Marketing Assignment

Executive summary of Progressive Office Furniture Company Situation Analysis

Today the business market is well-connected to the world due to globalization. All organizations now have a common objective to increase their market performance and increase their market capitalization. Nowadays, businesses are constantly competing to emerge as a market leader in that particular business. They try to gain a competitive advantage by optimizing its processes and strategies. It is essential for organizations to continuously adapt new strategies and plans and also keep alter their existing ones in accordance to the constantly changing consumer and new market preferences and demands. For any marketing plan or strategy to be successful it is important for the company to elaborately analysis the present market or situation in which it is functioning. The following article thus describes the various factors of the business environment play an important role on the operations of an Australian furniture manufacturing company Progressive office furniture and the marketing strategies applied by this company.

Table of Contents

Introduction.

Situation analysis.

Analysis of external environment

Analysis of internal environment

SWOT Analysis.

Conclusion.

References.

Introduction to Progressive Office Furniture Company Situation Analysis

Progressive office furniture is an Australian company manufacturing, designing and installing furniture in offices and incorporates since a long time. This company provides furniture solutions by designing, manufacturing and installing the modern, smart and compact furniture for small companies and offices and big corporate houses. Progressive office furniture is a well-established name in providing furniture installation services to turn key projects of high class designing of office space. The services of this company include providing qualified trade, full layout and design service, plumbing, floor covering, mechanical solutions, internal wall or partition construction, electrical and data solutions. A good marketing strategy and plan for has supported the company to gain a position in the market. However, due to the increasing competition in the market, it is difficult for the companies to survive in the business world. Thus, the companies are constantly altering their existing marketing strategies and formulating new strategies as per the needs and demand of the market.

The marketing strategy and consumer attitude of a business has its effect on the sale of the product and services and the success of the business. Increased customer satisfaction results have positive effect on customer loyalty. An effective marketing strategy and its elements have positive effect on customer satisfaction and greatly impacts the buying decision of the consumers. (Masterson, Philips & Pickton, 2017). The analysis of the market and the situation is integral to achieve this.

Thus, the presented article elaborately analyses and explains the various factors and elements of the business environment which play an integral role of the functioning of this company and the importance of these factors to design the various marketing strategies.

Situation Analysis

With a more effective and efficient marketing and communication plan and strategy the company has increased chances of better performance in the market. Thus, there still is a potential for the company to enhance its market performance by devising a more efficient and effective marketing strategy which has as far reach and is able to reach more number of people. Before developing marketing strategies, it is necessary for the marketing managers to understand the market and the prevailing marketing conditions (Rogan, 2017). When developing a market strategy for a product it is important for the marketing managers to conduct a market audit and analyse a variety of factors including customer landscape (Stone & Desmond, 2007). The marketing managers should dedicate efforts to undertake market audit which will help them in understanding the market and the consumers and the various other related factors of that market to appropriately position their company and product and thus increase sales.

This marketing audit in simple terms can be described as a comprehensive, and structured analysis, assessment and interpretation of the business and the marketing environment (Stone & Desmond, 2007). It considers the evaluation of both internal and external business environment. It also helps to understand the goals, objectives, and strategies, principles to understand the gaps and problem areas. This market audit also helps to define the opportunities available for the business and thus assist the marketing managers to develop and create and an action plan and strategies to improve the business’s performance in the market.

Understanding the market also involves understanding the customers or consumers of that market. Consumer behaviour and consumer decision in purchasing a certain product or service is influenced by marketing factors like pricing and promotion (Kanagal, 2016). Consumer behaviour can be described as the decision-making process that a customer or a consumer undergoes, and actions performed by a consumer when purchasing a product or service (Wu and Li, 2016). Analysis of consumer behaviour helps to understand the perception of an individual consumer about the products and services, their uses and how the consumer selects it according to their needs, wants and desires. It is important for companies to keep track of and constantly analyse this behaviour of the consumers to effectively influence the purchasing decision of its customers and which will help them to gain competitive advantage in the market. It is necessary for companies to constantly adopt new strategies and adapt and alter their existing marketing strategies according to the changing consumer and market preferences and demands. Consumer behaviour and the marketing mix and strategies of an organization impact the sale of products and services and success of a company (Achar et.al., 2016).

Analysis of External Environment

It is essential for the businesses to understand and analyse the consumers and the external macro environmental factors like demographic, economic, natural, political or legal, technological, and cultural or social factors that influence the operations of an organization and also consumer’s buying behaviour. Any organization or business often reuses and alters its marketing and promotion strategy in different parts across the globe in accordance to these macro environmental factors and consumer behaviour prevailing in that region (Thieu et.al. 2017).

Business environment and consumer behaviour is strongly influenced by a number of internal and external factors like demographic, economic, natural, political or legal, technological, and cultural or social factors. The demographic or the lifestyle factors of a region also have an influence on the marketing plan of a business. The marketing mix of product, price, place and promotion considers these factors to help achieve success for a company or product. For Progressive office furniture, the distribution place would be more developing and developed areas, regions, towns and cities, where more offices and corporate houses are located. The company can also take design a higher pricing strategy as the clients in these regions generally are well established businesses and brands having high spending capacity. The political factors take into consideration the political and legal situations of the market, the laws, tariffs and taxes related to businesses that the prevailing government levies (Fahy & Jobber, 2015). Progressive office furniture company is headquartered in Australia. The political conditions of Australia are quite conducive for its operations. Since, it has its distribution and operations some other regions as well, it is important for the company to abide by the laws and trade tariffs of that region. The economic factors involve the economy and the condition of the market. Like an inflation of the economy also affects the functioning of the business. The cultural and the social factors consist of all the factors of culture, sub-culture, demographics, locality, ethnicity, social class, family, etc of the clients and the market. Progressive office furniture thus has to develop different designs and plans according to the different taste of the client developed due to different culture and background.

