How To Increase The Market Share Of Small Business Enterprises (Dissertation Sample)

How to increase the market share of small business enterprises based on integrated marketing communications
[name]
[student number]
[title of degree]
[date]
word count: 1,946
Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Research Background PAGEREF _Toc458678285 \h 3Research Motivation PAGEREF _Toc458678286 \h 3Literature Review and conceptual model PAGEREF _Toc458678287 \h 4Research gap and significance of research PAGEREF _Toc458678288 \h 5Research purpose and research questions PAGEREF _Toc458678289 \h 7References PAGEREF _Toc458678290 \h 8
Literature Review
Research Background
The role of small and medium sized enterprises for an economy cannot be ignored. As global economies around the world start to grow, these enterprises prove to be the engine of growth that takes place. Small and medium enterprises are seen to be responsible for majority of employment opportunities and gross domestic product of an economy. This means that it also plays an important part in the development of world economy as a whole. These enterprises are able to provide goods and services to the economy while allowing to absorb many people in terms of employment being provided (Thorson & Moore, 2013). This allows for greater competition in the economy and a creative outlet for much of the production taking place. As the total production of the economy rises, so does the standard of living prevailing in the economy. In terms of research, there is a dearth of literature which studies the relevance of integrated marketing communications being used in the context of small and medium enterprises around the world. There is a lack of system which promotes the production and promotion of goods and services being produced by small and medium enterprises.
Research Motivation
Small and Medium enterprises have grown all over the world. Due to low amount of capital being required, it provides a cheap outlet of expression to an entrepreneur to be able to set up a small enterprise. This enterprise is then able to employ workers on a small scale and carry out production. Kitchen and Burgmann (2010) state how in recent times, there have been a greater number of such enterprises being set up as they allow the economy to accommodate such venture with little or no cost and investment and are able to sustain a regional economy. In addition to that, there is an improvement in the standard of living of the region as the economy is able to prosper and sustain itself without any external aid or help (Kitchen & Burgmann, 2010). This is the reason why governments around the world are providing incentives and cheaper solutions to entrepreneurs in order to set up such ventures.
As globalization and urbanization of developed and developing countries takes place, cities are becoming over populated as people look for employment and sustenance. Small and Medium Enterprises are able to absorb some of this unemployment by providing employment opportunities which were not in place before. In addition to that, many of the unemployed can set up their own small enterprise in the face of not having any employment opportunity available to them (Shimp, 2010). This is also helped by the education system of the country which is able to equip the people with skills and knowledge which can be polished into vocational skills and abilities leading to development of the small and medium enterprises.
Literature Review and conceptual model
In order to see what this research will entail, it is important to define what a small business is. It is difficult to define a small business as it can differ based on country, industry or even the size of the economy it is operating in. Shimp & Andrews (2012) state that it is difficult to apply a uniform definition to the term small business but it can be determined based on certain qualitative or quantitative qualities. Qualitatively SMEs are defined by the ownership and see the structure of the company while in quantitative terms, the number of employees, equity, turnover, profit or revenue can be used to differ a small and medium enterprise company from other companies (Shimp & Andrews, 2012). It can be said that small enterprises are independently owned and are mostly financed and operated by one individual who is responsible for the day to day running of the company as well.
As the size of the individual company is small, there is little impact on the industry they are operating within. In terms of the economy, Small and Medium Enterprises contribute to the whole economy to a greater degree as they are able to drive employment creation and are able to stimulate growth in the economy. Yehsin (2012) comments on how due to their small size and flexible structure, they are able to counter long term problems faced by the economy. These problems can be defined in terms of poverty and falling household income of an economy. Small and Medium Enterprises are capable of providing the necessary means to meet the basic needs of a household and are able to sustain the livelihood (Yehsin, 2012). This makes development of the small and medium enterprise sector vital to the growth of the economy as well and a country needs to focus attention and resources to this sector in order to encourage any form of economic growth.
This creates the essential need for the entrepreneur to be able to communicate to the clients and be able to ensure that the market is educated enough regarding the products and services that it is providing to the market. This has to be done with the necessity that the customers and clients know about the quality, attributes and benefits of the product or service which the company is providing. Percy (2014) has researched that the enterprise has the responsibility to make sure that there is an effective communications based marketing mix which includes integrated marketing communication strategy in order to send out the message about its product line. Effective marketing mix can be defined as being one which is able to have strategies and activities which led to the marketing messages reaching the intended market and target people which is not contingent on the type of media use being carried out (Rappaport et al., 2011; Percy, 2014). In reality, there are many mediums which can be used by marketers in order to carry out their communication and these are collectively known as a marketing mix or communication mix being use by the company.
Marketing mix and an effective communication mix of the enterprise can be considered as being the promotion of the marketing P’s which define a product mix. This is seen to cover all the methods and mediums of communicating with the audience which is being targeted. An effective marketing communication mix is supposed to be the crux of a marketing strategy which is followed and the whole marketing mix of an enterprise is supposed to predicate on this. Promotion sees how an optimal mix of marketing tools can be used to spread the message about a company’s product and create a brand from the producer towards the consumer (Hui, 2012; Blakeman, 2014). This strategy is able to create a brand image and then create the customers for the product itself as well. This creation of customers is carried out when the integrated communication mix is implement by the company which allows it to inform the customers about the product and service portfolio being provided to them. This creates a perception in the minds of the customers to demand the product by associating the enterprise with favorable and attractive images.
Research gap and significance of research
Integrated marketing mix can be seen as a mix of advertising, promotions, campaign, direct marketing and personal selling which the company uses in order to achieve its advertising and marketing objectives. For small and medium sized enterprises, advertising becomes even more important as it allows the business to be able to sell their unique selling point and communicate it to the consumers. The audience being advertised to is larger as compared to the reach of the company allowing the company to appeal to a larger set of people at a lower cost. Advertising is able to reach a far wider net of consumers and create a brand image and identity within them (Davidson, 2010; Sechilariu et al., 2013). A unique selling point is the biggest strength that a small business has in order to differentiate themselves from the mass market. The level of personal care and attention that can be given to the consumers by a small and medium enterprise cannot be matched by large scale conglomerates.
This is the biggest unique selling point that they have. A small enterprise is able to use this strength to differentiate the offering that it is providing to the market and can be used to guarantee success for the enterprise over time. When competing with larger competitors, a small company is able to survive by marketing its unique selling proposition to the whole market. They are able to offer additional value to the customers by meeting the needs of the customers more directly and efficiently. This brings advertising into context for the small enterprises as it allows them to advertise the unique selling proposition to a wider set of audience. This dissemination of information allows more consumers to be informed regarding the product features of a small enterprise allowing the company to exploit the strength that it has. In addition to their unique selling proposition, the enterprise can also advertise the provision of guarantee that it is offering and can use regional publications like newspapers and trade magazines to directly reach their target audience with little wastage of resources (Dahlen et al., 2010; Tsikirayi et al., 2013). In addition to print media, electronic media, covert advertising and surrogate advertising can be used on a small scale to make sure that the br...