International Marketing Environment

Discuss about the Repeatable Cumulative Knowledge In Strategic.

The Federal Republic of Nigeria which is commonly known as Nigeria is a federal republic country which is situated in West Africa. The coast of Nigeria mainly lies in the south of Gulf of Guinea in Atlantic Ocean. The country has been home for many tribal states and kingdoms over the millennium. The modern Nigerian states originated from the British Colonial rule. Nigeria had become an independent country in the year 1960. A civil war had taken place in the country in the year 1960 to the year 1970 (Mercedes-Benz. 2018). The largest part of Nigerian population is present in the Nigeria and the country has a large economy as well. Nigeria is thereby considered to be the most populated country in Africa and has acquired the seventh position in the world in terms of total population. The country also has the largest youth population after China and India. The GNP or Gross National Product of Nigeria is 1.07 lakh crores PPP Dollars. The per capita income of the country is more than 1994 Dollars which has helped Nigeria to acquire the 137^th position in the world (Mercedes-Benz. 2018).

The political environment of Nigeria is based on the intermittent military rules in short periods of time with elections at the various government tiers. The country also suffers entrenched corruption between the South and North regions for different positions within the government. The unrest that has occurred in the oil producing based regions of Nigeria has further led to the safety concerns and instability. The fiscal regime of the country is favourable except the oil sector. The strategic sectors of the country are neglected and Nigeria needs policies to attract investments from other foreign countries (Bettis et al., 2016). Nigeria has been operating under the uninterrupted civilian governments for the last fifteen years. The country thereby operates a system which is based on multiple political parties. The party which is ruling currently has majority of the seats in the upper and the lower chambers of legislative arm of Nigerian government. The country has faced changes in the government in the era of democratic dispensation that has taken place. The term of the government which rules in the country is of four years. The elections that are organised in the country involves high amounts of investment. Nigeria is thereby considered as a stable country for starting business operations except for the disturbances that have been caused by the terrorist threats in the country (Chen, Delmas & Lieberman, 2015). The policies of the government however need to be diversified in order to enhance the relationships with the other countries.

Political Environment

The trade policies that are formulated by the government of Nigeria are published every year by the Nigeria Office for Trade Negotiations Policy Report or NATPOR. The report that has been released recently is mainly based on the ways by which the country aims at re-negotiating the trading relationships that it has with the counterparts. The trade based activities in the country mainly account for more than 14% of the total workforce of Nigeria. The trade related activities are thereby based on 18% of the total GDP of the country. The overall trade values of the country have reduced by around 7.4 billion from the year 2014 to 2015 (Daspit et al., 2017). The trade policies of the country have been able to attract many countries to partner with Nigeria. Europe has been the major trade partner of Nigeria after Africa. The global trade partners of Nigeria also include, the United States, Nigeria and India. The top two partners of Nigeria based on trade activities are Belgium and China. The trade policies of the country are thereby used by the structural transformation related to modernization, diversification and construction of the global and the regional value chains (Durand, Grant & Madsen, 2017).

The NOTAP Act is implemented by the Nigerian government for the purpose of facilitating the flow of foreign technology into the country. This act is also based on the ways by which the contracts are registered for transferring technology to the Nigerian partners. This act mainly specifies the agreements that need to be registered. The CITA of Companies Income Tax Act is mainly based on the taxes that are imposed on the companies. This tax is chargeable at the rate of 30% of the company profits. The value added taxes are also implemented on the organizations which operate in the country (Dyer et al., 2015). The Labour Act is the main law that is known for governing the individual employment based contracts of the country. The procedures and policies that are implemented on the employees are also a part of the labour laws. The Trade Disputes Act is implemented to solve the issues that may occur in the trade based activities that are conducted by the country. The Factories Act and Employees’ Compensation Act are related to the ways by which the employees are protected from the occupational hazards. The Employees’ Compensation Act on the other hand formulates a set of categories which the employers need to consider (Gans & Ryall, 2017).

Major Policies or Orientations Towards the International Trade

The major trade partners of Nigeria are the India, China and Belgium. The United States of America however has proved to be the largest buyer of crude oil which accounts for 40% of the total oil exports that are done by the country. The second largest trading partner of Nigeria after the United States is the United Kingdom.

Nigeria relies much more on the imports that are made from the countries of Europe, Asia and America. Nigeria is one of the most important oil producing country in the world. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is an organization which imports petrol to many countries across the world. Crude oil that is produced in the country is refined and then exported to the other major countries (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014).

Nigeria is a diverse country which has more than 1000 ethnic groups residing in the country from many years. The 4 largest ethnic groups are Fulani, Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba. The business organization which are planning to enter the country to set up their operations need to follow many customs which like handshakes and avoiding eye contact for a long time. The greetings are considered to be the most important part of the business interactions that are done by the Nigerians.

