Localized Project Marketing of Global System Suppliers in the Chinese Market
Hautamäki, Jyri (2014)
2014
Tuotantotalouden koulutusohjelma
Talouden ja rakentamisen tiedekunta - Faculty of Business and Built Environment
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2014-04-09
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201405231229
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201405231229
Tiivistelmä
This thesis is a research into the project marketing of large global system suppliers in the international and Chinese online channels. The focus is in determining the key differences between their international and localized online marketing strategies. The research also seeks to answer how and to what extent the companies utilize social media, content marketing, and other online resources outside their core websites. There are three main research questions: What kind of special requirements does the Chinese market impose for the system suppliers’ branding efforts? How do the system suppliers utilize the digital marketing channels? How are the system suppliers communicating their brand in local and global marketing channels?
This thesis is a document-based study analyzing the public marketing material of 30 global system suppliers that have been present in the Chinese market for at least five years. Roughly one third of the companies being researched are of European origin, one third are American and one third are Japanese. The first phase of the research was an extensive literature review into project marketing literature. Based on the findings from the literature, an empirical research was conducted. By using both qualitative and quantitative methods and an extensive amount of research material, the validity and reliability of the study was ensured.
The findings show that the usage of Chinese social media in project marketing is an extremely new phenomenon. However, most of the largest actors on the project business consider social media marketing as being worth the resources spent. The companies employing a social media strategy usually had a substantial amount of material available. There are strategic choices make when it comes to determining the online marketing strategy of a company. In the international channels, the framework built in this thesis identified four distinct strategic orientations. These were content and community orientation, brand promotion orientation, solution and reference orientation and website orientation. The findings also revealed that the European and American companies are utilizing the online channels much more extensively than the Japanese companies.
In their marketing localization, the companies have to take into account the challenges and problems posed by the Chinese market. Most of the issues are solvable by brand promotion oriented marketing approach to improve the visibility of the company brand in the Chinese market, displaying commitment by emphasizing domestic customer references and working together with the local companies to bypass the market restrictions and to gain access to their infrastructure and networks.
This thesis is a document-based study analyzing the public marketing material of 30 global system suppliers that have been present in the Chinese market for at least five years. Roughly one third of the companies being researched are of European origin, one third are American and one third are Japanese. The first phase of the research was an extensive literature review into project marketing literature. Based on the findings from the literature, an empirical research was conducted. By using both qualitative and quantitative methods and an extensive amount of research material, the validity and reliability of the study was ensured.
The findings show that the usage of Chinese social media in project marketing is an extremely new phenomenon. However, most of the largest actors on the project business consider social media marketing as being worth the resources spent. The companies employing a social media strategy usually had a substantial amount of material available. There are strategic choices make when it comes to determining the online marketing strategy of a company. In the international channels, the framework built in this thesis identified four distinct strategic orientations. These were content and community orientation, brand promotion orientation, solution and reference orientation and website orientation. The findings also revealed that the European and American companies are utilizing the online channels much more extensively than the Japanese companies.
In their marketing localization, the companies have to take into account the challenges and problems posed by the Chinese market. Most of the issues are solvable by brand promotion oriented marketing approach to improve the visibility of the company brand in the Chinese market, displaying commitment by emphasizing domestic customer references and working together with the local companies to bypass the market restrictions and to gain access to their infrastructure and networks.