MK 641 Strategic Marketing Plan Assignment: NCR Corporation Analysis

This report presents a strategic marketing plan for NCR Corporation, focusing on the launch of a new Datawarehouse solutions software. It begins by outlining NCR's goals and objectives, followed by an in-depth analysis of the marketing environment, including the internal environment, distribution channels, suppliers, and the macro/external environment. The external analysis utilizes Porter's Five Forces and PEST analysis to assess market dynamics. Furthermore, the report includes a SWOT analysis to evaluate NCR's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The third phase of the plan details the strategy formulation, covering segmentation, targeting, positioning, and the marketing mix. The assignment aims to demonstrate the integration of marketing concepts and analytical techniques into a coherent strategic marketing plan for NCR Corporation. The report concludes with an overview of the findings and recommendations for NCR's strategic marketing efforts.

MK 641 STRATEGIC MARKETING PLANNING
Assignment: STRATEGIC MARKETING PLANNING
LECTURER:
Grade Percentage: Deadline:
Dr.LycourgosHadjiphanis50% Assignment
06/05/2019 23:59 – (Assignment)
Learner’s Name: .............................................
Statement of authenticity:
I certify that the work submitted for this assignment is my own. Where the work of others has been
used to support my work then credit has been acknowledged.
Learner’s signature: ......................... ................. Date: ...............................
This assignment will provide you with an opportunity to present evidence of achievement towards the
following learning outcome(s) and criteria.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon successful completion of this assignment students should be able to:
1. demonstrate an ability to integrate marketing concepts and analytical techniques into
a logically coherent strategic marketing plan.
2. master a methodical decision-making process to solve strategic (critical) problems.
3. exhibit enhanced presentation skills by communicating clearly, concisely and
convincingly.
4. display your effectiveness in teamwork by achieving individual and group goals.
Assessment criteria
Each student needs to develop a strategic marketing plan for a new product of an existing
organization. In this assignment, students must analyse the phases of the strategic marketing planning.
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
First Phase: Goals and Objectives of the Organisation..............................................................4
Second Phase: Analysis of the marketing Environment............................................................5
Analysis of the organisation...................................................................................................5
Analysis of the distribution channels.....................................................................................5
Analysis of the suppliers........................................................................................................6
Analysis of the macro/external environment.........................................................................6
PORTER’S 5 Forces:.............................................................................................................6
PEST ANALYSIS:................................................................................................................9
NCR SWOT ANALYSIS:...................................................................................................11
Phase three: Strategy formulation............................................................................................15
Analysis of the segmentation strategy.................................................................................15
Analysis of the Targeting strategy.......................................................................................16
Analysis of the positioning strategy.....................................................................................18
Analysis of the Marketing mix strategy...............................................................................19
Conclusion...............................................................................................................................22
References................................................................................................................................23
Introduction
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NCR Corporation is a leading company in banking and commerce solutions based in Atlanta,
US. The company also has Cyprus as its headquarter for Asia, Middle East and Africa. With
its hardware, software and services portfolio enables transactions across financial, retail,
hospitality, travel telecom and technology industries (Ncr, 2019). This strategy marketing
plan will focus in new software that is related to Datawarehouse solutions software that will
enable clients to invest on data integrity and loading reliability and also enable them to have a
Unified ELT Environment (UEE).
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First Phase: Goals and Objectives of the Organisation
With the design and implementation of the new software the organisation objectives and
goals will be the following:
 Launch new product by the end of Q4 in 2019
 Expand into a new market in Cyprus
 Build brand awareness
 Acquire new Customers
 Increase sales/revenue
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Second Phase: Analysis of the Marketing Environment
Analysis of the micro/internal environment
Analysis of the organisation
NCR is an Omni-channel technology service provider that helps other business interacts with
its customers (Ncr, 2019). They provide their services in a different type of forms such as
software, hardware and services related to them. These software or Hardware systems helps
the client interacts, transact or connect with their customers. The company provides solutions
for their customers in a various number of diverse industries such as retail, hospitality, travel,
telecommunications and financial services. They provide both assisted and self-service
solution to their customers like ATMs, POS (Point of Sale) terminals, Kiosks and other
software or hardware services. The company was first incorporated in 1884 until it was
acquired by AT&T in 1991 and listed in NYSE (Ncr, 2019). They have been growing since
2007 since it made a huge turnaround in its Teradata warehousing business (Ncr, 2019). They
have had successful acquisitions and mergers and have reached a global list of clients that
they provide their services.
