International Marketing Plan For Allianz Marketing Essay

International Marketing Plan For Allianz Marketing Essay Allianz is an international company specializing in the provision of financial services, and the companys headquarters is in Munich, Germany. In the global business world of today, companies cannot afford to just remain domestic, as this could lead to a decline in the companys reputation and business. Serious companies have to work hard on their international presence, to ensure that their stakes in the market are maintained and increased. Founded in the year 1890, Allianz has branches in more than 70 countries and more than 180,000 employees worldwide. The company has acquired about 60 million customers to whom it provides property and casualty insurance services, health insurance, life insurance asset management and banking services. Allianz started to go international in the late 19th century when the company opened a branch office in London. Allianz now also has branches in Paris, Italy, Great Britain, Netherlands, Brazil, Spain, and USA. Allianz hopes to expand into Eastern Euro pe and establish branches either in Hungary or turkey. Since international marketing plans revolve around certain factors, the company will have to complete a thorough analysis of the countries in question, so as to determine the feasibility and viability of international services in these countries. This report will also discuss the viability of establishing branches in the Turkish or Hungarian market place. The Company is aiming to establish the organization in a global market. In order to do this an effective international marketing plan would have to be developed. Situation analysis The goal of this international marketing plan is the provision of specific directions for the companys marketing activities. Research will be carried out in various areas like segmentation, marketing, pricing strategy, targeting and positioning, promotional strategy, control and implementation, in order to achieve set goals. This marketing plan will also detail what the company can achieve with such an international marketing strategy and hoe this plan will help in realizing company objectives. When an organization has decided that it is beneficial to go international and start operations in another country, it is necessary to define company policies on international marketing and the companys objectives for creating promotional campaigns that are efficient. As long as Allianz continues to offer superior services that are efficient, then the company will be better than a domestic company. As the global market continues to grow bigger and population increase continues, the company must engage in effective international marketing, in order to acquire and maintain more clients. (An in depth analysis of Insurance Industry) Interest in Hungary and Turkey Numerous variables function within an international company such as this, which deals in a global market. These variables can influence the companys strategy either directly or indirectly. Being well implanted in various parts of the world Allianz seeks to invest other markets in Europe. Marketing strategy At Allianz, the goal of business is the acquisition of clients and maintaining these clients as customers. The companys international marketing strategy should reflect this, as the company continues to build its reputation. The strategies that would be used for this international marketing will be a push/promotional strategy and pull/selling strategy. The push/promotional strategy will use the companys trade promotion activities and sales force to create consumer demand internationally. The pull/selling strategy involves expenses on promotions for consumers and advertising in order to build up consumer demand for services SWOT analysis The sections highlighted below constitute the most relevant issues for Allianz, and the success of the company. Strengths The companys strengths include: a brand new international approach, staff experience, targeted focus and marketing prowess. Allianz would have to take advantage of these strengths in order to utilize the companys opportunities and also manage threats effectively. Possible weaknesses to the companys international campaign are basically those problems inherent in new product and financial services marketing. Allianzs Strengths also include Product differentiation Superior experience: since the Allianz team is quite experienced in marketing, the company has to capitalize on this experience and bring it to bear on the international market Popularity of the company: strong companies like Allianz tend to have a kind of cult or customer loyalty for many years, which will be brought to bear on the international scene Weaknesses Launching new products and services internationally brings disadvantages of having to build a whole new market structure Opportunities A growing international market Potential for continued improvement Vertical integration: Allianz also has the potential to integrate more services into its international presence and add more branches in various parts of the world Threats The latent competition ensures that there would be other companies who will begin to offer similar services internationally. Unforeseen economic downturn may also reduce fluid/disposable income in spite of a strong domestic economy and anticipated continuous growth. Marketing mix The company should Endeavour to employ a wide range of advertising promotions and communications