STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

STUDY ON FUNCTIONAL STRATEGIES OF THREE DIFFERENT COMPANIES

SUBMITTED BY

PRADNYA S WAKODE

ROLL NO. 1515059

M.COM (BUSINESS MANAGEMENT) [Semester 1]

MULUND COLLEGE OF COMMERCE

MULUND (W) – 400081.

SUBMITTED TO

UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

ACADEMIC YEAR

2015-16

PROJECT GUIDE

PROF. SAMEER VELANKAR

DECLARATION

I, Miss PRADNYA S WAKODE (Roll No. 1515059), of Mulund College of Commerce of

M.Com (Business Management) (Part 1) [Semester 1], hereby declare, that I have completed

my project titled, ‘Study on functional strategies of three different companies’

The information submitted herein is true and original to the best of my knowledge.

________________________

Signature of Student

PRADNYA S WAKODE

MULUND COLLEGE OF COMMERCE,

MULUND (W)-400 081.

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that, Ms. PRADNYA S WAKODE, of M.Com Business Management

Semester 1(2015-2016) has successfully completed the project of Strategic management on

study of functional strategies of three different companies under the guidance of Prof.

SAMEER VELANKAR.

______________________________

Principal

[Dr. Parvathi Venkatesh]

______________________________

Course Coordinator

[ Prof .Shivaji Pawar]

______________________________

Internal Examiner

[Prof Sameer Velankar]

______________________________

[ External Examiner]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I, PRADNYA S. WAKODE,the student of Mulund College Of Commerce studying in first

year Master Of Commerce in Buisness Management would like to express my sincere

gratitude to Principal Dr. Mrs PARVATHI VENKATESH for her constant encouragement

and support during thecompletion of this project. I also take this opportunity to thank our co-

ordinator prof .SHIVAJI PAWAR. I extend my heartiest thanks to Prof. SAMEER

VELANKAR for enlightening my path.without his advice this project was impossible

I also feel grateful and elated in expressing my indebtedness to my parents, my friends and all those who have directly or indirectly helped me in accomplishing this research.

Objective Of Study

To study the strategic management and its process

To highlight the organisational frame strategies in all functional areas

To study functional strategies of companies

INDEX

CHAPTERNO.

PARTICULARS PAGENO.

1 Introduction to Recruitment & Factors affecting Recruitment 6

2 Sources of Recruitment 9

3 Internal sources of recruitment 10

4 Advantages 11

5 Disadvantages 12

6 External Sources of Recruitment & its methods 13

7 Advantages 15

8 Disadvantages 16

9 Introduction to Selection 17

10 Selection procedure & steps 18

11 Advantages & Disadvantages of Selection 19

12 Introduction to Indian Tobacco Co. ( Products & Brands ) 21

13 History of ITC 23

14 Need, Objective & Scope of the study 27

15 Recruitment & Selection practices at ITC 28

16 Data analysis & Interpretation 31

17 Questionnaire 35

18 Findings & suggestions 38

19 Bibliography 39

20 Webliography 40

INTRODUCTION

MEANING AND DEFINITION :

The word strategy has derived from the greek word ‘Strategos’. Strategic management is the

continuous planning, monitoring, analysis and assessment of all that is necessary for an

organization to meet its goals and objectives.

Strategic management can also be defined as a bundle of decisions and acts which a

manager undertakes and which decides the result of the firm’s performance. The manager

must have a thorough knowledge and analysis of the general and competitive organizational

environment so as to take right decisions. They should conduct a SWOT analysis (Strengths,

Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), i.e., they should make best possible utilization of

strengths, minimize the organizational weaknesses, make use of arising opportunities from

the business environment and shouldn’t ignore the threats.

Strategic management is nothing but planning for both predictable as well as unfeasible

contingencies. It is applicable to both small as well as large organizations as even the smallest

organization face competition and, by formulating and implementing appropriate strategies,

they can attain sustainable competitive advantage.It is a way in which strategists set the

objectives and proceed about attaining them. It deals with making and implementing

decisions about future direction of an organization. It helps us to identify the direction in

which an organization is moving. Strategic management is a continuous process that

evaluates and controls the business and the industries in which an organization is involved;

evaluates its competitors and sets goals and strategies to meet all existing and potential

competitors; and then reevaluates strategies on a regular basis to determine how it has been

implemented and whether it was successful or does it needs replacementOrganization exist

for a purpose. The mission is articulated in a broadly defined but enduring statement of

purpose that identifies the scope of an organization’s operations and its offerings to affected

groups and entities. Most organizations of a significant size or stature have developed a

formal mission statement. Strategy refers to top management’s plans to develop and sustain

competitive advantage—a state whereby a firm’s successful strategies cannot be easily

duplicated by its competitors.

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PROCESS

Strategic management process has following four steps:

1. Environmental Scanning - Environmental scanning refers to a process of collecting,

scrutinizing and providing information for strategic purposes. It helps in analyzing the

internal and external factors influencing an organization.

External Analysis: Analyze the opportunities and threats, or constraints, that exist

in the organization’s external environment, including industry and forces in the

external environment.

Internal Analysis: Analyze the organization’s strengths and weaknesses in its

internal environment. Consider the context of managerial ethics and corporate

social responsibility .

2. Strategy Formulation-  Strategy formulation is the process of deciding best course of

action for accomplishing organizational objectives and hence achieving organizational

purpose. After conducting environment scanning, managers formulate corporate,

business and functional strategies.

3. Strategy Implementation - Strategy implementation implies making the strategy

work as intended or putting the organization’s chosen strategy into action. Strategy

implementation includes designing the organization’s structure, distributing resources,

developing decision making process, and managing human resources.

