Executive summary
International Union Trading Company is a company dealing with the provision of services in the gulf region. It is based in the United Arab Emirates. It’s fairly new in the market although it commands a significant market share. The company is not involved in the production of commodities parse. It deals with the establishment of customers’ needs, finding possible suppliers, and facilitating the occurrence of the transaction for the mutual benefits of the parties involved. Being fairly new in the market, the company has experienced some problems in its effort to acquire its share of the market. The gulf region is a very competitive market.
Firms are in stiff competition for market share. To outdo their competitors, large firms constantly employ such mechanisms as price wars and e-marketing. They advertise their products through the internet and most of them have their own website. The International Union Trading Company searches for its client on personal and executive levels through personal connections and networking. It is in the process of enhancing its communication systems to match those of its competitors. The company is in the process of developing its website. To effectively advertise its products in the market, a customized website is important.
The management must take advantage of the use of information technology in marketing. The company has passed all its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the market. This analysis has assisted the company to effectively compete in the market. Before venturing into the business, the management had established a strong relationship with reliable suppliers with who they had made trust. The company has sought partnerships with two well-established companies as strategies to enable it to penetrate the market.
The company structure is not well developed and its activities are not organized into departments. The company operates with seven employees who handle the various activities in the business on the basis of expertise. Although young, the company has been able to acquire a good share of the market. Currently, it has expanded its activities and executes operations nationally and across borders (Scott, 92).
Introduction
International Union Trading Company was founded in the year 2008. It operates as a privately owned general trading company. The company is based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The company deals with a wide range of products and services. Their products and services include the provision of food supplies such as water and chocolates, office supplies such as desks, office furniture, and building contractors among others. Their operations extend beyond the United Arab Emirates to cover the Gulf region, Middle East, and other countries around the world where their products and services are in demand.
The company operates by reaching out to clients and providing them with their specific needs of goods and services in attractive offers and prices, by cooperating and contacting suppliers of that specific good and service and its profit through an agreed-upon commission rate. International Union Trading Company aims at satisfying their clients by searching their needs and selecting the most suitable supplier for those needs who is capable of providing those needs and offering a deal and price that satisfies all parties. To effectively attain this mission, the company has entered into partnership with two large companies; the Ghantoot Properties and The United Arab Emirates Shooting Company to assist it penetrate the market and efficiently compete with its competitors (Camp, 28).
Industry and issue
Despite the company being new to the industry, its scale of operation is very high. To minimize the cost of operation and to maintain a high profit margin, the staff is kept at minimum level. The workload of the employees is sometimes more than they can do. The company has a total of seven employees. The employees work under intense pressure. They have to search for a customer and strive to give him the best offer possible before another competitor is able to give him a counter offer at a better price.
Being an agent, the company needs to keep its customers always satisfied. The company must look for suppliers who are willing and able to supply goods at the given price and promptly so that it can keep a timely promises towards its clients. Due to the nature of work the workers have to deal with, they sometimes have to work extra hours to accomplish the task. In case of a late delivery, complications or dealings with international suppliers, the company must consider the time zone differences and so employees must work overtime to meet customer satisfaction.
The employees even though stressed by the amount of work they have at times to do, they are satisfied and well motivated. They are well paid their personal achievements are recognized and usually given commission for bringing in new clients and projects. The company’s operations deal with searching of clients and providing their needs. The search for clients is at personal and executive level. It involves personal connections and networking. The execution of operations and supplying the clients is done through the company’s reliable supplies through locating a supplier and establishing a deal that satisfies all stakeholders.
Before the company started off its operations, it was able to establish strong relationship with reliable suppliers who assist the company in times of problems. The company has laid out an effective communication network. It is able to communicate with clients of their needs and finalize the deal by providing the supplier and itself from the trade. The communication system is made effective by use of modern technology which has simplified business communications and interactions. The company has established partnership with large and well established companies like Ghantoon properties and United Arab Emirates Shooting Company to provide any necessary support required (Camp, 211-216).
The company however has encountered some challenges in its efforts to establish in the market. The market is newly established in a very competitive market. It is competing with large well established multinational companies which can employ economies of scale and be able to offer the same goods and services at a lower cost to the extent that the company cannot be able to operate and hence out of the market.
The company is in the process of developing its communication systems. It is very busy developing its website. This means that the company does not have good communication systems. Its low capital base transmits to low investments in advertisement and weak publicity to raise the awareness of the reputation of the company. Wile the competitors are using well designed personalized web sites to advertise for their products and services the International Union Trading Company is relying on use of phone calls. The company has very few employees in relation to the work to be done. The workload on each employee is overwhelming.
