Research Journal of Management Sciences _____________________________________________ISSN 2319–1171 Vol. 4(4), 1-4, April (2015) Res. J. Management Sci. International Science Congress Association 1 Marketing Strategy of Multinational Companies: Case of Wace Burgess Syed Shahabuddin, LubnaAhsan, Faisal Javaid and Mahrukh Khan3 FUUAST, Karachi, PAKISTAN Hamdard University, Karachi, PAKISTAN Sir Syed University of Engg. and Technology, Karachi, PAKISTANAvailable online at: www.isca.in, www.isca.me Received 1st November 2014, revised 18th December 2014, accepted 25th March 2015 Abstract The biggest challenge when working in an operations and manufacturing concern is the handling of individual client needs. More importantly, it is not just client relationship management and understanding the market needs but also ensuring that the business needs are addressed with realm of actual business performance. In this article we have distinguished that in a manufacturing concern this will mean that in a situation where the organization gets into a deal with their client, not only is the requirement fulfilled but is also ensured that the same consistency prevails. Marketing strategy of Multinational Companies Keeping the case study of Wace Burgess in limelight, the integral factor that comes into reference is the management of the operational activities that meet the client needs. Keywords: Industry, product, market, business, company. Introduction Dealing with individual customer base means that the needs will have to be understood concretely and then delivering them as per their requirement. For Wace Burgess to continue building upon the stature of the organization that it has reputed in the market, it will be essential that the company wins the order from Marks and Spencer and then with the right deliverance to the customer needs ensures that it lives up to the repute. Identifying Customer Needs and Making Product Winners: The needs primarily for Wace Burgess to uphold its market name and win the orders from the markets from large retailers will require that the company entails the right efforts in delivering to the needs of Marks and Spencer. Along with this, the organization will also have to ensure that the standards set by Wace Burgess in the industry remains as its order qualifier. This will mean that the quality standards set by the company are intact and ensure that every time the product standards remain the same. However, the industry trend continues to change and it will be important for the organization to understand that the changing dynamics of the industry will require Wace Burgess to impress the retailers in order to win big orders and higher revenue potential from the markets. Managing business efficiency: The polar diagram instigates several factors for Wace Burgess in order to be able to meet the needs that Marks and Spencer has set. The basic business operations of the company indicate that although the cost of producing a card is relatively low, but with certain variables working within the emblem of the business actually increase the costs for the company. However, the company is willing to take on these costs to ensure that the dependability of the different stakeholders remain high on the company. Coherently, it is an important variable to ensure that the planning methodology of the company and the aspect of controls on order requirements remain intact. The dependability will not only be driven from the cost factors but will also ensure that the quality remains high. With Wace Burgess being the high quality product delivering organization, it will be important that there is flexibility in the company operations meanwhile creating a synchronized environment in the factory. This means that each unit should remain in sync with the business activities and the support functions should be well aware of the potential of the others. This ensures that there is no irregular commitments to the clients and the expectations and deliverance meet and perform beyond the benchmark. Another factor in the publishing and cards industry is the fact that creativity prevails and it is the eye-catching factor of the products that induces sales in the markets. This not only has to do with the frontline team bringing in sales for the company but is also indicative of the fact that for the company to build a strong loyal customer base will have to ensure that there is substantial product differentiation. The business runs on the concept of creativity and in order to ensure that the products penetrate into the market not only at the local client base which is currently buying but also on the new potential which is coming up, it will be important for the company to ensure product creativity. This will have to be done by letting the functional units work in close connection with the graphics team to identify the different designs and categories of papers to bring about the best product in the market. An important action item that can be covered and will in turn benefit the business activity is the fact that with the right convergence of units, the crashing of activities can reduce the costs and operational efforts which may have been wasted. This Research Journal of Management Sciences _________________________________________________________ISSN 2319–1171Vol. 4(4), 1-4, April (2015) Res. J. Management Sci.International Science Congress Association 2 remains an important variable for the company with the new market potential drive coming from the retailers. This is because the cost portion will eventually go down and with the unit costs being low, the chances for errors and increased costs per unit will evade off profitability10Making Strategy Successful With the markets becoming competitive and challenging it will be important for the organization to ensure that the cost functions remain under control. This will mean that all the business units will have to work in concurrence with each function and ensure that the unit cost remains low. Since the flow of the cards and other business activities moves in as an activity for each business the accounting techniques for the business will flow in terms of activity