4. Strategy Evaluation- Strategy evaluation is the final step of strategy management

process. The key strategy evaluation activities are: appraising internal and external

factors that are the root of present strategies, measuring performance, and taking

remedial / corrective actions. Evaluation makes sure that the organizational strategy as

well as it’s implementation meets the organizational objectives

The Advantages of Strategic Management

Discharges Responsibility

Many organizations undertake a strategic management process in order to discharge their

responsibilities. There is an expectation from shareholders, stakeholders and the general

community at large, that a well-managed organization has a strategic management process

that guides its future success.

Allows an Objective Assessment

Strategic management provides a discipline that allows the senior management team to take a

step back from the day-to-day business and think about the future of the organization.

Without this discipline, the organization can become solely consumed with working through

the next issue or problem without consideration to the larger picture, longer-term trends and

associated operational and environmental alignment.

Provides a Framework for Decision-Making

It is not possible for senior management to know all the operational decisions staff make on a

day-to-day basis. The cumulative effect of these day-today decisions, can have a significant

impact on the success of the organization. Providing a framework within which staff can

make these day-to-day decisions helps better focus their efforts on those activities that will

best support the organization's success.

Facilitates Measurement of Progress

Establishing performance measures that are aligned with the strategy and provide timely and

meaningful information is critical to breaking through the excessive “information noise”. It

helps ensure timely, informed strategic decisions to be made. Strategy sets the direction and

enables an organization to align its objectives and performance measures. These objectives

and performance measures allow meaningful information to be provided to decision-makers

regarding the organization’s progress through such vehicles as scorecards and dashboards.

Enhances Strategic Agility (Innovation)

An organization is deemed to have “Strategic Agility” when it can successfully capitalize

upon opportunities resulting from unanticipated and significant change. When formulated

appropriately, strategy can improve the ability of the organization to respond effectively to

significant change. Organizational strategy is both formulated and formed.

Disadvantages of Strategic Management

Complex Process

Strategic management involves continuous assessments of critical components, such as

external and internal environments, short-term and long-term objectives, organizational

structure, and strategic control. The external factor, which is the poor economy, changes the

internal environment, which is the number of people employed. Then, a company may need

to review objectives and make necessary adjustments. All of these factors ultimately

influence a company’s management, leadership and structural systems, which have a bearing

on decision-making.

Time Consuming

Managers spend a great deal of time preparing, researching and communicating the strategic

management process, which may impede day-to-day operations and negatively impact the

business. For example, managers may overlook daily issues needing resolution, and

inadvertently cause a decrease in employee productivity and short-term sales. When issues

are not resolved in a timely manner, higher employee turnover can result. This could force a

company to redirect critical resources, putting strategic management initiatives on a side

track.

Difficult Implementation

The implementation process requires a clearly communicated plan, implemented in a way

that requires full attention, active participation, and accountability of not only company

leaders, but also of all members across the organization. There are instances where this can

become particularly challenging.

Requires Skillful Planning

Although strategic plans help reduce uncertainty in meeting long-term objectives, the

planning process itself provides opportunities for missteps. An organization needs to

anticipate the future, which involves various degrees of change as well as risks. In order to

avoid pitfalls, managers need to have the right skill sets to plan the strategy and mitigate risk

factors.

TYPES OF FUNCTIONAL STRATEGIES

1.Marketing strategy is the fundamental goal of increasing sales and achieving a sustainable

competitive advantage. Marketing strategy includes all basic, short-term, and long-term

activities in the field of marketing that deal with the analysis of the strategic initial situation

of a company and the formulation, evaluation and selection of market-oriented strategies and

therefore contribute to the goals of the company and its marketing objectives

2. Research and development strategy deals with two very important things

product innovation process

process improvement

It also deals with the questions like how new technology should be assessed? Internal

development, external acquisition etc. Now here the company has two choices either be a

technological leader or technological follower

3.Human Resource Management strategy-HRM is the strategic and coherent approach to

the management of the organization’s most valued assets – The people. Human resources are

most important resources of any organisation It is the responsibility of human resource

department to ensure that organization recruits the correct staff, and that staff receives

appropriate training to ensure that the business meets its aim. Therefore this function is

central to the function of business.

4.Financial strategy-It focuses on the alignment of financial management within an

organization with its buisness and corporate strategies to gain strategic advantage. It includes

evaluation, forecasting, planning, budgeting, financial mix, credit strategies, liquidity

strategies, capital investment methods and systems.

5.Information Management strategy- It focuses on the alignment of information

management within an organization with its business and corporate strategies to gain strategic

advantage

PROCTER AND GAMBLE

Introduction

Procter & Gamble Co., also known as P&G, is a successful American multinational

consumer goods company headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, United States,

founded by William Procter and James Gamble, both from the United Kingdom. Its products

include cleaning agents, and personal care products. Prior to the sale of Pringles to the

Kellogg Company, its product line included foods and beverages. In 2014, P&G recorded

$83.1 billion in sales. On August 1, 2014, P&G announced it was streamlining the company,

dropping around 100 brands and concentrating on the remaining 80 brands, which produced

95 percent of the company's profits. A.G. Lafley, the company's chairman, president and

CEO, said the future P&G would be "a much simpler, much less complex company of

leading brands that's easier to manage and operate".

History of P&G

Candle maker William Procter and soap maker James Gamble, both born in the United

Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, emigrated from England and Ireland respectively.

They settled in Cincinnati initially and met when they married sisters, Olivia and Elizabeth

Norris. Alexander Norris, their father-in-law, called a meeting in which he persuaded his new

sons-in-law to become business partners. On October 31, 1837, as a result of the suggestion,

Procter & Gamble was created.

In 1859, sales reached one million dollars. By this point, approximately eighty employees

worked for Procter & Gamble. During the American Civil War, the company won contracts

to supply the Union my with soap and candles. In addition to the increased profits

experienced during the war, the military contracts introduced soldiers from all over the

country to Procter & Gamble's products. In the 1880s, Procter & Gamble began to market a

new product, an inexpensive soap that floats in water. The company called the soap Ivory.

