LUẬN văn THẠC sĩ strategy of developing new IT products to the vietnam market case study of dell EMC

FUNDAMENTAL THEORY OF LAUCHING STRATEGY

Marketing plan and its roles

Marketing plan is important for the business operation at three levels of (1) business-unit; (2) product and (3) market Marketing plan is the integral part of strategy planning in capturing specific market and marketing opportunities (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012, p 38) The proper marketing tactics helps offerings reaching customers by which the achievement of economic and business objectives is obtained

Defined by Kotler and Keller (2006, p.43), marketing plan is “the central instrument for directing and coordinating the marketing effort” Two accountabilities of marketing plan are strategic and tactical The strategic level requires the deep analysis of marketing environment so as to adapt market opportunities including proper identification of target markets/customers and appropriate values offered The analysis of marketing environment focuses on six elements of demographic, economic, technological, physical, social, cultural, political and legal which will help identifying key influencers affecting, modifying or shaping business decisions (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, 2008, p.54) Also, the findings are key inputs for solutions dealing with uncertainties (Wack, 1985)

From the marketing strategy, tactical marketing plan elucidates detailed specifications such as offering functionalities, promotion campaigns, merchandising solutions, pricing strategies, sales and distribution channels and service included By those tactics, the gap between offerings and customers‟ emotional expectations is reduced that raises purchasing actions

Figure 1.1 Influencing factors of marketing plan

Source: ‘Marketing Management’, Fig 1.6, p.27 (Kotler and Keller, 2006)

Marketing plan is, paralleling, impacted by key immediate factors including marketing intermediaries, suppliers, competitors and publics Marketing efforts, ultimately, are to approach target customers Along with the task of unveiling competitive market information, marketing efforts are also spared for building up the collaboration via positive relationships with marketing intermediaries – the ones develop, distribute and sell company‟s offerings to customers This plot, on the other hand, helps improving the delivery/distribution network (Johnson et al., 2008; Kotler and Armstrong,

2012; Kotler and Keller, 2006) Generally, every single marketing effort is endeavouring to sell offerings to end-users/customers by the creation of beneficial values and customer satisfaction

Elementally, a marketing plan is constructed by eight main components of (1) executive summary; (2) overview of current marketing situation; (3) chances and challenges exploring; (4) identification of marketing objectives and related issues; (5) planning marketing strategies; (6) marketing implementation and action plans; (7) budgets planning and (8) controls (Kotler and Keller, 2006) These eight parts are composed based on the comprehension of marketplace and the rational use of methods and/or solutions that the company are pursuing to accomplish its marketing objectives (Wood, 2003) Not simply depict or analyse marketing environment, marketing plan contains tactical solutions and actions plans for executing programs and allocating budgets over the planning period (Lehmann and Winer, 2001) Marketing plan is fuelled by the outcomes of analysis process to get intensive understanding of marketing opportunities, target market selection, segments, strategies design, program development and marketing effort management (Kotler and Keller, 2006, p 27)

Marketing effectiveness is in the turn of marketing strategy into consistent actions and implementation methods in the implementation phase (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012, p 59) Marketing plan on the research work is to answer questions of what and why things must be gone by specific ways; meanwhile marketing implementation is critical reply to the queries of who, where, when and how (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012, p 54)

1.1.2 The role of marketing plan

Marketing plan owns the different roles according to which level to be examined – corporate, business and product/market At corporate level, it provides core inputs about competitive degree and customers as per outcomes of analysing marketing environment, competitiveness, propensities and dynamics in external markets This is the practical source for planning corporate strategy At business level, it specifies strategic development plan for each business unit so as to gain expected achievements in its future course

Different marketing strategies will be produced at this level With specified marketing programs, marketing management and formulation sessions are designed at a product/market level The success of the whole plan is relied on the rationality and effectiveness of each action plan (Jain, 2009).

Models of marketing plan

The expectations and requirements of customers are increasingly sophisticated by which product-specialized companies have to combine features of service marketing mix into marketing plans Theoretically, different from goods, service has four unique characteristics of (1) intangibility – offering quality is possible to be evaluated only after being consumed (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1985; Van Riel, Lemmink and Ouwersloot, 2001); (2) heterogeneity – offering performance is always fluctuated since its inherence to people performance, purchase occasions, experience, etc (Parasuraman et al., 1985; Friedman & Smith, 1993); (3) simultaneity – due to the formulation of offering quality during the delivery stage, people find it difficult in recalling the quality judgment (Martin, 1999;

Brodie, Whittome & Brush, 2009); and (4) perishability – since service could be stored it has to be created on demands (Iacobucci, 1998) With those four features, if only relying on 4Ps of marketing mix (Product, Price, Place and Promotion), companies have missed out chances to serve, meet demands of customers and make them satisfied Therefore, the inclination is to use 7Ps with the supplement of 3 „service‟ Ps – People, Physical evidence and Process (Booms & Bitner, 1981 as cited in Moorthi, 2002) According to the level of expertise being embedded in the offerings that the combination of marketing mix and relationship marketing is required The mixture is customer-oriented based on flexible practices of product assortments/categories, designs, features and brand name (Lehtinen, 2011)

Service-scape is the noticeable concept inside the P of Physical evidence It pinpoints the important role of artificial surroundings in enhancing consumption settings (Bitner, 1992) Depending on which kinds of offerings, service-scape has its own significance in creating service experience; yet generally it covers both tangible features for example building, office, facilities and intangible cues such as design style, temperature, smell, etc

(Hoffman and Turley, 2002) Service competences and quality could be implicitly considered through the first sight impression about physical evidence The more positive this impression, the larger chances that obstacles to evaluate service quality will be dismissed (Bitner, 1992; Ezeh and Harris, 2007; Paninchukunnath, 2009) As a result, the intangibility could be reduced

Product Offering scope; offering quality; offering level; service brand; offering content; credit warranty; after-sales services Price Discount and commission; terms of payment; customer perceived value; offering differentiation; match between brand name and price

Promotion Advertisement; promotion; human promotion; public relation; sales promotion Place Location; distribution channels; closeness; distribution scope People Employees: training, personal judge, explanation capability, encouragement, appearance condition, working relationship; attitude; job quit rate; recruitment Physical evidence

