International Marketing Strategy Analysis

This assignment examines international marketing strategies through various frameworks. Students analyze the application of Porter's Five Forces and the VRIO model to understand competitive landscapes and firm resources within a global context. The assignment also delves into the concepts of 'born-global firms' and 'multicultural marketplaces,' highlighting their significance in contemporary international marketing.

Strategy and Global
Competitive
Environment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................2
1 A) Identifying current strategic position and the constituent element of Marketing Plan of
Virgin media...........................................................................................................................2
1B) Selecting and applying various strategic and marketing framework in order to determine
the attractiveness of industry and distinctiveness of Virgin Media........................................4
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................8
2. Evaluation of Different possible strategies.......................................................................10
3. Recommendation..............................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Entering into global environment can be beneficial as well as risky for organisation. As
various element in global environment may have positive or negative impact on business
activities. Competition is being faced by organisation in order to achieve growth. Global
environment has great influence on business operation, growth and profitability. In present
scenario the global competent environment requires company not only compete for
entering into new market but for achieving economies of scale. Strategies provide
assistance to firm in making various plans to face competition in global environment. The
organisation is required to increase its efficiency and strength in order to sustain their
business in competitive environment. It is essential for enterprise to adopt effective and
suitable strategies in order to achieve competitive advantage. Business entity can adopt
global strategies. The purpose behind implementing global strategy is to exploit world
innovation. Lack of flexibility and efficiency has unable Virgin Media to provide response
to domestic competition. Organisation like Virgin Media has adopted multi domestic
strategy in order to become responsive towards local competition. International strategy
has been formulated by Virgin Media to have control on various activities (Caganova,
Cambal and Weidlichova Luptakova, 2015.)
The report will have focus on identifying suitable business and marketing strategies at
corporate as well as business level on the basis of internal and external analysis of Virgin
Media. The purpose of the project is to develop critical knowledge about various aspects of
marketing and strategy. Assignment will include justification about the selected strategy .It
will also haver emphasize on determining alternative strategy for Virgin media company.
These strategies will help organisation in gaining competitive advantage and sustaining
their business in international environment. This will assist firm in identifying, exploring
and capturing various opportunities in global market. It will aid business entity in
minimising the impact of various global macro environment factors on their business
(Caiazza and Audretsch, 2015)
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TASK 1
1 A) Identifying current strategic position and the constituent element of Marketing Plan of
Virgin media
Virgin media present strategies has focus on delivering line up features of smart phones
at mid range of prices to customers. Company offers consumer a plan package that includes
exclusive member access and deal with the hottest brand this has allowed Virgin medial to
attract more number of consumers. There are varieties of packages has been offered by
organisation ranging from silver, gold to platinum. It has been identified from various analysis
that the Virgin media has adopted innovative strategy in order to attract customer. These plans
have assisted firm in increasing their market share and enhancing their brand image. It has been
analysed from the external analysis that Virgin media is the part of monopoly industry it has
opportunity to increase their profit margin by raising price of their products and services. Its
focus on customer satisfaction has enabled organisation to increase its market share. It has been
evaluated from internal and external analysis that marketing strategy adopted by company is
very effective it has provided enterprise an opportunity to foster market growth. From external
analysis of the firm it has been examined that Virgin media is very high competitive strength as
it consist of several sub division of media department. It has been ranked among top 500 largest
organisation in UK (Cavusgil and Knight, 2015.)
It has been identified from analysis that several external environmental factor has great
effect on Virgin media. From among all external environmental factors, social element has great
influence on various decision and strategies of firm. Social factors that includes values, belief,
trends etc. is very difficult for marketing manager to consider. These constituent have great
impact on all elements of marketing mix such as product, price, place, promotion and physical
evidence. Targeting marketing enables organisation to have focus on specific market. This
approach is effective as it allows firm to reach potential customer. It helps business unit in
generating revenue and increasing profitability. It has been analysed from external analysis
inflation has great impact on the growth and success of Virgin media. Due to inflation it has
become essential for organisation to increase its prices of product and services this has great
impact on the consumer. The company has adopted the strategy to fulfil its corporate social
responsibility this has allowed business entity an opportunity to enhance its brand image and
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gain customer loyalty. In addition to this the organisation has to face loss due to technological
factor as the Virgin media was using old technology. Company has bear lot of cost for adopting
new technological system. This impact has been analysed on virgin media client as they have to
pay high price for purchasing product and services. Technological factor have great effect on
quality of goods and services (Demangeot, Broderick and Craig, 2015)
Laws and legal factors has created major challenge for firm as company is engaged in
business of optical fibres which can have negative impact on environment. Radiation generated
from optical fibre cable may have bad effect on health of people.
