Marketing Management - Go Plc

MAIN BODY

1. BACKGROUND STATEMENT

INDUSTRY BACKGROUND

Malta's telecommunication sector is the most advanced in Southern Europe as it has high mobile and broadband penetration rates. The sector has designed its regulation in such a way that it will help in reducing price for consumers and increase competition. The merger of Vodafone Malta and Melita will pose a challenge for Go to retain in market. The broadband market is mainly dominated by Go, which is close to monopoly in DSL and fibre segment, and Melita, which is enjoying monopoly in cable services (Malta Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband 2019-2023. 2019). The mobile market is controlled and dominated by Go Mobile, Melita Mobile and Vodafone Malta. Regulators are putting efforts to encourage national broadband network which will attract investors (The 1-GIG Opportunity. 2019). Go mobile and Vodafone together has 80% market as of June 2017. Go company is the dominant operator with 65% market share.

COMPANY BACKGROUND

Go plc is the leading telecommunication service provider in Malta. Apart from quad play offers, it also provides cloud services, data networking solutions, managed services, roaming hub services and business IP services to customers. The company has put in heavy amount in its fibre powered infrastructure. Its strategy aimed at delivering best services in relation to infrastructure and customer service. It is the first 4.5G network provider in Malta.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

A competitive analysis is a strategy which helps in identifying the competition and competitors in the market, conducting research for the products, sales and distribution and other marketing strategies. It helps in forming solid business strategies that can be useful in meeting up with the challenges and helps in gaining advantage over competitors. Performing competitive analysis will help the organization in identifying the gaps in the markets, identify untouched potential market, developing new products and services, moving with the changing market trends and marketing and selling effectively and efficiently. It starts with identifying the competitors and products that competitors offer, identifying how and what marketing tactics used by the competitors, level of customer engagement with competitor's product and services, competitor's social media presence and promotion practices, their target market and pricing policy followed. All these factors are crucial in conducting competitive analysis.

SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING

Segmentation: It refers to dividing the market into small groups with similar attributes. The Go company has divided the market based on the youth and business professional who require high speed network to carry the business.

Targeting: The Go company has targeted upper middle and higher income group people as this network will be expensive.

Positioning: To position the product in the mind of consumers, Go company will be using digital marketing techniques to promote its products.

To know the current market positioning of the Go plc, Porter's Five Forces framework will be used. This will help in identifying the key areas of opportunity and threats and the current market positioning of the organization.

Threat of new entrants: It refers to the situation where new firms can enter the market and becomes threat to the existing ones. It is influenced by the regulations and barriers on the entry of the organization. The demographic characteristics of Malta is very attractive which attracts new competitors (Gans and Ryall, 2017). The new firms may enter but, to give tough competition to the existing ones is difficult as it requires huge investment for infrastructure and competitive services. Currently, the threat of new entrant is low for the Go company and company can maintain its position by working efficiently.

Threat of competitive rivalry: It refers to the competition and competitors in the market. The market in Malta is small with very small selection of services providers. The competition is mainly on quality, price, technology and innovation. Implementing advanced technologies based on customer needs before any other competitors will help Go in attracting more customers and take competitive advantage. Presently, the competitive rivalry is high, because the market is small and competitors are more as compared to the market.

Threat of substitute products and services: It is related to the threat which is because of the availability of substitute products (Harding, 2017). Every organization faces this threat and there is no cure or right strategy to meet such threats. The competitors are working on to provide the same services but has not completed. So, for Go company threat of substitution is low initially till other companies come up with the same service.

The bargaining power of customers: It refers to the drive the buyer has to demand lower price or high quality services. It depends upon the number of customer base the organization has. If the organization has small customer base then customers have more power to drive changes and if customer base is huge then customers have no or less bargaining power (Kingsnorth, 2019). In Malta, market is small and is beneficial for the customers to demand for low price and quality. The companies highlight its competitive characteristics by offering attractive offers to its customers. The bargaining power of customers is low with respect to the services provided as there is no option for the customers to switch to another. This will change once competitors comes up with the similar product.

The bargaining power of suppliers: It is similar to the bargaining power of buyers but in this power is in the hands of suppliers. If suppliers are less in the market than the suppliers have to power to charge higher prices or low quality product or service and if suppliers are more than companies can negotiate for lower prices as switching cost is low. An important supplier for Go company is its infrastructure and maintenance supplier which are the crucial part of the organization (Jurevicius Ovidijus, 2013). It can be said that bargaining power of suppliers is high in Malta because of the less availability of relevant suppliers with required quality. Introducing new service will require Go company to pay higher price to its suppliers and maintain good relations with suppliers otherwise low quality and delays from these suppliers will result in revenue loss and dissatisfied customers.

Unique Selling Proposition of the company

The unique selling proposition of Go company is its fibre powered infrastructure. It is the first and the only operator in Malta to have access to three submarine cables connecting the island with the web. Other services of Go company that can be termed as its USP are its internet service, it is the first network provider in Malta to offer 4.5G network. It also provides fibre to home broadband service with the speed of 1Gbps. Go company owns the local broadcasting rights for the UEFA champions league, the French Ligue 1, the Barclays Premiere league, formula 1 and Rugby, the Italian Serie A, all in HD. Another USP is that it provides variety of offers as per the customer needs such as monthly pay, student plans, other saving plans, limitless calls and SMS, internet plans, TV packages, attractive home packs etc.

Marketing Audit

Marketing Audit is a comprehensive analysation and evaluation of internal and external business marketing environment in systematic order to ascertain company's goals and areas in which company needs improvement (Rahman, 2017). Thus, it assist GO plc in making effective marketing plan for increasing sales and achievement of organisational goals. The internal factor such as employees and management as well as external factor such as competitor, supplier and investor effect in decision-making and functioning of organisation. While conducting marketing Audit, GO plc requires to analyse and evaluate its internal and external factors which have been explained below:

Internal factors: It refers to internal forces of the company that impact on the decision-making of organisation such as human, physical, financial and technological resources, organization's culture and its goodwill. Top management of Go plcis effectively manage various resource that help in the success of the company. Effective utilization of internal resource help GO plc in delivering quality services and thus help in increasing value of goodwill. It will also help Company in launching of 5G network in the market by effective availability of resources, coordination between employees and management within minimum wastage of time and money.

External Factors: It includes factors that are beyond control of company and in order to gain competitive advantages, company overlook on various external factors such as political, social, environmental, competition and suppliers in the market in which company operates its business (Schultz and Malthouse, 2017). Due to ever-changing nature of environment it is necessary for the company to continuous supervise various changes and updates itself in order to promote growth and success of the organisation. External environment is further divided into micro and macro environment that are explained below:

Micro environment: It is crucial for the company to analyse and evaluate its environment in which the company operates as it directly impacts on functioning of company. It impacts on general performance of the company and not have long-lasting effects which includes customers, suppliers, competition and public. Go plc has to analysis its micro factor in order to gain competitive advantages and expands its market share by differentiating its product from other competitors in t

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