Enhancing the marketing activities of PNAT trading and services co.,ltd

MBMM PROGRAM ENHANCING THE MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF PNAT TRADING & SERVICES CO.. MBMM PROGRAMENHANCING THE MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF PNAT TRADING & SERVICES CO.. Now, as the market environm

MBMM PROGRAM

ENHANCING THE MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF PNAT TRADING & SERVICES CO LTD

Final Proje ct

Master in Busine ss & Marketing Management

Ho Chi Minh City

2007

MBMM PROGRAM

ENHANCING THE MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF PNAT TRADING & SERVICES CO LTD

Final Proje ct

Master in Busine ss & Marketing Management

Project Tutor: Traà n Xuaâ n Kieâ m

Doctor in Busine ss Administration

Ho Chi Minh City

2007

Stude nt Declaration

I hereby certify that the attached assignment is my own work Materials drawn from other sources has been acknowledged according to specific requirements for referencing

Ho Chi Minh City, 25th May, 2007

Ly Lan Phuong

Acknowle dgments

The author wishes to express sincere appreciation to Dr Traàn Xuaân Kieâm for his guidance in the preparation and writing of this final project report

Special thanks to Mr Nguyeãn Vaên Taâm, IT Director of PNAT Trading &

Services Co Ltd., for his valuable input and feedback, and also to the management and staff of PNAT, the members of the Postgraduate Office of Open University HCMC and Solvay Business School for their assistance and encouragement in making this project a reality

Re marks from Project Tutor

Executive Summary

PNAT Trading & Services Co Ltd (hereinafter to be called PNAT) is a owned business specializing in trading and servicing Informatics (IT) products and office equipment It is a newly set-up company (one year old), but has made

family-a good reputfamily-ation for qufamily-ality goods family-and services family-at competitive price Currently, PNAT has an insignificant market share (less than 1 per cent), and it seeks to expand its customer reach and win a better market share in the IT market in Hochiminh City

Marketing Objectives

PNAT has managed to have a gross sales of USD 64,369 for its first year 2006, with a small loss of USD 1,889 due to high set-up costs for company

infrastructure Nevertheless, PNAT has developed a long-term relationship with

local and international companies Now PNAT intends to expand its sales of IT products and services, focusing on international and local SBs 1 , and heavy home-users of IT Its goal is to increase gross sales by 20 per cent in the year

2008 and incrementally in the subsequent years

Products or Services

PNAT has signed contracts with large manufacturing companies and authorized distributors in Vietnam such as IBM, ASUS, HP, and FTP to distribute their products to SBs on order, at a margin of 5% The pricing structure of PNAT is

1 Small Businesses

competitively lower than its competitors, and PNAT further differentiates itself

by giving free-of-charge after-sales services Together with the sales of products, PNAT carries out maintenance and trouble-shooting services to these SBs whenever there is a need Now, as the market environment has been increasingly changed at a fast pace since Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization in 2006, PNAT plans to meet the new demands of the market, and aggressively embark on sales of IT products and services

Resources Needed

PNAT is a newly set-up company, with low financial strength and manpower resources To increase sales of IT products and services, it plans to boost eMarketing and eCommerce, as this can save costs and increase marketing efficiency PNAT has the management expertise to accomplish this plan, and being an IT service company, PNAT does not need to hire outside consultants to develop its website and bring to full operation All that is required will be about USD 1,800 to redesign and develop the website, and 3 IT specialists to take turns

in monitoring the website

Marketing Matrix Components

PNAT has the benefit of beginning online marketing with its loyal customers, who are well established companies2 PNAT hopes to expand communication links with its current customers and attract new customers who are local and international SBs, and heavy home-users of IT products and services The

2 Please refer to 1.4.3: List of Loyal Customers

objectives of PNAT’s online marketing is brand and image building, and a wider reach of customers, for increase in sales

Projected Outcomes

It is expected that the brand of PNAT and its quality services and goods will be better known and utilized, so that its gross sales can be increased by 20% (about USD 76,800) in the first year (2008), and for the subsequent years, by 30% It is also expected that, thanks to its online marketing, PNAT will have better

understanding of the customer’s ‘unsatisfied demands’, and to satisfy these demands with a USP3 in a way that no other competitors can manage to achieve,

to increase barriers to entry for its competitors, and achieve a sustainable competitive edge

