Honda and Tactical Integrated Marketing Plan - Example

Honda - Marketing Analysis Report Name Course Name and Code Instructor’s Name Date Executive summary This paper entails a report on the marketing analysis of Honda Company. Honda is a company that is involved in the manufacture and distribution of a wide range of automobile products globally. It contains the following; the vision and mission statement of the company, the objectives. It also entails an environmental (internal & external) analysis in relation to Honda International, Honda marketing objective Honda marketing strategy, tactical integrated marketing plan, a budget, a conclusion and a recommendation. Table of Contents Executive summary 2 Honda mission statement and objectives 4 Environmental (internal & external) analysis and relate it to Honda International 4 Internal marketing environment 4 SWOT Analysis 5 External marketing environment 6 PEST ANALYSIS 7 Honda marketing objective 8 Honda marketing strategy 8 Honda tactical integrated marketing plan: 10 Budget 13 Appropriate control and evaluate mechanisms 14 Conclusion 14 Recommendation 15 Reference 16 Honda mission statement and objectives The Honda Motor Company was first started in Japan making it a Japanese public and multinational corporation. Since the year 1959, Honda has been the biggest manufacture of motorcycle in the whole world. It has also been ranked as the largest manufacturer of the internal combustion engines in terms of the volume because it produces over 14million each year of the internal combustion engines. In the year 2001 it suppressed the Nissan to be ranked as the second largest automobile manufacturer in Japan and in August 2008 it also suppressed the Chrysler in the United States to become the fourth largest manufacturer o the automobile. Honda is also the sixth manufacturer of automobile in the whole world. Vision statement: The power of dreams Mission statement: maintain a viewpoint that is global and dedicated to the supply of products of the greatest quality but at a reasonable price for the purpose of world wide satisfaction of the customers Objectives: Maintaining a lead in production To fully satisfy all customers need To offer products at an affordable price To be of great help to the community To ensure all the waste products are environmental friendly Environmental (internal & external) analysis and relate it to Honda International Internal marketing environment This answers the question of the amount of the resources that are available for the business (Armstrong & Kotler, 2007). Some of the resources that the audit is designed to investigate includes the following. finances or money, the men or labor, equipments or machinery, time, the materials or all the production factors, the degree of organization of the marketing team, the efficiency of the marketing team, the effectiveness of the team in the marketing department. The interference that is caused by the marketing team as far as the internal functions of the organization is concerned. The effectiveness of the team to the consumers and the state of the companies planning process and its accuracy. It enables the current state of the new development of products and their portfolio to be known. It answers the question of if the pricing is the right one, the efficiency and effectiveness of distribution, and if the marketing communication is right. Finally, it answers the question of if the company is having the right people in the job and if they are using the right process to face the customers (Finlay, 2000). All of the above enables the physical evidence of any car business to be seen. SWOT Analysis Strengths: Participation in the community is a major strengthen. Social clubs in which the company has been part and parcel of has enabled it to reach out to so many members of the community. It is widely known to support as many talents as possible in the community during community contests e.g. sports, cultural activities aim at cultural awareness among others. It is also known to support sports in that it sponsors many clubs as well as encouraging the youth to participate in local sports like handball, football, marathons, camel and horse races. All this aims at increasing its popularity with the community members and also winning of the customers trust, hence increasing trust The company’s Customer relation is another strong point in increasing its production. It is the tradition of the company to perform a customer evaluation or market study through an external professional research, So as to get to know the opinions of the customers, perceptions, attitudes and expectation. This enables the company to come up with products which matches the interests and needs of the community. Weaknesses: The Company’s resources are few. There are a few workers or employees. This affects the level of production in the company. Also the sales strategy where by their products are only found in their retail shops. This actually leads to minimizing the marketing opportunities hence forcing customers to consume other products that are readily available or within their reach. Opportunities: some of the opportunities the company has are the many branches the company has opened all over the world to ensure its products are easily accessible and available to people any where in the world. Threats: One of the treats to the company is the competitor in the automobile industry, The Nissan, Toyota and Chrysler are its greatest competitors, both produces the same automobile products like it does which threatens the company and especially in the area of market share. External marketing environment This