International and Global Business - Market Entry Strategy for JB-HI-FI in Singapore

This report suggests a market entry strategy for JB-HI-FI Company to enter the Singapore market. It includes Pestle analysis of Singapore, cultural differences between Australia and Singapore, suitable market entry method, branding strategies, and recommendations for the marketing mix.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
International and Global Business
JB-HI-FI

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Overview of JB-HI-FI............................................................................................................2
Analysis of International Market...........................................................................................3
Pestle Analysis of Singapore..............................................................................................3
Cultural Difference between Australia and Singapore...........................................................5
Suitable Market Entry Method...............................................................................................6
Franchising.........................................................................................................................7
Branding strategies for the company......................................................................................7
Cultural Aspects.................................................................................................................8
Recommendations for the marketing mix..............................................................................9
Product...............................................................................................................................9
Price....................................................................................................................................9
Place.................................................................................................................................10
Promotion.........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Today, nearly every company, small or large are influenced by the worldwide competition
and event because many of them vend finished goods or safe suppliers from the foreign
nations and or strive against services and products that arrive from abroad. Companies that
are involved in some type of international trade are part of importing and exporting (Cadle,
Paul & Turner, 2010). The significance of international trade or business is fourfold if a
business is scared of the downturn in their nation. International business is the trade of
services, capital, knowledge, and goods at an internal level. It is comprised of cross-border
businesses of services and goods between different countries. Trades of economic resources
comprise people, skills, and capital with the drive of the international assembly of physical
services and goods like finance, banking, construction, and insurance (De Mooij, 2013). The
aim of this report is to suggest a market entry strategy for JB-HI-FI Company to enter the
Singapore market. JB-HI-FI is one of the Australian consumer goods retailers and offers
electrical home appliances, electronic hardware, mobile phones, Ultra HD Blu-rays, video
games, and Telstra services. In order to base the discussion, Pestle analysis of the country
will be presented to identify the issues the company could face in the market. Besides this,
the report will provide a recommendation regarding the branding strategies and marketing
mix strategies that can be used in the Singapore market.
Overview of JB-HI-FI
JB-Hi-Fi is the consumer goods retailer of Australia and majorly deals in Ultra HD Blu-rays,
electrical home appliances, video games, CDs, electronic/hardware, DVDs, Telstra services,
and mobile phones. The head office of the company is in Melbourne. John Barbuto is the one
who established the company in 1974 (Bloomberg, 2018). The philosophy behind starting
this business was to deliver a professional variety of recorded and Hi-Fi music at the lowest

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price. The company possesses two segments i.e. New Zealand and Australia. It has around 60
Home branded stores of JB Hi-Fi, comprising around four in New Zealand. The business
operates around 190 physical stores. The Business provides different solutions, like
education, government, and corporate sales of services and products, and insurance
replacements (JB Hi Fi, 2018).
JB-HI-FI has increased its operations from mostly trading music CDs, and is currently has
become a consumer electronics retailer including in-car entertainment, 4K Ultra HD, LCD
televisions, gaming consoles and accessories, Plasma, Full HD, digital camera photography,
8K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, digital camcorders, Ultra HD Blu-ray movies, Information technology
and gadgets (Bloomberg, 2018). As of 2012, the company has also expanded the business by
including more products at some of its stores, like fixed surveillance systems of camera, and
radios, IP, musical tools like electronic keyboards, ukuleles, guitars, and specialized DJ kit
like portable DJ P/A docking systems, microphones, and CD mixers. In 2007, JB Hi-Fi was
the leading retailer of CD retailer in Australia and second in terms of computer games, car
stereos, and television sales (Bloomberg, 2018). In 2016, the company possessed 184 stores
running in Australia and 15 stores running in New Zealand.
Analysis of International Market
Pestle Analysis of Singapore
Political
The political risk is low in Singapore. In fact, the consultancy of economic and political risk
(PERC) argues that Singapore enjoys the lowermost rick of politics in the region. It is formed
as a democratic nation. The citizens elect a representative to manage the country. Meanwhile
its independence, they have enjoyed political steadiness (Pestle Analysis, 2015). Now, the

