Assignment Sample on M26197 International Marketing

Introduction

This report has been prepared to provide a detailed discussion about the marketing strategy adopted by Sony TV in the United Kingdom (UK), where the background of the company has been stated. The later parts of this report follows a critical analysis of the cultural issues that Sony TV faces in the UK, and the marketing environment of Sony TV with relevant recommendations.

Background of Sony TV

Sony Corporations were founded in the early periods of 1946, in Japan with the achievement of the milestone of gradually increasing and giving a superior performance to the global audience. Sony TV has been running with a constant effort to be a better market competitor in the race of producing better performance television sets, and the policy of diversification has remained as one of the strongest points of the company (Sony.com. 2022). Sony TV has been producing a different array of products in television sets, where the High Dynamic Range (HDR) Smart TV has been in the recent reviews. Sony TV has brought to the market of Light Emitting Diode (LED) TV sets a new product that has received quite favourable reviews, on the introduction of the OLED TV of Sony BRAVIA XR A95K TV. Sony TV have been considered one of the most trustworthy brands by the consumers of the UK, where the customer service, as well as the different offers, are given out usually with the television sets containing lasting durability (Mintel Store. 2022)

Sony TV has come up with the model of the Sony BRAVIA series A90J BRAVIA XR MASTER series 4K OLED TV at the adorable price of £ 2,339.00 (Sony.com. 2022). The modernized systematic development of the television industry has been effective in the theme of different multi-platform-based services that remain as the Smart TV integration system by (Paek & Lee, 2018). Sony TV have been researched to be found that the company is one of the most esteemed brand in the customer demand survey of the UK, where the customer satisfaction usually comes from the great service and care about the details on the innovative design are appreciated (Mintel Store. 2022)

Figure 1: Global Smart TV Sales from 2018-2024

(Source: Paek & Lee, 2018)

Sony TV have been successfully maintaining the key growth statistics of its market share with the highest range of the market technology, where the global market share of Sony TV have remained as 9.4% annual shares, and the online markets have proved wholesome for the sales of modern OLED 4K TV sets in UK, where Sony have been successful to a large extent on the sales of the OLED models at better prices to the consumers.

Findings and analysis

Critical analysis of the cultural issues of Sony TV in the UK context

It has been observed that any business grows with a greater boost only after the better application of the strategies related to the cultural preference of the country in the discussion. The modern age of globalization has shown the rising of the use of modernized television sets throughout the population of the world, where most of the households in the UK usually possess the 4K or the 8K model. The age ratio has been such that the males who are younger in age, usually tend to purchase the 4K television sets than the older ages, while the purchasing decisions have been mostly based on the durability cyclical fluctuations (Mintel Store. 2022) Furthermore, the culture of an organization is mostly related with the better management of the business organization, which consists of a set of values that news to be respected and derive the essence of such to facilitate the operations. The cultural model has been inspected much closely by Hofstede and the elements of Individualism, Uncertainty Avoidance, Power Distance and Long-term orientation remains effective in this modern age to propose the current market age of innovation in Smart TVs. Sony TV have been researched to be found that the company is one of the most esteemed brands in the customer demand survey of the UK, where customer satisfaction usually comes from the great service and care about the details on the innovative design is appreciated (Mintel Store. 2022). The major cultural difference that lies in the context of the UK and Japan has a score of 35 and 54 respectively. In the context of power distance, the UK has a lower score than Japan, which usually signifies that the country of Japan has better preference for the centralized system of power than the UK.

The different observation implies a basic fact about the structure of the society in Japan, which often has the delegation of power according to their order of the hierarchy, whereas the UK has a low preference on this. The theme of masculinity when it is concerned, reports Japan to be off the score of 95, where the UK has the score of 66. On a specific note, the countries come together in the note of masculinity, which makes the rivalry among close businesses and focus on business oriented achievement have been given more preference. The effect of individualism, which most points to the fact that the country of Japan has been on the index of 46, makes the culture of Japan of being more collectivistic, which makes a sharp contrast with the UK. Group theory works better in Japan than in most countries, and the perspectives of different individuals get preferences only when it is expressed by far as the statement of a unified group. The discussion of an organizational capacity survives better in the Japanese contact, because the country has a better hierarchy in regards with the values that are usually assigned to the company an employee is part of.

The UK has the ranking of 89 in the individualistic score, which makes the nation more reserved and the business organizations usually follow the individualistic pattern of society. The allocation of wealth and the customization in the career of a person is left to the personal choice which is wide apart from the cultural factor of Japan. The uncertainty avoidance of the UK has been on the lower fraction, of only 35 which is much contrasting to the score of Japan, which is 92, implying that Japan has a better background to focus upon the risks factor than the UK. The indulgence factor has Japan on a low score, which implies the restrictive and suppressive cultural factor which is not present in the UK, which has better alignment towards having leisure time and positive long-term sustainability. The long-term orientation of the country of Japan has been of a greater weightage, where the score of Japan is 88 as being compared to the UK, where the score lies at. The country and life of the Japanese platform in the work culture is more governed by the guided code of conduct than the UK, which focuses mostly on the evolving patterns of management according to the global market situation.

The culture of Japan has been such that the country has an immense benefit from the fact of having a better adaptation of the educational model, being less individualistic and facing the different challenges more swiftly (Seleznyov, Goei & Ehren, 2021).

