University of Essex: WPP's Internationalization Strategy (1990-2012)

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of WPP's internationalization strategy between 1990 and 2012, utilizing the case study 'WPP and the Globalization of Marketing Services' and relevant strategic management concepts and theories. The essay examines WPP's approach to globalization, including its marketing strategies and the application of Porter's five forces to assess the competitive landscape. It delves into WPP's market positioning, its response to challenges such as fraud, and its adaptation to technological and economic changes. The analysis covers WPP's business model, including its focus on differentiation, new markets, new technologies, and digital marketing strategies. The essay also explores the company's financial performance, brand value, and the impact of leadership changes. It concludes with an assessment of WPP's ability to maintain its position in the media and entertainment industry, addressing both its strengths and weaknesses and its ability to adapt to an ever-changing global market.

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
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Executive Summary
Globalization have been the most attractive concept for every company as it allows them to
connect with customers globally and to earn a lot of profit. The discussion on the case study
of WPP have a detailed analysis of their marketing strategies which helped them to sustain
their market position and to cope with the fraud during 2017 and 2018.

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Table of Contents
1.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
1.2 Discussion............................................................................................................................3
1.2.1 Porter’s five forces........................................................................................................4
1.3 Conclusion............................................................................................................................8

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1.1 Introduction
Globalization has become of the man motive of very country as well as for every
company. WPP is one of such company which works as a creative transformation and helps
their customers to create a better and innovative future to develop the community. This case
study helps to examine the relation between WPP and globalization market. It was found that
WPP is one of the most contributing company towards globalization and they are always in
high demand. They somehow managed to stay in their position among the top six global
agencies. This report will focus and analyze in details regarding the policies and the strategies
that are owned by WPP in the globalization market. This report will also compare the
accuracy of the various outlook in the globalization market of marketing and consumers. The
main focus given to the digital marketing strategies and to the dynamic and uncertainty of the
market. A final conclusion is made depending upon the technological and economic changes
that are made by this company into the globalization market for holding their position in the
market.
1.2 Discussion
WPP is well-known for their various marketing services like the media and
advertising buying, direct communication with their clients and the market service firms and
etc. They do a lot market research so that they can plan the perfect advertising policy to
attract customers. WPP has managed to be the ideal company as they focus more to
differentiate their product and service for their competitors and combining their dispersed
operation globally (Adbrands.net 2020). Mainly this business focuses into the company level
research and strategizes four main priorities like the coordination across business or
horizontality, new markets, new technology and new media. WPP connects with their

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customers through online shopping websites like Alibaba and Amazon along with offline
commerce solutions (Wpp.com 2020).
1.2.1 Porter’s five forces
To analyze the relation between WPP and the globalization market, Porter’s 5 forces
model is used in the following manner:
I. Intensity of the rivalry: due to globalization this company have to face a lot of rivalry
into the global market. WPP have almost served ninety nations with their products
and services of media and advertising. This foundation has many market players
along with many market share and increased revenues. The median and entertainment
industry consists of many competitors and hence this company have to think about
maintain a good relation with their clients every time and try to offer them a cost
effective service (Schauster, Walker and Duffy 2018). It is very important to
continuously diversify the services offered to the clients because customers tend to
shift their preference and to maintain the position into the market it is important to
prioritize the needs of the customers and innovate themselves accordingly. Clients are
very modern and technologically advance now-a-days and it is important to cope up
with their needs and preference to retain their trust over the business.
II. Threat from new entries: threat from new entries is quite low for WPP because in the
media and entertainment industry lot of initial cost and start-up investment is involved
into this business which does not attract a lot of companies. Legal cost, distribution
cost, licensing cost and marketing cost is involved at the first stage only and it is
important to continuously stay active which make it easier for WPP to stay hazard-
free from brand new entries. There is a constant need of innovative and trend follow-
ups which also restricts new entries into this industry because risk is also a big part of

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this industry apart from the range of benefits it offers. The new entries would have to
make connections and networking with many suppliers & contractors and do a lot of
capital investment which generally restricts the new entries because they does not
want to take those kind of risks into their business.
III. Threat from being substituted: the biggest risk associated with any business is to get
substituted by any rival company. However, in the media and entertainment industry
the risk is comparatively moderate because there are few competitors in the market. It
becomes quit easy for WPP to analyze the competitive strategies of the opponent
companies because with few competitors in the market, the strategic can be easily
forecasted. This allows the company to focus more into diversifying their services and
products rather than just worrying about the competitors. It is quite easier to attract
the customers with some extra efforts into advertising for their own.
IV. Negotiation power of buyers: even being so less competitors in the media and home
entertainment industry, the diversification and dynamics of the industry allows the
customers to become choosy and bargain because they have many innovative options
in-front of them. Switching form one company to another is quite affordable for the
customers which again is a plus point for them to bargain a lot until they are satisfied
with the price offered by the suppliers. This is one a big hazard for WPP in this media
and entertainment industry to get substituted due to their pricing policy which may
force the customers to shift to another company under same industry.

