Marketing Activities of Bandar

Steel Industries Ltd.

 Marketing Activities of
Bandar Steel Industries Ltd.

Prepared for:
Ms. Kohinoor Biswas
Asst. Professor
Department of Business Administration
East West University

Prepared by:

Name ID No.

MD. Abdullah-Al-Mamun 2016-1-10-124

Sagufta Taslim Soronika 2016-1-10-119

Farib Afridi 2016-1-10-120

December 11, 2017

December 11, 2017

Ms. Kohinoor Biswas

Asst. Professor

Department of Business Administration

East West University

Dear Ma’am:

Here is an in-depth report on Marketing Activities of Bandar Steel Industries Ltd.

We, the undersigned students of BUS231, section 3, have reported on “Marketing Activities of Bandar
Steel Industries Ltd.” under the course Business Communication (BUS231). Though we are in the learning
curve, this report has enabled us to gain insights into the core fact of Marketing Activities of Bandar Steel
Industries Ltd. It was an extremely insightful and interesting experience.

Thank you for your authorization and support. Without your Inspiration, this report would have been an incomplete
one.

Sincerely yours,

MD. Abdullah-Al-Mamun

Sagufta Taslim Soronika

Farib Afridi
 Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................. vi

1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 7
1.1 Origin: ............................................................................................................................ 7
1.2 Objective: ....................................................................................................................... 7
1.3 Methodology: ................................................................................................................. 7
1.4 Limitation: ..................................................................................................................... 7
2 PRODUCTS ........................................................................................................................... 8
2.1 Segmentation................................................................................................................... 8
2.2 Targeting ......................................................................................................................... 8
2.2.1 B2G (Business to Government): .............................................................................. 8
2.2.2 B2C (Business to Customer): ................................................................................. 10
2.3 POSITIONING: ........................................................................................................... 10
3 PROMOTION: .................................................................................................................... 10
4 PRICE:. ................................................................................................................................ 12
5 PLACE: ................................................................................................................................ 12
6 QUALITY SERVICE – IMPORT RAW MATERIALS – DELIVERY SERVICE: .... 12
7 A DRAMATICALLY CHANGED MARKETPLACE .................................................... 12
8 MARKETING CONCEPT ................................................................................................. 12
9 STRATEGIC GAP .............................................................................................................. 13
10 SWOT ANALYSIS .............................................................................................................. 13
10.1 Strength ......................................................................................................................... 13
10.1.1 Overall cost leadership: ........................................................................................... 13
10.1.2 Efficiency in time management: ............................................................................... 14
10.1.3 Modern equipment and technology: ........................................................................ 14
10.2 Weakness ....................................................................................................................... 14
10.2.1 Limited production capacity: ................................................................................... 14
10.2.2 Lower promotional mix: .......................................................................................... 14
10.2.3 Lower market share: ................................................................................................ 14
10.3 Opportunities ................................................................................................................ 14
10.3.1 Safe environment: .................................................................................................... 15
10.3.2 Increase demand of product: ................................................................................... 15
10.4 Threats........................................................................................................................... 15
10.4.1Competitive market: ................................................................................................. 15
 10.4.2Labor union: ............................................................................................................ 15
11 CULTIVATING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS ........................................................ 15
11.1 Customer loyalty with B2B, not individuals: ............................................................. 15
11.2 Personalizing Marketing.............................................................................................. 16
11.3 Customer Empowerment ............................................................................................. 16
11.4 Customers Review and Recommendations ................................................................ 16
11.5 Customer Complaints - Cell phones – Email – quick solve: .................................... 16
12 ESTABLISHING A BRAND POSITIONING .................................................................. 16
12.1 Communicating Category Membership ..................................................................... 16
12.2 Announcing Category Benefits: .................................................................................. 16
12.3 Building Brand Equity ................................................................................................. 17
12.3.1Brand elements......................................................................................................... 17
13 MARKETING ACTIVITIES AND SUPPORTING PROGRAM .................................. 17
13.1 Flank attack strategy – targeting leader – strong distribution channel .................. 17
13.2 Product Differentiation ................................................................................................ 18
13.2.1 Performance Quality: ......................................................................................... 18
13.2.2 Keeping promises & on time delivery: ................................................................ 18
13.3 Product Mix Pricing ..................................................................................................... 18
14 RECOMMENDATION....................................................................................................... 18
15 APPENDIX........................................................................................................................... 19
15.1 Questions: ...................................................................................................................... 19
 Executive Summary

In steel sector of Bangladesh, Bandar Steel Industries Limited is one of the most sparkling limited
companies. The 3rd position in the steel market is now held by them. Chief Executive Officer, Rafiyun Abid
Sumait was interviewed who gave the necessary information about their industry to complete the report.