in order to achieve set out international marketing goals Marketing budget The companys marketing budget must be reviewed and the marketing director would assume responsibility for the budget, excluding the budget for developing the company website. The budget for the international marketing campaign needs to be evaluated on a quarterly basis, with adjustments made to media vehicles, advert schedules, and effective frequency as required Promotion As part of international marketing promotions, there should be grand PR parties and sports events held and organized for prospective clients. Local, national and international media will also be used and sales personnel will be stationed in target market locations like shopping malls and concerts and other related events Financial projection In order to make Allianzs financial services more appealing internationally, the company will have to look towards market segmentation. In looking towards market segmentation, the company will be able to identify specific customer characteristics of interest in specific financial services. As noted on the website of the Center for Business Planning, the purpose of for segmenting a market is to allow the sales/marketing program to focus on the subset of prospects that are most likely to purchase what the company offers, and this can help to ensure the highest yield/return for sales/marketing expenditures, if done properly. (Center for Business Planning, 2009) The international marketing plan developed by Allianz must make a careful analysis of market research to lead to useful decisions regarding the nature of the market in hungary, and of the potential clients in that country. To be able to satisfy the needs of these customers, the company must identify ways to understand its internal and external situation, including the market environment, the customer and the capabilities of the company PEST Analysis Political Factors Increased service tax on premium 5% discount on corporate premium Hike in FDI limit Pricing control in general insurance Favorable regulation for rural insurance Economic Factors Increase in Gross Domestic Savings Social Factors Low insurance coverage Rise in elderly population Growth of insurance Technological Factors Automation of processes Increase in CRM solutions Internet driven information era (Insurance Industry: An Analysis) Implementation and control Allianzs international marketing efforts will be designed to launch and provide sales of goods and services. The marketing director will be in charge of tracking the various programs and changes might be made to the marketing mix if there are no appreciable results. Attention should also be given to some other factors like economic recession, extremely low sales, and the expensive nature of certain types of media that will be used for the international marketing plan, as these factors might influence the budget and marketing mix. The companys international marketing efforts will be reviewed quarterly. Differences between revenue and sales goals during the first year of operation will be the main source of comparison. Customers feedback will also be sought on marketing efforts and there will be surveys and focus groups organized to evaluate the efficacy of adverts. Conclusion Assessment of external factors can help a company to position itself within the environment in which the company operates. Although there are various macroeconomic factors that can affect a company like Allianz, the direction and strength of major industry shaping trends can be gauged by environmental factor assessment. This type of assessment may seem to pose a threat on some occasions but on the other hand, this assessment can create new opportunities. During the environmental assessment, it is vital to seek out new opportunities for business, feasible market places and other companies with which some form of cooperative arrangement can be built. In order to be successful internationally, Allianz needs to understand, anticipate and take advantage of the changes in the business environment. The international environment does have a big impact on the determination of market decisions. A large part of international marketing requires the scanning of the external environment that affec ts Allianz, so that the company can respond profitably to the trends and market requirements of the targeted market. Allianz hopes to expand into Eastern Europe and establish branches either in Hungary or turkey. Due to Global currency issues and the effects of previous economic recessions which have created problems for the company and the services it renders, I believe that Hungary will be a more viable location for the company to invest internationally, as this country is more open to foreign investment. Industries in this country are also expanding and this represents more opportunity for the companys financial services. The firm has also been advised to take a long term view. This is a good strategy for the company, as most emerging markets are long term based, to guard against the negative effects of economic downturns

Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism Spectrum Disorders has in the past posed some challenges to the human race with regard to addressing the plight of the victims  Ã‚   . This disorder is a cause of severe pervasive mode of thinking impairment, individual feelings, language problems and an adverse relationship to other people.This disorder is primarily diagnosed at the early stages in childhood and progresses throughout the rest of the life of the affected individual. It is a complex disability in the developmental stages of a person brought about by neurological disorder with severe effects on the normal brain functioning.The normal brain development is impacted specifically with regard to the areas responsible for social interaction as well as communication skills. This is a real crisis in the health sector due to the fact that for every 150 children below the age of eight years, one of them is a victim of this disorder (Uta, 1991).Social welfare historyIn this society, autistic and families with autistic ch ildren were initially faced with three typical challenges namely lack of financial, emotional and educational support. The families of the children who are victims of autistic disorder were confronted by tremendous financial as well as emotional burdens they also receive little support with regard to the education of these children.The families have therefore to endure a significant financial burden relative to the families with upright children. This arises from the requirement of cutting down the schedules of work or an entire quitting of the job due to the requirement of the duty of caring for these children (Charles, 1992).Further more, there is a very high chance that the families of the children with ASD are prone to delayed or even unattended health-care requirements of their children. They are exposed to insufficiencies and obstacles with regard to the access of the medical care needed by their children.According to Anthony, no difference was noted with regard too the access to usual care, a nurse or a personal provider in normal circumstances. However on the emergency of a special problem for autistic children families, the primary contact point becomes beyond reach and the access to referrals is denied (Anthony, 1998).These families are therefore subjected to particularly enormous as well as stressful emotional situations and financial demands. To complicate the matter, majority of the insurance firms are adamant when it comes to the coverage of the demands of an autistic child.This is because of their perception of the situation as being a form of developmental disorder rather than a disease. It therefore applies that the parents of these children are required to pay large amounts of money from their pocket to access the services of occupation therapy and the speech therapy for their children.The education of the autistic children is also faced with a milliard of problems because the schools are ready to offer a half day session for these children. Therefore the majority of the parents of autistic children opt that they stay at home altogether (Simon, 1995).The history of this disorder dates back to around 1911 in Swiss. ‘Early infantile autism’ was later coined in 1943 with the much milder Asperger syndrome coming much later. These are the disorders that were put under the description of the five pervasive types of developmental disorders which are currently termed as the autism spectrum disorders, i.e., ASD (Judy & Sean, 1993).

American football and Hard Work Essay

He was born to play football, someone who is 270 pounds and five percent body fat and only 19 years old and could go anywhere to play football. He went to a big ten college, Michigan. Now Elwood Reid was a man of hard work and discipline and would never give up. He worked hard ever single play from whistle to whistle. Even when he was in server pain he would never give up because he didn’t want to be called a quitter. Now there were two parts to Reid, one part of him wanted to belong or fit in with the team or be one of the â€Å"fellas†. Reid went to parties and he drank beer and liquor and did all the bad stuff just to fit in. The second part of him loved to read books and enjoyed going to class but never want to be himself. He ended up beating his body to the end and could no longer play. So after college he moved to Alaska to get away from football and start a new life, Therefore, Football is the best way to learn self discipline and character. Football Is also is a great way of learning what hard work means and in order to put hard work in you have to be able to put your body on the line. Now don’t think football is just a sport for hitting people and putting your body in pain, you can also make friends for the rest of your life and it also teaches life lessons. From the age of three years old I was brought up with the idea that football is everything. My dad had me in the backyard throwing a football that was bigger than my head. From the first time I ever stepped out on the practice field I was always told â€Å"boys, now in order to be a notable player you have to have discipline, show hard work and have character†. That saying stayed with me to this day and now I’m in college playing football and it will be there all my life. You have to have discipline when listening to what your coach teaches you what you have to learn to be great player. You have to have discipline watching the ball and not jumping off sides. Hard work ties in with discipline as well, I would stay after practice to catch balls and run routes because I wanted to be the best. Even on the weekends when nothing was going on I would be at some field running and getting better. â€Å"Domination through hard work man† for the coach of the big ten school. I have this one saying as well and it goes â€Å"The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender†. Basically