3 Unique Selling Proposal

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Student Declaration ii

Acknowledgments iii

Remarks from Project Tutor iv

Executive Summary v

Marketing Objectives v

Products or Services v

Resources Nee de d vi

Marketing Matrix Components vi

Projected Outcomes vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS viii

LIST OF FIGURES x

FOREWORD 1

1 Background 1

2 Research Objectives & Scope 2

3 Research Method 2

3.1 Method of Information-gathering 2

3.2 Method of Analysis and Synthesis 3

4 Project Outline 3

CHAPTER 1: MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF PNAT 4

1.1 INTRODUCTION TO PNAT 4

1.1.1 History of Establishment of PNAT 4

1.1.2 Organization Structure of PNAT 4

1.1.3 Company Performance 5

1.2 PRODUCT OF PNAT 5

1.3 PRICING 7

1.3.1 Products 7

1.3.2 Services 7

1.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS AND MERCHANDISING 7

1.4 PROMOTION ACTIVITIES 8

1.4.1 Telemarketing 9

1.4.2 Email Marketing 9

1.4.3 eCommerce 9

1.4.4 Other Promotion Activities 10

CHAPTER 2: SITUATION ANALYSIS 11

2.1 MARKET ANALYSIS 11

2.1.1 Changes in the Competitive Environment 11

2.1.2 Changes in the Sociocultural, Political and Legal Environment 11

2.2 COMPETITOR ANALYSIS 13

2.2.1 Competitor Matrix 13

2.2.2 Analysis of 2 key competitors of PNAT 13

2.3 TARGET ANALYSIS 15

2.4 SWOT ANALYSIS 15

2.4.1 Strengths 15

2.4.2 Weaknesses 16

2.4.3 Opportunities 17

2.4.4 Threats 17

CHAPTER 3: ENHANCING MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF PNAT 18

3.1 OPERATING PHILOSOPHY & MISSION STATEMENT 18

3.2 ANALYSIS AND PROPOSAL FOR STRATEGY 19

3.3 RECOMMENDATIONS 19

CONCLUSION 25

BIBLIOGRAPHY 26

1 Books/Articles: 26

2 Websites: 26

APPENDICES 1

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Organization Chart of PNAT 2

Figure 2: Balance Sheet of PNAT for 2006 3

Figure 3: Income Statement of PNAT for 2006 4

Figure 4: Marketing Expenditure for PNAT in 2006 5

Figure 5: PNAT website displaying products for sale 6

Figure 6: PNAT Distribution Channel Process Flow 7

Figure 7: PNAT’s webpage of “Web Design Service” still incompleted 8

Figure 8: Competitor Rating Matrix of PNAT 9

Figure 9: List of Loyal Customers of PNAT 10

Figure 10: Website of Phuong Nhut IT Services (no English version) 11

Figure 11: Phong Vu Website displaying IT products 12

Figure 12: Phong Vu Website displaying Product Price and Promotion 13

Figure 13: PNAT website with wordy advertising of its services and expertise 14

Figure 14: PNAT’s “Desired Targeting” vs “As Is Targeting” 15

Figure 16: PNAT’s enhanced website with more focused services 16

Figure 17: PNAT’s enhanced website promoting Free Weekly Newsletter 16

Figure 19: Good example of ‘In-home Network Services’ by DataDoctors 18

Figure 20: Good Example of Computer Metrics (for PNAT to adapt) 19

Figure 21: SWOT vs KSFs of PNAT 1

Figure 22: eMarketing Plan for PNAT 4

Peter Drucker, a leading management theorist, has stated “The aim of Marketing is to make selling superfluous The aim of Marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself profitably Ideally, Marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy4”

Yes, Marketing has been proven as critical for the long-term sustainability of any organization Within the constraint of this Final Project, I have chosen PNAT, a small company, to apply my Marketing knowledge and identify some feasible solutions to enhance their Marketing activities

PNAT is a newly established company (one year old), and has made some good business transactions in the IT and office products market in Hochiminh City PNAT has implemented some marketing activities, including the development of its website (www.pnat-it.com), but this is mainly for information, and under-utilized (only about 5,000 visits so far) Now PNAT is keen on finding low-cost measures to promote its brand and image and increase market share

4 Kotler, P cit., pg 4.

2 Research Objectives & Scope

This research aims at looking at PNAT current marketing activities and find solutions that are ‘low cost, but effective and efficient’ As we can see from PNAT Balance Sheet and Income Statement for year 20065, PNAT has made

a small loss for the previous year, and needs low cost operations to sustain itself The research also includes an analysis of market trends in Vietnam, revisit PNAT’s vision, operating philosophy, key success factors, and propose recommendations for improvement

