Environmental Analysis

Key Competitor Analysis

Marketing is very crucial segment of every business and for performing this duty a set of talented people are appointed who could represent the organization in the outer world effectively and efficiently. As they are the person who represents the organization in the market, so they should be loyal with your job. Marketing has a wide range of strategies through which an organization can build up the decent place in the dynamic environment of the business (Doole & Lowe, 2008). 

Business is a full of risks and uncertainties and without risks, business is none except an organization which is very dealing with customers for a reasonable margin of profit. In the business environment, there are a lot of various factors which affects the performance of the organization (Rastogi & Trivedi, 2016).

There are a number of factors present in the environmental analysis of international marketing:

• Political Factors: International marketing includes all kinds of buying and selling of goods within the country or outside the country as well. Government made some policies which affects the performance of the business organizations. For instance, government improves some legal amendments in relation to the imports and the exports activities. In this scenario, those organizations which are dealing internationally will get affected through the amendments made in the policies of the government (Christensen & Lægreid, 2005).
• Legal Factors:These are the policies according to which organization needs to perform its activities. All the general and other activities of the business need to be performed according to the legal and ethical considerations.
• Economic Factors:Economic factors relate to the financial decisions taken by the finance minister to deal with the foreign exchange rates, international exchange rate, etc. Financial decisions should be taken in respect to the economic factors of the organization.
• Social Factors: Social factors include the changes in the taste and the preferences of the consumers, market trends, etc. These all factors would get affected with the marketing strategies it would be an international market or a local market.
• Cultural Factors: These are the factors through which the growth of the country raises, international companies set up their stores, outlets in the particular country and this increases a lot of employment opportunities for the local public.  
• Technological Factors: These are the technologies glitches which are very crucial in respect of the marketing. Old techniques of marketing and promotion are the important factors which affects the performance of the organization. Using old techniques for promoting the new launched products could not be much effective as effective will be the usage of updated technologies (Reich & Benbasat, 2000).

Competitor analysis could be done in various aspects of the business. Analysis could also be done in the almost all departments of the business environment. Not only competitors compete with each other whereas there is lot of other areas in which competition exists (Lamb, et. al., 2012)

For instance, couple of organization exists in the local market who manufactures same kind of materials. They both were competing with each other and all the rest activities were also performed in the healthy competitor environment. Afterwards, another company came from the international market and that was also manufacturing the same product in comparison to the local markets. And the international company was producing more qualitative products at the same rates in comparison to the local organizations. Hence, competition for the local organization increases as well as international organization will also need to maintain the quality of the products.

Price of the product plays a crucial role in the competition market whereas other factors like quality of the product, after sale service of the product and other areas which are directly or indirectly linked with the product will also be considered in the key competitors’ components (McDougall, et. al., 1994).

Market trend determines the groups of the people who lives in or exists in the market. Companies who exist in the market are known for manufacturing some specialized products. In the market both terms are compulsory because without consumers, organization cannot survive in the world, whereas only consumers in the market would also not be able to consume different kinds of products (Baalbaki & Malhotra, 1993).

Companies select their segments amongst the whole public and according to the market demands and market trends; products are manufactured as per the requirements of the consumers. For instance, a company is planning to open a store for the products which are highly demand by the consumers, as per their demands, products are manufactured and this is not compulsory that all the products suit all the age segment people. For this selection of the age segment amongst the public of the city/country/state, analyzing consumer demands are very important.

Different companies produce different kinds of products to meet with the consumer’s various demands. In the current marketing environment, people have lots of demands and with that they also wants to consume lot of different services and for the fulfillment of those demands, companies select the market segments and produce goods as per the requirements of the consumers.

Strengths · International companies need to evaluate its objectives and goals to achieve and for achieving those goals and objectives, organization need to determine all kinds of market conditions. · They have the better technologies that help them to build the strong and competitive products (Valentine, 2005).	Weaknesses · Organization need to use its internal and external resources of the organization to cover up the weaknesses of the organization over its strengths. · Every organization needs to overcome from its weaknesses so that adequate efficiency could be extracted from the performances of activities.
Opportunities · International companies have the opportunities to overcome from their weaknesses to build the strong position in the market. · International companies needs to produce the goods as per the requirements of the country in which migrating company is planning to set up (Sivadas & Dwyer, 2000).	Threats · International companies could have the threats of settling down in the other country’s market. · Dealing in the competitive market could also result in the threat for the companies.