this makes me work hard and do the things I’m suppose to do while on and off the field. If everyone on a team has discipline, character and hard work you can have a successful team full of champions. Now I somewhat agree with Reid, but sometimes things go way too far. This has to do a lot with character. My old high school coach school would say â€Å"what are you doing when nobody is looking†. I would go to a party and wonder sometimes, â€Å"dang I wonder what Coach Ru would say right now†. See now, Reid, when he would go to a party he always thought† I should be doing this right now†, I should probably leave†, but then he wouldn’t be part of the â€Å"fellas†. Now this is where its wrong just because someone else is doing it doesn’t mean you have to do it too. This is basically saying if Billy jumps then I will. When I was out somewhere and something felt wrong I was always thinking what would happen if I got in trouble it could affect my family and my team. I mean I went out and partied but did it under control. The point I am trying to make is just do what feels right to you and be yourself. You throw on your shoulder pads, put on your helmet and tie your shoes and your ready to play, hit and get hit. Reid was right about everything, you play with pain because if you don’t you will be called a quitter. I’ve learned to play with pain because football is a sport in which you’re going to get hurt. You’re throwing your body into people, getting knocked down. For example here at Catawba College there is always someone getting hurt during practice. Either it’s a hurt shoulder, hurt knee or getting the wind knocked out of them. But one thing that Elwood is wrong about is that when you get hurt things are more serious here. Coaches don’t call you quitters and team mates don’t make fun of you. When you get hurt here, it’s taken seriously you’re looked at, you have to be in the training room everyday twice a day. My point here is that football is a pain sport but you just have to live with it and except that there is going to be rough times but you just have to get through it. As you can see after what you read about Reid, getting a scholarship to college isn’t easy. But for me it was basically the same thing, I started out my freshman year on junior varsity. I was the starting wide receiver; I made awesome catches and was the best one on the field. I wasn’t the biggest, but have always been the tallest, but what made so good was all the hard work and discipline I had. But the last couple games of the season I got moved up to varsity which was awesome. The next year, my sophomore year, I finally got moved up to varsity at the beginning of the year. I really wasn’t playing so I worked my butt off in practice and it finally came through, by the start of our conference I was starting. Until then I never thought football would take me to college, but after that I was confident. My junior year came and I was all-conference, all-Mecklenburg and my coach was making highlight films and coaches were coming to see me and I was going to camps to showcase my talents. Senior year came and scouts were coming and one coach who really caught my attention was Coach Nick Toth from the Citadel. Citadel would have offered but I got screwed when a five year senior decided to return. It really made me mad, but when adversity is put in your way, you just have to stomp right over it. So here I am at Catawba now, on a full scholarship and I love everything about it. I am proof that you can be an individual and do what you love at the same time.

Socrates Ethics - 1821 Words

Socrates – An Ethics Philosopher Socrates – An Ethics Philosopher In the world of business accounting, ethics plays a major role in the daily operations of a business. Not only are businesses responsible for incorporating ethical standards into their operations, but accountants are also responsible for ensuring they perform in an ethical manner. So often, there is a thin line between what is considered ethical and what is considered unethical, especially when a company is considering profit over ethics. However, top level professionals or accountants hold the power to set the tone at the top, lead by example, and provide a standard or code of ethics for peers to follow without hesitation that will ultimately lead to profits earned†¦show more content†¦Although the youth of the city would keep him company, learning from him and attempt to imitated him, Socrates stubbornly insisted that he was not a teacher and refused all his life to take money for what he did (SEP). During that time, society vie wed teachers as pitchers pouring their contents into the empty cups that were the students; however Socrates also resisted the comparison of himself to a teacher (SEP). He believed that he was able to simply show others a way to recognize, on their own, what is real, true, and good. This was a technique to bring people out of their own ignorance, and into a world of intellectual curiosity. In the same manner that society viewed teachers as a pitcher pouring its contents, we can also use that same analogy with present day executives and accounting professionals. In actuality, employers typically hire individuals who are yearning to learn and eager to work hard to make it to the top. In order to be successful in their careers, these eager employees must learn from top executives who pour knowledge and experience into them. 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