Figure 2: Hofstede’s cultural dimensions comparison between Japan and the United Kingdom

(Source: Seleznyov, Goei & Ehren, 2021)

Pestle Analysis

Japan has a highly evolving economy in the global context, which ranks as the third largest economy in the world, where the GDP has been $5.25 trillion annually, while the UK has a lower gravity of the GDP, having a lower score of $3.08 trillion in the total market value. The political element bears a close detail, the country of Japan has been through several political discontinuities, backed by the democratic system of government that is more aligned with the votes of the masses (Richardson, 2020). The revolutionary factor that has made Japan one of the macroeconomic countries is the better and advanced telecommunication system, while the country of UK has been lagging behind Japan in the follow up of advanced technology. UK on the political factors have been on the layer of a stable government structure, and the administrative system of UK is of monarchy system, quite different from Japan.

Although, the market economy of the UK is less shock proof of the market anomalies, the UK market is more diversified being dependent on the Foreign Direct Investment. The environment factor when considered, the environment of the UK has been by far less polluted on the low carbon permission of the different public transport system (Argyriou & Barry, 2021). Japan has a lower significance in the environmental context, where the nation has several environmental risks including rough weather and natural disasters occurring frequently.

Critical evaluation of the marketing environment of Sony

The company Sony TV has been starting to expand its business where the innovation of the different smart LED TVs has been in greater market demand. The understanding of customer satisfaction is of tremendous importance to a business organization, where the analysis of the 7Ps in marketing mix helps directly (Do & Vu, 2020).

Price: Sony TV has the strategy of competing with the different customers with the bracket of focussing on the segment of market that has all kinds of customer ranging, including the different segments of customers based on their income level. Although, the modernism TV sets that the company usually sells come with differentiated premium features, which has the company to not bargain with the label price, and follow a premium price strategy. The company have introduced the new models of A80J and A84J BRAVIA XR OLED 4K Ultra HD TV sets in the market, with the introductory price of £1,599.00 (Sony.com. 2022).

Figure 3: Sales and operating revenue

(Source: Sony.com. 2022)

Promotion: Sony Corporation has the most advantageous position in the target market where the company spends most of its financial resources in the differentiated channels of digitalisation. The new age demands from every multinational organization to have a better optimizing strategy of digitalization, where the different digital media lie in the prime promotional tool of Sony TV, where the company spends almost $2.45 billion dollars in the US currency.

Place: The aggressive market expansion of Sony remains as the attraction of the different customers all through the world market. Although, the operations of Sony earned it the gross revenue being diversified in the different countries of Asia, North America, European countries and Latin American countries.

Product: Sony has the offer for a wide variety of products, which include the different products ranging from different kinds of high performance cameras to mobiles, with the company specializing in the manufacturing of Television and Video Camera manufacturing. While the televisions include the Z9K BRAVIA XR series, the video camera has the better 8K and 6K model of VENICE.

Physical evidence: The physical evidence of Sony have been in the launching of different sites that the company majorly uses to have a better impact on  the consumer, where the company employs Interactive Network Branding. There has been an imminent need in the market context where the Interactive Network Branding has become a prime factor for success in the company growth (Koporcic & Ivanova, 2020).

Process: The Company of Sony usually has approached the individual strategy where the company have focussed its marketing strategy on the development. Sony has been spending a considerable amount on the research and development costs to have separate brands operating under the home company, such as Sony Ericsson. The different international companies have adopted the green marketing strategy which has the better capability of retaining the consumers in the long run, as in the modern days most consumers become well-focussed on the use of products that are beneficial to the environment (Sony, 2019).

People: The employee structure of Sony has been vast, because of the company’s shareholding structure and the diversification of its business with partner Sony Ericsson. The total number of employees working under the umbrella of the company have remained as 1,10,000 Sony Group with the annual sales equity of ¥2.8 trillion (Sony.com. 2022).

Recommendations

The recommendations are as follows: –

1. Sony should focus more on the innovation and development of the new customer demands, where the several needs of the customer usually build on the understanding of the capital demand
2. Although the branding strategy of Sony has been affected to a great extent, the company should focus more on branding in the globalization era by selecting specific customer base and persuading
3. The other most prominent marketing in the company’s motion of losing is the poor development of the smart phone designs which it should innovate

Conclusion

Considering the discussion, Sony needs a better marketing strategy to stand upon, which usually helps the organization to have a developed and matured growth in the long run, where the transparency of the leadership is enhanced.

References

Argyriou, I., & Barry, J. (2021). The political economy of socio-technical transitions: A relational view of the state and bus system decarbonization in the United Kingdom. Energy Research & Social Science, 79, 102174.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102174

Do, Q., & Vu, T. (2020). Understanding consumer satisfaction with railway transportation service: An application of 7Ps marketing mix. Management Science Letters, 10(6), 1341-1350.DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2019.11.023

Koporcic, N., & Ivanova-Gongne, M. (2020). The importance of Interactive Network Branding for business relationship development: insights from emerging markets. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing.https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-10-2018-0294

Mintel Store. 2022| Mintel Store. (2022). Retrieved 13 January 2022, from https://store.mintel.com/report/uk-televisions-market-report?_ga=2.251706377.101711909.1642062398-1369442438.1642062398

Paek, B., & Lee, H. (2018). Strategic entrepreneurship and competitive advantage of established firms: evidence from the digital TV industry. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 14(4), 883-925.https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443719857615

Richardson, B. M. (2020). The political culture of Japan. University of California Press.https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520333383

Seleznyov, S., Goei, S. L., & Ehren, M. (2021). International policy borrowing and the case of Japanese Lesson Study: culture and its impact on implementation and adaptation. Professional Development in Education, 1-15.https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2021.1973069

Sony, M. (2019). Managerial Perspectives on Willingness to Pay for Green Marketing: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. In Managing Diversity, Innovation, and Infrastructure in Digital Business (pp. 116-138). IGI Global.DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-5993-1.ch006

Sony.com. (2022). Retrieved 10 January 2022, from https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/purpose_and_values/

Assignment Services Unique Submission Offers: