A study on application of marketing mix policy in vps securities joint stock company

Securities Joint Stock Company VDSC Rong Viet Securities Joint Stock Company VND Vnidrect Securities Joint Stock Company M&A Merger & Acquisitions IPO Initial Public Offering NAV Net Ass

BANKING ACADEMY FACULTY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

GUARANTEE

I hereby declare that this graduation thesis is my own work, researched and conducted on the basis of theoretical research and applied in practice The thesis was completed thanks to my own efforts and the support from the instructor - Mrs Nguyen Thi Thuy Ha of Banking Academy and colleagues at VPS Securities Joint Stock Company, Dong Do transaction office at 35 Thi Sach, Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi All references in this essay are clearly cited, from true sources The content of the thesis does not coincide with similar studies that have been published before

I accept full responsibility for this undertaking

Ha Noi, 20 th May 2021

Kim Anh

Ta Thi Kim Anh

SPECIAL THANKS

I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Board of Directors and all teachers in the Faculty of Business Administration and lecturers in Banking Academy who have taught and imparted to me a lot of useful knowledge in this field for four years at Banking Academy In particular, I am very grateful to Mr Nguyen Thi Thuy Ha- lecturer has directly guided and helped me throughout the process of implementing and completing this thesis

During my internship and practical study at VPS Securities Joint Stock Company at 35 Thi Sach, Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi, I also received the support and guidance of colleagues in the brokerage department as well as in other departments

I have learned a lot of knowledge and practical experience to apply to my thesis and future work

Thank you sincerely!

Ha Noi, 20 th May 2021

Kim Anh

Ta Thi Kim Anh

TABLE OF CONTENT

GUARANTEE I SPECIAL THANKS II LIST OF DATA TABLES, DIAGRAMS, CHARTS, ACRONYMS VI

INTRODUCTION 1

1 NECESSITY OF RESEARCH TOPIC 1

2 RESEARCH PURPOSES 2

3 RESEARCH SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES 2

3.1 Research objectives 2

3.2 Research scope 2

4 METHODOLOGY 3

5 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS 3

1 OVERALL MARKETING DEFINITION 4

1.1 Marketing definition 4

1.2 Marketing mix definition 4

2 IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING MIX POLICY 8

1.2.1 Marketing mix helps in a clean mix creation 8

1.2.2 Marketing mix helps in New product development 8

1.2.3 Marketing mix helps increase the product portfolio 8

1.2.4 Marketing mix is a guide to improve a business 8

1.2.5 Marketing mix helps in differentiation 9

1.2.6 Finally, marketing mix helps being dynamic 9

3 PROCESS OF MARKETING MIX 9

3.1 Market analysis 9

3.2 Organizing Marketing mix 11

4 TOOL FOR PROCESS OF PLANNING MARKETING MIX POLICIES 18

4.1 SWOT MATRIX 18

4.2 SWOT Matrix analysis 19

5 FACTORS AFFECT ON MARKETING MIX POLICY 21

5.1 Internal factors 21

5.2 External factors 22

1.6 CHAPTER SUMMARY 24

1 VPS INTRODUCTION 26

1.1 History 26

1.2 Strategic objectives 27

1.3 Vision 27

1.4 Mission 27

1.5 Core values 27

1.6 Outstanding achievement 27

1.7 Community activities 29

1.8 Departmentation and Organization 30

1.9 Network 32

1.10 Executive Board and Human Resources 32

2.1.11 Product Portfolio 33

2.1.12 SWOT Matrix of VPS 34

2 APPLICATION OF VPS’S MARKETING MIX POLICY 35

2.1 Product policy 35

2.2 Price policy 37

2.2.3 Place policy 40

2.4 Promotion policy 43

2.5 Evaluation VPS’s Marketing mix application 44

3 CHAPTER SUMMARY 51

CHAPTER 3 52

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BETTER MARETING MIX POLICY OF VPS 52

1 GENERAL DEVELOPMENT ORIENTATION OF VIETNAM'S STOCK MARKET 52

2 FUTURE DEVELOPMENT ORIENTATION OF VPS SECURITIES JOINT STOCK COMPANY 54

3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING VPS’S MARKETING MIX POLICY 55

3.4 CHAPTER SUMMARY 57

CONCLUSION 58 LIST OF REFERENCE 60 APPENDIX 61

LIST OF DATA TABLES, DIAGRAMS, CHARTS

Table 2.1 VPS's full name of Board of Directors 33

Table 2.2 VPS's full name of Control Board 33

Table 2.3 VPS's full name of Executive Board 33

Table 2.4 Table of Common stock transaction fee of VPS 37

Table 2.5 Summary of transaction fees for underlying securities at VPS 38

Table 2.6 Investment cooperation package at VPS 39

Chart 2.1 Top 10 securities companies with the largest stock brokerage market shares listed on HNX in 2018 and 2019 46

Chart 2.2 Top 10 securities companies with the largest brokerage market share in the UPCom market in 2018 and 2019 47

Chart 2.3 Top 10 securities companies with the largest stock brokerage market share in the derivatives market in 2018 and 2019 48

Diagram 1.1 Five levels of product……… 13

Diagram 1.2 How Corporate Mission affect Marketing mix policy………21

Diagram 2.1 VPS company organizational chart……… 31

Diagram 2.2 The product portfolio of VPS……… 33

LIST OF ACRONYMS

VPS VPS Securities Joint Stock Company

SSI SSI Securities Joint Stock Company

VDSC Rong Viet Securities Joint Stock Company VND Vnidrect Securities Joint Stock Company M&A Merger & Acquisitions