Analysis of the distribution channels
The company has a good relationship built with its distributors and placed an extensive
distribution channel on pitching its products. They have successful go to market strategy that
helps them supply their products or service according to the requirement of the customers.
They have various types of products which are managed by different distribution channels
like Kiosks, and POS terminals are sold directly by a sales force team and also based on the
relationship with their distributors, dealers, and re-sellers (Annualreports, 2019). They have
their inventories set up in more than 40 countries which help them produce the required
products and market them using the correct distribution channel. They have been expanding
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their distribution channels to accommodate their new range of products and services which
will help the distributors attend requests from new domains as well. These steps will help
NCR penetrate the market more with the better distribution network.
Analysis of the suppliers
NCR has an efficient and reliable group of suppliers that they source their raw materials
from. They have various materials for which they have multiple suppliers, but products like
processing chips are only sourced from Intel, transaction processing services from Accenture
and Operating Systems from Microsoft due to quality, cost and technological issues
(Businesswire, 2019). Though they have different suppliers for products but in case of delay
from the suppliers the product delivery from the company may be affected which may impact
the business adversely, as they will need to find a new supplier for the similar product and
then source it.
Analysis of the macro/external environment
PORTER’S 5 Forces:
Figure 1: Porter’s five forces
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Source: (Rothaermel, 2015)
Porter's Five Forces are an overview of the five forces that have a direct impact on NCR's
profitability and market share. The section will discuss the impacts of these five forces and
how NCR can handle these. The Porters Five Forces are discussed below:
1) The threat of New Entrants: The new entrants in this industry may bring in new
technologies which may result in lower costs of the products they offer and put pressure on
NCR as they may lure the customers of NCR (Ncr, 2019). The threat of New Entrants is high
as the industry is evolving and continuously upgrading. The steps that NCR needs to take to
overcome this force are:
 Continuous Improvement of current products through new innovations and research.
This brings in a new market for upgrading their own products in the market and
overtaking other competitors as well (Mathooko and Ogutu, 2015).
 Using the experience in the industry to build customer-oriented products and use the
data to improve on customer demands.
 Having a cost-efficient production line so as to provide low-cost products to the
customer with the same quality as the competition.
2) Power of Suppliers: NCR has a vast number of suppliers from whom they source their raw
materials and various other services (Annualreports, 2019). If the suppliers increase their
profit margins or if NCR becomes too dependent on the suppliers they can use their
superiority to demand more from NCR. In the current scenario, the power of suppliers is
high. To mitigate this issue, NCR needs to take the following steps:
 They need to build an efficient and trustworthy supply chain and have multiple
suppliers for similar sourcing materials.
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 They can use technological advancements and innovate new ways to manufacture the
same products with different sourced raw materials. Thus not being dependent on one
particular supplier for that product.
 Have a dedicated supplier that has all its dependency on NCR and thus having the
power of negotiation in NCR’s hand.
3) Power of Buyers: The customers are the base for any organisation and NCR is no different.
The customers have the ability to demand the best product in the minimum price range
according to their requirement. The customers can leverage their buying capabilities to put
pressure on NCR to improve on their products or reduce their price. This may risk the
profitability of the company. The bargaining power of buyers is medium as NCR has been
one of the best and trusted suppliers of these products (Annualreports, 2019). NCR needs to
take the following steps to mitigate this issue:
 Having a large customer pool will help to reduce the bargaining power of customers
and also help NCR to focus on its process towards customer satisfaction.
 Production of new innovative products will give the company edge and attract
customers as they won’t be able to get the same feature s in other products from the
rivals of NCR.
4) The threat of Substitute Products or Services: Having new products with better services or
a substitute for the current product can be a threat to any company (Takata, 2016). The new
technology to replace the current product may be harmful to the company as they may
replace the current system of application of the current products which may completely
remove NCR products from the market. The threat of substitute is high in this ever-changing
innovative world. The steps NCR needs to take to mitigate this force are:
 Targeting the services related to the product and not just on the product is essential to
make sure the company provides services even if the products become obsolete.
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 Changing and improving according to the changes in the customer requirements by
understanding their need and not just focusing on the sales figures.
 Having high switching costs so as the customers are locked in by NCR.
