes that take place within the environment and at proximity level. These changes have had an impact on the Company as a phone manufacturer (Caldwell, 2003). In addition, several rapid and dramatic changes have taken place in the Sony Ericsson marketing environment in the past decades. The changes are either brought about by the industry-wide paradigm shift of the contemporary marketplace or the competitive pressures of the market at large. Sony Ericsson boasts as being among the industry’s largest and most successful Companies.
Demographics
As seen from the above evaluation of the internal and external environment of Sony Ericsson, a major part of the influences that impact negatively on the company are not controllable by the company. This is especially applicable when looking at the factors in the macro-environment which have an impact on the airline company. One major option that remains for Sony Ericsson is a change of the strategic orientation of the company so that more attention is put on the long-term success rather than the short-term success.
Safety is addressed seriously to avoid incurring avoidable costs. Maintaining an internal coordinated market research is also imperative for the company as this aids it to know sensitive areas of customer satisfaction. This would be helpful in maintaining the consumer preference as an important part of the Sony Ericsson’s operation without making the investors feel that they are being subjected to unnecessary and avoidable costs.
Markets
Concerns over environmental issues, specifically the issue of other Companies that emerge have had a great attention in both the political sphere and public at large. When the focus is directed particularly at the impact of technology, the IT industry is affected due to the fact that there are uncertainties that surround the possibility of change in the regulation that govern some areas in the IT industry. Sony Ericsson has thus been affected in numerous ways.
Politics and Culture
As actor in the IT industry, Sony Ericsson is faced with different trends that definitely have to be taken into consideration in order to better understand the external environment and to deal with it in the most sensitive way. Sony Ericsson Company has faced diverse challenges most of which face the whole IT Company on the global perspective. One major challenge that has faced the Sony Ericsson in the recent past is the uncertainty that accompanies the company’s extra capacity building in creation of new brands. The success of the new product it created through that program would not be predicted with precise certainty. For this reason, the company had to incur extra costs to finance extra marketing and in application of such promotional activities as discounting of fares during the launch of new products (Gregory, 2007).
The domestic governments in Europe together with the European Union have played a major role in the regulation of the businesses in the region. Nevertheless, there has been a move toward more deregulated industry since 1980’s when the industry was liberalized through signing of bilateral agreement between the UK and Ireland. During the same period, the European Union got down to liberalization of the industry and put in an array of liberalization measures to be consistently applied within the territories of the Union. This liberalization therefore broke the monopolistic operation of the monopoly carrier (Caldwell, 2003). The liberalization by the EU made it possible for any Company to operate anywhere within the boundaries of the European Union without the worry of facing any restriction. The government regulation and those of the European Union plays a major role and has great implications to the operation of Sony Ericsson’s internal environment. Such areas that the regulation has had an impact are marketing of the company’s products.
The extent to which the government and other political authorities can affect the operation of the business was exhibited in 2006 when the European authorities announced to set up an in-depth inquiry into the offer in which Sony Ericsson had proposed a merger intent with another Company. At that moment, Sony Ericsson had an interest in the other Company and it disclosed that it would wait for the European Commission to clear the issue so that it could make a further offer. Thus, the decision made by the legal system has an immense impact in the ability of Sony Ericsson to make a decision or execute a decision already made. For this case, the view by the European Commission was that Sony Ericsson was engaging itself in competitive misgivings.
Technology
The change in technology has had numerous effects on the performances of various organizations. The technology advancement has resulted to new products being produced and hence affecting the old ones. Sony Ericsson Company hasn’t been producing new products regularly and most of their phones have lost market. Technology has hence had negative effects on this Company.
Interchangeability
There are numerous Companies producing various products. This has resulted to various phones acting as substitutes for Sony Ericsson phones. A company like Apple has been producing new products and releasing into the market and this has affected the Company’s sales. Sony Ericsson’s Window 7 phone is fresh in the market and has positive perception. Various people prefer new things and hence Window 7 phone. With technology advancement, numerous products will also result and this will further affect the sales of Window 7 phone.
Customers
In our market segmentation, geographical segmentation will not be applicable since the products can be accessed globally. Geographical difference will be of no effect once online market strategy will be in place. In psychological segmentation, we target potential buyers and those who prefer having the latest technology phones (Laforet & Li, 2006).
