Btec Business Coursework

Introduction:

In the following coursework I will be investigating how Nokia market their products and whether these methods of marketing are effective or not. The report will focus on the marketing strategy used by Nokia, how Nokia carry out their market research, market segmentation and other issues relating to how Nokia market products.

The report will identify and research the target market of Nokia and the marketing mix and how these four P's relate to Nokia. In order to complete this coursework I will be using the Nokia website and, books and my class notes. The company I have chosen to base this coursework on is Nokia. In this part of the coursework I will be focussing on the Nokia N91. Also I will be discussing the marketing background of this product.

About Nokia:

What is known today as Nokia was established in 1865 as a pulp mill by Knut Fredrik Idestam on the banks of Nokia rapids. Finnish Rubber Works established its factories in the beginning of 20th century nearby and began using Nokia as its brand. Shortly after World War I Finnish Rubber Works acquired Nokia wood mills as well as Finnish Cable Works, a producer of telephone and telegraph cables. All these three companies were merged into the Nokia Corporation in 1967.

The Nokia Corporation that was created in the 1967 fusion was involved in many sectors, producing at one time or another paper products, bicycle and car tyres, footwear (including Wellington boots), personal computers, communications cables, televisions, electricity production

Nokia's first major mobile phone order came from the Finnish Defence Forces in 1972, for field radios. In the 1970s, Nokia began developing mobile phones for the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) network standard, that went online in the 1980s. Nokia introduced the world's first NMT mobile phone, the Nokia Cityman, in 1987. NMT was the world's first mobile telephony standard that enabled international roaming, and provided valuable experience for Nokia for its close participation in developing Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). It is a digital standard which came to dominate the world of mobile telephony in the 1980s and 1990s, in mid-2006 accounting for about two billion mobile telephone subscribers in the world, or about 80% percent of the total, in more than 200 countries. The world's first commercial GSM call was made in 1991 in Helsinki over a Nokia-supplied network, by Prime Minister of Finland Harri Holkeri, using a Nokia phone.

In the 1980s, during the era of its CEO Kari Kairamo, Nokia expanded aggressively into new fields, mostly by acquisitions. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the corporation ran into serious financial problems, a major reason being its heavily loss-making television division. (These problems probably contributed to Kairamo taking his own life in 1988.) Nokia responded by streamlining its telecommunications divisions, and by divesting itself of the television and PC divisions. Jorma Ollila, who became the CEO in 1992, made a strategic decision to concentrate solely on telecommunications. Thus, during the rest of the 1990s, Nokia continued to divest itself of all of its non-telecommunications divisions.

The exploding worldwide popularity of mobile telephones, beyond even Nokia's most optimistic predictions, caused a logistics crisis in the mid-1990s. This prompted Nokia to overhaul its entire logistics operation. Logistics continues to be one of Nokia's major advantages over its rivals, along with greater economies of scale.

The 4 P's:

In this part of the coursework I will discuss marketing strategies. It will consist of the four P's, which are product, place, price and promotion.

The four P's are extremely important to Nokia as these P's are the essence which has made Nokia the global success that it is. Nokia have to set the right price for the products as price is a major factor affecting demand. If the price is too high then consumers will decide not to purchase the product, whereas if the price for Nokia phones is too low the company will not get the brand image they want. However price can be changed at the right time. For example when the demand for Nokia phones are high the can put the price up, however when the demand is low the price of the product will come down.

Also Nokia must continuously develop new products in order to get consumers and get a big stake of the market share. Without products Nokia cannot even enter the market so this is sometimes called the most important of the four P's. With the development of new products comes high demand for products and Nokia will be able to be recognized as a big company.

Where Nokia decide to locate is also very important. There are many factors affecting location for a company like Nokia. For example distance from suppliers and transport links. A really important factor is competition. As Nokia is a specialist outlet they are able to locate out of town, this can be a good and bad for Nokia. It will be good because the rent for the space will not be as much. However competitors may decide to locate in town and Nokia will loose out on potential customers. All this means that location can directly affect Nokia's profit margins and their segment in the market.

Advertisements have long been a part of Nokia's successful campaign. Consumers are often wary of technology so promotional campaigns break it down for consumers. Nokia often use celebrities to promote their products. An example of this is the R&B star Cassie is the Nokia N91 which appears in the song 'me &you'. This type of promotion will immediately attract the attention of consumers, especially the "MTV generation" which Nokia often aim their products at. With good promotion come more consumers leading to higher profit margins and consequently leading to a high market share.