The Impact Of Digital Marketing On Small Medium Enterprises Of Australia: A Case Study Of Planet Innovation

The Shift Towards Online Information

Question:

Describe about the term for Social Media in Tourism.

Project Title

The impact of Digital Marketing on Small Medium Enterprises of Australia: A Case Study of Planet Innovation

q country are highly influenced by the particular phenomenon and Australia is not an exception to such scenario. According to Mitchell et al., (1995), the use of the internet is based on indicating the level of democracy in the country (Zeng & Gerritsen, 2014). Considering the scenario of Australia, small businesses play a pivotal role in the overall economy of the country. It is observed that the small businesses account for half of the total employment across the country, which suggests that the growth of the particular sector should need to be sustained to contribute positively to the economy of the country. Due to the huge competition, small businesses within the country strive to achieve the success, where multiple companies meet with the failure (Meske & Stieglitz, 2013). Because of the inadequacy of the financial resources and the inability to cope up with the changing requirements of the digital marketing approaches, various small businesses of the country experience the malfunction. In the case of Planet Innovation, the overall progress of the company ensures it as one of the fastest growing small, medium enterprises of Australia (Wamba & Carter, 2014). The growth of the company is majorly contributed by its ability to cope up with the technologic advancement to ensure the positive impact is delivered to the global environment.

The way of receiving and exchanging information changes over the time and with the advancement of technology and increasing internet adoption rates within the economy, the significant shift in finding and utilising the information can be observed. According to the research conducted by Zickhuhr and Smith (2012), almost 92% of the consumers of Australia tend to search online to obtain the useful information about the products or services (Barraket & Yousefpour, 2013). Therefore, the owners of the small businesses like Planet Innovation must need to embrace the online marketing practices to reach the target audiences across the digital marketing segment. The underlying shift in digital marketing is based on the increasing amount of marketing benefits than opting for the traditional media channels. In order to survive in the highly competitive business environment, the small businesses like Planet Innovation must need to adopt the digital marketing techniques (Inyang, 2013). Based on the primary observation, it can be determined that the owners of small businesses often face significant challenges during the implementation and utilisation of internet marketing process to promote their products and services. Inadequate knowledge of the marketing personnel regarding the deployment of digital marketing is considered as the primary problem for Planet Innovation during the development and implementation of digital marketing strategy.

Purpose of the Research

The primary purpose of the study will be based on undertaking the research on how the small and medium sized business owners of Australia develop and implement digital marketing strategy for the growth of their operations. The particular purpose is defined to develop the understanding related to the implication of the positive social changes caused by the emergence of digital marketing and its involvement in the business world (Wamba & Carter, 2013). Hence, the overall aim of the study is to reduce the chances of small businesses like Planet Innovation to experience the failure by establishing the suitable techniques to adopt the digital marketing strategies.

Importance of Digital Marketing for Small Businesses

For drawing the conclusion of the study, multiple questions will be required to answer. Complying with the aim of the overall investigation, the fundamental research questions are outlined below (Cochrane et al., 2013):

What is the effectiveness of digital marketing strategies for the small and medium businesses?

How the return on investing in the digital marketing techniques can be determined for the small and medium sized enterprises?

What is the relevance of outsourcing the digital marketing strategies by the small and medium sized businesses?

What is the impact of adopting the digital marketing strategies by the small and medium sized businesses?

The importance of the research is based on developing suitable understanding of the fundamental concepts associated with the digital marketing initiatives undertaken by Planet Innovation in its domestic market. The proper sense of the strategies and operations of the small medium enterprises of Australia can be developed as part of the research (Kotler et al., 2015). On the other hand, the findings of the research will be included with the art of online marketing for determining the right strategies, which should be adopted for the marketing mix. Apart from that, the return on investment (ROI) and financial consequences of the business investments can be justified appropriately in the context of the chosen small, medium enterprise.

The summary related to the literature associated with the chosen project contains the peer-reviewed journal articles, books, and websites of the identified company. The articles and works developed between 2012 and 2016 are prioritised importantly for developing the study.

According to the survey carried out by the SBA (2014), 99.7% firms in Australia represent the small enterprises providing employment opportunities to the workforce of the country (Sen & Cowley, 2013).  It is determined that half of the employment is contributed by the small, medium business organizations of the country. Apart from that, the small businesses within the country not only create new jobs but also contribute majorly to the entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity, as dictated by Valadez (2012). The similar scenario can be observed by the operations of Planet Innovations, where the company develops and commercialises products to its customers through the adequate involvement of technology (Gronum, Verreynne, & Kastelle, 2012). Based on the annual report of the company for the year 2015, the continuous improvement of Planet Innovation’s financial position can be determined effectively. Such improvement is largely caused by providing technologic innovation, product development, and commercialisation expertise to the various companies around the world. Planet Innovation’s focus on the biomedical, hi-tech, and clean-tech industries mostly assists the business to utilise the digital marketing strategies in the proper direction (Nakara, Benmoussa, & Jaouen, 2012).

