Successfully Launching New Ventures - Case Study Example

Strategic Marketing Plan: UNE Life Name Course Tutor’s Name Date: Executive Summary This report is a detailed description of the strategic marketing plan for UNE Life. The reports commences with a brief background of UNE Life, which identifies the organisation’s mission statement. The report also identifies and indicates UNE Life’s smart objectives, noting that the objectives meet the criteria of being “specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-specific”. In relation to the hierarchy of strategies, the report notes that the UNE Life corporate strategy involves a corporate image captured by the ‘UNE Life’ brand name, while the business strategy is best seen in the amalgamation of nine businesses under one corporate image. The functional strategies are evident from the pursuit of different competitive strategies by the nine businesses. Based on the Porter’s five forces analysis, the report indicates that the market UNE Life operates in is attractive and that it uses the analyser strategy. A macro-level market analysis also reveals that all factors favour UNE Life’s operations in the market. The report reiterates the significance of marketing research by indicating that as an already established business, UNE Life can use market research to identify consumer perceptions and identify areas of improvement. The report ends by describing the significance of segmentation, targeting, differentiation and positioning strategies. It is noted that all these strategies are essential in targeted marketing, which addresses specific segments of the consumer market as opposed to mass marketing. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Hierarchy of Strategies 5 Five Competitive Forces and Conditions for an Analyser Strategic Fit 6 The Market and Industry Attractiveness for UNE Life 7 The Relevance of Market Research for the Strategic Decision-Making of UNE Life’s Business 8 The Influence of Product, Pricing, Distribution, and Promotion Policies on Marketing Decisions 9 The Significance of Segmentation, Targeting, Differentiation and Positioning Strategies for UNE Life 10 References 11 Introduction UNE Life is a business venture whose declared intention is to provide services and facilities at the University of New England (UNE). UNE Life was formed in 2014 when two pre-existing service providers – SportUNE and Services UNE – merged to form a single entity. In total, UNE Life comprises nine business, all intended to enhance the student’s life when studying at the University of New England. Combined, all the services provided by UNE Life arguably cater for all service needs of students, staff and community members living in and around the university. The foregoing service provisions are captured in UNE Life’s mission statement, which indicates that the organisation seeks to “provide a consistent and streamlined approach to the provision of services and facilities at UNE” (UNE Life, 2015, para 1). This mission clearly captures the market influences that UNE Life has to contend with. For example, there is a trend in most markets where customers are demanding and are provided with one stop shops. This means that everything that a specific consumer interest group needs can be found under one roof. SMART Objectives SMART objectives are “Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-specific” (Analoui & Karami, 2003, p. 125; Cothran & Wysocki, 2012, p.1). UNE Life has indicated one objective, which arguably informs all its activities. In the objective, UNE Life intends to make life in the university easier and more enjoyable. Arguably, this objective meets the SMART specifications because it is specific in what it wants to achieve (i.e. easy and enjoyable life for students). The objective is also arguably measurable because UNE Life can quantify the number of students, staff or community members who use their services. The objective seems attainable because UNE Life has set up a total of nine businesses that arguably cater for all students’ needs, hence making the attainment of an easy life by the target market possible. The relevance of the objective is not in doubt especially considering that students’ lives can be complicated if the students have to leave campus in search of simple services such as laundry and off-campus meals. Finally, while there is no indication of time, the objective is arguably time-bound because making life in the university easier and enjoyable is a continuous undertaking. This undertaking only ends for students who leave campus but not for UNE Life, which has to continue providing the same services for other students. Hierarchy of Strategies Like most businesses, the hierarchy of strategies at UNE Life includes corporate, business and functional strategies. As indicated by Walker, Gountas, Mavondo and Mullins (2015, pp. 6-7), the three levels of strategies serve different organisational needs. The corporate level strategy seeks to identify the business’s reach, competitive contacts, business interrelationships and management practices (Pycraft et al., 2000, p. 72). At UNE Life, the relevance of corporate strategy is evident from the business portfolios and units that the company has and how they are managed to attain compatibility under the UNE Life corporate