From internal analysis it has been identified that the company is able to maintain healthy
relationship with their stakeholders and suppliers. Employees in Virgin media company are
talented and skilled. Both suppliers and stakeholder have high influence on the competitive
strength of firm. Booth parties has supported organisation in providing effective services to its
customer. Due to effective strategy organisation was able to maintain healthy relationship with
supplier.
The resources play significant role in enterprise. Sufficient availability of resources has
enabled business entity to increase its productivity and operational efficiency. This has
encouraged firm to produce innovative product and services. Due to these resources only Virgin
media was able to sustain their business in such competitive global environment.
The various competences of virgin media that has allowed organisation to establish good
position in market are its skilled and talented employees, pricing strategy, market share, place
where company is located, it has its retail store in many countries that provide easy access to
customer. Strong management system has played important role in achieving organisational
goals and objectives. Knowledgeable management has supported firm in making effective and
suitable decision.
It has been identified from analysis that Virgin media has sufficient resources but it is
unable to use resources in effective and efficient manner. Organisation is totally dependent on its
employees for generating value for firm. According to VRIN model Virgin media company
failed to fulfil its commitment related to quick and effective services. It has been evaluated that
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due to effect or influence of various factors on business, enterprise was unable to maintain their
position and performance in global market. Business entity was failed to introduce substitute
product in markets (Clark and et.al., 2016.)
1B) Selecting and applying various strategic and marketing framework in order to determine the
attractiveness of industry and distinctiveness of Virgin Media
The porters five forces model can be adopted in order to determine the attractiveness of
industry. Whereas VRIO analysis Technique can be used to analyse the distinctiveness of Virgin
Media.
Porters five forces model
Porters Five force model is a theoretical framework which include business strategy
development and industrial analysis, This model is being used to determine the competitive
strength and attractiveness of industry. Attractiveness is defined in terms of profit that is being
generated by industry.
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Threat Of New entry-As virgin media is dealing in a part of monopoly it could have threat
from new firms' en trying into industry. As this is monopoly industry it has potential to gain
more profit there is possibility of entry of new organisation. The entry of new competitor will
have great impact on industry profitability. News organisation has potential to decrease profit
margin of industry. This threat can be reduced by restricting entry of new enterprise. This can be
achieved by creating high entry and low exit barriers. The industry in which Virgin Media is
dealing is attractive as it is able to differentiate their products and services in effective and
efficient manner, industry has high brand equity, switching cost is low, minimum capital
requirement for establishing industry, Commercial enterprise, has gained customer loyalty and
was successfully able to establish brand, commercial enterprise is generating high profitability
and has been ranked as the largest industry among 500 other industries. This is the most
attractable industry as it is able to attract more number of customers. If there are large number of
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Illustration 1: Porter's Five Forces
Source:(Porter's Five Forces,2013)

business unit in industry there will be increase in competition but on the other hand it will
encourage Virgin Media organisation to achieve good position in market.
Threat of substitute products and services-As the Virgin media is dealing in monopoly
industry there is less chance of introduction of substitute products and services. It will be
difficult for customer too switch for substitute product. As switching cost for customer could be
high. As Company is producing unique product it will difficult for other organisation to develop
such product as it require lot of investment.
Bargaining power of supplier-The bargaining power of supplier is weak. As industry is dealing
in monopoly industry firm itself is a price maker. The organisation has considerable control over
the price of goods and services. It has potential to control on quantity supplied.
Rivalry among competitor -Rivalry among competitor is low. Rivalry among existing
organisation is high. High competition with other industries.
Bargaining Power of buyer-it is low as there is no substitute product available in market.
