Several solutions to expand market share of Yamaha motor Vietnam

MBMM PROGRAM --- NGUYỄN NGỌC LAN SEVERAL SOLUTIONS TO EXPAND MARKET SHARE OF YAMAHA MOTOR VIETNAM FINAL PROJECT MASTER IN BUSINESS & MARKETING MANAGEMENT Advisor Professor NGUYỄN THỊ

MBMM PROGRAM

- NGUYỄN NGỌC LAN

SEVERAL SOLUTIONS TO

EXPAND MARKET SHARE OF YAMAHA MOTOR VIETNAM

FINAL PROJECT MASTER IN BUSINESS & MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Advisor Professor NGUYỄN THỊ LIÊN DIỆP

Ho Chi Minh City

2007

Acknowledgements

It has been a great pleasure to have Professor Nguyen Thi Lien Diep as my tutor who

has given me great support and encouragement I have learned a tremendous knowledge from her I wonder if I could have had a better tutor

I have the honor to express my deep thanks to Prof Nguyen Anh Tuan, Prof Bayeen… in Ho Chi Minh City Open University and the Solvay Business School, ULB, who gave me knowledge and invaluable advice during the MBMM course

I am indebted to the kind support from Mr Dinh Quang Tuan – YMVN Marketing Manager, Mr Roger Yap - Branch Manager who gave his time and assistance to my project I also would like to thank many Yamaha Motor Vietnam Co., Ltd officers who helped me collect information and support me during the time of project

Thanks to my friends in MBMM course who are willing to share their knowledge and experience during the course

Finally, I would like to thank my parents, my dear husband and my new-born daughter for their encouragement and care over the years

Nguyen Ngoc Lan

Tutor comments

- - -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

-Jury comments

- - -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

-CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Executive summary

Introduction

1.1 Motivation

1.2 Limitation of the study

1.3 The topic, aims and objectives

1.3.1 The topic and scope

1.3.2 Aims

1.3.3 Objectives

1.4 Methodology

1.4.1 Method

1.4.2 Technique

1.4.3 Source of data

Chapter 1: Yamaha Motor Vietnam Company – External analysis

1.1 Introduction of Yamaha Motor Vietnam 1

1.2 External analysis 2

1.2.1 Demand measurement and forecasting 2

1.2.2 The environment context 3

Orientation 3

Development strategy 4

1.2.3 P.E.S.T analysis 4

Political 4

Socio-cultural factors 5

Economics 6

Technological 6

1.2.4 Competitor Analysis 6

1.2.5 Customer context 8

Decision roles involved 11

1.3 Opportunities and threats 12

1.3.1 Opportunities: 12

1.3.2 Threats 13

2.1 Mission, vision and goals 14

2.1.1 Mission 14

2.1.2 Vision 14

2.1.3 Goals 14

2.2 Marketing objectives 15

2.3 Current marketing strategy 16

2.3.1 Market segmentation 16

2.3.2 Target market 16

2.3.3 Positioning 16

2.3.4 Marketing mix 16

2.4 Marketing communications 17

2.4.1 Objectives 17

2.4.2 Marketing communications strategy 17

2.5.1 Marketing expertise 19

2.5 Promotional mix 20

2.5.1 Select the communications options 20

2.5.2 Control and evaluation 23

2.6 Internal analysis 24

3.1 `Conclusions 26

3.2 Solutions 31

3.2.2.1 Organizational structure 33

3.2.2.2 Marketing communication 33

3.2.2.3 Teamwork 34

3.2.2.4 Financial aspect 34

3.2.2.5 Stakeholders 34

Bibliography and references

Executive summary

Yamaha Motor Vietnam Co., Ltd is a new comer in the motorbike market in Vietnam

It has establised its presence in Vietnam since 2000 From now on it has gained the amazing brand awareness as well the market shares by effective marketing strategy However, the fierce competition in building brand awareness, and capturing market share bring the big challenge for Yamaha Motor Vietnam It requires a clear understanding about all its actions related to marketing as well as the concept of integrated marketing communications

