Mi Company: Strategic Marketing

Before: Introductory Overview

Successful companies take the issue of marketing seriously to ensure that the targeted customers receive finished products and services in a timely manner. As one of the emerging companies in China, Mi has managed to remain innovative and produce superior gadgets that resonate with the demands of different potential customers. It engages in continuous research and development (R&D) to manufacture smartphone devices that can compete directly with some of the giant corporations in its industry, including Tecno and Oppo. Currently, Mi is operating an effective business model that is guided by the expectations different customers and business partners outline (Panigrahi, 2019). Despite the presence of these best practices, Mi is yet to adopt an effective marketing mix that can make it more competitive in different regions across the globe. Although Mi has high-quality products, it has affected the integrity of its strategy by failing to identify more potential customers. Due to the nature of this weakness, the company is unable to market its products to individuals in the developing world where the demand is still high (Lam and Leung, 2018). This research study analyses the nature of these challenges and gaps in order to propose an evidence-based approach to deal with them.

During: Proposed Solutions

The managers and decision-makers at Mi can overturn the current situation by considering a number of issues affecting profitability. First, they can examine the current nature of the marketing mix and how it adds value to the established business processes (Abamu, 2019). This analysis will expose the weaknesses of the current practices and how they have been affecting its overall strategy. The acquired ideas will become new guidelines for improving the business model and ensuring that more customers get value for money without having to purchase expensive items (Dewi, 2019). Such a process should also guide a new approach for transforming operations and identifying emerging issues that can disorient the targeted vision, mission and organisational aims. The involvement of all key partners will change the situation and encourage them to support the new change.

Second, Mi needs to re-examine the nature of the current marketing mix to identify the existing gaps that might affect the targeted results. This initiative will make it possible for the leaders to identify the weakest links, such as advertising and promotion and place. Presently, Mi is focusing primarily on the regional market to deliver its products to more customers. Its penetration in emerging economies and countries remains quite low. Consequently, this organisation has not expanded its business model or marketed more items in different parts of the world (Xiao, Zhou and Zeng, 2017). Therefore, the current rival companies have capitalised on this weakness to attract more clients and become more competitive. Thus, this company should identify the most appropriate markets and consider the power of guerrilla marketing practices to inform the customers about the intended products (see Figure 1).

Third, a coordinated model is needed that includes all key stakeholders and encourages them to be involved in the outlined activities. For instance, the R&D team and the workers at the company should deliver high-quality products that can compete successfully with the established brands in the global arena (Wilton, 2016). The marketing departments can identify the marketing models different organisations have implemented and emulate what has been working for them to maximise performance. The leaders need to reevaluate the concepts of pricing and place in order to ensure that positive results are recorded in the future (Kouzes and Posner, 2017). These initiatives have the potential the change the current situation and make Mi one of the leading players in the regional and global industry.

After: Implementation Activities

The above proposals and recommendations have the potential to improve Mi’s current marketing mix by ensuring that it innovates and delivers high-quality products, uses appropriate pricing decisions and identifies emerging regions that maximise the volume of sales. With this kind of implementation, chances are high that more individuals will be informed about the presence of high-quality technological devices and how they can transform their experiences and lives (Wang et al., 2016). The quality of such devices will ensure that more customers are willing to buy the products and start ignoring those from other companies. However, such an outcome will only be plausible if the major aspects of the marketing mix augment each other effectively (Maon and Sen, 2016). The leaders will have to consider the most appropriate initiatives to understand the unique needs of the people and income levels to set the right prices and promotional activities. When all stakeholders pursue such initiatives effectively, Mi will increase the chances of achieving the intended goals.

The emerging markets are characterised by more people who are currently getting better wages and salaries than ever before. The wave of globalisation has levelled the playing ground for many societies and communities since technology has become a key attribute of both the emerging and developed countries. This development means that the decision to focus on these new markets will attract more potential buyers and increase chances of success (Xiao, Zhou and Zeng, 2017). The case of Samsung can become a powerful guideline since its move to target and offer its products in such regions has made it one of the leading brands in the world today. When Mi considers a similar approach, the percentage of sales will increase significantly and plough back the recorded profits to continue improving organisational performance and effectiveness.