On the other hand, in demographic segmentation, not only the wealthy will be able to purchase Window 7 phone, but the middle-class earners as well (this is due to the lower price at which we sell our products). In other words, the Computer literate people are our targeted customers. We are sure that in future, as technology advances and new products formed, we shall be reviewing our product to march the latest technologies. The marketing techniques will also be review regularly to compete with emerging businesses effectively.
Competition
Sonny Ericson is a company that deals with the manufacture of a number of consumer electronic products. This may deal with a variety of phones. The Company exists in a competitive environment as it is in constant competition with IBM, Apple, Intel and other Information technology companies (Mandan, 2005).
Direct Stakeholders
The most identifiable stakeholders are the consumers of the Sony Ericsson products especially the much younger age which use the ipods, iphones and notebooks. The local community is a key stakeholder and their value proposition should be in tandem to the inputs they have placed in the Company. The Regulator of markets also performs necessary stakeholder functions. Pressure groups can also perform stockholder’s functions as they put across their agenda. Sony Ericsson company macro environment includes the political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal aspect. The consumers of the products of Sony Ericsson Company are a part of the micro environment. The consumers of their services include the buyers of their ipods, notebooks and McIntosh computers.
Marketing
Marketing Objectives
- Generate about $300,000 at the end of first year
- Increase sale by more 180% at the end of third three.
- Capture more than a third of the international market and about two-thirds of the local markets America. The Company plans to reach 17% earnings per share growth over each of the next 3 years. It plans to produce more phones but also to continue with ‘general merchandise’ and financial services in order to sell solutions that address all customer needs. To achieve this goal, Sonny Ericson relies on two business strategy options, the one of related products for existing market which is about adding features or refinements, expanding product line, new generation products and new products. And the strategy of existing products into related market which consists on targeting new customer segments (younger), and expanding geographically. Sonny Ericson also plans to follow a generic strategy of differentiation based on its brand name, product quality, service levels, and distribution channel. Finally, the position whished by Harley Davidson for its future is to remain the ‘seller of experience’ competing against the other ‘sellers of products’.
Marketing Strategies
A trade fair refers to exhibitions and demonstrations organized for the purposes of showcasing their products and services, as well as exhibition of latest technologies, products and trends. Analysts agree that trade fairs create an opportunity for sales and marketing executives for knowledge development and improvement of skills as well as creating efficiencies in resource allocation (Camilla, 2003). It is one of the most effective ways for improving market access while promoting the interactions between the sales people with the customers and will be chiefly applied by Sony Ericsson. For Sony Ericsson, trade fairs are considered a cost effective avenue for advertising Phones products and services. However, to other organizations, trade fairs may provide an opportunity for gauging the competitiveness in the market. Analysts agree that trade fairs are a cost effective advertising strategy that is effective in reaching an interested prospective customer base. According to Donald 2005 & Camilla 2003, trade fairs offer an opportunity for marginalized sellers to share a platform with experienced and seasoned industry players. This interaction is critical in shaping the future of competition as well as an influence on industry trends like technological development among other factors.
One of the major characteristics of international business environment is cultural diversity. It is therefore imperative that Sony Ericsson Company has to put in place strategies for managing diversity not only from the human resource perspective but also diversity in terms of marketing communications and developing appropriate products and services that meet the needs of the target customers (Donald, 2005).
In this regard, for sales people to be effective in their activities they must understand the various attitudes and perceptions of target customers. Numerous researches have helped Sony Ericsson to identify potential market. This is achievable through training and face to face socializations between the sales people and their prospective customers. Our sales agents will have face-to-face discussions with the clients to identify their requirements (Camilla, 2003). The increase in cultural diversity in the market place requires that sales and marketing executives need to interact often with customers and employees from different cultural orientations. In a reflection of this reality, Sony Ericsson has developed training programs focused on enhancing awareness and skills for the sales people (Gregory, 2007). One of the articles addressing globalization and international business strategy is by Caldwell, which explores the awareness of cultural diversity in the target customer segment and enabling sales people to interact and form good relationships with the customers. Sales people are also able to understand the local regulations in terms of what products or services are allowed into countries as well as any other requirements.
The current competitive and fast-paced business environment necessitates creativity, innovativeness and accurate policies. Competition in the market commands for better quality products and services, otherwise downfall of a firm (Leone, 2009). This is the reason why we have forced on the quality of our products and services. As such an organization coordinates its sales well if its plans are designed to achieve competitive gain through extensive research and development as a critical aspect of sustainability. This calls for a Sony Ericsson company to pursue more market research activities in all the branches to ensure product quality and super standard services. Product diversification and expansion of markets will also enable the company capture more customers, and widen the distribution channel. It should introduce a number of product rangers to different outlets. Foreign Direct Investments can also be applied to see the company through the competition. The company should also venture more into more growth oriented market and exploit all the existing potentials.
