MS-Assignment-1: Ref. No.

MS/Jan 09/1

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Cover Page

MARKETING STRATEGY ASSIGNMENT 1

University of Manchester Manchester Business School MBA Jan-2009, Engineering Program

Assessment Reference: MS/Jan 09/1 Student #: 7490754 User ID: MCYIHHF2 Hany Fouad April 20th, 2009

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Table of Contents
C O V E R P A G E -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 A S S I G N M E N T T E X T ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3 A N S W E R O F Q U E S T I O N ( A ) : ------------------------------------------------------ 4
A B O U T D A T A B I L I T Y : ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 D A T A B I L I T Y S P R O D U C T S : ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 D A T A B I L I T Y M A R K E T ( S ) : --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 E X A M I N I N G / D A T A B I L I T Y S B U S I N E S S - M I S S I O N : --------------------------- 8 E V A L U A T I N G D A T A B I L I T Y S B U S I N E S S - A R E A : ----------------------------- 10

A N S W E R O F Q U E S T I O N ( B ) : ---------------------------------------------------- 11
F U L L A U D I T O F D A T A B I L I T Y S M A R K E T I N G - E N V I R O N M E N T : 11 SWOT ANALYSIS ON DATABILITYS MARKETINGE N V I R O N M E N T : ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 46 E V A L U A T I N G S T R A T E G I E S C O U L D B E D E V E L O P E D : --------------------- 49 IDENTIFYING FURTHER CHANGES MIGHT ARISE WITHIN THE N E X T 5 - 1 0 Y E A R S : ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 51

A N S W E R O F Q U E S T I O N ( C ) : ---------------------------------------------------- 53
E F F E C T S O F C H A N G E S O N D A T A B I L I T Y : ------------------------------------------- 53 H O W D A T A B I L I T Y M I G H T R E S P O N D T O C H A N G E S : ---------------------- 53

REFERENCES: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 56

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Assignment text
Market-oriented is the managerial process of developing and maintaining a viable fit between the organisations objectives, skills, and resources and its changing market opportunities (Kotler).

For this assignment, you are asked to examine the scope and activities of your own organisation, or one that you are very familiar with.

(a) Describe your chosen organisation, in terms of its products and the market(s) it serves. Examine the business mission for this organisation and evaluate what business this organisation is in. (25%)

(b) Conduct a full audit of the marketing environment and a SWOT analysis for your chosen organisation. Based on this information, evaluate the strategies that could be developed (ie. conversion and matching strategies, as presented in Jobber, 5th Edition, Chapter 2).

Identify further changes that might arise within the marketing environment in the next 5-10 years. (50%)

(c) Consider what effect these future environmental changes might have on the organisation and how it might respond to such changes? (25%)

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Answer
The chosen organization is called Datability.

Answer of question (a):

About Datability:
Datability is a professional services company, working in the field of information technology, they are Niche-Player solely focused on data treatment solutions such as Data warehousing and Business Intelligence. Datability is in the business since 1998, based in Saudi Arabia, using worldwide branded software technologies with local international resources, however Datability is technology independent; and focusing in its selling on customer benefits; not technology. Datability is a project base company, and from the size perspective it can be classified as a small medium company. However Datability had succeeded to make great reputation in the Saudi-Market through implementing many successes stories with the largest enterprises within most business sectors such as telecomm, financial, utility, and government sector.

Databilitys Products:

The brand name of Datability Company is influencing the perception of its services. Jobber argued that, product types classified according to four types: material, components, plant and equipment, and product and service. Datability is selling the last one - product and service. Jobber (2007:166)

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Datability solutions are listed as follows: 1- Data profiling. 2- Data cleansing. 3- Data Migration. 4- Data integration and consolidation. 5- Data governance. 6- Data warehousing. 7- Business intelligence. 8- Data mining. 9- Master-Data management.

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Datability is focusing on specific niche which is; selling professional services to develop or implement data-related software solutions, technology independent focusing in its selling on customer benefits; not technology , however they are using branded software tools such as IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, and SPSS. All of that because Datability believes in the following says; Theodore Levitt has recommended that all organizations should define themselves as customer-satisfying services rather than goods-producing processes. Companys products are the core element of the marketing mix. Product line; is a group of brands that are closely related in terms of their functions and the benefits they provide. Company value can be greatly enhanced by the possession of Strong brand.

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Jobber (2007: chapter-9)

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Datability Market(s):
Obviously Datability customers are organizations not individual individuals/consumers. Datability is a niche-player, focusing on a niche market i.e. subset of a market sector, addressing a need for a data-related service. Datability selling a niche-solution(s), relatively expensive, in the far degree of intangibility, little customers recognizes it, so Datability selecting their customer based on these challenges. The segments are:

Telecommunication companies (providers of mobile lines, land lines, and other related services). Financial firms (banks, brokers, and institutions) Utility companies (water and electricity companies) Governmental sector (recently targeted from Datability)

The characteristics of the three segments are almost similar, as follows: 1- Service provider organizations. 2- Huge customer base. 3- In their business focusing on their customer and their products. 4- Huge daily number of electronic truncations.