based costing11. This is important for the business to understand that the activity which flows out of one business function unit is expensive will eventually increase the cost of the product. Along with this, an important variable that the company will have to encapsulate in its business management is the fact that there is couple of factions that the company has to outsource some of its functions. In order to understand the situation and critically analyze the case, the below table will be analyzed.Table-1 Situation and critically analyze the case Aspect Existing Business Marks and Spencer Business Products Specialises ingift wraps, posters, calendars, book jackets and folders. The MandS Christmas Cards Seasonality Mostly in Special Days and Christmas Season First Order Customers The customer base comprised mainly of spe cialist publishers who sold to different newsagents, gift shops, card shops, etc. Customer itself Customer needs All kinds of cards The MandS Christmas Cards Technology requirements Printing Machines Bindery Guillotining Folding Packaging Pre-Press Printing Machines Bindery Die-Cutting Embossing Guillotining Folding Packaging Pre-Press for imaging Product range Christmas cards, Everyday cards and Special days' cards, Gift Wraps, Posters, Calendars, Book Jackets and Folders Christmas Cards with only 5 variants Quality specification Standard Standard with a very sophisticated, up-market appearance Quality conformance After each 500 sheets (about every six minutes) After each 500 sheets (about every six minutes) Delivery speed Single Delivery for most normal orders Will be scheduled over several weeks as per the requirement Delivery reliability Factory good at keeping delivery promises at short notices Will have to be completely reliable Demand pattern Regular orders from specialist publishers with large retailers entering into the market First Order Delivery requirement As required by the vendor in single delivery Will be scheduled over several weeks as per the requirement Materials: Paper type Paper size Inks Gold blocking Thick 720 x 1020 mm No No Thick Smaller Metallic Ink Yes Order volume (sheets) Several Million Cards a day Order-winners High Quality Greeting Cards High Quality MandS Christmas Cards as per requirement Order-qualifiers 5000 sheets 600,000 sheets Typical print run lengths (hrs) 2 shifts of 8 hours a shift per day 2 shifts of 8 hours a shift per day Research Journal of Management Sciences _________________________________________________________ISSN 2319–1171Vol. 4(4), 1-4, April (2015) Res. J. Management Sci.International Science Congress Association 3 Figure-2 In order to ensure that the cost remains within the company’s controls and does not increase in a relative manner from the market, the costing for the function of outsourcing will have to be at the lowest cost with the same quality perspective. This will also offer the company a potential to ensure that their efforts and relationship management do not get at stake by going into the backward integration12. With the backward integration strategy the function of packaging and folding would be in-housed ensuring that the concept of relative business relationship management and operational controls are within the ambit of the company13. Adding to the feature of business management activity and the increasing needs in the market is to encapsulate the potential of the markets and to ensure that the increasing market needs are catered to within the company. Although the current potential is present within the company adding to the list is the growth of the greeting cards sales from the retailers which will become the potential buyers and high volume stakes in the market14. This will require that the company has relevant resources housed within the company at the initial levels and in order to maintain the standards and consistency at lower cost invests into project automations15. This will mean that the packaging and folding piece which is currently being managed by the outsourced staff or temporary hiring being done to meet the seasonal demands will then have to be catered to once the volumes increase. The presence of the concept of automation will ensure that the company has the right resources in place which will maintain consistency and reduced costs. The effect of seasonality can actually translate into normal business operations and the unit costs with the automation will reduce in comparison to the additional costs that the company may have to incur in recruiting staff16. Conclusion Although Wace Burgess has maintained a strong market repute which covers the aspect of high product quality meeting the customer needs right in time against the creativity faction, this also opens different avenues of opportunities and challenges in terms of operations management. The growth of the market will mean that the company will have to address these needs by intriguing into the business operations and deep diving into the functional activities which form the part of the product. This will require that the business costing is done and the organization meanwhile maintains the standards by creating critical path methods for the activities. An important action item that the company can offer to implement is by crashing the activities which will eventually reduce the time. Although certain activities will remain part of the critical method, the idea of keeping the organization flexible to the needs of the customer is ultimately important. With the potential developing in the markets and the order from Marks and Spencer presenting a whole new avenue of growth, the graph above indicates that the company will have to not only beat the standards that it has set but will also have to manage the faction of ensuring that the Cost Quality Flexibility Dependability Creativity Existing Business MandS Order Research Journal of Management Sciences _________________________________________________________ISSN 2319–1171Vol. 4(4), 1-4, April (2015) Res. J. Management Sci.International Science Congress Association 4 right products reach the market with creativity as an essence there. 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