In achieving our desired objectives, the following strategies will be followed.
- With the help of marketing team, Sony Ericsson shall develop a firm branding campaign to enhance awareness, good perception and better sales of Phones in the market targeted.
- We shall have various brands of Phones (various prices and different qualities) to help captured a bigger market in our target market and abroad (Ray, 2007).
Tactics
With the business diversities and need for expansion, we shall not only sell in UK but we opt to expand our sales to other regions and even international market. A large number of international companies start their operations as local companies and diversify to other nations (Maurer, 2009). This will not be the case with Windows 7 phone. Based on the Company’s vision of providing people with quality best phones, we hope to cover about a third of the world market by the end of anticipated year (third year).
According to Kabala 2005, “the Company’s marketing objective should be to draw visibility fast and our intention is to accomplish the objective by leveraging a multi-pronged approach which entails email marketing, social media, and search engine optimization policies to get bigger share in the global markets” (Kabala, 2005, p. 49). The Company will be gaining footing in the local and global markets through the mentioned marketing methods. Windows 7 phone will use a web front and this will aid in the lowering of Computer’s price and soon after a sufficient market base is achieved, we shall sell online only. We are introducing web front that will help us lower the overhead and thus lowering Windows 7 phone’s selling prices.
Place
There are many potential areas where Sony Ericsson can establish a market expansion. Consideration was selection from the various markets according to the continental regions. Owing to the fact that Sony Ericsson had already entered Europe, the region was side lined and also the Ukraine due to the high level of competition. The region of choice hence became Africa. The chief reason for choosing Africa was because of the few competitors and the heavily increasing market capacity. The countries in this region which were potential for introduction of this product were Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and a northern Africa exception, Egypt. A comprehensive comparison had to be done to determine the most potential country.
Promotion and pricing
In collaboration with twenty software providers, we opt to join launching a combined web front and share the advertisement cost. The twenty software providers will also use the web front marketing their products. This will capture a greater area. Numerous advantages will result as software and computers buyers will all have access to Window 7 Phone. It is expected that soon after the launching the web front, most clients will realize merits of Window 7 Phone over other computers and not only go for online shopping but for offline as well (Laforet & Li, 2006). This will boost our offline marketing (anticipated in the second year). Sooner, after realizing that it is expensive buying offline, they will move to online (expected in year three). Our prices will be about a third lower than other computers. Shipping fee will be included in the price.
Conclusion
Marketing contributes to the success of a business in various aspects. It’s through it that the public is made aware of the product, which in turn leads to the boosting of the sales. The reputation of a business is also greatly built through marketing. The organization plan helps one to know whether he is pursuing a futile venture or not. This is as a result of one researching the conditions of the existing market before venturing in to it. A good organization plan describes the purpose of the business thus being in a position to convince others that your business is to be successful and profitable. Its in the organization plan that goals of a business are described and the strategies to achieve them, therefore planning is the key to success. We intend to use the online method for adverting and marketing Sony Ericsson phones.
With the set goals and strategies, we expect the sales of Phones to increase as predicted. We are sure that this strategy will be beneficial to Sony Ericsson Company. The result will be monitored periodically to access performance. We shall have 1st day of each year as reference time. The gross sales will be accumulated up to the end of the year and percentage increase or decrease calculated referring to two subsequent years. Suppose the method will not give expected results, then it will be altered.
References
Caldwell, E. (2003). Production and Brandings. Connecticut, USA: Engage Learning.
Donald, S. (2005). Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC). Journal of Advertising, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 42-60.
Gregory, K. (2007). Internet marketing in the internationalization of UK SME’s. Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 13, pp. 19-38.
Kabala, M. (2005). Marketing and Distributions. New York, USA. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Laforet, S. & Li, X. (2006). Employers’ attitudes towards online and mobile banking. International Journal of Banking, 24(4),62-80.
Mandan, S. (2005). Branding and Marketing. New York, USA. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Maurer, A. (2009). Production and Marketing: Effective Marketing methods. The Journal of Marketing, 13(9), 149-182.
Ray, M. (2007). In Search of True Brand Equity Metrics: All Market Share Isn’t Created Equal. New York, USA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.