Strategic Marketing: Market Entry Options, Segmentation, and SWOT Analysis

This report explores strategic marketing in the context of expanding a UK-based organization's business in China. It covers market entry options, market segmentation, and SWOT analysis. The report provides insights into the macro-environmental factors, opportunities, and threats, along with strategies for gaining a competitive advantage.

Strategic Marketing

Table of Contents
Executive summary..........................................................................................................................3
1. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................4
2. PESTLE..................................................................................................................................4
SWOT.....................................................................................................................................6
3. MARKET ENTRY OPTIONS...............................................................................................7
4. MARKET SEGMENTATION...............................................................................................9
5. PORTER’S GENERIC STRATEGY...................................................................................10
6. CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................12
7. REFERENCE.......................................................................................................................13

Executive summary
Strategic marketing management is the act of carrying out the company's objective using
specialised and strategic procedures in attempt to maximise its existing marketing strategy. This
report has an aim to analyse an organisation’s current and future internal and external
environment a UK based organisation is planning to expand their business in China. In order to
penetrate, the organisation will be requiring assessing the different factors that can influences as
well as designing of strategic marketing plan to realise organisational objectives. Also, for
entering into the market, they also required to adopt market entry mode. Furthermore, the
organisation also requires in managing the resources to deliver the strategic marketing plan.

1. INTRODUCTION
Strategic marketing is the method of a corporate organisation employing numerous tactics
and ways to separate itself than rivals in the industry. It includes providing excellent services to
prospective consumers in effort to meet its demands, resulting in a competitive edge in the
marketplace. This assists businesses in improving its entire income and effectiveness in the
industry. Meadow Foods is taken as the base company for this report which is planning to
expand their business in the Chinese market. Meadow Foods is specialised in supplying of milk
and dairy ingredients to the food industry. This organisation was established in 1992 in UK. This
report covers the macro environmental analysis which will explain the possible opportunities and
threats that organisation could face within the market. Along with this, it also includes the modes
of market-entry, market segmentation and also Porter’s Generic Strategy for gaining competitive
advantage.
2. PESTLE
Meadow Foods is planning to expand its business in China and in order to this, the
organisation is required to analyse the macro environmental factors which can influence on the
performance in the China. The firm can utilise PESTLE analysis for analyses which is mentioned
below:
Political factors: Political factors play an important part in identifying the elements that
might have an influence on a corporation that is seeking to extend its operations. The chosen
organisation will be able to carefully evaluate the factors. A stable and pleasant economic
climate with expected industry development prospects is provided by high political stability
(Hinson and et. al., 2020). Whenever there is political conflict, it prevents investment and
damages stakeholders' faith in economic and, as a result, institutional efficiency. Meadow Foods
is currently active in the United Kingdom and plans to expand in China that has its own set of
political problems. Rising conflicts and instability in the worldwide political climate can have an
influence on Meadow Foods development and restrict the chances for expansion.
Economical factors: The rate of GDP development will affect Meadow Food's capacity to
execute long-term growth initiatives. An inclined GDP also represents that individuals are
willing to invest extra money on the items on offered. Rising joblessness indicates the possibility
of excess labour at cheaper pay (Kleymann and Seristö, 2017). Meadow Food's manufacturing

costs can be reduced by functioning in such a market. The company must also thoroughly
examine the interest rate and its impact on lending capacity and investing mentality. The high
interest rate would stimulate investing and improve Meadow Food's growth prospects.
Furthermore, fluctuations in the currency rate can have an impact on profits and global trade.
Meadow Foods may be concerned by the significant instability of local currency.
Social factors: Meadow Foods should research historically defined gender roles in order to
better connect its advertising and marketing methods. Marketing and human resource strategies
will change in a conventional, patriarchal culture with well defined gender roles and those with
minimal gender norms (Rayne, McDonald and Leckie, 2019). Consumers' online buying
behaviour has been influenced by the advent of social media and e-commerce. Meadow Foods
must analyze internet purchasing behaviour by taking into account demographic disparities, as
youth buyers are more likely to purchase online than elderly customers. When creating
marketing and communication initiatives the growing usage of mobile phones and social
networking sites should be taken into account.
Technological factors: Meadow Foods must evaluate rivals' expenditures on a local and
macro level to determine how technological advances impact the business's value chain and
current pricing structure (Werder and et. al., 2018). In an environment characterised by
innovative disruption, research and development actions are essential. Meadow Foods must
engage in disruptive technology to maximise revenues and re-invest earnings in new
technological innovations in such an industry.
Legal factors: Meadow Foods should adhere to worker health and safety legislation, since
certain nations have significant restrictions in place to protect labour safety. Meadow Food's
ethical and moral duty is to provide a safe workplace space for its employees. Furthermore, anti-
discrimination rules must be properly considered when creating human resource policies, as
discriminating lawsuits against employers hurt the corporate image and impact the capacity of
businesses to acquire and maintain employees (Upadhye, Das and Varshneya, 2019). Due to
customers' privacy and security concern, data protection had grown an essential problem.
Meadow Foods should investigate data security regulations in effort to secure customer
information. Moreover, there are laws in existence to establish a highest price, ensure a certain
degree of dependability, and protect clients against false marketing claims.

