Marketing Strategy and Plan

This document discusses the marketing strategy and plan of Tata Motors and Nike. It provides an overview of their business environment, including the impact of globalization, ethical principles, and key sources of innovation. The document also explores their ethical practices and corporate social responsibility initiatives.

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Marketing Strategy and Plan
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1MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
1. Introduction
Emerging markets are considered to be the less developed markets which are at a later
stage of growth and development as compared to other developed markets (Frank 2018). They
are mainly characterised by low market capitalisation, high potential of growth and rate of
poverty. However, there are several nations that are beginning to emerge into the formal
economy of the world and altogether they represent a huge development and growth potential
for the MNEs (Multinational Enterprises) from the developed markets. The main aim of this
report is to form a clear understanding of the concept that the business environment depends
upon a systematic observation and interpretation of phenomena that takes place in different
contexts and in different companies. The two chosen MNEs for the report are Tata Motors
(Indian), belong from automobile industry and Nike (foreign country MNE) of footwear and
apparel industry. However, the paper shall elaborate on discussing about the business
environment of Tata Motors and that of Nike taking into account the impact of globalisation,
ethical principles, CSR and their key sources of innovation.
2. Discussion
2.1. Company Background
2.1.1. Tata Motors Ltd.
Tata Motors is one of the largest automobile companies in the world and the largest in
India. It was incorporated in the year 1945 under the name of Tata Engineering and
Locomotive Co. Ltd with an aim of manufacturing the locomotives and the other engineering
related products (Kale 2017). In 1991, it launched its very first indigenous passenger car
known as Tata Sierra. However, it is to mention that Tata Motors is the leading manufacturer
of commercial vehicles segment in Indian boundaries and is considered to be the 5th largest in
the world. This company is involved in the process of designing, assembling, manufacturing,
developing and selling vehicles. The portfolio of Tata Motors ranges from sub-1 to 49 ton

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GVW (Gross Vehicle Weight) trucks and all the small, medium and large buses and passenger
cars including Tata Nano and Cars (Mani 2017).
2.1.2. Nike
Nike is one of the successful brands in the field of sports and athletics apparel. It was
established in the year 1962 by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight (Harvey 2017). It has gone
throughout a lot of changes since its emergence and has successfully established itself as a
global leader in the footwear and apparel industry. It is manufacturing and distributing largest
share of sport wear at very viable prices to its customers all over the world. However, it deals
with three major categories of products and they are apparels, footwear and accessories.
2.2. Business environment analysis of Tata Motors and Nike
The Indian automobile industry has been emerged as a sunrise sector within the Indian
economy. Globally, the Indian market is considered to be the one of the fastest developing
one for the market of passenger cars and is also regarded to be the second fastest developing
industry within Indian borders. In terms of economy and demography, the automotive
industry of India is positioned well for growth and development and with the same, it is also
servicing both the domestic as well as international demands.
2.2.1. Globalisation
YIP globalisation driver
Figure 1. YIP framework

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It is to note that the YIP globalisation driver depends upon a total of four different drivers
and they are Market globalisation drivers, Government globalisation drivers, Cost
globalisation drivers and Competitive globalisation drivers (Figure 1. Framework of YIP).
Tata Motors (automobile industry)
a) Government Globalisation drivers- Governments have imposed very strict regulations
on the issue of dealing with the emission control and the fuel economy on the
automobile manufacturers all over the world. Notwithstanding this fact, maximum of
the automobile manufacturers agree with the fact that the environmental regulations
would provide advantage to the industry because more number of money would be
invested in the task of promotion of the new generation motor vehicles. For Tata
Motors, the main drivers of government globalisation are the trade policies such as the
Mutual Recognition and the elimination of all the tariff and the non-tariff barriers are
significant barrier of trade policies (Dawar and Arora 2016). With the same, in India
the technical standards are compatible for overall all the industries and the customers
that are government owned lose their potential to favour the national or domestic
suppliers. Also, there is increasing number of middle class families in India.
b) Market globalisation drivers- Some of the significant market drivers for the
automobile industry in India are the common customer needs and the transferable
marketing. The significant market globalisation drivers for Tata Motors are that the
needs of the customers in contemporary world has become more common (Sarin
2018). Their needs in relation to the automotive industry are increasing the tendency
of globalisation. Customers prefer to select the vehicles on the basis of reliability,
price, and quality and with the same, the climate, culture and the patriotic base also
influence the needs of the customers. In India, people are prone to showcase their
social status and they often make use of luxurious and big cars. With the same, there is

