Global Marketing and Sales Environment: A PESTLE Analysis of Morocco for DabaDoc

This report provides a PESTLE analysis of Morocco for DabaDoc, including political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors. The report also justifies the opportunity for DabaDoc to expand to the United Kingdom and provides an overview of the competitive landscape in Morocco. The subject is global marketing and sales environment, and the course code and college/university information are not mentioned.

Global marketing
and sales
environment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
PESTLE analysis of Morocco ....................................................................................................3
Justification of opportunity.........................................................................................................9
Overview of the competitive landscape of Morocco................................................................10
International marketing strategy ..............................................................................................12
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
It is important for business firms to construct an effective sales and marketing
strategy to ensure successful expansion in new market. Sales and marketing strategy of
a business firm consists of plan for for reaching, engaging and converting target
consumers into profitable and loyal consumers of the firm. Business firms need to
develop sales and marketing strategy based on extensive research for successful
expansion in foreign market. DabaDoc is the selected company for the present report.
DabaDoc a digital company founded in 2014 headquartered in Casablanca, Morocco.
The company has developed a platform which provides doctor appointment booking
and virtual consultation service to individuals (DabaDoc, 2021). The present report
includes a PESTLE analysis of Morocco to identify potential marketing opportunities for
introduction of product or service in UK. Overview of the competitive landscape of
Morocco is provided in this report along justification of opportunity in Morocco. The
international marketing strategy for expansion of DabaDoc is provided in this report
which includes product modifications, pricing decisions, promotional efforts, distribution
choices key challenges for expansion of DabaDoc in UK market.
MAIN BODY
PESTLE analysis of Morocco Political Factors: Morocco is politically stable country for doing business and
international expansion. Morocco has adopted constitutional monarchy which is
led by King Mohamed VI. In the year 2008 Morocco was granted advanced
status by EU which is a proof of the strong economic and political ties of the
country. The political stability and progressive reforms made by King Mohamed

VI have played an important role in creating favourable environment for
international expansion of business firm. A political factor which affects the
stability of the nation are the protests in capital city of the country demanding
release 42 activists who dissented against corruption and unemployment in the
region. Protesters who were members of the Rif movement charged against the
government for the release of journalist Hamid El Mahdaoiu who serving
sentence for covering protests (Morocco protests: Thousands demand release of
activists, 2019).
Positive Impact: The main positive implication of the political factors of Morocco to
marketing strategy is that despite recent protests, the country has strong international
ties which ensures maintenance of political stability. This has positive implication on
marketing stagy as it enables smooth implementation of marketing strategy in the
country.
Negative Impact: The negative implication of political factors currently at play in
Morocco is that the protests may create an unfavourable environment for marketing new
products in the region. This is corporates and corporate property are the main targets of
protesters. Economical Factors: The ease of doing subsections index rank for Morocco for
the year 2020 is 53 out of 190 countries (Kchikeche and Khallouk, 2021). The
ease of doing business report is developed by leading economics at the world
bank and is released every year. It aims to measure the costs to firms business
regulations in 190 countries. Morocco gained doing business score of 73.38. This
depicts favourable economic and regulatory conditions in the country for doing

business. The economic climate of Morocco has been negatively affected by
COPVID-19. Trade deficit of the nation decreased by 23.8% in the first quarter of
2020 (Morocco, 2021). On the other hand economic growth of the country also
suffered the impact of COVID-19 with 1.1% percent decrease in first quarter of
2020 and 1.8% decrease in the second quarter of the year.
Positive Impact: The high ranking of the country in the ease of doing business report of
2020 have positive implications for marketing strategy of business firms. This is
because healthy economic conditions enable provide market opportunities to gain
successful outcome from consumer base in the region.
Negative Impact: The negative implications of economic conditions in Morocco is the
economic downturn in the country caused by COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic has
negatively affected growth rate of the region which reduces growth and marketing
opportunities for business firms. Social Factors: Morocco has young population with 27% of it's population under
the age 15, 18% between the ages 15 and 24, 42% between 25 and 54 year old
(Ennassiri and et. al., 2017). This young demographic in Morocco provides
business firms higher number of impressionable population which can be easily
influenced to purchase the products or services of the company. In addition to
this high number of young age individuals in the country also provide business
firms with wider talent pool.
Positive Impact: The positive implication of higher younger demographic in Morocco is
that it increases digital marketing opportunities for business firms. Higher young
demographic create a marketing and sales environment which is centred around digital