Environment: indoor decoration, colour and arrangement; equipment; tangible product Process Service decision; procedure; level of automation; employees‟ level of judgment; guidance to the customers; service process; after-sales services

Source: Adapted Marketing Mix 7Ps (Booms and Bitner, 1981 as cited in

The two Ps of Process and People have the direct impact on how perceived quality is formed Perceived quality is the outcome of the comparison process between pre-purchase expectations and post-purchase evaluation based on consumed experience (Friedman and Smith, 1993) Process contributes to the formulation of service quality with outcome and process quality (Caruana, Money and Berthon, 2000) Controllably, process quality emphasizes the efficiency and accurateness of ways offerings being provided to customers

Due to the perishability feature, only when customers‟ expectations and demands are met is process assessed to be good Mentioning the P of People, employee service is the integral part of services which refers to what and how services are offered (Grace and O‟Cass, 2005) Human performance in service sector is performed through employees‟ expertise level of responsiveness, reliability and empathy (Backstrom & Johansson, 2006) As per the heterogeneity, perceptions of customers about offering quality may be occurred when contacting with employees As such, variations in quality provided and perceived risks in purchasing could be reduced in case employees are qualified and well-trained During the service delivery stage, the interaction with employees could overcome constraints of inseparability and significantly result in customer satisfaction (Martin, 1999)

Based on the branding viewpoint, influencers affect customers‟ perceptions are deemed to be different between goods and services; yet in some extent, some are common to both (Grace and O‟Cass, 2002) (See Figure 2.2)

Service-scape, feelings, image of typical user, experience with brand, word- of-mouth and employees are reckoned as meaningful factors determining service-related purchasing decision of customers While feelings and self- congruence are the two unique dimensions in branded product buying

Table 1.2 Influencers for marketing in goods and service aspects

Core product/ service Experience with brand

Service-scape Employees Word-of-mouth communication

Source: Adapted ‘Brand associations: looking through the eyes of the beholder’

Basically, as per the impact of social influence, customers often rely on word of mouth to reduce perceived risks and uncertainties in association to purchase decisions (Murray, 1991) Word of mouth has been claimed to be in cohesion to satisfaction based consumption experiences However, word of mouth is the two-blade knife in case the vigorousness and responsiveness pinpointing customers‟ complaints are not ensured (Mangold, Miller and Brockway, 1999)

Marketing environment is obliged to be analysed so as to reveal chances and challenges facing companies (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012) In the surrounding environment with the involvement of companies, suppliers, marketing intermediaries, competitors and customers, the application of five forces model helps understanding strategic resources as ready input for successful marketing strategies or revealing attractive market segments (Kotler and Keller, 2006) Basically, depicting the industrial context, decisions about economic value creation is made and/or modified to gain long-term profits – strategic directions including tough competition, reshaping or exploiting white space (Porter, 2008) The model in this advantage analyses five forces of (1) threat of new entrant; (2) bargaining power of suppliers; (3) bargaining power of buyers; (4) threat of substitute products or services and (5) rivalry among existing competitors

In marketing, five forces model helps identifying whether the specific segment is attractive enough The segment is examined with five threats of (1) intense segment rivalry, (2) new entrants, (3) substitutes, (4) buyers‟ growing bargaining power and (5) suppliers‟ growing bargaining power (Kotler and Keller, 2006; Porter, 1985)

Figure 1.2 Five forces model in marketing perspective

Source: ‘Marketing management’, Fig 11.1, p 342 (Kotler and Keller, 2006)

Threat of mobility – ease of entry and hurdles of exit barriers reduce the attractiveness of segments

Threat of buyer power - buyer power and segment attractiveness are in inverse proportion Buyer power is intensified in case they are in high concentration, sensitiveness to price; products are less differentiated; switching costs are low, etc To protect market positions, the solutions are focused on beneficial values and satisfied services offered

Threat of supplier power – if suppliers have power to increase selling prices and curb supplying quantities, segment attractiveness is vague Diversity in input sources is the solution to keep the balance in inputs

Threat of substitutes – the market with full of substitutions leads to the low level of attractiveness since the competition would be tougher by which marginal profit is reduced

SWOT analysis

To respond effectively to market opportunities, firms crucially have to build their own business capabilities or core competences (Prahalad and Hamel,

1990) Based on resource-based view, Barney (1991) confirms that once company has competitive advantages, it has capabilities to take advantage of environment opportunities and avoid threats

Threshold resources and competences helps companies surviving in the competitiveness, while competitive advantage gives them confident positions with outstanding performance Depending on internal forces, companies would follow the appropriate strategies to pose the unified direction of resources and competences including cost leadership, differentiation or focus as Porter‟s generic strategies (Juga, 1999) or price-based, hybrid, differentiation and focused of Bowman‟s competitive strategy (1996)

Figure 1.3 Resource-based SWOT analysis

Source: Adapted ‘Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage’, pp

99-120 (Barney, 1991) and ‘SWOT analysis from a resource-based view’, pp

Resources-based SWOT gives the important attachment on the more perceptive, reliable and performable gut expressions Core competences or [sustainable] competitive advantage and weakness decide and are decided by environmental base i.e business chances and challenges (Valentin, 2001)

Strengths and weaknesses of SWOT are revolved around product, human, financial, marketing, technological and organization aspects However, the rapid changes of external environment requires resource-based SWOT to be examined and re-created swiftly (Teece, Pisano & Shuen, 1997).

BCG matrix

Based on the analyses of marketing environment and competence of Dell EMC, market growth and market share could be estimated by which its IT Products could be priced/ positioned as being „dog‟, „cash cow‟, „star‟ or „question‟

Source: ACCA 1.4.1 Promotion in marketing

Currently, promotion expenses consumes approximately a quarter of marketing budget with the aimed purpose of persuading them to buy and buy products immediately (Raghubir, Inman and Grande, 2004; Blattberg and Neslin, 1990) Promotion is not only considered as one of the most complementary sales channels but an important tactic to build brand popularity and loyalty, (Lee & Hsu, 2010) Conventionally, promotion is the powerful technique to bring up direct sales (Bawa and Shoemaker, 1987;

Dodson, Tybout and Sternthal, 1978; Gupta, 1988) In long term, promotion gives impact on brand perception leading to loyalty and then, bottom-line success for businesses (Aaker, 1996; Buchanan, Simmons and Bickart, 1999;

Keller, 2003) For new market, the suitable sales promotions and consumer promotion will gain the sales volume and reputation for the brand

STP is the path to understand customers, competitors and marketplace around companies The appropriate STP helps (i) identifying lucrative chances; (ii) concentrating on strong potential customer segments; (iii) estimating purchase intention; (iv) exploring new demands; (v) boosting up customer loyalty; and (vi) improving business performance (IBM, 2009) Strategically, the rational segmentation opens new conditions since STP process could explore dissatisfied and underserved groups – hints for companies to conduct expansion directions

(Yankelovich and Meer, 2006) In short, STP is the original cause for the “act of designing the company‟s offer and image so that it occupies a distinct and valued place in minds of target customers” (Ries and Trout, 1976)

With the assistance of Five forces model in identifying market segment attractiveness and resource-based SWOT, companies could rely on criteria such as size, growth rate, profitability, demand share, competitive intensity, customer/supplier pressures, company competence and capabilities, technology situation and so on to separate mass population into groups and create solutions to approach, serve and retain customers (Storbacka, 1997)

The conceptual framework for launching new IT products is relied on 7Ps with the focus on Promotion through the proper design of other six Ps The framework is built on the spirit of customer-orientation and relationship marketing: tactical marketing plan is to adapt clients‟ demands, requirements and expectations about offering quality Marketing offering is the base for planning marketing efforts and promotion of marketing offering is conducted through marketing efforts

PROPOSING AND DEVELOPING STRATEGY FOR NEW IT

Research mehodology

With four concepts of Positivism, Realism, Interpretivism and Pragmatism, research philosophy assumes directions to view topics (Biggam, 2008; Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009) Positivism considers social realities being observable and independent out of the observer, by which they are possible measured by natural sciences and scientific methods through specific correlations (Denscombe, 2002; Gephart, 1999; Fisher, Buglear, Lowry, Mutch and Tansley, 2004; Levin, 1988) In the same tenet, Realism reckons the quite independence of objects toward human mind Through derivation process and realization of varieties in their interaction, social phenomenon could be captured (Dobson, 2002)

Contrarily, Interpretivism emphasizes on the understanding of differences between humans as social factors since reality is the mixture of the mind‟s creation and observed context (Gephart, 1999) Interpretivist inclines to a different logic of procedures – (i) exploration of phenomenon‟s nature; (ii) dealing with unstructured data; (iii) detailed investigation of cases; and (iv) meanings and functions of human actions (Bryman and Bell, 2007;

Pragmatism is the practical and sensible philosophy since it orients to the results based on own socialized experiences and allows the methodological flexibility and adaptability (Cameron, 2011; Patton, 2002;

Saunders et al., 2009) Thus, it is free for the researcher to choose topics and use outcomes in his own way (Tashakkori and Teddlie, 1998, p 30)

This research is pursued the Pragmatism with the reasons as below:

Firstly, the research paper to explore the method to launch IT products to new market for Dell EMC based on external inputs from marketing environment, industrial surroundings, client information and internal capabilities, i.e the topic is answered according to the observable phenomenon and subjective meanings

Second, this philosophy gives space for the author to apply varieties of data collection methods and interpretation options that multi-aspects of the plans are ensured

Lastly, Pragmatism advances scientific knowledge and provides practical solutions (Henderson, 2011)

Deduction or Induction approach regulates the procedural framework (Remenyi, Williams, Money and Swartz, 1998) Deduction allows the prediction of phenomena with its occurrence to test theories developed; while induction suggests theoretical conclusions on experiments of real nature happenings (Saunders et al., 2009, pp.124-126)

Deduction is the common approach in theory-testing process with the initiation of literature reviewing to build up hypotheses (Bryman and Bell,

2007) Then, hypotheses will be tested through practical and empirical observation and modified if being incorrect or improper (Anderson, 2004), which means starting from general to specific By contrast, theories will be developed through research outcomes of many cases in inductive approach (Anderson, 2004); i.e the general will be formulated from the specific (Hackley, 2003)

This thesis is, according to market information and internal capabilities, to explore ways to launch new IT product in Vietnam market for Dell EMC under pressures of competition, external threats, clients‟ responses and branding orientation, i.e from theories and understanding of marketing principles, happenings in information management industry, it is to propose effective direction to win achievements in promotion Thus, there is no better choice than deduction to test the applicability of hypothesized model through information from clients, internal sources and secondary data, and parts of Induction to propose intensive tactics in theme of 7Ps marketing mix

Quantitative and qualitative are the two famous methods Quantitative is, based on occurrence of phenomenon and its features, to explore, present, describe and examine relationships within data collection (Vaitkevicius &

Kazokiene, 2013); while qualitative refers to the deep exploration based on the use of conceptualization meanings demonstrated through “quality” of words (Biggam, 2008; Saunders et al., 2009) Inductive approach is a systematic procedure for analysing qualitative data (Thomas, 2003)

Deeper understanding about a concerned topic will be gained when the triangulation method is used (Venkatesh, Brown and Bala, 2013) According to Teddlie & Tashakkori (2009), the triangulation could pinpoint confirmatory and exploratory research questions at the same time When Vietnam market is initially familiar to IT product using, exploratory qualitative helps exploring companies‟ insights Then, quantitative research helps to know more population‟s a-priori specific relationships of marketing offerings and efforts Besides, mix methods provides firmer inferences since it could leverage pros and cons of the separate two (Johnson and Tuner, 2003) Qualitative data could not give ideas on the breadth of issues while quantitative could not gain the depth in understanding

Lastly, varieties of complementary views are taken with mix methods

Data collection technique used is the mixed qualitative and quantitative understanding, which reinforce the validity and quality of research findings (Saunders et al., 2009)

It is the first-time collected data directly addressing to the research purpose (Stevens, Loudon and Wrenn, 2002) Thus, it could easily be controlled for the right use Observation and communication are the two common ways to get primary data (Stevens, Wrenn, Gherwood and Ruddick,