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V. Negotiation power of the suppliers: there is high versatility in the media and home
entertainment industry which makes every company under this industry to be
dependent over continuous innovation and follow up the trend in the market
(Elistratov and Vinogradova 2017). Customer satisfaction is their main motive and
hence very company is mostly engaged over the fact to attract more and more targeted
consumers form the market. WPP has been the most popular company among their
industry because they have the potential strategies which attracts the customers more
and offers with the service and products which are customized according to the
preference of the customers (Stead and Stead 2013). The continuous dependency over
the innovation process allows the companies to come up with new technologies every
time which will entertain the customers more because there is a possibility that the
customers might shift their preference form their company to any other company at a
very less shifting cost.
The main objective of WPP is to stay as the greatest manufacturer in the media and
entertainment industry globally. WPP is already involved into producing successful network

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better than the competitors in the market and manufacturing variety of items and advancing
those activities (Lasserre 2017). The goal of WPP has always been to be the producer of high
quality service under media and entertainment industry and to be the highly tailored
organization surrounded with most premium market globally. Being one of the biggest media
and entertainment service provider, WPP manages to sustain into their position for providing
the best service to their customers (Casemba.com 2020).
The globalization market for WPP helps the organization to provide the each unit of
their items and the services to the customers at an affordable rate. This organization also
adopts the potential management skills which provides the customers with both short term
and long term indicates (Rothaermel 2016). This organization possess a great strength over
the five pillars of the business activities like the effectiveness in operational management,
their ability of customization & technological innovations, taking care of the client needs and
acknowledging the brand value in the market. Taking care of customer needs helps the
organization to sustain in the market (David and David 2016).
WPP gets the first mover advantage because they have a great brand value in the
market. They have utilized the cross-functional supervisors which allowed them to
understand the globalization competitiveness of the industry and to responsibly change the
company’s optimum technologies according to the need of the customer and industry (Hill,
Jones and Schilling 2014). However, the company have few weak points too like they are not
so much attentive of which product and service to retain and which one to remove according
to the financial elements form their organizations offering. WPP’s management is still
struggling to manage their operations and finances (Brown 2018).
There is a big reason why WPP is called as the most preferred company among their
industry for the 8th consecutive years (Adage.com 2020). They were awarded with the 2019

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Effie Index. Being the 8th time winner for maintain the industry’s benchmark helps them to
effectively demonstrate the results for the clients. The CEO of WPP have stated in one of his
interview that their main aim is to produce some transformative ideas and also some
transformative results for their clients. The award Effies states that this organization have a
great potential of being an outstanding agent and serving their customer with high quality
service every time. The CEO of that company have fully credited this achievement to their
employees and the managers because they have worked really hard to maintain the position
into that prestigious award with dedication and made it possible for eight consecutive years
(Ieseinsight.com 2020). The tangible success of the business is also measured with the
reputation of their brand globally. The great collaboration and the team work initiative of the
employees has helped the organization to maintain their brand value for the eight consecutive
years and still figuring out ways to sustain their initial position in this competitive market (the
Guardian 2020).
During 2017 and 2018, the profitability of the company shown a decreasing trend in
because WPP’s creator along with CEO Sir Martin Sorrell have done fraud with the
company’s capital assets (BBC News 2020). The share price of the company fell down after
that incident to a lot extent and the CEO have managed to assemble a new venture into the
business. Mark Read struggled after this incident to again get the initial position in the market
and manage the operational and financial weakness of the organization’s performance. WPP
have also controlled a substantial portfolio regarding the market research section, direct
marketing, PR, consultancy subsidiaries and designing. This have helped the company to
again get the customers trust over their brand value and sustain the position (Casemba.com
2020).

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1.3 Conclusion
From the above case study of the WPP and the globalization of the marketing services
has helped to conclude that this company have always tried to maintain their position in the
top of the media and home entertainment industry. They have somehow managed to maintain
the trust of the targeted customers so that their position in the market does not fall. Their high
quality service offered to every customers globally have helped the company to retain their
goodwill and get the prestigious award for the eight consecutive years. WPP’s fraud during
the 2017 and 2018 with their capital assets have not affected their market position so much.
They sustained the damage and again served the best quality service to their customers with
the same enthusiasm but with better and more innovative technology which currently
trending in the media market. The share price which went down is again increasing their
value in the market. The reflective attitude of this organization is attracting more customers
to buy their shares and to pay for their products and services globally.

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