This research paper explores and identifies business opportunities in existence in India for the VectraCompany based in France. The promotion and product plan show that the Road Pavement Industry can provide many attractive opportunities for Vectra if it enters into the Indian market.
The perfect choice for penetration in the Indian market for Vectra would be via joint ventures or strategic partnerships with companies within and without its sector of operations. As indicated in the findings, the Vectra Company is well positioned to penetrate the Indian road construction market and become an equal competitor of the international road companies operating in this dynamic industry. Besides, the many ongoing road projects in India will ensure that its operations are sustainable in the long term.
The company has the advantage of technology, fair prices, good equipment, and competent personnel. However, Vectra could find itself facing minor bottlenecks in terms of change in the environment of operations. The Vecta Company will need to modify its equipment to suit the Indian road industry.
For instance, the company will have to modify or acquire compatible right hand road equipment unlike in France where the road equipmentis left handed. With an already existing structure in France, the Vectra Company should apply cauterization of marketing channels alongside a strong financial arm. The opportunities available outweigh the challenges. Putting into consideration of the external and internal dynamics, the Vectra Company should enter the Indian road construction market in the next 16 months.
Introduction
This paper seeks to establish a meticulous research and documentation of the results of the possibility of the Vectra Company to establish its operations in the Indian market in an attempt to expand its geographical quarter of operations. Besides, the essay will integrate the company background, entry strategies, feasible marketing mix, and socio-cultural segmentation of the India road construction market.
This comprehensive report will present the most cost effective and sustainable approach that the Vectra Company will adapt to implement the above concepts in relation to the current and future orations in the Indian road construction industry.
Also, this paper attempts to present a detailed analysis of the action plan of the company, and its choice of penetration technique into the Indian road construction market. Notwithstanding, the marketing needs are explored within the detailed and workable blend that the company might employ to determine the suitability of India as a new market.
Marketing Objectives
For foreign investors such as Vectra in the Road Engineering Industry, market entry into India must be aligned to competitiveness, efficiency, and sustainability. In the case of the Vectra Company, the ideal entry mode would be through joint ventures. Hence, it will be highly recommended that Vectra enters as a Joint Venture, as it possesses a specialized knowledge that can be very beneficial for the local market, particularly in large and complicated projects, to provide their valuable services.
A joint Venture entails advantages that can be beneficial to Vectra as a foreign investor. For example, it can establish distribution, take advantage of the available financial resources of the Indian Partners and establish contacts with the Indian business leaders of the industry. This will ease the process of setting up the business operations.
Indian has a reputation of setting high legal expectations of a business which would otherwise be a repellant to investors (World Bank, 2007). Less legal hurdles are to be experienced by the Vectra Company. The company will have to recruit an Indian native expertise in government regulations to safeguard its interests and minimize possible conflicts during its period of operation.
Besides, the expert will give the company a bill of health to confidently negotiate for contracts with the government of Indian since he or she will be the contact person.
From the audit of the general audit of the Indian infrastructure plans, it was learned that the Indian Government have initiated many ambitious projects and plans and currently, many are still in the pipeline for future implementations. Based on the unique Vectra know-how, the market opportunity, the first experiences of diversification, there is a real opportunity but as well a need for Vectra to grow and consolidate its positioning within the Indian market.
The three key axis of growth in term of the inorganic growth should be investigated such as consolidating the equipment sales, consolidating the services and finally, and supplementing and complementing the existing Vectra offer in the joint partnership proposals. As this type of B to B activity requires long term relationship development, the inorganic growth will be the important axis of development.
In the priority will be to sell service contracts, which are a persistent source of businesses and of cash flows vs. equipment market. As a result, this will ensure continuous flow of revenue streams besides the opportunity it presents for the Vectra Company to reduce the costs of running this business over time.
Based on what is known about the Indian road construction industry, any leading road engineering company like Vectra that specializes in road pavement management would have an EBIT between 12% and 14% of sales annually. With realistic revenue growth projection of 13.5% in sales by 2016, the management of the Vectra Company will be able to further improve the marginal annual returns as the company penetrates the industry.
The Vectra Company has a better margin rate because it consists of two departments which are the road engineering department with net margin of 14% and the sales equipment department with a net margin of about 23%. Furthermore, with the mix of favorable project mix and better productivity, the gross margin and EBIT are likely to improve.
Hence, this will allow Vectra to have a better financial vision if it is to move into an India Road Management Industry. The potential companies that the Vectra business may partner with include the Delhi Road Masters and the Aryan Conglomerate Venture. These companies operate in the same industry as Vectra and are the best in offering road construction support logistics and services.
Product Adoption and Modification
The Vectra Company in India will sell services using its exclusive products approach. Therefore, a compatible service delivery approach must be streamlined with the objective and long term goals within the Indian market. However, the Vectra’s equipment should be modified to be compatible with the native Indian technicians who will form the bulk of its workforce. Tentatively, the company may resort to offering training to the local technicians for machines which are too expensive and cannot be replaced or modified.
As a foundation of the expertise, data acquisition is a major step of the overall process. The Vectra Company has to transport its auscultation fleet, Deflectographe Lacroix, EPR, Griptester, Ecodyn, Radar, Amac and Astra to India and make sure that it has enough equipment in this country (Vectra, 2010).
The on-board technology doesn’t need any adaptation or modification since its operational module has universal standards for all countries. Minor modifications may be required in the external body of the vehicles. For instance, the company will have to purchase or modify the steering position since Indian roads support right hand driving unlike the left hand driving in France.
On insurance and law requirements in India specifications, it is a guarantee that the Vectra’s equipment will pass the tests since these policies are more thorough in France than India. With a French insurance certification, the company is sure to import its equipment without any major interference by the Indian government.
