UGB335 Strategic Marketing: Vestas Context and Strategies Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of Vestas' strategic marketing, examining the external and competitive contexts influencing the company. It begins with an introduction to Vestas, a global leader in wind turbine production, and the importance of effective marketing strategies. The report then delves into the analysis of the strategic marketing context, including primary contextual factors like the rising global concern about sustainability and the increasing adoption of wind energy, as well as factors specific to Vestas, such as regulatory approvals and the impact of solar energy. It evaluates the positive and negative impacts of these factors on Vestas. The main body also includes a competitive analysis of GE Renewable Energy, a major competitor, examining their company profile, competitive advantages, target market, market share, marketing strategy, and product details. Furthermore, the report critically analyzes and evaluates Vestas' marketing resources, assets, and capabilities, including financial and human resources. The report concludes by identifying and evaluating critical strategic marketing approaches for Vestas to meet future challenges and ensure its continued success in the sustainable energy market.

Strategic Marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of the strategic Marketing context...........................................................................3
The competitive context of Vestas.........................................................................................5
Critical analysis and evaluation of Vestas..............................................................................7
Identification and evaluation of critical strategic marketing approaches...............................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
APPENDICES...............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is one of the most important functions conducted by a business organisation. This
involves conducting various activities such as promotional campaign and market research. It is
important that business organisation create effective marketing strategy so that they gain desired
results from their marketing efforts. The present report is based on Vestas which is a Danish
organisations. Vestas produces, offers, provides installation and repair services for wind turbines
on a global scale. The company was founded in the year 1945 and is currently leading member of
the global wind turbine industry. The firm operates in various international markets including
UK, Spain, Norway and employees 25,000 workers on an international scale. This report
provides external contextual factor analysis factor impacting wind turbine industry and Vestas to
highlight two key points impacting the company. Critical marketing context analysis of the firm
includes information about competitive context of the company. Marketing resources and
capabilities of the company are analysed in this report along with non-marketing capabilities .
Competitive advantage and competitive positioning of vestas is given in this report. Suitable
critical strategic marketing approaches for Vestas are provided in this report.
MAIN BODY
Analysis of the strategic Marketing context
Primary Contextual factors analysis and evaluation
In order to formulate an effective marketing strategy it is essential for business firms to gain
information about main external factors impacting the firm.
The external factors which affect wind turbine industry are provided below:
One of the main external factor which effects the wind energy industry is the rising social
concern about global warming. Consumers are aiming to adopt new renewable energy sources to
meet their daily energy needs.

Promotion of wind energy by the UN and other internationally powerfully organisations has
impacted the wind energy industry. This has encouraged various non-renewable energy
producers to step into the wind energy market. Apart from this, business organisation operating
in the wind energy industry are able to easily promote their brand in previously unexplored
markets because of the promotion from reputed global institutions such as the UN.
The third external factor affecting the wind turbine industry is lowering cost required for
development of a wind turbine and increasing performance capabilities of wind turbine is the
main factor affecting this industry.
External factors affecting Vestas are provided below:
The primary factor which affects the company is that the respective firm has been successful in
gaining regulatory approval from government authorities in various nations. This has helped the
firm create strong presence in foreign market and take action to establish themselves as a
prominent member of this industry.
The global movement towards increasing sustainability has shifted the focus of environment
conscious consumer from using wind energy which harms life of flying creatures towards more
sustainable sources of energy such as solar energy. Solar energy is an alternative to the product
offered by Vestas and is highly popular. The rise in popularity and usage of solar energy is an
external factor affecting Danish turbine producer Vestas.
One of the main factors affecting the respective.
Vestas produces wind turbine which are dependent on weather conditions for generating energy
and are not suitable for harsh weather conditions. This characteristic of the wind turbine has not
been removed by any technological up gradations of the firm. This external factor affects Vestas
as it limits the consumer base of the company and expansion abilities.
Out of these external factors affecting the wind energy industry and specific external factor
affecting Vestas the main factor is rising global concern about sustainability and global increase
of consumers adopting wind energy.
The analysis of this external factor in context of Vistas is provided below:
Vistas is a global leader is wind turbine production. The rising global concern over global
warming has elevated global discourse surrounding sustainable energy. Consumer are focusing
on increasing sustainability in every aspect of their daily lives including energy consumption.
The respective firm can gain various benefits from this movements both in terms of increasing

