ANALYZING THE STATE OF DEVELOPING THE BRAND OF AMICA

This report is the result of research and writing process during the first quarters of 2010. To accomplish this report, I would like to give my sincere thanks to many people for their useful helps, contributions, and recommendations during my writing process. First of all, I am very grateful to my supervisor, Mrs. Ha Thi Kim Anh for her clear guidance, encouragement, and significant advice throughout my study. Secondly, I would like to give my thanks to AMICA Corporation and Mr. Trinh Dinh Long, General Director of AMICA for his comment and helpful instruction. Thirdly, I am thankful to all of my teachers at National Economics University for providing me with knowledge and experience during my fouryear study. Lastly, I should also express my profound gratitude to all members in my family and my dear friends for their support and encouragement during my study.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This report is the result of research and writing process during the first quarters of

2010 To accomplish this report, I would like to give my sincere thanks to many peoplefor their useful helps, contributions, and recommendations during my writing process

First of all, I am very grateful to my supervisor, Mrs Ha Thi Kim Anh for her clearguidance, encouragement, and significant advice throughout my study

Secondly, I would like to give my thanks to AMICA Corporation and Mr Trinh DinhLong, General Director of AMICA for his comment and helpful instruction

Thirdly, I am thankful to all of my teachers at National Economics University forproviding me with knowledge and experience during my four-year study

Lastly, I should also express my profound gratitude to all members in my family and

my dear friends for their support and encouragement during my study

Ha Noi, May 2010Student: Man Thi Lua

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationales……….1

2 Research questions……… 2

3 Methodology………2

CHAPTER 1: Introduction of AMICA Corporation with its problems 1 Introduction to AMICA Corporation……… 4

1.1 Process of formulation and development……… 4

1.2 Functions and duties……… 5

1.3 Fields of business……… 5

1.3.1 Strategic consulting……….5

1.3.2 Management training……… 6

1.3.3 Electronic commerce……… 6

2 Objectives………6

3 Research questions……… 7

4 Methodology………7

5 Key term definitions………8

6 Scope of the report……… 8

CHAPTER 2: Theoretical framework……… 10

CHAPER 3: Analyzing the state of developing the brand of AMICA 1 General assessment………14

2 Analyzing the state of developing the brand of AMICA……… 15

2.1 Brand design……….15

2.1.1 Brand name………15

2.1.2 Logo……… 15

2.1.3 Slogan……….16

2.2 Brand promotion……… 16

2.3 Brand development strategy……… 18

3 Difficulties in the process of developing the brand of AMICA……….18

3.1 Difficulties arisen fron the inside of the company……… 18

3.2 Difficulties arisen fron the outside of the company……… 20

3.3 Difficulties arisen from policy mechanism and process of law enforcement of the State………21

CHAPTER 4: Recommendations 1 Recommendations for AMICA Corp……….23

1.1 Raising its awareness of the brand………23

1.2 Completing brand development strategy……….24

1.3 Having appropriate measures to brand protection……… 25

1.3.1 Ensuring coherent information to consumers………26

1.3.2 Creating barriers against brand infringement……….26

1.3.3 Maintaining and enhancing the quality of goods and services… 27

1.4 Diversifying forms of brand promotion……… 27

2 Recommendations for the State……… 30

2.1 Building a synchronous law system……….30

2.2 Providing businesses with effective channels of information ………… 31

2.3 Helping enterprises with trade promotion………31

CONCLUSION……….33

APPENDIX……… 34

BIBLIOGRAPHY………36

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report responses to analysis and findings on facts collected through 3 months ofthe internship at AMICA Corp located in 41A, Tran Quang Dieu Street, Dong DaDistric, Hanoi It consists of four main chapers:

CHAPTER 1: Introduction This chapter introduces about AMICA Corporationincluding process of formulation and development, functions and duties, and fields ofbusiness It also draws upon objectives, research questions, methodology, key termdefinition, and scope of the research

CHAPTER 2: Theoretical framework This chapter gives theories which are used inthe report

CHAPTER 3: Analyzing the state of developing the brand of AMICA This chapterassesses achievements that the company has gained in the past two years from 2007 to

2009 It also analyzes the state of developing the brand of AMICA In addition, thischapter points out difficulties which the company has encountered in developing itsbrand

CHAPTER 4: Recommendations This chapter proposes recommendations for bothAMICA and the State based on these difficulties

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationales

Brand is one of the important factors contributing to maintaining, expanding, anddeveloping markets for both domestic and foreign enterprises Also, it improves tradecivilization, and contributes to anti-unfair competition In the context of internationaleconomic integration of our country, businesses are standing in front of fiercecompetition, especially as many foreign goods have penetrated into Vietnamesemarket Therefore, Vietnamese businesses have to promote improvements intechnology, products quality, and build for themselves a strong brand

