HRM Assignment Sample
Executive Summary
Customer satisfaction is important for any business entity to enhance their market competitiveness along with the overall business growth efficiently. Thus, the following report has shed light upon determining the effectiveness of customer continuity and organisational performance in the context of Royal Dutch Shell based on assignment one and assignment two respectively. The effectiveness of the marketing principle along with the marketing approach that could be undertaken by the aforementioned company while penetrating the new market has also been identified. Adding to this, strategic recommendations have been provided for the company implementing which can serve as beneficial for gaining success in the new market.
Introduction
In order to maintain customer continuity, it becomes important for businesses to undertake proper and strategic marketing plans to grab customers’ attention and enhance brand recognition within the market. From the second assignment, it is identified that Royal Dutch Shell is willing to expand into a new market for which a suitable marketing plan is required. Thus, the following report aims to provide brief evaluations about suitable marketing strategies that the company could utilise to maintain customer continuity in the new market. Other than this, strategic recommendations will also be provided for the company so that they could maintain customer continuity along with business growth in the new market in the future.
Finding and Analysis
Present organisational practices in terms of consumer continuity
Customer loyalty and customer satisfaction play a significant role for any business entity to flourish business growth along with competitiveness in the target market. As mentioned by Purwanto et al. (2019), implementation of a proper marketing plan is important for an organisation to promote their service and products in front of target customers in a more convenient and efficient manner. For instance, in the context of Shell Company, it is identified that they mainly utilise “geographic segmentation” strategy to identify customer expectations and perform activities jointly with the target customers. The company is found to be always focused on implementing a strategic marketing approach that serves as beneficial for business growth and profitability margin. From the earlier assignments, it was identified that starting from competitive pricing strategy, strategic alliance and partnership, integrated distribution strategy and others are found to be the key potential strategic approach for the company. This, in turn, allows the company to enhance their chance of maximising its presence across the global market.
A news report published in 2018 highlights Shell is willing to maximise its digital advertising spending in India to enhance its market share by 15% across the lubricants B2C (Business to customer) market of India. The news report also added the company has identified its opportunities across the Indian B2B and B2C market, which generates urgency for the company to increase digital spending by 70% (Best Media INFO, 2018).
Figure 1: Three C of marketing
(Source: Toghraee et al. 2017)
In this context, the concept of 3C of marketing can be aligned to the present marketing practice of Shell. The key reason behind this statement is that 3C of marketing is found to be associated with three specific semi-mixed external factors such as competitors; customers and companies in a specific target market (Toghraee et al. 2017). In the context of competitors, Shell always tries to introduce innovative products and services at competitive price ranges that make sustainable competitiveness across the market. In the case of customers, the company is found to accelerate drivers for the “net-zero emission” through a “customer-first strategy” (Shell, 2021). The company is found to establish customer-facing business operations that help them to establish their market competitiveness along with brand recognition across the market. Thus, it can be mentioned that the company has already taken an effective marketing approach that enhances its chance of obtaining success in the new market in the future. However, there are some marketing strategic approaches that could be undertaken by the company, which are underlined in the next adjoining section.
Marketing plans for Shell in the context of consumer continuity
Marketing plans are the operations of an advertisement strategy, which will allow the company to flourish in the market along with providing specific benefits to it as well. In the context of Shell, the company can use the Ansoff matrix tool to develop and facilitate their business in achieving consumer continuity. As mentioned by Cooper et al. (2020), Shell company has been successful for many years in the market and operating globally. However, the use of the Ansoff matrix can allow the company to become the giant leading company across the globe. Among the four marketing plans market penetration, product development, market development and diversification, market development will be the best marketing strategy to enhance their existing business into a new market. Shell should look after the possible development in the new market and the target audience for the products. As suggested by Apffelstaedt and Mechtenberg (2021), Royal Dutch Shell has to focus on the new market and its culture, consumer behaviour and trends for positioning the business successfully. A successful expansion will allow the company to operate effectively in the market along with accessing different consumer interests. Managing the business effectively in the new market will allow the business to retain consumers more efficiently and provide a better consumer experience alongside.
Figure 2: Ansoff Matrix
(Source: Apffelstaedt and Mechtenberg, 2021)
In the context of the Royal Dutch Shell, improving their social media engagement in various social media platforms will allow the company to retain the customer without spending much capital on it. As mentioned by Mammadbayov et al. (2021), social media marketing allows companies to create a long-term relationship with consumers across the world. As the company is running and operating globally, applying the social media strategy for the business will definitely help them in consumer continuity. The company can use social media platforms, social news, bookmarking sites, microblogging, media sharing and community blogs as well. As suggested by Li et al. (2021), reaching out to as many consumers is the main motive to use social media marketing. As of now, the whole world is suffering because of the emergence of the covid-19 pandemic and because of that, every small to large enterprise is following social media marketing for their business. According to Jacobson et al. (2020), there are several advantages to be acquired by Shell, if they follow social media marketing to promote their goods and services globally. Social media marketing is the most cost-efficient marketing strategy with a huge effective outcome for the business. It helps in increasing brand awareness among the audience; thus, having a social media page or account can allow the business to generate a wide range of customers for them (Shareef et al. 2019). It will allow them to improve the search engine along with higher rates of conversion as well. The most effective result of using social media marketing is it will allow the organisation to provide a better experience for the consumers and be able to understand where they are lagging behind as well.
