MG624: Strategic Marketing Report for Ashanti Marketing Solutions

This report, prepared for Ashanti Marketing Solutions (AMS), presents a strategic marketing plan for launching a new range of organic biscuits and cookies in France. It begins with a product and country recommendation, followed by a PESTLE analysis of the French market to identify opportunities and threats. A SWOT analysis further evaluates the internal and external environments. The report then assesses three market entry modes, recommending mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures as the most suitable. It applies market segmentation and targeting concepts to the new product and concludes with a discussion of Porter's generic strategy, suggesting a competitive strategy for AMS. The report aims to provide AMS with a comprehensive strategic roadmap for successful market entry and product launch in France, considering both macro and micro environmental factors.

STRATEGIC
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................4
TASKS........................................................................................................................................................4
Recommendation of product and country................................................................................................4
PESTLE analysis.....................................................................................................................................5
SWOT analysis........................................................................................................................................7
Three modes of market entry...................................................................................................................8
Market Segmentation...............................................................................................................................9
Porter’s Generic Strategy.......................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................16

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Strategic Management refers to overall assessment of ongoing business plan in order to
meet objectives and goals of the business. Changes in external and internal environment force
business to constantly make strategies. It incorporates different areas of the business. This report
is based on Ashanti Marketing Solutions (AMS). It had recommended a suitable product and a
country for the company.
Furthermore, Pestle and SWOT analysis had been done to identify current internal and
external environment of chosen country for the firm. Moreover, Study had assesses three modes
of market entry in which suitable, mode had been recommended. Afterwards, market
segmentation concepts had been introduced and targeting had been done of newly launched
product. Lastly through Porter’s generic strategy a generic strategy will be provided so firm can
be gain competitive benefit.

INTRODUCTION
Strategic management refers to analyzing and exploring strategies so that management of
the company can implement them into the business. Through analyzing external and internal
environment strategies is being formulated (Anyika, Ehie and Oghojafor, 2019). It asses the
planning so that organizational goals can be meet. Present report is based on Ashanti Marketing
Solutions (AMS). The company will launch a new range of organic biscuits and cookies in
France.
Report will cover a strategic marketing plan for the company. The study will recommend
a product and a country for the company. By doing external and internal analysis threats and
opportunities for the new product get asserted. Furthermore, market entry options for the firm
will be suggested. Then product segmentation and targeting will be done. Moreover, report will
cover Porter’s generic strategy in which one would be suggested. Lastly, study will be
summarized.
TASKS
Recommendation of product and country
Product - Ashanti Marketing Solutions (AMS) is engaged in the business of food production.
The firm can launch a new range of organic biscuits and cookies which are calories free. This
biscuits helps people to lower up their cholesterol levels. As consumers are becoming health
conscious they will definitely purchase this biscuits and cookies. This biscuits are blended with
fruits & nuts. These are gluten free delight. This are enrich with high fiber and protein.
Country – The Company can target the market of France. It is a country located in Europe. The
capital of France is Paris. It is one of the largest agricultural producing countries. Thus, there is
large market for organic food. Ashanti Marketing solutions can tap into fragmented market of
France through mergers and acquisitions. Value chain of industrial producers, farmers and
retailers are already established so the firm can easily do positioning of their product (Okumus,
Altinay and Koseoglu, 2019).

PESTLE analysis
This analysis is helpful to ascertain factors that may affect the firm externally. Hence, Pestle
analysis of France has been done as follows -
 Political Factors – France has been known for her politics as there is always a gap
between poor and wealthy. Thus, all the administration control is under the France
government. Perhaps, bringing out reasonable price of organic biscuits and cookies can
be preferred by common people. In the year 2015, the France has face troubled due to
terrorist attack. Extra measures have been taken to by the government to stop terrorism
(Scanning the Environment: PESTEL Analysis, 2016).
 Economical Factors – At the time of recession, France stand strong and due to
government intervention nothing is happened to banking and financial sectors of country.
They didn’t suffer as much through this intervention (Lasserre, 2017). Although, they
have suffered from deficits because of Raymond rule. Unemployment rate is high in
France due to tax rates. It is roughly 40 %. Businesses have to suffer more due to this tax
rate. Thus, this makes difficult for the workers to employ in their own country. France is
capable and well known for agriculture. Thus, starting a new business in France of
organic biscuits and cookies will be fruitful.
 Social Factors – Due to disparity among the classes the crime rate is at rise in the
country. Employee’s are often at strike. Therefore, productivity gets influenced. Racial
violence is one of the problems. Immigrants in country are not treated well as there is
population of Roman Catholic. Due to this discrimination some classes remained
backward. The people of France are also health conscious. Hence, introducing a new
range of organic product can increase the productivity of Ashanti Marketing Solutions.

