Case study

Answer

Case study

Introduction

Organisations across the world are embracing different marketing strategies to win over larger market shares to remain competitive. The tactics and strategies they employ as well require creativity and innovation because of the continuous changes in technology and the life style. Many organizations have as well managed to gain competitive advantage through their marketing process and even some have taken market leadership (Polat & Akgün,  2015).This trend clearly depicts the potential of marketing in ensuring that organizations achieve their goals. The focus is on the analysis of two case studies, ‘My Chevrolet: A case study of Brazilian innovation and entrepreneurship’, focusing on Chevrolet Company and ‘Marketing to subsistence consumers: Lessons from practice’ that focus on Vodafone Company.

Case study background

As indicated in the introduction the cases focus on Chevrolet car brand and the second case on Vodafone Company. These multi-national corporations operate and sell their products across the world. Despite the fact that they have global presence, the focus is on the marketing strategies and process they have employed in their subsistence market (Hashimoto, 2013). For Chevrolet, the subsistence market covers Brazil while for Vodafone; the target subsistence market is South Africa. Chevrolet brand are part of the cars produced by General Motors’ Corporation, a leading manufacturer of motor vehicle. The company since it was founded in 1925; it has been operational in the Brazilian market for 90 years (Hashimoto, 2013). It has continued to grow and expand in the Brazilian market over the years because of implementation of new marketing strategies. The second company that marks the basis of this discussion is Vodafone. Vodafone is a British multinational telecommunication company with its headquarter in London (Weidner, Rosa & Viswanathan, 2010). The company was started in the year 1982 as a subsidiary of Racal Electronics Plc. UK (Vodafone group., 2015). The company has continued to expand over the years to what it is currently today. The company offers telecommunication services, money transfer services, and mobile phones among many other services. In the subsistence South African market, the company takes the largest market share (Weidner, Rosa & Viswanathan, 2010).

Evidence of Marketing-related success

The achievements these companies have made have been through adoption of different marketing processes and strategies. These companies have managed to gain a competitive edge/advantage in their respective market segments over the years. Fabio, the manager heading Chevrolet managed to make improvements on the cars as well as marketing strategies (Hashimoto, 2013). Modifications were made on the car; a system installed allowed the driver to view behind it in different directions and colors (Hashimoto, 2013). Furthermore, one was able to compete in a promotion by identifying 100 songs to win a prize (Hashimoto, 2013). Apart from these, the launching of a website of the brand served a very big role in increasing customer care services that the company now offered. The strategy focused on strengthening customer relationships and brand loyalty (Hashimoto, 2013). Internet in overall was the innovation that has helped the company to explore customer relationships (Hashimoto, 2013).

 The organization as well adopt Ansoff matrix as its business strategy. This matrix suggests that growth strategy of a business is dependent on whether the business markets its new or existing products in its markets already existing (Ramaseshan, Ishak & Kingshott, 2013). The company manager decided to change the strategies and continue selling the vehicle in the market (Hashimoto, 2013). The company managed to increase the market share of its cars securing dominance in the growth markets. The success of this was driven by the fact that the company had good information concerning competitors and customers (Oana, 2014). Most consumers wanted a platform to access to information and by Chevrolet launching a website; it was an easy way for the customers to connect with the company and continue accessing different products. When it comes to product development, the company actually made some modifications on the cars maximizing on their attractiveness (Hashimoto, 2013). This also contributed to the increases popularity and sale volume

The company as well zeroes on market segmentation to be in a position to achieve a competitive edge in the market. The changes in its marketing process were applied in the Brazilian market (Petkovska &Nikola, 2015). Therefore, this enabled the company directors to have an easy time when it comes to management of the company assets.

Other benefits that the Chevrolet brand accrued as a result of the changes included reduction in costs of operations. The company saved between R$ 200,000 to R$ 300000 every year that was saved from binding and printing. It also reaped the benefit of dealership, which arose from new sales opportunity, and it managed to eliminate issues that inconvenienced consumes (Hashimoto, 2013).

Vodafone has as well found success in its subsistence market in South Africa (Weidner, Rosa & Viswanathan, 2010). The company is the leading telecommunication in the country. It provides mobile services and other services such as data and money transfer services to many people in the county (Weidner, Rosa & Viswanathan, 2010). The success of the company is therefore a clear demonstration that indeed, the company has gained a competitive edge over the market.

Analysis and explanation

The reason why these organizations have managed to remain competitive in these markets is due to their application of marketing tactic or metrics. In case of Chevrolet, brand it came up with an innovation that was attracting to many people. The company as well applied marketing matrix strategies contributing to its success. The 4 Ps played a key role in the success strategy. This 4 p’s includes place, price, product and promotion (Danian, 2014). The company understands the place where the cars were to be sold. The target was the Brazilians and this contributed to the success of its marketing strategy. The product was also of importance in contributing to the success of the company (Milichovsky & Simberova, 2012). The cars were on high demand, because of the modifications made on them. The prices of the cars were also competitive and this made many customers to purchase the same (Hashimoto, 2013).. Through promotions, the company was able to convey essential information about the cars to the customers (Hashimoto, 2013). The website created was very critical to relay information about the cars to the customers. Therefore, customers were well versed with information about the cars and this contributed to the high sale volumes. Communication is also another important critical that the company utilized to achieve this kind of success (Hashimoto, 2013). The company manager, through research, came to understand that people did not know about the cars and this made them not buy his car brands (Liao, Hung, Kao & Wu, 2014). Therefore, the secret was to ensure that they convey enough information to them to empower them and to inform them so that they make appropriate decisions.

Vodafone has also continued to enjoy dominance in the South African market, with the largest mobile telephony market share dominated by Vodafone customers in South Africa (Weidner, Rosa & Viswanathan, 2010). This clearly indicates that the customer marketing strategy has succeeded to greater magnitude (Saylor, 2012). The company has invested in research and development as well. This is something that has continued to make the company competitive in the market. Developing new solutions to customer problems is yet another thing that the company has managed to do to win over the market (Weidner, Rosa & Viswanathan, 2010). Other penetration strategy that the company has employed to achieve this strides is through provision of community service (Weidner, Rosa & Viswanathan, 2010). The company identifies the needs of the customers and provides them at affordable prices. Furthermore, it identifies needs of value chain to create opportunities in the markets. The company as well understands and surveys its markets to identify the needs of its customers (Rizzo, 2015). Vodafone as well has invested in internet. Customers have the opportunity to access to the company website to access different kinds of information. Innovative communication channels have as well contributed to its competitive edge in the market. There is as well accessibility of the company products in all parts of the country. The extensive investment in the network has as well given the company an edge over other competitors (Marek, 2014).

 Conclusion

 It is important for companies to utilize different marketing strategies and process to gain a competitive edge in the markets. Apart from quality of the product and services, it is important to ensure that other factors such as price, promotion, and location are put into consideration. The marketing mix dimensions can help companies achieve their goals just like Chevrolet did. It is also important to invest in communication. People must access to information for them to make any kind of a decision. Using new technologies such as the internet and social media platforms are advisable as many users use the same. The information must be clear and persuasive at the same time. The success experienced at Chevrolet and Vodafone is therefore manifestation of proper choice of marketing strategies. It is also important to carryout situational analysis through surveys to understand the market before implementing any marketing plan.

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