marketing channels such as social media networks, emails and pay per view marketing.
These marketing channels can be sued by business firms to connect with young
audience and easily persuade them into purchasing products or services offered by the
firm.
Negative Impact: The negative implication of young demographic in Morocco on
marketing opportunists of the company is that it leads to reliance on digital marketing
channels. High dependence on digital marketing channels can increase threat of cyber
crimes such as ransomware. Technological Factors: Internet penetration is high in the country and most of the
population own a smartphone. Population of Morocco have easy internet
accessibility which provides growth opportunities to digital businesses. The
country has strong technological infrastructure and high rate of innovation across
all industries which makes business firms more competitive. Online businesses
and digital transaction are common in Morocco as wide segment of population
conduct digital transactions on a daily basis.
Positive Impact: The positive implication of technological advancement in Morocco on
market opportunities is that it enables business firms to indulge in omni-channel
marketing. Omni-channel marketing is described as integration of different marketing
channels used by business firms to interact with the consumer so that consistent brand
experience can be provided to the consumers. Business firms can utilise physical as
well as as traditional marketing channels to effectively promote the products and
services and communicate with the consumers.

Negative Impact:The technological development and high internet penetration in
Morocco also have negative implications for market opportunities development of
successful marketing stagy. The main negative implication of technological factors on
marketing strategy is that high digital presence of business firms includes high social
media presence. Social media is also used by consumers to express their
dissatisfaction through reviews on social media sites. High number of negative reviews
on social media or insensitive pssts made by the company can affect the sales of the
firm. Social media backlash is also very common and high internet penetration in
Morocco increases the chances of social media backlash against business firms which
affects their sale and profitability. Legal Factors: The main legal factor associated with Morocco is related to
implementation and enforcement of intellectual property laws. Morocco is a
member of world intellectual property organization ans is party to several
international conventions such as Paris convention for industrial property.
Morocco is not able to effectively implement intellectual property laws which
creates a threat for business firms with intellectual property who aim to enter the
market.
Positive Impact: The positive impact of legal factors related to Morocco is that as the
country is related to international conventions associated with intellectual property and
is also a member of World intellectual property organization, the possibilities of
intellectual property theft or fraud decreases. In addition to this business firms can file
lawsuits against any breach of intellectual property and be assured that effective action

will be taken against such firms. This is particularly beneficial for digital businesses as
protection of intellectual property is essential for growth of such organizations.
Negative Impact: The inability of the Morocco government to effectively implement and
enforcement intellectual property laws has negative simpletons for marketing strategy of
business firms. This is because marketing strategy involves usage of intellectual
property such as brand logo and digital business models. Coping business models and
brand logo to fraud consumers can cause huge damage to company reputation. The
lack of enforcement of intellectual property laws create such threats for business firms. Environmental Factors: The main environmental factor associated with Morocco
is the increase focus of Moroccan government towards sustainability. The
government has taken various initiatives to increase sustainable energy
consumption and consumers to the region are demanding sustainable products
by business firms.
Positive Impact: The positive impact of increased environmental awareness in the
Morocco population and government is that business firms can use this as an
opportunity to promote green initiatives taken by the organizations. This can help
business firms connect with consumers and increase sales by standing out from the
crowd through sustainable actions.
Negative Impact: The rising demand from consumers to enhance sustainability of
business firms is that in order to increase sustainability business firms have to start
sustainable initiatives which are time consuming and require large amount of investment
(Chu, 2018). The expenditure on sustainability initiatives and green marketing practices

increases the overall costs of the company which has negative impact on the
sustainability of the firm.
Justification of opportunity
Dabadoc can exploit huge growth opportunities by expanding to United Kingdom.
This can help the company ensure swift growth in European markets as the company
has also expanded in the African international markets. The justification of opportunities
gained by Dabadoc is provided below:
 UK population is technologically advanced ans internet connection is used by
most of the consumers. This enables the respective company to build a large
consumer base and generate huge amount of profitability.
 Online businesses are commonly used by British public and the nation has swiftly
adopted digital economy with large number of digital transactions occurring on a
daily basis. In addition to this consumers in UK are not hesitant to using digital
platforms for conducting medical purchase or fulfilling their medical requirements.
This provides the company an opportunity to easily enter the market ad capture
large amount of market share. In addition to this, Dabadoc can easily attract
consumers and persuade healthcare practitioners to joint the digital platform and
rapidly expand in the country.
 UK has implemented strict intellectual property laws which also provide the
company opportunity to ensure successful expansion. The justification for this
statement is that intellectual property laws enables Dabadoc to ensure that their
business model and other intellectual property is not illegally used by other
business to gain full profitability from their brand name.