In this setting, the authour would like to offer the readers a right perspective about marketing and maketing communication which is employed by Yamaha Motor Vietnam The research is carried out taking into account following:

− Customer context plays an important role in the research The target customers perceive Yamaha product in the quadrant of high quality and high price but in the perception mapping Yamaha image is lower than Honda Besides, the impact of business environment on marketing communications will be also considered carefully

− Competitors, the important stakeholder need to be taken into account Honda is the main competitor of Yamaha It is now applying the mass communications to compete and protect its market shares Honda is holding 80% market shares of the joint venture segment

− The external analysis helps Yamaha find out the opportunities and threats as well In the next coming years, Yamaha should try to make advantages in terms

of new policy of the government concerning about motorbikes, consumers concerned about fuel saving But Yamaha also needs to consider some threats that may suffer the company such as fierce competition, regualtions of government about the sales promotion and advertising

− The marketing activities of Yamaha will be clearly considered because it helps the author understanding about the current situation of Yamaha From the internal analysis such as mission, vision, goal, marketing communications objective and strategy, organization identity as well as marketing expertise, the author will find out the strengths and weaknesses that are benificial for giving out the conclusions and recommendations later on The research shows that Yamaha Motor Vietnam has strengths in terms of marketing communications plan fit with the overall strategy, defining target market quite well, marketing communications strategy and empowerment and teamwork Marketing communications is to facilitate the differentiated brand awareness In addition, Yamaha Motor Vietnam has achieve the coordination of using promotional mix such as caravan show, advertising and promotional campaign to enhance the brand image

− However, the company has not considered customer database playing an very important role in building up effective marketing communications strategy It just uses customer database in setting up the mailing list Besides, the control and evaluation system seem not work well because most of the time, they control and evaluate based on the experiences of marketers and such a small market surveys

Finally, the author would like to offer the recommendations for Yamha Motor Vietnam Co., Ltd to improve its marketing activities to expand the market share It could be very essential to enhance the teamwork activities, organization structure

as well the control and integration with external and internal stakeholders The company should establish cross-functional teams in which every department is represented In addition, teamwork is encouraged to support for YMVN functional departments as well to avoid communications programs separate Marketing integration requires close coordination between departments Otherwise, a study of other external stakeholders such as agencies, suppliers is to control and integrate them as a united Yamaha family

Introduction

1 Motivation

Vietnamese motorbike market is a huge and on a global scale represented by 50 million people are using motorbikes as the main transportation mean Along with the development of economy, the open market offers a great opportunity for all motorbike companies include illegal imported motorbikes Undoubtedly, they however also bring to big challenges for all

of us In the forthcoming years, Vietnamese motorbike market will become the key market for many motor companies Clearly, the fierce competition will occur among these companies

to capture and retain market shares The author believes that the important issue in an organization is the subject of marketing Marketing helps bring the firm’s messages to the customers, the most vital determinant to the firm’s success and existence As Philip Kotler

said: “Modern marketing calls for more than just developing a good product, pricing it attractively and making it available to target customers Companies must also communicate with current and prospective customers, and what they communicate should not be left to chance.”

The author is impressed by the way Yamaha launch its new products and interested in Yamaha products But the author always wonders why customer’s perception about Yamaha product is not clear and confused, the maket share is still lower than Honda’s

So the author tried to figure out the reason through some information gathered by some of her friend working for Yamaha Motor Vietnam During this period, the author

had a chance to gain a certain level of understanding about the marketing activities and marketing communications programs of the company Therefore, she desires to utilize her knowledge and study learned from the MBMM program to evaluate and improve the company’s marketing strategy strategy to expand the market share of Yamaha in Ho Chi Minh city by 2010

In the introduction, the author would like to introduce the motivation of the research, objectives, and discusses overview of the working method that the author uses to discover the findings, and recommendations

In chapter 1, the external analysis is carried out to get an outside look of the environment where YMVN is doing business From the external analysis, the author would like to analyze the competitors, political, social factors, economics and legal issues, customer as well as the market demand