image. Additionally, the positioning of the brand (associating itself with UNE) and the business position (located within the UNE campus) are all part of the corporate strategy. On it part, the business strategy is concerned with developing a sustainable competitive advantage for the firm (Pycraft et al., 2000, p. 72). One business strategy that is worth noting at UNE Life is the combination of nine businesses under one corporate image for the purpose of satisfying students’ need for an easy and enjoyable life at campus. The functional strategy on the other hand has discrete plans of actions, which are necessary for each business unit to succeed. It is the functional strategy that provides input for both business and corporate level strategies to succeed (Pycraft et al., 2000, p. 73). The relevance of the functional strategy at UNE Life is evident from the fact that all the nine business units pursue different competitive strategies, which all unite under the UNE Life corporate banner. Moreover, combined, the entire nine business units capture every possible student need, hence enhancing UNE Life’s competitive position. Five Competitive Forces and Conditions for an Analyser Strategic Fit Walker et al. (2015, p. 99) identify the five competitive forces hypothesised by Michael Porter as: competitor rivalry, threats posed by new market entrants, the power of suppliers, the power of buyers, and the threat posed to a business by substitute products. Analysing UNE Life’s strategy based on the five forces hence requires one to answer several questions as follows: is the threat of new entrants significant?; what is the intensity of rivalry among existing competitors?; do buyers or suppliers wield significant power?; and is there a significant threat from substitute products? Notably, as a business initiative of the University of New England, UNE Life’s business sphere is under no threat from new entrants. Additionally, rivalry amongst competitors is low since no other business operates within the campus. While there are other service providers outside the campus, UNE Life has a convenience advantage over them since it is easily accessible to all students, staff and the community at large. The convenience advantage arguably reduces the buyers’ bargaining power drastically. Moreover, all business units can source their business inputs from different suppliers, hence meaning that the suppliers’ bargaining power is minimal at best since the cost of switching suppliers is relatively low. Finally, the threat of substitute products is high since similar service offers can be found outside UNE. However, such a threat has been quenched by the convenience advantage since students, staff, and the community find it much easier to access services in the campus as opposed to off campus. UNE Life’s strategic fit can be said to be that of an analyser. In all its nine business units (i.e. Cafe Life, Yarm Gwanga, Sleek, Life functions & catering, Belgrave Cinema, The Booloominbah Collection, The ‘Stro, Campus Essential and SportUne), UNE Life operates efficiently and follows set routines, processes and structures. However, for purposes of offering better or superior services to their off-campus rivals, UNE Life maintains a close watch for new ideas and also adopts new innovative technologies fast. Going by Truch and Bridger’s (2004, p. 11) description of analysers, UNE Life thus seems to adopt the analysers strategy. Truch and Bridger (2004, p. 11) define analysers as businesses that make incremental improvement on their service offers, are committed to stability, watch market development closely, and only act upon gaining confidence that the time is opportune. The Market and Industry Attractiveness for UNE Life Macro Level Analysis Walker et al. (2015, p. 90) identify demographic, ecological, political/legal, socio-cultural, technological, and economic factors as the six most essential components of a business’s macro environment. The demographic component refers to the characteristics that define a specific population targeted by the business. It can be said that the demographic component favours UNE Life since the business targets relatively young people who ideally would find all UNE Life’s service offers to be of great significance to them. Eating, entertainment, fashion, and sports are all things that attract the youthful population. In relation to socio-cultural components, UNE Life’s business appears to have recognised prevailing social norms especially in relation to fitness, nutrition and lifestyle and fashion. For example, UNESport is a reflection of the organisation having utilised an opportunity in the socio-cultural component. The political/legal environment does not seem to contain major inhibitions for UNE Life’s business. On it part, the technological environment seems to have created new ways of doing business for UNE Life as can be seen in the purchase of tickets on Belgrave Cinema (Belgrave Cinema n.d.). The ecological/natural environment component does not seem to have a major effect on UNE Life since none of the organisation’s businesses appears to have any major ecological footprint. At a micro-level, and as indicated in Porter’s five forces above, UNE Life is operating in an attractive industry whose value is further enhanced by the organisation being the only