The word “Bandar” comes from the name “Upazila”, meaning sub-district. The name was set in such a way,
so that people of the rural areas can easily recall the name. BSI’s tagline, “Believes in Quality” indicates
that products and services of the highest quality and value is provided by BSI by responding effectively to
their customers.

BSI has 3 types of graded quality deformed MS bars, fundamental for construction. BSI divides its market
into two main segmentations: B2G (Business to Government) and B2C (Business to Customer). To grab
the segmented target market, production-oriented business concept is followed.

BSI is targeting to achieve the 1st position in the steel industry of Bangladesh. In order to achieve that, BSI
has chosen flank attack strategy to attack the leaders and challengers to grab further market share. Also, to
compete with other brands, BSI uses product line pricing concept in pricing system.

For promotion, BSI is using various typical Medias like T.V, Radio, and Newspaper etc. In addition, recently,
BSI has been introduced to the Digital Media, Internet. BSI prefers B2B loyalty over general, individual
customer loyalty. The brand is renowned for its quality products and services.

Introduction

Origin: The organization chooses “BSI” (Bandar Steel Industries) as their brand name. The word
“Bandar” comes from “Upazila” where the factory of BSI is situated. In beginning they thought if they
used the word Bandar, nearby people could recall the name easily. Steel is one of the key factors in modern
civilization. Now-a-days, a revolution is happening in steel sector of Bangladesh. People are now well
aware of the quality of steels and Bandar steel industries LTD. (BSI) is one of the most renowned
companies in Bangladesh that produces top quality MS deformed bar of steel.

Objective: BSI wants to lead entire steel business of Bangladesh by means of highest possible standards
in their production work and in the quality of the products and services. To achieve this vision, a family
of more than thousands of people are currently dealing with a mission. A mission to provide world class
products and services to the customers, as well as, improvement and innovation of products to attain the
highest level of quality.
Methodology: Their mission is providing products and services of highest quality and value by
responding to their customers with punctuality, sensitivity, respect & always with integrity. Their dream
is to achieve the number one position as per quality among not only this country, but also, in the entire
world. Safety is their number one priority, and it is the center point of their business strategy. They are
responsible and responsive to the countries, societies and environment in which they work. They are
trying to run the business fairly, with sincerity, honesty and transparency. Because of different CSR
activities they have got recognition from their consumers and have earned different prestigious awards.

Limitation: The Company is placed on 3rd in the ranking of the biggest steel mills of Bangladesh. BSI has
a narrow production capacity. It has a production capacity of 400 metric ton where as their competitor
BSRM’s production capacity is 2000 metric ton. For takeover the market leader BSRM, they need to
increase their production capacity.

Their corporate office is in Dhaka and their factory is located at Muradpur, Madanpur, Bandar, Narayangonj.
The company was founded back in 2002.

Products

Their products are 40 grade/300W, 60 grade/400W & 500W best quality deformed MS bar of steel which are
necessary for structural purpose.

Item Grade Size

MS Billet 40 Grade, 60 Grade, TMT, as per 100mm*100mm

customer requirement 120mm*120mm

Deformed MS Bar 40 Grade/300W, 60 Grade/400W, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 16mm, 20mm,

500W 22mm, 25mm, 28mm, 32mm and as
per customers’ requirements

Plain bar 40 Grade Available in sizes 5mm, 6mm, 8mm,

10mm, 12mm, 16mm, 20mm,
22mm, 25mm, 28mm, 32mm and as
per customers’ requirements

Segmentation
BSI divides the market into two types of segmentation perspective: B2G (Business to Government) and
B2C (Business to Customer). In B2G, they focus on different governmental constructional projects and for
B2C, they further segment the market from geographical point of view, throughout the Bangladesh.

Targeting
BSI targets the market into two segmentations: B2G (Business to Government) and B2C (Business to Customer).

B2G (Business to Government): As Bangladesh is a developing country, the government does

different types of infrastructure development. Every year, government invests millions of BDT to develop
countries’ government infrastructures. So, this is a very big opportunity for BSI to work with the
government and BSI has already done different infrastructure works for the government. Some of their
major works are- Hatirjheel Extension, Agargaon Extension, Kuril Flyover Extension, Maya Bridge Bhola,
Notre Dame College Extension, BTV Extension, Bongobondhu Textile, Modhumoti Bridge Rangpur,
Monipuri School and College, Ideal School & College, BUET Extension Building and many other real
estate projects.

