internship report on marketing plan for international service of vtc intecom in brazil

So, during my internship at the company, I was assigned the task of supporting direct management to build "Marketing Plan for International Service of VTC Intecom in Brazil" This report

UNIVERSITY OF NICE – SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS

IAE School of Business Administration

Submitted by: Tong Xuan Thanh

ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR COMPANY SUPERVISOR

Dr LE THANH BINH

Director of International Relation Department,

Thang Long University

Mr NGUYEN TRUNG KIEN

Head of Rush-fire Project, Crossfire Game Center, VTC Intecom

Hanoi, August 2018

ACKNOWLEDEMENTS

The internship opportunity I had with VTC Intecom was a great chance for learning and professional development Therefore, I consider myself as a very lucky individual as I was provided with an opportunity to be a part of it I am also grateful for having a chance to meet so many wonderful people and professionals who led me though this internship period

Bearing in mind previous, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my supervisor Dr Le Thanh Binh who provided me the possibility to complete this report A special gratitude I give to her who in spite of being extraordinarily busy with her duties, took time out to read, guide and keep me on the correct path and allowing me to carry out my report Furthermore I would also like to acknowledge with much appreciation my company supervisor Mr Nguyen Trung Kien, who gave the permission to use all required equipment and the necessary materials to complete the task “MARKETING PLAN FOR INTERNATIONAL SERVICE OF VTC INTECOM IN BRAZIL” A special thanks goes to my team mate, Mr Mai Danh Hao, who help me to assemble the parts and gave suggestion about the task “MARKETING PLAN FOR INTERNATIONAL SERVICE OF VTC INTECOM IN BRAZIL” Last but not least, many thanks go to the director of the Crossfire Game Center, Mr Pham Van Thanh whose have invested his full effort in guiding the team in achieving the goal

Finally, I wish to thanks all the professors engaged in AMI course for their invaluable lectures and instructions throughout my Master AMI course

ABSTRACT

This report is a result of the 4-months internship period at VTC INTECOM Company in Headquarter Office The aim of this work is to present the strategy for market expansion of the company in the global To reach the mission, I have put into practice the theoretical knowledge gained from the AMI course The application of tools, such as PESTLE and SWOT analysis, show the internal and external factors that influence the VTC Intecom’s development The following work presents the process of gathering data and analysis in order to achieve the set goals Based on various findings and market researches, I was able to propose a suitable strategy for VTC Intecom’s expansion, by upgrading its services and promotions to the customers’ demands

II The Relationship between the Subject Matter and the Mission 20

IV The Value of Theoretical Knowledge in Master AMI in practice 23

1 Competitive rivalry 30

According to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam, in the first quarter of 2018, the country has 23 projects licensed new investment abroad, with total investment of Vietnam 123.6 million USD; there are five capital adjustment projects with additional capital of $ 25.9 million In the trend of global economic integration, foreign direct investment is one of the fastest and most effective integration channels for the world's economies to trade with each other In that trend, in recent years, direct investment abroad of Vietnam tends to increase and achieved many positive results with the number of projects and registered capital next year is always higher than the previous year Forecasting, the trend of investment abroad of Vietnamese enterprises will continue to increase strongly

One of the fields in Vietnam that has an international advantage is digital content Vietnam has become one of the fastest growing Internet users in the world, with 58 million Internet users, leading the Southeast Asia region in terms of number of national domain names, ranking 8th in Asia by Lieutenant General Hoang Phuoc Thuan, Head of the Department of Public Security, Ministry of Public Security, shared the Security World 2017 workshop Therefore, digital content that has been tested in the Vietnamese market will often succeed in other international settings

With international business environment as favorable as in Brazil, VTC Intecom has been preparing to penetrate the market with Rush-Fire Mobile So, during my internship at the company, I was assigned the task of supporting direct management to build "Marketing Plan for International Service of VTC Intecom in Brazil"

This report presents my assigned tasks and the draft project after market research and analyze process of Sales and Marketing Department in Game Center

MARKETING PLAN FOR INTERNATIONAL SERVICE OF VTC INTECOM IN BRAZIL

CHAPTER I: COMPANY BACKGROUND I Overview

Vietnam Multimedia Corporation (Vietnam Television Corporation - VTC) was founded in February 1988 for the purpose of building television stations