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5- Relatively these organizations are considered from the highest revenue in the country/world. 6- Relatively not price sensitive. 7- Power of barging is based on (fair/win-win) settled proofed system. 8- Small segment size. 9- Minor growth rate.

According to Jobber (2007: Chapter-8), Datability selected its segments based on mix of Macro and Micro segmentation: o o o o o o Size of the customers is big. The industry is profitable. Their geographic location is in the country. Barging power is fair. Not price sensitive. Segment industry is growing.

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Examining/Databilitys Business-Mission:

Your data Your ability Treating data to empower our clients is our vision. We are unique minded in our commitment to this vision, we are solely focused on data related solutions to achieve our vision since we are founded in 1998. We believe that our continuity and success resulted directly from; our focus on our clients benefits - not selling specific technology, however we are using best branded technologies based on best-breed solution. Investing in our resources is a vital element in our business strategy, we are upside-down organization focusing on the front-line employees who always interacting with our clients. Our dream is to integrate, consolidate, standardize, countries databases, to be able to develop a unified dash board to monitor the countries variables, key performance indicators, etc... We believe this dream is within our capabilities.

According to Ackoff definition of business mission, and according to Jobber (2007), I summarized the effective business mission as the following table:

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Achieved in Datability Business Mission Statement Factor Statement? (in 0-100%)

Broadly defined

70%

enduring statement

95%

distinguishes a business from others of its type

90%

explains the reason of its existence

95%

include a statement of market

70%

include a statement of needs

80%

include a statement of technology

100%

based on business understanding, has vision to foresee how forces acting on its operations will change in the future

10%

Based on strong personal conviction and motivation of the leader, who has the ability to make their vision contagious.

30%

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Create intent for wining throughout the organization, this help to build of common purpose, and stress needs to create competitive advantages.

50%

Should be enabling. Managers must believe they have the latitude to make decision about strategy without being second-guessed by top management.

40%

Jobber (2207:42) argued that, environmental changes and background of company personalities is influencing the company business mission that will be show later in this report.

Evaluating Databilitys Business-Area:

After reviewing Appendix-A which covers some economic information about Saudi We will know that Saudi Arabia has the biggest IT market in the Gulf region, with spending of US$3.4bn in 2008 expected to rise to US$5.6bn by 2013. The Saudi Arabian IT services market was worth around US$978mn in 2008, and is expected to grow at a CAGR [Compound Annual Growth Rate] of 13% over the 20082013 forecast periods ... The outsourcing opportunity was projected at around US$178mn in 2008. (Business Monitor International, 2009).

Most of the sectors which Datability serves - governmental, telecommunication, and utility are growing, but financial sector is suffering in 2009 - with the world finical crises.

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Answer of question (b):

Full Audit of Databilitys MarketingEnvironment:

According to Jobber (2207:45,46) I will use the same checklist to conduct the external and internal marketing audit.

EXTERNAL MARKETING AUDITING: MACROENVIRONMENT (inside Saudi Arabia) Political/Legal: o Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf Countries in GCC: 1. United Arab Emirates 2. The Kingdom of Bahrain 3. The Kingdoom Of Saudi Arabia 4. The Sultanate of Oman 5. Qatar 6. Kuwait Objectives: The basic objectives are to effect coordination, integration and inter-connection between Member States in all fields, strengthening ties between their peoples, formulating similar regulations in

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various fields such as economy, finance, trade, customs, tourism, legislation, administration, as well as fostering scientific and technical progress in industry, mining, agriculture, water and animal resources, establishing scientific research centres, setting up joint ventures, and encouraging cooperation of the private sector. The GCC Customs Union; it is giving more facilities between golf states. See appendix-A: Implementation Procedures for the GCC Customs Union. The GCC Common Market; its main objective is to achieve coordination, cooperation and integration in all areas between GCC states to reach union. (GCC, 2009) o Saudi Arabia is also a member party in the following regional organizations and agreements: African Development Bank Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development Arab Gulf Program for United Nations Development Organization Arab Monetary Fund Gulf Cooperation Council League of Arab States Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia Islamic Development Bank.

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(Research and Markets, 2009) o

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Abuse of market dominance, in some specific sectors each international software company is a dominant for example IBM is the only service providers for the old Mainframes, which installed in huge organizations from along time i.e. not easy to change the mainframe i.e. no chance for a new service provider.

Monopolies, large state firms, generally monopolies include the oil firm Saudi ARAMCO, Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC), the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) (Research and Markets, 2009)

Acquisition and mergers, in now days many acquisitions and mergers are happening in the international IT companies and local big companies, which impact on the opportunities of the small and niche companies in addition to market share! For example; International acquisitions: hp acquired Atos-Origin Oracle acquired IFLEX, Hyperion, going to acquire SUN! Microsoft acquired Performance Point. IBM acquired Cognos SAP acquired Business Objects.