Nigeria has a positive trade relationship with the US and the European countries. The United States is considered to be largest of crude oil that is produced by Nigeria. The United Kingdom on the other hand has become the second largest partner of Nigeria in the trade based activities (Meyer, Neck & Meeks, 2017).

The marketing mix of Mercedes Benz is mainly based on the class to which the company belongs and the level of products that are manufactured by the brand. The high profile success that has been experienced by the company is a result of the hard work that goes behind its marketing activities. Mercedes Benz is the oldest car manufacturer in the world which is able to hold the reputation from the start of its entire operations. The marketing mix of the company is mainly based on the advertising strategies that are implemented by the company over the years of its operations in various countries. The strategies have helped the company to remain a leader in the highly competitive automobile industry (Michael, Storey & Thomas, 2017).

Mercedes Benz is an important part of Daimler which is a German automaker and has its operations all over the world. The marketing strategy of Mercedes Benz is mainly based on the differentiation of the brand and the high performance cars that are manufactured by the company. The brand differentiation strategy is used by the company to maintain the position that is has in the whole world.

Major Regulations and Laws

The major target market that has been selected by Mercedes Benz mainly consists of the premium group of people who belong to the high income levels. The target customers of the company are important as Mercedes Benz has always tried to reach a larger customer base with the help of the strategies that are formulated by the management. The German brand mainly aims at younger group of customers for the purpose of selling the products that are manufactured by them (Morschett, Schramm-Klein & Zentes, 2015).

The promotional activities of Mercedes Benz have always been of aggressive nature. The promotional strategies of the company are based on the media channels like, TV, online, print, billboards. The traditional means of advertising are not quite important for the company as it has always given importance to the products and the technologies that are used by them.

The public relations or PR of Mercedes has been changing under the new management of the company which has led to the enhancement of the product based communications with the customers. The media also plays an important role in the PR activities of Mercedes Benz.

The sales promotions of Mercedes are based on the customers and their choices. The special promotional policies have helped the company to take a lead in the market against the competition (Stead & Stead, 2014).

The personal selling of Mercedes Benz is based on the ways by which the strategic techniques are used to the achieve the goal of attracting the new customers. These help the company to satisfy the needs of the customers and attract them towards the company (Wheelen et al., 2017).

Conclusion

The report can be concluded by stating that the analysis has shown that the expansion plans of Mercedes Benz in the automobile industry can prove to be a correct decision for the company. The organization can thereby increase the revenues that can be generated with the help of the expansion related plans that have been made. The recent trends in the automobile industry is also an important factor that affects the business set up based steps of Mercedes Benz in Nigeria.

References

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Chen, C. M., Delmas, M. A., & Lieberman, M. B. (2015). Production frontier methodologies and efficiency as a performance measure in strategic management research. Strategic Management Journal, 36(1), 19-36.

Daspit, J. J., Chrisman, J. J., Sharma, P., Pearson, A. W., & Long, R. G. (2017). A strategic management perspective of the family firm: Past trends, new insights, and future directions. Journal of Managerial Issues, 29(1), 6.

Durand, R., Grant, R. M., & Madsen, T. L. (2017). The expanding domain of strategic management research and the quest for integration. Strategic Management Journal, 38(1), 4-16.

Dyer, J. H., Godfrey, P., Jensen, R., & Bryce, D. (2015). Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases. Wiley Global Education.

Gans, J., & Ryall, M. D. (2017). Value capture theory: A strategic management review. Strategic Management Journal, 38(1), 17-41.

Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., & Schilling, M. A. (2014). Strategic management: theory: an integrated approach. Cengage Learning.

Mercedes-Benz. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/

Meyer, G. D., Neck, H. M., & Meeks, M. D. (2017). The entrepreneurship?strategic management interface. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset, 17-44.

Michael, S., Storey, D., & Thomas, H. (2017). Discovery and coordination in strategic management and entrepreneurship. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset, 45-65.

Morschett, D., Schramm-Klein, H., & Zentes, J. (2015). Strategic international management (pp. 978-3658078836). Springer.

Stead, J. G., & Stead, W. E. (2014). Sustainable strategic management. Routledge.

Steinbach, A. L., Holcomb, T. R., Holmes, R. M., Devers, C. E., & Cannella, A. A. (2017). Top management team incentive heterogeneity, strategic investment behavior, and performance: A contingency theory of incentive alignment. Strategic Management Journal, 38(8), 1701-1720.

Wheelen, T. L., Hunger, J. D., Hoffman, A. N., & Bamford, C. E. (2017). Strategic management and business policy. pearson.