Thanks to the acquired data, Vectra’s Engineers will process the data through its specialized software; the road maintenance issues are similar for all paved roads in France and in India. These maintenance issues include dry-wells and drainage problems, grading and gravelling issues, potholes and asphalt breaking up. Therefore, the outputs will be understandable to the local customer. The software can actually be used in English and can provide outputs in English thus it doesn’t need to be translated.
Once the data are processed, Vectra’s Engineers will assist the customer in its road reconstruction process. This consulting step has to take into consideration the cultural factor. An Indian customer doesn’t act as a French customer does therefore Vectra’s consultants and engineers on the ground have to be trained on local customs and therefore should know how to anticipate Indian customer behavior.
As indicated in the marketing description part, Vectra’s best entry to the Indian market is to create a joint venture or strategic partnership with a local company. In this case French and Indian technicians or engineers will have to work together to produce the best results. This cultural part must be taken into consideration and some intercultural events must be organized to encourage employees’ intercultural adaptation.
Unlike the French market, Indian market has the dynamics of culture which are more defined. In fact, most of the government agencies have a unique Indian culture of protocol in business. For the social dimension of the evaluation of the Indian market, it is necessary for the company to tailor its activities to suit the acceptable cultural norms.
Comprehensively, it would be necessary to establish how conversant the people of India are to technological advancements constantly changing across the global arena. The answers to this question could be relative as it depends on the country’s technological advancement. Research has it that India though very populous, have a high percentage of the literate in its population.
This population will provide skilled and unskilled labor to the Vectra Company. The English language used in these two countries also are basic and comprehension would not be a deterring factor. The fact that the participants of the trade activity from either country share a common language will facilitate the entry of the Vetra Company. Reflectively, the Hofstede’s cultural dimension is more defined in India than II France.
Promotion Mix
As Vectra’s business is based on B2B model, the company’s promotion and advertising activities should include usage of all marketing tools of B2B Marketing Mix in order to promote their services. With its decided joint partner(s), the company will recruit a marketing company that will have the responsibility of marketing its services across the regions of India (MacKay and McKiernan, 2004).
This strategy is likely to be successful since the contracted company will have better knowledge of the industry, requirements, and approach to minimize conflict as a result of different perceptions (Roberts, 2005). Also, placement of publications in industry and trade media would maximize the increase in awareness about the company. Target magazines would be: Construction World India (CW), MBM Media, Roads & Bridges, and Construction Week (Top10 Companies in India, 2013).
In the initial stages, public conferences, seminars, and workshops need to be organized for potential customers where individuals from organizations can express concerns, voice feedback, and get acquainted with the Vectra’s services. A minimum of 4 seminars in 3 locations including Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Delhi over 3 months are required.
One of Vectra’s primary marketing and advertisement objectives must be to capitalize on their extensive knowledge within the road pavement management field and establish their credentials as a revered leader in the industry.
The company’s key aspect is to build loyalty and trust toward the brand. The company’s superiority in comparison to its competitors must be clearly established. Social media will be used as a promotional tool to place brand in the digital sphere (Alder, 2008).
Presence in professional social media websites such as LinkedIn can be used to advertise the company’s international presence and publish research papers in order to increase Vectra’s perception of being a thought leader amongst its industry peers located in India such as PNC Infratech Ltd, Gammon India and Ramky Infrastructure Ltd (Meclabs, 2011).
As an additional promotional tool, Vectra can host annual parties/events and invite target clients along with existing clients in order to enhance the company’s reputation. In terms of personal selling, Vectra can appoint trained sales executives to attend seminars and expos in order to approach target customers and generate business.
The main message of Vectra in its advertising campaigns will revolve around the creation of increased value with the adoption of Vectra’s high-end quality services for road maintenance activities, which would eventually lead to increased cost savings (Travis, 2007). With regards of the estimated costs involved in marketing and promotional activities, Vectra initial budget should range between €895,020 and €1,022,000 roughly amounting to 7% or 8% of the company revenue.
Approximately 50% would be allocated towards trade shows and social events. 10% towards e-mail marketing and additional optimization of website design. The remaining percentage would be directed toward direct mail, telemarketing and social media, and print advertising as summarized in Table 1.
Table 1: Promotion and Marketing Budget
Recommendations
As the Indian government seeks to re-invent the economy and restore investors’ confidence, Indian market currently enjoys a relatively peaceful and economically stable business environment. Factually, the Indian nation seems to be embracing the spirit of globalization and economic liberalization with an upbeat positive mood of better-focused economic growth accompanied by development.
Thus, it is recommended that Vectra should maximize the available opportunity to establish a structurally feasible marketing program as it has the advantage of knowledge on the Indian market segmentation and demand trends in the road construction industry. In line with periodic marketing analysis, the entry should be fast tracked within a period of not more than 18 months.
Conclusion
The Indian RPM market is full of opportunities for Vectra since it already has the equipment and personnel to operate in the Indian market. The company will have to modify some of the equipment to be compatible with the Indian roads. Since the company’s majority of workers in the India will be the native Indians, it is necessary for the company to establish a continuous training program. In order to actively promote its activities, the Vectra Company has to aggressively utilize specialized media sources.
In addition, Vectra’s contracted marketers will have to increase their visibility through cueing the minds of target clients through the big billboards and posters all over the major regions of India.
The proposed entry method that is ideal for Vectra is the joint venture model. It is significant for the company to have an experienced native Indian contact person who will double up as its lawyer. Reflectively, the Vectra Company should immediately enter the Indian market to reap maximum benefits from the opportunities that are skewed to its advantage.
References
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