2006) The research uses questionnaire-based survey as primary data It is conducted through printed research and face-to-face discussion These sources intensifies the reliability and validity of information

This is the existing information that was not collected for the aim of the research (Stevens et al., 2006) For the research value, secondary data is mainly extracted from academic journals, books, peer-reviewed articles … which are assessed from online library of the University, Google Scholar and so one Secondary data expose marketing environment facilitating the applicability of the conceptual framework and ideas from Client-based information

Sampling is an ideal choice to overcome time constraints and requirements of quick results There are probability and non-probability sampling (Saunders et al., 2009) Selecting from total population; yet probability based on specifically known criteria and non-probability chooses respondents contingently

Basically, tending to probability sample in client-based survey, sampling technique is the cluster sampling in which data could be gathered by types as per its natural occurrence (Saunders et al., 2009, p.230) with random sample by which the entirely random selection helps reducing the unfairness in choosing participants (Biggam, 2008, p.88)

In order to ensure the quality of data analysis, the information should be collected from an appropriate sample size Normally, minimum sample size is from 100 to 150, and ideally four or five times bigger than the number of variables in the questionnaire (Hair, 1998; Norusis, 2005; Hoang and Chu,

2008) However, within the purpose of this research, client-based information is the source of reference for bringing the empirical viewpoint inside the tactical marketing for product launching As such, the survey is planned to conduct with sample size of 30 clients including 20 Vietnamese companies and 10 foreign ones Participants are general managers and/or IT/IM managers and marketing ones Industry and business scope of companies are not counted providing that they have the demand of using IT products and services Also, company scale is not taken into account

Questionnaire note is structured according to three groups of (1) general information (5 questions); (2) information of using IT products (2 questions) and (3) IT products using behaviour Group 3 is separated by 2 themes of marketing offerings and marketing efforts addressing research paper, objectives and conceptual framework Likert scale of 5 is used

Figure 2.1: A progressive focusing model in qualitative research process

Source: ‘Progressive focusing and trustworthiness in qualitative research’,

Fig 2, pp 825 (Sinkovics and Alfoldi, 2012)

Data analysis and findings

Vietnam is the young population country (approximately 65% under

30) with the rapid speed of urbanization enhancing the attractiveness of market Vietnam is one of the fastest growing countries in Southeast Asia

Economics is with the positive trend of GDP from US$ 31.2 billion (2001) to US$ 123,961 billion (2012) In 2012, the results were inflation +6.81%; CPI +9.21%; average interest rate 8.44% (2003/13); unemployment rate 2.52%

Vietnam government has spent a great deal of efforts to improve business environment with tax preferences and accelerated administrative procedures Since the non-synchronous legal system, the swift changing of law codes, companies are in need of good information systems

Infrastructure has been invested hardly to attract new investments including transportation system, internet network Technologies development is still the top topic of Vietnam government especially high technologies

Vietnamese are younger and more knowledgeable with higher confidence in consumption (Nielsen, 2012) There has been the rise in disposable income from US$ 902 (1990) to US$2,392 (2010) (Euromonitor,

2011) Population is growing rapidly with the increasing middle class (Breu, Salsberg, and Ha, 2010) This is one of the great sources of consumers

In short, with effort of Government and the development of the country, new entries to market is alleged to be increased at good rate in future

This will create chances for Dell EMC with the larger client basket as well as the diversity in management tools b Micro-environment

Most of the IT software in Vietnam market is from foreign companies

Due to the limited technologies and capabilities, Vietnamese companies are merely the authorized distributors or importers with the main service provided of guaranteeing, installing and guiding the using Besides, the knowledge and specialized ideas about specific IT products along with their supplementary package have still not been intensive Particularly, IT functions in companies are with the main responsibilities of making purchase of IT equipment, manipulating or fixing IT problems without much strategic involvement in business operations

Additionally, due to the intense financial requirement, information management programs have still not been invested in companies, even some international ones Switching cost from one product to another is quite high for large systems; as well as companies devoid knowledge to make decisions to change

However, the realization of IT products‟ importance has been reinforced during the past decade with the initiatives in investing Marketing environment reveals opportunities for Dell EMC to provide its offerings to clients including (1) larger basket of new companies both local and international; (2) requirements to have better programs to store and control business activities, especially customer database; (3) new trends of social media in maintaining relationships with external stakeholders asking for higher security in protecting and sharing information; and (4) trends of gaining the high professionalism

Primary data is collected, firstly, through questionnaire-based survey with the sample of 30 clients including 20 Vietnamese companies and 10 international ones

The questions were distributed to specific respondents in different business sectors to diversify responses Questionnaire note will recorded with

2 groups of (1) general information with 5 questions and (2) information management with the application of IT products with two sub-groups of (i) interest and purpose of using; and (ii) marketing offerings and efforts judgment The sub-group 2 is used the Likert scale measurement of 5 from 1 – not considered to 5 – most considered This sub-group is designed as referred to theories and model of marketing mix 7Ps with brand-orientation

Specifically, group 1 provides information of demographic questions including business type, business size, business field, business market and market life with the details as table 2.1

Majority of participants in the survey are private and foreign-own companies (56.7% and 33.3%) The low number of state-owned one reflects the real situation in Vietnam that IT product exploitation to manage information in state-owned enterprises is still not given prominence The figures also show the change in internal operation processes of private companies Regarding to size, the sample is favoured the idea of small enterprises when companies with „< 10‟ and „11-50‟ employees show the highest involvement (60.0%) Manufacturing, distribution and services are the top three participating Remarkably, more than 50% companies are operating internationally; they are foreign-owned one or local with export/import activities Most of companies in the survey are the young with market life of 3-5 years (36.7%) and 1-3 years (26.7%)

2.2.2 Meaningful factors when using IT products

By exploiting Cronbach Alpha, collected data has confirmed important factors being meaningful in the consideration of using IT products as per client perception MO is measured through three constructs of product, price and service provided

Product is measured through (1) functionalities; (2) perceived value; (3) monetary guarantee for quality offered; (4) service distinction/expertise and

(5) warranty period Cronbach α = 760) confirmed the appropriateness of variables in measuring Product (Appendix 3)

