Assignment Sample on 7BSP1271 Marketing Across Cultures
Introduction
Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) plays a vital role in improving the economic condition of a company which indicates the SME always influences the economic development of a nation. According to the report of the European Commission 99% of the world business have been represented by SMEs as in a medium of organization the employee headcount may not exceed by 250 employees (europa.eu. 2021). In addition to that, small companies have less than 50 employees in the organization as well as the profit level of these organizations are limited while these organizations are also believe in using an effective marketing strategy to enhance the competitiveness in the existing market, In this report, the marketing mix of Crawford Healthcare and the relation of marketing strategy with multiple cultural theory will be discussed in detail.
Background of the organization
Crawford Healthcare is a United Kingdom (UK) based pharmaceutical company which is offering innovative solutions for dermatological treatment and wound care products to effectively care and skin repairing solutions to the patients (Crawfordhealthcare. 2021). The company is governing the daily operation through technological intervention along with the Hypertext mark-up language (HTML), Google analytics and jQuery to support the online business transaction and user friendly interfaces for consumer preferences. The company has registered intellectual property in the medical and veterinary science, hygiene category with bleaching, cleaning, polishing, scouring and abrasive preparation. Moreover, the health firms are dealing with chronic wound infections which are associated with the inflammation which has resulted with more damage of tissues and prolonged heightened inflammation (Severing et al., 2019). However, the company develops and offers dermatology and wound care products, treatments and diagnostics for skin conditions, therapeutic footwear, pressure ulcer prevention pad, silicone coatings, silicone gel products for anti scarring, foam drawing products and medical devices for the consumer need. It also offers absorbent dressing, hydro gel dressing and oxy-salts technology to support consumers for various needs and satisfy according to requirements.
Elements of marketing mix in relation to cultural theory
Product
Crawford Healthcare is mainly situated in the UK and the main approach of the company is to provide quality service and products for the treatment of skin and dermatological problems. According to the website of the company, this healthcare organization is a medical supplier which mainly deals with the skincare and dermatology products and services. In addition to that, the management of this healthcare organization needs to understand the multiple aspects of cultural theory which is extremely essential for the brand positioning of the company in the existing market. On the other hand, there is a great influence and impact of culture in designing a marketing strategy for the company while without the successful implication of cultural elements a company will not be able to make a proper product strategy for the company. Moreover, it needs to be implied that the cultural features of a country also have a great impact in the product selection of the customer and it also influences the purchasing decision of the consumer (Koc and Ayyildiz, 2021). Moreover, the organization needs to focus on the national cultural elements of the UK which may generate an extra advantage in managing the business operation of the company in a fruitful manner. Additionally, the main advantage of incorporating cultural elements in product development strategy is it always helps to target a huge customer base which ensures organizational effectiveness.
According to the cultural model of Hofstede, there is an influence of masculinity (66) in the UK while as a healthcare organization Crawford Healthcare needs to establish gender equality in the service (Hofstede Insights. 2021). In other responses, if the organization will be able to recruit more female employees then it will be able to provide more quality service as in some cases there is a huge requirement of female healthcare personnel for providing service. On a special note, the company needs to adopt the long term goals which may be useful in expanding the business of the company throughout the country by developing the quality of products and service. Apart from that, there is a close connection between the product development of the company and the cultural elements of a nation as if Crawford Healthcare is able to identify the behaviour of employees with the help of cultural theory then the company will be profitable in upcoming years (Crawfordhealthcare. 2021). Additionally, there is a positive implication of marketing mix in enhancing the competitiveness of an SME in a country. Furthermore, the product quality of the company needs to be extremely supreme which is extremely essential in establishing a healthy and handy relationship within the customer of an organization (Badi, 2018). More specifically, the individualism index of the UK is 89 which may affect the marketing strategy of the company and for that reason the brand needs to focus on this segment or else the marketing objectives of the company may not be fulfilled (Refers to Appendix-1).
