Marketing Orientation And Management: Case Study Of BMW

The contribution of marketing to the achievement of organizational objectives

Marketing plays an important role in the success of any organization. Marketing management is the process of planning, regarding services and products and developing strategies related to promotion, advertising, to target potential customer segment. The report will discuss various aspect of marketing management, which will be described using the BMW organization case.

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, is a German based automobile, engine manufacturing, and Motorcycle Company that was initiated in 1916. The company is popular for its world-class cars and it one of the most globally admired and recognizable brand. The company is known for quality workmanship and reliability, and observing the statistics, in 2013, 1.95 million cars of BMW were sold. The company has high customer demand worldwide, and it is considered to be a status symbol to own a BMW car in many places and countries. The mission and objective of the company include sustainability and production technology, concentrating over innovation through a technological move towards digitalization, intelligent material mix, and resource efficient production. Moreover, flexibility and optimization of value chains continuously ensure competitiveness.

An organization can be either market-oriented or product oriented. Market oriented is where the company is developing the product according to the need of the customer. This is suitable where the target market is niche. Product-oriented is influencing people by their product and concentrate on the product to be offered, and according to the product, the customer group is targeted.

BWM is more of product-oriented when marketing orientation is considered. Product-oriented model of this company leads to the achievement of the objective of the company through:

• Economies of scale- for this orientation, the economies of scale are easily possible, as it involves factors like a large number of products and a decrease in the cost of manufacturing per product. According to this orientation, the major focus is centered across the product; this makes the company develop a product more efficiently and in large quantity. Therefore through economies of scale, the company can accomplish their objective of sustainability and optimal utilization of resources
• Technology investment- through product oriented, it let technology to be created, which can be utilized for a wide range of goods and services. Since the concentration is over product manufacturing, the technology used can be advanced and upgraded, and not according to what customer is expecting in the current scenario. Through this, the objective of innovation and digitalization shift can be achieved of BMW.
• Quality- the most popular character that BMW cars plays in the market is its reliability and quality, which makes it world-class cars. And being product oriented the quality is not provided by the company what customers are expecting, but with innovation, the company provided the much better options that it wishes to offer to the customers. Therefore, through high quality, the product-oriented model can support in objective accomplishment for BMW.

Five major principles of marketing that will be supportive in achieving objectives

1. Understanding customers – one of the marketing principle is to know your customer and their requirements. The major focus of BMW is providing best driving pleasure through its automobile sector, and motorcycle. The company understands the customer requirement while achieving the objective of minimizing resource use.  
2. Knowing the target market – the target market for BMW is “creative class” that is targeting customer segment, which is high-class people, or people wish to flaunt their status. Through knowing your target customer, achieving the objective of increase in sale and profit becomes achievable
3. Revealing value – this principle of marketing indicates the communication effectiveness of the company to attract the maximum customer. For example- BMW, through one of its tagline, that is “The ultimate driving machine,” communicate itself about the focus of the product on quality, high-performance vehicle, driving a pleasure, and through this marketing principle, the objective of innovation is achieved. The company is indicating innovation in their product through such messages.
4. Growing network- this marketing principle says that a company for achieving the objective have to grow their network through either expanding their market, which a positive point for BMW, as it has already established its foot worldwide. The company tries to increase their customer base and target more and more customer like while introducing a sports edition of cars, to achieve its objectives.
5. Building relationship – relationship building is a very important aspect of marketing, which is responsible for the sustainability of the company and the success of BMW. BMW is focusing on building relationship internationally, and become most successful internationally, which will be helpful in achieving the objectives of the company and lead to the sustainable growth of the company

There are various functional areas within an organization, which is performing their task, marketing is one of those areas and need to be integrated with others because:

