Marketing is crucial for cascading the required information to the target customers and set the individual business organizations part from the rest of the competitors in the market. Increased number of similar business organizations has led to market saturation, as the business organizations have similar products and services to offer the target audiences. However, the factors affecting marketing differs based on countries and the target audiences (Sargeant and MacQuillin 2016). Effective marketing is of utmost significance, as this provides an opportunity for the business organizations to research, promote and promote the products and service to the target audiences. In addition to, effective marketing strategy allows the business organizations to create a unique image in the eye of the customers so that the customers are drawn towards the business organization regardless of the existing alternatives (Lovelock and Patterson 2015).
Marketing is a long-term process that is developed by considering the latest demand and needs of the target customers. This is where marketing is different from selling, as selling intended to earn profit and was a short-term process. The ability to fulfil the needs and demands of the customers continuously makes marketing a long terms process and effective marketing allows the customers to understand the reason why the marketed product is better and different from the rest in the market (Huang and Sarigollu 2014).
Nigeria is in West Africa and is regarded as “Giant of Africa” due to its largest economy and population in the entire African continent. As of now, Nigeria is the 20th largest economy in the world and has sufficient amount of natural resources specially hydrocarbons. Nigeria is the 10th largest oil manufacturer in the global platform and the 3rd largest in the African continent. 95% of the foreign exchange in Nigeria is accounted by the oil productivity. Nigeria is a member of OPEC and its production of oil changes in respect to the global oil supply. It is estimated that Nigeria oil reserves approximately 35.2 billion barrels and the oil reserves are expected to arise by 40 million. The majority of the oil produced in Nigeria comes from state of Benue, Anambra and Nigeria Delta. Nigeria has an estimated 600 oil fields, and 176 trillion proven natural gas resources (Konne 2014).
Shell Nigeria is the general name for Royal Dutch shell’s Nigerian functions that are operated and performed through four subsidiaries primarily know as Shell petroleum development company of Nigeria Limited. In this context, the royal Dutch shell joint ventures financial records for over 21st of Nigeria entire production of petroleum from over eighty fields. It one of the leading oil and gas industry which consistently remains as the major investor within the West African country. It is one of the oldest energy organisation, which has a long term and continuous commitment for the country, its customers and the nations. However, Shell is an international group of petrochemical and energy Resources Company with an average of almost 93,000 employees working across more than 70 countries in the worldwide boundaries.
The purpose of the study is to examine the factors that are influencing the effectiveness of marketing in the organisation Shell Nigeria in the context and oil and gas productivity. The problem in this context is that Nigeria has an abundant amount of oil reserves, which shows that there are numerous companies working in this sector operating parallel with each other. As a result, the competition in this industry and field is rapidly increasing which is creating increasing problem for the marketing and production of the company (Aigboduwa and Oisamoje 2013). Moreover, the factors such as operations of the supply chain of the company may also influence the effective functioning of the marketing practices. Therefore, it is necessary to address the issues related to supply chain, increasing competition within the industry and to manage the effectiveness of sales function for increase the effectiveness of marketing (Oluwafemi 2013).
Evaluating the factors influencing the effectives of marketing within an organisational context of Shell Nigeria is necessary as it offers the wide opportunity to recognise the impact of different factors within the business environment on the marketing and sales performance of the company. The research here is significant, as this will help the researcher to recognise the potential reason behind the issues leading to the reduction of marketing effectiveness (Leung, Bai and Stahura 2015). In addition to, this research will also help in identifying and analysing critically the various factors that result in effective marketing for Shell Nigeria. Identifying the factors will provide an opportunity for Shell Nigeria to implement the most effective factor and develop strategies for ensuring successful marketing. As a result, Shell Nigeria will be able gain competitive advantage and sustain in the competitive business environment that is crowded renowned oil producing companies (Rahimnia and Hassanzadeh 2013).
In business, market is defined as the environment that includes group of business organizations and customers that shows their interest in the product or service as well as have adequate resources for purchasing the product. As mentioned by Hartley, Sorensen and Torfing (2013), market competition is defined when the business environment is crowded with several producers that compete for providing products and services to the target customers. As a result, it is not possible for any single producer or consumer to dictate the market. However, as argued by Flammer (2015), market competition is defined as the existing rivalry among the companies in the same business environment that sell similar products and services with the aim of achieving increased market share, revenue and profit. The five major characteristics of competitive market are profit, diminishability, rivalry, excludability and reject-ability. Market competition motivates the business organizations for increasing the volume of sales by using marketing mix appropriately.