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steadiness has been converted into peace and good living standard. Moreover, it has increased
the opportunities of business in Singapore.
Economic
The economy of Singapore is a lively free-market economy. It is emerging at quick speed.
The per-capita income of the nation is maximum in ASEAN. Business sector gets huge
support from the environment free from corruption. Singapore is one of the most competitive
nations because a motivated and educated workforce reinforces it (Pestle Analysis, 2015).
The framework of financial and legal business also supports the country to grow.
Social
Communally, Singapore is similar to other Eastern nation. It complies with the old traditional
values of the family. It is a fact that the person belongs to the younger generation has the
propensity to adopt western values and culture. The citizens work very hard to meet their
materialism wants. The motivation of exerting maximum efforts in the work has increased
national efficiency (Pestle Analysis, 2015). The business sectors can anticipate having
increased power of purchasing from the consumers. Reports propose that most of the people
in Singapore do not like blue-collar jobs such as construction.
Technology
Internet performs an essential part in the advancement of Singapore. It has simplified the
interaction between people and enhanced connectivity. The time and cost of operating
business activities have also decreased. It also increased the level of social networking.
Moreover, the residents of the country can easily connect with the whole world. The
infrastructure of IT in Singapore has become praise-worthy. The rate of penetration for
domestic broadband internet is around 70% (Pestle Analysis, 2015).

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Legal
The government of Singapore believes that the development of electronic commerce is based
on market and transparent favorable rules and guidelines. Some legal supervisory and
business setups are required for the development of industry and economic growth. In 1996,
the program of e-commerce was introduced with the purpose of developing services of e-
commerce (Pestle Analysis, 2015).
Environment
The Anti-Pollution Units and Ministry of Environment work persistently to preserve the
quality of air and other factors related to the environment. Pollution due to transportation is
the main concern in urban areas of Singapore (Pestle Analysis, 2015).
Cultural Difference between Australia and Singapore
It is very essential to comprehend the similarities and differences between cultures as they
have an impact on the behavior and attitude of the customer. Cultural values affect
understanding and as an outcome, people incline to display diverse patterns of behavior, like
styles of decision-making (Cresco data, 2018). These values also comprise information
processing and emotional responses. Singaporeans are expected to take goods based on
hierarchical level of quality and this is noticeable if the quality is apparent as linked with
those who possess an upper status in the society. There is a major difference between
Singaporeans and Australians in terms of quality-consciousness. Because of higher power
level distance and to the low level of individualism, people of Singapore are predictably more
conscious about the product quality (Leo, Bennet & Cierpicki, 2014).
Brand conscious means the acquisition of well-known and expensive brands. Customers with
optimistic views about price look at the high prices product as the sign of high prestige of
high quality. There is a substantial difference in the level of consciousness towards the

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branded products between Australian and Singaporeans. Due to a greater level of uncertainty
avoidance and individualism, Australians are predicted to be very conscious towards the
branded products (Leo, Bennet & Cierpicki, 2014). Customer innovativeness is said to be the
tendency to buy different and new products or brands and it is associated with the range
seeking behavior. This tendency has been connected to high individualism. It is known that
Australians are more innovative as compared to Singaporean customers depending on their
cultural heritage (Leo, Bennet & Cierpicki, 2014).
Suitable Market Entry Method
A strategy of market entry is the deliberate method of offering services and products to the
new selected market and supplying them there. The exporting and importing services helps in
managing and establishing the agreements in the foreign country. Various businesses expand
their operations effectively in the niche market deprived of expanding in the new area. Some
of the businesses attain increase awareness of their brand, sales, and stability of the business
by going to the new or international market (Daszkiewicz & Wach, 2014). Creating a strategy
of new market entry comprises a detailed analysis of the potential rivals and potential
consumers. Few of the relevant aspects that are essential in taking the decision regarding the
entry is the new market are localized knowledge, export subsidies, trade barriers,
competition, and price localization (Lee & Lieberman, 2010).. There are different entry
modes present that can be selected by the JB-HI-FI Company to enter the Singapore retail
market. Some of them are listed below:
 Franchising
 Direct Exporting
 Partnership
 Joint Ventures