Figure 1: Pestle Analysis (Source: Scanning the Environment: PESTEL Analysis, 2016)
 Technological Factors – France is known for nuclear technology expert. As it is also
export nuclear technology to its nearby countries. France is inventor of many products
such as camera, fridge and generator. Tons of money and resources have been invested in
research and development of goods. Government is also investing into the research for
making France people healthier. Hence, selling new range of organic and healthier
biscuits and cookies would be great choice for the company. France has also high internet
speed connection which is termed as ADSL. It is helpful for the company as they can
easily contact with the suppliers and can get regular updates (Morden, 2016). Another
benefit is that company can easily contact with the customers and also done home
delivery by using app.
 Environmental Factors – France is suffering from water pollution. Water contamination
is the major problem out there. Forests are also destroyed due to acid rain. The country is
more focused towards protecting their species and land. Nitrate zones have designated by
the government in which agricultural development is allowed. Chances of spreading
carbon dioxide are also more due to industrialization. Thus, production of organic
products will be a great start up business opportunity for the company (Barca, 2017).

 Legal Factors –Twenty six laws has been featured by France government to keep
pedestrians and drivers safe. Hence, Ashanti Marketing Solutions has to obey those rules
and regulations. While doing transportation and supply chain management of organic
cookies. This should also be taken into consideration. Workers and employees could not
apply makeup or headsets while driving.
SWOT analysis
This Analysis is helpful for identifying business opportunities and threats. Hence, Pestle
analysis of France is being done as follows –
 Strength – France has strong agriculture, tourism and weapons industries. These
sectors have great contributions to France economy. France comes under the top
countries as an agricultural producer. Beyond this many of the agro products have
being exported outside the country that contributes to total GDP. Production of
organic cookies and biscuits will be great idea as agriculture sectors is at boom in
country’s economy. Property market is stable in France so if Ashanti marketing
solutions wants to purchase property there it is easy. The company can establish
their own plants so that production of organic biscuits can be easily done.
 Weakness – There is difference of cultural belief in France. The workers and
employees also show rude nature. The living cost of country is too high. Beyond
this there is language barrier. Customer service within the country is also poor.
There is lack of administration work. If the company trained there employees by
giving them language classes and teaching them right attitude to perform
customer service the company is able to earn more (Ethiraj, Gambardella and
Helfat, 2018).
 Opportunities – The government of France is also supporting foreign partners
and suppliers mainly in consumer goods. Hence, Ashanti Marketing limited has
great scope to offer consumer goods to France people such as organic biscuits
new range. Not only has this government of the country also supported
agricultural sector so being organic product supplier the company can grab
advantage. Moreover, people of France are also heath conscious. Hence, they will
love to purchase such type of healthy food products.

 Threats – Islamist terrorist groups have been always in attacking mode towards
the France. Thus, survival in France can be dangerous. This is the major threat for
the countryman. The country has high volume of break-ins of vehicles. It has
noticed that people money, passwords, documents have been frequently stolen.
Hence, the company has to consider these threats while establishing business in
France.
Three modes of market entry
Meaning - It generally refers to getting the products of your company into the target market.
When the company wants to enter into a foreign market then it needs various strategies and
modes (Boon Eckardt and Boselie, 2018). These strategies can affect the firm in different ways
such as growth, risk, competition, availability of resources etc. Also the different market entry
modes differ in their risk, availability, return on investment etc. Different modes are not only
create difference in financial terms but also in political and social terms, such as government's
attitude toward business, one's own beliefs etc. There are three major types of market entry
modes:
1. Strategic Alliances -
It refers to where two or more organizations agree to setup a firm together with common
objectives but still remains as two different Davies. This type of mode is mostly suitable when
alliance is setup for specific project or ventures. Mostly this type of mode lies between
acquisitions and mergers and organic growth. This mode is popular because of individual think
about the benefits which are greater in alliance than individual efforts (Hanson, Hitt and
Hoskisson, 2016). The alliance also benefits both the parties in areas of technology and modern
techniques, because one party can enjoy the benefits of latest technology of the other.
2. Mergers, Acquisitions and Joint ventures -
These are the modes which are used to join with other business works and ventures on certain
tasks. If the company decides to take over on other firm the joining occur between the two, or if
the company tries to use acquisitions then they will work with other business units for specific
projects. This can help the firm to increase their share in the market, also can be beneficial in
terms of finance and production cost. Simply we can say acquisitions occur when they took over

