Solutions for lack of marketing activities of Viet Phat Uniform Limited Company

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Le Ngoc Hai Trieu SOLUTIONS FOR LACK OF MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF VIET PHAT UNIFORM LIMITED COMPANY MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Ho Chi Minh City – 2019 UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Le Ngoc Hai Trieu SOLUTIONS FOR LACK OF MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF VIET PHAT UNIFORM LIMITED COMPANY MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SUPERVISOR: DR LE THI THANH XUAN Ho Chi Minh City - 2019 1|Page Table of Contents 1.1 The company overview 1.2 Problem context CHAPTER II – PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION 10 2.1 Symptoms analysis 10 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3 2.2 Limited customer network 10 Lack of brand awareness 10 Ineffective digital marketing 12 Problem analysis 14 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 Potential problems 14 Main problem validation 17 Problems – Symptoms Map 21 CHAPTER III – CAUSE ANALYSIS 22 3.1 Potential causes 22 3.1.1 3.1.2 3.1.3 Lack of attention from the board of directors (B.O.D) 22 Lack of resources 22 Wrong personnel 24 3.2 Initial Cause-Effect Map 25 3.3 Main cause validation 25 3.3.1 3.3.2 3.3.3 3.4 Lack of B.O.D’s attention 25 Wrong personnel 28 Lack of resources 30 Final Cause-Effect Diagram 32 CHAPTER IV – ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS AND ACTION PLAN 34 4.1 Alternative solutions 34 4.1.1 4.1.2 4.1.3 4.2 Establishing a marketing department 34 Investing more capital budget to conduct marketing activities 36 Hiring employees to support marketing activities 38 Action plan 39 CHAPTER VI – SUPPORTING MATERIALS 45 References 62 2|Page List of tables Table 2.1 10 Table 3.1 26 Table 3.2 27 Table 4.1 41 3|Page List of figures Figure 1.1 Figure 1.2 Figure 2.1 12 Figure 2.2 13 Figure 2.3 13 Figure 2.4 21 Figure 3.1 25 Figure 3.2 32 Figure 3.3 33 Figure 4.1 34 Figure 4.2 40 4|Page Executive summary Nowadays, as the world has developed continuously, the living standard has been improved rapidly In order to meet those standards, more and more businesses have been established Specifically, in the garment industry, there are many firms that are able to providing uniforms for both schools and businesses However, there is just a few companies meet the required standards of customers Therefore, Viet Phat Uniform Limited Company has been established to offer high quality uniform with reasonable price As a new and small business, Viet Phat Uniform Limited Company has many weak aspects that need improvements, especially the marketing field Firstly, it is realized that it has limited customer network, lack of brand awareness from the customer, and ineffective digital marketing From the above symptoms, it is considered that Viet Phat is facing some potential problems, such as high price and poor product’s quality, lack of marketing activities and poor training for sales staffs Nevertheless, through analyzing and synthesizing data and information, it is realized that the main problem that it has faced is lack of marketing activities while its B.O.D just focus on expanding the customer network based on their relationships At the beginning, it is considered that because its B.O.D does not pay enough attention to the marketing aspect and they chose wrong personnel to cover the marketing job that lead to its main problem However, based on the above analysis, data and arguments of its B.O.D, CEO, staffs, and other stakeholders, it is found that the main cause that leads to this problem is lack of resource Particularly, because of the difficulties in the initial stage of a startup business, its B.O.D cannot provide sufficient resource including both human and financial resource to implement marketing activities After many internal and external factors have been considered, it is suggested that Viet Phat shoud recruit more employees to support its CEO who is simultaneously in charge of the marketing aspect in building an obvious marketing strategy and executing marketing activities efficiently 5|Page CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION 1.1 The company overview In Vietnam, students have to wear uniforms when they go to school, especially in primary and high schools Additionally, many businesses in Vietnam require their employees wear uniform when they go to work Although this is not a new market, there is a few businesses having reputation in providing uniforms having good quality for both schools and businesses Therefore, Viet Phat Uniform Company Limited was established at the end of 2018 with the ambition of meet the needs of a great number of customers, gain a big market share in the niche market, and build good reputation to become one of the most famous uniform brands in Vietnam Its organizational chart is as below: B.O.D CEO Sales Department Accounting Department staffs staff Figure 1.1 The organizational chart of Viet Phat Its board of directors (B.O.D) consists of persons, they are responsible for investing money to the company when it needs, making important decisions and also building the business strategies The company has a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with responsibilities of managing all activities of the company, cooperating with BOD to make business strategies, communicating with departments to deliver tasks to them as well as it is suitable for its strategies and directions, and work with manufacturers As 6|Page Viet Phat has just been established for a few months, CEO has to work in many roles to save costs, especially in marketing aspect She is responsible for developing business’s goodwill, conducting marketing activities, such as advertisements on media channels, marketing campaigns, etc., and suggesting ideas to