The five types of market competition are perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly, monopsony and monopolistic competition.
As commented by Fosu (2013), perfect market competition is defined as the different idealizing conditions that facilitate the business organizations to conduct business suitably. However, as argued by Ahern (2014), the concept of perfect competition highlights the healthy competition where the business organizations fight with each other for attracting customers as well as retaining the existing ones. However, a perfectly competitive market does not exist and is hypothetical. The major characteristics of a perfect competition market highlights only success and no failure where knowledge flows freely to all the participants.
On the other hand, a monopoly market competition is defined as the market that is characterized by a single seller who sells a unique product in the market. As there is only one seller, in monopoly competition, the seller is immune to any kind of competition, as the market lacks any substitute and is the sole seller of the goods. The different characteristics of monopoly competition are price discrimination, single seller, high barriers for entry, price maker and price maximize. According to Askar (2013), monopoly market competition has a downward sloping demand that distinguishes itself from others rather than having a perceived perfectly elastic curve as the perfectly competitive market.
As commented by Feng, Li and Li (2014), oligopoly is defined as the structure of the market that has more than two business organizations that sell similar products and services. However, as criticized by Jain, Panchal and Kumar (2014), the concept of oligopoly market competition restricts the dominance or impact of any single business organization. The business organizations in the oligopoly competitive market does not compete with each other via price but through different ways such as barriers, advertising and product differentiation. The concept of monopsony is similar to monopoly marketing competition but the only difference is that in monopsony competition market, one large buyer but not the seller dominates the market. As a result, monopsony market has the ability to control the market, influence, and price by producing large proportions and drives prices cut down (Geras’kin and Chkhartishvili 2017).
The concept of monopolistic competition highlights the imperfect competition existing among different producers and the product that are different from each other. As a result, the business organizations consider the price set by the competitors but ignores the impact of its own prices (Nikaido 2015). As known from the information provided in the above section, the majority of the economy in Nigeria comes from the oil industry. Thus, considering the oligopoly market competition in Nigeria, competition for Shell Nigeria is immense and marketing strategies has to be developed and implemented appropriately.
The marketing effectiveness is highly dependent on the supply chain of the business organizations. As mentioned by Christopher (2016), supply chain is defined as the combined system that includes the business organization, its people, activities, information and resources that are involved in moving a product or service from the supplier to the customers. Effective supply chain management is significant for this current market as this provides an upper hand for the business organizations to fulfil the demands and needs of the customers. Effective operations or supply chain management is in important factor that influences marketing effectiveness, as this provides various advantages to the business organization.
As commented by Seuring (2013), supply chain management influences marketing effectiveness by boosting the customer service. The success of the business is largely dependent on the service it provides to the customers. Appropriate and flawless supply chain provides an opportunity for the business organization to ensure correct product assortment. However, as argued by Brandenburg et al. (2014), efficient supply chain management ensures that right quantity is delivered to the customers at the right time thereby, ensuring customer satisfaction. The ability to satisfy customers portrays marketing effectiveness, as the customers want to be part of the business organization that understands their needs in terms of both quality and quantity.
The financial resources and standard of the business organizations plays a major role in ensuring marketing effectiveness and are two significant components of operations or supply chain management. As mentioned by Ahi and Searcy (2013), effective supply chain helps marketing effectiveness by reducing the operating costs of the business organization. This is because the manufacturers and the suppliers rely largely on the operational managers for creating efficient networks. As a result, this helps in fulfilling and meeting the service goals of the business organizations at affordable rates. Unable to deliver to the customers is harmful for the business organizations, so the retailers want to deliver and meet the customer’s expectation timely for limiting inventory holds longer than necessary. However, as criticized by Hugos (2018), effective supply chain management also reduces the cost of production, as the materials are assembled and supplied to the target customers efficiently. Thus, the customers feel happy and satisfied when they are delivered the best both in terms of quality and in terms of quantity thereby, achieving marketing effectiveness.
Apart from the above-mentioned benefits of operations, supply chain management also improves the financial position of the business organization that improves the marketing effectiveness (Baldwin and Lopez-Gonzalez 2015). The lesser the operational cost the business organizations spend, the less they take it from the target customers. As a result, the business organizations are able to sale the products or services to the customers at a much lower price than its competitors. This draws a lot of attention of the customers, as they get the best quality and quantity of the product at an affordable price compared to the price offered in the market.