The above section has also identified the idea of R&D as essential towards supporting the proposed marketing recommendations. This department will need to collaborate and work synergistically with the marketing department to understand the emerging expectations and desires of some of the targeted customers in different regions (Morrison, 2017). The company can rely on the power of social media platforms to gather adequate information from the users and their unique experiences, such as Whatsapp, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. This knowledge will guide the department to introduce additional systems and features to their products and make them more user-friendly and capable of meeting the needs of all key customers (Rackley, 2015). Such a development will make it possible for the company to widen its processes, attract additional clients and eventually compete directly with the established organisations operating in the identified markets.

The suggested measures have the potential to increase the company’s profitability and sales. The leaders will have to consider such gains to add value to all workers and innovators by providing good working environments and resources that can make it easier for them to deliver their expertise efficiently and solve their personal problems. When these individuals become motivated, it will be possible for them to become more involved and willing to solve every identified challenge (Rezaee, 2017). Such initiatives will become part of the company’s internal culture and eventually deliver long-term results. With this kind of achievement, Mi will encounter minimal obstacles whenever identifying or attracting new talent in the near future. The hired individuals and technicians will go further to support the production and marketing of high-quality devices to the increasing number of customers. This trend will become a new opportunity for Mi to remain competitive and successful in both the local and foreign markets.

Finally, the outlined proposals need to become part of the company’s business model. The leaders will have to consider emerging practices and issues that can be introduced into the company to maximise performance and meet the changing demands of all key stakeholders. With the increasing profits, Mi will become more involved in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and transform the experiences of many community members (Yuliansyah, Gurd and Mohamed, 2017). These initiatives will make this company admirable in different parts of the world and encourage more partners to be involved in most of its activities. These initiatives will improve the level of performance and make Mi a leading competitor.

Reflections: Personal Progress

The completed exercise has given me a new opportunity to experiment and work as a marketer for Mi. The activity has compelled me to read widely and consult more articles and books describing the selected topic. I have gone further to analyse the internal and external aspects of Mi as one of the leading companies in the Chinese economy. These initiatives have made it easier for me to identify some of the problems or gaps that might be making it impossible for this company to achieve most of its objectives (Browaeys and Price, 2015). I have gone further to provide evidence-based approaches that can transform Mi’s business model and operations strategy, thereby making it more competitive in its industry. By completing these tasks, I have developed a powerful personal philosophy of marketing.

The selected case has equipped me with various concepts, approaches, initiatives and competencies that will make it easier for me to succeed in this field. This argument is possible since I have understood how marketing theory is applicable in different settings or situations depending on the needs of the selected customers (Wilton, 2016). The exercise has guided me to identify emerging challenges and obstacles that can make it hard for a company to achieve its aims and compete successfully in the global market (Xiao, Zhou and Zeng, 2017). I have managed to reexamine the four marketing 4Ps since they remain critical for all businesses that intend to launch or deliver their products successfully to the identified buyers in different parts of the world. I can now apply these aspects in various scenarios to ensure that positive results are recorded in a timely manner.

Marketing has stood out as an action plan that cannot be completed by one department alone. The completed study has identified it as a process that requires all partners and workers to collaborate if positive results are recorded in a short period. As a future investor and marketer, I will consider this knowledge to improve the performance of my business and include different stakeholders to improve organisational performance (Samiee and Chirapanda, 2019). The idea of CSR has stood out for me since it has the potential to make a significant difference between performance and failure (Wang et al., 2016). I will always consider the concept to change the experiences of more community members and key partners.

In conclusion, I will go further to examine how most of these ideas and concepts could be merged to deliver a competitive marketing strategy that has the potential maximise organisational performance. The idea of lifelong learning will also become more critical for me to continue improving my knowledge and skills in this field. It would also be necessary to undertake some marketing activities in order to examine the practicability and effectiveness of my ideas (Abamu, 2019). The practices will make it possible for me to identify my weakness areas and address them accordingly. The studied materials and completed exercises have, therefore, widened my competencies in business operations, strategy formulation, organisational decision-making and marketing.

Reference List

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