Marketing Assignment: Business Expansion of GreenShareCar

Question

Task: Marketing AssignmentTasks:
Discuss the value propositions, core brand values and buyer behaviour of your chosen organisation; analyse the micro-environment (the company, suppliers, intermediaries, relevant publics, customers and competitors)

Analyse the macro environment, that is, demographic, economic, natural, political, technological and cultural (DENPTC) forces to demonstrate their impacts on your chosen organisation's strategies/capabilities to serve the target market (s);

List the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) as well as suggest appropriate strategies by incorporating the TOWS matrix to draw from strengths to capture opportunities, to overcome weaknesses and to defend from threats

Note: Take time to gather relevant data about your chosen organisation as well as the broader external environment in which the organisation operates. Find good quality academic references from high quality marketing journals and text books to substantiate your arguments, suggestions and explanations.

This assessment task requires you to develop a Marketing Environmental Analysis that comprises both the micro-environment and macro-environment. The micro-environment analysis involves a scrutiny of internal environment that facilitates specifying the strengths and weaknesses, while, the macro-environment analysis requires the scrutiny of demographic, economic, natural, political, technological and cultural (DENPTC) dimensions which will assist in specifying the opportunities and threats. Changes within the macro environmental forces are outside of an organisation's direct control requiring an organisation's marketing strategies to be adjusted to capture emerging opportunities and minimise any potential threats. Therefore, in this assessment task you will need to: Articulate your learning about marketing concepts and principles covered from Module 1 to 3.1 to demonstrate your level of understanding to evaluate the organisation's overall situation;

Critically analyse the link between marketing theory and practice; Demonstrate research skills to reveal the insights; Apply appropriate business report writing skills;

Discuss appropriate strategies with regards to your SWOT analysis.
Use the appropriate APA style both in text citation and the reference list at the end. You should use at least 10 relevant academic references from leading marketing journals and text books to showcase quality of your research.

Scenario: Choose an organisation from the list provided below that intends to expand its business either through a new product development or a new business/market development.

GreenShareCar - https://www.greensharecar.com.au/ The World - https://aboardtheworld.com/ Progressive Office Furniture - https://www.progressiveoffice.com.au/ Bounty Bags - https://www.bountyrewards.com.au/bounty-bags/

Answer

Introduction
Companies in the current century can devise marketing plans in a better manner due to their understanding of macro-environmental and micro-environmental factors (McDaniel, & Gates, 2013). Marketing elements and its understanding has emerged as one of the key elements that drive success for businesses. Companies globally are applying such knowledge to analyze the overall situation the business is facing before developing a marketing plan for their businesses. Marketing environmental analysis is a strategic analysis tool that enables identification of internal as well as external factors from the organization’s environment which impacts its ability to operate in a better manner.

GreenShareCar is a car rental company in Australia that offers affordable car rentals (Greensharecar, 2020). The current scope of analysis undertakes a thorough macro-environmental and micro-environmental analysis of factors along with SWOT analysis such that the company can devise an appropriate marketing plan. In the environmental analysis, the business's external environment is analyzed to arrive at the threats the business is facing and the several opportunities that it may get (Gbadamosi, 2013). Post such evaluation decision-makers within the company develop strategies in response to the environment. With the business market being dynamic, every business tries and develops ideas to compete in the market. While controlling factors present in the market is not possible but developing strategies that minimize risks associated with it can be adopted.

Business Value Proposition
Before analyzing the marketing environmental factors, it is pertinent to determine the business value proposition in which the business functions. GreenShareCar is one of the leading car renting companies in Melbourne. As owing a car in Melbourne can be a great challenge, people often prefer taking car rentals for easily accessing vehicles. The company delivers car booked online at a designated location with insurance and petrol along with parking amount. The value proposition that the company offers is the ease with which cars are rented to its customers. Another unique value proposition offered by the company is the SmartCard that allows ease of access to all the vehicles available to its customers and at the point that they demand(Greensharecar, 2020).