Considering the highly competitive market of Nigeria, Shell is facing issues in the operations or supply chain that is hampering the marketing effectiveness of the company.
Sales in the simplest terms are defined as the exchange of any commodities in return of money. The business organizations develop products and services with the aim of selling it to the target customers that provides them with the opportunity of incurring profit. As mentioned by Martinaityte and Sacramento (2013), effective sales by the business organizations allow them to entice customers by inducing customer traffic. However, on the contrary, selling also offers upselling and cross selling of the products that allows the business organizations to create a unique image in the eye of the customers. Thus, it can be said that the business organizations need to ensure marketing effectiveness for sustaining in the highly competitive business environment.
According to Brehaut et al. (2016), sales effectiveness is defined as the abilities of the sales professionals of the business organizations for winning each stage of the purchasing process of the customers by following and implementing the right terms and time frame. Having improved sales effectiveness is not considered as a sales functional issue for the company but it is regarded as a core functional issue of the company. This is because sales effectiveness requires collaborated work between the marketing and the sales team in order to understand what is working and what is not working for the company. In addition to, working in collaboration of both the sales and marketing team provides an opportunity for the business organizations to improve knowledge, skills and strategies continuously (Hartnett et al. 2016).
The concept of sales effectiveness is defined as the category that uses consulting services and technologies that aim towards helping the business organizations for improving their sales results. According to Preuss (2013), the aim of sales effectiveness is to maximize the revenue of the business organizations by offering increased customer acquisition, up selling, cross selling and product and service selling. However, as argued by Andrews et al. (2014), the purpose of sales effectiveness is to measure the sales performance force of the company along with that of the individual salesperson. However, a number of metrics are taken into consideration when the sales effectiveness is compared.
Having an improved sales effectiveness provides a competitive advantage for the business organizations. This is because in today’s competitive world, the business organizations need to leverage on their sales in order to reach out to the maximum customers and count on the return of investment. Though the concept and purpose of sales effectiveness is similar to most of the sales individuals, the tools and techniques can differ from each companies (Reinartz and Saffert 2013).
According to the information provided in the above section, it can be said that Nigeria business environment is crowded with companies manufacturing and producing oil that has given rise to a highly competitive market. However, Shell Nigeria is facing issues in achieving sales effectiveness, as the sales and marketing team are failing to work simultaneously and are unable to understand what is working and not working for the company in the Nigerian business environment.
Marketing is the significant aspect of a successful business, as effective marketing helps in understanding the needs and demands of the target customers and put that into the product or service. Marketing is a long-term process in which it is essential for the business organizations to assume the future needs and demands of the customers by considering the present trends followed by them. As commented by Leung, Bai and Stahura (2015), marketing is defined as the action or the business process for promoting or selling products and service to the selected audiences. However, as argued by Rahimnia and Hassanzadeh (2013), the concept of marketing highlights the ability of the business organizations to analyse the needs and demands of the customers followed by making suitable recommendations for fulfilling those needs and satisfying the customers better than the competitors. The success of the business organizations lies greatly on the marketing abilities of the companies.
As mentioned by Yasmin, Tasneem and Fatema (2015), marketing effectiveness is defined as the measure of the effectiveness for a given marketer’s go to market strategy for meeting the goal for increasing their spending for achieving positive results in both long-term and short term process. However, as argued by Reimer, Rutz and Pauwels (2014), the concept of marketing effectiveness highlights the ability of the business organizations to offer better and improved products and services compared to the target customers. Thus, marketing effectiveness provides an opportunity for the business organizations to create a unique image in the eye of the customers by fulfilling their present needs and analysing their future needs.
According to the information provided in the above section, it can be said that Nigeria business environment is crowded with companies manufacturing and producing oil that has given rise to a highly competitive market. However, Shell Nigeria is facing issues in achieving marketing effectiveness, as the sales and marketing team are failing to work simultaneously and are unable to understand what is working and not working for the company in the Nigerian business environment.
Conclusion
From the above information provided, it can be summarized that marketing effectiveness is crucial for making itself stand out from the competitors as well as creating a unique image in the eye of the target customers. Issues in Shell Nigeria has been encountered in terms production and marketing of oil in the country. This is because Nigeria is having several companies producing and marketing oil simultaneously. As a result, the business environment is becoming extremely competitive and highly saturated. Thus, effective marketing crucial and highly significant for Shell Nigeria, as this will help in analysing the factors such as market, operations, sales effectiveness and marketing effectiveness for effective marketing.
The questions of the research are:
The objectives of the research are:
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