Analyzing Iceland Company's Business Objectives and Roles
Introduction
Hospitality marketing is the main process that helps different organizations to promote their products to customers. In this Hospitality marketing different types of industries are involved such as the food industry, the lodging industry, the events or conference industry, next is tourism as well as the recreation industry, etc. In this project, the researcher is playing the role of Iceland Organization assistant manager who is responsible for developing a report that helps all the new marketing trainees of Iceland Company.
Background
The Iceland Company was founded by Malcolm Walker in 1970, Egland. This company provides its customers with different types of frozen foods. However, in the year 1990, this company faced many difficulties in its business and was forced to shut its maximum stores. Although Iceland Company was able to stabilize its services and regain its market value.
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Here the researcher discusses the main mission, vision, and objectives of the company.
Mission: The main mission of this organization is to provide its customers with quality products at a very low price or convenient price.
Vision: Iceland Company's main vision is to reduce its environmental impact and reduce waste plus promote sustainable packaging which helps the company to become a more sustainable organization.
Values: Different types of values are present in this company's services such as product quality, sustainability, community, then an affordable price for the product, innovation and always focus on their customer services.
Objectives: Iceland Company’s different marketing objectives listed below those are very important to achieve this company for future development:
To increase their product awareness and enhance their sales.
To focus on customer satisfaction and try to improve it.
To increase their market share and focus to become a more sustainable organization.
To create a competitive market for other organizations.
Explanation of marketing and its relationship with other functional units
Marketing is the main object of a business which helps the whole cycle of the services to reach the actual mission or aim of the business. In the below section, the researcher or the assistant manager of the Iceland Company discusses all required or main roles and responsibilities that are needed for a successful business.
Roles and Responsibilities in the Context of Iceland Company
In the case of Iceland organization, the main role and responsibility of this organization's marketing functions would be like:
Developing new marketing strategies: This particular responsibility belongs to the marketing team of the Iceland Company. As the marketing team needs to obtain some unique marketing strategies such as recognizing their target audience, then introducing new technologies to their customers, and may focus on product pricing, etc that help the company to reach their main aim of the business.
Focus on the marketing campaign: This particular responsibility needs to be fulfilled by the marketing team. Also, they must execute a creative campaign to help the organization to promote their different types of new products or services to their customers.
Perform different types of marketing research: Different types of marketing research helps the company to know about its customers, market, and competitors. This performance helps the strategic decision team to improve their marketing efforts to reach their main goal.
Accurate budget management: The marketing team needs to manage its operating budget to ensure that all the resources can reach the ultimate requirement of the business.
Enhance Company's online activity: Currently, online existence is the best marketing strategy that helps every organization reach its target audience and maximize its business in the market (U and Pesonen, 2021). All the marketing staff is needed to properly maintain Iceland Company's website and different social media accounts that help them to enhance their impact on the digital world.
Analyse the company's all types of services: The marketing team needs to monitor properly all the marketing efforts, all types of data-driven as well as performance or service matrix to increase the effectiveness of the company’s awareness programs or campaigns.
Roles and Responsibilities in the Context of Marketing Environment
The marketing environment helps all organizations to be aware of the different factors that impact their businesses (Rumiyati et al. 2021). In this particular section, the research discussed the PESTEL analysis of the Iceland organization to know about all types of factors' impact.
Political Factor
Economical Factor
Sociocultural Factor
Technological Factor
Environmental Factor
Legal Factor
Currently, the Iceland Organization goes through a very stable political environment in the UK. But the most problematic situation for this company is the government can change the trade agreement and all types of importing and exporting regarding taxes.
This Company's main motive is to serve Frozen Food at a very affordable price. This particular motive helps them to maintain a very good economy. Still, this company can face issues if competition increases and their consumers speeding was changed, then this company can face problems in their performance.
Currently, all people are very busy in their daily lives. For this, they are very much interested in pre-prepared foods plus convenience. However, if the customers change their minds and they want to maintain their health then this kind of food is no longer required. Iceland Company needs to think about its product preparation procedure and maintenance.
Technology is the most preferable and required option for every organization that wants to create a good market value. The Iceland organization currently invested in new technology to improve its online business. This particular decision helps the company to satisfy its customers with its best services and achieve its marketing objectives.
Environmental factors are the most important factor for the hospitality industry as if they are not focused on their waste production then they can face different types of legal issues. For this, the Iceland Company very much focuses on its waste generation and tries to reduce its waste to become a sustainable organization. This company is aimed to become a zero-carbon production company by the year 2040.
All types of hospitality industries need to maintain all the rules and regulations regarding their services to avoid legal problems. Iceland's organization also maintains all types of food safety and packaging regarding rules and regulations.