This limits the performance of the company and lowers the quality of work done as work is done under stress. This limits the company’s capacity on landing deals at the same time. Due to lack of well established communication through use of web, the company relies on personal relationship and contacts in search of clients in the market. In United Arab Emirates it is mandatory that every company must have an online business access as this is how the customers’ minds are set. The International Union Trading Company however enjoys a certain degree of opportunities. If this opportunities are well taken care of and highly considered, the company can competitively out do most of its competitors. The company is based in the United Arab Emirates market.
The Unite Arabs Emirate economy is the best in the Gulf region and hence the company has a higher opportunity for success than when it is based outside this market. The company also enjoys the benefits of diversification. Through its diversification process the company is able to provide a variety of services. This means that the International United Company has many chances of survival.
If one line fails or is operating at a loss, the effects are neutralized by the benefits from the profit making lines of services. The company is guided by well developed policies. It has a well guided strategy of high risk tolerance policy which can enable it make use of the current depreciation of the market and invest more in expanding to increase its market share (Schlesinger & Heskett, 98-101).
Research Plan outlines and comments
The research data was obtained from the company itself. The research plan involved use of interviews, filling of questionnaires and observation methods. The researcher conducted an oral interview with one of the employees and the Chief executive officer. The researcher used open ended question where the respondent was expected to answer according to his or her perception. The questionnaires were designed in such a way that the questions guided the respondent on how and what to answer.
The questionnaires were used to establish the employees’ satisfaction on the job. The researcher conducted a direct observation and recording. The International union Trading Company is a fairly new and small established company in a very competitive marketplace. To effectively and efficiently establish in the market, the management must find possible ways and means to compete favourably with well established companies. To do this the management must identify their strengths as well as their weaknesses which can affect their competitiveness in the market. The management must carry out a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat (SWOT) analysis.
The company needs to do a detailed SWOT analysis of each potential competitor focusing strictly on their absolute competitive strengths and weaknesses. They need to look at each competitor’s resources, cost structure, sources of profit, and level of vertical integration, product differentiation and competitive positioning in the market among other factors. Being a new company in the market, the international Union Trading Company had to invest in research to get the information necessary for accurate marketing analysis. The management realized that it had to get assistance from large and well established companies and hence it sought partnership with Ghantoot properties and Emirates Shooting companies to provide the necessary support and credibility.
The company has a strong relationship with important figures and companies resulting from strong connections of its founders with large companies. The company acts as an agent for products from large and well established companies. Its operation costs are always low as they involve costs for contacting the suppliers and the customers. The low operation costs ensures high profit margin for the company. The company operates with the minimum number of employees. This keeps the operation costs to the minimal and hence increasing the profit margin. The International Union Trading Company entered the market while companies were exciting the market, with a strong financial position. This enabled the company to develop strategic marketing plans and carry them as required.
All these factors complice the strengths of the company. Beside these strengths the company is not without weaknesses. The company has very few employees in relation to the scope of work to be done. The employees are always busy and occupied with work. There was no break and no sharing of duties. Each employee was assigned a special task to do. Due to the little number of employees’ absenteeism of a single employee can destabilize the flow of work as his gap cannot be effectively filled. The employees are so engaged to their duties such that they hardly get time for lunch. Sometimes they are forced to take lunch on their desks while still working in an attempt to save time (Porter, 229-233).
Competitive market study of the industry and the environment in which the company operates, and the way it can be improved
The International Union trading Company operates in a fairly competitive environment. It does compete for clients with other large well established companies which operate on international levels. There are multinational companies in this region who are a threat to the survival of this company. Due to their large financial and operational base, they enjoy economies of scale. Being a small company in this industry and new to the trade, the management has Cleary assed all possible barriers into the market by established firms. To overcome the threat it has sought partnership with large companies.
The company also deals with a wide range of services so as to enjoy economies of product differences. To reduce the intensity of competitive rivalry, the company is in the process of developing a sustainable competitive procedure through improvisation of product differentiation process. The United Arab Emirate market is very competitive; Companies employ all sorts of techniques to win the favor of their customers. The companies deliver their products to the customers’ door steps. For a company to succeed in this market place it must operate an on-line. Most customers rely on the internet to order or request for supplies.
Most businesses are conducted on the web. The company is therefore required to have its own web from where it can advertise its products. The company must develop an effective e- marketing strategy that will help it construct a brand identity that will differentiate its products from the competitors. The International United Trading Company must intensify its campaign based on product, promotion and people. The company needs to set up high outline relations through personalizing their products. This technique will help the company connect to its prospective customers and establish brand identity to its customers.