In chapter 2, the internal analysis helps readers take into account the number of issues that impact on the integrated marketing communications of YMVN such as corporate objectives, stakeholder, organization identity, as well as the strategy

Solutions to expand market share is discussed in chapter 3, the author will evaluate how YMVN has utilized marketing plan to keep and maintain relationships with its customers and give some solutions to develop the market share of Yamaha Motor Vietnam by the year of 2010

2 Limitation of the study

The main objective of this study is to focus on YMVN potential target customers who are provided with products and services They are the main objects that YMVN puts efforts to study for better delivering products, services and communications performance In this research, the existing and potential customers’ analysis is taken

from the available surveys– Customer behavior and market research - findings that are provided by YMVN

As Pickson and Broderick (2001) describe stakeholders as several groups who have

interest or involvement with an organization including suppliers, customers, consumers, investors, employees and distributors However, there are some important stakeholders the author does not mention in the research although they may have influence on the research such as internal stakeholders of YMVN, advertising agencies, suppliers, holding company and other market research partners because the author can not approach these stakeholders due to the confidential policy of the company

Elements of the promotional tools are assessed by qualitative methods only The qualitative measure is mainly based on the feedbacks from customer and user survey; however, it is just the small and simple survey to check whether these promotional programs were efficient and effective in the user’s mind

3 The topic, aims and objectives

3.1 The topic and scope

− The topic: How can an Marketing strategy help promote Yamaha products in the Vietnamese motorcycle market successfully and efficiently?

− Research area: Marketing

− Research field: Market analysis, marketing strategy, marketing communication

− Subject: Several solutions to expand the market share of Yamaha Motor

Vietnam by the year of 2010

3.2 Aims

In the project, I would like to explore the following issues in order to find out the best marketing plan for Yamaha Motor Vietnam Co., Ltd:

− To examine how YMVN develops its promotional tools in order to create effective communications to potential customers

− To study the marketing and marketing communications strategy of YMVN

− To identify the implications of applying marketing strategy to potential target customers of YMVN

− To discuss several benefits that YMVN may gain from applying new solutions

3.3 Objectives

The objective of the research is going to establish the effective marketing and marketing communications plan for Yamaha Motor Vietnam Corporation In the marketing and marketing communications plan, these following objectives will be pursued:

− Have an Integrated Marketing Communications Plan for use based on the IMC framework model that can be further developed and used in the future research

− Better understand all the elements of Integrated Marketing Communications

− To raise the level of awareness of Vietnamese target customers

− To reach the target customers by positioning the current and emerging markets

as a premium, valuable, stylish and sporty products

4 Methodology

4.1 Method

The author would like to use the case study method in order to do the project The data in a case study are obtained largely through a review of written records, and by

means of interview technique Case study method will involve the author in at least four stages of work as following:

− Determining the present situation

− Gathering information about the background to the present situation

− Gathering more specific data to test alternative hypotheses about the important factors in the present situation

− Presenting recommendations for action

The research methodology will be based on the deductive approach in which the understanding about the marketing strategy and integrated marketing communication

of the company will be accomplished by the investigation of the empirical business in the marketplace to compare with the hypothesis

4.2 Technique

The techniques presented in this project are all semi-structure In other words, they involve the author in asking questions whose content and sequence aren’t fully specified in advance The techniques are also open-ended That is, they use a form of questioning in which the respondents are encouraged to answer in their own words: while the author might have some hunches about the kind of answer to expect, the author would not prepared to specify them in advance

As the constraint resources of market information, the study focuses on main issues

of marketing and integrated marketing communications plan The main object of the study is the target customer with the relevant approaches to serve that object Mutual contact with the organization was made to obtain and exchange with strategic

information and ideas about the marketing Key persons – Mr Roger Yap, The

General Manager of YMVN, Southern Branch, Mr Nguyen Phuoc Bao Tri, The Chief Wholesales of YMVN, Keitaro Horikoshi, The Marketing Manager of YMVN - were

interviewed directly by phone and email to get further detailed company’s information and experiences They could be involved with marketing, sales and administration of the company, most accessible to the researcher were contacted to explain the purpose

of the study, its relevance, and its benefits, and the help needed from them, and to seek their agreement to participate in the study Moreover, so many company’s profile and releases, which are publicly announced to other stakeholders, were used to support for evaluating the application of new solutions