According to Jazra et al., (2012), the growth and development of the small businesses are fundamental to the health of the overall economic system. However, with the help of the identified study, it is also observed that the survival rate of the new employers is comparatively little in the proposed community. As dictated by Halibi & Lussier (2014), the profitability of the small and medium sized businesses should need to be elevated to promote the survival (Du, Guariglia, & Newman, 2015). Apart from that, the owners of this kind of businesses should need to develop proper understanding about the factors leading towards the failure. Such factors will ensure the firms to acquire the sufficient financial resources to capitalise on the digital marketing aspect favouring the process of survival.

Research Questions

Single Case Study

The research is identified to be accomplished by adopting the qualitative approach, which is appropriate for gaining the in-depth understanding about the nature of operations undertaken by the owners of small medium businesses. Apart from the utilisation of various articles and journals, a single case study related to the online marketing approaches of Planet Innovation will be prioritised for extracting the primary evidence for developing the useful content (Du, Guariglia, & Newman, 2015). According to Bluhm et al., (2012), qualitative approach as part of the research helps the researcher to gain the deeper knowledge about the various issues, contexts, and approaches to the identified subject. By the support of the case study involving the identified company, the activities of the SMEs can be understood precisely, rather than predicting the phenomena.

The primary data will be aimed to collect through the application of semi-structured interviews based on the predesigned questionnaire. Primary data represents the information gathered by the researcher through the personal experiment (Sen & Cowley, 2013). The managers and supervisors of Planet Innovation are interviewed properly for determining the approaches and practices undertaken by the firm as part of the digital marketing strategy.

The secondary data collection is extensively based on the analysis of case study associated with Planet Innovation. Apart from that, the evaluation is made to the different studies and works of previous scholars and researchers providing vital feedbacks regarding the use of digital marketing concepts and impact of such process to the businesses (Kotler et al., 2015). As part of the qualitative research, theoretical foundation out of the secondary analysis will be prioritised primarily to ensure the validity and reliability of overall findings.

Ethical guidelines and practice will be followed significantly during the collection of data from the various sources and participants. Firstly, it will be ensured that the under-aged individuals are excluded from the data collection process. Secondly, a proper consent form will be obtained from the university, which in turn will be provided to the research participants for filling them adequately (Cochrane et al., 2013). Thirdly, as recommended by Rubin and Rubin (2012), proper respect will be given to the participants in a mean to develop the trust among the involving parties. In addition, they will be provided with the particular opportunity to engage in the reviewing the interview transcripts for maintaining the rationale behind the identified findings.

Research Activities	1-4	4-8	8-12	12-16	16-20	20-24	24-28
Topic of the Research	ü
Analysis of the secondary  source
Layout of the investigation
Literature review and theories
Operations and research plans			ü
Research Plans and Techniques
Secondary data Analysis			ü
Interpretation of Data Analysis
Findings  and Analysis
Conclusion and Summary
Formation of Draft
Final Submission of  the research Paper

References

Zeng, B., & Gerritsen, R. (2014). What do we know about social media in tourism? A review. Tourism Management Perspectives, 10, 27-36.

Wamba, S. F., & Carter, L. (2014). Social media tools adoption and use by SMES: An empirical study. Journal of Organizational and End User Computing (JOEUC), 26(2), 1-17.

Barraket, J., & Yousefpour, N. (2013). Evaluation and social impact measurement amongst small to medium social enterprises: process, purpose and value. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 72(4), 447-458.

Inyang, B. J. (2013). Defining the role engagement of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in corporate social responsibility (CSR).International business research, 6(5), 123.

Cochrane, T., Sissons, H., Mulrennan, D., & Pamatatau, R. (2013). Journalism 2.0: Exploring the impact of mobile and social media on journalism education. International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning (IJMBL), 5(2), 22-38.

Kotler, P., Burton, S., Deans, K., Brown, L., & Armstrong, G. (2015).Marketing. Pearson Higher Education AU.

Sen, S., & Cowley, J. (2013). The relevance of stakeholder theory and social capital theory in the context of CSR in SMEs: An Australian perspective.Journal of Business Ethics, 118(2), 413-427.

Gronum, S., Verreynne, M. L., & Kastelle, T. (2012). The role of networks in small and mediumâ€Âsized enterprise innovation and firm performance. Journal of Small Business Management, 50(2), 257-282.

Nakara, W. A., Benmoussa, F. Z., & Jaouen, A. (2012). Entrepreneurship and social media marketing: Evidence from French small business.International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 16(4), 386-405.

Du, J., Guariglia, A., & Newman, A. (2015). Do Social Capital Building Strategies Influence the Financing Behavior of Chinese Private Small and Mediumâ€ÂSized Enterprises?. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39(3), 601-631.

Wamba, S. F., & Carter, L. (2013, January). Twitter adoption and use by SMEs: An empirical study. In System Sciences (HICSS), 2013 46th Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 2042-2049). IEEE.

Meske, C., & Stieglitz, S. (2013, June). Adoption and use of social media in small and medium-sized enterprises. In Working Conference on Practice-Driven Research on Enterprise Transformation (pp. 61-75). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.