let customers know about Viet Phat and its products It also has an accountant to accounting tasks as the company does not have too much accounting activities to in this initial stage There are sales staffs in sales department to approach potential customers in order to boost sales revenue up and widen customer network They have to find customers, meet them, and introduce its products and benefits that customers can get if they cooperate with Viet Phat Viet Phat is a startup business which offers uniforms for not only schools but also businesses In order to gain more market share, Viet Phat offers customers higher discount rate than its rivals Particularly, it offers 30% discount rate for customers when rivals offer approximately 25% It competes with other rivals by discount rate in not only the initial stage but also later Additionally, Viet Phat always tries to provide customers products having high quality material and beautiful seam but with competitive price Because Viet Phat is a new comer in the market, its target customer concentrates on schools in Vietnam in initial stage As those schools have new students every year, they have to order uniforms for both new and current students It will bring Viet Phat stable order and income each year However, Viet Phat still serves businesses that have demand in order uniforms to develop the customer network However, it will be focused more after the company has certain market share and goodwill in Vietnamese market The mission statement of Viet Phat is providing uniforms with high quality material with the competitive price Viet Phat does not manufacture clothes, it is the intermediary between the manufacturer and customers It finds customers, deals with them, receives orders, and brings them for the manufacturer Then, it gives finished products for customers To assure that Viet Phat can provide high quality material uniform, it has to deal with manufacturer to get the agreement of using chosen material If there is any mistake of finished products, Viet Phat has responsibility to work with the manufacturer to fix them and give customers products having high quality 1.2 Problem context 7|Page Vietnam’s garment sector has had speedy and sustainable development over the last few years which have played a crucial role in the country’s socio-economic development, especially there are approximately 6000 textile and garment manufacturing firms operating in Vietnam (1) However, almost garment manufactures in Vietnam produce clothing majorly for export, not focusing on local consumption market Vietnam held the 4th position in the top 10 global garment exporters in 2016 For example, Viet Tien, Nha Be, Garco 10 are familiar brands in garment industry in Vietnam that concentrate on exporting clothing Figure 1.2 World Ranking Among the Top Garment Exporting Countries in 2016 (WTO Reports World Textile and Apparel Trade in 2017) Because almost big and famous garment brands focus on export market, domestic market is a “promising land” for small businesses, especially in niche market like supplying uniforms Obviously, for the Vietnamese garment market, the demand has been growing thanks to the higher income and higher living standard of Vietnamese There are many opportunities for domestic garment brands if they accept the challenges 8|Page and have a strategy to reach the market As Viet Phat is a new business in Vietnamese market, it has many weak aspects that need to be improved and developed Particularly, the most important aspect that needs to be developed is the marketing strategy Marketing refers to a process in which a product or service is introduced and promoted to any potential customers Since it was established, Viet Phat has just depended on the relationship of its owners to develop the customer network Thus, it has not had marketing strategy yet to build the image, brand position, and reputation although it is very essential in developing business in fierce competitive market Customers should have known about its brand name, reputation, and also the image, so it can gain more market share and widen its customer network Nowadays, there are many competitors in the market that already has had reputation and trust from customers Rivals can provide products that are not as well as Viet Phat, but they communicate their value for customers better, so they gain trust from customers Hence, more customers prefer to incorporate with them to Viet Phat They have effective marketing strategies to communicate to their customers, such as advertising on social media channels, having their own website, brochures, some marketing campaigns and so on Therefore, if Viet Phat has not had marketing strategy, it can offer the best products in its niche market, however, no one can even hear of it 9|Page INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT Interviewer: Le Ngoc Hai Trieu Interviewee: Ms Van Le Time: 11.30am – 12.00am Date: 27 March 2019 Interviewer: Good afternoon, Ms Van Le In order to improving our company, I would like to listen to your thoughts about the problems that it is facing and other aspects in the company I know that Viet Phat has many weak aspects, but the most important one that need attention immediately is marketing As a CEO of Viet Phat, please share with me your opinions in marketing aspect Firstly, can you share with me about the operation and results of marketing aspect? Interviewee: Although we still have some marketing activities like posting pictures and information on Facebook page and let the sales staffs introduce products directly or via telephone to customers, they not bring any good consequences for Viet Phat Specifically, those marketing activities not approach new customers, so there is no new customers working with Viet Phat because they see it on Facebook or they hear it from sales staffs We not have any long-term marketing strategy to develop