In 2006, VTC Technology and Digital Content Company Limited (VTC Intecom), a subsidiary of VTC Multimedia Corporation, was is founded under the name of Company for Investment and Development of Information and Technology The main functions and duties of the company are: Consulting, designing, developing, integrating and transferring software, electronic and telecommunication technologies and products, supporting the course of computerization, carrying out application research, producing and testing telecommunication devices, rendering telecommunication services The overview of the company is as follows:

• Founded in: 06/01/2006

• Charter capital: VND 1.500.000.000.000 • Human resources: More than 750

• Business sector: Digital content service, E-commerce, Broadcasting services • Head office: 23 Lac Trung Street, Vinh Tuy Ward, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi • Website: http://intecom.vtc.vn/

• Telephone: (+84) 24 4455 1530 • Fax: (+84) 3636 7728

The company’s visions until 2020 and missions are:

• To be the leading provider in multimedia services with information and entertainment focused

• To expand business both domestically and internationally

• To satisfy VTC’s customers with high-end quality, premium technology, competitive price

• To be profoundly engaged in early making Vietnam a country strong in information and communication technologies

• To develop highly skilled, wealthy and socially responsible human resources With the slogan of “Service Integration, Connecting Communities”, after 10 years of operations in the field of information technology and digital content market in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, VTC Intecom has gain a significant success and outstanding achievements such as becoming number 1 service provider for mobile content, number 1 eSports game publisher in Vietnam, as well as receiving 2nd eAsia Award from Asia Pacific Board on Trade Facilitation and Labor Medal from Vietnam Prime Minister

II Products and Services 2.1 VTC Game

VTC Intecom is the leading provider of Mobile games, PC games (Personal Computer Game), and Social games in Vietnam Apart from Vietnam market, the company has begun to expand through South East Asia as well as international markets The company’s partner portfolio consists of noble names such as EA Sports, Sina Games, KingSoft, etc The quick cap of the company’s gaming sector is as follows

Figure 1: Overview of VTC Game

• Mobile Game

VTC Intecom has published 80 mobile games (since 2014) with wide breath of genres: FPS (First-Person Shooter), TPS (Third-Person Shooter), CASUAL, CARD BATTLE, MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing) The information on most outstanding

Figure 2: Overview of VTC Mobile Game

The company has recently established G20 Studio – a team specializing in developing games for iOS and Google Play Store G20 Studio has quickly become top developer on IOS and Google Play Store with more than10 million downloads It has also published 1VR (Virtual Reality) / AR (Augmented reality) Games Below are company’s outstanding games in iOS and Google Play Store

Figure 3: Overview of VTC Mobile Game

• PC Game

VTC Intecom has published 60 PC games (since 2006) spanning through various genres: FPS, TPS, CASUAL, CARD BATTLE, MMORPG, DANCING The following captures information on company’s signature games:

Figure 4: Overview of VTC Personal Computer Game

2.2 VTC PAY E-Wallet and Payment Gateway

In 2016, VTC Pay-an e-payment gateway and e-wallet was licensed by Vietnam State Bank for supplying the payment intermediates service, the sensitive area with only few players, under the License No 31/GP-NHNN dated 24/02/2016 The company proudly partners with prestigious payment-service corporation around the world such as VISA, Master Card, JCB, PayPal, Paymentwall, etc Approximately, there are more than 500.000 Activated e-Wallets with more than 30.000 daily transactions and $6.5 million monthly transaction amount

VTC PAY E-WALLET is an electronic account created at https://vtcpay.vn, allowing customers to store virtual money, which is equivalent to the value of money in their bank account, and make payment online and/or offline without cash

VTC PAY E-PAYMENT GATEWAY is a service providing technical infrastructure to connect between the payment acceptance units and banks to assist customers to make payments in e-commerce transactions, electronic bill payments and other electronic payments

The company also developed POINT OF SALES PAYMENT services include:

• NFC (Near Field – Communication) Payment: The near field connection method which allows payment with VTC Pay e-wallet

The company also issued its signature VTC MASTER CARD, which is a virtual prepaid card with all functions and complies with all security regulation of MasterCard Customers can use the card to pay for products/services in all websites, e-commerce websites…which accept payment via Master Card Customers can register online using their mobile number There are more than 1500 VTC MasterCard is opened daily