IPO Initial Public Offering

NAV Net Asset Value

HNX Hanoi Stock Exchange

HOSE Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange

IBM International Business Machines Corporation

INTRODUCTION

1 Necessity of research topic

During 22 years of operation and development, Vietnam's stock market has achieved a lot of success in building an effective medium and long-term capital market and channel for investors and businesses help promote economic growth Since its establishment with two listed companies, the number has increased to 2458 companies registered for trading The period from 2000-2005 was the beginning of the stock market, when the market capitalization was only about 1% of GDP, but

2006 marked a turning point reaching 22.7% of GDP, even reaching over 43% in

2007 However, due to the influence of financial markets, domestic and foreign economies, the market capitalization in 2008 dropped sharply to 18% of GDP After that, the market gradually recovered and so far this figure has exceeded 82% of GDP, marking the explosive development of the stock market Experiencing a lot of ups and downs of the economy and society, the stock market is growing strongly, the appearance of securities companies and investors is increasing day by day, year

by year This leads to an understandable consequence that the competition between securities companies is increasing day by day Not only the domestic market, Vietnam's stock market is also moving closer to international standards, developing

in the direction of becoming more modern and more sustainable, reflected in its active participation in initiatives in global finance, typically the Green Finance Initiative with the active support and cooperation of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Corporate Governance Initiative within the framework of cooperation with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative… Therefore, every securities companies need to strengthen their competitiveness In order to improve competitiveness, improving the quality of Marketing, finding effective marketing solutions suitable for businesses is one of the best solutions More specifically, securities companies have to the design and organize the most appropriate and effective marketing mix policy for all the potential of the business to gain the most competitiveness

After 15 years of establishment and development, VPS securities company

has achieved many achievements, but there are still certain limitations in building and implementing marketing mix policies Therefore, I decided to conduct this graduation thesis with the topic "A study on application of Marketing mix policy in VPS Securities Joint Stock Company"

2 Research purposes

Based on the urgency of the given topic, the thesis brings the most complete, concise and comprehensive theories about Marketing in general and Marketing mix policy in particular Especially, this study goes into depth analysis and assessment

of this operation of VPS as well as brings the most detailed information about the company to the entire public With the goal of solving the limitations and shortcomings of VPS’s Marketing mix policy in the near future, the thesis offers practical and useful solutions to improve the efficiency of the Marketing mix specifically for VPS that the company can use Specifically, the goals are as follows:

- Mention the theoretical basis, general theory of Marketing and marketing mix policies;

- Research the current situation, analyze and evaluate the construction and implementation of marketing mix policy at VPS, find out the limitations and causes;

- Proposing solutions, building campaigns for Marketing mix policy in near future for better effectiveness of the Marketing mix at VPS

3 Research scope and objectives

orientations and solutions proposed towards 2025

4 Methodology

This study is based on a combination of different methods:

- Methods of information collection: For the general theories of securities companies and marketing mix activities, this thesis uses references from reliable sources from the Internet, books and textbooks related to the domestic and international Securities and Marketing field

- For the application at VPS, the annual reports, consolidated financial statements of VPS and other securities companies over the years are used, combined with historical materialism method In addition, there are other statistics that are collected during my internship at the company

- Analytical method: To make assessments and solutions for the Marketing mix of VPS, I use the method of comparing, synthesizing, and analyzing the marketing activities of the company and other securities companies The research has systematically combined the knowledge with the actual situation to analyze, evaluate then suggest solutions and finally conclude all Not only that, the study also uses quantitative methods, modeling through diagrams, charts and tables to help the problem become more intuitive

5 Organization of the thesis

The thesis consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW OF MARKETING MIX

Chapter 2: APPLICATION OF VPS SECURITIES JOINT STOCK COMPANY MARKETING MIX POLICY

Chapter 3: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BETTER VPS SECURITIES JOINT STOCK COMPANY MARETING MIX POLICY

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW OF MARKETING AND MARKETING MIX

1 OVERALL MARKETING DEFINITION

as “the management process of planning, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.” In general, these two definitions focus on the transaction approach in marketing rather than relationship marketing, which the latter one plays

a more important role in nowadays marketing approach As supported by Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong’s (2007, p.5), marketing definition is “the process of creating value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return.” This is also the reason of choosing customer’s marketing and relationship marketing as the main contemporary approach to discuss in latter parts of this article

1.2 Marketing mix definition

According to Philip Kotler “Marketing Mix is the set of controllable variables that the firm can use to influence the buyer’s response” The controllable variables in this context refer to the 4 ‘P’s [product, price, place (distribution) and promotion] Each firm strives to build up such a composition of 4‘P’s, which can create highest level of consumer satisfaction and at the same time meet its organisational objectives Thus, this mix is assembled keeping in mind the needs of target customers, and it varies from one organisation to another depending upon its available resources and marketing objectives Let us now have a brief idea about the four components of marketing mix

1.2.1 Product

Product refers to the goods and services offered by the organization for sale

All these are purchased because they satisfy one or more of our needs We are paying not for the tangible product but for the benefit it will provide So, in simple words, product can be described as a bundle of benefits which a marketeer offers to the consumer for a price

