Strategic Marketing Planning for International Expansion

Introduction

Marketing strategic planning provides an opportunity to all the multinational corporate firms to develop effective tactics to expand the business internationally (McDONALD, 2016). The aim of the study is to analyse the market environment for the company Ambala Sweet and develop the marketing goals which would be SMART objectives. After analysing the internal and external business environment for the organisation, it would be easy to develop effective marketing planning for the organisation ton achieve the future success and maximise the marketing objectives of the firm where the firm will be able to expand their business internationally. For students struggling with similar tasks, seeking marketing dissertation help can be valuable. The country is Croatia in this study, where the organisation Ambala Sweet aims to expand their business through developing appropriate marketing strategic planning so that the market opportunities would be utilised for successful expansion of the business.

Ambala sweet

Ambala sweet is the sweet shop, where it is efficient to provide variety of sweets and snacks items to the customers and the company is efficient to satisfy the customers by providing sweet items which are in good quality. Though the price of the organisational products is medium to high, the quality is good for which the company is successful to retain ling run customers in the market. The company aims to expand their business internationally and run their operational activities in long run sustainably. It is hereby necessary to analyse the internal and external business environment so that effective marketing objectives and marketing strategic planning can be developed further so that the organisation Ambala Sweet would be efficient to expand their business in Croatia.

SWOT analysis

The major strengths of the organisation Ambala Sweet are managing high quality of the products, efficient employees who are capable of handling the organisational operations, strong supply chain and strong financial base, which influence the company to expand their business across the globe. The employees are efficient to handle the operations and serve the customers in long run which further helps the brand to strengthen their customer’s base. The weakness of the company are such as lack of product variety, low capital for research and development and lack of marketing tactics for which the company fails to strengthen their customers base with attracting new audiences in the market and retaining new customers for their quality products and services. Additionally, the major opportunities of the company for future growth and brand expansion are market growth , e-commerce market expansion, online activities, strong customer base in the market and high demand for variety of snacks and sweets which are beneficial for the company to expand their business sustainably in near future. The company has the capability to expand their business by grabbing the market opportunities, where high market growth and business environment of Croatia are suitable for the organisation for successful expansion of the brand and strengthening their customers base successfully (Dangi et al., 2018). Additionally, there are certain threats which are high competitive threats for substitute products in the market and intense competition and it is necessary for the company to mitigate the threats and utilize the market opportunities to expand the business successfully.

Porter’s five forces analysis

Threats of new entrants:

The threat of new entrant is moderate, as the company has the strong base in the market due to its quality products and services (Crick, J. M. and Crick, D., 2018). For the new entrants, it becomes difficult to start the business and grab the market scope instantly, where for Ambala Sweet, it has the idea and tactics to grab the market opportunities and expand their business in the market for successful internationalisation of the business.

Threats of substitute products:

The threat of substitute products is high for the company Ambala Sweet, where the company provides the same products which can be provided by other sweet companies in the market. Due to lack of product diversity, the threat of substitute products is high for the organisation Ambala Sweet.

Competitive rivalry:

Competitive rivalry is high, where there are other firms, operating in the market where they are efficient to serve the customers efficiently with the quality products and efficient services to meet the customer’s requirements and maximise their values. Hereby, the threat of competition in the sweet and snack industry is high for the company Ambala Sweet.

Bargaining power of the customers:

The bargaining power of the customers for the products and services of Ambala Sweet is moderate, as there exist there competitive firms in the market, who are also efficient to deliver high quality products and this in turn influence the customers to bargain for the products of Ambala Sweet.

Bargaining power of the suppliers:

The bargaining power of the suppliers is also moderate, as the company tries to expand their business and there is no such string international supply chain for which the suppliers also get the scope to bargain for their services (Menzies, 2017).

PESTLE analysis of Croatia

Political:

The government of the country Croatia support international trade and influence the small and medium sized business to enter into the market and follow the legislative structure with cooperation with the WTO, so that the business transparency can be maintained well in the country. Political stability is hereby beneficial for the organisation to enter into the international country Croatia and establish the business successful with full cooperation with the government of Croatia (Channon and Jalland, 2016).

Economic:

As per the economic factors, there is high growth and development in National Income and GDP where as per the estimation by IMF, there is CAGR growth of 3.7% from the achieved HRK 333.836 billion (2015 statistics) to HRK 430.523 billion by 2022. Additionally, national Income of the country and per capita income are also increasing year by year which further influence the business to enter into Croatia market and invest for successful establishment of the brand (Statista, 2020a).

