Marketing and HR Strategies for Success

The assignment emphasizes the need for organizations to track their competitors' positions to provide customers with more attractive services. Marketing and HR managers play a crucial role in making decisions that cater to customer needs, including controlling traffic during peak usage and managing relationships with suppliers.

5 Forces For Virgin Broadband
in UK

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
In the present era, internet is the basic requirement of all the individuals. To have an
appropriate information about everything , community turns around a viable broadband
connection only. It is used by all the schools, hospitals, social sectors, businesses etc. to have an
up-to-date news about the things to be accomplished. To favour the same, Virgin Media , a
company of British origin was founded on 6 March ,2006. It provides fixed and mobile
telephones, television and broadband internet services to the customers of United Kingdom. It
usually serves the business premises with its broadband services under Virgin Broadband. In this
report its complete marketing position has been described along with taking into account all the
factors like pricing, brand values,etc.
MAIN BODY
The company uses NTL's cable -broadband operations(broadband Internet
access connections through cable), Blueyonder (Telewest's cable-broadband operations)
and Virgin.net (ADSL, broadband Internet access through a non-cable telephone line) for its
operation. With the help of fibre optic broadband it serves the community. In this report the
current strategy of the company and its practical approach has been focussed to evaluate its
position against he competitors in the target market.
Its a leading media company of UK due to its constant innovations, successful
diversification and the requisite designs to beat the competitors. Broadband is one of the
important segment of Virgin Media company. It is the largest private company in UK which
facilitate the customers with the internet services. Ii is a industry of telecommunications and
mass media. It has earned revenue of around £4.100 billion as estimated in year 2012 with a
profit of £2.852 billion (Whalley and et.al., 2017). It provides employment to around 14,004
employees as calculated in 2012. To expand its business it has its subsidiaries like, Virgin Media
Ireland, Virgin Media Business,etc. In this way , the company is spreading its wings. It is also
listed on NASDAQ Stock Market ans the London Stock Exchange.
The company offers internet access with ultrafast speed of up to 50 Mb to the customers
of the United Kingdom. In 2010, it has launched 100 Meg broadband services to attract more and
more customers. It is also trying to provide 200 Mb broadband services for the ease of the
customers (Westphal, 2016). This has led to its improved performance in the stock market. Its

stock pricing is also increasing at alarming rate. This depict that the company has grab the
attention of the investors. It is the first company in United Kingdom which offers broadband
through its fibre optic cable network.
Since , it is made up of glass, it delivers the information at the fastest speed which is
almost equivalent to the speed of light . Other providers which uses copper wires are not much
efficient in providing the information at faster speed. This gives an appreciable market position
to the company (Nardotto and et.al., 2015). This fibre optic network aids the customers with all
the benefits of next generation telecom services. With the help of voice and data convergence it
makes the services cost efficient. It can transfer large volume of data at fastest speed. Data
storage can be centralized and secured. Disaster recovery plans can be managed in a better way
using these cables.
To evaluate the current market position, first of all the supple chain for the company is
taken into consideration. This company is a subsidiary of Liberty Global plc , which is the world
largest international cable company. Procurement department of the company is responsible for
all the resources to serve the customers in the best way. These goods and services includes set
top boxes, network services, infrastructure services, telecoms as per the need of the customers.
It has a complete team to take care of the purchases . This team is also responsible for
acquiring and managing all the voice interconnection, access , transit and backbone services of
the third party. To have an efficient supply chain to make the performance effective, it has made
healthy relationships with the stakeholders by providing them with the things required by them.
The company shake hands with the suppliers who are proactive, innovative, drive improved
product ans services, value for money , reduces the risk and deal with transparency. It remains
associated with its key suppliers to gain the competitive advantage.
For this , executive business reviews are done which involves joint meetings of
executives, suppliers and the person procuring the services. This meeting helps to promote
innovation and value generation with the help of procuring the resources to meet the needs of
the customers (Stocker and et.al., 2017). In this way supply chain management is done.
Similarly, the marketing managers are responsible for pricing and branding the services.
For the same , the managers have to take the decisions while considering the customers. The sale

will be good only if the products are affordable for the customers. Managers have to keep the
same in the mind while pricing the services. Many different kinds of services are provided by
the company. For example, Virgin Media VIVID 100, which has download speed of up to 100
Mb , upload speed of up to 6 Mb with unlimited monthly allowance , Wi-Fi on the Tube, no
requirement of phone, free Super Hub with 802.11ac Wi-Fi . This cost about £38.00 per month
which sounds quite affordable for the customers . With such a attractive features anyone can
install the same in their premises to attain the target in a cost effective way.
Similarly,Virgin Media Mix Bundle is also there, which has download speed of up to
100 Mb , upload speed of up to 6 Mb with unlimited monthly allowance , Wi-Fi on the Tube,
free Super Hub with 802.11ac Wi-Fi, weekend UK land-line calls, 150+TV channels, Virgin TV
V6 Box along with ten months reduced price . This cost about £45.00 for twelve months which
again sounds quite affordable for the customers .
Similarly, Virgin Media Full House Bundle is also there, which has download speed of
up to 100 Mb , upload speed of up to 6 Mb with unlimited monthly allowance , Wi-Fi on the
Tube, free Super Hub with 802.11ac Wi-Fi, unlimited monthly allowance, all the BT Sport
channels in HD , Nat Geo Wild in HD along with the Disney channels. It costs upto £55.00 for
twelve months .Hence, many business man install such kind of feature in their business area.
Many other offers are also provided by the company managers keeping in mind the cost factor
which must be affordable to the customers.
Looking at the above examples , we can say that the company is providing very attractive
services to the customers (Ruhle and et.al., 2015). The company also provides large range of TV
and phone broadband bundles as well as broadband -only packages. It provides cheaper line
rental than BT Company, which keeps the company's image stand out in the target market. Also,
the technical support and repairs are free of charges which grab the attention of more and more
customers. This way the company is establishing its brand value.
With the help of this, the customers can use Wi-Fi connections free of charge at 120
London Underground Stations which is perfect for the regional people of London. Also , the
company has introduced many new features in the services to beat the competitors. For example,
it offers their best router with the latest 802.11ac wireless on even their cheapest products also.
This is the reason that its has more number of customers (Elliott and et.al., 2016). Virgin Media

had the joint highest customer satisfaction level of the 'big 5' broadband suppliers as evaluated
in 2013.
This company also claims that it has an average download time of 5 seconds for an album
and 2.4 minutes for a movie on 100 Mb ,4 seconds for an album and 1.45 minutes for a movie on
200 Mb , which can be even more faster if more than 300 Mb is being used. In present time,
people used to download more everyday and also addicted to play online games . Hence, this is
more suitable for the persons of this outlook. It also helps to provide more prioritised bandwidth
for chatting , playing , streaming , etc. which is considered as worth installation by the
customers.
Many people are not ion the need of same. They used to do very less downloads each
day. For such kind of people, the company has offered wide ranges of packages to meet their
requirements (Elliott and et.al., 2016). The company also claims that for a family 100 Mb
package is sufficient and for 5 or more people 200 or 300 Mb packages are adequate. Faster
packages helps to reduce the slowdown in the working if more people are using internet. It also
helps to provide wireless router, online security, inclusive phone services along with the
broadband packages . Option of TV is also provided by the company. It has also introduced
many other subsidiaries to target more and more customers , like, Virgin Mobile, Virgin
Phone,Virgin TV, etc. In this way ,the company is emerging out in the target market in the
present age of competition.
To establish in a most efficient way, such kind of companies has to invest more in the
network installation and the operations. To lay the network using fibre optics , a significant cost
has to be incurred. To be an effective new entrant , the managers have to make strategy keeping
in mind all these factors.
Many other competitors are also there, like, SKY and BT. They impose intense
competition in the industry (Burns, 2017). Today the expectations of customers are increased due
to their increased reliance on the broadband industries. The managers have to offer the services
in such a way to keep the customers satiated. Company has to establish its brand loyalty to attract
more and more individuals. This way a company can bind the users. It has to offer premium
television content to retain its customers, as the SKY network is doing. The company has to track
the activities of the competitors to beat them and to offer much more attractive services than

others. With the help of implementation of wide range of offerings, it may assist in providing
versatile range of services to the customers.
To provide the cost efficient services to the customers, the managers should try to curb
the prices of the suppliers. This will help to provide the customers with the affordable prices.
Sometimes suppliers may refuse to work with the managers if they are not fulfilling their
demands. To cope up with this, the managers have to make healthy relationships with the
suppliers (Steinmüller and et.al., 2015). To stand out in the market place, the company has to
maintain all these factors.
Since, there are many companies which offer similar kinds of services, it is difficult for
the customers to choose among them. For this, the brand loyalty plays an important role. The
customers have more changes to bargain as there are many firms from which they can get the
services. To cope up with all these, the HR and marketing managers play a significant role.
With the help of proper recruitment also, a company can satisfy more and more
customers. With the help of introducing many new and innovative schemes , the company is
responding to the current market stage. Since, it has widened its network with the help of many
subsidiary services , the company is regaining its market position. The company has to control
the traffic while the large number of customers are using the network to brat the competitors.
CONCLUSION
To conclude we can say that for the success of any organisation it is important to track
the position of the competitors to provide the customers with more attractive services. The
marketing and human resource mangers play a vital role in this. They must take the decisions
while keeping in mind the needs of the customers.

REFERENCES
Whalley, J. and et.al., 2017. Degrees of separation: the case of BT: A regular column on the
information industries. Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance. 19(4). pp.332-334.
Westphal, N., 2016. Analysis of the UK Package Holiday Industry and its Environment.
Nardotto, M. and et.al., 2015. Unbundling the incumbent: Evidence from UK
broadband. Journal of the European Economic Association. 13(2). pp.330-362.
Stocker, V. and et.al., 2017. Who replies to consultations, and what do they say? The case of
broadband universal service in the UK.
Ruhle, E.O. And et.al., 2015. 15. NGA networks as basis for a sustainable digital society:
European country studies (Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Switzerland). The
Smart Revolution Towards the Sustainable Digital Society: Beyond the Era of
Convergence. p.312.
Elliott, C. and et.al., 2016. An Economic and Social Evaluation of the UK Subsea Cables
Industry.
Burns, P., 2017. New venture creation: a framework for entrepreneurial start-ups. Palgrave.
Steinmüller, H. and et.al., 2015. Like a virgin? Hymen restoration operations in contemporary
China (Respond to this article at https://www. therai. org. uk/publications/anthropology-
today/debate). Anthropology Today. 31(2). pp.15-18.