International Marketing

(Computers & Laptops)

Presented By:
Kamlesh Bind (08)
Abhishek Tandon (21)
Ashish Wagle (42)
 Sony History
• Founded in May 1946
• Name created by combining ‘Sonus’ & ‘Sonny’
• 1958, company formally adopted “Sony
Corporation” as its corporate name
• 1960, American branch Sonam (Sony Corporation
of America)
• Leading manufacturer of audio, video,
communications, and information technology
products
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 Sony History Continued..
• Significant product milestones included :
– Japan’s first transistor radio (1955)
– Trinitron colour television (1968)
– Walkman personal stereo (1979)
– Handycam video camera (1989)
– PlayStation (1994)
– Blu-ray Disc recorder (2003)

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 SWOT Analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
Innovation & Quality Maintaining multiple functions
Brand Strength Product Pricing
Product Differentiation International Expansion
High specialized integrated products Battery Efficiencies
Wide spectrum over multiple markets Financial Services Industry
Trillion Yen Business Corporate Governance
Opportunities Threats
Asset Light Strategy Competitor Competition
T V Strategy and Gaming segment Global economic recession
Network initiatives Electronic/ Network Security
T V Business expansion Greening standard compliance
International market penetration
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 PRODUCT MARKET STRATEGY
• To make the vision a reality, Sony is striving to strengthen
the core electronics business.

• By applying information technologies to product design,

production, distribution, and sales. This will strengthen
the value of Sony’s Computers & Laptops, as they become
available over networks.

• Sony is releasing network – focussed products in four

categories: Digital TVs and Set-top boxes, VAIO home use
PCs, Play station & mobile devices.
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 Categorization of Sony Products
• Computers & Laptops • Portable Audio
• Television & Projectors • Game
• Home Audio & Video • In-Car entertainment
• Home theatre system • Mobile phones
• Digital photography • Storage & recording
• Hand cam video media
camera • Batteries & Chargers
• Computer peripherals
• Other accessories
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 Price
• Sony being a company which emphasize product quality, it
tends to sell its products with price range from moderately –
high to high – prices depending on the use and targeted
customers

• Example – Lets consider Sony series of VAIO laptops

• Sony has tried to categorize the laptops according to style,

user, purpose, mobility and performance, and each at a
corresponding price. The laptops sold by Sony in India
include a series of Sony VAIO, this are VAIO SR, VAIO FW,
VAIO TOKAGE, VAIO CR, VAIO NR, VAIO TZ AND VAIO SZ.
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 Promotion
• Promotion is a key element of marketing program and is concerned with
effectively and efficiently communicating the decisions of marketing
strategy.
• “SONY Marketing Communication Mix”
• Sony India will spend Rs 200 Crores in this financial year on advertising
and promotion (Promotional Budget) of the entire range of consumer
electronics.
• The major elements of Promotion Mix includes –
– Advertising
– Personal Selling
– Sales Promotion
– Direct Marketing and Publicity
• Sony Corporation has used all other marketing communication mix
elements also.
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 Place (Distribution)
• Sony distributes its products through:
1. Zero – Level Channel
2. One – Level Channel
3. Two – Level Channel
• In India, Sony has used the method of One – Level Distribution
Channel

Manufacturer

Retailer

Customer
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 Public Relations (PR)
• Public Relations is a broad set of communication activities employed to
create and maintain favourable relationship with employees,
shareholders, suppliers, media, educators, potential investors, financial
institutions, government agencies, officials and society.
• Sony Corporation (through its website) has provided contacts for those
customers who will be in need of any information from the company.
• For example – Sony released an Ad depicting a man smiling towards
the camera and wearing on his head a crown of thorns with button
symbols (Δ, O, X,). At the bottom, the copy read as ‘Ten Years of
Passion’. This supposedly took advantage of the publicity from the Mel
Gibson film ‘The Passion of the Christ’.
• The advertisement outraged the Vatican as well as many local
Catholics, prompting comments such as ‘Sony went too far’ and
‘Vatican Ex-Communicates’.
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7 Cs Compass Model

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 Dell Computer's Strategy
• Dell Computer's strategy was built around
– Build-to-order manufacturing
– Mass customization
– Partnerships with suppliers
– Just-in-time components inventories
– Direct sales
– Extensive data and information sharing with both
supply partners and customers

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 Product lifecycle of DELL
• Technology keeps changing very regularly which means that products
and components have very short life cycles. Therefore proper
management of the PLC and constantly introducing new products is
one of the keys to remain competitive in this industry .