 UK also has strict cyber security laws and cyber security firms of the company
provide exceptional services to completely secure digital businesses from any
case of fraud. This increases expansion opportunity for dabadoc, the justification
being that improved cyber security of the company enable the firm to offer safer
online medical appointment services and attract more consumers increasing the
possibility of success.
Overview of the competitive landscape of Morocco
Porter's five forces analysis is a framework which helps understand the
competitive landscape of a market by determining the level of competitive forces which
are present in the market. Porter's five forces analysis of the digital health platform
market in Morocco is provided below: Bargaining power of the suppliers: This force focuses on understanding the
ability of suppliers to influence prices of the products or services offered by the
company (Dekimpe and Deleersnyder, 2018). The suppliers in case of online
medical appointment management platforms are the doctors and healthcare
practitioners who use the platform to offer their services to consumers. The
bargaining power suppliers in this case is high. The reason behind high
bargaining power of the consumers is that such business firms are dependent on
ensuring that large number of healthcare practitioners use their platform to offer
online medical appointment so that the platforms can be used by consumers in
every geographical region of the market. Healthcare practitioners can unify and
influence that company to reduce charges to register on the platform which can
affect the profitability of business firms.

 Bargaining power of the consumers: This competitive force focuses on
understanding ability of consumers to influence the prices of the products or
services (Heydari and Malekzadeh). The bargaining power of the consumers for
the online medical appointment platform market in Morocco is high. The main
reason behind this is the presence of large number of alternatives and business
rivals for online medial appointment platforms. Consumers can deflect towards
rival business firms or select substitute options such as placing online medical
appointment from hospital websites because of slight increase in prices which
depicts the high level of price sensitivity and leads to high bargaining power of
the consumers. Threat of new entrants: This element of Porter's five forces analysis looks at the
threat of new entrants and ability of new business firms to capture the market of
well established business firms quickly. High threat of new entrants limits growth
potential of business firms in the market (Hicks, 2020). The threat of new
entrants in the Moroccan online medical appointment market is moderate. The
reason behind low threat of new entrants is that in order to ensure registration of
large number of practitioners on the online appointment platform new entrants
have to invest large amount of capital on constructing marketing and
communications strategy in building trust among consumers as well as
healthcare professionals to gain profitability. New entrants can easily products a
digital platform for placing medical appointments which increases this competitive
force to moderate level. Despite this, expanding to new locations and building

healthcare practitioners base to attract more consumers is time consuming which
keeps the threat of new entrants at moderate level. Threat of substitutes: This competitive force aims to understand the threat
faced by business firms because of substitute products. Substitute products are
defined as products or services which fulfil same consumer requirements and
can be used instead of offerings of the company (Hou, 2018). The threat of
substitutes in case of online medical appointment marketplace of Morocco is low.
This is because the online substitute to online medical appointment platforms is
to place a digital medical appointment from hospital website. Placing online
medical appointment from website of Hospitals is not a perfect substitute as
every hospital may not offer healthcare practitioners with speciality in specific
medical areas such as expatriation or dermatologist. On the other hand online
medical appointment platform connects consumers to wide range of healthcare
practitioners quickly which reduces the effectiveness of substitute and decreases
the level of threat of this substitute to this market in Morocco.
 Intensity of competition: The level of competition faced by business firms in a
specific market is the focus of this competitive force (Justin, 2019). The level of
intensity of competition faced by enterprises in the online medical appointment
platform market is high. The reason behind is the presence of large number of
rivals in the region. DoctorUna and Vezeeta.com are online medical appointment
providers headquartered in UAE who also operate in Morocco. In addition to this
business firms in this industry also face threat from international business firms
such as Bookdoc which is based in Malaysia. This increases the level of

competitiveness in the market as each company struggles to capture and
maintain largest market share in the industry.
International marketing strategy
Product modification
The product modification which neds to be completed by Dabadco is to offer
premium subscription service and adopt a freemium business model. In the freemium
model UK consumers can enjoy certain benefits such as priority appointment, 24/7 chat
with healthcare professionals and discount from medical retail chains. This will help the
company attract large number of consumers.
Pricing decisions
The firm needs to adopt freemium pricing strategy in which consumers can
assess the platform free of charge but have to pay subscription charges to enjoy
premium benefits.
Promotional efforts
Dabadoc needs to adopt omni-channel marketing strategy in order to ensure
successful expansion. In this strategy the firm needs to integrate marketing and
communication channels in order to provide the consumers seamless experience
across all channels. This includes integrating branding, communication efforts, online
and offline consumer touchpoints to gain more impactful outcome from marketing efforts
(Khan, 2019). The multiple online and offline channels which can be used by Dabadoc
to ensure positive and seamless consumer experience is provided to the consumers are
explained below;
Online channels