Hatirjheel Extension Kuril Flyover Extension

BTV Extension Maya Bridge, Bhola

 Notre Dame College Extension Modhumoti Bridge, Rangpur B2C (Business to
Customer): BSI uses geographical segmentation to target the final consumers. They have a very strong distribution
channel of 8 main distributors in the main cities of every division - Sylhet, Rangpur, Chittagong, Barisal, Dhaka,
Rajshahi, Khulna, Mymensingh. And under those distributors, there are more than 100 retailer shops where BSI
supply their products. They do not have any outlet of their own. They supply their products through 70 BSI-owned
trucks and also additional trucks from the retailers and also to the consumers.

Positioning:
The marketing department of BSI creates an image for the product based on its intended audience. This is created
through the use of promotion, price, place and product.

Promotion: BSI uses different kinds of promotional tools, for example- TV, Newspaper,
Billboard, Poster, and Banner Ads to grab the consumers’ attention and provide information
about their products to create an image to the consumers’ mind.
 Billboard Ads

Newspaper Ads

Billboard Ads
Poster Ads

Banner Ads
Price: BSI is trying to attract the consumers by providing quality products in lower prices. They are using
different strategies to minimize their fixed cost and using different resources effectively to lower their
products’ price than that of their competitors. Thus they are creating position in consumers’ mind.

Place: BSI has expanded its market all over the country. They supply their products through distributors
and retailers to make products available to the customers, so that, consumers can easily get their
products.

Quality service – Import raw materials – Delivery service: BSI promises their consumers to
provide the highest standard of quality product and service possible. So, for production, they import
some raw materials, machineries, equipment and train their employees to produce quality product
efficiently. They also provide delivery service through their trucks to provide extra benefit to the
consumers. BSI tries to give promotion, differentiate their product by pricing and quality of the
product, provide extra services and tries to make products available for the consumers to position their
brand.

A Dramatically Changed Marketplace

Now-a-days, due to technology, globalization and social responsibility, we can see dramatic changes in the
marketplace. BSI is also facing the changes. To meet up this challenge, they are using different strategies.

Now consumers can use internet as a powerful information aid. People are now using internet to know
about different products, variety of brands and compare among them. Sometimes, they make decisions
regarding choosing a brand with the help of internet. So, BSI has established their website where they
have provided information about their products, prices, production procedures, company details, CSR
activities etc. so that, the consumers get proper information about BSI and their products. They also
provide their e-mail address, and phone number to make easy communication for the consumers.

Marketing Concept

BSI follows production-oriented business concept. BSI tries to provide consumers with their preferred
products which are widely available and in lower in cost. BSI has concentrated on achieving high
production efficiency by good quality machineries and trained up employees; low cost of the production
by minimizing fixed cost of the company and using resources efficiently and distributing their products all
over the country to ensure product availability in the market. Thus, their business is production oriented.

Strategic Gap

BSI wants to achieve the first position in steel industry of Bangladesh. In this course, they need to grab the
highest market share in the industry. Their production capacity is 400 metric ton rod which is not enough
for satisfying the domestic need. Their present sale covers competitively less market share. There is a
distinct gap between their actual sale and their desired sale of the brand.

SWOT Analysis

Strength Weakness
Overall cost leadership Limited production capacity
Efficiency in time management Lower promotional mix
Modern equipment & technology Low market share

Opportunities Threats
Safe environment Competitive market
Increase demand for product Labor union

Strength
Although BSI is a new company, it has some major mentionable strength. These are as follows-
Overall cost leadership:
BSI owns most of the production equipment itself. Because of its initial paid up capital and owners
contribution. They have their own factory without any liege. The amount of their financial loan is also low.
Because of this reasons the factory overall cost is quite low. Their overall cost leadership help them to set
a lower price of their product.

Efficiency in time management:

BSI is very efficient in time management regarding delivering the product. They are aware about the
consequences of late delivery. So they always believe in delivery on promise time. This characteristic provides
them competitive advantage in this competitive market.

Modern equipment and technology:

BSI uses modern equipment and technology in their production process such as- CNC machine, auto
rerolling machine, UTM machine etc. in their factory they have chemical laboratory, distinct section for
scraps melting, spectra lab etc.

Weakness
BSI have some major internal factor which is considered as weaknesses. These are as follows-

Limited production capacity:

BSI has a narrow production capacity. It has a production capacity of 400 metric ton where as their
competitor BSRM’s production capacity is 2000 metric ton. For takeover the market leader BSRM, they need
to increase their production capacity.

