The Main Points of AME Info That Cannot Be Ignored - Assignment Example

Contents Contents 1 Introduction 3 AME INFO 3 Opportunities 3 Threats 3 Strengths 3 Weakness 3 The main points of AME Info that cannot be ignored 6 Gulf News 7 The ethical policy of Gulf News 7 External Analysis of Gulf News 7 Opportunities 7 Threats 7 Internal Analysis of Gulf News 7 Strengths 7 Weakness 7 Strategic management process of AME Info 9 The investment that is needed for meeting the long term objective of the company 10 Growth Strategy 10 Expansion in to new markets and products. 10 From the Gulf News 11 Growth Strategy 13 Growth with existing products 13 Growth with new products 13 Porters Five forces of competitive position with respect to AME Info 13 New Market entrants 13 The geographical coverage of AME Info 13 Competitive rivalry 14 Product and Technological development 14 Conclusion 14 Introduction The aim of the essay is to discuss about two organizations that are operating in the same market place. The two organizations will be functioning with different strategies and one will be having a change in price and another will be having change in innovation. The first company that will be put under the scanner will be from the media and marketing segment from Dubai, UAE.The paper will be taking into consideration two companies from the Middle East market preferably from UAE for discussion. The first company that will be taken for discussion is the AME info and the discussion will be on innovation. The market or the industry that the company is operating is Media. AME INFO Opportunities Online media is growing. Threats It has to face competition from print media and other forms of online media. Strengths Strength of AME is the entry and maintenance of online media. Weakness AME Info will be facing threat from other online media. The Middle East has undergone transformation and the economy that has been dependent solely on oil and gas has diversified into finance, tourism and other areas. The price increase in oil and the economic reforms has meant that the path taken by Middle East has been successful. That has helped opening of new markets and media being the one market. Dubai has started becoming a business hub and trading hub. It was advanced infrastructure proactive government that has coupled trade liberalization that has attracted firms like AME to the UAE.AME has grown into business and information portal and AME has been credited with the first business directory of Dubai and UAE (Sven Boermeester).It was first published on CD-Rom and it has been published online later. That had happened in the year 1999 and in the year 2001 it had become the first tenant of the newly established Dubai Media City and it had started expanding its offices into financial news and information, webcast video features and it started the first online radio in the region of Dubai. A significant stake of the company was acquired in the year 2005 by HSBC private equity. That was sign of confidence in the Dubai information sector and mainly of the company AME.The critical information was delivered very fast and that was the key to the success of AME.Getting the latest news before the competition was vital and that was instrumental in ensuring the success of the company. The continuously updated news services in the web ensures that AME has been able to deliver news before appearing in the financial papers and the customers were more inclined to use the online service of AME. It is estimated that more than 285000 contact details and activity details of companies operating in UAE is in the database of AME and that database can be termed as information.1000 regional events are listed on the calendar and vertical content topics like economic advise and investment advice are covered more and that have been covered more by experts and more over the general nature of the products are being maintained. The biggest problem that any business may face in Dubai has been the multilingualism that has been arrived due to multiculturalism. Various nationalities are working in Dubai and they have come for better job opportunities and living opportunities.AME Info has been successful in developing Arabic content and that has been successful in increasing the readership view to Saudi Arabia and other parts of Middle East. That has meant that AME Info has reached outside to the readers of United Arab Emirates. There were more than 240000 unique users in the year 2005 and the registered users have risen to 61000.The figures have been audited by ABC Electronic. The half of the percent of viewers was in the section of news and out of these 10 percent was in Arabic. The aim of the industry is increased interactivity with increased information and that has to be achieved in order to be successful. The AME has been able to tap into latest technology and they have been able to form or start a AME info forum in which the users can look it as stock exchange that as information about financial profile of listed companies. The first dedicated online radio was set up by AME thanks to Phil Bizzard who was a radio producer. The company was able to get strong institutional partner in the form of HSBC Equity Middle East and that had helped the company to grow further in Middle East. The AME has been able to double its space in the Dubai Media City and the Arabic news wires were increased from 5 to 11. In the year 2005,AME has been able to become a member of World Wide Consortium and that has been labeled as W3C.The mission of the consortium is to lead the World Wide Web to full potential and developing common protocols that have been promoting the evolution and ensuring the interoperatability.AME info joined the W3C to show the commitment to open standards and to make the web accessible to all users. A significant technical and content enhancement in the area of Arabic was taken by the company AME and that has helped to meet the increased Arabic online content demand. The continuity in innovation has been maintained to maintain the numerous uno statuses in the Middle East. The introduction of podcast service has to be understood from that point and downloadable audio programmes were also part of it. That had helped the AME Company to tap the international trend of podcasting. The brand has been promoted by increasing the services regionally and globally and in the year 2002 AME has entered into marketing tie up with CNN.The two organizations had agreed to promote each other services online and on air. The agreement that was initially for one year was extended to include all the years from 2002 to 2005 .It had helped AME to get daily exposure in CNN and constant presence of CNN in AME info.The television commercials that the AME has been airing on CNN include Dubai International Airport,Gulf Air,Shell,Standard Chartered, Emirates,Nokia,HSBC,issan,Fujitsu,Canon and Dalmier Chrysler. A networking event for business leaders