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 Licensing
JB-HI-FI Company is one of the famous retail businesses majorly offering its services in the
New Zealand and Australian market. In order to increase its brand awareness and attract
customers, it needs to adopt franchising mode of entry to grab the market opportunities
present in the Singapore market and give strong competition to the existing players.
Franchising
Franchising is the concept of marketing that can be accepted by the business as a business
expansion strategy. A franchiser licenses its knowledge, intellectual property, procedures, use
of the business model, right to vent the branded products, and services to a franchise (Moore,
Doherty & Doyle, 2010). In return, the franchisee recompenses some fees and decides to
follow some obligations, typically specified in the Franchise Agreement. The franchise is one
of the well-known methods to own a business deprived of the risk involved in starting a new
business from the basic level. A distributor is offered the right to vent the services of the
parent company.
JB-HI-FI can make use of this strategy to enter in the Singapore market because it will reduce
the chances of failure in the new market. If the company will give the rights to the distributor
of the Singapore market to vend its services then it will help the company in understanding
the customer behavior and demand of the market effectively. Besides this, changes in the
environment will also be effectively considered by the distributor because of the good
knowledge of the political as well as other factors of environment that can affect the
performance of the business. Furthermore, it offers the mixture of faster growth and enhances
profitability. The franchises possess the capability to enhance the financial performance of
the company.

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Branding strategies for the company
Brand strategy is the long-term planning for the growth of the brand to attain specific goals.
A definite brand strategy influences all the aspects of the company and is directly associated
with the needs of the consumer, competitive environment, emotions. There are different
options available to be chosen to have an effective brand strategy to increase the productivity
of the business (Bruwer & Johnson, 2010). Some of the strategies are name brand
recognition, attitude branding, "no-brand" branding, individual branding, private labels,
crowdsourcing, and brand extension (De Mooij & Hofstede, 2010). In order to succeed,
establish the brand in the Singapore market JB-HI-FI Company should adopt the strategy of
name brand recognition because under this strategy a famous company mostly make use the
strength of its own name brand to cover the market. Frequently, a business with huge brand
recognition can be identified by its colors, slogan, and logo (CMG Partners, 2018). Moreover,
from the above analysis, it can be said that the people of Singapore are very must brand-
conscious who have the perception that a branded product can only provide them good
quality.
Cultural Aspects
Singapore is called as a plural society, involving a multi-religious, multi-ethnic, and multi-
lingual people. The population is comprised of four key ethnic groups, i.e., Indian, Eurasian,
Chinese, and Malay. With diverse ethnicity means, they share various common practices and
traits with their neighboring countries such as South East Asian countries. In terms of
appearance, Singaporean seems to be westernized and modern (Reloc, 2016). However, the
country has numerous understated dissimilarities in the native culture that an outsider will
find captivating. In a different manner, the native duties and manners of Singapore are
diverse from the etiquette of the western culture and traditional good manners.