is based on assets or other stock and merger is said to be a legal agreement between two firms
into one whereas joint venture is just a sharing of ownership.
3. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) -
FDI is a grabbing the control of ownership a business unit in one country by a business unit in
other. It differs from portfolio investment in the terms of control because FDI took over almost
full control over ownership of the company in which investment is made whereas FPI just aims
to took over profit earned during the fiscal year. This option generally includes ownership over
stocks, bonds, technology, venture, etc. This type of mode generally suitable when an existing
business unit wants to diversified its operations or wants a new unit worldwide.
The company has decided to choose the second mode of market entry i.e., merger,
acquisitions and joint venture (Boon Eckardt and Boselie, 2018). This is so because of our
products i.e., organic biscuits and cookies, this helps the company to capture the newly advanced
and innovative technology, also by mergers it will be able to take over the shares of other big
firms by a legal agreement and joint venture will help to took over the ownership control. Then
still the two most prominent options which company chooses are mergers and acquisitions.
Market Segmentation
Definition- It is a process of dividing a market of prominent and potential customers into
different segments or groups. The division is mainly based on characteristics of the customers,
such as division is generally based on traits of a consumer such as interests, needs, etc., with that
market strategy. Also market segmentation has a very significant importance in the market
because it is easier to take over similar customers in one segment rather than treating them
individually. This ultimately helps in savings time, money and efforts which increase
effectiveness and efficiency (Anyika., Ehie and Oghojafor2019).
There are three types of target markets -
1. Niche/ concentrated marketing - This type of market aims towards a small area of the whole
market in which a fewer selected customers are targeted. In this market focus is on a specific
product. This market defines the different features of the product such as, range, type, quality,
etc. In this the final quality of the product is not dependent of price elasticity but is aimed to

satisfied individual needs. Providers with small capital usually go for niche market i.e.,
concentrated market with a motive of increasing financial strength.
2. Mass/Undifferentiated marketing - This is type of market where the company sells its
products to the entire consumer at the same time (Peppard and Ward, 2016).
3. Selective/ Differentiated marketing - This is a market in which the company provides
different products to different segments of customers or types of customers. In this company
creates programs that offer to at least two market groups or segments. This type of targeting
appeals to more than two segments groups. For example, a shoe firm an create two different
segments according to the variety of shoes and according to different age groups.
The company has decided to choose undifferentiated marketing because the organic
biscuits and cookies are eaten by every age and different class group, so this type will be most
suitable and beneficial as it will not consume time because the other two requires a lot of time in
division of segments. This segment will not only save time but will consume lesser resources
than the other two. So this choice is most beneficial that's why the company has selected this
alternative.
POSITIONING-
Positioning is where customer needs and wants are identified in which the position of the
competitors and their strength and weakness are indentified. It helps the firm to be always ahead
from its competitors to chase the break the market with highest profit. This process is done by
four marketing mix.
1. Product- It refers to goods or services, which are offered in the market for sale. It consists of
three -
 Branding - Under this firm decides under which generic name its product will circulate in
the market (Anyika., Ehie and Oghojafor2019).
 Packaging - Under this the product is packed into its selected packets for different
purposes such as safety during transit, product differentiation etc.
 Labeling: under this different labels containing relevant information are stick with the
product to make the choice of consumer easy.