Price is depicted by (1) price; (2) payment methods and (3) discount/promotion With α = 837, these three variables reckon their suitability in measuring Price (Appendix 3)

Service provided is constructed by (1) convenience of service provided;

(2) empathy toward clients‟ specific cases; (3) strong commitment to clients;

(4) prompt and swift responsiveness to clients; and (5) Profession capabilities and behaviour of employees With the extremely high α = 914, service provided is best described through those five constructs (Appendix 3)

A difference in the approaching way compared to the traditional marketing mix of 4Ps, the core in marketing offerings are focused on three components of products, price and service provided The reliability test confirms the importance of product quality with its functionalities and all overall monetary guarantee It is understandable that the cautiousness and unfamiliarity in use of IT products make companies consider about the point

Besides, the face-value of monetary guarantee, service provided complimentarily is important in evoking the use based on the emotion of risk sharing and problem free of companies The finding is suitable with modern marketing theories when product functionalities become the core and considered as the threshold for further marketing tactics Without the right marketing offerings, regardless of any kinds of marketing efforts, outcomes are impossibly achieved Additionally, amid the difficulties of economic situation, budgets for operations are curbed to reduce operating costs; the investing for IT application without the front-eye benefits or obviously cash- on ones is often not in the concern list Therefore, to attack Vietnam companies, only when Dell EMC could commit for the monetary back if no benefits could be seen on the base of outstanding products; and importantly good bargained promotion in terms of price reduction, success will come

ME is expressed via five constructs of (1) promotion, (2) employee services, (3) branding and (4) networks Cronbach α is continuously believed to use to measure the appropriateness of ME constructs

Promotion in ME does not refer to price reduction; but it is fuelled by

(1) articles about company (Public relations); (2) recommendation from acquaintances (word-of-mouth); and (3) information from ad channels (advertising) With Cronbach alpha =.810, these three constructs are suitable in the measurement (Appendix 3)

Employee service refers to (1) employee presentation and professionalism; (2) constructive advice and suggestions from employees; (3) customer-friendly employees and (4) the expert of employees in handling complaints With the high Cronbach Alpha = 830, these variables confirm their impact on employee service offered (Appendix 3)

Branding/Corporate image mentions (1) company experience and size;

(2) nationality of the company and (3) company reputation Cronbach alpha =

757 ensures the appropriateness of these 3 variables in depicting this construct (Appendix 3)

Network construct in this aims is measured through the membership status of the company in prestigious associations

As the hitch for making MO familiar to clients, ME is come from the efforts of both controllable sources and non-controllable ones In case the controllable ME is performed well through information developd to reinforce the belief and trust from clients; the perfect employee services with constructive and prompt advice and suggestions, the un-controllable one including Word-of-mouth and external articles could be resulted positively

The participation into prestigious associations is also the hint for not only opening business circles but gaining favourable recommendations

2.2.3 Determinants in decision of IT products using

Factor analysis is used to, once again, verify the appropriateness of meaningful factors; importantly explores the most important determinants in each variable when using IT products as per client perspective

Regarding to MO, findings confirm the highest importance of „Monetary guarantee of quality offered‟ and „Perceived value of benefits and quality bringing‟ with factor loading of 913 and 911 respectively (product); the discount/promotion offered (.898) (price); and good service provided by qualified employees (.851) (service provided complementarily with products) (Appendix 4)

In term of ME, clients highlights the key roles of articles about companies in form of advices or recommendations from experts (.899) (Promotion); employees‟ expertise level in handling complaints (.928) and for purchase persuasion, constructive advices and suggestions from employees (.754) (employee services); and reputation and experience of suppliers/ providers (.885) (branding/ corporate image) (Appendix 4)

For launching products in Vietnam market, Dell EMC should corporate with specialists to gain the first attention and initial trust from clients; on the other hand the integrated marketing communication emphasizing the global leading position of Dell EMC and the expertise of teams of employees, technicians, engineers, etc… This is the point Dell EMC should give prominent importance.

Interest/ intention and purpose of using IT products

Concerning the interest/intention of using IT products and information management service, there are a half of respondents showing their current use and another half (50%) expressing the plan in applying the new software to manage information The two most primary purposes of using IT products are

(1) smooth out business activities and (2) mainly serve for customer service activities (30%) (Figure 4.1)

Figure 2.1 Purpose of using IT products

The purpose provides the hints for marketing message of focusing on the security and intact management of customer information as the key part of customer relationship management (CRM) and secondly, the high confidentiality of internal information as secret formula for competing in market

Regarding to business type, private companies mainly use IT products for customer service activities (35.3%) Foreign-owned company is the largest group using IT software to produce timely and promptly reports (10.0%) The finding persuades that the initial target clients should be private and foreign- own groups (Figure 2.1)

Private State-owned Foreign-owned

Figure 2.2 Purpose of using IT products as Business type

In terms of business size, „smooth out business activities‟ catches up attention from rather small and medium-sized companies (approximately 40%) while larger companies are paying notice on timely and prompt reports (40%), large amount of information management (50%) and customer selling activities (40%) Small and medium companies are the first focus group

Figure 2.3 Purpose of using IT products as Business size

Business field also shows the difference use in purposes, concretely

„smooth out business activities‟ is the top concern of commercial/trading, when service focuses on capturing new management trends Manufacturing shows priorities of using in managing customer selling activities and improving its traditional management style The suggestion is to put efforts firstly on manufacturing and commercial/trading companies (Figure 2.3)

Figure 2.4 Purpose of using IT products as Business field

Market scope suggests the strong concentration on companies that operate national-wide and/or with import/export activities or dealing with foreign partners They mainly use IT products for CRM and smoothing out business activates purposes (Figure 2.4)

Within the city National-wide International

Figure 2.5.Purpose of using IT products as Market scope

The longer the market life the higher requirements of smoothing out business activities and improving traditional management style are Meanwhile the group of 3-5 years market life shows the diversity in using purposes but the concentrations are on smoothing out business activities and managing customer selling activities (27.3%/27.3%) The finding recommends the direction of reaching initially new businesses with short-life in market It is supposed that they are one daring to change with ambition of forging the market (Figure 2.5)

Figure 2.6 Purpose of using IT products as Market life

Conclusively, the propensity of using IT products and IM service is being enthroned The focus is on high quality service and sincere employee services In Vietnam, the mindset of using IT software is the emerging notion; thus, IT budget is not abundant, especially in small companies Consequently, price competitiveness and discount/promotion are in the top concern of any adapting plans Since the market is in developing phase, companies rely on advices of specialists rather than acquaintances in choosing the proper IT products to use

The client-based findings confirm the space for Dell EMC to enter the market.