Technology is every changing concept and businesses need to these ever-changing technological aspects (Fahy, & Jobber, 2015). The company needs to analyse these factors, to understand how the consumers react to the technological trends and what are their needs and does include this technology in their operations and product. Progressive offices should make use of technology to give its clients a more realistic or virtual view of the project even before its inception.

Analysis of Internal Environment

The objective and mission of Progressive office furniture is to create balanced, aesthetic and compact furniture solutions for office space and as per the requirement of its client. It manages the complete furniture project right from the inception of plan to its installation. It customizes the office furniture and aesthetics as the demand and taste of its client. The company’s vision is to emerge as a market leader in this industry and expand its operations further. The management of the company and its employees are thus, focused to achieve this objective. For this purpose, the company formulates and implements a variety of marketing and consumer-oriented strategies taking into consideration various factors of the business environment. Before implementation of any such strategy it is essential for marketing managers of the firm to evaluate and analyse a variety of factors including the strengths, weakness, threats and opportunities of the company.

SWOT Analysis

For the success of any business, it is essential for the organization to understand, evaluate and analyse the external and internal factors. These factors contribute to realize the trends in the market and thus implement the strategies accordingly. Along with the understanding these factors, it is also essential for the businesses to evaluate its competitive position in the marketing and thus act accordingly (Gurel, 2017). For this purpose, the businesses use different types of techniques. One of the techniques essentially used by any business before launching its product and also after its launch is the technique of SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis is the technique to assess the four elements of any product or business i.e. evaluating and analysing the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities of that product or business (Gurel, 2017).

SWOT analysis helps to analyse and assess the various internal and external factors, of a company and also its current and future potential. It understands the performance, competition, risk, and potential of a business. A SWOT analysis of a business helps to interpret about the strategies of the company. The companies maximize its performance on basis of its strengths and available opportunities. It is a strategic decision-making and management tool that gives insight about the most concerning issues faced by the company, on the basis of the internal business conditions and the external environment (Gurel, 2017). The strengths and weakness form the internal factors within the organization while the threats and opportunities make up the external factors to the organization. The internal and external factors of the SWOT analysis for Progressive office furniture company can be describe as follows:

  • Strengths- the strengths of this company include its business concept, its innovative technological progress. Since it provides complete office furniture solution right from planning to installation, more and more corporates and offices often use such services to reduce their own cost and time. This strength can help the company to maximizes its profits.
  • Weakness- understanding weaknesses is understanding the inadequacies of the company (Morgan, Whitler, Feng, & Chari, 2018). The weakness of this company includes limited distribution channels, sales being dependent on high-end market segments. Such office design services are often taken by well-established companies and big brand spend high amounts on designing their office spaces. Thus, this service may be limited to more developed regions.
  • Opportunities- the opportunities available to this company are distribution and business expansion, higher sales due to increasing demand for smart, modern and sleek furniture pieces and development of new products and services (Gurel, 2017). This company can expand and try to penetrate the untapped markets and thus increase sales volumes. Along, with designing projects it can also provide services which will cater to the other customer also apart from clients spending on such services.
  • Threats- the factors possessing threats to this company are aggressive competition, imitation and rising labour cost in various countries. Progressive office furniture may face severe competition from other companies dealing in same kind business. The company also has to face the threat of imitation. The local companies nowadays easily imitate the best designs and features of the designs of these companies and offer services at a considerably lower price. Rising labour cost has also posed a threat to this company.

Conclusion on Progressive Office Furniture Company Situation Analysis

Customer demands and preferences are now changing rapidly. It is important for business to develop new strategies to maintain its current customers and to attract and associate with the new customers. Thus, the companies are spending a lot of time, efforts and expenditure on developing and creating marketing strategies that suit these changing demands and preferences of the customers and the business environment. However, before developing and designing the marketing strategies it is essential for the businesses to spend some time on market analysis or market audit. Market audit helps to analyse and evaluate the prevalent market conditions of the market in which the company plans to launch the product. Market audit also helps to assess the consumer buying behaviour and the other related factors. Based on these interpretations, the marketers then design appropriate marketing strategies. While developing the marketing strategies it is important for the businesses to consider that marketing strategies are long-term and forward-looking approaches. A marketing strategy is basically a game plan of any business with the main goal of achieving a competitive advantage.

The marketing strategy of Progressive office furniture a successful and appropriate strategy. However, there still lies the potential for the company to overcome its weakness and fight the threats by formulating effective and efficient marketing strategies and thus be a market leader in the industry.

References for Progressive Office Furniture Company Situation Analysis

Achar, C., So, J., Agrawal, N., & Duhachek, A. (2016). What we feel and why we buy: the influence of emotions on consumer decision-making. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, 166–170. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.01.009

Fahy, J. & Jobber, D. (2015). Foundations of marketing. London: McGraw-Hill Education.

Gurel, E. (2017). SWOT analysis: A theoretical review. The Journal of International Social Research, 10(51), 995-1006.

Kanagal, N. B. (2016). An extended model of behavioural process in consumer decision making. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 8(4), 87-93.

Masterson, R., Philips, N. & Pickton, D. (2017). Marketing an introduction. London: Sage Publications.

Morgan, N., Whitler, K.A., Feng, H. & Chari, S. (2018). Research in marketing strategy. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327107606

Rogan, D. (2017). Marketing: An introduction for learners in Ireland. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan.

Stone, M. & Desmond, J. (2007). Fundamentals of marketing. London: Routledge.

Thieu, B.T., et.al (2017). Linkages between marketing mix components and customer satisfaction: An analysis on Google in Hanoi, Vietnam. Journal of Economics and Business Research, 23(1), 123-147.

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