across the region of UAE has been held by AME every month. That has been aimed to bring people together to understand each other and that has been targeted at people involved in business.AME Info Networking has began in the year 2002 and that has been taking place in the last Tuesday of every month. AME has been able to become sponsors and media partners for many events and that has included leading conference and forums. In the year 2005 a website was unveiled encouraging AME to enter into Arabian Travel Mart.AME Info has entered into tie up with HP.The buses that has been flying inside the Dubai has the black, green and red corporate colors. Vertical banner advertisements have been done in the Dubai International Airport that says good bye to the passengers leaving the airport and welcoming the passengers coming into Dubai. The main points of AME Info that cannot be ignored In the year 1999,AME info became the first regional website in the United Arab Emirates to develop mobile phone version using WAP technology. It has been credited as the first website to come out with regional news stories that has been written and produced in house. There are many websites and newspapers that has been syndicating and publishing the content of AME info.AME info has been credited as being the first Arab member of W3org.The AME info has been credited with running the regions first video podcast. Gulf News The ethical policy of Gulf News The is to produce media of the highest quality and high ethical standards. That has been the goal of Al Nisr Publishing LLC and Al Nisr Media FZ LLC. External Analysis of Gulf News Opportunities Gulf News can start or diversify into Arabic Content. Gulf News can diversify into mobile newspaper content. Threats IT has got threat from internet section of reporting in the form of Ame Info. Internal Analysis of Gulf News Strengths Gulf News is very economical news paper. It has got wide circulation in news paper. Weakness Gulf News has been having huge circulation and they are having more time in delivering the newspaper at the earliest. Gulf News has been the leading English publication in Newspaper and it has been awarded the best award in the Asia-Pacific region in the 1990s and it has been discussed here for the price .Gulf News has been able to thwart of the entry of new papers with their inventive price strategy. The Gulf News has been charging one Dirham from the year 1986 and one Dirham means 27 US cents. Gulf News has been published from other GCC countries and it has been able to penetrate more markets in the Middle East. The present price of Gulf News has been two Dirham and it has been able to keep the competitors like Khaleej Times, The National, new daily from Abu Dhabi and that has been made possible by increased readability that has been offered by lower price. The newspapers in UAE have been toeing the official line of the government and there is restriction on honest criticism on government. The English newspapers has been facing competition from Arabic newspapers. Gulf News has a household delivery service and the news that has been carried are local and international news and that has been printed with magazine supplement in Friday which has been declared holiday in UAE and Middle East. The nearest competitors Khaleej Times and Gulf Today has been pricing at 2 Dirham’s but still Gulf News has been able to take off competition thanks to the quality that has been offered at this price. It has been able to publish a magazine exclusive for Indian expatriates titled Indian and that has been offered free in Friday. Exclusive Indian news has been published by keeping office in Mumbai and Chennai and other places. That means the majority of expatriates who are Indians has been able to find a newspaper of their liking at affordable price. The main advantage that Gulf News has been able to get was that it has been able to strike a chord with exparities and the “classified” has been identified with getting jobs for all those who has come to this land in search for it. There is a special advertisement for those who are seeking job and those who are looking for prospective candidates. That means both companies and those who seek job are benefitted. There are various types of boxes available to display the advertisement and there are star options to highlight the advertisement and that has been said to be helping the candidate. There has been separate Appointment paper that has been published in Wednesdays and that contains some high profile jobs that offer 10000 Dirhams to 15000 Dirhams per month and other additional features. The properties classified has helped all those who wish to give their space for rent either for office or for housing purpose and this section has benefitted all those who are looking for homes. The property classified has helped the people to get to know the real estate price. There has been option of giving Gulf News for monthly option and that has been offered for three months and that has been benefitting for many customers and institutions. Browsing through the details that has been recorded above we can identify the Strategic management process. By the term strategic management process what is meant is that the strength of the company and the long term market position of the company are strengthened and the value of the customer is enhanced. It will help focusing on increasing the market share and innovation in product. That has been the main focus in the two case studies that has been written above. It has been shown to be product Innovation Company and Gulf News has been as increasing the market share by having competitive pricing policy. The long term competitive position of being the no 1 in their respective domain has been achieved by both these companies. Strategic management process of AME Info From the AME point of view The customers and clients of AME Info The latest young generations who would like to use internet for more news gathering, the financial busy people who would like to know the financial news very faster, the people who are not interested in waiting for more time like print news to know the details are the clients of Ame Info. The company would be looking for more consolidation in the internet area and diversify into new technologies. The investment that is needed for meeting the long term objective of the company The company AME Info would be to spend more on technological front as they have to diversify into latest technologies like radio and podcast. It has to continuously update market service. The scope of the product is that it is latest and meeting the demand of the consumer which is very fast information. The goals can be identified as making sure that the number one position is maintained in UAE and reaching out to newer segments. Growth Strategy Expansion in to new markets and products. The company has been able to identify new opportunities in the area of podcast and online