1.2.2 Price

Price is the amount charged for a product or service It is the second most important element in the marketing mix Fixing the price of the product is a tricky job Many factors like demand for a product, cost involved, consumer’s ability to pay, prices charged by competitors for similar products, government restrictions etc have to be kept in mind while fixing the price In fact, pricing is a very crucial decision area as it has its effect on demand for the product and also on the profitability of the firm Methods of fixing the price can be broadly divided into the following categories

- Cost based pricing

- Competition based pricing

- Demand based pricing

- Objective based pricing

1.2.3 Place

Goods are produced to be sold to the consumers They must be made available to the consumers at a place where they can conveniently make purchase This involves a chain of individuals and institutions like distributors, wholesalers and retailers who constitute firm’s distribution network (also called a channel of distribution) The organisation has to decide whether to sell directly to the retailer or through the distributors/wholesaler etc It can even plan to sell it directly to consumers The choice is guided by a host of factors about which you will learn later in this chapter Primarily a channel of distribution performs the following functions:

(a) It helps in establishing a regular contact with the customers and provides them the necessary information relating to the goods

(b) It provides the facility for inspection of goods by the consumers at convenient points to make their choice

(c) It facilitates the transfer of ownership as well as the delivery of goods (d) It helps in financing by giving credit facility

(e) It assists the provision of after sales services, if necessary

(f) It assumes all risks connected with the carrying out the distribution function

TYPES OF CHANNELS OF DISTRIBUTION

Generally we do not buy goods directly from the producers The producers/manufacturers usually use services of one or more middlemen to supply their goods to the consumers But sometimes, they do have direct contact with the customers with no middlemen in between them This is true more for industrial goods where the customers are highly knowledgeable and their individual purchases are large The various channels used for distribution of consumer goods can be described as follows:

(a) Zero stage channel of distribution

(b) Zero stage distribution channel exists where there is direct sale of goods

by the producer to the consumer This direct contact with the consumer can be made through door-to-door salesmen, own retail outlets or even through direct mail Also

in case of perishable products and certain technical household products, door sale is an easier way of convincing consumer to make a purchase (b) One stage channel of distribution

door-to-In this case, there is one middleman i.e., the retailer The manufacturers sell their goods to retailers who in turn sell it to the consumers This type of distribution channel is preferred by manufacturers of consumer durables like refrigerator, air conditioner, washing machine, etc where individual purchase involves large amount It is also used for distribution through large scale retailers such as departmental stores and super markets

(c) Two stage channel of distribution

This is the most commonly used channel of distribution for the sale of consumer goods In this case, there are two middlemen used, namely, wholesaler and retailer This is applicable to products where markets are spread over a large area, value of individual purchase is small and the frequency of purchase is high

(d) Three stage channel of distribution

When the number of wholesalers used is large and they are scattered throughout the country, the manufacturers often use the services of mercantile agents who act as a link between the producer and the wholesaler They are also known as distributors

1.2.4 Promotion

If the product is manufactured keeping the consumer needs in mind, is rightly priced and made available at outlets convenient to them but the consumer is not made aware about its price, features, availability etc, its marketing effort may not be successful

Therefore promotion is an important ingredient of marketing mix as it refers

to a process of informing, persuading and influencing a consumer to make choice of the product to be bought Promotion is done through means of personal selling, advertising, publicity and sales promotion It is done mainly with a view to provide information to prospective consumers about the availability, characteristics and uses

of a product It arouses potential consumer’s interest in the product, compare it with competitors’ product and make his choice The proliferation of print and electronic media has immensely helped the process of promotion

Promotion refers to the process of informing and persuading the consumers

to buy certain product By using this process, the marketeers convey persuasive message and information to its potential customers A firm uses different tools for its promotional activities which are as follows:

– Advertising: is the most commonly used tool for informing the present and prospective consumers about the product, its quality, features, availability, etc through different media about a product, idea, a service or an organisation by an identified sponsor

– Publicity: a non-paid process of generating wide range of communication to contribute a favourable attitude towards the product and the organisation You may have seen articles in newspapers about an organisation, its products and policies

– Personal selling: knocking at your door and persuading customer to buy product It is a direct presentation of the product to the consumers or prospective

buyers This is the most effective promotional tool in case of industrial goods

– Sales promotion: to short-term and temporary incentives to purchase or induce trials of new goods The tool include contests, games, gifts, trade shows, discounts, etc Sales promotional activities are often carried out at retail levels

2 IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING MIX POLICY

The following points explain the importance of marketing mix

1.2.1 Marketing mix helps in a clean mix creation

Your marketing mix should have all the P’s compatible with each other The price should be compatible with the placement of the product The product should

be compatible with the promotions In general, all the P’s are intrinsically linked to each other

As a result, when you are making a marketing mix, it becomes a chain of strong bonds And these bonds then guide you forward in making the chain longer Whenever you are considering adding a new feature or changing existing things, you have to look at the overall picture, which helps in creating a clean marketing mix for the product

1.2.2 Marketing mix helps in New product development

While designing an existing product, there are any number of ideas which can come up for a related product that can be designed by the company The pricing, place and promotions might be different for such a product Nonetheless, it can be classified as a new product and hence while designing the marketing mix, the company can come up with good ideas for NPD as well

1.2.3 Marketing mix helps increase the product portfolio

Whenever you want to increase the product depth or product line and length, you have to make minor changes to the product In essence, you are making minor changes in the marketing mix itself You are making changes to the product features, to its pricing and possible to its promotions As a result, by altering the marketing mix and certain features within it, you can end up with an enlarged product portfolio