Viet Phat Regarding with the short-term one, we just brainstorm about the ideas, think that it would be a good one, then we try to conduct it In my opinion, if we run business complying witth that way, it cannot be considered as a strategy for a business operation Even though the B.O.D always requires me build a marketing strategy, they has not given me any clear direction of its development in the future Therefore, I put all of our efforts to suggest good marketing activities but not a marketing strategy Interviewer: According to what you said and my knowledge about the company, it can be stated that the main problem that Viet Phat faces is lack of marketing strategy What is the cause that leads to that problem? Interviewee: Everyday, I have many activities to control and manage It takes most of my time, so I cannot take more time to conduct marketing activities carefully although I really want to that Sometimes, I create new ideas to approach more customers and promote our products and brand, but I did not have time to conduct them 50 | P a g e Interviewer: What you think about the importance of marketing to a business, especially Viet Phat? Interviewee: Marketing is considered as a heart of the business because it plays a vital role in educating customers about the business and also its products and services No matter how good products of Viet Phat are, it is not worth anything if customers not know about them Therefore, I always try my best to develop the marketing field, especially the marketing strategy Nonetheless, sometimes I not have enough time and also human resources to support me doing it I need to many tasks to control activities in the company to ensure that they have been done complying with the development direction of Viet Phat in the future Furthermore, there is no one supporting me to accomplish those tasks in marketing field It causes many obstacles for me in developing marketing strategy Interviewer: Regarding with the attention of the B.O.D of Viet Phat to the marketing field, you think they paid enough attention for it? Interviewee: In my point of view, I realized that they have paid lots of attention to the marketing field because they always require me concentrate on develop it They obviously acknowledged about the importance of the marketing field to the business development However, as Viet Phat is a new business, they want to save costs as much as possible Thus, they cannot provide enough resources for me to work effectively Interviewer: Because you not have enough time and human resource to handle a lot of responsibilities, the marketing result is not good enough Why the B.O.D does not hire anyone to support you as marketing staffs or establishing a marketing department? Interviewee: I would like to hire qualified employees for Viet Phat, but sometimes they not really want to work for Viet Phat because it is a new business and it cannot offer very good salary and benefits Moreover, it is a small business and does not have the reputation, so the B.O.D decided that I would cover the marketing department to save more costs in the initial stage Interviewer: Well, if Viet Phat establish a marketing department, is it suitable for Viet Phat at that time? Interviewee: It is very common that a business has a marketing department as marketing plays a significant role in doing business However, Viet Phat should not have its own 51 | P a g e marketing department because it will take a huge amount of costs each month Also, it is very risky if Viet Phat suffer this cost as its sales revenues is not enough to cover it Although this solution will help me a lot, it is not suitable now I think that it should be conducted after a few years that the company run efficiently Interviewer: Do you have any recommendations for the company to solve this problem? Interviewee: Viet Phat still needs more staffs to help me in marketing responsibilities Therefore, I think Viet Phat should hire to staffs to support me immediately as a marketing team to improve this aspect and develop the business Interviewer: Thank you so much for your precious share It is very useful for me to suggest some solutions in order to help the business run efficiently Interviewee: If there is anything you need to suggest solutions, feel free to contact me We can talk more about it 52 | P a g e INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT Interviewer: Le Ngoc Hai Trieu Interviewee: Mr Quang Dang Time: 6.00pm – 6.45pm Date: 03 April 2019 Interviewer: Good evening, Mr Quang Dang To find out the way to improve the company, I need to discuss with you about the company’s situation As the owner and a member of the B.O.D of Viet Phat, what is an issue that it has at the moment as a new business? Interviewee: As one of the owners of Viet Phat, my responsibility is developing it by finding out way to approach more and more customers, giving direction to its development, and also managing it However, currently Viet Phat depends too much on my relationships to reach customers It does not have any strategy to approach potential customers and introduce our products As Viet Phat is a new business, I really concern about the marketing strategy and also would like to marketing its products and brand to customers so as to more and more customers know about it Nonetheless, I would like to develop the customer network through my relationships in the initial stage to save costs Although our company has an employee responsible for marketing field, it has not brought any good result for the company Interviewer: Well, it can be said that lack of marketing strategy is the main problem that has to be solved immediately According to Ms Van Le, the CEO of Viet Phat, she said that the B.O.D does not provide sufficient resources to support her in marketing responsibilities What you think about this opinion? Interviewee: I absolutely agree that we not