2.3 Payment Service for Digital Content

Figure 5: Overview of payment services for digital content

The company offers payment services for digital content through two means of payment:

SCRATCHED PREPAID CARD PAYMENT: Using scratched prepaid card (Telecommunication card & VTC card) as payment method for service In order to make payment, customer need to fill the serial number, card number

SMS (Short Message Service) PAYMENT: Using SMS connection and telephone operator as payment method In order to make payment, customers need to text messages to a provided fixed dialing code

2.4 Bill Payment Services

VTC Intecom is also the first company to offer online bill payment services that generated more than $100 million in 2016 and attracted more than 20.000 monthly active customers The company has received 2nd eAsia Award in 2013 from AFACT (Asia Pacific Council for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business) for its bill payment services

The main services include Recharge/buy phone cards Recharge/buy game cards, Household bills payment Booking flight ticket, and Other services (insurance, MicroSoft office, e-learning courses…)

The partners include giants in utility service, airline, telecommunication such as Vietnam national electricity corporation, the national television broadcaster of Vietnam, Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group, Viettel Group, VietJet Air, etc

2.5 Sharing Economy Applications

The company has also developed two biggest made-by-Vietnam sharing economy applications:

- MCARE – SMART HEALTHCARE SERVICE: Individual health indicators system with smart online medical records The app can provide critical condition warning and smart heart-rate tracking Specially, it provides high-technology solution to connect within doctors & patients

- FIXME - VIETNAMESE REPAIR SERVICES: Application providing smart solutions to connect user and plumber, fixer It is the leader in sharing economy trend in Vietnam

2.6 Media Communication

iTV, established in 2008 by VTC Intecom, is a reputed 9-year-old first and unique music interactive TV (Television) channel in Vietnam By 2016, the channel has 8.8 million interactions and 15,000 monthly paid users Its network reaches 65 provinces in Vietnam through satellite/ cable TV, provides programs in both SD (Standard Definition) and HD (High Definition) format The channel has multi-platform: Television – Web live broadcast – App live broadcast and various programs on broadcast: iMusic Vietnam, iMusic global, iRing, iGame, iChat The model: Television – Youtube – Website – Facebook – App established by iTV has become top singer promoting channel in Vietnam

VTC Intecom is also proudly the organizer of annual Miss Teen Contest It is considered the most well-known playground for female teenagers in Vietnam aged 16 to 19 The event is held to praise the teenagers’ beauty of soul and talent, and winners will be taken to Korea for the challenges

III Financial figures

Table 1: The Company’s consolidated financial reports from 2015 to 2017

Profits from financial activities (3,018) (4,841) (23,223) Selling, General and Administrative expenses 399,599 364,746 365,362

CASH FLOW STATEMENT

in which:

Cash Flow from Operating activities 162,595 146,296 617,464 Cash Flow from Investing activities (90,633) (136,087) (282,916) Cash Flow from Financing activities (31,369) (34,353) (370,180)

In 2017, following the Government’s order, the company has transferred some fixed assets formed by the Government’s investment and Korea ODA (Official Development Assistance) to the VOV (Vietnam national radio broadcaster) Some real estates are recovered, many machines transferred to other state companies This results in a tremendous drop in the

fixed assets and equity of VTC While the company’s liabilities stayed stable Therefore, the company’s leverage significantly increased

The company’s net income after tax has been steadily increasing since the establishment in 2006 In 2017, despite the divestiture of the Government, the company was still able to maintain steady increase in net income, creating higher return on assets and return on equity The main contributions to this paradoxical fact are the company’s increase in Other Incomes, decrease in Other Expenses, and decrease in Deferred Income Tax expense The reason behind the increase in Other Incomes is the write-off of the provision for accumulated loss from 2014 Other Expenses decreases because the company has paid attention to fulfillment of the contractual and tax obligations and avoids penalties as in 2016

The company’s operation efficiency measured by ROA (Return on Assets) and ROE (Return on Equity) has been increasing since 2015, flowing the rise in net income despite the shrink in total assets and equity This will be a good signal that can help to attract more domestic and foreign investors as the company is going public in 2018