Social:

Though there is unemployment in the country, it has been seen that, the GDP growth rate has contributed in the society. Social development as well as people learning and activities are favourable for the organisation to enter into the market and attract the audiences for long run. The people in the country refer creative products and they try to maximise their values by investing adequate amount of money and thus it further influence the company to restructure their marketing strategic planning for satisfying the customers in Croatia.

Technological:

There is technological advancement in the country, where the organisation can utilise the creativity and latest technology in the market for better performance. There is strong influence of Information Technology as well as science, education and sports where people refer to conduct in depth research and development for improving creativity and innovation in their performance. The organisation hereby has the chance to utilise the advance technology in expanding their business in Croatia (Statista, 2020b).

Legal:

The legal constitution of the country is suitable for the small and medium sized business, where the mechanisms of credit acquisition, minority investment protection, contract enforcement and insolvency resolutions are effective to guide the entrepreneurs and support them for successful establishment of their business in the country. Additionally, registering of property, tax remission and cross-border trading activities are also favourable which influence the businesses to invest in the country and expand their business internationally (Statista, 2020c).

Environmental:

Environmental policies and sustainable practice are the ventral to the business investment and the people in the country refer to have healthy and safe life to maximise their wellbeing. This practice further influences the businesses to develop sustainable strategic planning in order to satisfy the social communities of Croatia. Environmental protection is on the greater emphasise, where people and the government of Croatia refer to manage the business activities sustainable and protect the environment successfully.

Industry overview

Croatia is a high income country with population growth of -0.6% in 2018 and real GDP growth at 2.8% and the industry of Croatia is growing rapidly with technological advancement, manufacturing growth and social development. As per the e-commerce growth, the revenue is growing rapidly and it is expected to US$536m in 2020. Additionally, it is also expected to raise the market volume of US$668m by 2024.

As per the figure above, there is growth in food and beverage industry where the customer demand for variety of food and beverages is increasing year by year and it is expected to grow faster than previous years.

The figure above stated that, the users of e-commerce is also growing and it further influence the organisations to improve their online presence in the market so that it can have the opportunity tot strengthen their position in the market of Croatia by retaining the online buyers through company website or mobile application of the organisation.

The online purchase activities are also growing rapidly where the customers prefer to make effective purchase decisions online by reviewing the products and services, available for them and identifying their needs and preferences as well as budget constraint. As per the industry overview and recent trend in the industry, the customers demand in the food and beverage industry is rising rapidly where the people prefer healthy and quality food items as the individuals in the recent years are more concern about their health and they try to maximise wellbeing by eating healthy food items. On the other hand, there is high demand for online shopping which further provides an opportunity to Ambala Sweet to strengthen their marketing strategic planning and promote their business in the market through increasing online ac6tvitiies, so that it would be possible for the organisation to strengthen their customer’s base in Croatia and fulfil the marketing objectives of the business (Statista, 2020b).

Opportunity for Ambala sweet in Croatia

The major opportunities in the recent era of business environment are high demand of the customers for variety of products and services in the market, technological advancement and online business expansion. In this regard, political stability and government support for international trade would be beneficial for the organisation Ambala Sweet in running their operations successfully and ensure internationalisation of the business by expanding their operations in Croatia. In addition to this, the economic growth and social development are also contributing factors in influencing foreign direct investment and attracting more business entrepreneurs to invest in the country for better performance. The market base is also strong in the country, where there is high demand of the customers and the consumers prefer to maximise their values by investing money and thus it is necessary for the organisations to develop creative strategic planning in order to satisfy the customers and maximise their values in long run (Ebrahimi and Banaeifard, 2018). On the other hand, the environmental protection is also there, which is also another opportunity for the organisation Ambala Sweet to run their business operational activities sustainably so that they can establish the brand in the market efficiently and create values for the social communities. In addition to this, there is high growth in the online shooing and ecommerce where people prefer to make easy payments through bank online transfer and thus the business of Ambala Sweet also has the opportunity to expand their business through online activities and this in turn provides a scope to the organisation to retain the customers and attract more audiences through increasing online activities and e-commerce services. Technological advancement and legal framework are also contributing factors which influence the business to run their operations efficiently by following all the trade related legislations and also by improving innovation and creativity (Hanlon, 2019). Hereby, as per the internal and external business environment, the organisation Ambala Sweet has the capability to utilise the market opportunities and develop effective marketing mix strategic planning in order to expand their business internationally by entering into the new place, Croatia.

