Introduction
The current situation of the NCC implies the presence of significant business problems, which are connected to external circumstances. They cannot be controlled by the company’s managers and, therefore, do not require developing any measures intended for their elimination at this stage. Thus, for example, according to the owner, the majority of construction projects were suspended due to the beginning of COVID-19. Moreover, this event led to the impossibility of continuing work under private contracts. Consequently, the profits over this period were lower than usual, but this challenge cannot be attributed to the business’ failure to efficiently meet client needs.
Nevertheless, the mentioned factor implies the necessity to develop a plan for recovery after the crisis, which should include initiatives on increasing the market share of the NCC in the future. For this purpose, it will be feasible to reconsider the target audience after conducting a thorough analysis of the current preferences of potential customers. In addition, as the owner claims, the examination of existing contracts and their future compliance with the requirements of their clients is the way they intend to become competitive under the new market conditions.
As for the marketing challenges of the NCC, they are directly connected to insufficient efforts made for improvements in the area of demand generation. According to the managers, they do not have enough information in this respect due to the unpredictability of the environment. As a result, the process of digital purchasing, which was not effective in the past, presents even a greater issue for future policies. Therefore, in the continuation of work on designing marketing materials as per the company’s needs, it is suggested to analyze the shifts in the market and introduce the offers to new types of customers via social media.
Situation Analysis (SWOT)
The current position of the NCC can be described by considering the principal conditions, which are essential for the business’ success. Thus, the main strengths of the company include its partnerships under both public and private contracts and the diversity of offers for all entities and individuals (see Appendix A). They allow improving brand awareness and thereby expand the customer base, and these benefits help ensure competitiveness.
The weaknesses of the NCC and its operations accompany the above advantages and limit its capabilities. They include the inefficiency of international operations due to the recent disruptions in the global activity of the company and the lack of flexibility in readjusting to new economic circumstances (see Appendix A). These factors seem detrimental to the initiatives for overcoming the challenges, which are mentioned in the previous section.
In turn, the company can significantly rely on the existing opportunities in the area of customer retention. They are the chances for increasing market share after the pandemic by introducing new policies and finding partners regarding changing demand (Appendix A). These tasks can be also addressed by the orientation on digital marketing and particular attention to the analysis of online purchases and preferences of potential customers.
In the end, the current threats are directly linked to the rapidly changing market environment. First, the competition is going to become higher once the companies in the field recover from the crisis (see Appendix A). Second, the weak funding of public projects by the government will not allow receiving profits over a short period (see Appendix A). Thus, the development of new policies for eliminating these obstacles will be required.
External Environment: Impact on Client Business / Industry
The principal consideration related to the external market environment, which has an impact on both client business and the industry as a whole, is the political course of the countries of operation. At present, it is focused on addressing the consequences of the pandemic for the world population, and it means that construction services are mostly neglected. In this situation, brand positioning with the use of online platforms as the key to future success will not be efficient until the governments start to support the operations of the NCC and its competitors.
Another drawback of the target market stems from the above factor and can be referred to as economic recession. It determines the impossibility of organizations in this sphere to promote their offers on a global scale, which is complicated by the financial hardships of individual customers. Subsequently, the position of construction businesses remains unfavorable, and a change can come only in a form of outside support from authorities, which is not expected at the moment.
Meanwhile, social and technological aspects of the matter appear to be positive because they provide opportunities in the absence of significant obstacles. Thus, the former is advantageous for digital marketing efforts at the time of COVID-19 as most entrepreneurs tend to prefer online platforms and social media as the main space for operating. Even though this practice implies low consumer confidence, this alleged disadvantage can help effectively conduct the designed measures for increasing the presence of the NCC. In turn, the latter circumstances include the existence of e-commerce solutions, which facilitate the progress of affected enterprises. In this way, it can be concluded that the external market environment has specific threats, but they are accompanied by benefits, which allow companies to readjust to new conditions.