Monitor and Adjust the Marketing Mix: HSBC Oman Report

This report assesses the marketing mix of HSBC Oman, focusing on its pricing, place, promotion, and product strategies within the context of the Omani market. It examines the bank's current operations, including its pricing policies (market skimming, product line, and bundling), distribution channels, and promotional activities. The report highlights the significance of these strategies while also pointing out areas for improvement, such as the need for more effective customer service and culturally sensitive promotional tactics. It analyzes environmental factors, including political, economic, and legal considerations, and their impact on HSBC's marketing mix. The report suggests specific adjustments to the marketing mix, including recommendations for pricing, location, promotion (online and offline), and product offerings, to better align with customer preferences and the economic structure of Oman. It also provides a budget for advertising activities. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of adapting the marketing mix to the local context for improved business performance.

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Assessment task 02: Monitor and adjust
the marketing mix- HSBC Oman

Table of Contents
Report..............................................................................................................................................3
References........................................................................................................................................7
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Report
HSBC is an international bank as well as financial services company headquartered in Shanghai
and Hong Kong. The company markets its product and services through conservative tactics as
well as risk-averse techniques in order to stay ahead in the competition. The company offers
direct banking operations to customers via phone banking as well as net banking to assist them
financially and market their lives at ease. The key characteristics of their products and
services are based on banking operations extensively. The significance of their major banking
operations is relatively high such as its commercial banking, international and private banking,
international and investment funding as well as Treasury managing, (Anouze, 2010). These
major operations by HSBC have assisted to gain potential client all over the world. However, the
present scenario of HSBC bank in Oman depicts the lack of system performance as well as poor
marketing tactics to gain customer base as well as to offer effective customer services. The
pricing policy of the company includes market skimming, product line, and product bundling. In
addition, the company offers distinct payment plans based on the needs and demands of
customers. The company uses this pricing policy as it has attained reputation, brand image as
well as quality services.
The significance of such strategy based on promotional methods is significant and relatively
high. However, it is negligible based on the conservative tactics as the culture of Oman is distinct
and the promotional strategy must be based on them. Based on the customer base, the company
has attained huge client base but due to its poor services customers feels hesitated few times,
(Ariss et al. 2010). The channels of distribution are relatively high based on ads, online
promotion and at few extents offline promotions. The level of customer service provided is
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relatively poor in Oman that degrades the efficiency of the company and reputation extensively.
The marketing mix components used by the company and its relevancy towards customer base
are-
Price- The market of Oman is highly competitive due to which the pricing policy of the
company changes based on the market trends. The company adopted an aggressive pricing policy
that adds value to its policies through the acquisition of available funds and to maintain a
customer base.
Place- It has around 6000 financial institutions around the world as well as its effectiveness
while operating in Oman is significant to maintain its customer service, (De Bruin-Reynolds et
al. 2015). The bank expands its operations by offering banking and financial services to the
customers.
Promotion- The promotional activities incorporate advertising through business magazines,
billboards as well as newspapers.
Product or service- Their major banking operations are relatively high such as its commercial
banking, international and private banking, international and investment funding as well as
Treasury managing.
The environmental factors based on political analysis states the monarchy structure of the
government under which all the laws and regulations would be formed. The economic factor is
critical as the GDP per year is relatively low and the legal environment has significant risk,
(Bharathi, 2010). The tax law and labor law are critical that needs to be adopted for doing
business in Oman. Their impact is aggressive as the marketing mix the company has adopted can
result in lower business performance and loss of a potential client.
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The customers of Oman are religious and are highly culture-centric and their impact on the
marketing mix can lead to the lower growth of HSBC in the market of Oman. The customer
needs and preferences changes with trends and their tendency to formulate decisions based on
promotional activity is relatively high, (Kouser & Saba, 2012). Hence, this kind of changing
trend can be critical towards the marketing mix of the company extensively.
Positioning effectively in the market of Oman is significant and the introduction of new product
and service line can enhance the business performance of the company. Based on the poor
economic structure, the company needs to offer such products which would be highly acceptable
to the customers, (Hussein, 2010). This would change their marketing objectives based on the
characteristics of the target market.
Appropriate marketing mix for HSBC bank Oman
Price- The price of the product must meet the changing needs of customers and based on
economic structure.
Place- The Company needs to position itself in the market by opening more branches to serve its
customers effectively.
Promotion- Must be based on online (social media) and offline (magazines, newspapers,
billboards) both.
Product- Should be based on the preference and economic structure of the customers.
HSBC’s operational and strategic marketing objectives would be relatively high with the
marketing mix by following the rules and regulations of the country Oman extensively.
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However, altering the product line based on the legal and political environment would be also
advantageous for the company.
Budget requirements for advertising in Oman-
Activities Cost Resources
Marketing the product ﷼1000 R&D functional unit
Social media promotion ﷼1000 Development functional
unit
Offline promotion ﷼2000 Marketing functional unit
Other Promotional
activities
﷼500 Marketing functional unit
Development of the
marketing team
﷼100 Marketing functional unit
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References
Anouze, A. (2010). Evaluating productive efficiency: comparative study of commercial banks in
Gulf countries(Doctoral dissertation, Aston University).
Ariss, R. T., Rezvanian, R., & Mehdian, S. M. (2007). Cost efficiency, technological progress
and productivity growth of banks in GCC countries. International Journal of
Business, 12(4), 471.
Bharathi, K. G. (2010). The Intellectual Capital Performance of Banking Sector in
Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Commerce & Social Sciences, 4(1).
De Bruin-Reynolds, L., Roberts-Lombard, M., & de Meyer, C. (2015). The traditional internal
marketing mix and its perceived influence on graduate employee satisfaction in an
emerging economy. Journal of Global Business and Technology, 11(1), 24.
Hussein, K. (2010). Bank-level stability factors and consumer confidence–A comparative study
of Islamic and conventional banks’ product mix. Journal of Financial Services
Marketing, 15(3), 259-270.
Kouser, R., & Saba, I. (2012). Gauging the financial performance of banking sector using camel
model: Comparison of conventional, mixed and pure islamic banks in
Pakistan. International Research Journal of Finance and Economics, 82, 67-88.
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