Identification of Target Market Segment

Gap analysis is the evaluation of the challenges that an international company needs to face while migrating from its source location to the other country for a specific purpose like for growing or for taking over the other organization. Some of the main challenges that a company needs to face are:

• Working Capital: Every international company needs to arrange a sum of $11 million for migrating to the other country. Same capital is also required for taking over to the other organization. This much of capital is required to settle down the debts and losses for the organization previous organization. This capital is also useful in expenses, transportation costs, etc. from which an international company will migrate from its source location. Expenses incurred for purchasing trading rights of the particular country, for meeting with the daily costs incurred in arranging resources for the organization, etc. Sources of funds would also be analyzed for performing in the market. As the company is new for the market generally no banks, financial institutions will not wish to grant the loans or any kind of financial helps, in this case, company needs to arrange its own source of funds till the time they make a satisfactory goodwill in the market (Brown & Swartz, 1989).
• Foreign Language: This is the crucial step in respect of the international company. When a company is planning to migrate, all kinds of requirements, conditions, etc. for the particular country to which the company is expanding. For instance, company “A” is situated in the US and they are dealing in the manufacturing of music systems that are useful for cars especially. Now they are planning to open their outlet in terms of expanding their business as per the requirements of their products across the globe, they are planning to launch their store in China. So before moving in china, management needs to take care for all the relevant requirements. Performing it basic activities in the China, dealing with the clients, etc. will require the usage of Chinese language because they don’t use English language much. So, this will be another opportunity, challenge for the company.
• Legal considerations: Migrating Company may not have the adequate knowledge regarding the local laws, legal consideration, and ethical requirements of the particular. This is a crucial part in terms of the expansion of the business because performing business activities in other country should be done in fair manner to avoid the disturbance in the business’ activities (Stern & Eovaldi, 1984).
• Experience or Expertise: These are the terms which are very crucial for each and every organization for its adequate growth and effectively working in the dynamic environment of the country. Having experienced staff in the organization is like having big and effective asset for the organization because they are the person who makes effective use of the expensive technologies, machinery to produce goods.

Business objectives results in the making appropriate and effective targets through company could achieve satisfactory profit that helps the organization to build the appropriate place and goodwill within the market. Making targets and goals for the organization is also crucial in terms of performance of the activities because employees will get to know about the destination and as per that destination, they will put their efforts to reach their using effective way (Westwood, 2002).

Setting targets is crucial for both new businesses as well as for the old business that are planning to expand their business. Every organization develops its objectives so that adequate profit could be achieved. Marketing activities are also necessary to achieve the organizational objectives because they promote the products of the organization in the open market and this is very useful to make awareness in the public regarding the products (Doyle, 1994).

Important goals and objectives of the organization are:

• Finance: Management set up the targets for the organization and its employees in small segments so that relevant objectives and targets could be met. IN terms of financial objectives, it covers the optimum utilization of the financial resources so that profit targets could be matched up (Terpstra, et. al., 2012).
• Marketing: This is the department of the organization which represents the company outside its premises and employees of this department are very talented in spreading awareness in the market and in the public regarding the products of the company.
• Operations: This is the department of the organization in which all the plans, policies and other relevant activities are performed. Management set up the targets for this department in terms of the small segments so that employees performing in this department could not bear any burden to meet up with the target.
• Key Personnel: This is the department generally consists member of the high level management that decides or develops targets and objectives to be achieved within the organization for its successful operations in the open market. Directors, managers need to analyze the requirement of the organization and as per that adequate trainers and other relevant staff are appointed to cope up with the set targets of the organization (Johanson & Mattsson, 1985).

Marketing strategy evaluation is the process of analyzing the regular activities marketing related activities so that adequate effectiveness could be measured. It is the final stage of the marketing plan and it analyzes the effectiveness of the implementation of the marketing plan (Chung & Enderwick, 2001).

This is a set of plans through which effective plans are developed to make the smooth entry of the company into the other country’s market. Peters Meats are also implementing the same market strategies so that they could make the better and effective place in the other country’s market to deal with its competitive firms and it also helps in developing some innovative and unique ideas that helps the Peter Meats to survive and build an effective place in the competitive market (Andersen, 1997).

An effective market entry strategy helps the organization to deliver its products and services in the targeted market or in the global market. This strategy helps in the development of the efficient contracts with the distributors and the other relevant departments to build the appropriate marketing strategy in the competitive environment of the market.

This strategy includes some important factors that should be adequately analyzed so that entry of the Peters Meats could be made very smooth and these factors are:

• Licensing of the Firm: As Peters Meats is planning to expand its business in the international market by giving the adequate quality of meats to the public to build the strong relationship with them. Before commencing its activities relating to trading, first they need to register themselves with the local legal laws of the country to avoid any kind of disturbance in the regular course of the business (Zahra, et. al., 2000).
• Marketing:As marketing is the only department which helps the organization to take such a big step of expanding its business in the international market. This strategy helps the organization to analyze the demand of the international market as per the requirements to cope up with the demands of the local market by providing them adequate products (Craig & Douglas, 2005).