Local acquisitions or mergers: Ebttikar company is resulted from a merge of three companies, Ejada company is resulted from a merge of three companies, And Royah acquired by Optimiza.

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o

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State aid, Saudi Development fund is an official organization funding new organizations. The Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) may be engaged to provide up to 50 percent financing for approved industrial projects.

National laws, Companies not complying with the Saudi minimum personnel rule will not be given visas for expatriate workers. Under the Saudi Labor law, 75 percent of a firms work force and 51 percent of its payroll must be Saudi, unless an exemption has been obtained from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Foreign companies can get a license from the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) to set up an industrial or a non-industrial project in Saudi Arabia. Depending on the nature of the foreign investment, the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization (SASO) may be involved. If the foreign investor chooses to set up a business on his own, the amount invested should not be less than $533,000 for agricultural projects, $1 million for industrial projects, and $533,000 for other projects. IT Criminal Law, the Council of Ministers, approved the IT Criminal Law in their session, held on Monday 7th R. Awal, 1428H. The law curtails IT crime(s), by defining such crimes and relevant punishments.

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Economic o Economic growth and unemployment,

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Saudi Arabia is the largest free market economy in the Middle East and North Africa holding approximately 25 percent share of the total Arab GDP. (Research and Markets, 2009)

The following tables are reflecting the Saudi eeconomic growth and unemployment

General Economic Indicators for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (percentages) Year 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 637.2 686.0 722.2 766.0 798.9 GDP Growth at constant prices of 1999 (billion SR) 7.6 5.3 6.1 4.3 Percentage Change (%)

(Profile of Saudi Arabia, 2009)

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Saudi Arabia's GDP Gross Domestic Product by Economic Sectors at Producers' Values in Constant Prices 2004 to 2006 ( Million Of Saudi Riyals ) Year 2006* 2005 2004 A. Industries & Other Producers Excluding Producers Of Govt. Services 1 - Agriculture , Forestry & Fishing 30,070 38,338 37,874 2 - Mining & Quarrying 224,865 225,158 207,742 a) Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas 222,067 222,432 205,088 b) Other 2,798 2,726 2,654 3 - Manufacturing 92,640 86,940 81,314 a) Petroleum Refining 22,513 22,332 21,634 b) Other 70,127 64,608 59,680 4 - Electricity , Gas and Water 12,629 11,866 11,259 5 - Construction 54,559 50,832 48,517 6 - Wholesale & Retail Trade, Restaurants & hotels 62,943 59,385 56,893 7 - Transport , Storage & Communication 45,160 41,145 37,863 8 - Finance , Insurance , Real Estate ' & Business Services 99,862 94,167 88,490 a) Ownership of Dwellings 51,860 50,012 47,924 b) Others 48,002 44,154 40,566 9 - Community , Social & Personal Services 29,129 28,004 26,754 10 - Less Imputed Bank Services Charge 15,549 15,191 14,954 B. Producers of Government Services 144,284 136,565 132,148 c - Total Except Import Duties 789,592 757,208 713,899 Import Duties 9,257 8,743 8,274 Gross Domestic Product 798,850 765,951 772,173 * Estimates

(Saudi Central Department of of Statistics Source: Central Department Statistics, 2009 )

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Population Out of The Labour Force (15 Years and Over ) By Administrative Area Student 748465 716261 211520 156524 446640 246319 86636 79757 45922 142910 53767 53790 58712 3047223 House Keeping 888651 1093782 290466 167354 582022 320994 131991 100706 46777 277310 91838 76138 58256 4126285 Retired 119470 92511 26197 19766 62546 57533 8615 14641 7287 33218 10988 12952 9908 475632 Self Disabled Others Sufficient 15483 22300 57003 12756 40775 88074 3722 14600 30409 2434 3814 15179 7817 18066 61946 1399 11842 30904 1287 4460 8296 1692 2734 12578 504 1473 7819 3015 15900 57196 335 2841 4363 1438 2106 10751 1806 1372 6585 53688 142283 391103 Total 1851372 2044159 576914 365071 1179037 668991 241285 212108 109782 529549 164132 157175 136639 8236214 Riyadh Makkah Madinah Qassim Easte. Prov. Asir Tabuk Hail North.Bord. Jazan Najran AL - Baha AL - Jouf Total

(Saudi Central Department of Statistics, 2009 )

Interest and exchange rate, Currency Saudi riyal (SAR) Saudi currency is very stable, always almost $1 USD = 3.75 Saudi Riyals.

Exchange rates fluctuate rapidly and each bank has a certain margin of profit in the process of selling and buying, so rates issued by SAMA are not binding to banks to apply. (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2009)

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o OPEC.

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The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a cartel of twelve countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.

OPEC's mission is to coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of Member Countries and ensure the stabilization of oil markets in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consumers, a steady income to producers and a fair return on capital to those investing in the petroleum industry.