In 2017, the company has improved its cash flow from negative balance in 2016 while the income after tax slightly advance by 6.5% It allowed VTC to maintain and expand operation as well as to invest in Capex for future growth

CHAPTER II: COMPANY STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION CHART Figure 6: Company Structure and Organization

APP SOFTWARE WEB-BASE SOFTWARE CENTER

CUSTOMER CARE CENTER

DISPUTE RESOLUTION

OPERATOR 1

QUALITY ASSURANCE GAME MASTER

CUSTOMER RELATION OPERATOR 2

PROJECT 1

PROJECT 3

SALES PROJECT 2 HO CHI MINH OFFICE

Before 2015, VTC Intecom followed a simple structure with Business Departments and Functional Departments reporting directly to the BOD (Board of Directors) Functional Departments are Organization and Administration, Finance and Planning, Operation, and Designing Business Departments are VTC Game, VTC Pay, Mobile Game Center, Social Game Center, Software Center, Customer Care Center, as well as Ho Chi Minh office and some current projects Before 2015, there were no separate, specialized functional departments for each business departments

As the products and services of VTC Intecom evolved, there is essential need for separate, specialized functional departments for each business department to handle the workload and complicacy of the products and ever fast-changing business environment Thus, in 2015, the Board of Director has restuctured VTC Intecom into 6 level II departments (including Game Center), and 23 level III departments to serve level II ones apart from the old functional departments:

I Members' Council

• Creating, communicating, and implementing the organization's vision, mission, and overall direction Leading the development and implementation of the overall organization's strategy

• Enhancing and/or developing, implementing and enforcing policies and procedures of the organization by way of systems that will improve the overall operation and effectiveness of the corporation

• Providing strategic financial input and leadership on decision making issues affecting the organization; evaluation of potential alliances acquisitions and/or mergers and pension funds and investments

• Maintaining awareness of both the external and internal competitive landscape, opportunities for expansion, customers, markets, new industry developments and standards, and so forth You can think of the president as the chief scoping for opportunity officer

II Broad of director

The Board of Director comprises of 5 people:

CEO (Chief Executive Officer)

• Leading, guiding, directing, and evaluating the work of other executive leaders • Soliciting advice and guidance, when appropriate, from a Board of Directors • Overseeing the complete operation of an organization in accordance with the

direction established in the strategic plans This includes the design of the organization in a manner that facilitates and supports the operations

• Evaluating the success of the organization in reaching its goals Making sure that each strategic goal is measurable or that the outcomes can be described in a way that an agreed upon picture is shared by the team

• Representing the organization for civic and professional association responsibilities and activities in the local community, the state, and at the national level Other senior leaders bear responsibility for these ventures as the CEO sees fit

CTO (Chief Technology Officer)

• Developing technical aspects of the company’s strategy to ensure alignment with its business goals

• Discovering and implementing new technologies that yield competitive advantage • Ensuring departments’ profitable deployment technology

• Supervising system infrastructure to ensure functionality and efficiency • Building quality assurance and data protection processes

• Monitoring KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and IT (Information Technology) budgets to assess technological performance

• Using stakeholders’ feedback to inform necessary improvements and adjustments to technology

• Communicating technology strategy to partners and investors

CBO (Chief Business Officer)

• Identifying required new capabilities; providing feedback on opportunities, industry trends and customer needs; and fostering partnerships and teaming with key players to support successful proposal bids

• Leading the team that develops a qualified pipeline, capture plans, win strategies, and teaming approaches for growth

• Ensuring high quality proposals are produced

• Responsible for organizational development and talent management initiatives to ensure corporate strategic goals can be properly executed

• Managing the implementation of continuous improvement initiatives within the

Business Development organization CCO (Chief Communication Officer)

• Building and leading a dynamic communications team, and offering concrete examples of how she/he has developed policies that ensured cohesion in communication activities across the organization

• Establishing a strong institutional brand

• Enhancing the digital presence of a current or prior employer

• Managing a social media team that had a direct and significant impact on the growth and impact of a prior employer

• Developing digital metrics (including social metrics) in order to reliably understand the effectiveness of communications efforts

CFO (Chief Finance Officer)