Based on the collective and cumulative experience in the literature review on the marketing communications, the IMC process model was developed which outlines the route for the researcher to analyze the existing marketing communication strategies that the company is implementing in the marketplace, especially in the advertising and promotion programs

On the other hand, I compare the information provided by the company with the comments and remarks from secondary information to draw out the practical outcome proposed for Yamaha Motor Vietnam Corporation

4.3 Source of data

Data collection method is to use secondary data from journal, magazines, websites and books and company’s data to identify problems that YMVN has currently been facing The primary data collection was based on observation that had been updated with practical information and actual data collected and processed by the company in order that I can analyze the process of developing and implementing various forms of persuasive communications with customers conducted by YMVN The purpose is to determine and define the forms and methods followed by the company through which they persuade their customers on an integrated way to buying facilitation, what effect has been planned and what were the actual results Additionally, in-deep interview

with the company’s staffs confirms and provides the solution of the problems that the company is currently facing The observation was also studied to find out which aspects the company applies for its integrated marketing communications process, what tools are used to reach its target customers and objectives

Chapter 1

Yamaha Motor Vietnam Company

External analysis

1.1 Introduction of Yamaha Motor Vietnam

Yamaha Motor Vietnam Limited Company (YMVN) was established on April 1st,

2000 according to the investment license No 2029/GP, is a joint-venture among HONGLEONG Industries BERHARD Malaysia, Vietnam Forest Corporation & CODO Mechanical Factory Vietnam In which, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd Japan holds

46 percent of stock, Vietnam Forest Corporation & CODO Mechanical Factory Vietnam holds 30 percent and the rest is holding by HONGLEONG Industries BERHARD Malaysia The head office is located in Hanoi, Vietnam, and one branch office in Ho Chi Minh City Its capital register is USD 24,250,000 The land area of YMVN is 100,000 meters square where its building area is 22,000 meters square At the moment, YMVN is employing 1057 people

Yamaha Motor Vietnam produces motorcycles and supplementary spare parts to provide to Vietnamese customers It also supplies services to customers who use Yamaha motorcycles There are many categories of Yamaha motorbikes introduced and sold in Vietnam market But YMVN has just introduced two models so far It is Jupiter MX bikes; and another new model Exciter 135 was just launched in 2006 YMVN commits a long-term investment strategy in Vietnam to take care of Vietnamese customers by supplying with sufficient spare parts and services to maintain and increase its values in customer’s awareness

It could be very essential to understand the environment where YMVN is doing business in order to have a perspective about the competition, regulations as well the market demand Besides, the marketing communications environment also relate to the availability of media and marketing agencies as well

1.2 External analysis

1.2.1 Demand measurement and forecasting

The Vietnamese motorbike market is huge and on a global scale represented by a big

volume in 2006 It is comprised of 3 segments: joint venture, imported, and Chinese

bikes Join venture bikes (included Honda, YMVN, SYM, Suzuki, Hoa Lam Kymco)

are recently dominating motorbike market which accounted for more than 60% market share The rest is local produced and imported bikes accounted for less than 40%

Figure 1: Market’s sales volume forecast

0 1000000

Source: Yamaha Motor Vietnam Ltd., Co, 2006

In 2001, the total number of motorbikes sold out in the market is 1,948,800 units in which Chinese bikes capture around 1,000,000 bikes Although Chinese bikes just

entered in Vietnam at the end of 1999, its sales volume increased quickly As shown, the number of motorbikes sold each year from 2005 to 2010 increased almost 20% each year However, from 2005 onward sales volume stretch out and change in structure which is from Chinese bikes to Join venture bikes that have reputation, quality, competitive price and great after sale service Therefore, bike’s manufacturer

is now focusing on product feature development, unit cost, and more importantly is customer relationship management