global sustainability and profitability of the company. The firm can leverage the reach of the
climate change movement to promote their brand and encourage consumers from various
countries to switch their energy supply to the energy provided by wind turbines of Vestas. This
climate movement has been helpful in changing the global perspective wind energy produced
from wind turbines. This perspective shift has impacted government of different countries as
more and more governments are investing in increasing their wind energy supply through turbine
installation. This is highly profitable for the company.
The evaluation of this external factor is conducted below:
The promotion of sustainability throughout the globe and increased adoption of wind energy has
both negative and positive impact on the Danish wind turbine manufacturing company.
Positive impacts: The main positive impact caused by increasing global concern about climate
change is that people all over the globe are educated about renewable energy resources. The
average non-renewable energy consumer is familiar with and aims to attain energy from an
affordable renewable power source. This has opened opportunities for Vestas to increase their
power and become one of the main energy providers on the planet. The company needs to utilise
decreasing costs of wind turbine in order to position their products as a sustainable alternative
energy supply source.
Another advantage given to the respective company by increasing spread of the climate change
movement is that government organisations from all over the globe are making efforts to provide
sustainable energy sources available to the masses. This includes direct investment in purchasing
wind turbine or helping reduce the cost of wind turbine production through tax exemption.
Negative impact: Despite various opportunities provided by the climate change movement has
had various negative effects on Vistas. The primary negative effect is that people are more aware
about harmful effects of wind turbine on nature and climate. This reduces the capability of wind
turbine energy to be the most harmless and sustainable energy sources. This might drive
consumer away to more sustainable resource such as solar energy.
The competitive context of Vestas.
The industry climate in case of Vestas includes intense rivalry between large and small
manufacturing firms to gain market share of the industry.
The competitive profiling of GE renewable energy which is one of the largest wind turbine
manufacturers and main competitors of the company is completed below:

Overview of the company
Company profile: GE renewable energy is headquartered in Paris, France and provides
renewable energy solutions to their consumers. The company is a division of general electric and
is one of the main competitors of Vestas in attain global wind turbine production market. The
company was formed in the year 2015 and has since grown store be a leading wind turbine
producer.
Main competitive advantage: The reason which gives the company competitive advantage over
vistas is the parent company GE. General electric is a corporate giant which gives GE renewable
energy advantage of gaining access to best solution and global connections. In addition to this,
GE renewable energy produced wind turbine for offshore and onshore usage which enhances the
brand portfolio of the company in comparison to Vistas.
Market information
Target market: The target market of GE renewable energy is consumers which aim to produce
wind farms at a large scale. The firm aims to do business with organisations which operate and
maintain wind farms.
Market share: The market share of GE renewable energy in the global wind turbine production
market is 10%. This is much lower when compared to Vistas which has a market share of 20.3%
(Global wind and turbine market (2020 to 2025)- featuring Vestas and Senvion among others,
2020).
Marketing strategy: The marketing strategy of GE renewable energy is to offer various
alternative to non-renewable energy which includes wind energy, hydro energy and solar energy.
The company markets their products to large scale wind farm owners and institution which
manage wind farms. GE renewable energy aims to become the first choice of wind farms owners
about wind turbines.
Product details
Products and services: GE renewable energy not only offers wind turbines for onshore and
offshore usage but provides other sustainable energy products as well. This includes two
different types of solar energy solutions for photovoltaic and concentrated solar energy solutions.
In addition to this, the company offers hydroelectric energy solutions to their consumers.
Pricing: The price of the product offered by GE renewable energy is higher than Vestas. The
reason behind this is that the company provides both offshore and onshore wind energy solutions

