University of Maryland Global Campus: Canadian Solar Marketing Plan

This report presents a comprehensive marketing plan for Canadian Solar, Inc. (CSI), examining its vision, mission, product offerings, value proposition, and global presence. It includes a detailed situation analysis, assessing CSI's suppliers, customers, and competitors, along with a review of its financial performance and environmental scan. The core of the report features a thorough SWOT analysis, identifying CSI's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, followed by a PESTEL analysis that evaluates the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors impacting the company. The report aims to provide insights into CSI's market position and strategic considerations, offering a holistic view of its operational environment and potential for future growth. This report is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of Canadian Solar's marketing strategy, making it a valuable resource for students studying marketing and business strategy, available on Desklib.

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Running Head: CANADIAN SOLAR, INC. MARKETING PLAN Benefits of Solar Panels to the
CustomersBenefits of Solar Panels to the Customers
Canadian Solar, Inc. Marketing Plan
Diana Logue, Angela Richmond, Debra Scavone, Tony Torres
University of Maryland Global Campus
MBA 640
Dr. Kellie C. McGilvray

CANADIAN SOLAR, INC. MARKETING PLAN
Situation Analysis
Vision and Mission Statement:
Canadian Solar, Inc.’s, (CSI) vision statement is: “Make the difference with Canadian
Solar, Inc. to create a cleaner earth for future generations.” and their mission is: “To foster
sustainable development and to create a better and cleaner earth for future generations by
bringing electricity powered by the sun to millions of people worldwide” (Canadiansolar, n.d.).
Product and Service Description:
Together with its subsidiaries, CSI designs, develops, manufactures, and sells solar
ingots, wafers, cells, modules, and other solar power products primarily under the Canadian
Solar brand name. CSI operates through two segments, Module and System Solutions (MSS),
and Energy. Its products include various solar modules that are used in residential, commercial,
and industrial solar power generation systems. CSI also develops, constructs, maintains, sells,
and/or operates solar plants. In addition, it provides specialty solar products consisting of the
Maple Solar System, a clean energy solution for families; solar inverters; energy storage
systems; and solar pump systems, as well as solar system kits, which are a ready-to-install
packages that contain inverters, racking systems, and other accessories. Further, CSI develops,
builds, and sells solar power projects; performs engineering, procurement, and construction
(EPC) works for solar power projects; and offers operation and maintenance services that include
inspection, repair, and replacement of plant equipment, site management, and administrative
support services. Additionally, it generates and sells electricity with an aggregate capacity of
approximately 986.3 megawatts. CSI offers its products to distributors, system integrators,

CANADIAN SOLAR, INC. MARKETING PLAN
project developers, and installers/EPC companies (Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ) Stock Historical
Prices & Data, 2019).
Value Proposition:
According to Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of CSI,
customers choose CSI because they deliver the best possible value. Their modules and system
solutions combine superior quality with the leading market cost structures. CSI’s solar projects
consistently achieve the highest production values and returns on investment. There are
currently more than 10 GW (gigawatts) of these projects in the pipeline worldwide and CSI is
uniquely positioned to provide project development and complete turnkey solar solutions. By
bundling the services for the lifecycle of the entire project they can significantly reduce the
complexity and cost for their customers (Canadiansolar, n.d.). This value proposition makes the
promise to the customer that CSI will go beyond the physical characteristics of their products to
ensure that the customer can benefit in all forms of utility.
Where They Are Located:
CSI is incorporated in both Canada and the United States with its Global Headquarters
located in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. They have 17 successful manufacturing facilities in Asia
and the Americas.
Major Suppliers:
Some of CSI’s major suppliers are Deutsche Solar in Germany, NeoSolar Power of
Taiwan, GCL Silicon Technology Holdings Inc., in China and Timminco Ltd. in Toronto.

CANADIAN SOLAR, INC. MARKETING PLAN
Major Global and US Customers:
Several of CSI’s major global and US customers are as follows:
 Star Energy Service and Duke Energy, US (Investors.canadiansolar.com, 2015)
 ProSolar Solarstrom GmbH and Deutsche Solar in Germany
 Amur Energy, Spain
 TransCanada Corporation
 DEWA Project, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai.
 Korea Electric Power Corporation
 BioTherm Energy in South Africa (MarketLine Company Profile: Canadian Solar, Inc.,
2019).
Competitors:
The top competitors of CSI are First Solar, Inc., JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd.,
JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd., Renesola, Ltd., and SunPower Corporation (Canadian Solar Inc.
(CSIQ) Stock Historical Prices & Data, 2020).
Revenue:
CSI began trading in the Nasdaq Global Exchange under the ticker symbol CSIQ in 2006.
CSI reported revenues of US$3,744.5 million for the fiscal year ending December 2018 (FY
2018), which increased 10.4 % from FY2017. Their operating margin was 9.7 % compared to
7.9 % in FY2017 and in FY2018, CSI recorded a net margin of 6.3 % compared to 2.9 % in FY
2017.