Lower promotional mix:

The promotional activity of BSI is not effective. For positioning in the consumer mind an organization must
planned proper promotional mix. Lower promotional mix leads to lower sale.

Lower market share:

BSI has a narrow production capacity. The demand of the consumer is higher than the production in this situation
they will not able to fulfill the consumer demand.

Because of the lower production capacity, they produce fewer amounts of good. Their sale is lower and so as
their market shares. The market share of the market leader is 20% where their market share is only 1.12%.
Opportunities

BSI has some external factor which helps them to expend their business. These are as follows-

Safe environment:
BSI has several policies regarding the safety of the factory environment. Their prime focus is to create a safe
environment in the production area. By providing a safe environment to the labor and employee the
company can maximize their product quality. So this task will give them long term benefit.

Increase demand of product:

Bangladesh is a developing country. There is huge demand of the steel in the developing process. This increase
in demand is a prime opportunity for expanding their business.

Threats
Some external factor can threat for the expansion of BSI. These are as follows-

Competitive market:
Bangladesh has a competitive market for steel industry. In this industry the leading brands are BSRM, KSRM
etc. it will be hard for them to sustain in this competitive market.

Labor union: The main purpose of the labor union is to keep high the level of worker’s wage. If the
labor wage increases, then it will increase the cost of production as well as the price of the product. As a
result, they cannot provide product in competitive cheaper rate.
Cultivating Customer Relationships

Customer loyalty with B2B, not individuals:

Customer Relationship Management is the process of carefully managing detailed information about the
individual customers and all customers’ ‘touch points’ to maximize loyalty. In this case for Bandar Steel
Industries, as they are not directly maintaining customer relationship with general people according to
their CEO, they maintain relation, however, with the Real-state firms, Builders, Architects and Engineers
whose suggestions are followed by consumers and project directors, Government organization like
LGRD, large developer companies’ project directors etc., who buy frequently from them. They can collect
information of these customers who buy their steel. As their customers are not the general people, they
can collect detailed information of their customers to maintain customer relationship. After that they can
analyze their data to develop their marketing strategy.

Personalizing Marketing
Personalizing marketing means making sure that the brand and its marketing activity are as personally
relevant as possible to as many customers as possible. BSI is using email, web sites, call center, database
software to foster continuous contact between the company and the customers. BSI contact with their
customer via mail, cell phone, social networking like Facebook, twitter skype etc. They also contact with each
customer individually as many customers prefer to talk with a live representative of the company.

Customer Empowerment
Bandar Steel provide opportunities for their customers to share their experience and opinion on how they can
improve their steel and how they can improve their marketing activities through their website and hotline
number. Although only a few number of consumers show their interest to involve with the brand with
feedback, BSI still tries to follow consumers’ suggestions to improve their products and services.

Customers Review and Recommendations

The strongest influence on consumer mind remains the same which is recommended by their families and
friends or relatives but an important decision factor for Bandar steel is recommendation of customers. As
they focus on Engineers, project directors and house owners, they can still receive reviews and
recommendation from them. If they can do, then it would create an interest among the customers to buy
more and more steel from BSI. For receiving reviews and recommendations from customers, BSI uses
their website, Facebook page, email, twitter etc. They monitor customer reviews and recommendations and
should focus their reviews. In some case as it creates positive effect on customers’ mind if they take care
of customer reviews and recommendations and it will create negative effect on customers’ mind if they
don’t focus on it.

Customer Complaints - Cell phones – Email – quick solve:

Most of the time, when customers are not satisfied by the products, they are not willing to complain to the
company. In such cases, most of the customers don’t know how to complain or to whom to they complain.
If customers are not satisfied by the products, most of them will not repurchase the product. However if
the complaints are met with solutions then customers will be satisfied. BSI receives complain from their
customers and tries to resolve their product quality. That’s how they can position their brand. In fact, they
sale their product before the production by taking advanced orders from the customers. They receive
customers’ complains through cell phone, email, and sometimes personally and they solve those complain
quickly.
Establishing a Brand Positioning Communicating
Category Membership
Consumers already know about Bangladeshi steel industries and BSI is one of the top level steel manufacturing
companies.

Announcing Category Benefits:

BSRM is the number one leading company of Bangladeshi Steel Industries. BSI is widely known because of
their quality product and service. So, they follow the announcing category benefits to establish brand
position. They use refine steels, high quality ingredients and their steel is more durable than that of the
competitors. According to their CEO, they don’t need consumers to inform about their products, because
they already know about the product quality of BSI.