while vestas primarily deals in the area of onshore wind turbine production. Onshore wind
turbine are cheaper to produce than onshore wind turbine, which affects the pricing strategy of
GE renewables. The firm uses dynamic pricing strategy for wider product portfolio when
compared to Vestas.
Distribution channels: The company utilises GE logistics execution centre for logistics and
freight management. This is a departure of GE renewable energy parent company GE
(Transportation management, 2021).
Critical analysis and evaluation of Vestas
Marketing resources of a company includes everything that is able to introduce the company to
new consumers and bring leads into the sales funnel. Marketing resources are used by business
firms to conduct promotional activities and increase the sales of their products or services. The
marketing resources utilised by the Danish wind turbine producer Vestas include digital as well
as traditional marketing resources. The company promotes their wind turbines through official
website and social media. In addition to this, the company is connected to national and regional
media to make important company announcement and press releases.
Marketing assets of a company is defined as anything utilised by a business firm to promote their
products, services or enhance the brand image of the company. This includes broachers, website
content, videos and blog articles. In case of Vestas the website content of the company is one of
the most valuable marketing asset of the firm. The main benefits gained by the respective
company with the help of their website content is that it promotes the products of Vestas to their
consumers in an effective manner. The firm is able to create a sustainable brand image with the
help of their website content. Drawbacks of website content as one of the main marketing asset is
that it does not have reach and is not viewed by large audience to have huge impact on sales.
Marketing capabilities of a company are defined as the marketing competencies of a business
firm which allow the company to provide consumer centric marketing in order to increase
consumer value with the aim of maintaining a profitable growth created by demand. In context of
Vestas the main marketing capabilities which creates demand led growth is the sustainability and
affordability of their products. The advantage of this factor is that Vestas is able to attract
consumers to an economical sustainable energy source. The main disadvantage is that this does
not enhance the brand image of the firm.
Non marketing capabilities and competitive positioning of Vestas

Financial resources
The annual revenue generated by the company for the year 2020 was 14.8 billion EUR. Despite
challenging year due to global spread of the pandemic the revenue of the respective firm
increased in 2020 in comparison to the previous year while the cash flow remained same as
2019. For the year 2021 the company expects to gain an increase in revenue by 15 percent
(Reporrts and presentation, 2021). This depicts that the company has strong financial resources
and capital to invest in various business activities. The impact of this resource on marketing
strategy is that it enables the respective company to increase funding on marketing activities in
order to gain desired results.
Human resources
As a prominent member of the global wind turbine market, Vestas is dependent on the skills of
their workers to produce high quality wind turbine. The company has employed 25,000 workers
on a global scale and provides effective training to each employee in order to create a highly
talented (Life at Vestas , 2021). This includes providing employees education about technical
elements associated with their jobs, providing them exposure to new technologies and helping
them learn from their co-workers and senior leaders. In addition to this, Vestas provides
employees various benefits in order to retain talented workers and develop the most skilled
workforce in the wind turbine industry. This affects the marketing activities of the company, as
the skilled workforce can be used to depict high quality of the products manufactured at Vestas
and helps the company develop an effective promotional strategy.
Physical resources
The company has numerous manufacturing plants located in various locations. This includes
countries like Denmark, USA, India, Taiwan, The Netherlands and Germany. The manufacturing
plants of the company are equipped with state of the art technology and effective training centre
to ensure that each factory worker produces high quality output and contributes to the success of
the firm. The affect of such abundant and superior physical resources of Vestas on the marketing
strategy is that these resources provide value to the consumer by ensuring that the product is
superior to consumers expectations and consumer demands are responded in a timely manner.
The main factors which provide the wind turbine producing company competitive advantage is
the affordability of their products. The economical nature of the products offered by Vestas act
as an affordable and environment friendly option to both non-renewable energy sources and