The company's product is organic biscuit and cookies. The product is an organic item which
has popular demand in France because the people are more concern to their health nowadays.
This product is prepared with full hygiene and nutritional values which makes it more popular.
These are sugar free biscuits available in different flavors such as fruits and nuts and buckwheat
& milk. This biscuits are delicious and perfectly trigger a finger and also easily dissolved.
Customers can take them with milk as well. These are buckwheat cookies.
2. Price -It can be defined as the total amount received or paid by the buyer for the goods or
services they had acquired. There are two types of pricing strategy -
 Market penetration- it refers to setting the price of product very low in the initial days of
its launch in order to capture a big share in market.
 Market skimming - it refers to setting the price of the product high in order to earn
maximum profit in the initial days of its launch.
The company has decided to do market penetration by which it will be able to capture a huge
share in the market. Afterwards the price of the product will be taken up to reasonable. The price
has been decided with keeping in mind no loss of customer and the firm.
3. Place - It refers to which channel of distribution has been selected by the company to enhance
or groom its business. There are three types of channel of distribution -
 One level - In this goods are directly sold to the customers with no interference of
intermediaries.
 Two levels - In this product is first sold to retailers then they sold it to ultimate
consumers (O'Brien, Parent and Gowthorp2019).
 Three levels - The product is first sold to wholesalers then it goes to retailer then to
ultimate consumers.
The company has decided to use three level channel of distribution in order to make
convenient purchase of the consumer and to make goods available in stock every time.
4. Promotion - It refers to the techniques of increasing sales and to make maximum amount of
profit. There are four types of promotional techniques namely, Advertising, Sales promotion,
Personal selling and Public relation (O'Brien, Parent and Gowthorp2019)

The company has decided to choose sales promotion techniques because there are
numerous techniques in sales promotion which can increase the sales to its highest. Also the
company has choose to use advertising as it reach is all over the world. These both techniques
will be the greatest strength of the company to Achieve miracles.
Porter’s Generic Strategy
This strategy has been formulated to gain competitive edge. If the business seek
differentiation or variation in the product then this is high time to adopt these strategies. In order
to find a sustainable competitive edge these strategies should be adopted. Porter’s Generic
Strategies are of four types -
Cost Leadership
This type of strategy helps to increase profits through reducing costs of production by
taking charge of industrial average price. Through charging lower prices company is able to gain
high profits (Ansoff, Kipley and Dand Ansoff, 2018). As in this production costs gets reduced.
Thus, the firm is able to achieve high profitability. The production of products is done to the
lowest price as much possible by getting raw material at less cost.
Differentiation strategy
Under this the products has made different from others so that they can easily catch
public eye. The company starts their search for best and lowest possible price with a number of
expertise and experimental observations, and this is ensured that in each segment price remains
low (Rosenberg Hansen and Ferlie,, 2016).
Cost focus
In this the niche market is selected and when the lowest possible price is offered to the
customers. Through deep study and understanding with keeping in mind the taste and
preferences the company ensures costs remains low (Rothaermel, 2016). Also, by this strategy all
the other strategies can be derived as it is base of others. The company focuses of cost
minimization with profit maximization.
Differentiation focus

In this strategy business unit aims to differentiate with one or small target markets. In this
the specifically demand and choice of consumer are fulfilled with a high profit because there is
an effective opportunity to complete with the customers. This technique helps many small capital
holders to top the niche target market (David and David, 2016). The business units choosing this
strategy had the main issue that they need the consumer having different needs and wants.
Differentiation focus is all about achieving higher prices than undifferentiated items by which
the firm can gain a high customer value.
Figure 2 Porter's Model of Generic Strategies (Source: Porter's Model of Generic Strategies for
Competitive Advantage, 2018)
Ashanti limited has adopted cost focus strategy. Low costs are one of the best strategies
because it enables the company to earn maximum profit in short period of time. As product is
offered at lower price so many of customers got attracted towards it (Porter's Model of Generic

Strategies for Competitive Advantage, 2018). Thus, the price of organic biscuits and cookies has
been set at minimal price. Ashanti Marketing solutions can also capture large number of
audience by adopting this strategy. This strategy is the most dominant one to complete the task
of cost minimization and in the most effective way, also this strategy is the most unique as
compared to others.

CONCLUSION
It has been concluded that Strategic management gives a sense of direction to formulate a
plan for the business. It also increases efficiency of operations in the company. It has been
summarized from Pestle analysis that France has survived from recession but although there is
high criminal rate and racial violence. The tax rate is also high for the businesses but although
this is agriculture product which the Ashanti Marketing Limited is going to launch. Thus, the
government is going to support this organic biscuits and cookies. By SWOT analysis it has been
summarized that company has great opportunity to startup a new agro business in France.
It has been concluded that there are lots of market entry options available in France but
suitable one is merger and acquisition. Company has adopted mass marketing segmentation to
launch new range of biscuits in France. It has also been concluded through Porter’s model of
strategies that company has choose Cost focus strategy to attract lots of customers.

REFERENCES
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