Dell EMC analysis

Dell Inc has the long-standing history with the established year of 1984 by which its experience has been built intensively In September 2016, Dell completed the purchase of EMC in the largest technology merger in history, forming what is now Dell Technologies Dell Technologies encompasses Dell, Dell EMC, Pivotal, RSA, SecureWorks, Virtustream and VMware

Dell EMC belong Dell Technologies – the US-based worldwide company – provides the complete solutions for organizations securing and managing their information-driven applications With Dell EMC leading position, its IT products pinpoint ultimate benefits in endpoint devices, security, storage management and backup

Figure 2.8 SWOT analysis of Dell EMC

 Leading products in endpoint, security, storage management and backup

 Many recognized and trusts products

 Intense services of information management solutions

 Lacking of ones who have intensive knowledge of specific local markets

 Professional expert and global team

 Skilled and high-calibre employees

 Good relationships with professional groups

 Relying on new trend of information-driven world

 Good reputation as the PR tool

 Updated knowledge and international disciplines cost are high

 Take time to introduce and build new image in client perception in under developed markets

 Growth of companies and requirements of managing effectively information

 Price-sensitivity of small and medium local companies

 Quality hard attention from companies

 Direct competitors in Vietnam market are not apparent

 Chances to win customers‟ mind

 Support and endorsement from Government

 Economic downturn affects the growth and recovery speed of clients‟ companies

 Limited knowledge in Vietnam companies by which time is asked for

 Not give prominence on security

 Refuse the new trends of information management

In light of marketing environment analysis, findings from survey and resource-based SWOT of Dell EMC, the Company should give prominence on the promotion-directions of (1) branding strategy with new techniques of promotion including Public relations, social media advertising, exhibition/seminar participation, etc to build up brand name; (2) differentiation strategy through excellent employees services based on intensive knowledge of employees (in compared to Vietnamese distributors);

(3) price strategy with competitive edge and discount, yet deeply offering value is the goal; and (4) community activities to educate or convey information management and security knowledge to business circles.

PROPOSAL SOME SOLUTION TO IMPLEMENT STRATEGY

Marketing mix recommendations

With the emerging market as Vietnam, building up brand awareness under the education of IT product benefits and importance is very essential in persuading clients The enhancement of perceived value and benefits should be based on appropriate price strategy, well-trained employees/ distributor services, positive-ness of uncontrollable communication of word-of-mouth recommendations, exploitation of public relations with controllable articles, etc… Recommendations are to project the effect marketing mix plan for Dell EMC when entering Vietnam market

Dell EMC, with its leading advantage in security solution, should follow the direction of becoming the most trust IT product providers after the first two years of the official launch Dell EMC‟s core brand image is to offer the unbeatable value through qualified security and information management IT solutions at rational prices, international standards of quality and excellent employee services

To set up the office appearance in Vietnam instead of through local distributors as current, marketing objectives are included (1) raise acknowledgement about the global leading brand of Dell EMC; (2) expand the business to enterprises within Vietnam; (3) create profitability; (4) enhance the outstanding service quality; (5) develop the efficient price strategy aiming to product values and perceived benefits; and (6) push up the positive uncontrollable communication

As suggestions of client-based information and marketing environment analysis, Dell EMC could differentiate itself by uniquely complete IT products and services and importantly, the excellently expertise employee services of consulting, guiding, maintaining and guaranteeing Initially, Dell EMC should target on small and medium private and foreign-owned enterprises who have market scope of national-wide or with import/export/international dealing activities Manufacturing and commercial/trading are two pointed focuses Although the focus is not mainly involved the market life, the preference is on new businesses with short-life market This is the group daring to change and forge

3.1.3 Marketing mix Marketing offerings Product positioning as BCG matrix, market growth of Dell EMC is growing with higher acknowledgement about endpoint devices, security, storage management and backup; however due the market emergence and first expansion, its market share is still low In this context, the Question mark is the space of Dell EMC by which the right investment will bring it up to the position of Star Being persistent in educating and persuading clients through rational articles in prestigious business/IT magazines, frequent participations in exhibition/ workshop/ forums, etc… Dell EMC will gain high profitability

Figure 3.1 BCG matrix of Dell EMC

Price is in the top concerning factors of clients As such, in all marketing and promotion campaigns, this point should be emphasized; but in the core of Offering value It means face value of money is not the goal to attract clients It is more critical if through branding/ advertising/ promotion messages, showing clients true benefits and/or gains they will have when using the offerings of Dell EMC However, it is also strategically when including promotional discount inside the price strategy to ensure profitability

Actually, amid the top business context of financial crisis when capital and operating cash are not abundant, enterprises have to make the choice of investing for survival or growth Therefore, there is the fact that cost is the hindering obstacle for IT product application If Dell EMC could offer the all- in-one service with the competitive package price including product expense, periodical maintenance, consulting service, support and assistance, and so on

50% refunding within 15 days in use is also one proposed incentive to attract the initial trial and first use of clients Additionally, depending on specific cases, discount would be allowed with the maximum rate of 10-15%

Service provided is attached the strong role of convenience in buying, installing, and user-friendly of the products Different proposals should be sent to different companies with the modification according to their contexts

Free training session for the use of IT products is not simple the service complementarily provided with the products, but importantly deemed as the powerful promotion channel

Aiming to the professionalism in serving, employee service is reckoned the importance of employees‟ expertise and competences of handling all problems Therefore, it raises up the important role of recruitment and selection and training programs The package includes the proper coaching from line managers, the rational allocation of job responsibilities, the tactical training content and methods, as well as the right design of monetary and non- financial incentives for employees