1.2.4 Marketing mix is a guide to improve a business

Product is the most important P in marketing mix If business organization or

an interior design business realises its importance, then naturally they can act on it and improve the physical evidence of their business thereby bringing in more business

The importance of marketing mix is evident in more than a single P Both product, price, place and promotion are important to the organization Optimizing both can improve the overall working of the organization Hence, marketing mix is

an excellent guide if firm wants to improve their business and is doing gap analysis

1.2.5 Marketing mix helps in differentiation

When you analyse the marketing mix of Competitors, there are many different ways that you can differentiate yourself from the competitor The competitor might have poor promotions and by analysing them, you can create better promotions of your own product

The competitor might have poor placement of products or he might have the wrong process or the wrong people in place All this can be improved upon giving you a better marketing mix and therefore a competitive advantage in the market

1.2.6 Finally, marketing mix helps being dynamic

A company which is well prepared is also prepared when disaster strikes During recession or during a poor business environment, a company should be ready to respond At such times, the company needs to be dynamic in nature Such a company needs to understand its product, processes, people, promotions and all other P’s better If it understands them, it will respond with a better agility

Thus, there are many ways that marketing mix may be important to an organization The best part is, analysing and understanding the marketing mix is not

a lengthy procedure and the ROI on the time spent is much higher

3 PROCESS OF MARKETING MIX

segmenting customers is to decide how to relate to customers in each segment in order to maximize the value of each customer to the business

Customer segmentation has the potential to allow marketers to address each customer in the most effective way Using the large amount of data available on customers (and potential customers), a customer segmentation analysis allows marketers to identify discrete groups of customers with a high degree of accuracy based on demographic, behavioral and other indicators

3.1.2 Target customer(TCS)

Customer value analysis is an analytical method for determining customers’ consuming behaviors and allows for the further analysis and data abstraction of specific customer data, such as who the target customers are and whose contributions are more significant Kaymak [3] noted that a RFM model is one of the well-known customer value analysis methods for TCS, and the advantage of the RFM model is that it can extract customers’characteristics by using fewer criteria (a three-dimensional variable) to cluster attributes, thereby reducing the complexity of the model of customer value analysis Moreover, Schijns and Schroder [15] noted that the RFM model is a commonly used method to measure the strength of a customer relationship

TCS is a population subgroup that shares similar preferences or

activities for products or services In practice, different groups of customers can be segmented by their consumption behaviors via RFM attributes or other characteristics to develop an in-depth understanding of a certain consumer segment, identify a highyield TCS, and analyze this group’s specific needs [16] By using this method to describe the consumers’ characteristics and needs, the cluster standards for customer values and TCS are not subjective, but rather defined objectively based only on the three RFM attributes

3.1.3 Brand Positioning

Put simply, brand positioning is defined as the process of positioning the brand in the mind of customers Popularized in Al Ries and Jack Trout’s

bestselling Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, the idea is to identify and attempt

to “own” a marketing niche for a brand, product, or service using various strategies

including pricing, promotions, distribution, packaging, and competition So, brand positioning is directly related to marketing mix policy By impressing customer with one of 4P or more, marketing mix policies are the key to make the brand

unique and distinct from rest of the marketplace

3.2 Organizing Marketing mix

3.2.1 Organizing Product Policy

Organizing product policy based on PLC

All products are prone to the phases of a life cycle A Product Life Cycle (PLC) has four main successive phases They are respectively: the Introduction Phase, the Growth Phase, the Maturity Phase and the Decline Phase In accordance with each phase, behavior responds to change and this is apparent in the volume of sales, product related costs, channels of distribution, competitors, volume of advertising, price, promotions and more depend on quantity from one phase to another ''The product life cycle theory draws an analogy with the life cycle of human beings, in that every product in a market is mortal In the world of biology, each stage in the cycles is fixed, with one stage following on from another in both

an invariable and irreversible order In the marketing world, however, neither of these circumstances is typical, the length of different stages of the life cycle tending

to differ from product to product” (Dhalla and Yuspeh, 1976)

- The introduction phase of a product includes the product launch with its requirements to getting it launch in such a way so that it will have maximum impact

at the moment of sale This period can be described as a money sinkhole compared

to the maturity phase of a product Large expenditure on promotion and advertising

is common, and quick but costly service requirements are introduced

- The growth phase offers the satisfaction of seeing the product take-off in the marketplace This is the appropriate timing to focus on increasing the market share If the product has been introduced first into the market, (introduction into a

"virgin" market or into an existing market) then it is in a position to gain market share relatively easily A new growing market alerts the competition's attention

- When the market becomes saturated with variations of the basic product, and all competitors are represented in terms of an alternative product, the maturity

phase arrives In this phase market share growth is at the expense of someone else's business, rather than the growth of the market itself This period is the period of the highest returns from the product A company that has achieved its market share goal enjoys the most profitable period, while a company that falls behind its market share goal, must reconsider its marketing positioning into the marketplace

- The decision for withdrawing a product seems to be a complex task and there a lot of issues to be resolved before with decide to move it out of the market Dilemmas such as maintenance, spare part availability, service competitions reaction in filling the market gap are some issues that increase the complexity of the decision process to withdraw a product from the market Often companies retain a high price policy for the declining products that increase the profit margin and gradually discourage the "few" loyal remaining customers from buying it Such an example is telegraph submission over facsimile or email