have a lot of money to invest in Viet Phat It is so risky that if Viet Phat needs a huge amount of capital immediately to run a project or a marketing campaign As it is in the initial stage, we try our best to use capital that we have to operate it However, whenever it comes to sustainable growth stage, we will consider to allow other investors join with us As Viet Phat is in the initial stage of a start-up business, lack of resources finance, human, amd also physical is inevitable 53 | P a g e Regarding with financial resource, we have limited amount of money that can use to invest in Viet Phat Moreover, we did not allow other investors put money to it except the owners of Viet Phat Therefore, sometimes we not have enough money to cover all of activities in the company, so we have to cut costs as much as possible Lack of financial resource does not allow us achieving more elite employees They not want to work for a new and small firm as it cannot pay them a very good salary and benefits As a result, recruiting talent people that agree to work for Viet Phat is so hard Thus, lack of human resource is also considered as an obstacle of Viet Phat immediately Interviewer: In addition to lack of resources, what you think about the B.O.D’s attention to the marketing aspect? Do you concern enough to develop it? Interviewee: We always try our best to build strategies for all of aspects of Viet Phat, such as finance, sales, marketing and so on We had pay attention to them as we really want it to develop as much as possible We obviously know about the importance of marketing strategy to the business development It plays a vital role in making more people know clearly about Viet Phat and promoting the business in order to positioning its brand in the market and also reaching more potential customers Therefore, the marketing aspect is given for the CEO’s responsibility because we would like her to concentrate on it to develop it Interviewer: So depending on the ineffective result of the marketing field, what you think about the expertise and abilities of Ms, Van Le, the one that takes the main responsibilities of the marketing aspect? Interviewee: We believe in her expertise because she not only graduated as a MBA but also have experiences in managing field for years Additionally, she has experiences working in marketing department for year It is very useful to let her acknowledge obviously about the marketing aspect We believe in her expertise because she not only graduated as a MBA but also have experiences in managing field for years Additionally, she has experiences working in marketing department for year It is very useful to let her acknowledge obviously about the marketing aspect Most of activities in the company are controlled effectively by her She makes them occurred smoothly, they were rarely stuck 54 | P a g e Interviewer: Have you ever think about establishing a marketing department to handle marketing responsibilities effectively? Interviewee: In my point of view, establishing a marketing department is a good idea, but it is not suitable at this moment As Viet Phat now has to face with many difficultties in the initial stage of a startup business, spending more VND 20,000,000 to VND 22,000,000 every month is very risky The sales revenue is not higher too much to afford a huge amount of costs each month Simultaneously, Ms Van Le has enough skills and abilities to be in charge of marketing aspect, so hiring a marketing manager immediately is not neccessary I think that Viet Phat will conduct this alternative solution after a few years when it comes to the stable status in operation because Viet Phat can have enough resources to it at that time Interviewer: If establishing a marketing department costs much more money, it is more suitable if the firm offer budget to conduct marketing activities, isn’t it? Interviewee: Although I know that providing enough budget for marketing department is very neccessary, only investing more capital budget is not sufficient to build a successful strategy for Viet Phat In addition to money, Ms Van Le also needs the support from other staffs Therefore, providing sufficient human resource before financial resource is a better way to achieve its marketing goals Interviewer: As those solutions is not suitable for Viet Phat at this time, what about hiring more employees to support Ms Van Le in marketing responsibilities? Interviewee: I definitely agree with this alternative solution Hiring more employees to support Ms Van Le in marketing aspect is very neccessary for Viet Phat in this moment As if we would like to develop Viet Phat to become a popular uniform brand in the market, it needs more people to help us it, especially in marketing aspect We must have the marketing strategy and conduct activities complying with it to approach customers and create the brand awareness for them Viet Phat needs only 1-2 staffs at the moment because there are not too many marketing activities to conduct As Ms Van Le still takes the main responsibility of marketing aspect, she needs 1-2 staffs that have good background in marketing to support her in accomplishing those tasks Also, to 55 | P a g e 12 millions per month is affordable for Viet Phat in this initial stage, it cannot offer more than that because of the limited capital Interviewer: Thank you very much for your precious share It is very useful for me to give some suggesstions to improve the business Interviewee: Hope that you will successfully suggest suitable solutions for Viet Phat to develop better in the future 56 | P a g e TELEPHONE INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT Interviewer: Le Ngoc Hai Trieu Interviewee: Ms Quynh Truong Time: 10.00am – 10.05am Date: 10 March 2019 Interviewer: Hello, Ms Quynh Truong I’m calling from Viet Phat Uniform Limited Company As an 5-year-experienced employee of a high school that in