However, due to the constraints of the project, this research is more focused

on PNAT IT product sales & services, and not on Office products and services, as PNAT has realized that IT-related sales far outweigh office equipment sales

5 Please refer to Appendices (Figures 2-4, pp 3-,5)

3.1.2 Indepth-Interview Method:

In-depth interviews are carried out with the management and staff

of PNAT to understand PNAT activities, website information, term and long-term strategies, and discuss possible marketing activity enhancement

short-3.2 Method of Analysis and Synthesis

The method of data analysis, deduction, or induction is used to generate feasible recommendations

4 Project Outline

Besides the Foreword, Tables, Figures, etc., the Final Project will comprise the following two main parts:

a Chapter 1: Marketing Activities of PNAT

b Chapter 2: Situation Analysis

c Chapter 3: Enhancing Marketing Activities of PNAT

CHAPTER 1: MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF PNAT 1.1 INTRODUCTION TO PNAT

1.1.1 History of Establishment of PNAT

On 16th June 2006, PNAT Trading & Services Co Ltd (PNAT) received its business licence On 26th June 2006, PNAT began its operation, providing companies with products and services of IT and office equipment

Currently, PNAT has a rented office with details as follows:

Address: 207/65A1, Nguyen Van Dau St., 11th Ward, Binh

Thanh District, Hochiminh City, Vietnam Telephone: 84-8-4551939

Fax: 84-8-5153924 Website: www.pnat-it.com

1.1.2 Organization Structure of PNAT

PNAT is a family-owned business with an invested capital of USD 310,000 Following are the founding members:

1 Mr Nguyen Dang Quang: 40% equity: President of Managing Board

2 Mr Nguyen Van Tam: 30% equity: General Director

3 Mr Ly Chanh Cuong: 30% equity: Board Member

PNAT has a total of 15 staff Please view its organization chart in Appendices, Firgure 1 (pg 2)

1.1.3 Company Performance

In Appendices (Figure 2, 3, and 4: pp 3-5) we can see PNAT’s Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and Marketing Expenditure for year 2006 As shown, PNAT has made a loss of USD 1,889

(0,005%), which is understandable for a newly set-up company with high investments in infrastructure

From the Income Statement, we can see that the sale of IT Products has achieved a high percentage (70%) However, PNAT has high General & Administration cost (23%), and has to reserve a large amount of cash for purchasing stock (76%)

The Marketing Expenditure shows that PNAT allots only for 0.04% expenditure on Marketing, and the activities are done in Quarters 3 and 4/2006 The cost for PNAT website designing and monitoring is minimal, as PNAT has its IT specialists, and the cost is therefore embedded in ‘Manpower Cost’ However, it must be noted that PNAT spends 87% of its marketing expenditure (USD 2,215) on building relationship with partners and the public

1.2 PRODUCT OF PNAT

PNAT trades and services the following products:

1.2.1 IT Equipment: laptop, desktop, server, CRT & LCD, peripheral

equipment, and security equipment These are from well-known

and authorized manufacturers: HP, Dell, IBM, Acer, Sony Vaio, Lenovo, Viewsonic, Samsung, and LG

1.2.2 Office Equipment: printer, fax, PABX, photocopier, projector,

screen panel, toner & cartridge, office machine (desk telephones) These are also branded goods from HP, Epson, Canon, Lexmark, Panasonic, Phillips, Siemens, Toshiba, Sony, Hitachi, and Acer

PNAT displays its products on the PNAT website, with clear pricing and product

details (upon clicking in) PNAT only sells original and new branded goods at

competitive price This differentiates PNAT from other competitors

1.2.3 IT Services: following is the range of IT Services shown on PNAT

website:

1 IT Infrastructure Services

2 Information Security & Privacy

3 Advanced Solution Delivery

4 Customer Solutions Practice

5 Business Process Outsourcing

6 Business Technology Consulting

7 Data Warehousing & Business Intelligence

8 Enterprise Resource Planning

9 Portals & Content Management

10 Program Management

11 Software Applications Services

12 Supply Chain Management

13 Quality Assurance Services

1.3.2 Services

PNAT service rates are similar to its competitors, but it differentiates itself by providing customers reliable and quality services IT products and services are often sophisticated and costly However, although most customers are low in IT knowledge, they can distinguish a quality service after a few trials In view of this, PNAT is expanding its services to this segment of the market: heavy home-users of IT: students, online game players, and virtual office people; and government agencies

