Marketing Plan Oman Shapoorji

Executive Summary

The current marketing plan discusses the different marketing options that can be used by Oman Shapoorji for constructions in order to open a new market for the company in Kuwait. Kuwait and Oman are both countries of the GCC which makes it a good idea to begin a new business in Kuwait as Omani company. The plan includes the main marketing objectives that explain how and why OSCO is entering the market of Kuwait. The plan also provides a view about the company and its services and how to enter the Kuwaiti market. The marketing plan depends on the marketing mix to discuss the different marketing areas such as price, product, positioning and other areas. There is an action plan with dates and activities and there is also a designing for the integrated marketing communication, designing the marketing channel and the e marketing strategy. It is recommended that extra research can be done by the company to add to this current marketing plan and improve it and complete any shortage or needed information within it.  

Marketing Objectives

The following objectives are relevant to the company's plan to enter a new market:

1. Increasing the market share of the company's services.
2. Expand the company's business into the contracting market in order to raise the profit margins.
3. Expand the company's services and reduce its costs.
4. Increasing the company's business in Kuwait, the Gulf area and the Arab world by entering a new market where the company's business can be expanded.
5. Establishing a new office with new employees in the Gulf area in Kuwait.

Introduction

Oman Shapoorji is intending to enter a new market which is North African countries. Oman Shapoorji has proved its success in the Gulf area and it is one of the leading construction companies in Asia. This is a marketing plan that identifies the main features of the new market that the company is intending to enter and the features of the business product area that will be marketed in Kuwait.

The Company

Oman Shapoorji Company LLC (OSCO) was established in 1975 as a major construction company that had a big share in Oman's economic renaissance and was of an outstanding distinguished activity in the construction field. The company has stakeholders in Oman and India as it has stakeholders as owners in Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Limited 150 years now.

Services

OSCO has provided many services for its customers in Oman such as building many of its famous landmarks and infrastructure as it provides its services for both public and private sectors. It is also providing other services as being a facility management division and among these services are maintenance services, operation services, housekeeping and cleaning services provided for Muscat Palace Complex and Associated Properties and other important places such as Ministries and governmental Houses. The company also has an in-house MEPI Division that provides complete mechanical, electrical, processing and instrumentation services and solutions for buildings, hospitals, hotels and other industries and infrastructure works.    

Target Market

OSCO is currently working in the Omni market. The construction business in Oman is great and increasing with heavy investments in the infrastructure, transport, tourism and other private buildings. The government of Oman is focusing on building a future rail line that connects Oman with other areas in the Arab Gulf.   Oman is planning for making the construction of 6 airports and new port cities. Oman is characterized with increasing population which makes it important for having more infrastructure and construction projects in the Sultanate as the infrastructure in Oman are representing 61% of all construction projects in Oman. It is also having strong residential and commercial developments that require lots of construction work. Oman is also having many tourist construction projects that is associated with many private and governmental construction projects related to private businesses or the governmental real estate projects such as housing projects. According to data got from the publications of Oman's Ministry of National Economy, there is a growth at the construction industry of Oman in 2007 estimated with 34.7% representing RO470.7 as it was in 2006 RO349.5 Million and in 2005 RO292.1 Million. (Deloitti, 2014)

The company is intending to open a new market in Kuwait which is a country that is although it is small, it has many construction projects that are continuously increasing. The construction market of Kuwait has much strengths such as the movement of Kuwait government forward and there are many developments in many sectors related with constructions. The Public Authority of Housing and Welfare is allocating much money for housing projects by the help of the oil and gas sector in Kuwait. Real estate is also receiving rising investments as there are transactions that are increased estimated with 40% increase in 2013 with about 7.27bn $. These reasons made Oman Shapoorji tends to open a new market in Kuwait. (Oxford Business Group, 2015)

Market Segmentation

Geographic

The market of Kuwait is considered a neighbor market to Oman where OSCO is established which raises the chances of the company's success based on its location for the new market.

Demographic

Kuwaiti people only represent about one third of the people living there so the company may also address those living in Kuwait with construction business from non Kuwaiti. (Indexmund, 2015)

Psychographic

As to the psychographics of Kuwait, people of Kuwait are always keen on the environment which is a basic value the company focuses on as the company never uses forbidden or harmful substances either to living creatures or to the Earth.

Behavioral

The company depends on respecting the behaviors of the customers in Kuwait in addition to respecting the rights of intellectual properties and all relevant rights to construction activities.