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a notable increase in the channels and rate of customers. Moreover, transferable
marketing has become a norm. The transferable advertising and brand names need
little local adaptation.
c) Cost globalisation drivers- Significant cost globalisation drivers in the automobile
industry is that of the economies of scale, the efficiency of sourcing and the costs of
product development (Sindi and Row 2017). There is relocation of production facility
in India for the automobile industry. With the same, there is a huge cost of savings and
Tata Motors could take the advantage of difference in the nation’s costs (Kotabe and
Kothari 2016). Moreover, there is high fixed costs in the automobile industry and high
competition leads to low profit margins. Furthermore, the new technologies for the
purpose of development of the fuel efficient vehicles are very costly.
d) Competitive globalisation drivers- The competitive globalisation drivers are the
globalised drivers and the interdependence of the nations. The manufacturers of the
automobile invest into the production facilities in the emerging markets for reducing
the costs of production. With the same, when the activities like the production are
shared in between the nations, the market share of the different competitors in a single
nation influence its scale as well as the overall cost position in the shared activity.
Nike (shoe and apparel industry)
a) Market globalisation drivers- For the shoe and apparel industry the market
globalisation drivers are the global channels, the global customer needs, the
homogenous customer needs and the transferrable marketing approaches. The more
similar markets in different countries are, the more is the pressure for an industry to
globalise. Nike is fairly very uniform all around the globe as because of the fact that
the demands for shoes and apparels are largely the same world-wide.

5MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
b) Government globalisation drivers- The government globalisation drivers are the
common technological standards, the common marketing and manufacturing
regulations and like the automobile industry, the favourable trade policies. The
favourable trade policies of the countries encourage the process of globalisation of
markets and the industries. Governments of the nation play a very important role in the
process of globalisation as it is they who regulate and determine the technological
standards. Nike in USA has significant policies for its growth and development and
they are really valuable for the corporation. It comprise of the low rates of interest and
the arranged international tax agreements. With the same, it is also to mention that
Nike is always subject to change in the field of manufacturing and tax laws.
c) Cost globalisation drivers- The significant cost globalisation drivers in the shoe and
apparel industry are the sourcing efficiencies, the favourable logistics, the arbitrage
opportunities, the learning and experience, the large scope and large scale economies
and the high R&D costs. In the shoes and apparel industry, costs favour globalisation.
Nike realises the economies of scale and scope due to the fact that it make huge
investment on the promotion and marketing of its products. As it is promoting the
coherent brands and images, it could leverage its marketing dollars all around the
globe.
d) Competitive globalisation drivers- Global competitors and the interdependent
countries are the main competitive globalisation drivers for the sports and apparel
industry. It is to note that the level of competitive rivalry in this industry is very
strong. Some of the main competitors for Nike are Puma, Adidas and Under Armour.
The sportswear and apparel industry has developed to be saturated and the existing
players within the industry are engaged in very strong competition with each other for
much deeper market penetration as well as for snatching away the market share from

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one another. Moreover, the brands invest to a great extent in the marketing of the
products and services.
2.2.2. Ethics of Tata Motors and Nike
Tata Motors
There are certain core values that Tata Motors follows in terms of business ethics and
manufacturing process. The 14 ethical principles of it are as follows:
1. Delivery of the products to the customers on given time.
2. Producing the products very cost effective manner
3. Safety of men and the machines
4. Best quality of the final products
5. Productivity of manufacturing line at highest level
6. Maintaining company morale of the production workers at the manufacturing plant.
7. Respecting and promoting human rights
8. Conducting and governing themselves with transparency, accountability and ethics
9. It is engaged with and is providing value to its customers in responsible way
10. Respecting, protecting and making efforts for restoring the environment
11. Supporting inclusive growth and equitable development.
12. Providing goods that are safe and aid to sustainability all through the life cycle.
13. It is engaged in influencing regulatory and public policy
14. It is respecting the interest of all the involved stakeholders and particularly the ones
who are vulnerable, marginalised and disadvantaged.
Nike

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Following are the 14 ethical principles that Nike follows while conducting its business
world-wide:
1. Safeguarding the assets and the records’
2. Nike is committed to maintain privacy of its employees, customers and the others in
responsible manner
3. Providing products to the customers that are safe, inspiring and innovative
4. Respecting its employees by providing them unlawful harassment free and
discrimination free working environment
5. Nike compete fairly and vigorously with its competitors everywhere it does its
business in.
6. Does not tolerate any kind of retaliation against any of its employees who report in
good faith a suspected violation of policy or law.
7. It considers its information and computing resources to be a corporate assets that have
strategic value.
8. It gives the opportunities to its customers to decide. It is keenly aware of the
sophistication of its customers.
9. Nike is a responsible global citizen that embrace the views of CSR of stakeholders.
10. Sees innovation as the core organisational competency.
11. Nike takes into consideration the product price, quality, value, service, and ability to
carry through on commitments.
12. It maintains the morale of the production workers at its manufacturing plant
13. Conducting and governing themselves with transparency, accountability and ethics
14. Protection of the NIKE Information, Ideas and Intellectual Property From time to time
2.2.3. CSR
Triple bottom line of Tata Motors

