Marketing Strategy, Text and Cases, Research Paper Example

In economics, competition is a patrimonial situation in which economic agents have the freedom to offer goods and services fit in the market, and to choose who they buy or acquire these goods and services. In general, this translates to a situation in which, for a well-defined, there are a plurality of bidders and a plurality of plaintiffs. The pure and perfect competition is a model of the economic theory of the neoclassical school that describes a hypothetical market structure in which no producer or consumer has the power to set prices or of the decisions of other agents, and they all have the same access to the information, which is an equal the original positions in the commercial relationship. Marketing strategies or business strategies, consist of actions that are performed to achieve specific objectives related to marketing, such as to produce a new product, increase sales, or achieve a greater market share. Heineken is a Dutch beer brewing company in the food and beverage industry. The company specializes in their brand name beer which is popular throughout the world. However, there are many other competitors in the same industry that Heineken must fact. With that being said, the research question for the purpose of this research proposal will be “How can Heineken improve their marketing strategy to beat out their competition?” (Ferrell 2012) As for the rationale for this research question, it is to determine if Heineken is running their current marketing strategy most effectively. And if they are not, what needs to be fixed? What are their biggest threats? What recommendations can we make after identifying any issues?

Being a premium brand is not a matter only of cache, since for consumers to locate a brand within this category it is necessary that its portfolio of products meets with high standards of quality, that their design is by of more unique and that their brand message is shared with customers. (Dang 2012)

In the case of Heineken, we are talking about a brand that has excelled by their comprehensive strategies for marketing, as well as for its beer, which has been gaining ground in the Mexican market. (Dand 2012)

In an interview for InformaBTL, Alejandro Berman, director of marketing for Heineken, indicated that today Mexico is one of the countries that most defines the type of person that consumes the beer brand. Therefore, the name of the Aztec nation is one of the honorees in the last campaign of the brand “Cities of the world”. (Dand 2012)

To make or design marketing strategies, in addition to take into account our goals, and resources, we should firstly analyze our target audience, so that on the basis of this analysis we can, for example, to design strategies that allow us to meet their needs or desires, or that take into account their habits or customs. (Baker 2014)

But in addition to analyze our target audience, previously we must also analyze the competition, in such a way that on the basis of this analysis we can, for example, to design strategies that will enable us to take advantage of their weaknesses, or that are based on the strategies they are using and that better results are. (Baker 2014)

For a better management of the marketing strategies, these are usually split or classify in strategies to 4 aspects or elements of a business: strategies for the product, strategies for the price, strategies for the plaza (or distribution), and strategies for the promotion (or communication).  Set of elements known as the 4 Ps or the mixture (or mix) of marketing (or marketing). (Baker 2014)

The design of the marketing strategies is one of the main aspects to work within the marketing. Marketing strategies define how you are going to achieve the business objectives of our company. For doing this, it is necessary to identify and prioritize those products that have the greatest potential and profitability, select to the public that we are going to direct, define the brand positioning that we want to achieve in the minds of customers and work strategically the different variables that make up the marketing mix (product, price, distribution and communication). (Baker 2014)

The truth is good contribution since we served too much on this of the marketing and the market that different classes of markets can be distinguished: retail markets or retailers, wholesale markets or distributors, web markets, the markets of intermediate products, raw materials and stock markets (stock exchange). The term market also used to refer to the potential consumer demand or estimated. (Baker 2014)

In order to speak about terms such as monopoly, oligopoly, monopsony and monopolistic competition, it is necessary first to clarify the definition of competition.

Competence refers to the existence of a large number of companies or individuals, which made the offer and sale of a product (suppliers are) in a given market, in which there are also a few people or companies, called consumers or applicants, which, according to your preferences and needs, who buy them or require these products to the offer. (Ferrell 2012)

However, in some cases, the competition is presented with different intensity and in different levels, which make it look like a different classification system. This classification also depends on the amount of control on prices can have both the that offers such as the demand, the variety of goods that are on the market and the ease with which new providers entering the market. (Morgan 2012)

There are two types of competition. Perfect competition is referring to that in which the number of people or companies that offer and demand a certain product is so great that this number can be considered infinite, so there are no barriers to entry of new providers of the same product and in this way no bidder or applicant has control over the market or on the price with which the product is negotiated, since the amount that each contributes to the total amount of the negotiated product is so insignificant that it makes it impossible to have control over the price and the quantity of product negotiated. In this case, both producers and consumers would be “price-makers” because they accept and negotiate with prices that are presented in the market for different goods. We should, then, a perfectly competitive market, which is presented more as a theoretical development that as a real situation. (Morgan 2012)

The simplest and most effective method of gathering data through primary participants is through a survey analysis. A survey can be developed for different random sample groups consisting of either employees of Heineken or consumers of the beverage. Survey questions will focus on how the participants view Heineken’s competition in the beverage industry and how they think Heineken could improve. According to the number of people participating in the market or level of competition, the samples sets can be classified into: Consumer markets of perfect competition and consumer markets of imperfect competition. Baker 2014)

The step by step plan for this research plan is simply to gather willing participants through electronic communications and have them fill out their survey once the survey questions are determined. We can then gather all of the surveys and run a marketing and statistical analysis on Heineken’s marketing strategies based on the answers to the survey questions.

There may however be limitations to this research design. For example, it is not likely that every participant will answer the survey questions accurately. Some participants may base their answers off of different data, experiences, or differing economic times in the beverage industry. These limitations shall be disclosed when presenting the collected data and should be considered during analysis.

As for Delimitations, because the company is based in the Netherlands, the survey shall be conducted using participants from this location. As stated in the research design, the survey can be transmitted through electronic communications to make it more convenient for the participants as well as the researchers.

S.M.A.R.T. Action Plan

References

Baker, M. J. (2014). Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Dang, C. N. H. (2012). Studying the impact of humor appeal in TVC on consumer’s attitude towards beer brand: The case of Heineken beer (Doctoral dissertation, International University HCMC, Vietnam).

Ferrell, O. C., & Hartline, M. (2012). Marketing strategy, text and cases. Cengage Learning.

Morgan, N. A., Katsikeas, C. S., & Vorhies, D. W. (2012). Export marketing strategy implementation, export marketing capabilities, and export venture performance. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(2), 271-289.