• Assisting in formulating the company's future direction and supporting tactical initiatives

• Monitoring and directing the implementation of strategic business plans • Developing financial and tax strategies

• Managing the capital request and budgeting processes

• Developing performance measures that support the company's strategic direction • Managing the accounting, human resources, investor relations, legal, tax, and

• Reporting financial results to the board of directors

III Software Center

The Center is in charge of:

• developing and updating technologies in payment gateways in different infrastrutures, as well as in sharing economy applications of the company

• Reviewing company’s systems and fix errores when it occur • Maintaining the systems once they are up and running • Build applicantion ask requirement from other centers

IV Game Center

The Center comprises of 120 employees spanning through Game Mobile Team, Game PC Team, and Marketing Team The author assumes marketing intern position in the Marketing Team The position also requires supporting Game Mobile Team in their market research and customer relations

• Mobile Game Team: The team oversees the development and administration of the

company’s tradidtional mobile games (FPS, TPS, CASUAL, CARD BATTLE, MMORPG, DANCING), as well as new mobile games for iOS and Google stores

• PC Game Team: The team is in charge of development and administration of the

company’s PC game

• Marketing Team: The Team takes resposibility in market research, management of the

relationship with gamers community, organization of gaming events, and handling related requests

V VTC Pay

The Center under VTC Intecom that is in charge of developing and managing payment solutions such as VTC E-payment Gateway and E-wallet, Payment Service for Digital Content, and Bill Payment Services VTC Pay was one of the flagship department, established in 2009 with the business scope of developing payment services Until now, VTC Pay has developed 3 mobiles application including VTC Pay, VTC Pay OTP (One-time Password), VTC POS (Point of sales)

VI Media Center

The Center is in charge of media and communication works for VTC Intecom in general and support Departments’ media and communication team in particular Works comprise of promoting brands, interacting with the public and establishing productive relationships with key stakeholders and policymakers It also takes resposibilities in market research, specifically conducting studies into the attitudes and perceptions of the target audience, as well as monitoring forums, social media sites, product review sites and the press to assess attitudes

about the company and its competitors VII Customer Care Center

The Center addresses customers’ concerns about the company and products, attracts potential customers by answering product and service questions and suggesting information about other products and services It also processes orders, prepare correspondences and fulfill customer needs to ensure customer satisfaction

VIII Ho Chi Minh Office

Ho Chi Minh Office specializes in supporting PC Games and Mobile Games Departments, organizes events and manages relationsip gamers community and other stakeholders in Ho Chi Minh

CHAPTER III: THE MISSION: ASSIGNED TASKS AND GOALS

The author assumes marketing planning intern position in the Marketing Team under the Game Center The Marketing Team has 8 people in charge of marketing activities across Vietnam and 2 foreign markets The position also requires supporting Game Mobile Team in their market research and customer relations The author directly reported to Mr Nguyen Trung Kien, the Head of Mobile Game and Marketing Teams

I My responsibilities

• Marketing and PR (Public Relations) activities:

o Defining new and innovative activation concepts to launching new games o Creating, analyzing, monitoring and report social advertising campaigns

across advertisement platforms to deliver compelling materials on brand, on time and on budget

o Building advertising, promotions, media plans, direct marketing and PR activities on assigned games

• Maintaining relationships and carrying out activities with key partners:

o Keep in touch with gaming journalist to make sure that they know launching roadmap for new game

o Pushing agencies publishing PR articles on right time

o Inviting journalist and key gaming account, streamer to take part in launching, review new games

• Researching and analyzing survey to support business:

o Building the top research questions, some fundamental ideas of analysis of data from surveys

o Finding out some necessaries report need to have and exploratory date analysis

o Classifying data and making report

• Creating and presenting reports to supervisor and Center Director

II The Relationship between the Subject Matter and the Mission

My company’s supervisor gave me the missions directly linked with the subject matters

data of Brazil market is the next step to get the right information by analysis process for making marketing plan I have studied about our customers, the marketing that we are going to penetrate Thirdly, my head of project requested me to give him weekly report With experiences which I have learnt from International Strategy and a hundred hours of studying, I found out the answer for my manager’s question and I also found the way to prepare the qualified reports Finally, it is a great opportunity for me learnt from well-known marketing agencies In VTC Intecom, we have many foreign clients, partners and agencies so I have changes to practice and apply theoretical knowledge during negotiating process They have shared with us their marketing plans, showed to us effective and creative ideas which could apply to into penetrating new market campaign