The company began to build factories in other locations in the United States, because the

demand for products had outgrown the capacity of the Cincinnati facilities As radio became

more popular in the 1920s and 1930s, the company sponsored a number of radio

programs .As a result, these shows often became commonly known as ‘’soap operas”

The company moved into other countries, both in terms of manufacturing and product sales.

Numerous new products and brand names were introduced over time, and Procter & Gamble

began branching out into new areas. The company introduced "Tide" laundry detergent in

1946 and "Prell" shampoo in 1950. In 1955, Procter & Gamble began selling the first

toothpaste to contain fluoride, known as "Crest". Procter & Gamble began making "Downy"

fabric softener in 1960 and "Bounce" fabric softener sheets in 1972.

One of the most revolutionary products to come out on the market was the company's

"Pampers", first test-marketed in 1961.Prior to this point disposable diapers were not

popular .Although Johnson & Johnson had developed a product called "Chux". Babies always

wore cloth diapers, which were leaky and labor intensive to wash. Pampers simplified the

diapering process. Procter & Gamble acquired a number of other companies that diversified

its product line and increased profits significantly .These acquisitions included Folgers

Coffee, Norwich Eaton Pharmaceuticals, Richardson-Vicks, Noxell, Shulton's Old Spice,

Max Factor. In January 2005 P&G announced an acquisition of Gillette, forming the largest

consumer goods company and placing Unilever into second place .This added brands such as

Gillette razors, Duracell, Braun, and Oral-B to their stable. The acquisition was approved by

the European Union and the Federal Trade Commission.

Sectors of P&G

Beauty Care

Baby, Feminine, and Family Care

Fabric and Home Care

Health and Grooming

SMOs

MARKETING STRATEGIES OF P&G

The marketing mix is a business tool used in marketing and by marketing professionals. The

marketing mix is often crucial when determining a product or brand's offering, and is often

synonymous with the four Ps: price, product, promotion, and place; in service marketing,

however, the four Ps have been expanded to the Seven Ps or eight Ps to address the different

nature of services. In recent times, the concept of four Cs has been introduced as a more

customer-driven replacement of four Ps.

Pricing Strategy

Costs of the products are subject to fluctuations, particularly due to changes in commodity

prices, raw materials and cost of labor, foreign exchange and interest rates. Therefore,

success rate of the company is dependent, in part, on its continued ability to manage these

fluctuations through pricing actions, cost savings projects, sourcing decisions and certain

hedging transactions. It must also manage their debt and currency exposure, especially in

certain countries, such as Venezuela, China and India They need to maintain key

manufacturing and supply arrangements, including sole supplier and sole manufacturing plant

arrangements. They must implement, achieve and sustain cost improvement plans, including

our outsourcing projects and those related to general overhead and workforce optimization.

Successfully managing these changes, including identifying, developing and retaining key

employees, are critical to their success.

Optional – feature pricing

Product- line pricing

Cost- plus pricing

Competitive pricing

Distribution pricing

Promotion Strategy

Promotion is done through the following modes:

Media

Radio

Hoardings

Consumer promotion

Fragrance oriented and eco friendly Newspaper

Various promotional offers

P & G is spending 30-35 % of its sales in Advertisement and Promotion which is

highest in the industry, HUL expends only 15% of sales on Advertisement and

Promotion.

“Thank You, Mom” Campaign

P&G's corporate campaign kicked off in April with its first ``Thank You, Mom'' TV

spot.

It also has a dedicated ``Thank, You Mom'' Facebook page and app that allows people

to send ``Thank you'' messages to their mothers.

P&G is sponsoring more than 150 global athletes. P&G is sponsoring a few athletes

like boxer Mary Kom and runner Kavita Raut, giving their mothers a chance to see

them perform and hopefully win at London this year.

SHIKSHA – Campaign by P&G

Product Strategy

P&G has many products and strategies have to be framed properly for marketing of those

products. At first, Product classification is being made and afterwards product is being

differentiated on the basis of its form,features,its performance etc. Corporate social

responsibility initiatives are been taken. In order to attract more customers products are

packaged attractively as well as catchy taglines are given for the product.

Product classification – service consumer good

Product differentiation- form , features , performance , reliability Superior technology

CSR initiatives

Attractive packaging

Catchy taglines

Established as a brand itself

Place Strategy

In store placement strategy

Already existing strong links in urban area

Rural penetration

Develop marketing channels as strong and penetrated so that it would gain access to

remote areas

Strategic location of warehouse

Increase wholesale dealers in small towns so that they can go to the nearby villages

National coverage would be dealt with by increasing the company’s warehouses and

creating C&F agents in the smaller cities

Positioning

The place the product occupies in consumers’ minds relative to competing products.

Typically defined by consumers on the basis of important attributes. Involves implanting the

brand’s unique benefits and differentiation in the customer’s mind. Positioning maps that plot

perceptions of brands are commonly used.

Differentiation can be based on

Products

Services

Channels

People

Developing the Strategy through use of the Creative Work

Plan 1

Key Fact: A single piece of known information relating to the brand which is agreed to be

the leading factor influencing or describing the brand performance. It may be information

about the brand itself, the competition, the customer; innovation etc. but it must be a single

fact

2 Problem the advertising must solve: This is a consumer problem. It describes the

awareness, perception or behavior of the prospective user which has resulted in the Key Fact

and which we wish to change.

3 Advertising Objective: Usually, simply the counterpart to the problem, although there are a

great many distinct options. E.g. "Persuade consumers to try my brand" Or "use more of my

brand." Or "use my brand in a different." Persuade them that my brand is a viable alternative

to brand x".