Every organization needs to prepare an alternative plan, strategy, method so that if plan ‘a’ fails, organization’s activities do not get much affected. Market entry strategies could be kept simple through analyzing the demands of the consumers and as per the requirements of the public, adequate products are manufactured.

Some of the main relevant and alternative market entry strategies are as follows:

• Franchise: It means when a base company wants to expand its business internationally or within the country only through opening many outlets in the famous places of the city. So, for doing this company needs men power and the finance power also. Both the things are crucial in terms of launching a new business or launching a new product within the country or outside the country. Basic meaning of franchise is company allows the person that is interested in doing business to use the name of the company by giving them a certain amount against using their name to perform the business activities (Cavico, 2006).
• Export Services: Company could also adopt this strategy to enter into particular country’s market. In this strategy, company’s marketing team surveys at certain places and according to the response from the public of the certain places, products are exported to that place to fulfill the demands of the consumers (Taylor, et. al., 2010).
• Joint Venture: Joint venture is the term used for performing a certain task together by two companies. In this type of market entry strategy, Peter Meats can come in the joint venture with some reputed brand of the country to set up its own goodwill in the local market of the particular country.

From these three market entry strategies, best option would be franchise because in this strategy, no need of investing any kind of capital or men power infect revenues are also generated from the use of this particular strategy. As per the Peters Meats also, they can use franchise strategy by allowing some other reputed business men to use their brand name and all the raw materials and other stuffs which is required in the manufacturing of the product would also be make available to the franchise owner.

SWOT Analysis

As per the requirements of the Peters Meats, best market entry strategy in the other country would be franchising because this is a good and reputed brad within the local market of the particular country’s market.

This strategy would be effective as it will save money and time for the company as well as it will also generate some revenues for the organization so that the organization could be able to make its effective position in the local market of the country (Buckley & Casson, 1998).

For instance, ‘MacDonald’ it is a big brand which is known for its burgers, other kinds of fast food and they have creates a big impact all over the world through franchise only. Source location of this outlet is US and after that it is situated in almost all parts of the country and as per this they are generating revenues without investing a single penny as well as they have also created a strong goodwill all around the world, their burgers and other stuffs are much demanded amongst the youngsters and it is also popular in the other age group of public also.

Peters Meats’ management need to analyze all kinds of advantages as well as disadvantages of this market entry strategy so that all management could think over this strategy before bringing this into implementing in the business’ environment for its expansion in the international market. This strategy anyways requires a huge promotion across the country’s places in which franchised stores are opening so that public of the particular place could be aware about the certain store.

Competitive advantage is the stage in the market in which certain number of companies exists and they all are dealing in the same kind of products and due to that customers are divided as per the choice of the consumers only (Noe, et. al., 2006).

Market positioning is the strategy through which consumer’s mind is diverted towards the particular brand. Marketing team performs this strategy and this helps the organization to spread awareness of the brand, product of the particular company.

This is the advantage for every firm to deal with the different types of consumers in the same market and this is also effective in maintaining the quality of the products so that consumer could not get a chance to divert to some other brand.

Having competitive market is also useful in reducing the impacts of monopoly and consumer has a lot of choices to adopt any of the brand’s products to consume and he/she can also change his taste if he/she gets bored by using same products since a very long time. Another main advantage of competitive market is that they cannot increase prices of their products without any reason, if any one company increases the prices of the products, consumers will diverted to the other brand. So, increasing or decreasing the prices of the products or any other important decisions is taken by all the companies together to reduce the chances of the diverting of consumers.

Peters Meats also have the same advantage in launching its store in the local market of the other country (Argote & Ingram, 2000). This company mostly targets the rich or wealthier segment of the market. Targeting this section will provide a competitive edge in the market as they can pick a multitude of customers who belong to the higher income groups. Therefore the company will also require having a competitive strategy to position the brand in Chongqing as there are several local companies existing in the market and the other international companies targeting the market. In order to do that the company will have to adapt few strategies if the company wishes to have the competitive edge within the market. The company would also have to customize its products for matching the preferences and tastes of the domestic market and the buyers. Also it is essential to include the customized marketing strategy in order to fit the particular market segment. The company should also locate the specific production facilities, consumer service operations and the distribution centers so that it can indicate the great advantages of the locations. Also Peters Meat should focus on transferring the existing strong resources and the capabilities of the company for securing the competitive advantage.

Buyer criteria	A	B	C
Quality	5	6	8
Price	4	7	2
Hygiene	9	4	6
Country of Origin	8	2	7

(Buyer Criteria for the Meat Industry in China)

In this table A refers to the local or domestic competitors, B refers to the international competitors and C refers to the most effectual competitors within the market)

As per the basic idea of the Peters Meats, they basically deals in the all verities of meats and they are specialized in selling good quality stuff. Their marketing team has analyzed some strategies to promote their products in the international market effectively. While promoting the products of the Peter Meats, marketing team analyzes that the company should be set up in the country in which demand of the products are much high in respect of the other countries (Romaniuk, 2012).