kind of investigation during auditing enables the business leaders to answer a number of questions as far as the customers’ needs are concerned. It enables the marketers get to know the existing needs of the consumers and then fulfills them. It also helps the corporation understand the buyers’ decision-making process as well as their behaviour (Dennis, 2001). The marketers are able to gauge the perception of the customers towards the brands of the company to improve where need be. It also enables the company to get to know the nature of competition in the market to be able to set it target. This will be determined by getting to know the number of competitors, their level of profit, their strengths and weaknesses as well as their marketing strategies and plans (Hill & Jones, 2007). It answers the question of the nature of the environmental culture like the religious beliefs, level of literacy, evolving and existing lifestyles and the nature of the consumerism. It answers the questions about the economic conditions in the market in terms of the disposable markets, policies about taxation in the market that is targeted, all the economic indicators to be used like the exchange rates, interests and level of unemployment. Finally, it helps the marketers to know the changes that may occur legally and politically hence affecting the business later. At times the kind of fuel demanded on cars may be directly set by the government and so that may bring some interference in the business. These include laws, regulations and legislations governing the labor tariffs, quotas and copyrights. PEST ANALYSIS Political: Politics and the governance in Asia is yet another factor likely to cause an effect in the production. This is because most activities like are governed politically. For instance, the office of the prime minister has been bestowed a great responsibility. Also the issues of finances (treasury) are politically sorted. Economic: The company is at a great advantage because most of its raw materials are imported at a lower interest rate , the currency in the country is also of great value in the global market and their products have gain great consumer confidence. This has boosted it economically Social factors: The Company is at a great advantage because in this contemporary world many people prefer to drive their own personal vehicles or automobile to different destination. People are acquiring vehicles at a very young age which is an advantage to the population. Technological factors: modern technology used by the company has also been a major boost to the quality of products. The company is using good and advanced technology to manufacture high quality automobile Honda marketing objective There are a number of considerations in formulating marketing objectives for any given organization depending on the industry involving. It should be noted that the entire objective must be SMART. This means Specific, measurable, achievable, realist and time bound. In order to achieve a smart objective in the market, any the marketers must consider the profit margin that they want to reach. This means that before setting any market objective, they should make a cost benefit calculation to decide the profit they intend to achieve, by doing that they will be able to come up with a good objective. The marketing objective is to produce the highest efficiency automobile maintaining an international viewpoint and at a reasonable price Honda marketing strategy A Marketing plan answers the following question, the current marketing objectives and strategies (Hisrich, 2000). How effective the marketing process is controlled, the achievement of the marketing budget, how to realize or if there is a realization of the objectives in a smart way, the level of staffing, the way to develop staff and train them and finally the experience and learning achieved as per that level. The marketing department has ensured the following are adhered to achieve the best results. The progress must be ensured. This means that there should be regular auditing done during the implementation of the plan. This is to ensure what is not working well and whatever is working well in the plan is identified to avoid poor performance. This ensures that the businesses can priorities depending on the projects and programs that are more beneficial (Thompson & Martin, 2005). Also, there should be plans to reward the employees who perfectly and excellently execute their duties. This issue of remuneration of the employees is very important because it will enable the others to work harder in the implementation of the plan. On the process, there will be accomplishment of the desired objectives of the plan. Also there should be a culture of congratulating the workers who attain their deadlines at the right time. This is very important because it motivates them to always meet their deadlines. In addition, there must be a criterion that leaves room for new adventures. This means that a room for new things must be left. This will ensure that the company or the business does not suffer due to the issue of changing technology. The technology is bound to change any time, meaning that some of the plans that may have been put in place may not apply. As a result, a need for change comes up. This is the importance of such a criteria (Thompson & Martin, 2005). There should be some time set apart to enable the plan work so to notice the changes. This means that if the business was using a plan that was previous done, then it should not stop using it. This is to give the new plan time to pick up. The two plans, the old and the new must work together consecutively. The