SMART objective for the company

The major marketing objectives of the company will be,

To maximise the profitability and sales volume of the business

To international the business digitally or through traditional marketing tactics

To gain high competitive advantage and market share through strengthening their customers base

These SMART objectives will be evaluated in terms of the organisational capabilities and strategic planning.

Developing marketing strategic planning for the company

As per the external and internal business environmental analysis, it can be stated that, the country Croatia is suitable for the small and medium sized business like Ambala Sweet in order to expand their business internally and grab the market opportunities. In this regard, the marketing strategic planning will be developed further.

Product diversification:

Product diversification is one of the best strategies that will be helpful for Ambala Sweet to establish their business innovatively. In this regard, the company needs to manufacture quality and healthy products with proper utilisation of fresh fruits, raw materials; nuts and other protein related food so that the customers can prefer a huge variety of sweet and snacks according to their personal needs and references. Apart from that, the consumers in the country are health concern and for which it would beneficial for the company to manufacture low sugar and low calorie sweet which can attract a new customers segment, where the people can make effective surcease decision for the quality sweets which are in low calorie and low sweet content. Additionally, as the country is concerned about environmental protection, it would be beneficial for Ambala Sweet to improve product packaging by paper packaging system and avoid plastic packaging to sustain in the business and improve environmental footprint.

Pricing:

Riving is another factor which is important for the company to establish the brand in the new market, Croatia. In this regard, the company Ambala Sweet needs to implement premium pricing strategy through which it is possible to set lower price which could represent the quality and quantity of the organisational products. As the customers of Croatia refer to maximise their values against their investment, it is necessary to restructure their pricing strategy and set competitive rice to attract the customers in the country. Apart from that, the organisation needs to provide riving offers through discounts and seasonal offers to attract the audiences in the market and this strategy would be effective for the organisation to strengthen their customers base in the new international country.

Placing:

Lacing is also important to develop effective operational activities and run the business suitably. In this regard, the organisation needs to strengthen their supply chain to serve the customers in a better way and manage the online operations. Hiring the efficient suppliers as well as fulfilling their requirements by providing high values over their investment would be beneficial for Ambala Sweet to strengthen their supplier base and food chain of the firm. Additionally, the company must maintain the distribution network where the distributors can deliver the organisational quality products safely to the customers within effective time.

Promotion:

Promotional activities are the major strategy for market expansion where the company needs to invest on technological advancement and develop an efficient mobile application, where the customers can review the available product variety of Ambala Sweet and make effective purchase decision through the Smartphone on one click option. Designing the application with attractive product pictures, developing creative and simple content about their pricing and quality as well as quantity of the products will be beneficial for the organisation to promote the business in the country. Additionally, the company needs to arrange social media campaigning and attract more audiences in the market through engagement and open communication where the campaigning would be beneficial to promote the organisational products and improve branding in the market. Social media advertisement is another tactic, where the firm needs to post on FaceBook and create effective video for uploading on YouTube for successful promotion of the business. Proper information about the product quality, description of the raw materials used to manufacture the products, sugar content, calories content as well as pricing and quantity are effective to improve trust and loyalty with the customers and retain them for long run.

Hereby, the above mentioned marketing strategic planning would be beneficial for the organisation Ambala Sweet to maximise the marketing objectives and secure future sustainable development in the food and beverage industry of Croatia.

Reference List

Channon, D.F. and Jalland, M., 2016. Multinational strategic planning. Berlin: Springer.

Crick, J.M. and Crick, D., 2018. ‘Lean Start-Up’Practices: Initial Internationalization and Evolving Business Models. In Advances in Global Marketing (pp. 37-58). Springer, Cham.

Dangi, M.R.M., Ismail, A.H., Johari, R.J. and Noor, R.M., 2018. SME’s Internationalization Initiatives: Business & Growth Strategy ICT and Technology. Int. J. Accounting, Financ. Bus, 3(12), pp.63-75.

Ebrahimi, A. and Banaeifard, H., 2018. The influence of internal and external factors on the marketing strategic planning in SNOWA Corporation. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 33(8), pp.1065-1073.

Hanlon, A., 2019. Digital marketing: strategic planning & integration. London: SAGE Publications Limited.

McDONALD, M.A.L.C.O.L.M., 2016. Strategic marketing planning: theory and practice. In The marketing book (pp. 108-142). Routledge.

Menzies, S., 2017. Networking impact on internationalization of SMEs. In SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE ON ECONOMICS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP SCEE’2017 (p. 72).

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