Organizing product policy based on product level

Kotler's Five Product Level model provides businesses with a proven method for structuring their product portfolio to target various customer segments This enables them to analyse product and customer profitability (sales and costs) in a structured way By organising products according to this model, a business' sales processes can be aligned to its customer needs and help focus other operational processes around its customers – such as design and engineering, procurement, production planning, costing and pricing, logistics, and sales and marketing

Grouping products into product families that align with customer segments helps modelling and planning sales, as well as production and new product planning

A customer is satisfied only if the actual value is the same or exceeds the perceived value Kotler attributed five levels to products:

Diagram 1.1 Five levels of product The five product levels are:

- Core benefit: The fundamental need or want that consumers satisfy by

consuming the product or service This product level is often the core products of brand For example, for a securities company as VPS, the first product level is brokage services

- Generic product: A version of the product containing only those

attributes or characteristics absolutely necessary for it to function For example, the online brokage services helps customers to access supports from broker more flexibly

- Expected product: The set of attributes or characteristics that buyers

normally expect and agree to when they purchase a product For example, advanced broker with certificates for more effective advice

- Augmented product: The inclusion of additional features, benefits,

attributes or related services that serve to differentiate the product from its competitors For example, the free brokage service or lower cost with high quality

or different groups of brokers focus on different groups of customers

- Potential product: This includes all the augmentations and

transformations a product might undergo in the future To ensure future customer loyalty, a business must aim to surprise and delight customers in the future by continuing to augment products For example,VPS may use AI and Big Data on brokage services

3.2.2 Organizing Price Policy

There are numerous pricing strategies:

Product Line Pricing

- Premium pricing (Charging a high price, with good quality product/service – like Mark & Spencer products)

- Captive product pricing (Products that complement others, like cheaper tooth paste and costly tooth brush, cheaper printer costly cartridge)

- Bait Pricing (Low price of one item to attract customers to store for selling a higher priced item in the line, like Reality developers)

- Price Lining (Different prices for different combinations – Tata Sky gives different channels packages at different prices)

- Volume Pricing (Rationale of Product range, like ice cream cup Rs 15, family Pack Rs 50, and giant size Rs 75)

New Product Pricing

- Penetration pricing (Low price to gain market share and then increase price, like Tata Telecom)

- Price skimming (High initial price, in future price will come down to parity, like films on release)

Psychological Pricing

- Reference Pricing (Pricing at moderate level a product kept next to a

more expensive product, so that customer can differentiate between moderate and better products)

- Group or Bundle Pricing (Package to contain two or more products and the package is priced, like tour to Europe Price includes air fare, transfers, sight-seeing, hotel, and food)

- Multiple – Unit Pricing (in Big Bazaar socks with three pairs are per unit cheaper than buying one pair)

- Everyday Low Prices (Instead of declaring frequent short-term price reductions, marketers keep the prices otherwise low, like Wal-Mart-“Always Low Prices Always.”)

- Odd Pricing (Bata keeping price at Rs 995.99 for women’s saddles)

- Prestige Pricing (Keeping higher price because customers believe that a higher priced product is of better quality)

Promotional Pricing

- Price Leaders (Keeping low prices of some products in the hope of sale of other regularly priced items, like lower sugar price and regular pricing for tea leaves, milk and cardamom)

- Special Event Pricing (Most of the big stores announce lower prices on the eve of Diwali, Id, Gurpurab, 25th December, 15th August)

- Comparison Discounting (Company writing earlier higher prices along with current lower prices for comparison by the customers)

- Economy pricing (No frills and low price, like Indigo Air)

- Cash Rebate Pricing (Purchase air ticket from makemytrip.com and get air ticket from makemytrip.com and get a cash back of Rs 300)

- Other promotional pricing strategies (Includes Low Interest financing, longer payment terms, extended warranties and Service Contracts, and Psychological Discounting)

Other Pricing Strategies

- Pricing variations (Early bird discounts, like ticket booking one month in advance at lower price)

- Optional product-pricing (Optional extra, like stereo price extra in Alto Car)

- Geographical pricing (Different prices in different geographies, like Indian Oil charges different prices for petrol and diesel in different cities)

- Value pricing (Difficult economic conditions and marketer making value offering, like restaurant offering value menu)

- Transfer Pricing (Price charged for intra-company or group companies selling)

No pricing decisions will be complete without discussing discounts and allowances These are very popular in business to business marketing In some of the industries, even for retailing, like electric switches and sockets, discounts are the normal feature

3.2.3 Organizing Place Policy

Chain or path or route in the channels may be marketer to consumer (through factory outlet or internet or company owned stores, or mail order business or door to door sales, or multilevel marketing as done by Amway), or marketer to retailer to consumer, or marketer to wholesaler (also referred to as distributors) to retailer to consumer, or agent to wholesaler to retailer to consumer The organisations between the marketer and the consumers are known as intermediaries Each one of them has

an important role to play

3.2.4 Organizing Promotion Policy

Advertising

It’s a key promotional strategy and can be done through the following:

Radio

Relatively inexpensive yet very effective, radio advertisement is a great way

to reach local customers and inform them about your business and products The best day to run a radio ad is from Wednesday to Sunday

Television

If you want your advertisement to reach customers in regional or national levels, television is the way to go, although it can be more costly than the other options

Print

Print advertisement can be distributed via direct mail or printed materials which include newspapers, flyers, and trade and consumer magazines You can also send letters, contests, fact sheets, brochures, and coupons to current or potential customers across the whole country Print advertisements let people know what, where, when, and why they should buy your product