The company must develop a well-organized product promotion strategy. This needs a high level of creativity and efforts. The company need to keep itself updated with the current e- marketing strategies. This trend gives an effective way to promote the products through the web. Through good marketing strategies, the product and services of the company stands out of their competitors’ products. The mix of a personalized product together with a customer based promotional plan can change web surfers to customers.
Trough efficient e- marketing campaign the company will attain increased website interchange and good conversion ratios. For the company to realize its business objectives, its e- mail marketing promotion should be a mixture of strategies depending on the business resources and its needs. The website design of a company’s web site attaches some degree of credibility to its products. The web should be aesthetically designed while maintaining a high degree of usability and navigation so as to increase the webs marketing ability. The company can further personalize its web by incorporating referral marketing into its e- marketing campaign.
This will enable the company to get a large customer base to its website and therefore large market for its products. Referral e- marketing will assist the company to develop a strong client base, have repeat customers and increase sense of belonging of your clients. Due to intense use of e- commerce in this region, constant evaluation and appraisal of marketing strategies is inevitable. The company can further enhance its e-marketing campaign by integrating auto-responders into its web. This is a system where an automatic response is sent by a customer through mail. These services may be in form of newsletters, freebies, notifications, e-mail courses and promotions. The company can also increase its website’s page rank through establishment of search engine optimization. This involves article writing whereby articles are written and distributed on other websites with page rank. This technology increases the company’s website traffic and credibility (Levinson, 117-121).
Research findings
The company does not have an organization structure. The operations are not divided into departments. Work is shared depending on employees’ skills and capabilities. Despite this drawback the company has gone international. It is competing with companies which have well established organization structures. Operations are organized into departments and with well developed communication systems in form of websites. The employees of the company are really overworked.
The argument is that they are well paid and so the expected rate of turn over is almost zero. In the United Arab Emirate, labor laws are very weak. Employees are not well represented especially the semi skilled and unskilled labor. In this region, the rate of unemployment is very high. Employee exploitation in the private sector is high. People shun away from working in private sector due to poor financial benefits, heavy workload and poor working conditions. The International Union Trading Company is not in a hurry to recruit more employees despite the heavy work load its employees have to do. Despite an assurance from the chief executive officer about the satisfaction of the employees on their jobs, it is evident from the interviews with the employees that the workload is far much greater than their capabilities.
Due to few numbers of employees, work completion is always delayed. It had taken more than two days to make the company’s website since the work was assigned to one person. The employees are subjected to fatigue thus lowering their productivity. The management has taken the advantages of exploiting the employees since the rate of turnover is very low. This is because the rate of unemployment in the United Arab Emirates is in crisis and keeps on rising. The management knows very well that no employee would wish to leave employment as securing another job is a problem (Lamb, Robert &Boyden, 112).
Conclusion
The International Union Trading Company has a high potential to develop into one of the largest companies in the United Arab Emirate and the Gulf region in general. This is exhibited by the rate at which the company is penetrating the market. From the analysis it is evident that the management of the company is well equipped on strategies and the nature of the market it is operating in. The company has identified all of its strengths and capitalized on them to get a competitive advantage over its competitors.
The company is taking no chance to develop its opportunities into reality. It is able to quickly and efficiently turn any available opportunity into strength. The company has successfully been able to win support of well established suppliers and two large companies in assisting it compete favorably in the market. The company is based in a region with high rate of unemployment and hence it is able to maximum use the available human resources without fear of desertion or high rate of turn over. The company has also been favored by the recent development in information technology. It is able to conduct its business easily through phones, fax and e-mails which has provided efficient communication with their suppliers as well as clients.
The entry point of the company has given it an opportunity to thrive. It has entered into the market when other firms are leaving due to the effect of the ongoing global economic crisis. The management has the full knowledge of the effect and can accurately predict the outcome of the crisis. It is there fore able to make valid and long-term decision to the benefit of the company. This has greatly lowered the company’s operating costs therefore increasing its profit margin (Franlyn 245).
Work cited
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Lamb, Robert &Boyden Competitive strategic management, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1984.
Levinson, J, Guerrilla Marketing, Secrets for making big profits from your small business, Houghton Muffin Co. New York, 1984. Web.
Porter, M.E. Competitive Strategy, Free Press, New York, 1980.
Schlesinger, L. & Heskett, J. “Customer Satisfaction is rooted in Employee Satisfaction,” Harvard Business Review, 1991.
Scott, A. “The Value of Formal Planning for Strategic Decisions”. Strategic Management Journal, 3: 197–211. 1982. Web.
Franlyn, S.H. Strategic Planning… A Conceptual Study, Bureau of Business Research, The University of Texas, 1964.