Marketing Environment - Coursework Example

MARKETING PLAN …………………. College/ ………….. …………. Introduction Today’s marketing environment is largely influenced by technology, globalization, fierce competition and ever-changing customers’ specific requirements. Therefore, it is critical to any marketer to foresee how these market forces may impact the his business domain and how they can be managed in order to make all marketing activities successful. This paper presents a brief marketing plan for Auto Tech Associates considering major parts in the plan such as mission and vision statement, marketing objectives, core competencies and competitive advantage. This marketing plan also presents brief analysis such as SWOT, industry, company and competitor analyses. Company Description Auto Tech Associates is an automotive business, located in Queens, New York, and distributes various accessories and other material required for vehicles. The company markets oil, oil filters, wiper blades, air filter, wiper fluids, antifreeze and many other kinds of materials that are required by gas stations, mechanics, auto-parts stores etc. For Auto Tech Associates, distributing the auto-fluids and materials is no the mere and core idea behind its marketing, instead it strives to put sincere efforts to create, communicate and deliver reasonable values to its customers. As Kerin et al (2005, p. 8) stressed, for the marketing to be successful, the marketer must give extreme emphasis on creating and communicating the values to the customers. More over, the company considers maintaining customer relationship as the core strategic focus since building customer relationship is at the very heart of modern marketing, as denoted by Armstrong and Kotler (2005, p. 6). Strategic Focus and Plan No matter how small or the larger is the business, strategic approach in marketing has emerged to be one of the extremely vital components of contemporary marketing. Strategy is perhaps the most significant terms in marketing today. When it comes to Auto Tech Associates, the main strategy is maintaining long-term customer relationship. A better customer relationship is key success factor to achieving competitive advantage and become successful in the marketing as well. Mission, Vision and Business Goals ‘To distribute high-value automotive accessories to the customers and create a brand image in their mind for the superior value in the market’ is the main mission that Auto Tech Associates would like to communicate to the targeted customers. In order to achieve this mission and business goal, the company proposes to conduct its business based on few strategies like distributing quality items, valuing customers’ perceptions, making regular quality assurance and checks and taking care of the employees and other stakeholders. As Armstrong and Kotler (2005, p. 42) noted, mission statement will be one of the key marketing strategies in terms of satisfying customer needs. As part of its vision, Auto Tech Associates plans to creating and maintaining long-term customer relationship so that it would like to take advantage of long-term profitability. As and when the company is able to meet customers’ specific and general goals, it will be able to create and establish customer relationship and to convert the same in to long-term profitability. Though both vision and mission signify company’s goals, the fundamental business goal of the company is to survive in the rigorously competitive market with any successful and effective strategy that can help it stay long. Core Competency and Sustainable Competitive Advantage In terms of the core competencies, Auto Tech Associates plans to achieve unique ability to 1) distribute distinctive and high quality auto-parts or fluids and fuels that are manufactured by using imported materials from Japan or other countries and 2) to deliver these items to customers or automotive firms using effective distribution system. To convert these core competencies to sustainable competitive advantage, the company will have to work with various stakeholders, mainly suppliers and their party sellers so that it can reach the targeted customers. Kotler and Keller (2006, p. 150) found that accompany can be said to have achieved competitive advantage when it is able to perform in one or more ways that its competitors cannot or will not match. Auto Tech Associates can translate its core competencies to competitive advantage only if it takes in to account some effective strategies and thus concentrating more on creating and delivering proposed values to the customers. Situation Analysis 1- SWOT analysis Strengths Weaknesses Greater emphasis on value creation and customer satisfaction through on-going customer relationship Integrated approach to marketing-mix elements Customers’ strong desire for quality automotive materials Strong desire to deliver value to customers based on value propositions. Advantages of using supply chain in marketing through suppliers Needs to be quick-adaptive all the technological changes, Customers who would like to get repairing and other services may not be satisfied since the company confines in distribution of some materials. Less-numbers of personnel in management levels, Lack of investment in research and Development Opportunities Threats Advantages of local market Growing needs of auto-accessories and fluids for small-workshops and other firms, High competition from many market players in the same industry, Customers tend to directly approach the original companies of the vehicle they use, Risks associated with regular threats of economic crisis 2- Industry Analysis The US automotive industry is large as it comprises of all those firms that are involved in designing, developing and manufacturing of motor vehicles, accessories, major components, batteries, fuels and fluids etc (Automotive Industry, 2010). The big-three in the industry are GM, Ford, and Chrysler. For a company like Auto Tech Associates, the market is too small and the operation will be highly impacted of the big-three’s market operations. 3- Competitor Analysis Ireland, Hoskisson and Hitt (2007, p. 162) noted that competitor analysis sought to be one of the foremost important steps in marketing and strategic planning so that the firm will be able to predict the extent and nature of the competitive rivalry, to assess how effective and successful they are in the market, to recognize what strategies they take and to discover new strategies that may help them defeat their competitors. There are hundreds of small and large scale operators in the field of automotive fluids, but it is very evident that the marketing activities of big-three market players will largely impact the business of Auto Tech Associates. Therefore, to be simple, the company has to follow the market in pricing, determining the quality and even meeting the demand of the people. 4- Company Analysis Company plans to survive in the market with help of its long-term customer relationship strategy. Most of managerial, marketing and other activities will be designed and developed accordingly. The managerial activities, for instance, will largely be influenced by the major goals of the company. 5- Customers Analysis The customers that the company targeted are mainly those who keep friendly-relation with the company and due to the relation they hold, they approach the company for their needs. Customers are mainly those who belong to Queens and are those who don’t care to buy motor accessories or fluids from companies other than motor-company itself. Conclusion This paper has highlighted some of the main areas that are to be considered in the marketing plan. This paper presented brief marketing plan of Auto tech Associates, considering major parts such as mission, vision and organizational goals, internal analysis comprising of SWOT, industry, company, competitors and customers analysis. References Armstrong, G & Kotler, P 2005, Marketing: An introduction, Prentice Hall, Pearson Education Inc Automotive industry, (2010), In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 20, 2010, from Encyclopedia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/45050/automotive-industry Ireland, R. D, Hoskisson, R. E, and Hitt, M. A, (2007), Competing for advantage, Cengage Learning Kerin, R.A, Hartley, S.W & Berkowitz, E.N 2005, Marketing, Eighth edition, McGraw Hill Irwin Kotler, P and Keller, K.L 2006, Marketing Management, Twelfth Edition, Prentice-Hall. Pearson Education, Inc Read More