GAINING MARKET SHARE IN WESTERN MARKETS: THE COMPETITIVE MARKETING TECHNIQUES OF CHINESE AND INDIAN CORPORATIONS
Abstract
Marketing has been considered one of the top company activities in ensuring survival and competitiveness in the market. The study will cover competitive international marketing strategies of Chinese and Indian companies that operate in western markets. The following discussions are basically a proposal to test the research questions regarding international marketing of non-western countries. The method and procedures will be based on a descriptive form using both qualitative and quantitative data to analyze the situation surrounding the said environment.
Introduction
The demands of today’s commercial environment have forced companies to come up with versatile solutions to acquire a competitive advantage. (, 1996, ) These solutions tend not only to allow companies to survive but also to permit individual growth. Marketing techniques were the prevailing solutions that companies employ in order to adapt to the changing demands of the external environment. ( and , 2000, ) Recent trends manifest a surge of companies starting to operate in the international setting. Multinational firms and corporations now flock industries and compete with locally based firms as well as other foreign companies. (, , , 2006, ) To a certain extent, the plane on which competition takes place among industries has expanded. With globalization and internationalization in industries, this phenomenon is vaguely anticipated.
Competitive Marketing Techniques
As mentioned above, companies tend to encounter fierce competition with other players in their industry. It is this fierce competition that improves the market for consumers and traders alike. (, 2000, ) The oldest way of gaining market share is by advertisement. ( and , 2004, ) Reaching out to the end users was traditionally the panacea for every organisation attempting to do well in the market. Nowadays, acquisition of a larger market share is as important as acquiring a competitive advantage with the competing companies. One tried and tested way of acquiring competitive advantage is through implementing marketing methods. ( and , 1994, ) Along with competitive advantage, the companies are also required to consider environmental concerns, product development, communication strategies, and market segmentation to improve their chances in working the market to their favour. ( and , 1994, ) To some level, the intensity of competition increased in its complexity as the range of the market went across borders.
International Marketing
In the context of international marketing, the company has to realise that they have all the ammunitions they have before they enter. ( and , 2004, ) The modes of entry have to be strong enough to take on the existing players in the said market. Companies must learn to take care of elements like brand management. They have to take into consideration marketing activities like segmentation, targeting, and positioning. (, 2004, )
Statement of the Problem
With the developments in the operations of the multinational organizations, firms based on countries from the Asian region have the doors opened for them in international trade. Specifically, the western market has become one of their major battle grounds of trade. ( and , 2002, ) Countries like China and India are among the leading countries that have been performing well in the international scene. Based on the website of Forbes, there are sixteen corporations from both China (11) and India (5) that are included in the top 500 global firms. (See Appendix) For the purposes of this study, the discussions will be focusing its attention to the Oil & Gas Operations industry. Thus, the dissertation will be centring on the companies PetroChina and Indian Oil.
Seen in the discussion above, companies from China and India are slowly becoming major contenders in the international market. It is for this reason that this study intends to analyze the marketing strategies of Chinese and Indian companies. Specifically, the study intends to answer the following questions:
1. How do Chinese and Indian firms address the demands of international marketing?
2. What are the factors that influence the performance of the Chinese and Indian companies in international marketing?
3. What are the major marketing strategies that Chinese and Indian firms use to gain entry on Western markets?
4. How do Chinese and Indian firms maintain their presence in their respective industries in Western markets?
Proposed methods
The study intends to use a descriptive form of research. This type of research allows the findings and conclusions of the study to be based on observed data. (, 1994) This type of research is also chosen to provide the researcher a much cheaper and prompt means of processing data. In the same manner, the dissertation will be based on both qualitative and quantitative data. This means that the researcher will be gathering data from previous studies and theories on international marketing and at the same time conduct a survey using a researcher-made questionnaire from the two companies, PetroChina and Indian Oil. To some degree, this provides validation on the conclusions and possible recommendations that the study may offer to the respondent companies and society in general.
The respondents of the study will be the primary sources of the data in this dissertation. The secondary data will come from studies and annual reports of companies indicated. The primary sources will amount to a hundred respondents composed of randomly chosen oil and gas consumers. The research tool will constitute a Likert-scale with five levels on which the respondents could mark depending on their individual evaluations on the questions. This will establish the individual views of the respondents on the marketing techniques held by the company. In the same regard, the secondary sources which include the annual reports of the said companies will establish their development within the past five years.
The tools to be used in this dissertation will be consulted to the adviser and will only be given to the respondents when it is given approval. Upon approval, five sets of questionnaires will be forwarded to five of the respondents. It is at this point that the researcher intends to improve the research tool. The researcher will seek to improve the questionnaire by asking the test respondents on the flaws of the questionnaire. This means that the researcher will ask whether the terms used were easily understood and if they have any more suggestion on making the research tool better. Once an improved tool is made, eliminating complex words and jargons, it is then when the researcher will release the questionnaires to the respondents excluding the five person who were acquired to test the research tool.