4. Strategy:

a) Prospect Definition- Both demographics and psychographics.

b) Principal Competition.- Not just a list of competitors but a description of the segment

from which we wish to obtain business

c) Promise- The single most persuasive agreement one can advance for the brand framed with

the customer and the competition in mind.

d) Reason Why- The strongest piece of support for the promise. Occasionally there may be

more than one piece of support but never a list

e) Tone/Character- The tone that messages should convey to provide personality to the

message and bring it alive. This is not executional.

As you can see, the format is very simple. However, like everything at Procter & Gamble,

the use of the simple tool is handled by experts in the field. That is what makes the tool so

effective.

Channels of distribution

The path through which goods and services travel from the vendor to the consumer or

payments for those products travel from the consumer to the vendor. A distribution channel

can be as short as a direct transaction from the vendor to the consumer, or may include

several interconnected intermediaries along the way such as wholesalers, distributors, agents

and retailers. Each intermediary receives the item at one pricing point and movies it to the

next higher pricing point until it reaches the final buyer. Coffee does not reach the consumer

before first going through a channel involving the farmer, exporter, importer, distributor and

the retailer. Also called the channel of distribution.

Distribution network of P&G :-

P&G keeping broaden the market by slashing its no. of distributors down to one-tenth

of its size

85% of its sales come from the top 30 towns & its current volume did not justify a

large distributor network.

So P&G will now have one distributer who will operate like super stockist. Which

help to replenish its distributors more frequently and reduce their average stock level.

P&G keep growing on ROI (Return on Investment) which resulted in each distributer

trying to extend its reach to push up volumes.

With a limited number of distributers, P&G will also not need to invest in C&F

agents.

P & G follows wholesale format of distribution for Vicks.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF P&G

Strengths

Strong focus on Research and development

P&G has strong research and development capabilities. Additionally, P&G also involves

external innovation partners to boost its internal innovative capability, an approach it calls

‘Connect and Develop.’ P&G is ranked amongst one of the top-20 largest R&D investors

among US-based companies. The best proof of  its innovation capability is the number of top-

selling new products that come from P&G. Strong focus on research and development allows

P&G to renew its product line at regular intervals, which boosts customer loyalty and revenue

growth.

Leading market position

P&G has leading market positions across most of its businesses. P&G is the global market

leader in beauty segment with leading market shares , owing to its brands Always, Head &

Shoulders, Olay, Pantene. The company also holds a leading position in oral care. In

pharmaceuticals and personal health, Actonel, Crest, and Oral-B are well known brands in the

company's health care segment. The company is also the market leader in fabric care such as

Ariel and Tide. In baby care, the company has a global market share of over 32%, competing

through the strong Pampers brand. The acquisition of Gillette has enabled P&G to hold

leading market share in manual blades and razors segment with a global market share of

approximately 70%.

Diversified product portfolio

P&G has diversified product portfolios. The company participates in more than 22 global

product categories with 300 brands in over 180 markets. The company markets a range of

products across six segments: beauty; grooming; health care; snacks, coffee, and pet care;

fabric care and home care; and baby care, and family care.

Strong brand portfolio

P&G has strong portfolio of brands. P&G’s portfolio includes 24 brands that generate over

1,000 million in annual sales and 20 brands that generate between $500 million and $1 billion

in annual sales. Combined, these 44 brands account for 85% or more of its sales and profits.

Strong portfolio of brands enables the company to deliver consistent, reliable top- and

bottom-line growth.

Weaknesses

1. The beauty and health products by P & G are mostly for women. P & G does not

make and offer any private label products for the retail customers.

2. Fake products sold under the name of P&G brands. Its products have stiff

competition from big domestic players and international brands.

Dependent on Wal-Mart Stores for majority of its revenue

P&G is heavily dependent on Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Wal-Mart) and its affiliates for

generating major part of its revenue. Any decrease in revenue from Wal-Mart could have a

negative impact on the company's businesses.

Opportunities

An opportunity for P & G is health and beauty products for men.

Expansion in developing markets

The consumer products business is driven significantly by three basic demographic factors:

population growth, household formation, and household income growth. These factors are

now driving strong growth in many of the company's developing markets including China

and Russia.P&G is using its portfolio of leading brands to attract, build and expand a network

of distributors.

Growing Indian FMCG market

The Indian Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry is likely to witness strong

growth in the future. The growth would be attributable to the rising income and increasing

demand. The survey points that consumer' preferences for FMCGs are shifting towards

higher lifestyle categories like skin care, shampoos, deodorants, anti-aging solutions, fairness

products and men's products in particular. This provides P&G with an opportunity to enhance

its market share as well as expand its presence in other categories.

Threats

Regulatory Environment

Several consumer protection groups are voicing concerns over the presence of harmful

chemical ingredients in cosmetic products. A recent study showed that about one-third of

cosmetic products contain carcinogens. Due to increasing public pressure, the US Food and

Drug Administration (FDA) are expected to impose stringent quality norms on cosmetic

products. New regulations may delay launch of new products and result in higher product

development expenditure.

Global Economic Conditions

The current economic climate is forcing shoppers to watch their expense and look for cheaper

options of discounted brands or own label merchandise. Even suppliers as powerful as P&G

are under pressure from retailers like Wal-Mart, who are cutting prices and introducing their

own labels.

Counterfeit goods

Trade of counterfeits and pass-offs products is negatively affecting the growth of FMCG

companies like P&G. Pass-offs are look-alike products that resemble the original products,

mainly through misspelling of the trademark. For example, Sunslik instead of Cosmic Plus

instead of Clinic Plus, Vips Rub or Vives Rub as a pass-off for Vicks Vaporub.