CANADIAN SOLAR, INC. MARKETING PLAN
In FY2018, MSS segment reported revenues of US$2,413.9 million which accounted for
64.5 % of the company’s revenue including eliminations, whereas, the Energy segment reported
revenues of US$1,575.6 million which accounted for 42.1 % of the company’s revenue including
eliminations.
The company's MSS business line reported a decline in its performance in 2019. There
was a 5.3% decline in solar module shipments and 14.2% fall in the average selling price of solar
modules, due to oversupply conditions in the market, policy changes in China and a change in
the geographic mix of sales.
The business line recorded negative growth of 7.6% over the past three years, due to the
decline of 22.2% in the average selling price of solar modules, driven by the supply of solar
products exceeding demand and a change in the geographic mix of revenue (D & B, 2020),
Environmental Scan Report
This report will provide an environmental scan report for Canadian Solar, Inc. (CSI).
CSI designs, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells solar module products that convert
sunlight into electricity for a variety of uses. Their products include a range of solar modules for
use in a wide range of residential, commercial, and industrial solar power generation systems.
Environmental scanning is the ongoing tracking of trends and occurrences in an organization’s
internal and external environment that bear on its success, currently and in the future. The results
are extremely useful in shaping goals and strategies (Fordham University, n.d.)
Components of internal scanning that could be considered include:
 Employee interaction with other employees

CANADIAN SOLAR, INC. MARKETING PLAN
 Employee interaction with management
 Manager interaction with other managers
 Management interaction with shareholders
 Access to natural resources, brand awareness, organizational structure, main staff,
operational potential
 Discussions, interviews, and surveys (MSG, n.d).
Components of external scanning that could be considered include:
 Trends: What trends are occurring in the marketplace or industry that could affect the
organization either positively or negatively?
 Competition: What is your competition doing that provides them an advantage? Where
can you exploit your competition's weaknesses?
 Technology: What developments in technology may impact your business in the future?
Are there new technologies that can make your organization more efficient?
 Customers: How is your customer base changing? What is impacting your ability to
provide top-notch customer service?
 Economy: What is happening in the economy that could affect future business?
 Labor supply: What is the labor market like in the geographies where you operate? How
can you ensure ready access to high-demand workers?
 Political/legislative arena: What impact will election outcomes have on your business? Is
there impending legislation that will affect your operations? (SHRM, n.d.).

CANADIAN SOLAR, INC. MARKETING PLAN
SWOT Analysis
Below we will provide a SWOT analysis for Canadian Solar, Inc. SWOT (strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis is a framework used to evaluate a company's
competitive position and to develop strategic planning. SWOT analysis assesses internal and
external factors, as well as current and future potential (Grant, 2019). A SWOT analysis is
designed to facilitate a realistic, fact-based, data-driven look at the strengths and weaknesses
of an organization, its initiatives, or an industry.
Strengths
CSI has many strengths that make them a successful company. The following is a list of
some of those strengths:
 They are one of the world’s largest solar photovoltaic products and energy solutions
providers
 They have 17 successful manufacturing facilities in Asia & the Americas
 They actively sell their products in more than 150 countries
 Their modules and system solutions combine superior quality with market-leading
cost structures
 They provide green energy needs of approximately 10 million households
 They employee nearly 13,000 employees, of which 527 are highly experienced
researchers in R&D. (Investors.canadiansolar.com, n.d.)
 They focus on continued Research and Development to better current products and
create new future products.

CANADIAN SOLAR, INC. MARKETING PLAN
Of course, CSI has many more strengths, these were just to name a few and give the
audience a sense of what Canadian Solar, Inc. has accomplished over the years.
Weaknesses
Like all companies, CSI also has weaknesses. The following is a list of some of those
weaknesses:
 Their products rely on technology, which is an ever-changing industry. They must
constantly keep research new technologies to be competitive.
 Their products require certification, this is very time consuming to keep track of the
certification and renew them as needed.
 Their products come with long warranty periods. This could be considered a weakness
from an accounting standpoint when allocating a value to the warranty period.
 They have strong competition. Sunpower and First Solar produce products are
comparable to CSI. According to Owler.com these companies have revenues ranging
from $2B to $3B. (Owler.com, n.d.)
 Technology improvements – Solar Energy is considered a technology, since the system
finds a way to store and use solar energy efficiently. Historically, technology companies
spend a large amount of money on research and development. CSI has invested in
research and development to improve its technology for the future; however, their
competitors seem to invest more. This will become an issue when competitors that have
invested in research and development create a far better product then CSI.
 Loss of high-margin projects – CSI has received record high margins on its projects for a
few years now, however with more competitors entering this market they will start to see
the effect and have to lower their pricing