PESTLE Analysis

Political	Kuwait is a semi democratic constitutional emirate with a hybrid political system divided on the elected parliament and the government which is controlled by the ruling family. Kuwait is a Gulf country and one of the GCC countries and it is known for having freedom and political rights for Kuwait and non Kuwait. In Kuwait, the legislature is the National Assembly which has the power to remove ministers from their positions. Kuwait has a stable political life as almost all citizens are Muslims; Sunna and Shia and both are living together in peace which makes it a good country for a new business to flourish there as the government is also welcoming businesses coming from different world countries especially those of the GCC.  (NYTIMES, 2015)
Economic	Kuwait is a rich country that has about 6% of the oil reserves of the world. It has an economic freedom that is of 62.5 score which results in its having a 74th freest economy in the 2015 index. This makes it a very good market for OSCO new business activity. Its government encourages trade and business activity from other countries of the world especially countries of the GCC such as Oman and this can be regarded via its regulations and legislations that facilitate economic activities including taxes and import and export laws and legislations. It has monetary freedom, labor freedom and corruption freedom as clarity and honesty are the basic policies of the economic activities of Kuwait. Kuwait is known for its active construction industry as the country has many construction works which makes it a good area for OSCO to open a new market there. (Heritage, 2015)
Sociological	Since the 19th century, Kuwait was a country that was under Ottoman Empire control then it became an independent sheikhdom after the first world war under the protection of the British Kingdom., it became a fully independent country in 1961. The country enjoys much oil production.  Kuwait's culture depends on a history of tribe life as an Arabian Gulf country but within time, the country turned to be very modern in all life aspects such as education and construction. The country has many residents from many countries all over the world but the country is struggling to save and keep its Kuwaiti identity and this is clear in the traditions of families and the way Kuwaiti build their houses and homes. As a GCC country, Kuwaiti people welcome other GCC businesses in the country and the government encourages them.  (Elliott et al, 2012)
Technological	Kuwait is enjoying high levels of technology as the country has very developed transportation system known with its updated and developed airports and highways inside the country and those join it with other countries whether by land or by air or sea. The technology is found in all its communication systems including telephone codes, internet and media. There are four broadcasts owned to the state in addition to a satellite channel. The country has different private channels used on the latest technologies which makes marketing there is effective by the latest technologies of media and social media. People are interested in the latest technologies in everything especially communication and social media. Kuwait has a development plan that includes a scientific and technology plan which ensures good investment future for business entities. (Zahran, 2014)
Legal	Kuwait is a country of the GCC and its legal system which is based on the country's civil law jurisdiction as the laws of Kuwait are based and derived from the laws of Egypt which is an Arab country deriving its laws from France. Kuwait has a court system with six major divisions which are the family, civil, commercial, criminal, administrate and leases. Its commercial legislations are good and suitable for any business to invest in Kuwait as it provides good tariffs for importing and exporting materials in addition to its availability for joint ventures and work of agents. As it is a GCC country, it has good laws related to Gulf countries and business with them such as free passing for goods across Gulf borders and its allowance for samples and advertising materials coming from a Gulf country to be duty free. (Doronin, 2013)
Environmental	Kuwait is a country that has hot climate in summer and Cool in winter. It is a desert country with a dry climate and different climate from other countries where there are winds and rains in different times of the year. There are very high temperatures in summer and very low temperature in winter but winter months don't last too much time. (Doronin, 2013)

Marketing Strategies

7Ps

Product

OSCO is providing its construction services as its product added to plumbing, maintenance and mechanical and electrical services. The company provides all types of construction services including facility services and services of constructing many different things such as buildings, houses, infrastructures, buildings, mosques and holiday resorts. The company focuses on its services quality as it has a quality policy that ensures delivering the products at high levels of quality according to the demanded feature and designs. (OSCO, 2015)

Price

The company has a pricing strategy that depends on the market demands, consumers expectations, abilities and value of the service to money. Pricing of the construction services presented by OSCO are paralleling with the international pricing policies for construction services and are matching the Arab and Gulf world expectations and abilities. There is a pricing policy that is based upon investigating the market in the Gulf area and find out all relevant prices of the services presented by the company and to compare prices to international prices of plumbing, electricity, mechanical, painting, floor fixes and other relevant construction works and then to set the prices of the company to be attractive for clients compared to other companies locally and internationally.