Electronic

You can also advertise electronically through your company website and

provide important and pertinent information to clients and customers You can protect some parts of your website through passwords and give access to member customers You can also send advertisements via direct e-mail as part of your promotional strategy

Word of Mouth

They say the best advertisers are satisfied customers and the reverse can also

be said When customers like or dislike your products, they tell other people about it

Generic

This type refers to advertising that does not mention or promote a particular brand but the whole industry You may have seen generic advertisements for beef, pork, and milk

Companies might also want to educate potential and current customers by holding training and seminars, or reach them via trade shows

Some of the target audience may be more receptive to a certain promotional method than another

Firms can also do sales promotions by setting up product displays during a public event or through social networking at business and civic gatherings

The proliferation of the Internet has given birth to other promotional

channels that were not available before

E-commerce has also changed the way companies and customers do business

Social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube,… reach a very wide audience and putting up advertisements through them may lead to more customers

4 TOOL FOR PROCESS OF PLANNING MARKETING MIX POLICIES 4.1 SWOT MATRIX

Understanding the business environment is central to a strategic planning process Hence, to plan Marketing mix policy, it is important to analyze business environment Among the most important tools to facilitate such understanding is the SWOT analysis (Hill & Westbrook, 1997; Ying, 2010) It helps organizations to gain a better insight of their internal and external business environment when making strategic plans and decisions by analysing and positioning an organization’s resources and environment in four regions: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

SWOT analysis has been praised for its simplicity and has been in continued use since the 1960s However, in practice it cannot offer an efficient result and sometimes may lead to a wrong business decision (Wilson & Gilligan, 2005; Coman

& Ronen, 2009) This is because the traditional approach of SWOT analysis is based

on qualitative analysis in which SWOT factors are likely to hold subjective views of managers or planner judgements Besides, SWOT factors in each region are either not measurable or ranked by the significance towards an organisation’s performance In addition, the SWOT analysis should be evaluated by considering the customer’s

perspective rather than being evaluated solely on the organisation’s point of view to ensure that the capabilities perceived by the organisation are recognized and valued

by the customers (Piercy & Giles, 1989; Wilson & Gilligan, 2005)

4.2 SWOT Matrix analysis

SWOT analysis is a commonly used method for analysing and positioning an organization’s resources and environment in four regions: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (Samejima et al., 2006) Strengths and Weaknesses are internal (controllable) factors that support and obstruct organizations to achieve their mission respectively Whereas Opportunities and Threats are the external (uncontrollable) factors that enable and disable organizations from accomplishing their mission (Dyson, 2004) By identifying the factors in these four fields, the organization can recognize its core competencies for decision-making, planning and building strategies

SWOT analysis is one of many tools that can be used in an organization’s strategic planning process Other tools that are commonly used for strategy analysis are PEST analysis, Five Forces analysis, and 3C (Company-CustomerCompetitor) analysis (Akiyoshi & Komoda, 2005) Regarding the survey conducted by the Competitive Intelligent Foundation (Fehringer et al., 2006) which received responses from 520 competitive intelligent (CI) professionals, SWOT is the second-most frequently used analytic tool with 82.6% of respondents It was ranked after competitor analysis with 83.2% of respondents Additionally, the survey based on the answers supplied by the Chief Executive Officers of wide range organizations in the UK shows that SWOT analysis is the most widely applied strategic tool by organizations in the UK(Gunn & Williams, 2007) Recently, a survey about analytical methods used by enterprise in South African for environmental scanning also shows that SWOT analysis is the most frequently used analytic tool with 87% of respondents followed by competitor analysis with 85% of respondents (du Toit, 2016)

The main advantage of SWOT analysis is its simplicity have resulted in its continued use in both leading companies and academic communities (Ghazinoory et al., 2011) since it was developed in the 1960s Despite its advantages, there are shortcomings existing in the traditional SWOT approach as it produces superficial

and imprecise list of factors, relies on subjective perception of an organisation’s staff who attended the brainstorming session and lacks factor prioritization regarding the importance of each SWOT factor

Due to the disadvantage in prioritization of SWOT factors, a number of researchers proposed a new variation of SWOT analysis approaches that integrated SWOT with others quantitative methods such as Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)-SWOT (Kurttila et al., 2000; Kangas et al., 2001), fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP)-SWOT (Lee & Lin, 2008) and Analytic Network Process (ANP)-SWOT (Y¨uksel & Dagdeviren, 2007; Fouladgar et al., 2011) which make SWOT factors commensurable regarding their relative importance

The main steps of these approaches can be summarized as follows First, the SWOT analysis is carried out through a brainstorming session to identify the SWOT factors in each group Then, the relative importance of the SWOT factor is determined through the pair-wise comparison within and between SWOT groups Finally, the importance degree of the SWOT factors is computed based on the comparison matrix These quantitative SWOT analysis approaches prioritize SWOT factors solely on the organisation’s perspective and ignore the customer’s perspective even if it can ensure that the capabilities perceived by an organisation are recognized and valued by the customers Therefore, this research aims to fill this gap in previously reported SWOT approaches