purpose for this is to ensure that the business does not suffer any loss as it a wait for the new plan to star working. Another very important factor to consider is the issue of feedback. This means that the plan must give room for feedback reception. Feedback is what gives an opportunity for any company to asses it progress. Therefore, there is a great need for the plan to provide a way of getting feedback. The feedback can come from the consumers who are directly served by the company, the employees or even the other companies that are directly working with the company in question. It should be noted that the best results in any given company can be gotten by excellent blending of the employees so as to have the intended job done and in an efficient manner (Thompson & Martin, 2005). This is whereby all the people working in the company are very much comfortable with the job they are performing in the company. As a result, the company will experience a lifetime endless success in all that it does. All of the above can also be accomplished by making use of a tool known as monitoring. This is whereby all the activities of the business are monitored to ensure that they are in accordance to the plan that was laid down for marketing. Honda tactical integrated marketing plan: This refers to a simple document written down but with detailed information showing the actions that is necessary to be done to achieve all the marketing objectives. Such a plan can be for a new brand of the existing product, a service or even a product line. Such a plan is designed to cover a period of one year up to five years. In some cases, the marketing plan is usually part of the entire business plan. It contains list of all the actions. The following are the contents of a marketing plan, the strategies of pricing, market segmentation, description of the location of the business alongside the disadvantages and advantages of marketing in that place (Salder & Craig, 2003). Sit contains the budget of the advertisement and the promotion strategy. Finally, it contains the detailed description of the service and the product including the entire features that are special about it. To achieve the desired success in any business, some very important considerations must be put into consideration before drafting and putting a plan into consideration (Salder & Craig, 2003). The vision of the business is a key consideration before making the plan. This because the plans made must be a way to lead the organization or the business into the realization of the vision. Vision being the long-term goal that the business must achieve then it is very important to consider it. The vision actually carries the future of any given organization while the planning carries the way to get to that future. The issue of the period for which the plan is to serve the organization must be put into consideration. This means that before coming up with the plan time for which it will be used must be considered (David, 2002). This is to enable the marketing planners come up with plans which are time bound. When considering time factor, there should be a clear specification of the time when the each activity will be implemented. In addition, there should be a financial consideration of the marketing activities, this whereby the marketing department scrutinizes financial position of the company and its ability to get some extra finances through assessing all its financial sources. Another factor that is of paramount importance is the “who” factor in the plan. This means that alongside thinking about the activity that is need to be done, there is also a need to consider who will perform the activity. In this case, there should be a consideration of human resource availability. The management should make sure that the people employed in the car business are well knowledgeable. This is to ensure that an activity is not put forth and yet there is no one to perform it. Ideally, if an activity is put in the plan and there is no one to carry it out then it is just but a waste of time. This means that there should be a great consideration put in place to ensure that all what is planned is implemented (Thompson & Martin, 2005). The environment to which that particular plan will be implemented must be carefully assed before making the plan. This is because some of the decisions which will be made directly depend on the environment where the business will be located. Some of the reasons as to why the environment must be assessed is to get to know how many competing business are around the area or the location where the business will be set. Also the number of consumers that are likely to benefit from the business will be determined (Donald, 2008). The issue of raw materials, infrastructure and communication will be determined comfortably in the planning process. This will ensure that the plan will be efficient for the business. The last and the most important decision is the type of product that will be dealt with (Iain, 2009). The decision for which product will be dealt with will enable all other planning decisions to be made. a. Product: refers to the product that is in question like the model of the car. There are three very important parts of brand management as far as the service marketing is concerned like with the Honda Company which is concerned with the image, feature and the core values. These are very useful for the company in building the brand name to all of its customers. It is through the core values of the company that the customers have been able to understand clearly the purpose and the faith of the brand of the Make up forever. In the