Promotion

OSCO depends on a promotion plan that ensures good spread for the company's work into Kuwait. Promotion plan includes advertising for the company's projects and services into Kuwait by using many advertising channels targeting both public and private sectors to develop effective advertising plan and reach as many customers as possible. The company depends on media channels such as TV, radio and the internet to recognize people of Kuwait with the company's strengths and abilities. The company aims at using more advertising channels than competitors in the Gulf area use as it will focus on promotional products to be delivered to project managers, engineers, public customers and companies. A sponsorship is going to be done during February to support Kuwait national day celebrations. A charitable initiative is also going to be done by the company for charitable events in Kuwait such as Ramadan and support for cancer. Print media and website media are going to be well designed and presented for Kuwaiti people. (Taylor and Smith, 2004)

Place

OSCO depends on the place factor as Kuwait construction market is a Gulf market which is not completely different from Oman's while Kuwait building and construction tends to be very modern but modernization is also found in Oman. Place is well chosen by the company because Kuwait besides being a Gulf company, it is a rich company with good construction activity as the Kuwaiti government has announced that the projects of building constructions are participating with a very big share in Kuwait's economy estimated with 42% of the construction projects pie of the year 2015 as they express the township project development in Kuwait that is included within the Public Authority for Housing Welfare that is aiming at providing the public national with affordable houses in addition to the infrastructure.  (Thebig5hub, 2015)

Process

The company's planning process depends on four major orbits which are: the company's current situation, what is needed for improving it, the future target of the business, which ways should be followed to reach competitive advantage and how to use these ways effectively. The company has a processing plan that employs all the available resources of the company to apply it in addition to a time schedule for ensuring the time needed for each process involved within the marketing plan needed for entering the construction Kuwaiti market. The current market situation is first analyzed and then an action plan is set to specify the different activities to be done. (Entrepreneurial Insights, 2015)

Positioning

OSCO depends on its position in Oman and Asia to build a brand position in Kuwait where there are many customers already know the name and brand of the company as its projects are well known around the Gulf area and Asia. Emphasizing the current distinguishing features of the company can be used for positioning it in Kuwait via advertising means and this can ensure its credibility. Positioning can be based on discussing the Kuwaiti market and its needs in order to compete other business entities in the field of construction by assuring the best services provided by OSCO to clients in Kuwait.

People

The company depends on a well trained staff for invading the Kuwaiti construction market, they are well trained and prepared including engineers and workers in all construction fields. The staff includes effective human resource managers that focus on training the employees such as those working in the customer service and in the sales management. The company focuses on Kuwaiti customers as they are targeted by its plan to market for its services in Kuwait and it focuses on their love for modernization in building and construction field.

Designing the E marketing strategy

Product and Brand Strategy

The company intends to use e marketing as a means for implementing the marketing plan successfully. Many elements will be addressed by the e marketing strategy including  online websites for the company that includes its plans and intentions in developing and upgrading the construction industry in Kuwait in addition to a declaration about the company's done projects and the services it provide its customers with. E marketing can be used to enhance a place for the company online through being available in banners' ads and being existed in the construction related sites by providing online advice through the company's consultants. Increased information will be provided for customers about the company, its business and the fields and services it can provide them with through the sites found online and the online advertisements. (Fowler, 2015)

Online Advertisements

The company will focus on the ads found online to prove its existence to all people of Kuwait so all Kuwaiti forums, Facebook pages, Instagram, Twitter and websites related to engineering and constructions or those related to people interested in home designs, landscape, interior designs and building will be used for advertising for the company using different advertising channels such as banners, You tube commercials and discussions where consultant from the company will work for giving advice to young engineers and those interested in the company's facilities and services from Kuwait.

The internet as a promotion element

The company will use the internet to send a message to people about the business of the company and why it is investing in Kuwait, this will be for building a customer business relationship build on trust and understanding as when customers realize that the company is respecting Kuwait and its history as a Gulf country and is intending to present its services for the country to meet the Kuwaiti taste and the taste of  a Gulf country people. (Yannopoulos, 2011)

Designing the marketing channel

Customers' needs

Kuwait is a country with a high GDP and the customers are enjoying good construction projects by many companies inside and outside Kuwait. There is considerable successful construction development in Kuwait and this raises the level of quality and creativity customers need regarding construction and all relevant works such as plumbing, electricity and mechanical works. There is a high need to support the infrastructure with modern technology in construction works.

Channel Objectives

1. Providing the market with job opportunities.
2. Providing creative solutions for housing projects in Kuwait.
3. Minimizing the shipping distance of the channel and decreasing the handling amount between Oman and Kuwait for the materials used by the company.
4. Choosing a suitable shipping company for reducing costs.
5. Establishing a competitor channel in a country strong in construction projects.

Major Channel Alternatives

There are some intermediaries for carrying the channel work such as marketing agencies, offices, contracting firms and exclusive distributors. (Rosenbloom, 2011)

Designing the integrated marketing communication

The company tends to develop an effective integrated marketing communication program involving an advertising program and a program for relationships of the company in Kuwait such as relationships with other firms that can share in helping the company make a successful promotion campaign.