SNAPDEAL

Snapdeal is the fastest growing e-commerce company in India - HeadQuartered in New

Delhi. The company was started by Kunal Bahl, a Wharton graduate as part of the dual

degree M&T Engineering and Business program at Penn, and Rohit Bansal, an alumnus of

IIT Delhi in February 2010.

History Of Snapdeal.

Snapdeal was started in February 2010 as a daily deals platform but expanded in September

2011 to become an online marketplace. Snapdeal has grown to become one of the largest

online marketplace in India offering an assortment of 10 million products across diverse

categories from over 100,000 sellers, shipping to 5,000 towns and cities in India. In March

2015,

In 2010, when Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal wanted to start their own business, they chose an

offline couponing business and named it MoneySaver. 15000 coupons were sold in three

months and it was time to take the business to the next level.It was after they met investor

Vani Kola that the venture really took off. The first meeting did not go well but after another

round of discussion, Vani Kola’s venture capital firm decided to invest in Snapdeal.Initially

started as an offline business, Sneapdeal went online in 2010. It was a bumpy ride in the first

few months. Mistakes were made, but lessons were learnt. It is this kind of hard work and

diligent attempt to offer the best to the customers that gave Snapdeal its initial success.

However, the biggest decision of the founders came in November 2011. Inspired by the

success of Alibaba.com, Rohit and Kunal wanted to create something on similar lines. The

deals business was shut down and an online marketplace was opened instead.It was a make or

break decision. Snapdeal had a huge market share in the deals business at that time and

starting something new was very risky and the move surprised the investors too. At that point

of time, eBay was the only marketplace in India.It was a decision that was not for the short

term. When Rohit Bahl managed to gain the nod the board, the present form of Snapdeal took

shape. The very fact that Snapdeal is valued at a billion dollars today is a testimony to the

vision of its founders. Currently, more than 50,000 sellers sell around 5 million products on

Snapdeal. The company’s phenomenal growth in a short span has been a remarkable journey.

The company began to concentrate on building scale and improving speed. When eBay

invested in Snapdeal, they brought immense experience to the table.Snapdeal is one of the

fastest growing e-commerce companies in India today with the largest online market place. In

just two years, the company went from scrapping their group coupon business and starting an

online marketplace to become a billion dollar company. Its year on year growth is almost

600%.The average age of the workforce at Snapdeal is 25. Their values – Innovation,

Change, Openness, Honesty and Ownership drive them to press for greater success. The

company’s growth had been phenomenal but it is their continued effort to bring the best to

the market and their zeal to succeed as the best B2C (Business to customer) marketplace is

what sets them apart. Great ideas might be important for a business, but it is the confident

implementation of those ideas and the right effort which are more important. It is action and

not mere thought that gives results.

Acquisitions

Snapdeal acquired fashion products discovery site,gifting recommendation site,

Wishpicker.com.,a stake in product comparison website Smartprix.com,luxury fashion

products discovery site, Exclusively.in.

In 2015, Snapdeal acquired ecommerce management software and fulfillment solution

provider, Unicommerce.com,mobile-payments company FreeCharge.

Company building & target market

SnapDeal believes that basically, there are five key stakeholders in this kind of business

• Customers

• Customer support

• Technology platform

• Merchants

• Logistics.

Thier goal is to figure out how to strengthen the linking among these five as each one

interacts with multiple of the others. They have around 120 people in thier engineering team

and interviewed around 4,000 candidates to build this team. Technology is the single biggest

expense in the company. Every line of code in Snapdeal is written in-house as they don’t

outsource anything and don’t use other platforms. They believe that If you want to build a

fast-moving and agile platform, you need to build it yourself. Their goal is simple - to keep

providing the three things, which are important to the customer – Value, Assortment and

Convenience. Their approach is very simple – stay lean, focus on important things, and know

what your value drivers are and keep working towards them. The company is tapping

customers in non-metros and tier-II and tier-III cities; 60 percent of its sales come from these

areas, and Snapdeal is hoping to widen its reach. “Urban India has access to offline stores.

Our focus is on places where they can’t get the product they desire,” says Kunal Bahl.

Competition & Market Share : The intensity of competition has heightened over the past 2-3

years. But the lack of brand loyalty coupled with the absence of any major differentiators in

terms of offerings and services is fast emerging as their biggest challenge. Promises like cash

on delivery (COD), assured delivery, no-questions-asked replacement policy, zero

cancellation fee, free shipping and EMI options are no longer good enough for customers.

Global biggie Amazon Inc, with a $143 billion market cap, entered India last year and is the

most deep-pocketed. Bangalore-based Flipkart, with its recent funding of $210 million from

Russian firm DST Global Solutions, has now received nearly $780 million in funds since it

started operations in 2007.

Segmentation

Identify desirable market segments

Segmentation involves grouping consumers based on certain criteria. Snapdeal has done a

very broad segmentation by grouping people who have internet access into one segment.

There are other parameters for segmentation based on demographics, location, psychographic

and behavioral pattern of people.

Demographic segmentation

Teens and young adults are grouped together into one segment. People in the age

group of 16 to 30 years typically forms this segment.

These people are either college students or people who have recently started earning.

People having moderate to high family income are segmented together.

Geographic segmentation

Indian urban class

Psychographic segmentation

People in upper middle class

Behavioural segmentation

Internet savvy users

People who are not afraid of online shopping

People who love to get discounts

People who want to try new products or services

Targeting

Target your product for that segment

Snapdeal focuses on mass online marketing but uses customer history to give a more

personalized experience.

Some of the strategies followed by Snapdeal are: Large base of internet users easily reached

via

Customized email based on historic data

Social media

Online advertisements 

Word of mouth

Use of mobile apps to increase customer base

Target people relying on internet for shopping

Increase target market by partnering with corporate houses for bulk selling

Target small and medium enterprises to showcase their product / service online for

greater visibility.