Regarding customer oriented SWOT analysis, there have been two studies that applied text mining and sentiment analysis to analyse customers’ feedback from unstructured data sources The first study by Dai et al (2010) proposed a decision support model that utilized text mining to identify SWOT factors from unstructured data sources such as customers’ feedback, competitors’ press releases, e-mail and organisation reports However, Dai et al (2010) focuses on the extraction of information from data sources and a mechanism to justify SWOT factors is not described The second study by Pai et al (2013) developed an ontology-based SWOT analysis mechanism that analyses the structure of online Word-of-Mouth (WOM) appraisals and interprets them as the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of an organisation Specifically, Pai et al.(2013) extracted WOM

appraisals for on-line resources then applied sentiment analysis in cooperation with

an Ontology to classify extracted appraisals into positive/negative appraisals Then, both positive and negative appraisals were used to assess the SWOT of the organisation Pai et al (2013) evaluated the proposed system by using user satisfaction questionnaire and the result showed that it can be used to accommodate strategic planning Pai et al.’s work is closely related to this study since it takes customers’ perspective into account

5 FACTORS AFFECT ON MARKETING MIX POLICY

5.1 Internal factors

5.1.1 Corporate vision and mission

Corporate vision and mission decide how the firms design marketing plan and marketing mix policy for the long term Therefore, corporate vision and mission play the role as the base of marketing mix strategies Corporate mission and vision guides marketers, and reversely, all the marketing activities have to support company’s vision and mission

Diagram 1.2 How Corporate Mission affect Marketing mix policy

stronger Through company culture, prospective customer can be impressed by what you believe as a business So, corporate culture plays the role of marketing and branding invisible supporter

Recently, Fortune Knowledge Group and gyro surveyed 500 executives about the importance of company culture The results, published in AdWeek, show how company culture has a strong impact on building business relationships:

“The majority of our respondents (60 percent) said that knowing what a company stands for is much more important in choosing a corporate partner than whether it’s innovative (21 percent) or dominates its market (20 percent) And, 81 percent of the executives said that companies that are successful at building long-term relationships make a direct correlation between what they believe in and the way they conduct their business.”

In other words, if a prospective customer knows what you believe and value

as a business, he is much more likely to do business with you — even in your values aren’t completely in alignment with his

5.1.3 Corporate situation of finance, human resource, R&D

Each department of business organization gets effects on others As part of a body, each company department has specific function However, all of them have to support each other for a healthy body, as a healthy company Marketing department needs resource from finance, HR, R&D,…

Suppliers

Suppliers are the most important factor of micro factors Suppliers plays the role of the bridge that link the company with its overall customer value delivery

system Suppliers provide all the neccessary resources for all of the firms’ goods and services, including marketing Supply availability, supply shortages or delays, labor strikes affects all 4P of marketing mix policy Therefore, there must be mutual-affaired between suppliers and marketers for successful marketing mix strategy

Customers

Customers play the role of boss of market All marketing efforts and marketing mix policies are served for customers Marketers have to take careful researches about target customers and potential customers to design marketing plan and marketing mix policies Marketers can even create customers’ needs and educate their consumption habit

5.2.2 Marcro factors

Political issue

Political issue has effects on your marketing activities by creating effects on all the business organizations some ways:

- Local market can directly depend on how stable the political system is

- On the view of governments, firms are critical vehicles for social reform

- Governments’ legislation impacts the relationship between the firm and the firm’s subordinate

- Every each government action influences the economic environment

- Government is a major consumer of goods and services

Economic issue

There are many ways, marketing can be supposed of as a sub-discipline of economics Economy situation has a direct impact on how marketers win the market By getting the link between the economy issue and marketing helps firms allocate their marketing resources effectively and respond to changing climate of economy quickly

Economic situation decides how customers treat market by effects on: income, savings, demand,… When the consumers make less, they spend less, and this can end up becoming your greatest problem When national or even global economic slide occurs, marketers may have to restructure marketing message and marketing goals accordingly

The economic utility theory states that consumers will buy things that increase their personal satisfaction Economic utility goes a long way toward explaining why luxury products and high-end goods dominate the marketplace People want to feel like they are part of the in crowd If your business caters to discount or redundant items, you may be missing out on the buying power of more affluent or trendy customers This focus on utility must be balanced with a keen sense of knowing your customer demographics If you operate in a community that does not particularly care about high-end goods, your job is to cater to your customers' demands Economic utility is particularly relevant from the marketing standpoint, as it serves as a warning to not sell yourself short When you are marketing your products, consider the economy's effect on your price point and customer base If you can charge a higher price and still retain your customers, take this as an opportunity to increase your revenue stream

Sociocultural issue

Sociocultural situation results in changes in customers’ attitudes and beliefs then causes changes in their norms, customs, and lifestyles Typical sociocultural issues directly affect marketers can be listed: diversity characteristics, demographic, cultural values, and consumerism Furthermore, sociocultural issue can lead to changes in a population's demographic characteristics and then consumption habit Accordingly, marketing mix has to change appropriately

Legal issue

Federal legislation affecting marketing activities can be divided into procompetitive legislation - laws designed to preserve and encourage competition - and consumer protection laws, which generally relate to product safety, advertising, and information disclosure

identified to help design the Marketing mix policy From there, it shows that the Marketing mix plays a huge role and has a comprehensive influence on the business activities of securities companies

CHAPTER 2 APPLICATION OF VPS’S MARKETING MIX POLICY

1 VPS INTRODUCTION

1.1 History

Established in 2006, VPS Securities Joint Stock Company (VPS) - formerly Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank Securities Joint Stock Company, has become one of the largest securities companies in Vietnam with capital Charter reached 3,500 billion VND and the scale of total assets was 10,274 billion VND as

of 30/06/2019

VPS provides diversified, high quality products that create added value for businesses and investors, including: securities brokerage, financial services, investment banking services, financial consulting and analysis services As a financial intermediary, investment banking is a central throughout VPS development orientation Specifically, VPS provides financial services such as capital arrangement, securities underwriting, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), corporate valuation consulting, capital restructuring, debt in periods