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People of Singapore rely on being fair, and everybody is treated similarly irrespective of
religion, language, or race. Yet, classified relationships are present in this civilization where
superior people groups are offered special courtesy and respect, such as respect for the
parents, teachers, elders, and employers (Reloc, 2016). Being social with multi-racial reflects
that they celebrate all the festivals of all the ethnic groups. The presence of different cultures
and ethnic groups in the society reflects that company needs to frame strategies for all type of
customers. Moreover, while advertising or selling the products in the market company need
to be conscious of the emotions and values of the citizens.
Recommendations for the marketing mix
The marketing mix is the mixture of strategies, and action used by the company to advertise
its product in the market. It is comprised of 4Ps that is a product, price, place, and promotion.
The aim of the marketing mix is to increase its prospective customer and their awareness
regarding the product (Dens & De Pelsmacker, 2010).
Product
The product is the service or good offered by the company in the target market to meet the
need of the customers ((Nielsen & Nielsen, 2011). The description of the product reflects the
quality, features, and quantity that the product is offering. JB-HI-FI is a company of
consumer goods. It can offer its services such as music compact disks, video games, Blu-rays,
and DBDs, along with white goods, and electronics hardware in the Singapore market. In
terms of electronics, it can offer smartphones, laptops, game consoles, TVs, digital cameras
accessories, entertainment, in-car stereo, etc. Besides this, it can provide information
technology, telecommunication services, and consulting services to the customers in the
market. The objective of the company is to create more products by growing the number of
stores to attract more customers.

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Price
It is the product’s sales price and signifies what the customer is ready to pay for the services
(Ripollés, Blesa & Monferrer, 2012). JB-HI-FI is the biggest store of New Zealand and
Australian market that offer small appliances, white goods, consumer goods, and home
appliances. In these market, the company has adopted the discount pricing strategy in order to
attract more and more customers. Moreover, it has aim to be placed at the discount retail store
in New Zealand and Australia. However, the Singapore market is comprised of all types of
customers, such middle-class, high-class, and lower class, which reflects that it can adopt
premium price strategy as well as discount price strategy to attract customers of different
classes according to their purchasing capacity. Besides this, it can also adopt the odd price
strategy under which there are little changes in the structure of price. It is majorly dependent
on the theory that consumers are calculation-averse and only go through the initial price
digits while taking the decision of purchasing.
Place
The place is also known as the distribution strategy of the company to deliver products
effectively to the end user (Rubera & Droge, 2013). JB-HI-FI possesses 190 stores in across
New Zealand Australia. It has dispersed its stores into different stores i.e. JB-HI-FI stores and
JB-HI-FI HOME. Under the company’s name, it deals in the electronics from different OEM
manufacturers that supply a different range of products. The OEMs includes Samsung,
Google, Apple, Sony, Toshiba, Acer, LG, and Canon. In the stores, the company offers small
appliances to the customers who are in search of similar kind of Apple appliances with
electronics. In the Singapore market, the company needs to select the promising places where
it can place its stores to attract potential customers. For this, the center places of the mall and
different markets will be the best options.

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Promotion
Promotion is comprised of marketing campaigns, utilized to advertise the product and
services (Osipov, Volinsky & Grishin, 2014). It is one of the essential elements of the
marketing mix. This element involves increasing institutional awareness and product
awareness among the target market. Product promotion comprised of efforts made by the
company to convince its customers to choose the company’s product over the competitor
offer similar type of services. On the other side, institutional promotion is comprised of
making a constructive image of them in the public. In other to attain both types of goals in the
Singapore market JB-HI-FI need to adopt the promotional mix elements that are direct
marketing, personal selling, sales promotion, advertisement, and public relations.
Conclusion
From the above analysis, it could be said that JB-HI-FI is one of the famous brands in
Australia and New Zealand because of its attractive and excellent services. The company is
effectively managing all the aspects of its operations to attract more customers and enhance
its image in other international markets too. Moreover, it is not enough to increase the brand
awareness of the products in the international market, to do so the company needs to be
physically present in those targeted markets to attract the customers and increase the revenue.
For this, the above report is suggested JB-HI-FI expand its business operations in the
Singapore market which is lucrative as well as growing at the present time scenario. It has
been suggested that company needs to adopt franchising strategy of market entry because
through it does not need to do more research to recognize the customer's values and demand,
it just needs to provide the rights to one of the capable dealers to serve the customers in
Singapore market. However, the company has to deal with some environmental and cultural
changes in the Singapore market and it can be done by properly analyzing the market and

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making alterations in its marketing mix. The above report has suggested some of the changes
and strategies that can be adopted in the international market by JB-HI-FI Company to
increase the brand awareness and turnover.

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