The main approach of Crawford Healthcare is to supply a great quality of skincare products to customers or else the company will not be able to retain the customer base. In addition to that, the market is extremely competitive and there are many competitors of the organization which may be considered a threat for the company. Moreover, if the company will be able to recognize the demand level and behaviour of customers with the help of cultural frameworks then the company will be able to develop the quality of the product according to the needs of customers. It may be implied that the use of effective marketing strategy plays a vital role in understanding the product life cycle of the company and the product life cycle is closely associated with the culture features of the country. It will be extremely helpful for the company if Crawford Healthcare is able to launch varieties of skincare products in the market such as antifungal spray, protectant spray, wound dressing products, all purpose boots and many more (Crawfordhealthcare. 2021). Product branding is an important part of the branding strategy as customers always prefer to purchase branded products and that may enhance the sales of the company. Moreover, if the company will be able to cultural elements of the entire customer base then it will be extremely suitable in marketing the products in the market.
Price
Price is one of the most important dimensions of the marketing mix and there is an influence of cultural characteristics of a nation in setting a price for the products and service of the company. Crawford Healthcare needs to follow the multiple cultural models which are suitable in setting a Price range for the skincare products in the market of the UK. Moreover, in the modern era the demand of healthcare products is increasing day by day in the world market and for this reason a company needs to focus on developing and promoting the product of the company which is useful for the growth of the company (Mintel Store. 2021). In addition to that, the national culture of the country always respects the values and beliefs of the people of the country and every country needs to give importance to the cultural belief of the people or else the marketing strategy be harmed. Considering the pricing strategy of Crawford Healthcare, it may be implied that the company needs to recognize and understand the economics status of the company (Crawfordhealthcare. 2021). On a broader note, the UK is one of the most developed countries of the world and for that reason the country may apply a high price range for skincare products.
However, the extremely high price range may be harmful for the brand as there are many competitors of the brand who may drop the purpose of the product to capture the market. According to an e-commerce website the price range of the company is suitable and every customer of the UK may afford the skincare products of the company. Moreover, the wound dressing products of the company starts from £6.72 and the price of dressing of this company starts from £2.99 which indicates that the price range is lucrative to attract the wider range of customers (Refers to Appendix-2). Consumer behavior may have occurred due to cultural differences as well as religion has a great influence in motivating the purchasing decision of a customer. According to a trusted journal, there is a close connection between prices and purchasing behaviour of consumers as religious orientation also impacts the price of a product (Auf et al., 2018). Along with that, the company needs to maintain a sensible pricing strategy which will help the all income group of the country to buy the skincare products of the brand as it is a medical product which is necessary for all ages.
In this competitive era, the price drop of the product may help a company in gaining extra share of the market and for that reason Crawford Healthcare needs to drop the process which will attract a huge number of customers. The main motive of the company will be to gain competitive advantage in the existing market as the price drop has a beneficial impact in enhancing the sales of the company. Additionally, the increased rate of sales is also related to the huge profits of the company and that may be useful for the company in achieving long term goals. In other responses, if the company may be able to provide a flat discount for the prime customers of the economy then more customers will be connected with the company and this is immensely useful for the success of the business in the market of the UK.
Place
It has already been mentioned that Crawford Healthcare is a UK based pharmaceutical company that has been creating medical products for the repairmen of skin and wounded areas as well. The company is regarded to be an international organization, which indicates that the company has opened its branches in different international markets to expand the business and in order to obtain significant profit as well. It needs to be mentioned that the concept of place is one of the most important factors of the marketing mix, since failing to select the right place for selling a product or service will lead an organization to go out of business. According to research, marketing is a process that makes an organization sell products or services to the consumers by comprehending the needs and requirements of the people (Srivastava and Bhatt, 2021). In the case of Crawford Healthcare, although the organization is expanding at rapid growth to enter most international markets, its fundamental base of selling products is all throughout the UK (Crawfordhealthcare. 2021). Since the company is based in the UK, it will be more known to the civilians and the residents of the people who reside in the country and therefore, the organization will gain significant revenue from doing business in the UK initially.