More than three-quarters of the worlds oil reserves are located in OPEC countries. The bulk of OPEC oil reserves is located in the

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Middle East, with Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq contributing 55% to the OPEC total. (OPEC, 2009) Ecological/Physical Environment o Global warming, In Saudi Arabia, dust plays a primary role in causing air pollution in a country of more than 90% desert. o Pollution, According to Municipal and Rural, pollution in Saudi cities is the lowest in the Middle East. Aramco operates 10 Air Quality Monitoring and Meteorology Network (AMMNET) stations and 15 meteorologyonly stations throughout the Kingdom.

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Water Pollution:

Cities like Jeddah have experienced serious problems with pollution of underground aquifers by sewage seepage and that in general the problem was caused by "time-worn and outdated sewage pipelines."
(Saudi Arabia: Environmental Issues, 2009)

Carbon and Energy-Related Emissions Between 1980 and 2000, Saudi Arabia's carbon emissions rose from 48.8 million metric tons to 74.8 million metric tons. This increase, while large, is not as proportionately significant as in either Egypt or Turkey both of which saw their carbon emissions nearly triple during the same time period. (Saudi Arabia: Environmental Issues, 2009)

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However, in terms of per capita carbon emissions, Saudi Arabia is still a regional leader.

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Saudi Arabia is a signatory to the London Protocol, which calls for phasing out chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases harmful to the ozone layer by 2010,

MEPA predicts in the report that climate change over the next three decades will cause even more extreme heat waves during the Kingdom's summer, as well as more extreme weather conditions in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea Coast.

Energy and scarce resource conversion,

According to Saudi Arabia: Environmental Issues( 2009)

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Energy Consumption

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Saudi Arabia's energy consumption nearly 4.6 quads in 2000. The country's increasing energy consumption is similar to that of other countries in the region. To reduce the amount of energy it consumes, Aramco has implemented an Industrial Waste Minimization Program. Renewable Energy With little rainfall and a lack of perennial rivers or permanent water bodies, Saudi Arabia has little hydropower potential. Although the government has built several dams in order to exploit rain and flood

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waters as efficiently as possible, these have functioned more for water reserves than for power generation. Saudi Arabia has contributed to solar energy research and developed a number of solar-power projects.

Environmental friendly ingredients and components, In general this culture or the concept of eating animals is not considered as a cruelty to animals, its part of their Saudi culture and Islamic legislation. Very few companies as Al-Wateniah are using Genetically Modified in food products.

Recycling and non-wasteful packaging.

Currently very few recycling companies are based in Saudi Arabia, I met only Saudi Recycling Co. is specialized in recycling paper. And there is no initiative from the suppliers side to recycle the wasting of their products, or recycle other wasted.

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Social/Cultural o Demographic forces,
Official name: Capital: Area:

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Basic Information
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) Riyadh Total: 1,960,582 sq km Water: 0 sq km Land: 1,960,582 sq km Harsh, dry desert with great temperature extremes Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, north of Yemen 25 00 N, 45 00 E Slightly more than one-fifth the size of the US Total: 4,431 km Border countries: Iraq 814 km, Jordan 744 km, Kuwait 222 km, Oman 676 km, Qatar 60 km, UAE 457 km, Yemen 1,458 km 2,640 km Mostly uninhabited, sandy desert Lowest point: Persian Gulf 0 m highest point: Jabal Sawda' 3,133 m

Climate: Location: Geographic Coordinates: Comparative Area: Land boundaries:

Coastline: Terrain: Elevation extremes:

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Population Age structure

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Other Demographic information:

28,146,656 note: includes 5,576,076 non-nationals (July 2008 est.) 0-14 years: 38% (male 5,458,023/female 5,245,911) 15-64 years: 59.5% (male 9,470,353/female 7,284,696) 65 years and over: 2.4% (male 356,910/female 330,764) (2008 est.) Total: 21.5 years Male: 22.9 years Female: 19.8 years (2008 est.) 1.954% (2008 est.)

Median age

Population growth rate 28.85 births/1,000 population (2008 est.) Birth rate 2.49 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.) Death rate -6.82 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.) Net migration rate Sex ratio At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female Under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.3 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 1.08 male(s)/female Total population: 1.19 male(s)/female (2008 est.) Total population: 76.09 years Male: 74.04 years Female: 78.25 years (2008 est.) Muslim 100% Arabic Languages Literacy Definition: age 15 and over can read and write Total population: 78.8% Male: 84.7% Female: 70.8% (2003 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Religions

(Climate zone, 2009)

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The climate of the KSA varies from region to region, according to its location. average reaches 24C in the Western Region, 38C in Jeddah and 30C in Jizan. The Central Region is extremely hot and dry. (Saudi Arabia network, 2009)

o
1. OVERVIEW

Age distribution,

2004

2007p

Percentage Shares - 2007

1. Population by Age Structure 0 - 14 15 - 39 40 - 64 65 & above Total:

(1000) " " " " 6,629.6 6,809.3 2,380.1 602.4 16,421.4 1,475.6 2,931.6 1,635.7 65.0 6,107.9 8,105.2 9,740.9 4,015.8 667.4 22,529.3 6,512.1 7,588.3 2,783.4 609.6 17,493.4 1,270.9 3,534.5 1,615.8 66.3 6,487.5 7,783.0 11,122.8 4,399.2 675.9 23,980.9 83.7 68.2 63.3 90.2 72.9 16.3 31.8 36.7 9.8 27.1 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Note: * Based on estimates of Population & Housing Census, 2004. p; preliminary estimates. Source: Central Department of Statistics and Information

Household structure, In an Arabian family, gender and age plays a big role in specifying responsibilities. The father is usually the head of the family and the provider for its needs, while the mother plays a major role in raising children and taking care of the house. (Saudi Arabia network, 2009)

Cultural forces, Most of Saudi culture is based on their traditional traditions and habits, somehow there are discrimination based on nationality. Islamic culture is the only culture by law. In specific religious regions there are special road for non-Muslims.

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The Government requires noncitizen residents to carry a Saudi residence permit (Iqama) for identification in place of their passports. Among other information, these contain a religious designation for "Muslim" or "non-Muslim."

Consumerism, All of Datability consumers are formal organization, they have their own rights in purchasing and their purchasing is based on signed contract or any other form of formalized documented agreement, more over their rights are saved through their registration in legal organization which have laws to save them, such as chamber of commerce, ministry of industry and trade.

Technological According to e-Government program (2009) o Technological Forces.

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The Kingdom has witnessed rapid advancements in the field of

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telecommunications. There are 1,000 telephone circuits with direct access to 152 countries. o The King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) manages the Internet backbone, while the Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) regulates the market. o The e-Government Program - Yesser - translates the Saudi Government's keen interest in implementing the e-government concept. It is part of many initiatives and projects adopted by the government to achieve sustained growth and development in all aspects of life.

MICROENVIRONMENT (based on Databilitys product line) Market: o Market analysis (market size, growth rate, and trends).

There are three telecommunications (mobile operators) companies, three other land line operators will be launched soon.

Eleven banks, brokers companies, and other financial institutions.

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(Saudi Central Department of Statistics, 2009)

Customers

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As mentioned earlier Datability is targeting financial, telecommunication, financial, and governmental i.e. organizations. So I will analyze the buying phases or organization decision making process.

Recognition of problem (need)

Determining of specification and quantity of needed items Search for and qualification of potential source Acquisition and analysis of proposals Evaluation of proposlas and selection supplier(s) Selection of an order routine Performance feedback and evaluation

Once the customer recognize a problem, or Datability proactively present a new solution to them, the customer or the DMU (Decision Making Unit) will start determine a standard specification to prepare RFP (request for proposal), and invite the specialized vendors to propose to them a solution. After receiving the proposals, start evaluating them based on their criteria, eventually and after evaluation step(s) a specific vendor will be selected, and it is the turn of finalizing payments terms and contractual issues. Vendor will start taking over the supplying process, and the customer will assess his performance.

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Selection criteria, varies from sector to other or even from customer to other. But most probably is combined of two main measures: Technical measures: performance, scalability, integration, ease of use, friendly user interface, and proposed solution architecture. Demo or POC (proof of concept) may be requested. Financial measures: vendor financial stability, total price, and payment of terms. Negotiation on price or payments terms may be requested.

Competitors Actually there are no competitors to Datability; I mean there is no typically Niche Company solely offering data related solution. However there are other system integrators; part(s) of their offering is equivalent to part of Databilitys offering. According to Jobber (2007:778), I will follow the approach to analyze the competitors.

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Identify Competitors

Audit Competitors Capabilities

Infer Competitor objectives and strategic thrust

Deduce Competitor strategies

Estimate Competitor response patterns

1- Identify Competitors I will consider only the major competitors: Company Description of their offering relative to Datability offering. Name SBM Offering Cognos BI tools, and selling data management tools because they are dealer to IBM exactly as Datability. IFLEX focusing on offering a professional services in BI and data related solution for the financial sector, they are using their own products Ejada Big system integrator resulted from merging three big companies, offering data-management Informix tool and its professional service, and offering other BI but doesnt have the needed professional services.

2- Audit Competitors Capabilities

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Company Description Name SBM

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Very big system integrator, and financially very stable and reputed in the Saudi market, was the sole agent for IBM in KSA for a long time.

IFLEX

Very big company, and financially very stable and reputed in the Saudi market, recently acquired by Oracle.

Ejada

Very big system integrator, and financially very stable and reputed in the Saudi market. Has 50% of INFORMATICA middle east company, funded from the Islamic Kuwaiti bank. Huge pool of resources. many branches in most of the middle east countries.

3- Infer Competitor objectives and strategic thrust In nowadays most of the big companies are following holding business. Company Description Name SBM IFLEX Hold, trying to keep their market share and retain their customers. Build, since it is recently been acquired by Oracle and oracle have a powerful influence in KSAs market. Ejada Hold, trying to keep their market share and retain their customers.

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4- Deduce Competitor strategies Company Description Name SBM

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Targeting the whole entire sectors in KSA, selling their own brand and products lines. Differentiating themselves through sole agent for many brands such as IBM software and hardware, and based on their long reputation and dependency of many huge customer on them, their price is relatively high.

IFLEX

Targeting the financial sector. Differentiating themselves using their references in financial sector in addition to the support coming from oracle influence, their price is relatively high.

Ejada

Targeting the financial, Telecommunication, Oil and Gas Sectors, and specific enterprise governmental accounts. Differentiating themselves by using the best in the class solution regardless of the price.

5- Estimate Competitor response patterns Company Description Name SBM SBM is one of the leaders in the IT market in KSA, so they partially enforce

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market discipline, and ruthless in dealing with competitive challenges. So they competitive reaction can be predicted.

IFLEX

Unpredictable in its response, since they relatively new in the market and acquired by new company which means new company strategy will be inherited.

Ejada

Although Ejada is also one of the leaders in the IT market in KSA, but they response is selectively, based on each case of competition.

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Distributors (channels, their buyer behaviour, strength, weakness, movement in power bases) Datability has no distributers, resellers, agents, or even specified subcontractors.

Suppliers Databilitys supplier are mainly the software vendors, such as Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, and SPSS.

Power change Criteria Company Oracle Quick changes on the software Software Not meeting big enterprises Microsoft KSA, WW IBM Very recognised New in KSA by themselves, very complicated company structure. Recognised Middle SPSS east mining in datatechnical resources. Not in KSA, very limited requirements received through sending media CD, or giving access to download from the internet. Locations Strength Weakness in supply chain

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Internal marketing audit checklist

Operating Results (by product, customer, geographic Marketing mix effectiveness region)

Sales: Datability is focusing on three geographical regions in KSA, central, western and eastern region.

Product: Covering the full spectrum of Data-related solutions includes: Data profiling Data cleansing & Quality Data migration Data integration and consolidation Data warehousing Business intelligence Data-Mining Master-Data-Management

They are selling only its niche-solutions: data-related software solutions. The targeted customer is usually a decision maker in a larger corporation either from the business or IT side. -

Market share:

Price:

Relatively to the KSA market size, Databilitys market Databilitys pricing for software licenses is share is minor. fixed based on the vendor prices, however getting the maximum discount from the vendor dependent on the competition and the level of

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considering the customer as strategic account.

For the professional services pricing; sometimes Datability cannot be cheap or economical, they must be at the acceptable high end of the pricing scale, to keep their pricing level on the long term.

From the other side uniqueness of the experienced technical staff with proven expertise, in a specific industry is a key point for Datability to set relatively high prices.

Profit margin:

Promotion:

Margin is variable based on the customer size, urgency Databilitys promotion strategy focuses heavily of the opportunity, expected risks in the project, strategy on repeated business, reference and personal view to the customer, and the level of competition. relations, with little or even no emphasis on direct marketing or advertising.

Costs:

Distribution:

Costs of software license: coming directly from the Datability is directly providing their services to

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value of the software value purchased from the software their customers. provider. Professional services cost consists of; technical consultants salary, vacation cost, rent or lease, payroll of admin staff, sales and marketing expenses.

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People ( customer & staff): Datability staff is retained through investing a lot in them, and creating the family environment feeling in the organization. Part of Datability opportunity assessment is meeting the prospected customers and surveying the site to know more about the customers knowledge level, cooperation, background, and commitment. Process: Datability is following the world-wide proofed standard process methodology for software implementation. Physical evidence:

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Datability is providing a demo and proof of concept during the sell activities. And the structure of the team work, in addition to the proposed solution architecture is also provided.

Strategic issue analysis Marketing objectives:

Marketing structure Marketing organization:

1. Datability establishes themselves as pure service Actually there is no marketing organization in provider. Technology independent, however using best real meaning; there is some understanding with of the breed software tools. Focusing on customer MAINLINE company to facilitate the logistics benefits not selling specific technology. issue of our intending marketing campaigns.

2. Branding Datability-name as the only solution Sales staff is taking care of selecting the event, provider solely focused on data-related solutions with preparing the marketing material content and the industry knowledge. 3. looking to yearly acquire new three big customers. This marketing event(s) happen one or two times a year. Market Segmentation: Marketing training: attending the event to mange the marketing tasks.

Datability is targeting the big enterprises who recognize The company is retailing the sales managers and need its services, and afford to pay, the selected through giving them MBA program; it can be market segments are: Telecommunication considered marketing training or more

comprehensive.

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Financial Utilities Government

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There is no specialized staff for marketing, the sales team is taking care. So the marketing training happens rarely, or embedded in other sales training courses.

Competitive advantage:

Intra-and interdepartmental communication:

1- Uniqueness in focusing in the data-related Datability is appreciated partner to its software solution offering. 2- Focusing on specific market segments to have There the business knowledge as well. agreements on the professional services level 3- Local resource and knowledge to implementing with international companies based in Europe. data related solution. 4- Flexibility in its operation process. 5- High level of commitment. 6- Good reputation in big enterprises. 7- Tool independent. 8- Deep knowledge of implementation approach and its challenge to guarantee the project success. 9Core competences: 1- Implementing a comprehensive data warehouse solution. 2- Implementing data profiling, cleansing, are other business cooperation vendors IBM, Oracle, Microsoft and SPSS.

Marketing systems

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integration, migration, consolidation on any kind of electronic data. 3- Implementing business intelligence solutions. Positioning: -

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Marketing information system:

Technology independent, focusing on customer The customer segments Datability is targeting is benefits Unlike other similar companies very small. focused on selling the technology. Datability using salesforce.com, but in reality

Offering a unique team of deep experience in they heavily utilizing desktop excel sheets to the proposed solutions. mange the event customers information, invitations, attendee list, and after event follow up.

Portfolio analysis:

Marketing planning system:

One of the best business portfolio analysis tools the There is only intention for planning. BCG Growth-Share Matrix, We are reacting based on two things: 1- Receiving event. 2- Creating our own event to position new service, target new sector/segment, or to be in line with any market changes. information about good

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Annual service and SW-Licenses support contracts

Data-warehousing and BI

Data cleansing and quality

Data-mining

Marketing control system: Datability is controlling the its marketing through some indicators such as Financial analysis, market demand, sales targets, selling costs, and signing with new customers.

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SWOT Analysis on Databilitys MarketingEnvironment:

I will use SWOT analysis approach to evaluate the strategic position of Databilitys business through identifying its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal attributes, which Datability can manage by changing their business. Opportunities and threats are external factors.

Strengths 1- Uniqueness: Uniqueness in focusing in the data-related solution offering. 2- Flexibility: Flexibility with fast response to changes in its operation process. 3- Skilful team. All of Databilitys consultants are expertise in the data-related solution better than other in the same niche area. In addition to the business knowledge in their focused segments. 4- Tool independent: covering the most proofed tools in the world giving Datability edge over their competitors. 5- Manageable size: means small overhead i.e. availability for lower price, easy to adapt to any environmental changes.

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Weaknesses

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1- Marketing and sales: there is no specialized marketing department, no clear marketing control, and no intension for implementing marketing vision, small Sales force. Datability depending on word of mouth to create leads. 2- Marketing team. Without dedicated marketing team, Datability will not be able to develop needed marketing material, research in detail. 3- Tool independent: it is too risky with the software vendors to be partners to all of them, that mean to them you are not loyal to any one of them, then they will not rely on and will not pass opportunities to you.

Opportunities:
1- Growth of governmental awareness: few years ago the IT in government only

were recognizing the infrastructure, business application, archiving systems, then internet portal, electronic services. Now days they are looking for business intelligence and prediction analysis, opportunities are obvious. 2- Acquisition and mergers: means need for data consolidation and enterprise dashboard to monitor the whole business from one consol. 3- Financial crises: means organization became keener to predict the future business i.e. data-mining opportunities, and want to have more insight on running business i.e. business intelligence opportunities. 4- Governmental initiative: implementing YESSER program with budget of five Billions Saudi Riyals, to implement portals in all governmental sites is a good opportunity for a new service for Datability, related to its business line in datafocus.

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Threats

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1- Financial crises: in the Europe countries might push IT companies to invade KSA marketplace. 2- New comprehensive solution: large enterprises looking to replace their entire systems with a comprehensive one i.e. no need for integration, or data warehouse and data quality issues will be minimized. 3- The larger, branded companies: is recognizing data-related solutions niche. They are beginning to compete in Databilitys area, recognize their niche. Datability is no longer alone.

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Evaluating Strategies could be developed:

Matching (find competitive advantages by matching the strengths to opportunities):

1- Skilful team in financial sector can effectively handle the impact of the financial crises on the targeted segments. 2- Datability manageable size, and flexibly helps them to easily adapt their business to contribute to the web portal opportunities in YESSER. 3- A quick and proofed data consolidation and integration can be guaranteed with Datability experience, which meet acquisition and mergers urgent requirements to quickly feel the ROI of mergers and acquisition.

Converting (apply conversion strategies to convert threats into opportunities and convert weaknesses into strengths):

I] Weaknesses into strengthens: 1- Marketing unit should be established, build up on good reputation, and utilize force Datability success in their niche area. 2- Should hire extra senior sales force specialized in the targeted market segments in KSA. 3- Datability technical team should be restructured either physically or logically, based on technology line, by this way will satisfy each software vendors to show more loyalty, that will make software vendors pass good opportunities to them.

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II] Threats into opportunities: 1- New entrants companies from Europe might need a local IT partner to facilitate to them the legal existences in addition to quick-to-market time. 2- For the New comprehensive solution threat. Datability can create a cost benefit analysis to show to the customer the cost benefit analysis for acquiring new comprehensive solution, against investing more in the current system to fill the needed gaps. 3- The larger, branded companies going into Datability niche. For sure their cost will be higher because their overhead is relatively much higher than Datability, it is good opportunity to Datability to emphasis on their cost effective proposition or even can slightly increase their prices.

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Identifying Further Changes Might Arise within the next 5-10 years:

I will consider the changes might happen in Saudi Market or generally in the Middle East or world wide, as follows:

Type of changes 1- Political/Lega l 2- Economical 3- Climate -

Description Expected state of ware in Iran due to neural weapon. Expected state of ware in Syria due to terrorism issues. Continuity of Israel and Palestinian ware. Inflation might increase in Saudi Arabia Oil price might decrease in Saudi Arabia Current economic crises impact will be still there. King Abdullah Economical City project will be launched. As Prof. David King argues that, the temperature degree of the earth expected to raise with around +3Co, which will be a threat on millions of people, increase in sea level, lose of the ice, and decrease in needed water for drinking. (The Science of Climate Change, 2009)

4- Social/Cultura l

Women might drive a cars in Saudi Arabia currently it is illegal Ethics, culture, and social issues might be changed due to the heavily use of Satellite-TV and internet from the new Saudi generation.

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5- National law Women might share men in the same business Human sponsorship laws might change.

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The king may allocate anther huge budget for the planned second phase of YESSR project to automate the government sector.

6- Technology

New software technologies might be arise or proposed in the region Internet will be used as an infrastructure for the whole Saudi market segments to communicate together and really do B2B and B2C.

7- Customers

More market Sub-Sectors might emerge from main sectors. For each sector or market segment in the Saudi governmental sector, one entity will be responsible for the purchasing process.

8- Competitors

Some small competitors might close or be merged/acquired with/by big companies.

New entrants to KSA market coming from different region allover the world.

9- Suppliers

New software vendors might invade the KSA and/or ME market region.

Some current suppliers might be merged/acquired with/by big companies.

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Answer of question (c):

Effects of changes on Datability:

The impact of the previous mentioned expected changes can be as follows: 1- New opportunities will arise: this is as a result of launching king Abdullah economical city project, second phase of YESSER project, merging and acquisition, emerging new segments. 2- New threats will arise: Saudi economy will be impacted negatively due to the expected inflation, state of ware in the region, decrease of oil price. New competitors entrants are coming to market. New software vendors are coming to market. Current software vendors might disappear either by merging/acquisition or exiting the business. 3- New software technology related to Datability niche can be considered as either threat or opportunity based on the handling and the whole situation.

How Datability Might Respond to changes:

As Jobber argued that companies respond in different ways to environmental changes as shown in the following figure .

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Practically Datability might respond to such changes as follows:

1- They might ignore these changes or they response may be delayed, due to (barriers) the poor environmental scanning, limited resources; financial and human. 2- Gradual strategic repositioning, generally Datability should consider reviewing its portfolio to either consider new software, solutions, market segments, and offering. 3- Sales force should be increased to cover the new expected emerged market segments.

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4- Marketing department should be established, with a clear vision to capture the new opportunities and handle the expected risks. 5- Datability should think deeply to expand their business into new markets i.e. other countries, because competition will increase niche segments will become saturated from these data-related solutions. 6- Operation department should be restructured to reflect and align with all these marketing changes.

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References:
1- Jobber, D. (2007) Principal and Practice of Marketing Strategy. 5th ed. London: McGrawHill. 2- Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (2009) http://www.gcc-sg.org/ [accessed 12 April 2009] 3- Research and Markets(2009) :http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/603076/executive_report_on_strategie s_in_saudi_arabia [accessed 16 April 2009] 4- Profile of Saudi Arabia (2009) http://www.saudinf.com/main/e13.htm [accessed 19 April 2009] 5- Saudi Central Department of Statistics (2009 ) http://www. CDS.gov.sa [accessed 13 April 2009] 6- Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency ( 2009) http://www.sama.gov.sa/sites/SAMAEN/FAQ/Pages/FaqDetailedPage.aspx [accessed 18 April 2009] 7- OPEC (2009) http://www.opec.org/home/ [accessed 19 April 2009] 8- Saudi Arabia Environmental Issues (2009) http://www.earthscape.org/r1/ES15071/doe_saudi.html [accessed 18 April 2009] 9- Climate zone (2009) http://www.climate-zone.com/climate/saudi-arabia/ [accessed 20 April 2009] 10- Saudi Arabia network(2009) http://www.the-saudi.net/saudi-arabia/weather.htm [accessed 14 April 2009]

11- e-Government program (2009) http://www.yesser.gov.sa/english/default.asp[accessed 18 April 2009]

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12- The Science of Climate Change(2009) http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:HFnBtSJlPWUJ:www.nwda.co.uk/pdf/thesci enceofclimatechangeforweb.pdf+The+Science+of+Climate+Change+david+king&c d=1&hl=en&ct=clnk [accessed 18 April 2009]