other sustainable energy solutions which are costly. Onshore wind turbine market is one of the
most affordable sustainable energy options in the present sustainable energy industry. The
respective company is the least costly member of the onshore wind turbine market which makes
the company first choice for sustainable energy solutions by many firms. This gives Vestas
competitive advantage in their field and has helped the company gain largest market share of he
wind turbine industry.
Vestas position itself as a high quality and technological ly advance wind turbine manufacturers
which is also economical. This competitive positioning of the firm has helped the firm gain
competitive advantage in their industry as it makes the company a suitable options for many
consumers from middle income backgrounds. In addition to this the international presence of the
firm has increased the global image of the company. This has contributed to the firm gaining
competitive positioning in the wind turbine market.
Identification and evaluation of critical strategic marketing approaches.
Value driven marketing strategy
This marketing strategy focuses on the increasing additional value given to the consumer in order
to drive sales. In order to adopt this strategic marketing approach, it is important for business
firms to identify ways of increasing consumer value. The adoption of this strategy can help the
company deal with the key external factor affecting the company (Foltean, 2019). This external
factor includes rise in sustainability awareness and increasing consumer preferences to adopt the
most sustainable energy systems. The company need to increase consumer value for those
consumers who are driven to adopt wind turbine due to the rise in climate movement by
increasing sustainability of the wind turbine. The firm needs to ensure that the wind turbine of
the firm cause minimum harm to nature or the environment in comparison to other wind turbine
producing brands. This will help the company increase consumer value of the environment
conscious consumers and increase their sales. In addition to this the company needs to seek ways
to promote their sustainability in every marketing campaigns so that a brand image is created
which links the company to sustainability. The firm will be able to utilise the rise in
environmental concern due to climate change to initiate business growth. In addition to this the
firm will be able to tackle the threat of shift of consumers from wind energy to solar energy due
to it's more sustainable nature. The usage of this marketing strategy is important for the company

as Vestas needs to ensure that the company does not lose maker due from industry rivals,
substitute sustainable energy solutions or new energy sources.
International marketing strategy
This approach to marketing involves application of marketing strategies on a global scale for
various countries. Adoption of this marketing approach helps a company build a global brand
and sustainability market leadership for a long time period. (Hawlk, 2018). Vestas need to
adopt this strategy in order to gain the vast growth potential in various nations and help the
company become a global brand name in the field of wind turbine production. The respective
company needs to create a global brand image which is recognised in every country while
ensuring that the local elements of specific countries are present in the marketing material for
that region.
The challenge from business firms which have more capital investment and brand power such as
GE renewable energy could be tackled by adopting international marketing approaches. The firm
needs to incorporate various elements which define the feature of the brand and the product in
their marketing strategy while still localising Thier promotion materials on the basis of different
countries. The adoption of this marketing strategy is significant for Vestas as it will help the
company tackle with increasing competition while setting the foundation for a string global
presence of the company.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that it is essential for business organisations to develop an
effective marketing strategy which increases the sales of the firm. Identification of external
factors affecting the company along with marketing capabilities of business rivals is an essential
part of creating an effective marketing strategy. It is important to determine marketing
capabilities, resources and assets of the firm along with competitive positioning of the
organisation in order to understand ways to build an effective marketing strategy. In addition to
this, understanding non-marketing capabilities of the company helps create a marketing strategy
which highlights uniqueness and qualities of the firm. In addition to this it is important to select a
suit marketing strategy such as innovative strategy or international marketing strategy.

APPENDICES
Table 1
External factors Significance
Rise in social concern
towards climate change.
This factor helps Vestas
attract consumers to adopt
wind energy solutions
Promotion of wind energy by
reputed institution.
This factor helps Vestas gain
recognition on a global level.
Increased efficiency and
lower costs of wind turbine
Vestas is able to attain high
profits.
Regulation approval Vestas is a le to deliver
services more efficiently
Shift of consumers from wind
to other sustainable energy
forms
Loss of consumer base.
Table 2