service provider operating in the campus. According to Truch and Bridger’s (2004, p. 11) the micro-level market should be assessed based on the size of the target market and the appeal of the service/product offers made. Additionally, one needs to identify their point of differentiation, the breadth of the targeted consumer segment and future prospects. UNE Life’s service offers arguably benefit customers, and will continue finding a ready market in new students and staff who enrol and work in the campus. The Relevance of Market Research for the Strategic Decision-Making of UNE Life’s Business Market research is without a doubt the “foundation for strategic decision-making” as Walker et al. (2015, p. 136) aptly put note. Market research can be done before a business is set up in order to determine how well a specific firm can perform in a particular industry. Market research can also be done at any stage of the business cycle in order to determine customer perceptions, areas of dissatisfaction, and business functions that could benefit from improvements (Verma, 2014, para. 4). UNE Life can conduct confirmatory research on any of the above named stages. The research would help it get some detailed understanding on the nature of the market in which it operates. The research would also enable the organisation to identify and pursue a specific strategic course of action. Moreover, the research would help decision-makers in the firm identify the improvements to make in order to enhance consumer value going forward. The main questions that UNE Life should ask (considering that it is an already existing business) include: Do you purchase any of the service offers provided by UNE Life? Why or why not? How would you rate the service offers you have used so far? Are there any improvements or additions you’d like to see in UNE Life service offers in the future? Please indicate which ones if any. The foregoing questions will undoubtedly capture customers’ perceptions and would provide information that would help decision-makers to make the right strategic decisions. The Influence of Product, Pricing, Distribution, and Promotion Policies on Marketing Decisions It can be argued that UNE Life’s marketing mix is made specifically to appeal to the target market, which is largely made up of students and includes staff and the community on a smaller scale. The products are therefore meant to serve specific needs presented by the campus audience. Pricing policies are arguably based on affordability and the need to retain on-campus buyers. The distribution is done in a manner that offers convenience to the target audience, while promotion is done in a manner that enhances the uptake of the services offered by the company. The Significance of Segmentation, Targeting, Differentiation and Positioning Strategies for UNE Life It can be said that the segmentation, targeting, differentiation and positioning strategies used by UNE Life are all part of the targeted marketing used by the organisation. Targeted marketing is defined as the choice of specific groups of people who are then targeted with a specific product or service offer (Barringer & Ireland, 2010, p. 2). Through segmentation for example, UNE Life has been able to group its target consumers to students, staff and community and hence target them with different service offers. Through targeting, UNE Life has possibly been able to serve the UNE campus niche market. Differentiation on the other hand has made UNE Life appeal to a larger number of the targeted students. By differentiating itself as the on-campus all-round service provider, UNE Life is arguably able to compete against other providers who give piecemeal services outside the campus. Finally, UNE Life has positioned itself as the service provider that offers convenience and quality to students, staff and community members at UNE. References Analoui, F., & Karami, A. (2003). Strategic management in small and medium enterprises. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Barringer, B.R., & Ireland, D. (2010). Entrepreneurship: Successfully launching new ventures (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Belgrave Cinema. (n.d). Ticket information. Retrieved July 29, 2015, from http://www.belgravecinema.com.au/Page/Ticket-Information Cothran, H.M., & Wysocki, A.F. (2012). Developing SMART goals for your organisation. University of Florida IFAS Extension. 1-2. Pycraft, M., Singh, H., Phihlela, K…Johnston, R. (2000). Operations management. Johannesburg: Pearson Education South Africa. Truch, E., & Bridger, D. (2004). The importance of strategic fit. Retrieved July 29, 2015, from http://www.ashgate.com/pdf/samplepages/le085763ch1.pdf Truch, E., & Bridger, D. (2004). The importance of strategic fit. In Truch, E. (Ed.). Leveraging corporate knowledge (pp.10-22). Aldershot: Gower Publishing. UNE Life. (2015). About us. Retrieved July 30, 2015, from http://unelife.com.au/about-us/ Verma, A.K. (2014). What are different types of marketing research? Market Research. Retrieved July 30, 2015, from http://whatismarketresearch.com/market-research-types/what-are-different-types-of-marketing-research/ Walker, O.C., Gountas, J.I., Mavondo, F.T., & Mullins. J.W. (2015). Marketing strategy: A decision-focused approach (3rd ed.). North Ryde: McGraw-Hill. Read More