However, if the organization wants to focus on entering the international markets with utmost efficiency and obtain significant profits by conducting business activities in a foreign market. Therefore, conducting a thorough analysis of the target market and the places in which the company may have the most number of audiences with significant needs regarding the products the company sells is extremely imperative. For instance, in many developing nations, the living conditions are quite poor and often the people are exposed to diseases that have severe damage on the individual’s skin and selling the products in such countries will be beneficial for Crawford Healthcare. However, the evidence regarding detrimental health care, challenges the prediction that enhancing the utilization of health services will be enough to decrease mortality rates in countries with low income rates (Kruk et al., 2018). Moreover, selling the products in locations where the people do not have convenient access to the dermatologist will also be an impactful strategy and helpful step for the organization as well. Moreover, the countries that are technologically advanced or have an emerging market of e-commerce platforms will also be convenient locations for selling the product as that will enable the company to have access to a larger market as well.
On the other hand, it may also be mentioned that keeping in mind the cultural concept, selling the company’s products in the developing countries may not be a great idea. Many people living in those nations may have notions that the foreign companies are capturing the country’s domestic markets and are gaining significant revenue by doing business there. Such concepts developed by anyone may restrict the individual to buy products from the organization or in many cultures people may believe buying the company’s products may have severe side-effects on the individual’s health as well. Therefore, before indulging in any cross-cultural business venture, the organization needs to analyze the market and also the culture of the people living in a given location to help the business achieve significant success. One of the studies conducted on the concept of cross-cultural marketing states that consumer’s ethnic identities and perceptions have a relevant impact on outcome of performances and consumer’s gratitude as well (Huggins et al., 2020). Culture is one of the main things that marketers need to take into account before conducting a marketing mix, since many cultures may not be accepting of certain products or services offered by an organization.
Promotion
Following place, another significant aspect of marketing mix is promotion as in order to ensure the success of any marketing campaign or the business, an organization is required to promote its products to make people aware about the offerings. In case an organization does not conduct significant promotional activities for the products or services it offers, the people may not know about the things that the company is selling and it may lead to downfall of business as well. According to research, marketing promotion may be defined as the process which helps to transmit relevant information about products or services between the seller and the potential target audience (Ekiyor and Altan, 2020). In previous times the promotional activities used to be conducted with the help of traditional ways, such as newspapers, leaflets, television advertisements and more. However, with the current trends in the ever changing business world, most organizations are choosing the internet and mostly social media platforms to promote their products and services. According to research, people across the globe are now more attached with various social media platforms and businesses are starting to utilize such technology as effective tools to engage with consumers more (Alalwan et al., 2017).
Therefore, Crawford Healthcare also needs to conduct its promotional activity in the most effective manner in order to ensure that the products sold by the organization are well known to the consumers. In order to promote the company’s products in the domestic as well as international markets the company will have to choose both traditional and modern ways of promoting the medicines that the organization develops. It needs to be mentioned that although promotional activities with the help of the internet has become the new norm when it comes to promotional activities, there are still a vast number of people who do not have much attachment to the platforms as well. Henceforth, in order to gain maximum benefits from the marketing campaigns, Crawford Healthcare is required to utilize both the ways of promotion for the purpose of attaining fruitful results as well. In addition to that, the promotional activities will have to be initially targeted towards the UK market and for that the company will have to run television advertisements, print advertisements and more to promote the products. In the modern world, the concept of computational advertising has become quite popular, which addresses the various computational systems of advertising and promotional behaviours and decision making as well (Yang et al., 2017).
Along with that, the company will also be required to conduct its promotional activities with the means of the internet and social media networks so that the organization is able to reach a large base of consumers. Especially, after entering the international market, it is one of the most significant aspects that may help the pharmaceutical company to promote its products to the majority of the customers living in any corner of a given nation. More importantly, this kind of promotion is even more effective as organizations are able to target the specific group of audience that the country wants to sell its products to. According to research, along with the strong prevalence of the internet, social media platforms have become an imperative mode of marketing that is conducted online (Chen and Lin, 2019). Adopting such promotional methods may prove to be even more relevant for the company, however, it also needs to be established that the company does hurt individuals belonging to any cultural background while trying to promote its products or services.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it may be concluded that every modern company of the world is required to follow a cultural theory which is extremely essential in designing a proper marketing strategy for the company. In this study, Crawford Healthcare mainly follows the cultural dimension model of Hofstede which plays a crucial role in developing the marketing mix for the company. Additionally, the association of cultural elements with the marketing mix may generate a positive implication in enhancing the sales of the company and the company will be able to achieve competitiveness in the UK.