next one year the company is expecting to have a variety. b. Price: the amount of cash needed to purchase the product if it is exported cars. The company has ensured that their prices are affordable to any person despite their economic status. There has been a range of car brands to ensure people are able to purchase according to their pocket. The company is also decreasing the prices of its products by minimizing the cost of production. c. Place: the location of the product. Honda has ensured their automobile products are available everywhere in the world by having different manufacturing, assembling and distribution points all over the world. d. Promotion: this entails the methods of advertising to get the product familiar to the buyers. The company uses a wide rang of media facilities to promote their products, the following are the mains ones used; broadcasting, different television stations like DSTV, radios, internet (their website, yahoo and social network facilities), Newspapers, magazines (business) and company’s magazines and brochures. e. People: the consumers that are targeted. The company targets all the people in the world. It has ensures the products can serve people the physically challenged and the normal ones, the short and the tall, males and females. f. Processes: the channel to be used to get the product to the consumers g. Physical Evidence: the place in terms of mood, tone and ambient of the environment. The products are in such a way that people have a variety of choice to make depending on the location or the environment they will use the cars. h. Packaging: the ways in which the product will be protected. The colors and the physical packaging of the products are excellent. The company offers free delivery services to the customers which is part of their packaging. Budget Type of item cost media $1,000 New technology $ 100,0000 New employees salaries $50,000 Human resource management (training and motivation) $50,000 miscellaneous $100,000 Total $1,201,000 Appropriate control and evaluate mechanisms The following are the suggested indicators of evaluating the success of the strategies in the Honda Company. Recording the defects messages or reports coming in the company Time reduction in terms of handling the corrective reports that used to come from the consumers before the strategy was put up The amount of all the new innovative technologies and designs that the project applies within the year The feedback coming from the employees as well as the consumers of the services of the Company all over the world. Conclusion The Ps approach as seen above does have several shortcomings. The Ps model is internally oriented, product oriented, lacks human element, lacks interactivity with customers, lacks quality element and relation building and communication is absent in the Ps approach. This makes it inappropriate for service marketing that requires personalized relationship. Thus to address these shortcomings, service marketing has to devise the services marketing mix (Hisrich, 2000). This is where the issues of employee motivations comes in, branding of the products and services, knowledge management as well as integration of the departments in the company to ensure there is a connection between the employees and the customers in the process of service production so that the needs of the customers can be met effectively. Recommendation I recommend the company to practice standardization in all of its branches. The process of standardization is more beneficial to a company in an international level rather than in a national level. This is because it gives a company an international platform to market its goods and services. A company like Honda that is dealing with cars, may encounter hardship in trying to market a new model. In addition, it gives the leaders of the company a chance to get to mingle with the other leader and business people at an international level, which is an opportunity for the company to extend its links and markets at an international level (Hisrich, 2000). It also gives a company an opportunity to get represented in the international level and also it gets its name known at the level of the international hence working towards achieving international performance level. It also enable the mangers to get to learn more on how to improve their production hence giving it an advantage of being at a better place to compete with other companies at a national level. Finally, it enables or rather leaves a room for motivating the local managers to be able to use the available deployed knowledge Reference Armstrong, G. & Kotler, P. 2007. Marketing: an introduction (8th Ed). New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. David, F. 2002. Strategic management: concepts (9th Ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Dennis, A. 2001. Marketing: principles and practice, 4th Ed. Financial Times, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Donald, F. 2008. Entrepreneurship: theory, process and practice. Oxford: University of oxford press. Finlay, P. 2000. Strategic management: an introduction to business and corporate strategy. New York: Pearson Education Hill, C. & Jones, G. 2007. Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach, 8th Ed. California: Cengage Learning. Hisrich R. 2000. Marketing, 2nd Ed. New York: Barron's Educational Series. Iain, M. 2009. Advertising. London: Routledge. Salder, P., & Craig, J., 2003. Strategic management, 2nd Ed. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Thompson, J., & Martin, F., 2005. Strategic management: awareness and change, 5th Ed. California: Cengage Learning EMEA. Read More