• The relevance of human resource activity- this functional are involve recruiting people in the organization and this is also for marketing employees. The right person in the right job with apt capabilities will be responsible for effective marketing strategies.
• Customer service support – another functional activity is service is, where the queries, complaints, and feedback from customers are conducted. This need to be integrated with the marketing team as the feedback, suggestions, and complaints of the customer act as a base for upcoming marketing strategies and change in marketing products.
• Accounting and finance – this department is responsible for budgeting, allocating resources, which the marketing team has to follow for an overall profit of the company. The finance department fixes the budget for the marketing of the company, which need to be considered while conducting marketing activities. Therefore, the integration of the two activities plays an important role.
• Research and development – in order to achieve the objective of innovation of BMW, the research and development team work in order to search for innovative technology, and requirement of a change in any process, moreover new designs, new ways to perform the certain task are don by this team. According to the findings of the team, marketing activities are conducted in an organization, which reflect the need for integration between two activities.
• Operations – this department is responsible for designing, overseeing, and controlling the production process and redesigning operations of a business in the production of services and products. Moreover, these activities are held responsible for ensuring an effective functional flow within the organization, which needs to be integrated with marketing activity as well
• Legal department – the company is working overseas, the legal issues need to be observed before trading or entering into a company. Marketing activity to conduct into any country, legal requirement needs to be studied well before. 

Marketing mix of product and services include 4P’s for product and additional 4Ps for services. Considered a product of the company, 4P’s will be considered in the marketing mix of BMW. This structure includes product, priced, place, and promotion.

• Product – this factor includes physical goods, which is being offered to the customer. Since the company major objective is innovation, the product created for the customers are designed with the inclusion of innovation in designing, and technology. The company focus is to introduce with the latest version, latest technology, and highest quality product. The product features also depend on the customers to target, for example, if the customer segment with the sports field is there, then a separate sports version is launched  
• Price – this aspect of the structure include pricing strategy of the company. The pricing strategy of BMW is a high-end product with expensive pricing. This also depends on the version of the model. For example, the five series model has a different variation, according to which the pricing is done. Moreover, the pricing is also different for the target market or country the car is launched to sell.
• Place – place aspect of the structure include the target market where the product is to be launched and which customer segment is to be targeted. Moreover, placing includes distribution strategy as well, that how the product launched is distributed to the target customer segment
• Promotion – this aspect includes the promotional strategy of the company. This also includes the communication structure of the company, as well as the message to influence customer perception regarding the product. The ways to promote the product to the potential customer is decided at this point of the structure 

Market segmentation can be done based on four types that are behavioral, psychographic, and demographics. This plays a vital role in structuring target market. The segmentation of BMW is mono segment type, which includes expensive vehicles that are to attract solo customer segment. Through the structuring target, the market becomes feasible.

The target market is ensuring that the products are offered to the correct audience and the energy is utilized to attract the potential customer. Initially, the focus is on the need for service or product to the customer, which is the highest quality product with luxury and premium designing is for BMW.

Reasons for integrating the marketing function with other functional activities

Then target market is refined, this can be done by identifying the buyers of the product, since many years the buyers of BMW are identified to be at the age of 35 around 35 to 50, and with the taste of products aspiration and have social status value.  

Income is most significant while targeting customer for BMW, as already discussed the products offered are on the expensive side. Therefore, while structuring target market, the country or market where low-income group people are in majority, targeting that market would be of no use.

• Product
• BMW 5 series is the focused product, it is an executive care, which was launched and initiated selling in 2017.
• The ranges of the model included 5 door wagon or estate that is G31; 4 door saloon or sedan that is G30; and G38, a model that was sold only in China that a 4 door sedan long wheelbase
• The models come in diesel and petrol variations
• The product is majorly focused on the highest quality product, including this model
• Innovation is another aspect that is included while considering their characteristic, design, and driving experience
• Price
• The pricing strategy of the car is similar for all the launched products, that is the premium priced model.
• The price is different according to the model variations
• The company has also launched some standard cars that were low priced
• Place
• For sale of its products, the company has a large dealers network, and it does not include distributors for trading. In addition, the company directly sell its product, through showroom dealers, because the cost involves for the distributors are very much as compared to the dealership.
• The model was launched worldwide, except for one variation that was launch in China
• The location of the showrooms is at premium sections of urban cities
• The company is operating through more than 6000 dealerships worldwide. The company’s partners in logistics are local members of the dealing nation.
• Promotion
• “It’s a work of art,” is the message for this model that has been communicated due to its innovation
• The promotional message includes the sophisticated and stylish model; moreover, the comfortably is highlighted, technological features of the model which includes intelligent voice control, navigation, entertainment, and communication.
• The ways of promotion include advertising through television, journals.
• Publicity, one of the promotion includes publicity, as the company is the most reputable company worldwide. For example, Forbes.com included survey conducted for BMW, which included customer perception about the company
• Point of sale is one of the ways to sales the product, and by making the product available to the customer, the company attract potential customer

