Marketing, Sales, and Negotiation skills

Marketing, Sales, and Negotiation Skills
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Marketing, Sales, and Negotiation Skills
Introduction
Marketing plays a fundamental role in the success of an organisation. Specifically, it allows organisations to meet customers' needs better than competitors (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick 2019, p.15). As a result of marketing, organisations can ensure that they put profit-making goods and services into the market. British Petroleum Plc. (BP) is a British multinational firm specialising in oil and gas. It was established in 1909 and has since grown to be one of the largest firms in the United Kingdom. Its purpose is to reimagine energy, ensuring that customers across the globe have access to light, heat, and mobility while achieving net zero carbon emission (British Petroleum (BP), n.d.). It operates in the oil and gas industry, which has become quite competitive in recent years due to increased demand for affordable energy with a limited environmental footprint. Only companies with improved environmental performance and low-cost resources can thrive in this industry (International Energy Agency (IEA), 2020). BP’s focus is mainly on providing energy with a limited environmental footprint to customers. Its corporate objectives include providing energy while transitioning to a zero-carbon future (BP, n.d.). As a for-profit company, its objective is also to make profits through its energy-related products and services. Marketing can help BP achieve its corporate objectives by positioning the value of carbon reduction across BP's supply chain and increasing sales of its products to increase the firm's return on investment. This paper’s aim is to explore BP’s marketing environment, marketing mix, sales, and negotiation skills and offer recommendations on how BP can use marketing to meet its organisational goals.
PESTEL and SWOT Analysis
The ability of a company to respond to the opportunities and threats in its marketing environment is influenced by certain environmental elements (Sahaf 2019, p.73). These factors are in both the firms’ macro- and micro-environment. The macro-environment comprises forces outside the firm's control (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick 2019, p.38). They include the political, economic, sociocultural, technological, ecological, and legal forces. According to Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick (2019, p.38), these factors affect not only the firm but also the firm's competitors and other actors in the industry. Firms do not operate exclusively in the business environment, so they must acknowledge the larger context of their operation. They must consider the actions of the government, society, and other interest groups. The macro-environment provides opportunities and threats to the firm, so the marketer must closely monitor it (Sahaf 2019, p.76). However, the forces in the macro-environment are under the control of outside actors, limiting what a firm can do in response to these forces.
The micro-environment consists of forces that are within the firm’s control. They are not only within the firm's immediate environment but also affect its operations (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick 2019, p.38). The forces in the micro-environment include competitors, customers, suppliers, distributors, and the general public. The micro-environment has a significant impact because it influences the target market, competitive marketing strategy, and the supply and distribution chosen by the firm (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick 2019, p.38). Marketers must analyse the micro-environment and take appropriate measures.
Marketers utilise several frameworks to analyse the marketing environment. The PESTEL framework allows marketers to analyse the external/ macro-environment and identify the factors that can potentially impact the firm’s success (Sahaf 2019, p.76). It denotes the political, economic, sociocultural, technological, ecological, and legal forces that positively or negatively affect a business. The SWOT is another framework that allows marketers to analyse the marketing environment. According to Ferrell et al. (2022), the SWOT framework helps marketers identify the firm's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and create a marketing plan focusing on these components of the marketing environment. The SWOT framework denotes the strengths and weaknesses of the firm, characterised by the firm's internal environment, and the opportunities and threats, characterised by the firm’s external environment.
Below is an analysis of BP’s marketing environment using PESTEL and SWOT frameworks.
Table 1: BP’s PESTEL Analysis

Factor

Impact

Political

* Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

* It disrupted the global oil and gas supply, resulting in higher prices (Liang & Thomas, 2022).
* Higher (doubled) profits for BP due to high oil and gas prices (Edser et al., 2023).

Economic

* UK/US exchange rate

* The UK pound is weakening against the US dollar, contributing to high oil and gas prices (Santillo, 2022).
* Higher (doubled) profits for BP due to high oil and gas prices (Edser et al., 2023).

Social

* Preference for electric vehicles (EVs)

* Reduced consumption of oil and gas for transportation (GEP, 2022).
* Reduced demand for oil from BP since EVs will replace oil-powered vehicles (Dale & Smith, 2023)

Technological

* High adoption of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning

* Enhanced oil production and improved safety standards (Chopra, 2022).
* Improved process automation at BP and better decision-making (British Petroleum, 2019).

Environmental

* Climate change concerns

* Industry under pressure to reduce its carbon footprint (IEA, 2020).
* BP has set high climate targets of reducing oil and gas production by two-fifth by 2030 but has been forced to adjust these targets to a quarter, causing uproar among some investors (Hoffman & Davis, 2023).

Legal

* Licensing for gas and oil exploration

* UK government issues license for oil exploration in the North Sea despite objection from climate scientists (Fisher, 2022).
* BP plans on using the Noth Sea exploration licence to boost its oil and gas production in response to the energy crisis (Bousso, 2022)

Table 2: BP’s SWOT Analysis
Strengths
* Investment in technology, such as AI technology, to help improve processes (British Petroleum, 2019).
* A respected and recognised brand image that attracts a global target market.
* Strong strategic partnerships with companies, such as Qantas, to help achieve zero emissions (British Petroleum, 2021).

Weaknesses
* A narrow product line; specialises in motor oil and car and aviation fuel (British Petroleum, n.d.).
* An inability to maintain its climate target goals (Hoffman & Davis, 2023) as it ties to balance between creating value for investors and protecting the environment.

Opportunities
* Favourable government regulations, such as the North Sea licensing for oil and gas exploration (Fisher, 2022).
* Leading change towards clean/green energy by developing low-carbon technologies (IEA, 2020).
* Establish charging stations for electric vehicles using its already established network of oil and gas stations (Ernst & Young Global Limited, 2020)

Threats
* Introduction of substitute products, namely electric vehicles, will reduce oil demand (Dale & Smith, 2023).
* Consumer preferences for electric vehicles (GEP, 2022).
* The Russia-Ukraine war threatens the oil and gas supply (Liang & Thomas, 2022).
* Global recession, contributing to high costs of oil and reducing consumer spending (Santillo, 2022).

Discussion and Analysis of Marketing Mix
Marketers utilise the marketing mix as the basic toolkit for implementing their marketing plan (Masterson et al. 2021, p.207). A basic marketing mix has four main elements; product, price, place, and promotion. However, a more comprehensive marketing mix has three additional elements; people, process, and physical evidence, making what is known as the 7Ps. According to Masterson et al. (2021, p.207), the 7Ps consist of a wide range of marketing ideas that fit each other to meet the needs of the consumers and achieve a firm's corporate objectives. None of the Ps can work in isolation.
Additionally, Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick (2019, p.228) state that an effective marketing mix must align with the target market's needs. This implies that the product must be developed through the eyes of potential customers to ensure consumers choose the product over that of competitors. In addition, an effective marketing mix must give the firm a competitive advantage (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick 2019, p.228). A firm's competitive advantage is derived from the product, price, promotion, and place decisions. For instance, offering low prices can give the firm a competitive advantage over other firms by attracting price-sensitive consumers. Similarly, choosing a place (distribution) that offers convenience can generate a competitive advantage for a firm by attracting consumers who value convenience when making purchase decisions.
Marketers must understand the 7Ps before applying them in their marketing activities. Product refers to what the company is offering to meet consumers’ needs. It is the reason for the company's existence (Ferrell et al. 2022, p.145). Price refers to the pricing approach for the product. It is different from all the other Ps because it is the only one that generates revenue and does not involve any