VRIO analysis
This analysis technique is very effective technique that can be used for evaluation of
organisation resources and identifying the competitive strength of company. VRIO stands for
Value, Rare, Inimitable and non substitute (Ehrlich, Shoham and Asseraf,2016. )
Virgin media has high tech and valuable resources but the problem is the organisation
doest have effective strategy that the reason the company was not able to make use of its
resources in effective and efficient manner. Business unit have valuable but not rare resources
that means it has high competitive strength. It has been analysed that organisation has potential
to mange and is able to organise its resources in effective way it can gain competitive advantage
in market. If organisation has valuable but rare resources and in case it is not expensive to
imitate resources than firm can gain temporary competitive advantage. If other organisation tries
to imitate resources in near future then Virgin media company can lost its competitive
advantage. In simple words resources are the major elements that assist organisation in achieving
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success by producing unique and differentiated products. These are the special factors that
encourage business unit top produce innovative product and allow them to differentiate their
product from that of competitors and provide them opportunity to gain competitive advantage in
market. Resource also aid firm in maintaining their performance in market.
It has been analysed from above analysis that Virgin media has many times gained
temporary advantage and has able to transform temporary competitive advantage into permanent
benefit. This proved the uniqueness of the in company. The enterprise has efficiently used its
competitive advantage. But still the manager in Virgin media need to develop effective strategy
for facing competition. It is required by Virgin media to have focus on innovation as it will help
business entity in increasing its uniqueness (Schmid, Grosche and Mayrhofer, 2016.)
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Illustration 2: VRIO Model
Source:(VRIO: From Firm Resources to Competitive Advantage,2016)

TASK 2
1. Identification of possible strategies and marketing strategies at corporate level and business
level
Corporate level strategies-Corporate level strategy have focus on analysing the business
activities in which organisation is engaged. It presents the big picture of Virgin media. The
virgin media can use product development strategy and market penetration strategy. The product
development strategy would help firm in attracting more number of customers. It will provide
business unit various opportunities such as improving product quality, modification in existing
product and gaining customer loyalty. Market penetration strategy will assist firm exploring and
capturing various market opportunities. Corporate level strategies will support organisation in
increasing revenue and profits. Marketing development strategy will allow business unit to fulfil
its marketing objectives such as increasing market share, market growth and customer
satisfaction. Virgin media can formulate product development strategy in order to produce
attractive product as this will help organisation in increasing their uniqueness in industry. It will
allow firm to gain good position in market. The corporate level strategy guides various decisions
of company about developing varieties of products. It also guides organisation regarding
allocation of resources, capital and enables business entity to identify various suitable and
efficient source of gaining valuable resource at low cost. Virgin media is required to adopt
effective strategy in order to reduce the cost of production and increasing production efficiency.
Virgin media can adopt various corporate level strategy
Cost leader strategy -This strategy can be adopted by Virgin media. According to this approach
the organisation can offer good quality product at reasonable price. They can use low pricing
strategy as this would allow firm to attract more numbers of customers.
Luxury brand-Virgin Media can use high price strategy as this will enable organisation to
present their products and services as luxury. The luxury brand image helps business entity in
attract distinct consumer group those belong to upper class of society. These people have
disposable income and have desire to buy exclusive goods and services.
Niche-The firm can formulate this strategy in order to target narrow group of customers.
Mass market-This corporate level strategy intends to appeal wide range of consumers.
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Business level strategy
This strategy emphasizes on performance of organisation. They have focus on particular
products and services. This strategy is concerned with managing business activities, building
distinctive capabilities, resources, developing competitive advantage in each specific business
unit, analysing products, services, identifying market opportunities and formulating strategies for
achieving success. It also includes monitoring the business environment.
Coordinate unit activities-This is very common and effective business level strategy as it
includes coordination of various activities that are performed by individual business unit, Virgin
media can divide its various functions or activities into different sections of department. In this
strategy manager would be the person who Wil be responsible for performance of employees
and for results produce by individual. They would also be accountable for allocating resources
for different task. This will provide firm an opportunity to maintain their customer base and
enter into new market.
Utilize human resource-This strategy aims to have focus on ensuring that company has sufficient
number of employees to produce a specific output of products and services. Skilled human
resource manger guides organisation in selecting appropriate market for delivering goods and
services. Personal manager assist marketing employees in selecting suitable target and adopting
effective method or technique for expanding business.
Development of Distinct advantage-This strategy is very essential to be adopted by Virgin
media. As these strategies allow firm to gain competitive advantage and represent its various
activities. It enables organisation to represent their abilities to produce their product better than
other organisation. This strategy provides business entity an opportunity to acquire valuable
resources at low cost, develop highly effective and efficient production system, produce unique
products and services, cost effective supply chain management for delivering goods quickly to
consumers.
Identifying market niches-It is very essential for Virgin media to conduct economic analysis
and discover consumers needs as well as demand. The other niche marketing strategy includes
adding features in existing products, targeting specific target group, etc.