charge of controlling the quality of uniforms received from partners, please take about minutes to give me some feedbacks about the products that you received from us Interviewee: When I received uniforms from Viet Phat, I was really surprised and satisfied because those products had been manufactured carefully with good quality of material and competitive price even though Viet Phat is a new business in the market Interviewer: And what you think about our staffs’ performance? Interviewee: They serve customers dedicatedly, they come to my place on time Moreover, their attitudes to customers are very good It makes me feel very comfortable Interviewer: Thank you very much for your feedbacks Hope that we can cooperate in the long-term period in the future Interviewee: Of course Goodbye 57 | P a g e TELEPHONE INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT Interviewer: Le Ngoc Hai Trieu Interviewee: Mr Phu Tran Time: 10.10am – 10.15am Date: 10 March 2019 Interviewer: Hello, Mr Phu Tran I’m calling from Viet Phat Uniform Limited Company As an vice president and simultaneously an employee of a high school that in charge of controlling the quality of uniforms received from partners, please take about minutes to give me some feedbacks about the products that you received from us Interviewee: We were very glad when we received Viet Phat’s uniforms as those products have met the needs of our school with beautiful seam, high quality material and competitive price comparing with our last uniform providers With the experiences of working with many uniform providers before, I think that the price Viet Phat offering for schools and organizations based on the price of last providers but with higher quality products was very suitable and competitive Customer can try its products with the same price as they had to pay before Then when they received Viet Phat’s products, they were very happy with them It seems to be an excellent idea to develop Viet Phat and help it gain more market share Interviewer: And what you think about our staffs’ performance? Interviewee: Their attitude is so good, it satisfied me a lot They are very dedicated to me Generally, I rate 10/10 points for them Interviewer: Thank you very much for your feedbacks Hope that we can cooperate in the long-term period in the future Interviewee: OK Goodbye, see you soon 58 | P a g e TELEPHONE INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT Interviewer: Le Ngoc Hai Trieu Interviewee: Ms Tram Nguyen Time: 10.20am – 10.25am Date: 10 March 2019 Interviewer: Hello, Ms Tram Nguyen I’m calling from Viet Phat Uniform Limited Company As a principal of a high school that have experiences in trading with uniform companies, please take about minutes to give me some feedbacks about the products that you received from us Interviewee: In my point of view, offering the same price its competitors is a good idea for Viet Phat because the competitor’s price is very suitable and competitive for customers to agree dealing with them Therefore, if Viet Phat provides higher quality products with the same price as its competitors, it will satisfy customers’ needs As a customer of Viet Phat, I think that it offers customers not only good products but also good price Interviewer: And what you think about our staffs’ performance? Interviewee: Their performance is very great I’m really satisfied with their attitudes to customers Interviewer: Thank you very much for your feedbacks Hope that we can cooperate in the long-term period in the future Interviewee: Thank you See you later 59 | P a g e TELEPHONE INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT Interviewer: Le Ngoc Hai Trieu Interviewee: Ms Tuyen Nguyen Time: 10.20am – 10.25am Date: 09 March 2019 Interviewer: Good morning, Ms Tuyen Nguyen I’m calling from Viet Phat Uniform Limited Company Our staff met you yesterday to introduce our products Can you tell me about the reasons why you not agree to incoporate with us? Interviewee: My school had a problem with uniforms inventories in the last year Particularly, as the quality of uniforms provided by the last uniform provider is not good, students’ parents decided to buy uniforms from other shops instead of the school, then they bought logo of the school and paste them on their uniforms Thus, there is a huge amount of uniform inventories from last year that has not been sold yet Interviewer: How about our staff’s attitude? Interviewee: He tried his best to convince me incoporate with your company He introduce carefully about your products to me But as our school has a problem with uniform inventories, I cannot agree to take his offer Interviewer: Thank you so much for sharing with me dedicatedly Hope that we have opportinities to cooperate in the future Interviewee: I hope so 60 | P a g e TELEPHONE INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT Interviewer: Le Ngoc Hai Trieu Interviewee: Mr Tu Nguyen Time: 10.20am – 10.25am Date: 04 March 2019 Interviewer: Hello, Mr Tu Nguyen I’m Trieu calling from Viet Phat Uniform Limited Company Our company would like to know about our employees’ attitude and abilities during and after the training session Please tell me about that What you think about them? Interviewee: I tried my best to transmit knowledge and skills I had learnt and experieced that are necessary for sales staffs When I trained them, I saw that all of them had paid their attention too much to listen to me, write them down, and also tried to remember them when I asked them again about some topics In general, they have a great attitude in learning new things Interviewer: Thank you for your precious share We will have more opportunities in the future to incoporate together Interviewee: Thank you Hope to working together soon 61 | P a g e References Ambastha M How Big Is The Vietnamese Garment Industry? 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