EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Telenor was launched in Pakistan in March 2005. Despite facing fierce competition it has managed to make its mark in the telecommunication industry and captured a huge consumer base. It is a provider of high quality telecommunications and media communication services and is ranked, as the 7th largest mobile operator in the world, and caters to over 153 million subscribers. Today after six years of its existence in Pakistan, Telenor is the fastest growing cellular network in the country. It offers a variety of packages which cater to the needs of people from all walks of life. Telenor has been technically innovative coming up with various new services such as easy-load, Telenor mobile TV, Auto location service´ to name a
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A key factor in the strategy is the encouragement of senior managers to be entrepreneurial in responding to local customer needs, product quality and customer services. Telenor’s decision to standardize or adapt its products is based on cost/benefit analysis of what they believe the implications of adaptation and standardization are for profitability and market share. According to Doole (2000) in normal circumstances, the cost of adaptation would be expected to be greater than the cost of successful standardization. Telenor believes in long term advantages and not in satisfaction of immediate demand, that’s why they continue the exposure to the standardized products and services which leads them to greater market share in the longer term. Our research shows that there are three factors which enforced the company towards more standardized strategy and these are illustrated in figure below.
•Homogeneity of markets
•Increase in number of regionalizing firms
•Identifiable international consumer segments. Summarizing it, regionalization forced the company to rethink about its strategies towards product, to be more competitive in the open market.
Telenor’s Price Strategy
Pricing across the borders is comparatively difficult from other decisions though it is believed that pricing is the most flexible and controllable marketing mix element. Companies operating in different markets experience extraordinarily difference across the borders.
Price: Pricing decisions should take into account profit margins and probable pricing response of competitors.
Consumers have certain types of perceptions of price in correlation to the product quality and service; therefore, company should base their price on the customer’s perceived value (K&K). Some consumers are price sensitive, while others are quality or both. “The key to perceived-value pricing is to deliver more unique value than competitors and to demonstrate this to prospective buyers” (p.183). For example, Dish Network has introductory price for a year or two, then it bounces back to regular price. Also, the company offers different TV packages, which can be customized according to the station most watched or one can pick one of the package the company provides. I have been with Dish Network for more than 5 years and one thing that kept
The first recommendation for this firm is to adopt a global policy and try and explore new markets so that market growth and market share can be expanded. In case of a firm entering an international market, it requires to analyze the nature of the market and suitably form its marketing strategies in alignment with its business strategy and decide whether it is more beneficial to adopt a global approach or use a strategy that is customized to suit the needs of the local customers.
Pricing is a pertinent issue in procurement and acquisition in organizations. Consumers buying the commodities of an entity should get clarity on pricing related issues. There is uncertainty in Pro
Every company and/or organization starts and operates to achieve a single major goal, which is normally included in the company’s mission statement. Setting a goal, however, does not translate into success on its own; it is only the fist step. Understanding market segmentation is the second most important aspect of doing business. “Sellers and advertisers want to be able to determine what the potential market is for their product or service, as well as the best ways to reach potential consumers” (Terrell, 2013). Once a goal is set, an organization first must decide if it wants to operate locally, regionally, nationally, and/or internationally, as the size of the geographic coverage has a large
Costs play an important role in setting international prices. Travelers abroad are often surprised to find that goods that are relatively inexpensive at home may carry outrageously higher price tags in other countries. Besides, such price escalation may result from differences in selling strategies or market conditions. In most instances, however, it is simply a result of the higher costs of selling in foreign markets such as the additional costs of modifying and packaging the product, higher shipping and insurance costs, import tariffs and taxes, costs associated with exchange rate fluctuations and higher channel and physical distribution costs. Futhermore, Milo also adopted Promotional Pricing strategy. Selling products is challenging when shelves are lined with similar-quality products, and customers are bombarded with advertising messages. Promotional pricing helps differentiate Milo’s product with its competitor and leverage a potential customer's attention long enough to purchase the Milo products. Promotional pricing involves lowering the price of a product, distributing coupons or offering specials, such as buy-one-get-one-free offers. For example, Milo offer promotional pricing for its product in weekly catalogue to create excitement and a sense of
Due to internationalization these companies have been able to spread their risk. Therefore, if one market is not performing they can rely on the other (diversification)
Today’s highly competitive business world forces companies to create different tactics and relatively rely on multiple pricing strategies to conduct business.
The strategy for setting a product’s price often has to be changed when the product is part of a product mix. In this case, the firm looks for a set of prices that maximizes its profits on the total product mix. Pricing is difficult because the various products have related demand and costs and face different degrees of competition.
The benefits of standardisation, as well as the risks should be understood. A top down standardisation of concept precludes the bottom up learning that is necessary to adapt to dynamic markets. Moreover, it is the franchisees - who are close to customers, markets, and employees - who have the most intimate information about changes in demographics, markets, and customer tastes that are most likely to affect the future direction of the business. Yet, these people are precluded from innovating or customizing the concept to experiment or take account of local and/or changing market conditions.
Another factor that we need to keep in mind is the cultural and economic realities of these marketplaces and consumers while pricing our products. Let us begin with the pricing for the European Union market Spain. This is a rich market which is centered around good quality and ready to spend the money asked for
Levitt explains, because of globalization, how the world is moving from the Era of Multinational Corporations to the Era of Global Corporations as the needs and wants of the worldwide customers are getting more and more homogeneous (Levitt, 1983) and they demand for more standardized products in terms of quality and price (Levitt, 1999). According to Theodore Levitt the companies who focus on a particular market in terms of providing value added products are most likely to achieve failure in this dynamic industrialized world and that’s why to survive with the competition in the market companies should focus on more standardized products by keeping in mind the different markets of the world and their common interest (Levitt, 1983, pg-6). The other main key point mentioned by Theodore Levitt was that the organizations should focus their concentration in knowing the requirements of the customers rather than presuming their needs by themselves and forcing the already manufactured
Price interacts with all other elements of the marketing mix to determine the effectiveness of each and of the whole. The objectives that guide pricing strategy should be a subset of the objectives that guide overall marketing strategy. Thus, it is probably wrong to view price as an independent element of marketing strategy or to assert that price, by itself, is a central element in the marketing mix.” (Webster, 1979)
Tesco sought to take advantage of undeserved and immature markets, particularly in Europe and followed by Asia. Central Europe in particular was the first phase of its expansion in the post-soviet era.
Price, which is one of the most important elements of the marketing mix, can be difficult to get right. Pricing too high, or low, can negatively impact on customer satisfaction and revenue. Adopting a pricing strategy is necessary to achieve desired sales objectives (Chan & Wong 2005).