• Introduction – The most important thing for Dell would be to correctly

estimate the new components needed so that these new systems are
not on too long a lead time. Ex Adoma

• Growth – This is time where the volume growth takes place very fast.
So the challenge for Dell would be to work closely with its suppliers to
ensure that no they are in a position to supply these parts and ensure
that the supply chain isn’t affected due to parts shortage. Ex studio
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 Product lifecycle of DELL Contd...
• Maturity – This is the time when there are huge volumes but the profits are lower
as competitors have also come up with similar products. Here Dell should work to
lower the per unit costs of the components as there is price competition and also
ensure that it has proper supply as well. Ex latitude

• Decline – This is the stage where the product’s sales would be dipping and Dell
would soon need to stop producing this product. The decision that Dell would
need to take at this stag would be to ensure that prices of components are at their
lowest as this is old technology. Dell would also need to plan for this stage in
advance so that other parts of the sales/supply chain are not affected when Dell
stops production of that product. Ex Inspiron

• Dell's customers were largely high-end repeat buyers who rapidly adopted new
technology, Dell's marketing could focus on managing product lifecycle transitions.
The company's direct marketing provided real-time customer feedback, which led
to the rapid rounds of learning essential to product development and crisp lifecycle
timing. Dell became expert at curtailing the end-of-life tail of its six-to-nine-month
product cycle. K.J.Somaiya Institute of Management
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 Pricing of DELL with its Competitors
• In 2006, Dell cut its prices in an effort to maintain its 19.2%
market share. However, this also cut profit-margins by more
than half, from 8.7 to 4.3 percent. To maintain its low prices,
Dell continues to accept most purchases of its products via
the Internet and through the telephone network, and to move
its customer-care division to India.

• Dell Computer Corporation is defined by its direct model

approach to selling, which is in turn dominated by the
company’s intent to generate as many sales as possible on the
Internet.

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Dell's Marketing Strategy - Internet
• Dell's marketing strategy sees the Internet as the purest and
most efficient form of the direct model for sales, service, and
support, as well as the most efficient means of customer
communication both presently and in the future.

• Currently the company receives more than 2.6 million visits

each week to its more than 80 country-specific sites. This
resulted in more than $40 million in revenue per week
being generated by the online marketing of Dell.

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 Dell's Marketing Strategy Contd..
• The company touts its site as allowing existing and potential
customers to access information regarding its products,
configure computers to the customers liking, and then make the
purchase. Dell sees this process as the most efficient method of
selling because it allows the consumer to guide the process.

• While the consumer is choosing and configuring their Dell

computer, as well as after the purchase at the Internet site, the
customer has access to volumes of support and technical
information. Instead of sales people answering questions, the
customer is left to find their own answer. This presupposes a
base line of technical knowledge in the customer
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 The Marketing Model of Dell Computers
• The marketing model of Dell Computers, however, does
not differentiate between types of customers, and
instead treats each potential customer as if they have
equal technical knowledge. Dell’s Direct Method provides
two distinct advantages:
1. Reducing marketing and sales cost by eliminating mark
ups of distributors and retailers
2. Building to order reduced inventory costs and risks of
retaining inventories

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Dell’s Value Web Model

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Value Chain

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 Dell: Assembly Units
• Dell has a general policy of manufacturing its
products close to their customers. The assembly of
desktop computers for the North American market
takes place at Dell plants in Austin, Texas and in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

• Dell's assembly plants in Penang, Malaysia, and in

China assemble 95% of Dell laptops; the remaining
percentage comes from Dell European
Manufacturing Facilities 1, 2, and 3 in Limerick.
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 Conclusion
• Dell shows how a company can meet most of the same end
customer needs as its competitors through a radically different
distribution approach. As enabling technologies evolve, more
suppliers will supplant traditional sales and distribution
approaches and, therefore, gain competitive advantage.

• However, simply copying a model which has worked once is not a

guaranteed path to success. No other “mail order” computer
company has managed to match Dell’s growth in sales and
profits. Dell built a strong overall business model and established
its position before others had a chance to copy the model.

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