Kone Plc Strategic Plan - Case Study Example

Name of Student: Institutional Affiliation: Instructor’s Name: Date: 1. Executive Summary KONE is one of the leading companies that manufactures and supplies escalators and elevators globally. The main commitment of KONE for the last one century was to understand the needs of the customers in the market, in that they aimed at supplying its customers with high quality escalators, elevators and automatic building doors as well as providing the maintenance at an affordable price. KONE was founded in Finland in 1910 and it currently has 40,000 employees globally. This company operates worldwide and hence digital marketing for its products is very essential in this error of time. Management of such large number of employees who operates globally is very difficult. However, use of digital to manage the both employees and to reach the customers should be employed to make the work easier. Digital marketing does not require any individual physically to carry out the activities of the company. The information send through the social media for instance, each to many people within a very short time and hence KONE should give the digital marketing the priority number one in the year 2014-2016 strategy due to increasing use of social media by the customers. 2. Key Issues There is high demand for elevators especially in the developing countries due to the rising consolidation and urbanization. The governments in the developing countries have given full support to the public housing and hence, there is high demand of elevators. Many companies globally are aware of the rising market demand and hence, they sell their products below the normal cost for them to gain the share in the market. KONE is therefore facing high market competition in that the market has minimal entry barriers, high margin, simple technologies and steady demand (Chitty, 2011). The rise of price competition is one of the main challenges faced by KONE being the third largest company that supplies elevators. The launch of the MonoSpace by KONE has created many opportunities in the emerging economies like China and parts o Africa. The main threat facing KONE is its organizational structure. The employees have to multitask in order to meet the objectives of the company. However, KONE’s main strength is that it is old in the market and hence has many customers compared to the other competing companies. Its main weakness which is marketing can be solved by implementing the digital marketing strategy. 3. Vision, Mission and Corporate Objectives KONE has the pillars that make the company growing in the highly competitive market. Its mission and vision as well as objectives are well laid to give KONE the direction to follow to meet its target. 3.1 Vision statement Delivering the best people flow experience 3.2 Corporate objectives The main corporate objective is to deliver people with the bet flow experience by developing and supplying elevators that enables people to move faster, safely, smoothly and without wasting time waiting in buildings in the increasing urbanization globally. The KONE’s long term financial targets are to expand in a faster rate than the market and improve the working capital rotation globally (Chitty, 2011). 4. Situational Analysis The marketing process of KONE should follow the nine steps in order to meet the target. KONE should review the current situation of the company’s mission, strengths and weaknesses, capabilities and industry. KONE should also review their products to meet the international standards in terms of pricing, distribution and constant review of competition. 4.1 Macroeconomic Analysis The macroeconomic factors that are likely to affect KONE are government policies, unemployment and interest rates. Since KONE operates globally, the new markets in the developing countries have put some strict policies on purchase of elevators and lifts. The governments of the newly identified markets have also placed high tax on such products from outside their countries and hence, operating in such countries is costly (Chitty, 2011). The future of the economy of KONE therefore depend with how they sign memorandum of understanding with the countries they supply the elevators. 4.2 Industry analysis There are potential threat of new entrants into the elevators and escalators manufacturing industry due to high market demand and new operation policies. The customers have also considered using lifts instead of escalators thus has minimized the purchase of elevators. The governments of the developing state have also put some policies on sell of escalators and hence higher bargaining power needed (Chitty, 2011). There is also threat of substitute products in the market due to frequent failure of some escalators and high consumption of power for its operation. There is high rivalry from the other competitors like Otis Elevator Co. and Schindler Group. However, KONE has a good identity due to its long time existence in the market. 5 Market analysis KONE Company has a very good culture of taking good care of its customers. They provide customers with quality elevators to ensure that the passengers reach their flows safely and comfortably. They value the community in that they provide tenants with excellent elevators which are very essential at night. They do their advertisement through televisions and even magazines (Hakkarainen, 2006). However, they should use the social media to high rising number of persons using the social media. They value people with disability by providing them with elevators with large doors for precise leveling of wheelchairs. The economic situation of KONE is stable in that in the year 2013, it made a profit of EURO 6.3 billion. The confidence of its consumers is very high in that they value quality and the originality of the products. The structure of the governments for its major consumers good in that the governments of the North America the major consumer of KONE products do not interfere with their sales (Chitty, 2011). The foreign countries like china are the ones which still doubt KONES products and hence digital marketing and advertisement should be used. 6 Internal analysis KONE has key internal features which drive it towards its objectives. Since its launch in 1910, KONE has maintained its culture and structure of leadership. KONE makes its solutions and a decision in an order thus is pleasing and matches the décor of any retail environment (Hakkarainen, 2006). The KONE’s major value adding activities are coordinated by the managers from top to bottom. KONE is performing well in that the quality of its products has been maintained for the last one century. KONE’s products are durable and reliable and hence the passengers have been able to move from one flow to the other making shopping more pleasant. 6.1 All the elements for KONE should be interconnected for it to fully implement the digital marketing strategy which will make hem remain competitive in the market. The strategy which in this case is digital marketing should be well divined to all the workers in the system to ensure that they all understand the way to implement it. The shared values of KONE should be centered and each and every individual should ensure that the part assigned is done to perfection for the system to run. The style of implementing the digital marketing strategy should also be well divined so that the whole strategy is implemented within the shortest time possible. The staff should also play their role of laying down the strategy for the workers to follow the directives (Greenberg & Kates, 2014). Skilled personnel’s with experienced should be employed to carry out the activity of formulating the websites and the social media platforms for KONE to be competitive in the market through digital marketing. 7. Marketing Objectives The aims of each and every company should be clear for smooth running. Marketing objectives enables the company to plan and adopt the new changing markets to meet the targets. 7.1 Currently, the demand for elevators depends with residential construction in various parts of the world. KONE should therefore introduce MonoSpace to its all customers to meet the standard need of the customers thus increasing the sales. The other main objective should be aimed at supplying low residential buildings in Germany which is dominated by twenty thousand small contractors. All these small contractors can be reached easily through digital marketing in that most of them accesses the social media platforms (Hakkarainen, 2006). Twitter for instance can used to reach both the customers of the elevators and the contractors within a very short time. Passengers can also see the quality of elevator they would like to use in social media adverts. 8. Marketing Strategies Competition in the market is making companies to look for new objectives to meet the need of the customers. Currently, social media is the leading source of advertisement thus digital marketing for both small and big companies is a must. 8.1 Digital marketing is essential to KONE Plc since it is a large company that operates globally. Many customers can access what is new in the market with a simple click; hence, it enables the company to reach the intended customers within the shortest time possible. The target customers can also access the products at any time provided they know the website (Greenberg & Kates, 2014). KONE for instance can be able to express the advantage of their escalators compared to those of the other competitors in a more personalized way through digital marketing as compared to traditional models. Digital marketing will also enable KONE to build strong online reputation and loyalty with their customers. References Chitty, w. (2011). Integrated marketing communication. South Melbourne, Vic, Cengage Learning. Greenberg, E., & Kates, A. (2014). Strategic digital marketing: how to apply an integrated marketing and ROI framework for your business. http://www.contentreserve.com/TitleInfo.asp?ID={83DBDD76-05AA-4D8A-80FB- 138094EE5724}&Format=50. Hakkarainen, K. (2006). Strategic management of technology: from creative destruction to superior resilience. Vaasa, University of Vaasa. Read More