1.2.2 The environment context

According to Ministry of Industry, Government’s orientation and strategy to develop the motorbike’s industry to 2015 as follows1:

Orientation

To build and develop the Vietnam motorbike’s industry becoming one of

manufacturing and exporting sector in motorbike and spare part in the region The

orientation detail in the period from 2006 to 2010:

− To supply 90% of domestic demand, in which consisting of 100% general

demand

− Domestic manufactures reach to over 90% of raw material, spare part and 95%

of engine parts

− Establish chain of manufacturers, suppliers of motorbike’s part who has ability

to fulfil requirement of quality, price and after sales service; distribution

channel, dynamic, professional

− In 2010, to export general motorbike, parts and spare part which accounted for 450,000 – 500,000 bikes, contributes about USD300 million to export turnover

− To establish and utilize Research and Development center before 2010

1

http://www.moi.gov.vn/News/detail.asp?Sub=33&id=26321

Development strategy

Manufacturing development to serve local demand:

− Step up manufacture of spare parts, and material for motorcycle with high

quality, especially in producing engine, raw material and fuel

− Focusing on investment deepening, technology & equipment innovation;

modernizing some key processes in manufacturing namely precise mechanical, chemical, rubber, plastic, electronic, automation and new material

− To enhance research design new product to boost up reputation and completive ability of Vietnam motorcycle

− Investing on high class motorbike research and development that enable to consume clean fuel

Step up export:

− Deploying marketing activities in order to search and utilize export market, especially South Africa, West East Asia and Latin America markets;

− Boost up export motorcycle, spare parts, raw materials that have high

competitive advantages, match local demand in each market;

− Enhance local collaboration, interlink to increase competitive advantage

Design new model for export

1.2.3 P.E.S.T analysis

Political

Government stability: The Vietnam’s business policies are opening the door for businessmen and investors to do business in Vietnam The Vietnamese government is stable under the leading of communist party.

Taxation policy: Vietnam has an extensive range of tax laws Instead of implementing

a comprehensive tax system in accordance with internationally accepted taxation

principles, the enacted legislation may be more regarded as an ad hoc response to problems faced in opening up the country to foreign investment Not only are the laws and regulations contradictory or incompatible with overseas tax systems, but also the fundamental principles on which the taxes are based are also imprecise This deficiency in design is characteristic of the desire of the government to use a single tax instrument to address multiple economic and social objectives Companies are liable to a range of taxes (corporate income tax, capital gains tax, value added tax, special sales tax, import and export duties, profit remittance tax, tax on use of natural resources, withholding tax on income generated from royalties, land and housing tax, and tax on contractors), while those individuals with high incomes are liable to personal income tax The Vietnamese government uses tax incentives to attract foreign investment Low corporate tax rates, or even temporary tax exemptions, are offered to foreign companies in an effort to compete with other Asian countries for foreign investment Vietnam is considered to have one of the most liberal foreign investment laws in Asia

At the moment, the tax rate is 40 percent Besides, the tax for spare parts imported will be decrease in the next year

Socio-cultural factors

Population demographics: According to the Asiaweek issue of October 6, 2006, the

population of Vietnam by the end of 2006 counted about 85 million, which in terms of

population makes Vietnam the second largest country in Southeast Asia

Lifestyle changes: In the past, Vietnamese tended to save their money They did not spend much money on purchasing durable goods However, the standard of living has dramatically increased from the “Doi Moi” (Renovation) policy in 1986 Therefore, people who are living in the city want to buy new motorbikes Moreover, motorcycle

is the main and convenient transportation means of Vietnamese families, because the

infrastructure is in bad condition, the road is small and narrow In addition, public transportation cannot be developed soon That’s why motorcycle is essential to the society; most Vietnamese people can use motorcycle, both male and female Motorcycle is used for work, transporting from place to place, for going around, picnic; and so on therefore, motorcycle is the essential means for the Vietnamese lives

Economics

Since Vietnam opened and integrated the regional economy, it has created the new changes for the business and trading In the average, the economy has grown around 8% annually and better individual income has gradually improved the standard of living Moreover, Viet Nam has recently become the official member of WTO, obtaining the second wave of investment