Building Brand Equity

The brand elements, marketing activities and supporting marketing programs help BSI to build their brand
equity.

Brand elements
BSI’s brand elements are its brand name, logo, tagline, slogan, etc.

Brand name
The organization chooses “BSI” (Bandar Steel Industries) as their brand name. The word “Bandar” comes
from “Upazila” where the factory of BSI is situated. In beginning they thought if they used the word
Bandar, nearby people could recall the name easily. The brand name is legally protected and now consumer
can easily memorize and recall the name as it is a name widely used in the rural areas of Bangladesh.

Tagline The tagline of BSI is “Believes in Quality”. They always try to provide the best quality product
to the customers. It is meaningful and related with the brand and product function. Their mission is to
provide products and services of highest quality and value by responding to their customers with
promptness, sensitivity, respect & always with integrity and vision is also to lead entire steel world of
Bangladesh by means of quality.

Logo
The logo of the brand represents the recycling of steel. To produce the final product, entire production
procedure can be split up to four basic sections such as melting, casting, rolling and physical Test. Steel is the
world's most recycled material and recycling is related with the organization’s function.

Marketing activities and supporting program

BSI engages in advertising, promotion, communication and other marketing activities that help the brand to
create a brand image to the customers’ mind. The organization is building brand equity through event
marketing, sponsorship, online website and other supporting marketing programs. Their contributions to
construction are Hatirjheel, kuril Flyover, Bangabandhu Textile Engineering College (Tangail), Maya
Bridge (Bhola), Shekh Sayera Khatun Medical College and Hospital, Modhumoti Bridge (Rangpur), BTV
extension building, BUET extension building, Ideal School and College extension building, Notre Dame
College extension building and many more government building projects and bridges.
Flank attack strategy – targeting leader – strong distribution channel

Now BSI is on the third position in the steel industry of Bangladesh. As a market challenger, they can attack
the leader and competitors by taking attack strategy for further market share.
BSI is choosing flank attack to attack the market leader and other competitors. They provide the same quality
products as competitors but in a low price. They sell their product less than

5000 TK of their competitors. The company has a strong distribution channel. In 8 district they have many
retailers and wholesalers so it is easier for them to distribute the products in time and safely to the
customers.

Product Differentiation
BSI follows two ways to differentiate their market from their competitors.

Performance Quality: BSI gives same quality product in a lower price than their competitors. They use
their own resources and use them in an effective way to produce their product. They brought the machines
and raw materials from outside the country. These all are the reasons for their quality products. They have
increased the number of media to reach their consumer. They have also reduced their external and internal
expenditures. These all help them to give the product to the consumer in a lower price.

Keeping promises & on time delivery: They are keeping their consistency level of their product and
service. They fulfill their promise which they give to their consumer. They keep their promising quality
also the service. If they promise to deliver product in 2 days. They surely deliver them in the promising
time so that their consumers do not face any difficulty or lose because of their lacking. This gives them
the opportunity to differentiate their product from others.

Product Mix Pricing

BSI uses the product line pricing concept for their pricing system. They set the price of related functional
products similarly. Such as the price of 32 mm deformed bar (Grade – 60- 400W) is 56500 take and the price
of 10 mm deformed bar (Grade - 40 – 300W) is 55500 tk.

This strategy is helping them to go forward more easily.

Recommendation
BSI is the 3rd largest steel mills industry in Bangladesh. Because of good quality, comparatively low price
and strong distribution channel, the organization can manage to capture 25% of market share in our
country. But still there are few areas where they should improve.

As BSI wants to achieve the first position in the steel industry, first of all, they must increase their market
share. They have only 400 tons production capacity, where BSRM and KSRM have 2000 tons and 1600 tons
production capacity respectively. BSI also needs to expand their target market to increase the product
demand. As they are in a competitive market place it is important for them to be more concentrated about
the market and consumers. Promotional activities can help them for in attracting more customers. The
company can spot new tends ahead of competitors to grab the market. They can also do some social work
that may be helpful for them. The organization should be more aware of their weaknesses and threats.
Appendix

Questions:
1. How your company do STP?

2. Which marketing concept do you follow?

3. How can you cope up with dramatically changed market place?

4. How do you do SWOT analysis for your business?

5. Which process you consider to manage the customer relationship?

6. How you establish your brand position in market place?

7. Which criteria you use for choosing brand element?

8. How you expand total market share?

9. Which strategy you use to protect the market share?

10. How you will differentiate your product from the competitors?

11. How you will set your product pricing?

12. What is your BCG matrix?

13. Which types of steps you take to fill up the strategic gap?