With the aim of providing world-class outstanding financial products and services, VPS has recruited a system of domestic and foreign experts with extensive experience in the financial market, along with the most modern information technology system These results have helped VPS increasingly assert its position in the Vietnamese financial market, becoming one of the leading prestigious financial institutions in Vietnam and more

VPS always attaches great importance to the long-term human resource development policy, giving priority to the qualified personnel trained domestically and internationally In addition to the benefits as prescribed, employees who come

to VPS also enjoy many other attractive remuneration Especially, newly-recruited personnel will participate in the professional training process as well as advanced training courses by domestic and foreign experts

Currently, VPS has a team of high-quality and experienced personnel and we are continuing to recruit more high-quality personnel in the financial industry with the best working conditions and remuneration

1.2 Strategic objectives

In the future, VPS aims to become a leading domestic and international business partner, providing innovative solutions that bring sustainable values to customers

1.3 Vision

Becoming one of the leading financial institutions in Vietnam and more, reaching the international level, trusted by high commitment customers, employees, and shareholders

1.4 Mission

Create outstanding value for customers, employees and shareholders through our best efforts to deliver innovative and competitive products and services, meeting the highest standards of perfection and professionalism

1.5 Core values

• Focusing on customers: VPS always considers customers as the central point to decide all activities of the Company;

• Human resources: is the most valuable asset of the Company;

• Fair competition: promote professional ethics, build a highly competitive business environment, for sustainable development;

• Honesty and integrity: always behave honestly and frankly

2019-• Award "The Best Bond Arrangement Consultant in Vietnam 2020" &

"Typical Vietnam Bond Deal 2020" voted by Alpha Southeast Asia Magazine

• The award "Securities company with advaced information technology application" & "Securities company with the most satisfaction by customers" in

2020 " awarded by International Data Group(IDG) and Vietnam Banking Association (VNBA)

• The award "Positive member securities company 2018-2019" by Hanoi

Stock Exchange (HNX) awarded

• Award "Outstanding M&A Consulting Organization in Vietnam in 2019" awarded by Vietnam M&A Forum 2019

2018-• Award "Best Investment Bank in Vietnam 2017-2019" voted by Alpha Southeast Asia Magazine

• Award "The securities company with the most progress in brokerage growth 2017-2018 on the HNX" awarded by the Hanoi Stock Exchange

• Award “Outstanding Securities Company 2017-2018: securities issuance consulting” awarded by Vietnam M&A Forum 2018

• Award "Best Investment Bank in Vietnam 2017-2018" and "Best Bond Advisor and Arrangement in Vietnam 2017-2018" voted by Alpha Southeast Asia Magazine

• Award "Best Investment Bank in Vietnam 2017" and "Best Bond Advisor and Arrangement in Vietnam 2017" at The Asset Triple A Country Awards 2017, awarded by The Asset Magazine

• Award "Typical M&A consulting securities company in Vietnam 2017: Category of private placement advisory"

2016-• Award “Best Bond House in Vietnam 2017” (Best Bond Advisory and Arrangement in Vietnam) by Alpha Southeast Asia Magazine

• Top 5 brokerage market share Corporate bonds 2016 - HOSE

• Award "Outstanding securities company" for the period 2015-2016 by Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX)

• Award "Best Bond Arrangement and Consultant in Vietnam 2016" (Best Debt Capital Market House in Vietnam 2016) voted by Global Business Outlook

• Award “Best Investment Bank and M&A House in Vietnam 2007-2016” (Best Investment Bank and M&A Consultant in Vietnam 2007-2016) awarded by Alpha Southeast Asia Magazine

• Award “Best Investment Bank” (Best Investment Bank in Vietnam) 2015

by Alpha Southeast Asia Magazine

• A member of IMAP Association - Global Mergers & Acquisitions Association

• The award "Outstanding Vietnamese enterprises in 2014" and the second prize "Outstanding enterprises in Southeast Asia 2014" by the ASEAN Business Advisory Council

• Outstanding M&A Consulting Company title in 2014 awarded by Vietnam M&A Forum

• Award “Best Domestic Bond House in Vietnam” 2014 by The Asset Triple

• The “Outstanding Securities Company” award for two consecutive years

2013 and 2014 by Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX)

• The award "Outstanding M&A Consultant" and "Securities company with the most outstanding M&A deal in 2010-2011" were awarded by Vietnam M & A Forum

1.7 Community activities

VPS is always aware of the responsibility of a business to the community and society VPS is making the best efforts to improve the quality of life of disadvantaged people The VPS Charity Fund is formed from voluntarily deducting

a portion of the monthly income of the company's employees to maintain and develop Volunteer activities are conducted on a quarterly basis by VPS

In which, there must be the typical events such as:

• June 2018: Organized a charity program at the National Hospital of Pediatrics and Central Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion

• December, 2017: Organized a charity trip "VPBS-Love of the Northwest"

to raise charity fund for upland people in Tram Tau district, Yen Bai province

• June 2017: Organized a charity program at the National Academy of Pediatrics

• January 2016: Organized a charity trip "Warm New Year in the highlands"

to raise charity funds for people in area of Ngoc Lau commune, Lac Son district,