Positioning

Position your brand to segment’s desires

Snapdeal is currently positioned as best advertising and discount platform in the online

Indian market. For product and service providers it acts as a great advertising platform and

for consumers it acts as a low price online market.Snapdeal is trying to reposition itself with

greater focus on quality. All the products showcased on the website are genuine. Each and

every product is quality checked before being delivered to the customers. Even after

repositioning its marketing strategy, Snapdeal aims to offer good value for money to

consumers and remain highly competitive in the market. By following above mentioned STP

strategy Snapdeal has been able to grow at a fast pace and has increased its market base

exponentially.

Promotion

Snapdeal was one of the first e-commerce sites in India to do TV advertisements. The reason

why TV was chosen is because of its unparalleled access and reach to a large number of

people in a very short duration. The intention was to reach out to younger audience via TV as

medium, as snapdeal’s services are generally very attractive for youngsters.

Social Media is obviously the most economical way to reach out to a large audience. But, the

usage of social media should be in such a way to get maximum traction out of it. But, other

than that, having a great product/service helps. Because, word of mouth now is becoming a

very powerful means to acquire customers. The probability that a new customer has heard

about you from an existing customer is very high.

The YAMDUDE campaign of 2012

There are a couple of objectives out of the campaign :

1.Communicate the broad variety of services & products that Snapdeal.com has to offer to its

consumers. Along with the offers on all of these, there are functional benefits like Cash on

Delivery and Deals within nearby locations which are also promoted through the campaign

2.The campaign also aims at ensuring that users who have not purchased before on

Snapdeal.com, try out the services.

In March 2015, Snapdeal brought actor Aamir Khan for the promotion of its

website in India

Price

Snapdeal offers many discounts on purchase of almost all the items .This is what makes

snapdeal different from other online retail stores. Snapdeal has variety of combo offers that

are budget friendly & they have special discounts on occasion of festivals such as

Diwali,Dusserra,Ganesh chaturthi etc

SWOT ANALYSIS OF SNAPDEAL

Strengths

Visionary Leadership under Kunal Bahl

Strategic goal setting and achievement.

Technology centric company philosophy.

Out-of-the-box thinking in business line.

Good funding received from time to time as company grew.

Weaknesses

Technology led model might collapse if the logistics network is not trained constantly

Small time entrants entering into market share end up as competition.

Cut throat competition from big rivals like Amazon and FlipKart might end up

changing company’s policies and work models.

Customers are already finding FlipKart faster by a day or 2 due to its inventory based

model.

Opportunities

Rural Indian untapped market.

Tier 2 & 3 Cities focus.

Moblie revolution hitting new figures every year.

Threats

Big market players like AMAZON and FLIPKART

Threat of Walmart making an entry in India.

Threat of the world leader in e-commerce Alibaba.com making an entry in India.

GOOGLE.INC

Introduction

Google.Inc is an American multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related

services and products. These include online advertising technologies, search, cloud

computing, and software. Most of its profits are derived from AdWords an online advertising

service that places advertising near the list of search results. Google was founded by Larry

Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University. They

incorporated Google as a privately held company on September 4, 1998. An initial public

offering followed on August 19, 2004. Its mission statement from the outset was "to organize

the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful," and its unofficial

slogan was "Don't be evil".

Rapid growth since incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions and

partnerships beyond Google's core search engine. It offers online productivity software

including email (Gmail), a cloud storage service (Google Drive), an office suite (Google

Docs) and a social networking service (Google+). Desktop products include applications for

web browsing (Google Chrome), organizing and editing photos, and instant messaging. The

company leads the development of the Android mobile operating system and the browser-

only Chrome OS for a class of netbooks known as Chromebooks. Google has moved

increasingly into communications hardware: it partners with major electronics manufacturers

in the production of its "high-quality low-cost" Nexus devices and acquired Motorola

Mobility in May 2012.

In December 2013, Alexa listed google.com as the most visited website in the world.

Numerous Google sites in other languages figure in the top one hundred, as do several other

Google-owned sites such as YouTube and Blogger.[29] Its market dominance has led to

prominent media coverage, including criticism of the company over issues such as search

neutrality, copyright, censorship, and privacy.

History of Google

Google began in January 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when

they were both PhD students at Stanford University in Stanford, California.While

conventional search engines ranked results by counting how many times the search terms

appeared on the page, the two theorized about a better system that analyzed the relationships

between websites. They called this new technology PageRank; it determined a website's

relevance by the number of pages, and the importance of those pages, that linked back to the

original site.

Page and Brin originally nicknamed their new search engine "BackRub", because the system

checked backlinks to estimate the importance of a site. Eventually, they changed the name to

Google, originating from a misspelling of the word "googol" the number one followed by one

hundred zeros, which was picked to signify that the search engine was intended to provide

large quantities of information. Originally, Google ran under Stanford University's website,

with the domains google.stanford.edu and z.stanford.edu.

The domain name for Google was registered on September 15, 1997 and the company was

incorporated on September 4, 1998. It was based in the garage of a friend in Menlo Park,

California. Craig Silverstein, a fellow PhD student at Stanford, was hired as the first

employee.

s' as they follow 'Googlism', the new religion. Devotees of Google have found a non-profit

online organization The Church of Google, a website where they worship the search engine

giant. The New York Times had discussed the topic "Is Google God?" under its 'opinion'

category. On the Internet, there are many blogs that even mention the reasons why Google is

God.

Mission & Vision- Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it

universally accessible and useful. Google's vision is to make search engines so powerful that

they ‘understand everything in the world’

MARKETING STRATEGIES OF GOOGLE.INC

What is the marketing strategy? Ever wonder that with so many search engines out there, why

is Google the first? Well it is not all because of the marketing strategy of Google; there is one

aspect in the marketing strategy that makes it so great.