The core brand values offered to its customers has fuelled vehicle with insurance provided to customers at the point of their requirement.Customer needs to wait at their designated location to avail the car. The agreement and guide to using the car rentals from the company are extremely user-friendly and do not include any type of complications. Its core brand value is also defined by the company’s policy in accessing the vehicle of good quality and at cost-efficient prices. The company offers ease of booking, by just logging in, selecting the preferred vehicle and then choosing the time needed for the selected vehicle. The company provides a GPS tracker system to find vehicles near consumers' homes or near workplaces. Customers also have the opportunity to pick from a custom location. It can deliver vehicles as fast as one hour or consumers can make bookings within five days. The company offers various types of membership for its customers of varied types such as for occasional use, economical use, everyday use and so on.

Evaluating buyer behavior for the chosen organization, it can be understood that the buyers consist of young users. Mostly the users are aged between 21 years to 45 years of age, either students or office goers. These consumers prefer using car rentals over owning vehicles, as they prefer tension-free vehicle usage with insurance and fuel (Proctor, 2014). These buyers prefer the ease of accessing the vehicle without facing the troubles of owning the vehicle.

Micro-Environment Analysis
Analyzing the micro-environment of the company is integral to develop a marketing plan. The industry environment plays a crucial factor in determining the success or failure of the company. The company faces significantly high threats from industry competitors. There is a large number of companies present in Melbourne as well as in Australia, such as Budget Car & Truck Rental Melbourne City, Redspot Car Rentals, Hertz Car Rental Melbourne Flinders Street, Thrifty Car and Truck Rental Melbourne Airport and so on. These car rental companies offer services competing with Greensharecar. These companies are offering their services at competing rates to provide by the company (Latif et al, 2014). There is intense competition in this industry due to the presence of several competing companies offering products of similar nature.

A pertinent threat experienced by the organization is new businesses that are entering the industry in car rentals. These companies are emerging all over Australia and especially in Melbourne, owing to the large demand for car renting. These small companies are offering quicker services at low costs, though there might be some variation in quality offered by the company over these. These companies are threatening the existence of the company by cutting down on revenues and profitability.

Another major threat that the company faces is from substitutes. Due to the advent of the social network, several consumers are offering carpooling offers over social media. This is directly hampering the opportunity present with the business by cutting down on the total number of customers.

Suppliers, intermediaries and relevant publics of the company consists of car companies, other personal operators who provide their car for hire, brokers such as travel companies, insurance providers and so on. Due to the vast amount of bookings provided by the company and good revenue percentage along with long term supplier tie-up, it provides an advantage for the company. Supplier exerts limited power over the company however, they form the basis of operating a successful business for the organization.

The customers of the company have varied avenues to select their services. With the presence of a large number of companies in Melbourne and also in rest parts of Australia, consumers prefer selecting the best alternative that can match their choices. Customer exerts significant power over the functionalities such as services and prices offered by the company (Sakkthivel, 2012). The customers consist of one of the major stakeholders of the company determining decisions for various services. Thus, the company needs to analyze customer demand before ascertaining any services or prices related to its services.

Macro-Environment Analysis
It is crucial to understand the external macro-environment in which the company is operating such that the impacts from them can be understood in a better manner. A DENPTC analysis reveals detailed information regarding the macro-environmental forces in operation in Melbourne and Australia (Leonidou, &Leonidou, 2011). Analyzing the demographic environment in Melbourne, the city has over 4.936 million population with over 60% being below 50 years of age. The city's median age is 36 years and 37% of its population is aged between 25 to 49 years of age. This indicates a relatively young population, who can be target market populace for the company. Moreover, the consumer price index in Australia is at 1.8% for its December 2019 quarter indicating good demand for various products and services. With the unemployment rate in the country being at 5.2% as of January 2020 and average weekly earnings at $1,658.70, the company has a broad market of available consumers (ABS, 2020). As consumers in Australia, especially in Melbourne has an increased propensity to spend from the high incomes earned. This impacts the company by creating an enormous target market for it.

Economically Melbourne offers ample opportunities. Some of the major Australian companies are located in Melbourne. With several head offices located in the city, it offers an economically stable place to operate a business from. Economically Melbourne offers a suitable position with ample opportunities with the presence of multiple offices in the city and residential areas nearby. It has a low rate of inflation and medium tax liability offering impetus to businesses (Lee, & Carter, 2011).This acts as an impetus offering boost to conduct business in the area.

Evaluating the natural environment in Melbourne, it can be said that the city is the coastal capital of the south-eastern Australian state of Victoria. The place offers the locational advantage of having a port nearby, which further boosts its business. Naturally, the location does not experience harsh climatic conditions and is suitable for doing business.