The above table helps the readers to know about all types of external factors that impact the Iceland Company's marketing strategies. PESTEL analysis also helps the company to make decisions for their business which helps them to reach their main aim by implementing all types of marketing objectives.
Relationship with other functional departments
Collaboration is the best option to survive in the market in the very long run. The Iceland organization's marketing team needs to collaborate or work with different departments like sales, sustainability department, next is operation department, then human resource department, finance, etc. This collaborative work helps the company to carry forward its values to its customers (Vigfusson et al. 2023). If this company is not aware or encouraged of its communication system in every department of the business then they for sure faces difficulties in its service process. All these departments are the main pillar of a company so each of them needs to be connected to gain the mission of the business.
Figure 1: Relationship with different functional departments
Marketing Team: The marketing team needs to continue communication with the purchasing department. As this particular department helps the marketing team to know about current trends as well as customer demands. This particular department helps the marketing department to set its new promotional ideas and execution procedures. Purchasing department also helps the marketing team to identify its target audiences.
Sales: Sales department is the one who is responsible for developing good customer relationships and helping the company to enhance its market. The sales department works with the marketing department to identify new marketing strategies and perform different campaigns to promote their products.
Operations: The operation department is another important department of the Iceland organization that always works with the purchasing department. Also, this department looks after all the daily performances of the Iceland stores and manages inventory management as well as Iceland's Logistics. This department also updates the purchasing department about product availability.
Figure 2: Interrelationship between all departments with each other
Finance: This particular department was with all other departments of the Iceland organization. The main responsibility of this department is to look after all the financial resources of Iceland as well as the budgeting and forecasting of the company. Along with this, the financial department ensures that all the allocated resources are achieved the financial goal of Iceland.
Human Resource: This particular department is responsible for hiring the most preferable employees for the company which helps to meet all the business objectives very quickly.
Marketing Role’s Importance in the Context of Iceland Company
As everyone knows marketing is a crucial factor that needs different strategies to execute and get the desired result. Every organization when aiming to reach its business objectives then they not only focus on its marketing strategies or marketing department. In an organization, each of the departments has a different role in the Iceland organization and all the roles are very important for the company's success. Marketing plays an important role in the Iceland organization's current as well as future executions. Those are Market research, then product development, and next is product promotion or branding and product pricing. Without all these processes the company will not be able to serve its customers as it set its vision and they also are not able to accomplish its business mission.
The above image helps the readers to know about all types of attributes that depend on an organization’s marketing role. In the case of Island organization, the company also depends on its Marketing department and other departments that work with the marketing department for their business success.
Critical Analysis
In the previous section, the developer discusses the dependency of all the departments and also discusses their responsibilities towards their organization. As it is true, the Marketing department is needed to maintain proper communication with all other departments like sales, operations, human resource department, sustainability department, and finance department. Although many times it is not maintained by each of the departments of an organization which causes very serious problems in the business. The Iceland organization can face problems if one of its departments does not respond properly or fulfil its responsibilities as the human resource department is responsible for hiring the most talented and worthy employees who can help the organization to operate at all times with the best solutions. However, if this procedure is not properly done then anyone who is not suitable for any job role at Iceland Company can make problems for other business processes. Also, if the purchasing department is not properly working then the operation department is also not able to fulfil its responsibilities. These cause customer satisfaction deficiency for the marketing department as well as the finance department. Moreover, altogether these problems do not allow the company to maintain its value and achieve its goal.
Explanation of marketing mix
The marketing mix is one kind of tool that is applied by all organizations to brand their services and applied new techniques to reach new audiences. Different types of marketing mixes are present in the market; those are applied by several organizations but the Iceland Company specifically believes in a 7p marketing mix (Tanjung et al, 2021). In the below section, the researcher shows the application of the 7p marketing mix by providing a comparison between other hospitality organizations. This result helps the readers to identify how the Iceland Company creates a competitive edge for others and enhances customer satisfaction.
Comparison between Iceland and Green Isle Company
7p’s
Iceland Company
Green Isle Company
Product
The main food items of this company are frozen fruits, vegetables, desserts, and prepared meals. Iceland Company specifically offers their customers their brand items.
Green Isle also offers a wide range of frozen food products to their customers but this particular organization does not sell its prepared food items to its customers. As they are only interested in a range of frozen foods.
Price
Iceland Company very much focuses on its pricing strategy as the main mission of the business is to offer quality products at affordable prices. In the case pricing strategy Iceland's pricing strategy is very budget-friendly.
Green Isle Company is also very much concerned about its product pricing strategies as they try to always offer competitive prices for its products (Daryanto et al. 2019). However, this company is specifically interested in premium pricing strategies which not all-time customers can afford.