• Positioning – one of the major objectives of marketing strategy formulation of BMW is to know the segmentation, target market, and the positioning strategy of the company
• Market analysis – marketing strategies include analyzing the target market that is the automobile sector for BMW, the competitors and their strategies like Jaguar, and Mercedes. This also includes the analysis of luxury segment growth in the automobile market
• Competitive analysis – the objective of marketing strategy include analysis the competitive companies, their market share, their strategies, their product launch and have an eye over their future activities in order to be aware and create competitive advantage in the industry
• Competitive advantage – through marketing strategies, the main objective is to identify the competitive advantage of the company or product launch, that will influence the customer to purchase that product than that of the competitor brands. This is to be known for the growth of the company and sustain in the race to be the largest automobile company in the world. As mentioned before, quality, reliability, and innovation are the major competitive advantage of BMW
• Marketing mix – marketing mix structure is designed under the marketing strategy, which includes the decision regarding the product to be manufactured and launched, its price, and promotion strategies for the product and target place to launch the product
• Distribution strategy – through marketing strategy, the distribution strategy of the company are identified. BMW distribution strategy includes distribution through flagship store through dealers for better customer experiences.

• Money/ financial resource – the cost involved in developing a marketing strategy is high because it includes various research, which is either done by the research and development team or outsourced to another company
• Time/ Emotional resources – since various aspects are analyzed and developed in a marketing strategy, the time to develop is very much. Developing a marketing plan include analysis of company inside out, internal and external factors that are SWOT analysis, a market analysis that is identifying the growth of the industry, especially luxury segment. With this, the customer segmentation is decided, and the target market as well. Moreover, marketing mix id developed for the product and services to be offered by the company
• Expertise/ Human resource – next resource comes the human resource because this is the most imprint aspect to develop a marketing strategy. It is the mind of an individual, who has more value than any machine in the world. To develop a strategy a whole team is involved, which is working for this development of the strategy. The knowledge for such activity plays an important role; therefore expert is needed to develop the strategies.
• Technology/ Physical resources – technology is required to create a marketing strategy for a company, this can be outsourced as latest technology is required to complete this task, or the company itself can upgrade the system with the required technology and software.

Implementation is to bring the plan into action. It is an essential step, as there would be no use if the strategies were planned and created but did not implement. The steps involved in implementation through which objectives are achieved are:

• Communication with employees – the marketing strategies are communicated to the employees of BMW, which will be responsible for the implementation of the strategies, these could be lower level managers.
• Knowing the end goal – it is important to know what the end goal is for the respective marketing strategy. For BMW, the end goal would be to be ahead in the competition, being socially responsible, and the increase of sales of BMW globally.
• Monitoring progress – a plan is always estimated and forecasted, which needs to be revised as it initiates to implement because the environment it is implementing is dynamic. Therefore, a continuous monitoring is required.
• Making adjustments – change in the market, technology, customers, competition, suppliers or any further external factor is to be observed and accordingly the changes are made by BMW  in order to achieve the objective
• Contingency plan development – since changes are very common in the implementation process, a plan B that is the contingency plans are developed like extending time frames, refining the objectives, or adding new stages into implementation action.
• Seeking expert advice – measurement of marketing activities are done either by an expert from BMW company, or another external marketing expert to ensure if the strategy implemented is moving towards the achievement of the company’s objectives.

• Competitor analysis – one of the main purpose of marketing strategies to review,  is analysis if the strategies the company has implemented is according to their competitors, the check if a competitor has not imitated the similar strategy, if the strategy implemented is turned out to be a competitive advantage or not. Therefore, the marketing strategies implemented have to be reviewed and tested, and afterward, in case of any deviation, the strategies are updated.  
• Customer analysis – after successfully implementing the strategies, the reviewing become necessary to see if the customer’s reaction are positive towards the act, is the planned effect on sale and customer perception is visible after implementation or not, in case of the implementation results into a decrease in sale instead of increase, it has to revised immediately
• Customer feedback – through reviewing, feedback from the customer is taken. It is assumed that the customer is perceiving the strategy positively, but when the strategy is implemented that is the actual action has been taken place, the scenario can be different, the customer feedback regarding the same can be as per the planned strategy or it can be negative as well. Therefore, for taking feedback, reviewing stage is essential.
• Cost analysis – budget for the strategy is fixed, but is the implementation of the strategy is as per that budget and not exceeding it is checked through review. 

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