 Social media: This is one of the most commonly used online marketing channel
as it helps business firms connect with large number of consumers in a cost
effective manner (Nicodemus, Mowaiye and Fasola, 2020). Dabadoc can use
this social media marketing channel to communicate and interact with large
number of consumers as well as healthcare practitioners and form social media
community to promote consumer testimonials and build brand recognition and
trust among consumers. Email: This is another cost effective online marketing channel which helps the
company send personalized messages to large number of consumers (Nikolova
and Arsić, 2017). Dabadoc can use this digital marketing channel to send special
offers to consumers and practitioners to join the platform and increase consumer
base on a daily basis.
Offline channels
 Events: Adoption of this offline marketing channel involves conducting evenest to
increase brand recognition (Papadas and et. al, 2019). Dabadoc needs to
sponsor in medical events such as medical conferences and seminars to
increase brand recognition among healthcare professionals and quickly persuade
healthcare professionals sin the region to join the firm. This will ensure quick
expansion of the company as healthcare professionals from different regions in
UK wild join the platform which will give the firm credibility and access to large
number of consumers.
 Call centre: This offline marketing channel includes building consumer service
centres to communicate with consumers 24/7 and solve their problems

effectively. This will help Dabadoc promote credibility of the platform will
costumers and healthcare practitioners as their doubts and problems will be
solved effectively. In addition to this, effective consumer service will help the
respective firm build loyal costumer base.
Distribution options
The distribution channel suitable form the firm is to distribute digital service
through company website and android application on major application stores.
Main barriers to successful expansion Economic conditions: COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit have both contributed to
introduction of economic downturn in UK. This economic downturn has
deceased disposable income of the consumers. This creates the barrier that
Dabadoc will not able able to convert most users of the platforms into consumers
of the premium subscription service. This is major factor which affects the
profitability of the company and act as a barrier top conducting business in the
region. In addition to this it also negatively impacts on the growth potential of the
firm. Taxation: Complicated taxation laws in UK are one of the main barriers to
conducting business in the region. The UK tax system is notoriously tricky mainly
because the legal system of the country is adopted in piecemeal fashion. It takes
110 hours annually to fulfil necessary tax obligations of business firms which
involve various elements from corporate and labour charges to environment and
sales taxes. Taxation complications decrease the ease of doing business in the
region for Dabadoc and is one of the main factors which affect smooth expansion

and functioning of the firm in UK. In addition to this tax barriers imposed due to
Brexit and complicated taxation policy in UK can negatively affect profitability of
the company which increases business barriers for Dabadoc.
 Resourcing: The primary barrier to conducting business in UK is Brexit. This is
because Brexit has created a resourcing problem in the country which can affect
successful expansion of business firms in the region. Implementation of Brexit
has created barriers for European workers to freely enter the country and
contribute to British workforce. This has lowered presence of high-skilled labour
in the country and created resourcing problems. It is essential to fulfil staffing
requirement in order to expand in specific region. Dabadoc will not be able to
gain highly skilled staff because of the resourcing problem created by Brexit in
UK. This has negative impact on overall cost of expansion, profitability and limits
the presence of highly talented employees in the workforce of the firm.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it is determined that in order to conduct an effective
marketing strategy for international expansion, it is essential to conduct a PESTLE
analysis of the foreign market. PESTLE analysis provides information about the political,
economical, social, technological, legal and environmental factors which affect growth of
business firm in the market. This helps in effectively evaluating aspects of the global
environment which have implications of the marketing strategy of the company. It
assists in identification of potential market opportunities for introduction of new product
or service in that region. Porter's five forces analysis is a framework which helps in
uncovering competitive landscape of the region. The competitive forces of bargaining
power of consumer and supplier, threat of substitutes and new entreats and level of
competitive intensity can be understood with the help of Porter's five forces analysis.
International marketing strategy helps business firms successfully expand in new
markets and consists of various elements. Product modifications for international
market. Pricing strategy, promotional efforts and distribution channels are the main
elements of the marketing strategy. In addition to this main barriers of the foreign region
are also provided in the marketing strategy.

REFERENCES
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Online
DabaDoc, 2021. [Online] Available through <https://www.dabadoc.com/>
Morocco protests: Thousands demand release of activists, 2019. [Online] Available
through <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48008463>
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<https://www.doingbusiness.org/en/data/exploreeconomies/morocco>