5) Rivalry with Existing Competitors: The industry needs to have medium to low rivalry in
order to sustain for longer periods of time. Higher rivalry leads to lower prices for the same
products and low profitability and thus may lead to the closing of the company (Asmussen,
2015). Rivalry with competitors is low. NCR needs to take the following steps in order to
maintain a better understanding with their competitors:
 Scaling its reach to bigger markets so that the market share increase amongst the
customers and all are satisfied with their market share.
 Providing a diverse range of products that can give better competition to its rivals,
which will help them grow in other domains as well.
 Have a sustainable differentiation market approach with their rivals.
PEST ANALYSIS:
Figure 2: PEST Analysis
Source: (Barbara et al. 2017)
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PEST Analysis will help NCR understand the market for their product launch better and take
decisions accordingly. NCR has a global presence and is now trying to launch a product in
the fourth quarter of 2019 and also explore new markets like Cyprus. In this section, we look
in the factors that have an effect on NCR.
1) Political Factors
 Policies and regulations: The regulations and policies by the government play an
important role in any organization trying to expand in new regions. The policies in
Cyprus are strict and regressive and need to follow adamantly (Asmussen, 2015).
 Internal or External War: There are no signs of any external or internal conflicts in the
region and it looks peaceful in upcoming years. Though the neighbouring countries
like Israel, Lebanon and Egypt, Syria having conflicts of their own can cause
problems in the region and hamper the business processes (Beuchmp, 2019).
 Political Stability: The stability of the current government is essential to the market
fluctuation and policies related to them. The current government looks to be stable in
Cyprus and will be confident to come in the next term as well (Bbc, 2019). NCR has
had good terms with the current government and is willing to expand in the region
soon.
 Taxation:The tax rates are moderate in Cyprus since it has been integrated into the
European Union in 2004 (Europa, 2019). They allow shipping companies flying under
the Cyprus flag to pay zero taxes on profits. Some of the tax benefits will be useful for
NCR as they are trying to expand in this region shortly.
2) Economic Factors:
 Foreign Exchange Rate: The currency of Cyprus is Euro since 2008 and will be
beneficial as it is the most widely used currency in most of Europe (Europa, 2019).
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 Investments from within the country: The domestic companies are generally privately
owned and are generally small market and will not be much of much importance for
NCR as it comes into the country. But as the GDP of the country grows more
investments from within the region is expected (Europa, 2019).
 Financial Market stability of the region: The economic impact of the economic crisis
is huge on the financial market. They have been in recession in recent years and
require investments from outside as to boost their trade. They mostly rely on tourism
and small exports to neighbouring countries.
 Open Trade policies: To enhance better investment from foreign investors in the
country and bolster their economy as they have labour and resources available.
3) Social Factors:
 Education Level: Education in Cyprus is mandatory for children up to the age of 15
(Studycountry, 2019). The literacy is high in the region, and NCR will be able to get
skilled labours at cheaper costs.
 Societal Power Structure: There is a strong sense of power culture, and the hierarchal
system is followed. The
 Need for growth: The economy has been showing signs of growth but need better
foreign trade policies in the country.
 Essential Service: Providing essential services like POS, banking systems, kiosks, and
other products that are offered by NCR will be a boost for the population of the region
and will be a necessity in upcoming years.
 Demographics: The young generation is living with the parents and has a vast
potential amongst them. The company will benefit investing in this young
demographic which is going to improve as the economy grows.
4) Technological Factors:
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 Low production Cost: Having an effective and innovative supply chain system helps
the company avail resources at a low cost thus providing the products at rates lower
than the market.
 Mobile Technology: As the customer’s expectations grow towards mobile technology,
NCR has been building on mobile technology to meet customer demands.
 Cloud and Security: Cloud deployments help the company have better mobility and
security (Paladi et al. 2018). This helps the company save on huge amounts of
resources.
 5G: The new upcoming technology holds the key to entering new heights in the
potential reach for NCR and its products. The new capabilities brought by 5G will
enhance the functionality of NCR products and services.
 Innovation and Research: The Company needs to invest in research and development
to cope with the new threats that may outdate them in this dynamic and fast market.
They need to be on top of their rivals, thus need to invest heavily on new innovative
ideas to gain them the edge.
NCR SWOT ANALYSIS:
Figure 3: SWOT Analysis
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