SWOT Analysis and the STP Marketing Approach of Subaru Corporation
Instructions
Part 1 – General Information and Situational Analysis
Section 1 – Company Background
Describe your selected company or brand.
Tell a brief history of the company.
Summarize the core products and services the company offers.
Identify direct current competitors.
Explain why they direct competitors.
Section 2 – SWOT Analysis (Links to an external site.)
Complete a SWOT analysis.
Propose the product or service line you want to develop a marketing plan for.
Justify your proposal with a SWOT-based argument for why it warrants marketing investment.
Section 3 – Macro- and Microenvironment
Analyze at least two elements from each quadrant of Table 8.1 in the course text as the micro- and macroenvironment factors that affect the company’s overall marketing strategy.
Part 2 – The Marketing Plan
Section 1 – Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (STP)
Describe your segmentation approach for your proposed product/service.
Be sure to discuss these elements of the segmentation approach: demographic, geographic, behavioral, and psychographic segmentation approaches.
Provide rationale for this approach.
Describe the target audiences or markets.
Create a positioning statement.
Section 2 – The Marketing Mix
Formulate the 4Ps for your proposed product/service:
Product
Describe your core product, extended product, and the product concept.
Explain how you plan to achieve competitive differentiation through creating customer value in four areas:
Branding
Packaging
Support
Quality
Price
Place
Promotion with a special focus on digital media and integrated marketing communications (IMC)
Section 3 – Global and Ethical Considerations, and Conclusion
Identify three business or sociocultural considerations in translating your marketing plan for use in a foreign market.
Discuss at least one policy/philosophy or idea regarding the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR), green marketing practices, and ethics and ethical marketing.
Conclude with a summary of your plan and why it deserves to be funded.
Use your Week 2 assignment and make sure you incorporated your instructor’s feedback and have improved your previously submitted work for Part 1 and Part 2, Section 2 (Product).
Understanding the background of the company will help you complete the SWOT analysis.
Propose a new idea to market the product or service line. Avoid writing about or proposing the current marketing strategy.
This is your idea, so use the SWOT analysis to defend it.
Use the information you researched and analyzed in the Week 4 video presentation to complete Part 1, Section 3.
Analyze some micro- and macroenvironment factors that affect the company’s overall marketing strategy.
You need to provide enough details to the information you included in your slides to fit well with the rest of the paper.
Make sure you incorporated your instructor’s feedback and have improved your previously submitted work for this part.
Use the information you researched and analyzed in the Week 4 discussion forum, Finding and Targeting Your People, to complete Part 2, Section 1.
You need to beef up the information you discussed in that discussion forum to align it with your overall marketing plan.
Review and refer to Section 7.3 of the course text, Principles of Marketing.
Spend considerable time completing Part 2, the Marketing Plan; this is the essence of your plan.
Someone should be able to understand your plan, just by reading this section only.
Formatting Requirements
The Marketing Plan final project paper
Must be eight to nine double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages or slides) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.)resource.
Must include a separate title page and slide with the following:
Title of project in bold font
Space should be between title and the rest of the information on the title page.
Student’s name
Name of institution
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Due date
Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph and subject headers for all parts, sections, and subsections. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Writing Center resources.
Must use at least four scholarly or credible sources in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
To assist you in completing the research required for this assignment, view this University of Arizona Global Campus Library Quick ‘n’ Dirty (Links to an external site.) tutorial, which introduces the Ashford University Library and the research process, and provides some library search tips.
Must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
Subaru Corporation Marketing Plan
Student’s Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Course Name/ Number:
Instructor’s Name:
Due Date:
Part 1 – General Information and Situational Analysis
Company Background
Subaru Corporation is one of the most iconic transportation manufacturers across the globe. The conglomerate was founded in 1917 as Nakajima Aircraft Company and later embarked on a new beginning as Fuji Heavy Industries in 1953 (Subaru Corporation, n.d). Fuji Heavy Industries later changed its name to Subaru and rebranded its products. Subaru Corporation has two primary business segments: aircraft and automobile. The aircraft segment focuses on the production, repair, sales, and distribution of aerospace-related machinery, airplanes, and components. During Subaru Corporation's earlier days as Nakajima Aircraft Company, the organization established itself as a manufacturer of aerospace technology and aircraft information technology. By 1973, Boeing started outsourcing the production of aircraft parts to Subaru Corporation. The company aided in the production of Boeing 767, 777, and 787. Subaru Corporation also started developing aerial robotics, helicopters, global positioning systems (GPS) for navigation, and pilotless drones. The automobile division of Subaru Corporation was introduced in 1958 when the company released Subaru 360, followed by Subaru. The segment specializes in the production, sale, and distribution of vehicles. Subaru's automobile segment is also known for the Impreza, the Forester, and the Legacy.