1.4 DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS AND MERCHANDISING

PNAT’s channel of distribution is B2B, short-circuit, and JIT8 PNAT has strategic partnerships with leading IT manufacturers like INTEL, IBM, ASUS; or with FPT, the authorized distributor of IBM, to purchase their

6 FPT is the authorized distributor of IBM and some other IT manufacturers

7 Meaning: the product is second-hand, but the seller did some ‘touch-ups’ then sell it as new

8 Just in time (JIT)

goods at retail price and sell for a margin of 5% to local and international SBs in Hochiminh City and the surrounding areas

PNAT also does B2C and B2G9, but this has not been the focus PNAT has won a contract with Phu Quoc Vocational Training Center at Kien Giang province, but this means some of its resources have to be allocated to this distant area Please view in Appendices (Figure 6, pg.7) for the

distribution process flow of B2B, and PNAT’s list of loyal customers

The list of customers shows that PNAT has ‘repeated wealthy transactions’10 with many local and international SBs PNAT has also been servicing state-owned offices or institutions (No 14 and 15 in the above list) This has helped PNAT to maintain a strong foothold in IT products and services

As for merchandising, PNAT does not have strong financial strength for rental of a large office to display its products or for warehousing

Therefore it has been using the JIT (just-in-time) business model to overcome this disadvantage

1.4 PROMOTION ACTIVITIES

PNAT has devoted only 0.04% of its total expenditure and 25% of its time

in 2006 for marketing activities The key promotion activities comprises of the following:

9 Business to Consumers (B2C) and Business to Government (B2G)

10 Baeyens,J.P., cit Pg 11

1.4.3 eCommerce

PNAT has tried to carry out eCommerce by displaying its products and services on the website To promote website ‘stickiness’, it includes current happenings relating to IT that are extracted from online local newspapers, and an online section for customer queries However, this website is underused, as of date, after one year in operation, the number of visits to the website is less than 5,00011

Moreover, some sections of the website are still incompleted, e.g

in “Website Design” section, there is the message “Under Construction” This is also true with the webpages of ‘Software’,

‘Technical Support’, and ‘Recruitment’12 The reason is that there

is yet to be a Marketer for PNAT, which is now handled by the PNAT Director cum Software Team Leader

11 Source: Interview with PNAT Director, Mr Nguyen Van Tam on 3 May 2007

12 Accessed PNAT website on 9 th May 2007 Please refer to Appendices (Figure 7, pg.8)

1.4.4 Other Promotion Activities

Other promotion activities are as follows:

• Volume discounts of 3% for purchases of over USD 2,000

• Seasonal promotions during public holiday periods: e.g for the purchase of 1 laptop the customer is given 1 free gift of

“Privacy Filter”

• Commission for buyers, at the discretion of both parties

• Gifts to selected key customers or Purchasing departments at companies

CHAPTER 2: SITUATION ANALYSIS

2.1 MARKET ANALYSIS

Since Vietnam became the 150th member of the World Trade Organization in 2006, many changes have taken place which affects the market environment of IT Following are some key changes:

2.1.1 Changes in the Competitive Environment

2.1.1.1 Opportunities

According to Indonesian newspaper Tempo, Vietnam has a fast developing market for computers, and IT experts forecasted that by 2008-2009, Vietnam could rank first in South East Asia in the number of computer users13

2.1.1.2 Threats

Suppliers of IT products and services have speedily increased Just viewing Pcworld.com14 website, we can find advertisements from 560 IT service companies and 532 IT fabricating companies in Vietnam

2.1.2 Changes in the Sociocultural, Political and Legal Environment

2.1.2.1 Opportunities

• Ho Chi Minh City targets to increase the growth rate of the hardware sector by 60% in 2007 while software and related services are expected to grow 25%

13 Vietnam Net, cit., 11/6/2005

14 PC World, cit., accessed on 10/5/2007

• The government has implemented a series of projects and

supporting policies to help IT businesses benefit from development opportunities Attention is paid to e-commercial supporting services for sectors relating to public transactions like online services, e-customs, licence granting and business registering through the Internet15

• According to statistics, from 2000-2006, Vietnam internet users

have increased to 5,255.5% in 2006, with a total of 10,711,000 users, equivalent to a 12.8% of total population penetration16