radio and that has been entered without waiting for competition. The long term objective of the company was achieved in the case of online radio being identified as growth area and steps taken to ensure that ME becomes the first company to reach there. The company has been able to grow into new products and new markets by entering into podcast. The stability of being the online media was being maintained. The firm has been redirected into new areas. AME Info has been into product development and diversification From the Gulf News They have been following the economies of scale where by which high production has meant that they has been able to get into profit by selling at low price due to the revenue generated by advertisement through classified and through direct sales and institutional personalized sales where by which the paper is personalized (Linda Pinson). Khaleej Times and Gulf Today were the competitors who were able to sell the paper at 2 Dirham’s and Gulf News has been able to go far ahead of competition by meeting the expected demands of all types of readers and has been able to keep of competition at bay due to classifieds. The long term objective of being the no 1 was achieved due to increased supply of reports that the readers like increased Indian report and so on. The Gulf News has been able to grow using classified and the stability of the paper has been maintained by still willing to sale at 2 Dirhams.The Renewal has been done by entering into institutional sale that will be subscription for three months. The Gulf News has been doing a Market Development process as Gulf News has been concentrating on the primary line of business that has been newspaper and was adding the supplements to it like the classifieds. Both the strategies have its own advantages. Economic development through innovation has been identified by all ("Innovation"). A company that has been promoting innovation has been able to stay ahead of competition.AME Info has been able to enter into podcast which was a product that was developed earlier. But AME Info has been able to innovative into new segment that can be termed as Arabic Content management. They have been able to innovate into regional news and that has been able to increase the market share of the company. There has to be specific strategy for risk assessment while taking the innovation and it is more of surprising the competitors. Innovation from AME Info has been able to make sure that new competition has to follow the market leader and getting into tie up with CNN and that has been able to get more information into western media and in return also. Pricing strategy of Gulf News has been clear that every newspaper can be sold at the price that Gulf News sells but none can give the quality of the content and quantity of the content with Gulf News. Threat of New Entrant can be understood by the entry of The National but it cannot be regarded as a success for lot of factors like pro American and Westernization of the paper and this has to be understood in more detail. Gulf News has been facing competition from Arabic content newspaper and Gulf News has faced that threat by meeting the demands of the exparities.Gulf news had faced competition from “7 day” and English tabloid that has been able to give independent approach free from political intervention. “7day “ had been able to surprise everyone and gain loyal market share by reporting about suicide of workers, prostitution that is prevalent in Dubai and worker abuse .That did not last long as there was change in management and the newspaper had become like other newspapers. That had meant that Gulf News has been able to get back the lost loyal customers and this was the only slight beep in the history of Gulf News. The entry of Times and Sunday Times has not affected the prospects of Gulf News as they had established strong hold in expatriates population. That was because Times was going off the market at a price of Dirham 7 and The Sunday Times are selling at a price of Dirham 15 which was higher than the price of Gulf News. Khaleej Times has been the first English newspaper that has been sold from UAE.That was the only numero uno status that it has been able to achieve and it had lost the popularity status to Gulf News. Gulf News has been able to keep off competition as the value proposition that it offers at low price still holds good and lot of flexibility has been there. The lowest price floor has been identified by Gulf News and the price ceiling also has been identified and they have been able to take the market with them by good pricing strategy that can be termed as price floor. Competition from Khaleej times that has been offering at 1 Dirham’s has not been able to penetrate the market due to poor content. Growth Strategy Growth with existing products Gulf News has been mainly concentrating on growth with existing product that is namely the print medium .AME Info has been into online media and has been trying to grow with online media Growth with new products AME Info has been increasing the sales and market share using or entering into new products. Gulf News has been trying to grow with print classifieds and they have tapped into job classified. Porters Five forces of competitive position with respect to AME Info New Market entrants Flip Media and other online media are the new market entrants for AME Info.Gulf News had new market entrant in the form of National which was published from Abu Dhabi. The geographical coverage of AME Info It started mainly in Middle East and expanded globally by tying up with CNN.Gulf News has been confined with Middle East Competitive rivalry The AME info has been increased competition from print media like Gulf news and online media firms like Flip Media. Gulf News has been facing competition from online media like AME Info and Khaleej Times from print media. Product and Technological development The AME Info has been into latest technologies like Radio ad Podcast. Gulf News has been into latest print technology to ensure that the paper is published on time. Conclusion Both the strategy of innovation and pricing policy will work better based on the context. It cannot be said that a policy A is better than policy B.It is the competitive position that has to be achieved by the companies to make sure that the companies end successful. The value added offerings are also to be well so that price strategy should be successful. Reference “Strategic market objectives” ,viewed on June 4,2009,retrieved from http://mystrategicplan.com/resources/objectives/ Linda Pinson,2001, ,"Pricing policy",Anatomy of a business plan ,pp.46 "Innovation"2001,Germany By Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD,pp.120-126. “Gulf News”,viewed on June 4 2009,retrieved from www.Gulfnews.com Sven Boermeester,"AME INFO",Best of Dubai Vol 1.pp.270-284, Published by Global Village Productions Ltd ISBN 1904566715, 9781904566717 Read More