The only way to understand, how and why Google is winning over all the other search

engines, is to go over the marketing strategy of Google. Their strategy might be hard to

understand at first, but you will see how they follow the pattern of smart decision-making.

Google is a mix of excellent marketing ideas, smart choices, and the live on the edge and take

risks, great advisors, and they provide us with great products. Read below to understand in

detail the marketing strategy of Google

They use the power of less, the power of less means they give you a clean, simple, and

interference free search page. When you open the Google page, you will see a Google logo

and right in the middle is the search bar, which is fast in loading, and easily visible. During

the early years, this was the only feature, because of slow internet connections. Google was

also preferred because the other search engines were just full of confusing stuff, filled with

ads and useless features.

Risk free entry policy This means that you provide the users with some free use, which will

make it better than the other products out there, and then they can buy more to get more. For

e.g. when Gmail came out, it was slightly better than its competitors were as it offered 1GB

free space for mail, as its rival company was charging people for that.

In the same marketing strategy of Google, they offer free services, which is a compelling

technique. This way people become loyal to their services. In addition, to use many features

of Google you must have a Gmail account, this is how they sell.

The power of the vision is the next marketing strategy of Google, which means to be able to

sell something that people do not want. To see the bigger picture, thinking about the future,

as what people will need. You probably do not know when Google started there was not

much use of it, as people did not know that to do with it. Then as the time went by, slowly

people figured out that they needed Google, for more than one thing. Marketing strategy of

Google is strong as it collected all the data of the world in one place and presents it to you

when you want it.

Google’s marketing mix is a major contributor to the global success of the business.

It is an effective combination of a wide array of product lines, a suitable pricing strategy and

ubiquitous product distribution, along with cost-effective promotions.

Google’s Products

Google’s marketing mix involves a diverse array of products. The company has grown and

diversified. These products are generally grouped into the following product lines:

Web-based products

Operating systems

Desktop apps

Mobile apps

Hardware products

The company uses product development as a major intensive growth strategy. Because of this

strategy, the firm keeps developing new products to expand its business, while growing its

market share for existing products like Google AdWords, Nexus, and others.

The ever evolving list of products includes Google finance, Google news, Google blog

search, Google video, YouTube, Google sites, Blogger, Google Reader, Google Groups,

Google Calendar and Google Docs.

It includes

• Advertisements that appear along with search results through a program called Google Ad

words.

• A good number of eBooks with copy rights reserved are being hosted by Google as Google

is related to number of libraries and provides an attractive low cost opportunity of digitizing

the books but sometimes the writers are unhappy for not certain about their rights being

reserved or not.

• Google earth is an attractive product from Google incorporation and through that GPS

locations on the ground can exactly be calculated. This interestingly locates almost all

existing features including roads, settlements, hotels, restaurants and almost all the physical

features including manmade and natural features.

• Google chrome, the recently introduced internet browser is also one of the popular products

from Google. Its popularity is also because of its three dimensional imaging system

(Kopytoff, 2008).

• A wide range of services like YouTube, Rout, Google Docs, Google Calendars etc are

adding to its popularity and most frequent use.

Promotion

 It is surprising that Google has become one of the world’s largest search engines when the

promotion strategy of the company relies heavily on viral, or referral, marketing. With its

minimalist homepage and knack for gaining consumer trust through a “morally superior”

advertisement policy, Google has gained consumer loyalty and in turn Google customers

recommend Google to their friends. “Their best reference is a friend with enough friends,

they will create a buzz and significant exposure by word of mouth, the ultimate branding

technique.’’ While word of mouth has been Google’s predominant form of promotion,

the company does use advertising. Most of Google’s advertising is done online, with a few

exceptions. Google promotes its services and products by purchasing its own AdWords

internet ads and through its own Google channel on YouTube. A prime example of Google’s

minimalist internet advertising strategy was when they released Google Chrome. When the

product was released, Google placed a link on its homepage that stayed up there for a very

short period of time- a week. This modest advertising strategy truly shows the faith that

Google has put in viral marketing. Google is definitely a successful word of mouth and a

word of mouth circulates based on the quality of the product. Recently, Google launched a

new website called “Froogle,” which is a product search. Froogle is a separate site from

Google. When Froogle was first introduced, Google did not display an advertisement or a

link to Frooglese billboard advertisements to increase public awareness about “Going

Google.”

Promotions are simple and honest. The company has managed to create a very dependable

and trustworthy brand in the eye of the consumer. Sales Promotions Google manages an

extensive product line, most of which are free to the public. Google’s massive “Going

Google” campaign included a “use promotion” that awarded customers with premiums for

their product testimonials.

Google has risen to outdo all of its competitors becoming what is now the most popular

Internet search engine. Several people like the fact that Google offers a minimal homepage,

which loads immediately without annoying advertisements. Lycos and AltaVista advertise

heavily and load their homepage with flash. People seem to like Google more because of its

simple and direct approach. As a result of Google’s outstanding results it has compelled its

dedicated users to inform everyone else about their remarkable search engine. Google’s

growth is proof of the power of viral marketing, without the need for massive advertising

budgets

Google’s Prices and Pricing Strategies

Google’s marketing mix involves different pricing strategies. Different pricing strategies

satisfy the different kinds of products available from the company. The most notable pricing

strategies in Google’s business are:

Freemium pricing

Market-oriented pricing

Penetration pricing

Value-based pricing

The freemium pricing strategy involves offering free products, but selling premium or add-on

features of the product. In Google’s marketing mix, this pricing strategy is used for products

like Gmail, which has a premium version for businesses. The market-oriented pricing strategy

determines prices based on market conditions. Google’s marketing mix uses this strategy for

pricing its products like Chrome cast. On the other hand, the penetration pricing strategy

involves low prices that allow the company to gain market share despite the presence of large

competitors.