The political environment in Australia, especially in Melbourne, is extremely suited for conducting business. The process of enrolling business is easy and convenient that can easily be done at the Chambers of Commerce. Moreover, political or bureaucratic interventions are not present that allow ease of doing business all the more.

Technologically Australia is a developed country. The country is already adopted by 5G technology. Most of the businesses in Australia operate online and most businesses have e-commerce portals for the ease of doing business (Chong et al, 2010). IT and other technological laws are well laid down in Australia and companies need to abide by them. The company's online booking and inquiry system need to abide by the IT laws and regulations as laid down and stated by the country's legislation.

Culturally Melbourne and entire Australia are highly diversified in nature. The presence of a large number of immigrants from different countries has made the country culturally divergent. Owing to this customers from different cultures have different tastes and suitability to their demands hence offers a large and diversified target consumer group for the company.

SWOT Analysis And Tows Analysis
After evaluating the macro-environmental factors present in the external environment, it is crucial to understand the strengths and weaknesses the company has such that its plausible threats and opportunities can be identified. A comprehensive SWOT analysis can reveal such details and assists in forming strategies with the TOWS matrix such that the opportunities can be captured and threats can be combat.

Strength
• Products and services designed as per consumer choices: The company offers car rentals at selected locations of customers, with various rental plans and membership in place.
• Additional offering with product and service: Not only the customer can choose a selected location and select between prices but also gets insurance and petrol along with the product offering.
• Location convenient and easily accessible offering a good business network
• Has different types and choice of vehicles

Weaknesses
• Not many customer service executives to handle customer queries
• Limited business catering to only Australian consumers

Opportunities
• Expand to New Zealand and other countries internationally
• Enter into a tie-up with hotels, corporate offices, and travel agents

Threats
• Presence of global competition (companies such as Hertz)
• The increasing cost of petrol can diminish the returns of the business Considering the above SWOT analysis, appropriate strategies as per TOWS matrix that the company can adopt to overcome its weakness and capture its opportunities are as below;

Strength into opportunity: The company can spread its existing business network to its neighboring country New Zealand. This will enable the business to expand its existing market and get more customers.
Strength to combat threat: Increasing its network and branding the company with its current offering can enable it to compete against international competitors. The company can make use of its knowledge regarding Australian customers to compete against global companies and get a leading position in the market.
Weakness converted into opportunity: Entering into a tie-up with various participants in the tourism industry can enable the company to provide better customer service. It will assist in business expansion and then the company can hire more customer care executives on its roll.
Weaknesses to defend its threat: In case it limits its business in Australia alone then it can conduct business at the current petrol prices. Further, it needs to revise its prices from time to time to serve customers in a better manner.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the company offers varied services to its customers at varying rates. It has significant acceptance across the Australian market and can succeed further if it expands its business. The analysis of the macro-environment as well as the microenvironment of the business along with its SWOT has enabled developing some strategies that the company can adopt. These strategies will enable the company to deal with the weaknesses and threats that it faces.

REFERENCES
ABS, 2020.Australian Bureau of Statistics. Accessed from

Chong, W. K., Shafaghi, M., Woollaston, C., &Lui, V. (2010). B2B e?marketplace: an e?marketing framework for B2B commerce. Marketing Intelligence & Planning.

Gbadamosi, A. (2013). Principles of marketing: A value-based approach. Macmillan International Higher Education. Greensharecar, 2020.Company Details. Accessed from

Latif, W. B., Islam, M. A., & Noor, I. B. M. (2014).A conceptual framework to build brand loyalty in the modern marketing environment.Marketing assignment Journal of asian scientific research, 4(10), 547.

Lee, K., & Carter, S. (2011). Global marketing management. Strategic Direction.

Leonidou, C. N., &Leonidou, L. C. (2011). Research into environmental marketing/management: a bibliographic analysis. European Journal of Marketing.

McDaniel, C.,& Gates, R. (2013). Marketing research. Singapore.

Proctor, T. (2014). Strategic marketing: an introduction. Routledge.

Sakkthivel, A. M. (2012). Modelling consumer choice (buying) and switching behaviour in a restricted marketing environment. International Journal of Electronic Finance, 6(1), 35-48. DOI: 10.1504/IJEF.2012.046592