Environmental factors: Increasing environmental contamination along with technology
development, has forced businesses to use novel recycling and waste management techniques.
Recycling has nearly been an economic requirement in certain nations. Furthermore, Meadow
Foods places a considerable emphasis on developing efficient waste management methods in
organisational units located in or near urban areas. The usage of environmentally friendly items
is becoming more popular (Luu, 2019). Companies can take advantage of this prospect by
applying green corporate strategies in effort to earn the trust of stakeholders. The regulatory
authorities' emphasis on preserving conformity to environmental norms is changing product
creation goals. It is necessary for businesses to prioritise and focus on promoting the eco-
friendliness of their products above traditional value propositions.
SWOT
Swot analysis is a technique for assessing a business's competitive environment and
developing strategic plans. It evaluates internal and external factors and also existing and
prospective future opportunities. Internal factors are the business's strengths and weaknesses
while external factors are the corporation's opportunities and threats. Strengths are qualities that
provide a firm with a competitive edge, whereas weaknesses are traits that an organization must
overcome in terms of enhancing its effectiveness (Sun and Govind, 2018). Opportunities are
factors in the external environment that the firm recognizes that this would embrace in the future
to providing value. Threats are external factors that might restrict the firm from accomplishing
its purpose, mission or providing advantage. SWOT analysis is mentioned below:
Strength: Meadow Food's strengths are its capabilities and resources which it can use to
gain a sustained competitive edge in the industry. Meadow Foods is one of the most well-known
brands in the UK market. Brand awareness is important in recruiting new consumers in China
who are seeking for services (Emmer and Holešinská, 2019). Meadow Food's product and brand
range enables them to target many sectors of the China market at the same time. Meadow Foods
will be able to diversify its income sources as well as profit mix as a result of here.
Weaknesses: Meadow Food's weaknesses are the areas, qualities or talents that they lack. It
restricts the business's capacity to develop a sustained competitive edge. Weaknesses result from
a lack of five essential resources and capabilities such as financial resources, previous
experiences and achievements, physical resources such as buildings and equipment, people

resources and operations and procedures. As the organisational structure is only consistent with
the established business strategy, growth into neighbouring product areas is limited (Hapsari,
Clemes and Dean, 2017). When compared to rivals, the business's day’s inventory will be high,
causing it to generate more funds to spend in the network. This may have an influence on
Meadow Food's long-term development.
Opportunities: Opportunities are macro environmental variables and trends that Meadow
Foods could utilise to expand further. Opportunities might arise as a result of a variety of causes,
including an improvement in consumer expendable income, political events and policy changes,
economic growth, technical advances and consumption patterns tastes (Graham, 2017). Meadow
Foods may expand into related businesses such as ethics, government, advertising, non-profit
organization and supply chain management to help drive market growth, particularly by
expanding the functionality of existing products and services into China. Meadow Foods could
utilize artificial intelligence advancements to better forecast customer requirements, appeal to
specific market segments and create better suggestion systems.
Threats: Threats are macro environmental variables and changes that might disrupt Meadow
Food's business strategy. Changes in customer tastes, political events and policy changes,
increases in consumer disposable income, technical breakthroughs and economic expansion can
all pose threats. Meadow Foods must maintain a careful eye on the rapidly changeable
government laws in the face of increasing demand from protests parties and non
organisations particularly in the areas of environmental and labour security.
3. MARKET ENTRY OPTIONS
In context to the selected organisation, as the firm is planning to expand itself in Chinese
marketing, they have option for market entry which is mentioned below:
Exporting: As exporting is generally the most basic method to join a global market, most
businesses commence its international growth with this strategy. The sale of items and services
derived from the home nation in overseas nations is known as exporting. In context to the
selected firm, the advantage of this form of entrance is that corporation can minimize funds on
expenses of starting operational processes in the Chinese markets. Organization on the other
side should have a method to sell and advertise their product into new nation, contractual deals
with a local firm or vendor are typically used to attain it (Andreini and Bettinelli, 2017). When