• 70% of Vietnamese organisations and companies are facing serious

network security threats, especially state offices, banks, financial institutions and securities companies, industry experts say17 Therefore solution providers can provide solutions at acceptable prices and reasonable levels of difficulty.18

2.1.1.2 Threats:

To become a WTO member, Vietnam has agreed with the USA on the following19:

• Vietnam is to improve access in the computer and related services

sector, including allowing 100-percent foreign equity investment in this rapidly growing sector, in which U.S companies are globally competitive

15 Vietnam Net, cit., 20/3/2007

16 Gruslin, C ,cit Module 1, pg 34

17 Vietnam Net, cit., 16/04/2007.

18 Vietnam Net, cit 04/05/2007

19 Vietnam Net, cit., 01/06/2006

• The USA will enjoy some tariff reductions in areas of commercial

significance which include IT products Upon accession, Vietnam will join the Information Technology Agreement (ITA), which eliminates tariffs on information technology products including computers, cell phones and modems U.S exports to Vietnam of these products exceeded $40 million in 2005

2.2 COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

2.2.1 Competitor Matrix

In Appendices (Figure 8, pg.9), we can see a comparison of PNAT with its two key competitors, Phuong Nhut Computer and Networks, and Phong Vu Computer Services

2.2.2 Analysis of 2 key competitors of PNAT

2.2.2.1 Phuong Nhut Computer & Networks

Below are the details of Phuong Nhut office:

Address: 209 Ly Thuong Kiet, District 11 Telephone: 8530058, Fax: 9551610

Website: www.phuongnhut.com With its slogan of “Advanced Technologies Ever”, Phuong Nhut specializes in IT products and services with competitive price structure Its website has links to websites on current news, music, real estate, poetry, mobile phones, etc., with a customer rating section on the service of its staff It is therefore understandable that the number of visits as of 9th May 2007 has reached 29,79620

20 Please refer to Appendices, Figure 10, pg.11) to view Phuong Nhut’s Homepage

Phuong Nhut’s advertising of range of activities is more user-friendly and focused than PNAT, with only 5 key service areas:

• IT network solutions

• Provision of IT accessories

• Installation and servicing at site

• Maintenance service at site

• Website design

2.2.2.2 Phong Vu Computer Services

Compared with PNAT and Phuong Nhut, Phong Vu is operating on a larger scale, with a head office and a maintenance center:

Phong Vu Head Office:

Address: 264C Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 3, HCMC Telephone: 84-8- 9330762 - 9330763 – 9330764 - 9330766 - 9301292 Fax: 84-8- 9330765

Email: phongvu@vitinhphongvu.com Website: www.vitinhphongvu.com

Phong Vu Maintenance Center:

Address: 129, Cach Mang Thang 8 Street, District 3, HCMC Telephone: 84-8 - 8327872 - 8327873 - 9290623 – 9290624

Phong Vu has more diverse range of IT products, and it is more focused than PNAT which sells both IT and Office products Phong Vu has a detailed price list of all products on sale This pricing is very competitive, and Phong Vu also has volume/price discounts for high purchase

amounts21

21 Please refer to Appendices (Figure 11, pg 12) for Homepage of Phong Vu’s website.

2.3 TARGET ANALYSIS

The current customers of PNAT are small-sized businesses (SBs) They buy office equipment from PNAT and enjoy after-sales and maintenance services at a competitive price PNAT also sells IT products to them as and when required, but this means PNAT does not have a regular flow of

IT customers Moreover, office equipment does not get replaced often (especially for SBs), so PNAT has to frequently look for new customers

It must be noted that PNAT does relationship marketing to SBs

Therefore the marketing costs are allocated to customers’ commission, gifts, volume discounts, etc This ‘good-will’ practice has been going well However, for the future expansion of sales, this short-term marketing strategy has to be re-strategized, to ensure that changes in manpower of companies do not affect sales If the customer can switch suppliers without experiencing any discomfort, PNAT cannot survive in this highly competitive market

certificates from CISCO and Microsoft PNAT IT Specialists are all qualified engineers with 1-5 years work experience, and are loyal (for 2006, PNAT has 0% staff turnover)

• Partnership: PNAT has long-term partnership with FPT, IBM, Intel, HP, etc for supplying IT and office products at retail price Furthermore, PNAT has strong shareholders who are close friends, fostering trust, commitment, and consistency in strategies and implementation

• Branding: PNAT builds its brand reliability by selling only authorized products and providing quality and reliable services