Strategic Recommendation
In the context of the present practices of Shell, it can be recommended that the company could implement market development and social media marketing as a strategic marketing approach while entering into a new market. For example, as identified earlier, the aforementioned company is found to be showing their focus upon marketing approach specifically on digital media marketing. This marketing approach can be beneficial for the company to analyse the demands and expectations of their target customers in the new market more accurately based on which they could foster their customer base in the new market as well (Jacobson et al. 2020). On the other hand, in the earlier assignments, it is identified that the company has witnessed customer dissatisfaction issues due to the inadequate operational activities at the workplace. It has been identified that the company has built strategic partnerships with Gordon Murray Design, Intel, and others. A strategic partnership can be considered as an effective approach for the company while they would implement a market development strategy to penetrate into the new market. As mentioned by Chen and Lin, (2019), implementations of market development strategy during expanding into new markets, Shell was able to gain new customers’ market, organisational growth along with competitive revenue in a more efficient manner. Adding to this, market development strategy will also serve as beneficial for the company to achieve competitive advantages by building strategic alliances in the new market. For example, in order to introduce a new solution regarding “net-zero emission”, the company is found to build a strategic alliance with Microsoft to revolutionise the energy sector efficiently in the future (Shell, 2021).
Thus, it could be mentioned that between the two identified strategic marketing approaches, the “Market development” strategy would be ideal for Shell companies to enhance their chance towards obtaining success in the new market in the future.
Conclusion
In relation to the above discussion, it can be mentioned that customer continuity is found to be directly interlinked with organisational growth. Business continuity plays a significant role for any business entity to minimise operational disruptions and generate customer’s loyalty towards specific brands, products and services. Hence, having loyal customers enhances the chance of business entities to keep their market competitiveness along with business growth within the target market. In this context, a suitable marketing strategy plays a significant role to gain attention from the target customers. It is identified that Shell is going to penetrate into new markets to establish its presence at the international level. From the discussion, it has been identified that the company has already shown their focus on adopting an effective marketing approach to grab customer attention. In this context, it has been identified that utilising and implementing a marketing development approach would be effective for the company to enhance their chance towards obtaining success in the new market.
References
Apffelstaedt, A. and Mechtenberg, L., 2021. Competition for context-sensitive consumers. Management Science, 67(5), pp.2828-2844.
Best Media INFO, 2018. Shell Lubricants to up digital advertising budget in India to increase market share to 15%. [Online]. Available at: <https://bestmediainfo.com/2018/05/shell-lubricants-to-up-digital-advertising-budget-in-india-to-increase-market-share-to-15/> [Accessed on 5 September 2021]
Chen, S.C. and Lin, C.P., 2019. Understanding the effect of social media marketing activities: The mediation of social identification, perceived value, and satisfaction. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 140, pp.22-32.
Cooper, H., Merrilees, B. and Miller, D., 2020. The corporate heritage brand paradox: Managing the tension between continuity and change in luxury brands. Australasian Marketing Journal, pp.j-ausmj.
Jacobson, J., Gruzd, A. and Hernández-García, Á., 2020. Social media marketing: Who is watching the watchers?. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 53, p.101774.
Jacobson, J., Gruzd, A. and Hernández-García, Á., 2020. Social media marketing: Who is watching the watchers?. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 53, p.101774.
Li, F., Larimo, J. and Leonidou, L.C., 2021. Social media marketing strategy: definition, conceptualization, taxonomy, validation, and future agenda. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 49(1), pp.51-70.
Mammadbayov, E., Hurriyati, R. and Hendrayati, H., 2021, September. Modern Marketing Management and New Trends in Marketing. In 5th Global Conference on Business, Management and Entrepreneurship (GCBME 2020) (pp. 459-462). Atlantis Press.
Purwanto, R.M., Mukharrom, T., Zhilyakov, D.I., Pamuji, E. and Shankar, K., 2019. Study the importance of business ethics and ethical marketing in digital era. Journal of Critical Reviews, 6(5), pp.150-154.
Shareef, M.A., Mukerji, B., Dwivedi, Y.K., Rana, N.P. and Islam, R., 2019. Social media marketing: Comparative effect of advertisement sources. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 46, pp.58-69.
Shell, 2021. Shell accelerates drive for net-zero emissions with customer-first strategy. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.shell.com/media/news-and-media-releases/2021/shell-accelerates-drive-for-net-zero-emissions-with-customer-first-strategy.html> [Accessed on 5 September 2021]
Shell, 2021. Shell And Microsoft’s Strategic Alliance. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/digitalisation/news-room/shell-and-microsofts-strategic-alliance.html> [Accessed on 5 September 2021]
Toghraee, M.T., Rezvani, M., Mobaraki, M.H. and Farsi, J.Y., 2017. A systematic review on entrepreneurial marketing: three decade research on entrepreneurial marketing. International Journal of Applied Business and Economic Research, 15(8), pp.273-296.
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