exporting, the firm should address labelling, packaging, and sales prices the goods in accordance
with market standards. In terms of advertising and sales the firm should have to educate
prospective consumers regarding its products and services, either through ads, trade shows, or
maybe even a regional sales force. The expenses of delivering goods to the China which could be
considerable and have a damaging influence on the environment are the disadvantages of
exporting. Furthermore, some nations charge customs on entering goods that have an impact on
the business’s profitability. Moreover, firms that market and sell products under an agreement
have far less control over certain activities and also they have to pay a charge to their service
provider for all those functions.
Acquisition: An acquisition is a transaction in which a business acquires the shares of some
other organization, trades the stock for their itself or in the case of a privately held business
offers the ownership a purchase price. Acquisitions are appealing because they give the business
with quick, well-known access to a new market segment. With the acquisition, the chosen
business is allowed to penetrate Chinese market and product lines immediately having a well-
known brand, a good image and a loyal client base. This can help overcome earlier challenging
market entry barriers. The disadvantage of acquisitions is that they may result in workers
repeating one other's responsibilities. When two comparable firms merge, it is possible that two
departments or employees will do the same task. It can result in excessive salary expenditures
(Tam and et. al., 2020). This commonly results in rearrangement and employment cutbacks in
order to maximise efficiencies. Job cutbacks, on the other hand, might lower staff morale and
lead to lower performance.
Partnerships and strategic alliance: A strategic alliance with a local company is another
approach to enter a new market. A strategic alliance is a contractual arrangement among two or
more businesses that states that the participants will work together in a specified manner for a set
period of timeframe to accomplish a common objective. To determine if the alliance strategy is
right for the firm, the chosen business should look at the advantages that the partnership may
provide to the business in both tangible and intangible ways. Dealing with a local firm has
advantages such as knowing the native culture, market, and business practises better than dealing
with outsider organization (Cornwell and Kwon, 2020). Partnerships are highly helpful if they
have a well-known, respected brand name in the nation or if they already have contacts with
clients that the business would like to reach. Cultural conflict is disadvantage as it is likely to be

the most valuable issue that firms in partnerships face in this country. Language barriers, egos
and disparities in corporate mindsets may all complicate matters. The first issue that they may
encounter is a language barrier. It is critical for the chosen organisations that are working
together to be capable of communicating and understanding each other very well or else they
will most probably collapse. Language difficulties can cause delays and difficulties at times.
For Meadow Foods to penetrate into the Chinese market, the organisation can opt for
acquisition market entry as this will enables the selected firm to cater the customers which are
already established by the present organisation (Okumus and Cetin, 2018). Along with this, it
will also benefit to the organisation in growing rapid revenues as well as promises to be in a long
term financial position in the industry.
4. MARKET SEGMENTATION
STP marketing is a three-step method for developing a precise and effective marketing plan.
The process's fundamental principle is to divide the audience, target each segmentation category
based on their choices and patterns and execute positioning modifications in advertising and
marketing tactics to meet their demands and standards (Gupta and et. al., 2020). The
segmentation and targeting process is efficient as it divides larger market segment into smaller
segments in order to make it easier to establish quality perspectives for acquiring and retaining
prospective consumers rather than possessing using a generic marketing plan that would not have
been as captivating or even as productive.
Segmentation: The segmentation procedure is all concerned with recognizing distinguishing
and common characteristics among individuals in the market that helps companies to create far
more responsive marketing campaigns. The selected organisation can segment their audience
according to different sub divisions such as demographics, geographic, behavioural and
psychological. Geographic segmentation of China includes drilling down by nation,
province area and metropolitan or rural region, population size or even temperature. The selected
organisation can cater their customers in all areas and regions of China as their organisation is
supplying milk and dairy products and every person needs this. Demographic segmentation is the
division of a population based on any variety of factors such as age, gender, income, education
and so on (Woodside, 2017). The firm has also option to cater their audience according to
demographics segmentation as all age of people is required milk and dairy products. The type of