On overall, prone to marketing perspective of promotion , it is the core channel to push up sales volume, build brand awareness, create client trust, … and initially launch new products to new markets in the telecommunication- media standpoint By joining prestigious associations, professional groups or participating seminars/ workshops/ exhibitions, … Dell EMC will spread out its brand popularity inside business circles The first launching should rely on marketing intermediaries to widespread its presence with the certifying

Promotion message should be distributed through both e-channels and printed ones Website of company is the officially great tool to use where the professionalism and global reputation are highlighted Testimonials as the core part of Referral marketing are displayed attractively to appeal the attention of visitors, then enhance their trust Social media is highly proposed to use to accelerate communication and collaboration among the larger amount and higher varieties of people Clients could find interactive articles via these channels, as well they are also the tool to seek for new employees

Printed media is via magazines for business classes with the format of always

1 colorful full-page size at premium pages of inside cover front/back inside, cover back or page #5 or 7 Besides, social media via Facebook and LinkedIn are very useful The clients could find interactive articles related to IT and IM news and applications/ benefits Social media is also the channel to appeal good employees

Brand/ corporate image is the topic of time leading to the brand familiarity With the advantage of US-based reputation, it is reckoned for Dell EMC to easily approach enterprises, especially Vietnam ones who, typically, have good image and strong trust toward quality offered by US companies

All branding programmes being conducted in global scale should be applied for Vietnam market as well

Dell EMC should manage the launching outcome through weekly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annual reports compiled by Finance, Marketing and Sales departments under the authorization of Country Manager Quarterly brand-health check should be conducted during the first two years to measure the improving progress of client acknowledgement and changed behaviors Monthly sales plan is composed under the direct control of sales & marketing department

Implications for further researches

Due to the constraints of time, resources and requirements of the University that limitations are impossibly to avoid

Firstly, there are many gaps in launching new IT products in market needed investigating since the research is prone to marketing perspective

Secondly, client-based information is just gone around the ideas of 30 clients

The research value will be enhanced deeper insights with multi-aspects of ideas in case the larger sample size could be chosen, deeper insights with multi-aspects of ideas

Thirdly, the choice of literature review is involved the subjectiveness of the author The wider range of literature being reviewed, the higher level the topic will be investigated both in breadth and depth

Fourthly, research methodology just covers some parts of induction approach and little details of qualitative research It opens the new direction for further researches in analyzing

Fifthly, the research is relied on secondary data to understand the market by which the marketing environment picture is brought in thoughts of other researchers

From academic background of marketing and findings from questionnaire- based data collection and secondary information of marketing opportunities, the research has drawn out conclusions as following:

Firstly, the market is quite potential with the endorsement of Government in transforming to modernized business management model with application of

IT products and information management; development of markets with larger amounts of new companies from both local and international; higher consumption of more knowledgeable and younger consumers; and especially the realization of companies about the importance of IT products in operation

Secondly, despite differences in business scopes, field, size, etc… the two main purposes of using IT products are (1) smooth out business activities and

Thirdly, the top leading concerns of companies in their decisions are price competitiveness and discount/promotion due to financial difficulties and emergence of Vietnam market

Fourthly, perceived value and benefit is always the top priority in seeking for

IT solutions of any companies, particularly the money-based guarantee

Fifthly, the clients rely on expertise of employees via their good advices and recommendations in purchase decision because they are lacking of specialized knowledge Before then, the reference to expert endorsement is decisive in evoking ideas of using specific IT products On the other hand, after-sales service is crucial as the weak power in manipulation knowledge of products by which ability to handle complaints of employees are important

Sixthly, promotion program should focus on corporate image with reputation and client testimonial to gain the objective evidence for building up trust from new markets

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3 Barney, J B., 1991, „Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage‟, Journal of Management, vol 17, no 1, pp 99-120

4 Bawa, K and Shoemaker, R W., 1987, „The effects of a direct mail coupon on brand choice behaviour‟, Journal of Marketing Research, vol 24, pp 370-376

5 Biggam, J (2008) Succeeding with your Master’s Dissertation: A step-by-step handbook Berkshire, England: Open University Press,

6 Prof Ph.D Hoang Dinh Phi (2011), Curriculum on Management

Technology, Vietnam National University Press, Hanoi;

7 Nguyen Thi Lien Diep and Pham Van Nam (2003), Business

Strategy and Policy, Statistics Publishing House, Hanoi;

8 Authors’ group of University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City

(2010), Competitive environment of real estate – strategy of Binh Chanh Construction Investment Shareholding (BCCI) at the stage of

9 Ngo Vinh Tu (2007), master thesis, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City; Building development strategy for Company 59 under

10 Tran Quoc Thai (2006); master thesis in economics, Strategic business plan of Vietnam Export Import Bank until 2015 University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City

11 Decree no 76/2015/NĐ-CP dated 10 September 2015; Detailed provisions on implementation of real estate business law

12 Law of the officers of the Vietnam People's Army dated 21

December 1999; Law on amendment and supplementation of articles of law of the officers of the Vietnam People‟s Army dated 03 June 2008.

Questionnaire

Questionnaire How to develop new IT products to market: a case study of Dell EMC Company

Dear respondents, You are invited to participate to the survey which is designed to gain the empirical customer-based information so as to build up the marketing promotion plan for new IT products of Dell EMC Company This study is being conducted as the integral part of the requirements for the Master Thesis at the University xxx

This survey is undertaken with the full acknowledgement; and the findings related to this work will be submitted to the University as the empirical source of the dissertation This research is worked for the sole purpose of studying, not for trading All your ideas and responses are kept confidential at the strictest manner

I would appreciate your time and contribution when fulfilling the following questions

Thank you very much for your time and kind assistance!