While performing the market positioning strategy, team members of the marketing department of the Peter Meats analyzes that demand of verities of meats are much more in the Muslim and English countries in respect of the some countries of Asia continent. After reviewing the demand of the products in the international market, they planned to set up their store in those countries through using effective marketing strategies so that adequate awareness could be spreader among the different segments of the public of the country (Chen & Uysal, 2002). 

References

1. Andersen, O., 1997, “Internationalization and market entry mode: A review of theories and conceptual frameworks”,MIR: Management International Review, pp.27-42.
2. Argote, L. & Ingram, P., 2000, “Knowledge transfer: A basis for competitive advantage in firms”,Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 82 (1), pp.150-169.
3. Baalbaki, I.B. & Malhotra, N.K., 1993, “Marketing management bases for international market segmentation: an alternate look at the standardization/customization debate”,International Marketing Review, 10 (1).
4. Brown, S.W. & Swartz, T.A., 1989, “A gap analysis of professional service quality”,The Journal of Marketing, pp.92-98.
5. Buckley, P.J. & Casson, M.C., 1998, “Analyzing foreign market entry strategies: Extending the internalization approach”,Journal of international business studies, 29(3), pp.539-561.
6. Cavico, F.J., 2006, “The Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing in the Franchise Business Relationship”,Barry L. Rev., 6, p.61.
7. Chen, J.S. & Uysal, M., 2002, “Market positioning analysis: A hybrid approach”,Annals of Tourism Research, 29 (4), pp.987-1003.
8. Christensen, T. & Lægreid, P., 2005, “Trust in government: The relative importance of service satisfaction, political factors, and demography”,Public Performance & Management Review, 28 (4), pp.487-511.
9. Chung, H.F. & Enderwick, P., 2001, “An investigation of market entry strategy selection: Exporting vs foreign direct investment modes—a home-host country scenario”,Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 18 (4), pp.443-460.
10. Craig, C.S. & Douglas, S.P., 2005,“Chichester: John Wiley & Sons”, International marketing research.
11. Doole, I. & Lowe, R., 2008,“Cengage Learning EMEA”, International marketing strategy: analysis, development and implementation.
12. Doyle, P., 1994, “Setting business objectives and measuring performance”,European Management Journal, 12 (2), pp.123-132.
13. Johanson, J. & Mattsson, L.G., 1985, “Marketing investments and market investments in industrial networks”,International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2 (3), pp.185-195.
14. Lamb, W.C, Hair, F.J & Daniel, 2012, Essentials of marketing, SeventhEdition, America.
15. McDougall, P.P., Shane, S. & Oviatt, B.M., 1994, “Explaining the formation of international new ventures: The limits of theories from international business research”,Journal of business venturing, 9 (6), pp.469-487.
16. Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B. & Wright, P.M., 2006, “Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage”, Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage.
17. Rastogi, N & Trivedi, M.K, 2016, “PESTLE technique”- A tool to identify external risks in construction projects, Journal of engineering and technology, vol.3, no.1.
18. Reich, B.H. & Benbasat, I., 2000, “Factors that influence the social dimension of alignment between business and information technology objectives”,MIS quarterly, pp.81-113.
19. Romaniuk, J, 2012, “Five” Steps to smarter targeting, Journal of Advertising research, vol.52, no.3.
20. Sivadas, E. & Dwyer, F.R., 2000, “An examination of organizational factors influencing new product success in internal and alliance-based processes”,Journal of marketing, 64 (1), pp.31-49.
21. Stern, L.W. & Eovaldi, T.L., 1984,“Prentice-Hall”, Legal Aspects of Marketing Strategy: Antitrust and Consumer Protection Issues.
22. Taylor, T.B., Murray, J.W., Patel, A., Ehrhardt, J.R., Jaykumar, K. & Awalt, K., Amazon Technologies, Inc., 2010,“S. Patent”, System and method for providing export services to merchants, vol. 7, pp. 853,480.
23. Terpstra, V., Foley, J. & Sarathy, R., 2012,“Naper Press”, International marketing.
24. Valentine, E.K, 2005, “Away with SWOT Analysis”: Use Defensive/Offensive Evaluation Instead, Journal of applied business research,21 no.2.
25. Westwood, J, 2002, The Marketing Plan: A Step-by-step Guide, Third edition, London.
26. Zahra, S.A., Ireland, R.D. & Hitt, M.A., 2000, “International expansion by new venture firms: International diversity, mode of market entry, technological learning, and performance”,Academy of Management journal, 43 (5), pp.925-950.