Communication platforms

Direct Marketing

The company uses the direct market of Kuwait to market its services through many direct channels such as companies that have partnership with Oman Shapporji in Kuwait.

Advertising

Advertisements are used for making communication relationships with the customers in Kuwait through reaching as many people as possible and the company can target different types of clients to address via advertisements as they can be directed to engineers and contractors or for ordinary people who can find the merits of the company and recommend its services to other companies.

Sales Promotion

Sales promotion is used as a marketing platform for increasing the communication policy with all stakeholders and to open new horizons for the company in Kuwait. Sales promotion will focus on the achievements of the company in Oman to address the availability of doing other resembling achievements in Kuwait.

Public Relations

Public relations depend on the company's relations with different facilities of Kuwait and different construction agents in addition to the relations of the company with the public clients through charitable participation, sponsorships campaigns, donations and participation in the events that are interested to the public in Kuwait such as festivals of February and Ramadan and sports activities of the famous football and other sports clubs there.

Steps in marketing communications program development

To ensure the success of the program, there should be the following steps to develop it:

1. Focus on the target audience of Kuwaiti and non-Kuwaiti potential clients, their needs and expectations.
2. Designing a message for communication which is quality and innovation are the main policies of Oman Shapoorji.
3. Establishing a budget for communication platforms.
4. Measuring the results and evaluating them. (Pelsmacker and Kitchen, 2004)

Detailed action plan

Activities	Start Date	End Date	Description	Objectives	Who is responsible	How
Message platform	1-1-2016	1-2-2016	Invading the market of Kuwait by the message of quality which reflects the company's policy.	Ensuring the good innovated work of the company.	The human resource management of the company.	Using media channels, websites and social media.
Positioning	1-2-2016	1-3-2016	Taking a position among construction companies in Kuwait.	Showing the best of the company's abilities in Kuwait's market.	Marketing agents and distributors	Using advertisement and public events to reach the public and private companies
Brand implementation	1-3-2016	1-4-2016	Providing some participations in the Kuwait community events such as charity and social events	Building a brand relationship with the Kuwaiti customer	Marketing agents and management	Using the public events and associations and advertising channels
Evaluating success	1-4 -2016	1-5-2016	Measuring the market and customer ability to engage the company into marketing business	Recognizing the level of success of the marketing strategies to improve it when needed	Management of the company	Using online questionnaires and surveys in addition to making discussions with engineers and contractors.

Evaluation and recommendations

The current marketing plan should be evaluated according to the outcomes and reactions of the addressed audience and expected clients. The purpose of evaluation is to measure the degree of effectiveness of the marketing plan and the strategies used within it and to find the best and worst solutions used during the time duration of the plan. All stakeholders should be engaged during the different monitoring stages as all activities should be monitored and results should be investigated. Evaluation is to be done on two stages: at first evaluating the process and how marketing is achieved and the second stage is evaluating the outcomes of the marketing plan. All the marketing mix elements should be evaluated in order to find out any shortage or problems that may face the business when being implemented in Kuwait. Evaluation shouldn't neglect any part of the marketing plan and it should be done over time stages and time planning. 

Consumers behaviors regarding the services provided by OSCO should be evaluated and measured, they should also be analyzed in order to find out the percentage of the acceptance of the company and its services in Kuwait, how far they find the services are convenient to Kuwait in their prices, level of quality and other relevant important information such as innovation and providing new services for Kuwaiti people. Evaluation should be applied according to a program for evaluation and this should be done through some steps including engage stakeholders in the evaluation process, describing the marketing plan, determining the purpose from the marketing plan, gathering suitable evidences about the level of acceptance to the service after monitoring and investigating, justifying the reached conclusions and ensuring the lessons learned and making the important needed implementations.

It is recommended that the company should reach conclusions that are clear and can be understood in order to find out the reasons for any shortage in the plan. The company should make comparison studies and researches about how construction businesses opened new markets in other areas or countries and how they used proper marketing plans for setting a position for themselves in the new markets. Their plans should also be studied to reach lessons and implementations that can be added to the company's marketing plan and change it to the better. It is recommended to do more researches to find out how this current marketing plan can be improved and developed. It is recommended that the company finds out new innovative and creative ideas for marketing to be added to this plan in order to match any new idea that may appear in the market related to constructions and the relevant activities to this industry such as any new advertisement technique or any suggestions related to human resource management to reach better levels of success to the marketing plan.