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a) Social- Tata Motors is committed towards the vision of government for the electric
vehicles as well as it is working in a collaborative way for facilitating fast adoption of
the electric vehicles for building a sustainable future for Indians. It has successfully
delivered the first set of Tigor EVs (Electric Vehicles) to the Energy Efficiency
Services Limited and the Tata Starbus Hybrid Buses to MMRDA (Mumbai
Metropolitan Region Development Authority) (Mittal and Kashyap
2015).
b) Environmental- Tata has increased the total share of the renewable energy from
16.34% in the year 2016 to 20.76% in the year 2017 of the total electricity
consumption (Jovic, Vicentijevic and Glisovic 2016). With the same, it is also to note
that the company has joined in the RE100 campaign and at the same time, it aspires
for moving the operations on the renewable energy in the coming future. Furthermore,
the company is working on the 3 R’s, namely, recycling, reusing and recovering. It is
continuously seeking for exploring innovative solutions for minimising the creation of
waste.
c) Financial- The company spends about 25.94 crore rupees on the CSR as percentage of
profit after tax. It has also been regularly conducting a strategy for community
engagement that revolves around four main focus themes and they are- the Arogya
(health), the Vidyadhanam (Education), Kaushalya (Employability) and the Vasundhra
(Environment).
Triple bottom line of Nike
a) Social- Nike is committed towards transparency and it provides a whole list of its
suppliers. It works with 1079 different independent factories and in the year 2015, it
conducted 1135 environmental audits and social compliance. With the same, Nike also

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have many humanitarian endeavours as its Women’s Empowerment program and Fair
Compensation Strategy.
b) Environmental- Production of the shoes and clothing is very waste and resource
intensive. Nike have recognised the same and therefore, is continuously working on
developing new technologies for modifying its current practices. It is dedicated
towards ensuring reduction in the rate of plastic waste in the oceans and also make its
shoes of recycled plastics from the oceans.
c) Financial- Nike had reached 19.2 billion in the year 2016, which is about 18% of its
currency neutral basis and the total income from continuous operations that climbed
about 41% of the 1.109 billion (Daubert et al. 2016). With the same, the stock price of
Nike have also reached the high record. Its high profits have enabled them for
investing in the innovation R&D projects.
2.2.4. Innovation
3 key sources of innovation of Tata Motors
a) The process need- The process need involves the process of identification of the
process weak spots of the company and correcting them. It is one of the significant
task oriented solutions that means that the innovation source comes from within the
prevailing capabilities as well as the ways of conducting business.
b) Change in the structure of market and industry- The automobile industry and market
are always in a continuous flux. When the regulations get changed and there is
expansion of some of the product lines, the others shrink gradually. Therefore,
company should always keep a track on this.
c) Demographics-Change in the rate of populations and the levels of income as well as in
the human capital would influence the automobile industry to a great extent. Tata

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Motors would strive to match up its products with the new needs of the newly changed
demographics and it shall strive for innovating its product portfolio.
3 key sources of innovation of Nike
a) Demographics- The lifestyles of the people is a great source of innovation for Nike.
Everyone had their own lifestyle needs (Chouinard 2016). They are not always small
needs and their fulfilment is often important for many people. This is where
innovators like Nike sometimes find the major opportunities to innovate its products
accordingly.
b) Necessity- Necessity is always considered to be the mother of innovation and
invention (Hanlon 2015). Needs are something that always set people thinking. It is
also to mention that innovation relies on the bright ideas of the individuals. The human
minds thinks of the new ideas that could fulfil the existing needs of the individuals. In
this process, human beings thinks of fulfilling his needs in new ways and devising the
new mechanisms and products.
c) Changing perception of the people- The perception of the people keep on changing
regarding the things that could give birth to the process of innovation (Lederach
2015). For example, in earlier days, the overweight people are considered to be
healthier than the leaner people. Such a social perception of the people is no longer
there in this contemporary world. Their perception of the concept of healthy has
undergone a huge change where the fat people are considered to be unhealthy and
suffering from obesity. On the basis of this changed perception of the people, a strong
flood of low calorie and healthy foods have come into the market.
2.4. Potential Impact upon the organisations
a) The centralised purchasing of the materials in the automobile industry could lead to lower
costs.

11MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLAN
b) Environmental regulations would provide advantage to the automobile industry because
more number of money would be invested in the task of promotion of the new generation
motor vehicles.
c) The different political conflicts could make the customs related processes of Nike difficult
and can prevent its process of import and export of products and services.
d) The strict regulatory policies, the non-tariff barriers and the low trade efficiency are some
notable hurdles for innovation in both the automobile and footwear and apparel industry,
particularly in the developing nations.
e) Demand of the products could change with the change in currency. The rate of currency
and its variations effects the company for investing. One of the other important things that
should be considered in this context is that of the labour cost. Tata Motors could get huge
economic advantages in terms of reasonable labour costs, supportive authority, good export of
prodycts and movable workforce.
f) The ideas of the shareholders of Nike and Tata Motors could influence the organisations.
Both the companies should consider to localise the viewpoints.
g) The customers in the home country could produce much competitive advantages for Tata
Motors. Successfully dealing with sophisticated and high demanding customers could help the
company to train a company to be useful in overseas.
h) Outsourcing of the production of Nike could minimise its cost of production.
i) There can be intense competition in the sportswear industry that would increase the industry
rivalry for Nike in the host countries.
j) Nike needs to work towards ensuring that the Nike’s products are not produced as
counterfeits. With the same, it should also ensure that they are not sold world-wide and it is

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known when a product is not authentic. It is to note that the products, which are counterfeit,
could easily ruin the reputation of the authentic Nike products and goods.
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