International Marketing and Brand Management: Abbott Case Study.

This report provides an analysis of Abbott's international marketing and brand management strategies, focusing on the company's potential expansion into the Chinese market. It assesses Abbott's current business performance, core competencies, and brand popularity, and outlines the objectives for internationalization. The report explores market segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategies, recommending a market entry strategy and a marketing mix program to support internationalization, including product, people, place, promotion, process, price, and physical evidence considerations. A budget is proposed, along with monitoring and control mechanisms to ensure the successful implementation of the international marketing plan. The analysis also touches upon SWOT analysis for identifying potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the market.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL MARKETING AND BRAND MANAGEMENT
International Marketing and Brand Management
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Executive Summary
The paper aims at the business Of Abbott which is a pharmaceutical company and
the expansion of the business in China along with the potential marketing mix
adopted in the research theory has been conducted in a detailed manner. The
budget requires and the marketing mix strategy which must be undertaken by the
company have been depicted in detailed manner in the study and further implication
on the growth of the business in the future in the market have been discussed
accordingly.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction:...........................................................................................................4
1.1 Abbott (UK) Nature of Business.........................................................................4
1.2 Abbott (UK) Core Competencies.....................................................................4
1.3 Abbott (UK) current business performance.....................................................4
1.4 Abbott (UK) Brand Popularity..........................................................................5
2. Decision to Internationalize:...................................................................................6
2.1 Abbott (UK) Objectives....................................................................................6
2.2 The International Abbott Market Sector..........................................................7
2.3 Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning.......................................................7
3. Market to Enter.......................................................................................................9
3.2 Options and Considerations................................................................................9
3.3 Market Entry Strategy.........................................................................................9
3.4 Strategic Recommendation...............................................................................10
4. Marketing Mix Programme to Support Internationalization.................................10
4.1 Product..........................................................................................................11
4.2 People...........................................................................................................12
4.3 Place..............................................................................................................12
4.4 Promotion......................................................................................................12
4.5 Process..........................................................................................................13
4.6 Price..............................................................................................................14

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4.7 Physical Evidence.........................................................................................14
5. Budget...............................................................................................................15
6. Monitoring and control.........................................................................................16
7. Conclusion...........................................................................................................18

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1. Introduction:
1.1 Abbott (UK) Nature of Business
Abbott solutions develops the healthcare solutions specifically for the residents of
the UK and it produces the diagnostic tools that further helps the patients to get
getter health related solutions. This company further develops medicines which are
required to cure the diagnosis patients in order to ensure that the patients becomes
healthy and active after such cure. This company improvises tools and techniques
needed to cure patient through the help of the expertise regarding such cure.
1.2 Abbott (UK) Core Competencies
The core competencies of the companies is that the application or further the
improvisation of the new technologies in this field which would further help this
company to outperform the competitors of the companies in such a competitive
market. Pharmaceutical and the medical device manufacturers must try to develop or
rather improvise a companion product in the market. In order to enhance the current
strategies of the business this company needs to improve the companion diagnostic
products and further revise the current strategies developed in this market.
1.3 Abbott (UK) current business performance
The current business performance of the company is satisfactory as per the
income statement of the company (Ahmed and Rahman 2015). Hence the upper
level management of the company needs to further utilize the key strategies required
to further improve the current business performance of the company. In order to
enhance the flow of cash in the business the company must improve some new
diagnostic tool which is still not being introduce in the market. Accordingly the

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business of the company must take such sort of advantage in order to stay ahead
among the competitors of the company. The access to new tools in the experimental
labs will further provide the employees of the company new confidence to improve
the diagnostic process of the company.
1.4 Abbott (UK) Brand Popularity
Abbott is a popular brand name in the pharmaceutical industry all over the world
and thus considered as one of the renowned in this industry and when it comes to
diagnosis of any kind of diseases this company is expert in developing innovative
tools in the market (Akter et al. 2016). This company has expert physicians to
support any kind of disease to cure faster and smoother. The diagnostic tools
implemented by this company is faster, accurate and reliable which further helps to
improve the most critical operations of the patient information throughout the
hospitals.

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2. Decision to Internationalize:
Making marketing strategy plays crucial role in the development of the new
business of Abbott in China. China is a densely populated country which is further
enriched with the technological advancements. The marketing objectives which must
be undertaken or rather focused in the conducted study is the competitive pricing
strategy, improvisations of new tools and technology in the market, advertising
strategy must be website based or through the social media in order to reach the
customers in the internationally. Packaging of the final products in the market must
be strong and attractive and this would further help the potential customers in the
market.
2.1 Abbott (UK) Objectives
The core objective of the company is that this company helps the people to take
charge of the health related diseases. For this purpose the company takes certain
initiatives to innovate technologies to cure their diabetes and further helps them to
manage the conditions. This companies is trying to implement the next generation or
the modern tools and technologies, there is also further investment in the research
and development of the company for the purpose of improving the diagnostic
treatment. The employees working in this companies are far more experienced in
this industry and the lavatories are full of the web based tools.
In case of internationalize the brand it will be better for the company to further
expand their industry in the field of diagnosis tool in China. Capturing huge market in
China will be a brilliant decision. If the company wants to expand their business in
china then the company will be able to get access to the technological