The transportation and automotive industry has been growing exponentially over the years. The growth industry is associated with advancements in technology, the development of new products, aggressive expansion of new entrants, and stiff competition among companies. According to o Brondoni (2019), Subaru Corporation rivals various companies in its automotive and aircraft business segments. Some of the company's Japanese automotive industry rivals are Hyundai, Isuzu, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and Toyota Motor Corporation. Other significant competitors include Kia, Mazda, Nissan, Ford, Jeep, and Brembo. These companies are formidable competitors to Subaru Corporations' automobile segment because they produce small cars and develop new technologies that target the same market niche. The aircraft's segment's significant competitors include the Canadian Bombardier Aerospace, Boeing, Raytheon Technologies, Safran, Leonardo, Airbus, and the Brazilian Embraer (The Business Research Company, 2020). The company needs to continuously develop new technologies and improve its aircraft and aerospace-related equipment to compete effectively.
SWOT Analysis of Subaru Corporation's Automobile Segment
This marketing plan focuses on the automobile segment of Subaru Corporation, which offers various models of cars. Identifying the firm's internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis) is particularly useful in the strategic management of its product's automobile segment and marketing. SWOT analysis is an effective tool that allows the company to utilize its strengths to exploit the available market opportunities and improving its capabilities and productivity by working on its weakness. SWOT analysis of also essential in establishing and avoiding external threats that may cost the company. Effective marketing of Subaru Corporation's product requires the SWOT analysis strategic tool.
Strengths
Subaru Corporation has a strong brand name because of the high-quality cars it produces. Customers worldwide are familiar with Subaru Impreza, Forester, Legacy models, maintaining high quality and a good brand reputation. Subaru's automobile business segment has a highly skilled and motivated workforce that ensures consistency in productivity and quality (Ng, 2019). The company invests heavily in the training and development of its employees to promote professionalism, job satisfaction, commitment, and productivity. Besides, Subaru's workforce is diverse, with employees from various social, cultural, educational, and geographical backgrounds because of the company's culture of inclusivity. The automobile division also has a strong distribution network and a global customer outreach that helps the company to expand to new markets continuously. Subaru Corporation's financial position allows it to enjoy economies of scale and reduced cost per unit. Additionally, the automotive segment has a good return on capital, warranting investments in the marketing of its products. It also has a product portfolio that offers a wide range of cars that fit different customers' preferences.
Weaknesses
Innovation is essential for brand reputation and consumer retention. Although Subaru Corporation spends more on research and development than its competitors, it does not have an advantage over other market players because it has been experiencing a decline in innovation and development of new products over the past decade (Cutcher-Gershenfeld et al., 2015). A focus on innovation would significantly improve Subaru's band reputation, sales, and customer satisfaction. Vertical integration of merges and expansion of the company experiences challenges due to ineffective coordination of Subaru Corporation's organizational culture and its current business structure. Previous reports reveal that the automotive business division has a higher than average workload per employee, leading to increased psychological stress and reduced productivity among the staff members. The organizations should acquire more staff members to minimize workload and consequently improve job satisfaction and productivity.
Opportunities
The world has been changing rapidly, thus offering more opportunities for automotive and transportation industry companies. The number of internet users across the globe is increasing each day (Lee et al., 2018). Internet use is also accompanied by changes in consumer behaviors, for instance, purchasing decisions, social media interactions, and online shopping. Subaru can adopt e-commerce by setting up an online store for its sales. Besides, it can increase consumer outreach by utilizing social platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. The world's population is also snowballing, increasing the demand for cars. Subaru Corporation should expand its production facility to meet consumers' demands in different parts of the world. Governments and citizens are currently advocating for green energy and electric cars (Jones, 2019). Subaru Corporation needs to adopt new technologies and start producing electric vehicles whose demand in the marketplace has increased significantly.
Threats
Companies can overcome external threats through necessary readjustments in their management, production, and operations. Subaru Corporation's automobile segment faces competition from aggressive market players that have adopted new technologies in the automotive industries (Jones, 2019). Competitors such as Tesla, Honda, Toyota, and Mitsubishi currently produce electric cars whose demands are rising. Some automotive companies have started making self-driving cars which are likely to replace modern vehicles in the future. Subaru Corporation should adopt new technologies to overcome the threat of competition. It also needs to continuously train and develop its workforce to meet the latest technological requirements of the market. The new entrants in the automotive industry have also reduced the company's market share. The suppliers' bargaining power has also increased because of the many industry players and competition. Political uncertainties in various countries make it difficult for Subaru Corporation to establish more dealerships and explore new markets.
Macro- and Microenvironment
Microenvironment factors refer to the forces that influence a company's immediate environment, including stakeholders, competitors, customers, and suppliers. Analyzing the immediate external environment is essential in tailoring management and marketing to fit the immediate needs of the business and factors influencing its operations (Sharma et al., 2021). Subaru Corporations have a lower bargaining power due to the increased demand for automobiles. They have limited control over the prices of the products...