III The Goal to Reach

Table 2: Individual Action Plan

1 Study the company

Knowing well about departments in operation; its products and services, international cooperation networks, its customers, competitors Read carefully the previous international commercial contracts Communicate well with teammates; adjusts with the corporation culture

June 18th

3 Present strategies with Brazil market

Study and collect data about the Brazil market from internet, client and do some research about customer’s behaviors

Analyze some case studies to have the information to see how market operation

June 21st

Find out the best strategies to penetrate Brazil market

Make presentation with head of project and BOD to give our team suggestion

4 Prepare marketing plan

Build a plan to work cross-functionally to ensure Product Developer, consumer marketing, digital marketing, PR, research, trade and sales execution is aligned with strategic and financial goals

Set up a KPI system and reasonable deadlines to get achievements Create a performance measurement tools working in real

July 25th

5

Cooperate with partners to make a

Marketing plan

Work with agencies to make a plan to deliver required assets for LED boards, emails, screens, print etc

Create a checklist to support the development of the social media communications strategy, work with agency vendors on building a KPI table to monitor performance, communicate program value within the future marketing objectives and optimize programs

August 31st

Ensure contractual terms and conditions are adhered to within execution of marketing and communication plans Maximize the value of existing partnerships by using the full amount of partnership rights

September 9th

IV The Value of Theoretical Knowledge in Master AMI in practice

My internship was completed in the Game Center at VTC Intecom (one of the largest game publisher in Vietnam) During my internship, I have opportunity to building bridges between theory and practice The knowledge learned from professors and skills acquired through this internship are things that complemented and enhanced the education I obtained in the AMI courses This time taught me how to run a business of Mobile game operations, promotions and customer services A lot of subjects in the master courses gave me the background knowledge to apply to my daily work such as:

• International Economics and Globalization • International Business Communication • International Commercial Contracts • International Strategy

• International Business Plan • International Management

Table 3: MBA Subject and their usefulness

No Subjects Theoretical Knowledge

1

International Economics and

Globalization

This subject helps me to unlock the mysteries of globalization International economics and globalization shown me the trade and financial relations of national economies, and the effects of international trade and finance on the distribution of production, income and wealth around the world and within nations I am well aware of this trend not only in Vietnam but also in the world nowadays, I can explain the reason why our team should penetrate Brazil market

2

International Business Communication

This course shows me the types of people who are potential customers basing on geographical, financial and cultural features and apply marketing strategies appropriately into my draft plan It also guilders me how to do business with Brazil business partners and communicate in the most appropriate way

3

International Commercial Contracts

During the internship, one of the most important mission is negotiation with Brazilian agencies about clauses in marketing contract We had a lot of thing need to be discussed aimed at reaching an agreement Thank for International Commercial

Contracts Subject helped me to choose the right Language of contracts, sources of law governing contract or Payment and payment currencies…Associate Professor, Dr Nguyen Thanh Tam taught us to understanding intercultural communication and differences between legal systems, to avoid misunderstanding in dealing with international commercial contracts After discussion, VTC Intecom and Brazilian company had cooperation through a contract

4 International Strategy

Basing on theoretical knowledge learnt and using external analytic tools about Macro-environment economic such as PESTEL, Porter's Diamond , and our marketing team could answer to BOD about question: How Brazil market is? What should we need to penetrate this market?

Cohering with industry analytic tool Poster 5 forces, we have a picture about Brazil mobile game market, help identify the sources of competition in game industry and answer the question whether to enter

5

International Business Plan

Helping us set our goals, effectively allocate our resources and determine which countries offer the most potential for our games as well as how to reach the clients and how to make competitive offers Preparing us to enter the Brazil marketplace, And organize our existing international business activity

6 International Management

This course let me understand new management challenges when VTC Intecom business in the international environment Giving to me a review of and attention to, differences in:

• Legal and political systems, national cultures • Labor, environmental, and living standards • Local and corporate culture,

• Foreign exchange markets and tariffs • Trade agreements, and other topics