Technological

The government requires all motor makers increasing the rate of localization of their spare parts in order to meet the demands of the government in developing its motor industry Besides, the latest technology should be applied in production and design new motorbike models in order to enhance the competitive capacity

There are currently 16,000 Internet subscribers registered in Vietnam, very few of whom are private Vietnamese citizens The Internet has still not attracted very many local users Officials had originally hoped to secure 50,000 service contracts in the next coming years Internet users are primarily foreigners and private and state-run businesses Even those private citizens who do have Internet access are usually families of government officials or wealthy businessmen who can afford the high costs Thus far, Internet usage has been confined to the elite and to employees of foreign or well-placed companies

1.2.4 Competitor Analysis

The leader in the motorbike market in Vietnam is Honda Corporation Honda brand has come into Vietnamese minds for over 30 years Honda is amazingly holding the market share of 80% in the joint venture segment Considerably, customers always take Honda bikes as the standard bikes for all other brands Consumers who buy Honda brand are the people who prefer durable and popular products that can be used

by the whole family members as well as resell easily Honda products have the brand image on the price and popular in the market So the spare parts are available for repair and replacement Honda Corporation also invested a lot of money (around $

112 million) to maintain its existing market share in Vietnam “So much so, Honda Vietnam has recently launched a new bike called Wave Alpha at VND10.990.000 (USD727) Basically, they want to capture the market which is currently enjoyed by

the Chinese bikes assemblers.” (Source from YMVN’s market data)

Another competitor of YMVN is Suzuki Corporation who has set up the factory for several years However, it has its own market niche 5% so far Customers who buy Suzuki motorbikes are the young people who like sports, style The advantage of Suzuki is the price is competitive rather than other Japanese models

The other strong competitors are imported motorcycle which also from these famous brand name such as: Honda, Piagio, Suzuki, etc Other rival is Chinese’ bike, they are small enterprises that assemble and produce motorcycles and spare parts with Chinese origin The flexible selling price is their strength The other point is that the Chinese bikes are easily designed following the other Japanese model that causes the customer’s confusion to other bikes Most of them are imitated to famous bike like Honda Future and Yamaha Sirius

Other supplying sources: Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha factories located in other Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, and Korea etc exported bikes

to contribute into Vietnamese market demand Now these supplying sources are limited and loosing their market shares for Joint Venture and domestic manufacturers

1.2.5 Customer context

Customer’s awareness and perception about Yamaha product is not clear and confused Customers have little knowledge on Yamaha products These information and statements are collected by YMVN through surveying2 customers and dealers’ ideas and comments about marketing communications Customers and dealers perceive Yamaha’s communications as following:

− Differentiated well with other brands

− Knowing Yamaha motorcycle, but not sure about quality, features, stores

− Cannot prove the high value of the products supplying to market

− Cannot come out the effective control and evaluation of marketing communications tools

− Cannot identify which is the key marketing communications tool

− Customers have no many choices of sales promotion

− Confusion is caused by not using consistent messages to customers

Awareness of the brand is not high enough As the latest research showed that the

customers’ aided awareness is about 35%, but awareness among regular motorbike users is much lower In customers’ mind, Sanyang Motor’s products are in the

quadrant of low quality and low price All Japanese bikes belong to high price and high quality part Honda occupies the top position in the perceptual map and followed

by Suzuki and Yamaha respectively Look at the below figure, the readers will have the right view about Yamaha image in customer’s perception

2

Yamaha market research in 2006

Figure 2: Perceptual Mapping

Source: Yamaha Motor Vietnam Co., Ltd, market research, 2006

The current target market is stylish people, aged 18-30, who have an active interest in sporty bikes We categorize customers into two groups as following:

-Wholesaler: These customers buy products based on the market demand They

do not highly consider the brand name They do pay attention to the margin they get from trading the products In the buying process, dealers play an important role They strongly impact on customers’ decision because in each area dealers are the most prestige motorbike sellers Therefore, customers heavily rely on their advice and suggestion of what motorbikes are good or bad