The results of the quantitative part of paper will be processed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to address the central and sub-questions of indicated in the earlier part of the paper. The researcher will similarly ensure that the responses given by the respondents will be treated with utmost confidentiality.
Reflections
The studies that normally relates on these countries tend to focus on inbound investment and marketing of western corporations. This dissertation will be one of the very few studies that will be centring on the ability of non-western firms to compete internationally, specifically its ability to survive the cutthroat environment in western markets. The major limitation of the study would be the consequent generalizability of the findings. The scope of the paper is quite small with a tight range of respondents which makes it hard to classify it as one of the seminal works on international marketing. However, this dissertation may also serve an impetus for further studies holding the same topic but on a much wider scale. In this regard, this area of foreign countries seeking market share in western markets will be noticed by marketing studies. In the same way, the findings of this study will benefit the learners and students of marketing, specifically the findings of this study will be uncovering international marketing techniques that would possibly be unique in Chinese and Indian companies.
The study will cover the issues surrounding the problem statement indicated above. With the use of both quantitative and qualitative research, the possibility of bias in interpretation is, to a certain degree, held to a minimum. Given the study has chosen to use both qualitative and quantitative processes; the researcher may encounter considerable disadvantage. One would be the demanding work required in data acquisition. The collection of quantitative data requires fieldwork and interaction to a considerable number of individuals. Resources and time could be expended immensely at this endeavour. In the context of acquiring the qualitative data, existing studies relating to competitive marketing techniques is available from the web, however, the annual reports that the researcher need to measure the development of the organisation in the past years may require a visit to the two respondent companies.
In any case, this dissertation will be a welcome addition on the meagre literature on this area. In the same regard, the relationship of international trade as well as international marketing will be discussed to a certain degree. At this point, discussion on the expansion on the context of international competition will be addressed. And in the process, the specific competitive marketing techniques of two of the top companies in China and India are made known. With this finding, aspiring companies in both countries could follow their lead and eventually expand in the western countries.
Conclusion
Based on the discussions above, the modern company basically encounters the same issues when dealing with growth. However, as the discussion progressed, one realises that the issues addressed by companies today is at a much grander scale as compared to those decades ago. The topic of international competition and international marketing has manifested a new area of interest. Upon reviewing the literature on this topic, it is seen that Western countries are the ones expanding their horizon toward the Eastern countries. As indicated in the discussions above, the Eastern countries like China and India is slowly becoming top contenders in the western market. With the findings of this dissertation, there is a chance to see whether there are distinctive differences in applying marketing techniques in both the Chinese and Indian companies in competing in the western market. In any case, the dissertation will be able to uncover the possibility of having an up and coming trend of Eastern invasion in western markets.
Timetable
Assignment
Months
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
Choosing a topic
Making a preliminary literature search
· Choose research questions
· Make the objectives of the study
Choosing the right method and Look for sources of Data. Confirm the accessibility of Data.
Create a thesis plan
Make a first draft for critical literature review
Finalise the Secondary and Primary Data
· Look for Sources
· Consulting the Sources
Make the Research Findings
· Examine Findings
· Estimate Findings
· Write down the Findings
Discuss of Findings and Review of Related Literature
Write the Methodology
Write the Body of the Study
Make Conclusions
Establish the Recommendations
Writing the executive summary
Write the Final Draft
References
Appendices
Table 1. Chinese Firms in Top 500 List of Forbes
Rank
Company
Industry
Sales in $B
Profits in $B
Assets in $B
Market value in $B
41
PetroChina
Oil & Gas Operations
68.43
16.53
96.42
208.76
53
ICBC
Banking
31.98
4.65
800.04
176.03
69
CCB-China Construction Bank
Banking
23.18
5.84
568.21
126.55
71
Sinopec-China Petroleum
Oil & Gas Operations
99.03
5.07
65.83
93.57
82
Bank of China
Banking
23.1
3.41
585.55
143.8
181
China Telecom
Telecommunications Services
20.98
3.46
50.34
37.5
243
China Life Insurance
Insurance
11.18
1.15
69.3
109.96
308
Bank of Communications
Banking
6.64
1.15
176.27
46.14
366
Baoshan Iron & Steel
Materials
15.63
1.57
17.59
21.42
423
China Shenhua Energy
Materials
6.47
1.94
17.08
45.94
440
Ping An Insurance Group
Insurance
7.95
0.52
39.62
39.6
Table 2. Indian Firms In Top 500 List of Forbes
Rank
Company
Industry
Sales in $B
Profits in $B
Assets in $B
Market value in $B
239
Oil & Natural Gas
Oil & Gas Operations
15.64
3.46
26.98
38.19
258
Reliance Industries
Oil & Gas Operations
18.05
2.11
21.75
42.62
326
State Bank of India Group
Banking
13.66
1.24
156.37
12.35
399
Indian Oil
Oil & Gas Operations
34.22
1.11
22.68
10.92
494
NTPC
Utilities
6.06
1.31
17.25
26.06
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