Recommendation
The recommendations are as follows:-
For the first year and in order to attain the short term goal, Crawford Healthcare will have to first increase its business productivity to ensure that all activities related to the business are looked after significantly to achieve relevant success. In addition to that, the most imperative goal should be to develop unique and innovative products that will sell amongst the targeted market segment efficiently. On the other hand, the company should also need to conduct a technical audit and find out about the potential competitors the company may have and thus, create a marketing strategy that will help in staying ahead of the competitors.
In order to attain medium term goals, the company will have to firstly implement different policies and procedures to make sure that the issues of the short term goal do not persist in the future. On the other hand, more detailed planning of the product development should have to be executed and more importantly the marketing strategies should have to be sought after as well to effectively achieve the medium term goals. Furthermore, another medium term goal for the company that needs to be achieved is increasing the company’s market share in order to obtain optimum profit.
Lastly, the long term goals should focus more on removing the cultural barriers in case the organization wants to expand the business in foreign markets. Thereafter, Crawford Healthcare should develop a plan to adopt the different aspects of a given culture of the destination it wants to expand the business to for ensuring smooth execution of all business activities in that place. Lastly, learning about the different culture of the company should create brand awareness and image in such a way that all people belonging to the specific culture are accepted of the brand and the products or services it has to offer.
References
Al Badi, K.S., 2018. The impact of marketing mix on the competitive advantage of the SME sector in the Al Buraimi Governorate in Oman. SAGE Open, 8(3), p.2158244018800838.
Alalwan, A.A., Rana, N.P., Dwivedi, Y.K. and Algharabat, R., 2017. Social media in marketing: A review and analysis of the existing literature. Telematics and Informatics, 34(7), pp.1177-1190.
Auf, M.A.A., Meddour, H., Saoula, O. and Majid, A.H.A., 2018. Consumer buying behaviour: The roles of price, motivation, perceived culture importance, and religious orientation. Journal of Business and Retail Management Research, 12(4).
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.
Crawfordhealthcare. 2021. [online] Available at: <http://www.crawfordhealthcare.com/> [Accessed 27 December 2021]
ec.europa.eu. 2021. SME definition. [online] Available at: <https://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/sme-definition_en> [Accessed 27 December 2021].
Ekiyor, A. and Altan, F., 2020. Marketing Communication and Promotion in Health Services. Promotion and Marketing Communications.
Hofstede Insights. 2021. United Kingdom – Hofstede Insights. [online] Available at: <https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country/the-uk/> [Accessed 27 December 2021].
Huggins, K.A., White, D.W., Holloway, B.B. and Hansen, J.D., 2020. Customer gratitude in relationship marketing strategies: A cross-cultural e-tailing perspective. Journal of Consumer Marketing.
Koc, E. and Ayyildiz, A.Y., 2021. Culture’s Influence on the Design and Delivery of the Marketing Mix Elements in Tourism and Hospitality. Sustainability, 13(21), p.11630.
Kruk, M.E., Gage, A.D., Joseph, N.T., Danaei, G., García-Saisó, S. and Salomon, J.A., 2018. Mortality due to low-quality health systems in the universal health coverage era: a systematic analysis of amenable deaths in 137 countries. The Lancet, 392(10160), pp.2203-2212.
Mintel Store. 2021. Health and Wellbeing Market Research | Mintel Store. [online] Available at: <https://store.mintel.com/?product_cat=health-and-wellbeing&source_id=21&source_tax=product_cat&filter_markets=uk-market-research> [Accessed 27 December 2021].
Severing, A.L., Rembe, J.D., Koester, V. and Stuermer, E.K., 2019. Safety and efficacy profiles of different commercial sodium hypochlorite/hypochlorous acid solutions (NaClO/HClO): antimicrobial efficacy, cytotoxic impact and physicochemical parameters in vitro. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 74(2), pp.365-372.
Srivastava, G.G. and Bhatt, R.K., 2021. Marketing the University Libraries: Role of Marketing Mix and SWOT Analysis.
Yang, Y., Yang, Y.C., Jansen, B.J. and Lalmas, M., 2017. Computational advertising: A paradigm shift for advertising and marketing?. IEEE Intelligent Systems, 32(3), pp.3-6.