Please kindly select the answer as your choice

1 What is your business type?

 Private  State-owned  Foreign-owned  Other

2 How about your business size?

3 What is your business field?

4 How about your business market scope?

 Within the city  National-wide  Other countries

5 How long have you been in the market?

Part 2: Information management with the application of IT products

6 Are you interested in using the IT products and service management?

 Yes  No  Plan to use

7 On which purposes do you use IT products and apply information technology?

 smooth out business activities in general

 produce timely and promptly reports for management purposes

 manage large amount of information in and out

 mainly serving for customer service activities

 capture the new management trend in the world

 imitate competitors without immediate purposes

8 Which factors do you consider when choosing IT products and using information management service? (Please judge your idea according to the rank of 1 = not considered; 2 = less considered; 3 = neutral; 4 = considered; 5 = most considered)

Outstanding functionalities Perceived value of benefits and quality bringing

The monetary guarantee for quality offered Warranty period

Service distinction/expertise Price (competitive)

Payment method Discount/ promotion Convenience of service provided Empathy: company shows sincere concern to specific cases of clients

Strong commitment from company towards clients The prompt and swift responsiveness from company towards clients

Profession capabilities and behaviour of employees toward clients

Articles about company Recommendation from acquaintances Information from advertisement channels Employee presentation and professionalism Constructive advices, suggestions from employees Customer-friendly employees

Employees are expert at handling complaints Size and experiences of the company

Nationality of the company Company reputation

Company is the member of prestigious associations

Demographic information

Reliability test

Perceived value of benefits and quality bringing

Monetary guarantee of quality offered 2.6667 1.24106 30 Warranty period 3.4667 97320 30 Service distribution/

Scale Mean if Item Deleted

Scale Variance if Item Deleted

Correcte d Item- Total Correlati on

Cronbac h's Alpha if Item Deleted Outstanding functionalities 11.4333 12.530 639 674 Perceived value of benefits and quality bringing

Monetary guarantee of quality offered 12.0000 14.897 425 752 Warranty period 11.2000 16.372 405 756 Service distribution/

Marketing offerings – Price Reliability Statistics

Deviation N Convenience of service provided 3.4667 81931 30 Company shows sincere concern to specific cases of clients 2.6333 1.42595 30 Strong commitment from company towards clients 3.6000 81368 30

The prompt and swift responsiveness from company towards clients

Profession capabilities and behavior of employees toward clients

Scale Mean if Item Delete d

Scale Variance if Item Deleted

Corrected Item- Total Correlati on

Cronbach 's Alpha if Item Deleted Convenience of service provided 13.333

Company shows sincere concern to specific cases of clients

Strong commitment from company towards clients

The prompt and swift responsiveness from company towards clients

Marketing efforts – Promotion Reliability Statistics

Recommendation from acquaintances 3.7667 1.07265 30 Information from advertisement channels 4.3333 92227 30

Scale Varianc e if Item Deleted

Corrected Item- Total Correlati on

Marketing efforts – Employee service Reliability Statistics

Deviation N Employee presentation and professionalism 3.7667 93526 30

Constructive advices, suggestions from employees

Employees are expert at handling complaints 3.4667 93710 30

Scale Mean if Item Delete d

Correcte d Item- Total Correlati on

Cronbac h's Alpha if Item Deleted Employee presentation and professionalism 9.5667 8.599 427 875

Constructive advices, suggestions from employees

Employees are expert at handling complaints 9.8667 6.533 919 678

Marketing efforts – Branding/ Corporate image Reliability Statistics

Deviation N Size and experiences of the company 3.5667 1.35655 30 Nationality of the company 3.6333 99943 30

Cronbach 's Alpha if Item Deleted Size and experiences of the company 7.4667 2.671 685 577 Nationality of the company 7.4000 4.938 363 889

Factor analysis

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of

Extracti on Outstanding functionalities 1.000 839 Perceived value of benefits and quality bringing 1.000 911 Monetary guarantee of quality offered 1.000 913

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis

Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings

5 085 1.705 100.000 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis

Marketing offerings – Price KMO and Bartlett's Test

Promotion 1.000 898 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis

0 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis

Marketing offerings – Service provided KMO and Bartlett's Test

Extracti on Convenience of service provided 1.000 838

Company shows sincere concern to specific cases of clients

Strong commitment from company towards clients 1.000 670 The prompt and swift responsiveness from company towards clients

5 064 1.280 100.000 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis

Marketing efforts – Promotion KMO and Bartlett's Test

Extracti on Articles about companies 1.000 899 Recommendation from acquaintances 1.000 577

Information from advertisement channels 1.000 746 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis

Marketing efforts – Employee service KMO and Bartlett's Test

Extracti on Employee presentation and professionalism 1.000 380

Constructive advices, suggestions from employees 1.000 754 Customer-friendly employees 1.000 753

Employees are expert at handling complaints 1.000 928 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis

Marketing efforts – Branding/Corporate image KMO and Bartlett's Test

Extracti on Size and experiences of the company 1.000 830

Nationality of the company 1.000 373 Company reputation 1.000 885 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Descriptive analysis

Purposes of using IT products and information management services

Cumulati ve Percent Vali d smooth out business activities in general 9 30.0 30.0 30.0 produce timely and promptly reports for management purposes

5 16.7 16.7 46.7 manage large amount of information in and out 2 6.7 6.7 53.3 mainly serving for customer service activities 9 30.0 30.0 83.3 capture the new management trend in the world 5 16.7 16.7 100.0

Business type * Purposes of using IT products and information management services Crosstabulation

Tot al smooth out business activities in general produce timely and promptly reports for manage ment purposes manage large amount of informat ion in and out mainly serving for custom er service activiti es capture the new manage ment trend in the world Busi ness type

Business size * Purposes of using IT products and information management services Crosstabulation

Tota l smooth out busines s activiti es in general produce timely and promptly reports for manage ment purposes manage large amount of informa tion in and out mainly serving for custom er service activiti es capture the new manage ment trend in the world

Busi < 10 Count 3 2 1 1 1 8 ness size employe es

Business field * Purposes of using IT products and information management services Crosstabulation

Total smooth out busines s activiti es in general produce timely and promptly reports for manage ment purposes manag e large amou nt of infor matio n in and out mainly serving for custom er service activiti es capture the new managem ent trend in the world

Bus Manufact Count 1 2 1 4 2 10 ines s fiel d uring % within

Market scope * Purposes of using IT products and information management services Crosstabulation

Tota l smooth out busines s activiti es in general produce timely and promptly reports for managem ent purposes manag e large amount of inform ation in and out mainl y servin g for custo mer servic e activit ies capture the new manage ment trend in the world

Mar Within Count 3 1 0 0 0 4 ket scop e the city % within

Market life * Purposes of using IT products and information management services Crosstabulation

Purposes of using IT products and information management services Total

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