CANADIAN SOLAR, INC. MARKETING PLAN
Opportunities
CSI can find many ways to create opportunities. The following is a list of some of those
opportunities:
 Continued R&D on their technology will allow them to better the product and
possible find new uses for solar, therefore creating sales opportunities.
 As more global customers begin to be more aware of environmental issues, they will
possibly look to solar as the alternative provider.
 As economies continue to do well and get even better, customer spending will also
increase. By producing more and better products CSI could capture more market
presence.
 As CSI becomes more efficient at manufacturing their products, there could be
decrease COGS, this would result in higher profits.
 Building a strong brand loyalty could also create more sales opportunities.
Threats
CSI. has built itself into one of the largest solar manufacturers in the world, with 5.8 GW of
module capacity. There are several threats associated to solar energy. The following is a list
of some:
 High-risk balance sheet – CSI highly depends on borrowing operational capital from
banks. This leaves them at risk should the banks stop lending to them based on their
high borrow base ratios. If the bank stops lending to them, they could seize
operations (Hoium, 2015).

CANADIAN SOLAR, INC. MARKETING PLAN
 Chinese government – Even though CSI is a Canadian company they are highly
involved in China. The Chinese government makes decision on funding
manufactures and this leave CSI vulnerable.
 Worldwide viruses – As seen today the Coronavirus is affecting most companies in
one way or another. With CSI having manufacturing facilities all over the world
these viruses could cause issues and delays to their manufacturing schedule.
 Rising Costs – Since CSI is a manufacturer, they need to constantly evaluate their
cost associated to component pieces they use in the manufacturing process. As the
economy changes all over the world this can have an effect on component piece
prices and availability.
 Additional Competitors – As the solar energy market grows, so will the entry of new
competitors. If any of these new competitors being to service a large percentage of
the solar energy market, this can have a negative impact to CSI.
PESTEL Analysis
PESTLE analysis is a framework or tool used to analyze and monitor the macro-
environmental factors that may have a profound impact on an organization’s performance.
PESTEL is an acronym that stand for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental
and Legal factors.
 Political – Solar energy has environmental regulations associated to it. CSI must
understand and be up to date on these regulations in all areas of the world they sell
into. Solar energy is a big topic when it comes to politics. All areas of politics want
to portray they are pro climate change. Solar energy has been proven to be good an

CANADIAN SOLAR, INC. MARKETING PLAN
important alternative to traditional models of energy production in the fight against
climate change.
 Economic – Solar energy has become the future of clean energy. Solar energy
continues to increase in popularity year over year, as proven by CSI financials. In
2016 CSI revenue was $2,853,078, in 2017 $3,390,393 and in 2018 $3,744,512, three
years of increased revenue (Canadian Solar Investor Relations page). These increases
show the popularity of solar energy, the customer confidence in the product and the
company. Some areas of the world find Solar Energy to be of the utmost importance,
these areas may also provide financial assistance to customers that are willing to
convert to solar energy.
 Social – CSI continues to contribute to local communities, they helped to build solar
power systems for medical centers, kindergartens and elderly people's homes. CSI
believes the participation and direct contribution to the society is the best expression
of business success. CSI employees a large number of employees, over 13,000
worldwide (Canadian Solar Investor Relations page). They provide a diverse amount
of training to its employees to help them gain knowledge throughout the year.
 Technological – CSI continues to improve their technology; they do invest money
into research and development to improve their product and make better products in
the future. They have been awarded over 500 patents in the solar energy field. They
also continue to hire engineers that are highly technological and provide training to
help them stay knowledgeable in the solar field.
 Environmental – CSI works hard to reduce the amount of water, wastewater,
electricity, CO2 they use in their solar generation process. All of these are extremely

CANADIAN SOLAR, INC. MARKETING PLAN
important to the state of the world give the effects from climate change. CSI
strategically sells into areas that have limited rain and lots of sunshine to fully
maximize their products output.
 Legal – CSI must abide by all laws in all areas of the world they sell into, this
includes federal, state and local laws. The US Department of Energy works with
businesses like CSI to develop regulations for the solar process.
Porter's Five Forces Analysis
Porter theorized that understanding both the competitive forces at play and the overall
industry structure are crucial for effective, strategic decision-making, and developing a
compelling competitive strategy for the future (Martin, 2019).
 Competitive Rivalry – The Solar Energy market is a very competitive market. There
are several competitors, both private and public, that compete with CSI. They can
help retain their top position in the market by creating strong market campaigns to
attract new customers and maintain their current customers. They should also review
their pricing often, as solar energy prices tend to change frequently and if they do not
review the pricing, they could start to lose customers to competitors.
 The bargaining power of suppliers – CSI purchases their component pieces from
several vendors in order to manufacture the solar panels. As the demand for these
component pieces change so will the cost of these materials. CSI may try to put in
place vendor contracts that help keep the materials at a steady cost based on a
purchase schedule. CSI could choose to voluntarily provide an upcharge to the
suppliers locked into pre-virus prices, which will help suppliers feel valued and not
like CSI is trying to take advantage of them.