Place
Iceland Company distributes its products via different types of grocery stores, then supermarkets, and online platforms. However, Iceland Company has a very large distribution network than Green Isle Company.
Green Isle Company only sells its products through its online platforms and supermarkets and grocery stores. Although this organization's network was not as big as Iceland Company's.
Promotion
In the case of product promotion, the Iceland Company is very aggressive in introducing their products to their customers and attracting them. Iceland Company has a very strong advertising network and invested a huge budget to execute an effective marketing campaign. This particular marketing strategy helps the company to create new customers and achieve its marketing objectives.
Green Isle Company only on their brand image development.
Process
As the main vision of this organization is to become an innovative and sustainable organization, and for that, they are very much attached to technology or automation. In this company, all the processes from manufacturing to packaging and distribution are done by advanced technology.
Green Isle Company still now believes in traditional processes. In this company, all the necessary steps are done by humans or manually. This is the main part of this business that creates a barrier to their business enhancement.
Physical Evidence
The Iceland Company uses distinctive packaging for its product branding.
Green Isle Company Uses very simple product branding that is very easily understandable by the public.
People
The Iceland Company has a very large amount of organizational structure that divided their all employees into different departments based on their specific roles and responsibilities.
Green Isle Company Is not a very big organization but still, they divided their employees into different departments like sales, customer service, then marketing, etc.
Different Tactics to achieve the objectives
Currently, the Iceland organization wants to become a more sustainable and innovative Organization in the hospitality industry. For this, different types of tactics needed to be applied by the organization are listed in the below section:
Direct marketing techniques like the Iceland organization can directly inform their existing customers as well as new target audiences about their products and services through different processes such as email or telemarketing (Gursoy et al. 2020). This allows them to reduce their poster or pamphlet regarding waste.
Influencer marketing as currently everyone uses smartphones and social media plays an important role in every individual's life. So, if this organization focuses on influencer marketing, then it can attract more viewers regarding their new launches as well as existing services. This technique helps in business expansion.
Search engine optimization means the organization can rank high regarding their digital content and their official website then they are easily able to create traffic in their online platforms and spread awareness about their items.
Public reactions or survey marketing, this particular technique helps the organization to ask people about their existing performance regarding their products plus online as well as offline services. By doing this, the organization can know about the negative impacts of their services and improve those drawbacks to gain their customer trust and increase customer satisfaction.
Marketing Plan for Iceland
The mission for the next campaign: Identify this organization’s strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities which help the company to stay strong against its upcoming threats.
Marketing Strategy to achieve the mission and goal of Iceland
First, this organization needs to know about their internal factors impact on their businesses for that first strategy of this organization is to perform a SWOT analysis.
Strengths
Weaknesses
? Strong online business network
? Advanced technology in manufacturing packaging and distribution
? Sustainable organization
? Focused on own-brand food items
? Brand reputation
? Convenience
? Excellent pricing strategy
? Then see on UK supermarkets
? Limited food categories
? Limited product delivery services
? Lack of international presence
? Perceptions of different types of frozen foods
Opportunities
Threats
? Digital Marketing
? Innovative or creative product development
? New partnerships or collaboration
? Business expansion within a new market.
? A problem in the supply chain
? Environment impacts
? Government rules and regulation
? Customer's mindset up regarding their health
? Economic downfall
? High competition
This analysis helps the organization to focus on its weaknesses to turn them into their strength and by doing this can prevent its upcoming business threats (Teoli et al. 2019). This strategy also helps them to meet their mission and goal.
Action Plan
Objectives
Strategies
Tactics
Measurements
To enhance the customers' satisfaction
Doing on-time delivery for e-commerce businesses and offline provides a generous attitude towards customers.
Next is sales with a budget-friendly strategy.
Discounts on a specific amount of purchasing or arranging some gifts for lucky customers, etc.
The specific number of customers for every month.
Achieve zero carbon
Use reusable or nature-friendly ingredients for packaging.
Invest in carbon offsetting, then transportation, supply chain administration, etc.
Here the researcher or the assistant manager concludes the overall report which is performed for Iceland organization's new marketing trainees. This report helps the readers to know about all the external as well as internal factors' impact on the Iceland Company’s business growth. Along with this, the readers are also able to understand how important proper communication is between an organization's all departments for achieving their main business objectives.
References
Journals
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Rather, R.A., Tehseen, S., Itoo, M.H. and Parrey, S.H., 2021. Customer brand identification, affective commitment, customer satisfaction, and brand trust as antecedents of customer behavioural intention of loyalty: An empirical study in the hospitality sector. In Consumer Behaviour in Hospitality and Tourism (pp. 44-65). Routledge.
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