• Marketing Resources: PNAT lacks a full-time marketing personnel to identify customer needs and business opportunities, and to establish its brand and products PNAT website is not fully operational Some parts are too detailed or technical for the layman22

22 Please refer to Appendices (Figure 5, pg.6) for details

2.4.3 Opportunities

• Since WTO accession, Vietnam has become an attractive market for foreign investors There are outsourcing possibilities for software design by Japanese and American Companies

• The IT market is growing at a fast pace (30-40%), especially in software design and services This is a good playground for small-sized IT companies like PNAT

• It is now possible for PNAT to be a member of Vietnam Business Association and HCMC IT Association for better branding, image, and networking and potential joint ventures with other companies

2.4.4 Threats

• Many counterfeit products are sold by competitors who called these ‘original products” These are sold at lower prices, leading

to confusion among customers

• In view of the above, there is a trend to buy IT products at large showrooms of manufacturers and authorized distributors

• IT Technology is always changing at fast speed, therefore IT inventory needs to be planned well to prevent technological obsolescence

CHAPTER 3: ENHANCING MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF PNAT

3.1 OPERATING PHILOSOPHY & MISSION STATEMENT

3.1.1 Vision

With the slogan “Leave Stronger Effectiveness”, PNAT’s vision is

to be both a professional and quality distributor of office and IT products, and a reliable IT consultant and trouble-shooter to companies with low-cost solutions

3.1.2 Mission

• To continuously strive for excellence in services, meeting

customers’ requirements in speed, accuracy and security

• To strive for providing services and goods at low cost to SBs

• To create a conducive environment for effective and

productive work, to enhance staff loyalty to company and reduce turnover

3.1.3 Key Success Factors

The key success factors for PNAT are:

• Clear and reliable information to customers on products and services

• Reliability of products sold, at competitive cost

• Reliability of regular maintenance at site

• Reliable and Timely response to customer requests (PNAT trouble-shoots the problem within 2 hours, or free

temporarily replacement with its product

3.2 ANALYSIS AND PROPOSAL FOR STRATEGY

Based on the SWOT vs KSFs analysis of PNAT23, we can see that for the most important KSFs (ratings 1-5), PNAT needs to do the following:

1 Prioritize Marketing activities for IT products and services to

promote its brand and widen its reach, and include eMarketing to lower costs and increase efficiency

2 Go online, using eCommerce Redesign its website to be more

conducive for eMarketing and eCommerce This will actually save time and cost for PNAT in the long term, a fact that not many SBs can realize

3.3 RECOMMENDATIONS

3.3.1 Targeting Revisited

From the market analysis in 2.1 on the changes in the external environment of IT market in Vietnam, we can see that IT products and services in Vietnam will be increasingly demanding PNAT is to focus more on the following high-demand IT Services:

• Network Solutions

• Database Protection and Security

• Software and Hardware IT Consultancy

• Software Designing and Applications24

• Outsourcing to large international companies25

23 Please refer to Appendices, Figure 9, pg 10

24 For System designs of Accounting, Warehouse, Enterprise Resource Planning , Employee Management, eBusiness, etc

25 In the USA, Canada, Australia, and Japan, e.g EffectiveSoft (San Jose, California), Software Association, etc

“Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail26” It is high time PNAT restrategized its

business and targeting In view of this, PNAT is to expand its targets to B2C and B2G, with the existing B2B becoming a landing ground and catalyst for the expansion to B2C and B2G

The diagram in Appendices (Figure 14, pg 15) illustrates how PNAT can expand its targets by leveraging on its current targets, with the “As -Is Target” being the companies that are PNAT’s loyal customers (B2B), and the “Desired Targets” are the B2C - heavy home users of IT (internet browsers, computer game players, eCommerce users, etc.), and the B2G – the education institutions that have facilities for internet browsing and eLearning

3.3.2 eMarketing and eCommerce for PNAT

PNAT can solve its limited financial strength and manpower resources by using eMarketing and eCommerce The economic situation for Vietnam has changed since WTO accession, facilitating international pay-agents such as PayPal to carry out online payment With the rising number of Vietnamese businesses and individuals using online payment, PNAT can carry out eCommerce and be the first player in the IT market to do so

The planned eCommerce model will combine the existing marketing activities with an online marketing platform to promote PNAT’s brand and image, provide more information to customers, and expand customer reach The website will be

26 Gruslin, C cit Module 1, pg 53.