the transaction, brand loyalty, advantages requested, distribution channels employed and
responsiveness to marketing elements are all examples of behaviour segmentation.
Psychographics refers to personality and emotions focused on behaviour which are connected to
purchasing decisions, such as attitudes, lifestyle, personality and leadership qualities. Along with
this, the organisation can also with the behavioural as well as psychographics segmentation as
the firm will get benefited if they cater to all the segmentations.
Targeting: Targeting includes determining which of the market segments is the most
appealing. Overall, the selected organisation will attempt to assess each segment's market appeal.
When analysing diverse market segments, the company must consider three factors such
as segment size and growth, where they can analyse existing segmentation revenues, rates of
growth and forecasted profits. The second is segment structural attractiveness which examines
the intensity of competitiveness, alternative products, power of buyers and influential suppliers
and the third is business aims and resources which assesses the firm's resources and capabilities
required to thrive in that segment (Proctor and Kitchen, 2019). It provides greater value and
obtains a competitive edge. Considering the evaluation of several segments, the firm has the
knowledge to select which and how many segments to target. The target market is made up of
consumers who have similar requirements or characteristics to those that the firm chooses to
service.
In context to the selected organisation, the firm can choose geographic as well as demographic
segmentation as they are the organisation of milk and dairy product and every individual
consumes it, though, there are people who are lactose tolerance. From a small child to elderly
individuals, everybody need milk and dairy products and country like China has established itself
as a name in dairy products as they have many cows. In this situation, the organisation has the
opportunity to penetrates to the market and grab their audience attention in selling of milk and
dairy products (Ryding, Henninger and Cano, 2018).
5. PORTER’S GENERIC STRATEGY
The strategies were first proposed by Michael Porter in the year 1985. it was published in his
book named as “ Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance.” porter
defined the strategies as cost leadership, differentiation and focus. The focus strategy further

divided into two strategies namely cost focus and differentiation focus. The strategies suggested
by Porter will always aim at having competitors advantage in the market.
Cost leadership: It refers to the strategies that can help the company in achieving bigger
market share and competitors advantage in the industry with the help of cost advantage or by
reducing the cost. The two main strategies proposed by Porter in this cost leadership is firstly, the
company can focus on reducing costs and increasing profits while charging the prices similar to
the prices of the competitors (Santoro, Vrontis and Pastore, 2017). It will help the company to
increase the profit ratio as the costs of the products are less as compared to the cost of products
of competitors. Secondly, the company can charge lower prices from the customers as the cost of
product is low. It will help the company in capturing a bigger market share than the competitors
but the profits will be reasonable. In context to Meadow Foods, they can achieve reduced cost by
lowering logistics charges, by investing in technology, using low cost resources such as labour.
Differentiation strategy: It refers to making changes in to the products and services of the
company so that they can become more attractive and better with the products and services of the
competitors. The differentiation factor depends up on the industry in which the company is
working but will include the functionality, specifications, features, brand image, etc (Brissem
and Magghout, 2019). In case of Meadow foods, they can achieve differentiation with the help of
investing in research, development and innovation processes. Also the company can opt for
innovative and effective marketing strategies that can help the company in delivering the benefits
of the differentiation to the audience and can attract customers towards the offerings of the
company.
The focus strategy: This strategy focuses on a particular market that the company have to
capture. The company needs to make sure that they have a loyal customer base within that
particular market so that the company can make sure that they have no threat of competition and
the market is also less attractive for new entrants as well as competitors.
This strategy is further divided into two strategies I.e. cost focus and differentiation focus.
Cost focus means giving importance on minimizing the cost of the products and services that the
company is offering within a focused market where as differentiation focus means having
strategic differentiation within a focused market (Dhir and Dhir, 2020). Both will help the
company in capturing a bigger market share within the industry and will also help in creating
brand loyalty which will make sure that the company able to retain its customers. In context to

Meadow Foods the company must involve technology in their processing so that they can
achieve the target of reduced cost and can capture the market. On the other hand the company
must try to involve some unique features to their products and services which make them
different and more valuable from the offerings of the competitors.
6. CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that for an organisation to enter into new
markets of new nation, they must evaluates all the factors which can influence them while
performing in a new country. In order to expand the business into new nation, the organisation
should examine all the internal as well as external factors which will help them to know about
their influence on them using PESTLE and SWOT analysis is mentioned in the report. Along
with this, in order to enter into new market, they can use different modes of entry which is
included. Segmentation and targeting is also included for the organisation to divide the audience
and target them and at last how the organisation can gain competitive advantage using porter’s
generic strategy is mentioned.

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