Monitoring Product strategies- It is very important for Virgin Media to review strategy before
implementation (Kaynak and Kucukemiroglu, 2015)
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2. Evaluation of Different possible strategies
Corporate level strategies-It assist organisation in decision making process. It Has allowed
Virgin media to maintain its financial performance by providing various methods such as
acquisition, mergers etc.
Value creating strategy- The aim of this strategy is to assist business unit strategy is to assist
business entity in increasing market share. This strategy intends to add value to business goods
as well as services by exploiting economies of scale. It helps organisation in reducing various
cost and increasing efficiency. The major idea behind this approach is diversification.
Diversification includes delivering more gods and services to customers within specific market.
Value- Neutral Strategy- This strategy assist business entity in allocation of resources and
manpower. This strategy has enabled virgin media to maintain their performance in market. It
supports manager in developing suitable and effective business as well as operational plan.
Developing coordination among various department allow firm to reduce various risk associated
with entering into new market. This strategy encourages firm providing them various ways for
entering new market.
Value reducing strategy- This strategy help organisation in defining their target.
Business Level strategy This strategy allow company to increase its profitability and revenue
generation capacity.
Coordinating Unit activities-This strategy has assisted Virgin media in achieving various
marketing and business objectives as well as goals. This plan has provided organisation an
opportunity to develop effective management system that can aid firm in maintaining their
performance and expanding their business. This allows business unit to conduct various
jointures, mergers in order to enter into global market.
Utilization of human resource-this strategy is used by organisation for ensuring that right type of
human labour is employed by enterprise as this has great impact on the operational and
production activities. This strategy assist firm in increasing their efficiency with the support of
human resource manager. It has been identified that due to talented and skilled personal
manager, Virgin media company was able to conduct effective partnership with international
organisation. This has provided business entity an opportunity to expand their business and gain
competitive advantage in global environment.
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Developing distinct advantage-This strategy has contributed a lot towards the success of Virgin
media. It has allowed business entity an opportunity to achieve economies of scale by identifying
effective sources of gaining resources at low cost. This strategy has provided enterprise an
opportunity to deliver their products and services quickly to consumer and supported
organisation in fulfilling their objective of customer satisfaction. This strategy has allowed
company to enter into new market with exciting customer base.
Identifying market niche-This strategy allows firm to analyse the needs and demand of consumer
and fulfil its objective of gaining customer loyalty. This has helped business entity in developing
and maintaining healthy relationship with their clients (Niederwieser and et.al., 2016)
3. Recommendation
The suggestion to virgin media is that it should have much focus on improving the
quality of products and services. It should adopt product development strategy, marketing
penetration plan and diversification strategy. As this business level and corporate level strategies
will help company in enhancing its growth and expanding its business. It is very essential for
organisation to adopt, advance technology as it will assist enterprise in reducing various cost and
increasing productivity. The company is required to include innovation process as this will
support firm in developing innovate products as well as services and will help business entity in
increasing their unique in industry these strategies are implemented by industry it would allow
them to become attractive. It has been recommended to Virgin media that it should conduct
internal and external analysis before formulating and implementing any business plan or strategy
as this will aid firm in saving time for conducting various processes. It will allow them to
increase their efficiency and effectiveness (Adar. and et.al.,2016)
CONCLUSION
This has been concluded from the report that marketing and strategy has great role to
play in organisation. Marketing activities allow company to promote their products and services
in market. It enables business unit to achieve its marketing objectives. Strategy helps
organisation in achieving overall business objectives. It contributes a lot towards achievement of
success of organisation. It has been concluded from the report that business level strategy has
focus on maintaining business performance. Corporate level strategy have much emphasize on
specific products and services. Various corporate and business level strategy has been suggested
by report that can be adopted by Virgin media for achieving it's both business and marketing
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objectives. These strategies would support firm in gaining competitive advantage in global
environment.
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REFERENCES
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Schmid, S., Grosche, P. and Mayrhofer, U., 2016. Configuration and coordination of
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Niederwieser, D. and et.al., 2016. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation activity worldwide
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Adar, E. and et.al.,2016. Comparison of methods for sustainable energy management with
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Online
Porter's Five Forces,2013 [Online] Available through:
<https://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/porters-five-forces.html/>.
VRIO Model, 2016 [Online] Available through: <VRIO: From Firm Resources to Competitive
Advantage,2016)>.
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