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advancements of China. As in case of the new age technology, China is far
developed compared to the other countries. Hence in that case the company needs
to come up with great tools or perhaps intelligent idea for grabbing a large share in
China.
2.2 The International Abbott Market Sector
The strategy which must be adopted by the Abbott Market Sector is to capture
the niche market which further means that by improvising this diagnostic techniques,
it is significant for the company to grab the basic market needs at first place. In order
to increase the demand of the market it is significant for the company to innovate
new diagnostic tool which would provide better outcome (Wu and Li 2018).
Marketing position of the company is an important strategy which plays key role in
that case. As Abbott is a huge brand in the pharmaceutical sectors thus it would
basically provide reliability to the patients on the systems of the hospitality shared in
this company. In order to stay ahead among the competitors of the other company,
delivering the solutions to the customer through online websites would further help
the customers and adding a feedback system would further enhance the relationship
with the customers. Building strong network globally for such a pharmaceutical brand
is significant to connect to the customers internationally and getting feedback and
coming up with a new solution in the market is significant. This would further
enhance the reliability of the customers and in this way the company will be able to
grab large share in the market.
2.3 Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
Market segmentation and positioning plays significant role in the creating the
base of the expanded business of an organization. The strategy of this company is to
attract the potential customers in the market which further means that the target

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market. The segmentation profile which must be set by this company is the
demographic profile in this particular case. This is part of the strategy and the
developing plan of the company in order to make the business successful in the long
run. The company must position their brand in way that is unique or rather must
provide a unique feature in that case. The innovation of the new technology of the
company must be positioned in such a way that the company must be able to grab
large share of the market. Improvising it unique features and developing
technological tool which must be attractive to the customer’s so that customers must
be satisfies with the delivery of the accurate performance as per the needs of the
market.
In case of targeting Abbott is such huge brand which must always go the needy
customers or the niche customers in order to compete with the other pharmaceutical
companies in the same industries (Baker, Collier and Jayaraman 2017). Thus in

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order to target the potential customers, the company’s marketing strategy must be
effective in order to beat its competitors in the same line of business. It is also
significant for the company to upgrade their tools and diagnostic techniques in order
to stay ahead among the others.
3. Market to Enter
According to the business growth of this particular company, this company must
target the customers of the large income group sector as the brand name of the
company is huge. This would easily help the company to grab large shares bin the
market. Accuracy, customer satisfaction and reliability plays significant role in the
business growth of the company (Armstrong et al. 2015).
3.2 Options and Considerations
The consideration which must be made in this case is the effective survey
before expanding such business. Expanding business in China is effective and the
reason behind that is China is a densely populated country and the demand for this
kind of industry is huge. The profit making possibility in this kind of business is huge
if the company is abler to grab large share in the current market (Buckley, Burton
and Mirza 2016).
3.3 Market Entry Strategy
This strategy must be effective in this business line as customers satisfaction
is the key importance. Providing the customers the exact solution to their problem
and further performing the diagnosis of the patients at maximum level of accuracy

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and at the right time without any delay or rather delivering the product in the right
time plays a significant role in that case (De Mooij 2018). The investment in this case
must be effective of the marketing strategy of the company works according to the
decision and the plans executed by the top level management of the company.
In order to enhance the expansion of the business, the company needs to
work out on developing Asian partnership with the company which will further
enhance the brand name of the company. Creating partnerships with the top
pharmaceutical companies of China will help the brand the get more success at the
early stage. Hence in order to start the business it is significant for the business to
gather fund and estimate the budget needed to start new business in China. Hence,
estimating the total cost required to start new enterprise and the marketing cost
along with it.
3.4 Strategic Recommendation
The SWOT analysis of the company as well as the competitors company must
be performed in that case in order to in order to identify the potential strength,
weakness, opportunity and threat in the market. The company must definitely work
on their weakness and it must be improved accordingly in that case (Hartsfield,
Johansen and Knight 2017). The formula of a winning business strategy for this kind
of business is that strategic marketing plans and the financial position of the
company must be strong in case of demographic expansion of the business. The
pricing strategy and the operational strategy must also be effective in that case in
order to grab the potential market as per the need or the requirements of the market.
The company must further investigate on the surrounding opportunities in this line of
business and it becomes significant for the company to grab those opportunities in
order to become successful in the long run. In order to enter the niche market as per

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the demand of the product, Abbott need to make effective marketing strategy to
attract the potential customers (Baker and Saren 2016). Hence the planning of the
company must be properly executed in the marketing mix so that the company must
be able to reach the customers in the market by expanding the current business.
4. Marketing Mix Programme to Support Internationalization
The four P’s in the marketing mix is the product, price place and promotion of the
company (Patil and Bach 2017). This is a very significant strategy used by the
organizations. In order to start a new business in China stringent marketing strategy
is needed in order to stay ahead among the competitors of the company. Hence
effective planning in the marketing mix strategy for the Abbott plays a crucial role in
that case for developing their origin in or base in China. This strategy is related to the
enhancement of the business operations of the company if the four P’s in the
marketing mix are applied such a way that the company can execute according to
the decisions taken by the upper level management of the organization. The seven
P’s in the marketing mix is the product, people, place, promotion, process, price and
physical evidence. In order to ensure smooth run in the business the strategy related
to the seven P’s must be taken in that case to further enhance the expansion of
business.