-End-users: Motorbikes play a peculiar role in Vietnam owing to Vietnam’s transportation means The main transportation mean in Vietnam is motorbike The customers of joint-venture motorbikes are the middle-upper class who’s per capita is over USD 4000 per year In some big cities such as Hanoi, Haiphong, and Hochiminh City, most of the consumers consider motorbikes as the transportation mean So that

Sanyang Motor

Honda

when they decide on choosing the bikes, they often set the hierarchy as follows:

Quality; Brand name; Price; Reselling ability; Spare-part and service availability

However, some of the customers look for the social symbol through the bikes they drive They want to make a statement to the others and they want to let others know that they can afford the stylish ones As a result, they often consider the brand name, model, and expensive price as the most important thing in choosing the bikes

Figure 3: Consumer’s Decision Roles

Role Consumer

Influencer Family members, friend, dealers Decider User

User Family members, user

Source: Yamaha Motor Vietnam Co., Ltd, 2006

Involvement in the purchase decision is relatively high The consumers perceive a high level of risk and are concerned about the intended purchase The essential element in this sequence is that a great deal of information is sought initially and an attitude is developed before a commitment or intention to trial is determined So that information search is an important part of the high involvement decision-making process Many media sources are explored, including the mass media, word of mouth communications and point-of-sale communication As individual requires a lot of information, print media are more appropriate as a large volume of detailed

information can be transmitted and this allows the receiver to digest the information at the speed that they can control

In addition, integrated marketing communications planning must take into consideration the combination of involvement and motivation evidenced by target audience On the other hand, because high involvement purchase decisions carry risk, buyers must be convinced they are making a good decision Bikes are the high-value products It requires high involvement that concerned with the user’s buying decisions and combined with motivation Yamaha products in Vietnam are set on the position of the model of the Rossiter-Percy Grid and Brand attitude as followed:

− When involvement is high and motivation is negative, target audience must be

convinced by the message, so the communications options consideration must be able to accomplish this

− When motives are positive, “emotional authenticity” is the key to successful communications, whether involvement is high or low so the communications options considered must be able to deal with this

Figure 4:Behavioral Sequence Model (BSM): for high involvement products

Information search and evaluation

Purchase Usage

Decision roles involved

Family members Friend Seller Dealer

Family members, who need the new bikes

Friends who have experience and knowledge on bikes

Sellers as a initiators

Youngster, Family members

Youngster

Where stage is likely to

occur

At home, talking with friends,

At home, talking with friends,

At the shop,

At the motorcycle

At home

At work For pleasure

At the shop, seller’s introduction

Exhibition

seller’s introduction

Exhibition

Timing of stage

Change a new bike

Buying a bike

1-4 week following need arousal

Shortly after completing information search and evaluation

1-10 day after purchase

How it is likely to occur

Looking something special events,

Ask, call, brochures, shop visiting,

talking with sellers

Visit motorcycle shops

Satisfaction and enjoyment

Source: Adapted from Chriss Fill

Risk is perceived high because the buyer has little or no experience of the performance of the product or the decision process associated with the purchase It seems to be useful to offer more information through the mass media, through word of mouth communications and through personal selling Brand loyalty can also be instrumental in reducing risk when launching new products

1.3 Opportunities and threats

After analysing the external environment, the author would like to come up with the opportunities and threats as well that YMVN will face in the future

1.3.1 Opportunities:

- Consumers are showing more interest in fuel saving

- Government limited the import motorbikes and prohibited which motorbikes assembly factories are not capable according to government regulation

- Per capital income is increasing steadily over the past 5 years

- Road systems are upgrading and expanding in the urban and rural areas

- More merchandises are interested in doing business with Yamaha

- Cost and standard of living: the current rates of consumer spending are beneficial to the release of the new motorbikes Consumers are spending more than ever and are less averse to taking loan for consumer’s product

- Vietnam has recently become the official member of WTO

- Policy: Vietnam Government investment policy is not stable Investors are always worried about the certainty of policy

- Regulation of the government about the sales promotion and advertising