Google makes money through a special advertising program called AdWords. AdWords are

keyword-based advertisements that are bought by companies. So if you have a company that

distributes contact lenses, you would bid against other distributors of contact lenses for the

highest place (or nearby). By bidding for lucrative keywords this raises the price and Google

make money. It’s rather like selling a rare item on eBay; the rarer it is the more money you

make; the more bidders that compete for the item the more money you make. Hence the more

valuable a keyword the more it will make. Advertisers are making more than their investment

in advertising, and this makes it an appealing program for business. It is measurable using

basic software so advertisers can work out how much they are making on their investment,

which is more complex to do with traditional advertising media

Google money making is a big question, but its success is dependable on its high

revenue being generated by Adgoogle, bidding the products in the market

Advertises that are blooming with the help of Google are making money many fold of

that being invested on investment,

Every time the ad is clicked the Google gets paid.

EBooks digitizing is another handsome earning source for Google.

Place/Distribution Of Google

The place or distribution component of Google’s marketing mix is typical of mostly-online

businesses. Mostly-online firms use the Internet to distribute their products. Most of the

company’s products are available around the world via the Internet. For example, Google

apps can be downloaded anywhere where there is Internet connectivity. Thus, the company

uses the Internet as its distribution mechanism to reach target users/customers. For goods like

Nexus smartphones, Google uses retailers as the main outlets. Large retailers usually include

Nexus models as part of their consumer electronics offerings.

Google’s place/distribution strategy contributes to the success of the company’s marketing

mix. The ubiquity of the Internet maximizes the firm’s efficiency of distributing its digital

products. The choice of major retailers as outlets for goods like Nexus also increases

Google’s ability to reach large populations of target consumers.

The company is located at Mountain View in California. The site looks very much like a

university campus with gyms and cafes. The environment enables employees to maximize

their time. The Googleplex is the name given to its HQ.

Another way of looking at place is that Google is an online business i.e. it distributes using an

the internet as its channel. Google is in fact an online business present around the globe.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths

1. Open source products and services. As the company states:” Google’s mission is to

organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” The same is

with almost any of Google products. Let it be Google maps, calendars, drive, OS or the

advices how to rank better in a search index. Google’s products can also be used with any OS

or mobile device without a charge. Google openness is the key why Google is the number

one in many products and services.

2. Quality and customer experience are the primary objects. Everything that Google offers

is of premium quality. The products are aimed at solving customer needs and problems by

providing excellent customer experience.

3. Financial situation. Google is one of the most profitable companies in the world with

earnings nearly $50 billion and $11 billion profits (22%). The company also holds $48 billion

in cash and just $7 billion of debt. Few other companies are so strong financially to compete

with Google.

4. Access to the largest group of internet users worldwide. Google has an access to 79% of

the world desktop search market users and 89% of the world mobile search market users.

Combined, these internet users represent an extremely large market that Google can use to

promote and sell its products and services.

5. Product integration. Nearly all Google products are integrated with each other forming an

ecosystem that enriches customers experience and encourages using more of company’s

products and services. Besides, Google products can be used on any OS or any device

without a trouble or can be integrated with other companies’ applications. No other major

tech organization offers the same level of integration.

6. Culture of innovation. Many unique products are offered by Google every year, with so

many in development stages. According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Google is the

2nd most innovative business in the world.

Weaknesses

Falling Ad Rates

In recent years and especially in 2013, the company has been faced with declining revenues

from ads and as a result, the profitability of the company has taken a hit. This is partly due

to the ongoing global economic slowdown and partly because of competitors snapping at its

heels in a more aggressive manner. Indeed, Apple has already taken steps to garner search

engine revenues in its devices and hence, Google must be cognizant of the challenges that

lie ahead.

Overdependence on Advertising

Google’s business model relies heavily on advertising and the numbers reveal that it gets

more than 85% of its revenues from ads alone. This means that any potential dip in

revenues would cost the company dearly (literally as well as metaphorically). The point here

is that Google has to devise a more robust business model that embraces e-commerce and

mobile commerce along with its current business model that is based on ad revenues alone.

Lack of Compatibility with next generation devices

Another weakness for Google is that it is not compatible with many next generation

computing platforms including mobile and tablet computers and this remains an area of

concern for the company.

Opportunities

Growing number of mobile internet users.

 Google has an opportunity to create a platform that could be used to better display ads for

mobile device users and increase firm’s income.

Obtaining patents through acquisitions. 

For Google to grow and to compete successfully, it has to obtain more new patents. One way

of doing that is to acquire companies that have strong patents portfolio. Google has acquired

Motorola in 2012, obtaining more than 17,000 patents from the business.

Android Operating System

Perhaps the biggest opportunity for Google lies in its pioneering effort in providing the

Android OS (Operating System) which has resulted in its becoming a direct competitor to

Apple and Samsung

Google Glasses and Google Play

The introduction of Google Glasses and Google Play promises to be a game changer for

Google and this is a significant opportunity that the company can exploit. Indeed, this very

aspect can make the company take the next evolutionary leap into the emerging world of

nano-computing.

Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing remains a key opportunity for Google as it is already experienced in

providing storage and cloud solutions. Indeed, if not anything, it can move into the enterprise

market using the cloud computing paradigm

Threats

Unprofitable products. Google has introduced many products and services but few of them

earn profits for the business. Most of the services are the burden for Google and only makes

losses. If Google continues to introduce new products that add little value and only make

losses, the company’s profits will fall.

Competition from Microsoft. Microsoft is gaining a market share in internet searches and is

playing an important role against Google. The company has also introduced Windows 8, the

OS aimed for mobile devices, to carve out its market share in mobile OS market. In both

fronts, internet search and mobile OS, Microsoft is challenging Google and is taking away the

potential revenues

BIBLIOGRAPHY

WEBLIOGRAPHY