AMICA Corporation is a company major in providing solutions to the problems thatenterprises are encountering The company has officially started its business operationfor three years With the characteristic of so new young company, AMICA will surelyhave difficulties in attracting consumers in comparison with other companies which areoperating in the same field My recent survey with fifty randomized people showedthat most of them (98 %) didn’t know about the brand of AMICA (Appendix 7) Onthe contrary, just 2% knew, however, they didn’t know about fields of businessoperation of the company (Appendix 8) Through this result, I saw that the brand ofAMICA has not really come to customers mind The question is how do consumersknow its brand as a strong brand? To do this, AMICA Corp has to focus its efforts ondeveloping the brand For above reasons, I have chosen topic “ How to make the brand

of AMICA more popular ” for my internship report in order to propose somerecommendations which may make the brand of AMICA more popular withconsumers

2.2 What are outstanding features of its website?

2.3 What are development targets of the company at the present and inthe future?

2.4 What are difficulties of the company when developing its brand?2.5 What are brand development strategies, which the company did, isdoing, and will do? (in long term and short term)

2.6 What are brand promotion strategies of the company?

Besides, other research questions with fifty randomized people to measure theirawareness of the brand of AMICA are also solved in the report

3 Methodology

The report draws upon information from both primary and secondary sources

Primary information is selected by qualitative research method through directlycollecting the information from the company and related internal documents As well

as the manager Trinh Dinh Long will be interviewed for objectives that the company

decides to build a brand strategy (Appendix 1), outstanding features of its website(Appendix 2), development targets (Appendix 3), difficulties when developing itsbrand (Appendix 4), brand development strategies (Appendix 5), brand promotionstrategies (Appendix 6).

Secondary sources are made by quantitative research method Fifty randomizedpeople are interviewed to measure their awareness of the brand of AMICA Theamount of people who didn’t know about the brand of AMICA were very high (98%)(Appendix 7), while only 2% knew, however, they didn’t know that fields of businessoperation of the company were what? (Appendix 8)

Besides, other information collecting from the internet, newspapers, books are takeninto account in the report

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION OF AMICA CORPORATION WITH ITS PROBLEMS

1 Introduction to AMICA Corporation

1.1 Process of formulation and development

AMICA Corporation ( abbreviated name is AMICA Corp ) registered for business

on January 5, 2007, but officially started its business operation on January 10, 2007with business registration license No 0103015211

Locating in No 42A, Tran Quang Dieu Street, Dong Da Distric, Hanoi, AMICACorp is a small and medium company with the scale from 25 to 99 staff But theaddress which the company registers for tax is at No 3, Alley 28, Ngo si Lien Street.The company is major in providing solutions to problems that enterprises areencountering AMICA stands for Accomplishments of Management by Intelligence,Creation & Aspiration The company was founded and has been managed by creatorswho has administered at multinational companies; researchers and Vietnamese leadingtrainers who have been educated at developed countries

The Board of Directors of AMICA Corp consists of experts in many fields, qualifieddoctoral and masters which are trained in countries with market economy, experiencedresearch and practice

AMICA Corp cooperates closely with experts in research institutes and universities,senior administrators are operating business in order to update new knowledge and

practical experience.

1.2 Functions and duties

AMICA Corp provides enterprises with solutions to business development,particularly focuses support on firms in the period of formulation and development ofbusiness scale with the motto “We provide solutions for small and medium enterprises

to compete with the rest”

AMICA Corp provides enterprises with development solutions based on researchand deep understanding of operation field as well as the business’s specific condition

AMICA Corp examines enterprises in the overall scope from business strategies todetailed implementation actions, then proposes appropriate solutions within the overallstrategy, ensures high performance for businesses and uniformity of solutions as well,and thus brings the most effective performance for businesses

1.3 Fields of business

AMICA is an organization operating under the corporate model of coordinating depth activities array aimed at providing businesses with comprehensive developmentsolutions including:

in Strategic consulting

- Management training

- E-commerce development

1.3.1 Strategic consulting

AMICA Corp gives consultation to enterprises Its consultation includes

business foundation, business plan building, and business strategies

1.3.2 Management training

AMICA has a contingent of teachers holding Master’s degree or Doctorate Theyinvolve in different activities such as teaching, company managing, consultationgiving

The training criteria of AMICA Corp is “practical application” The trainingprograms are based on researching the need of students in order to ensure them to meetthe need of specific tasks set by enterprises The company offers central trainingprograms including:

- Training of modern management knowledge

- Specialized training in marketing

- Sales and customer care

1.3.3 E-commerce development

AMICA Corp supports customers to brand promotion and business developmentthrough marketing activities on the Internet The company also consults and developswebsites for customers consistent with their business and brand strategies

2 Objectives

The purpose of the study is to introduce about AMICA Corp, at the same time

evaluate and analyze the state of developing the brand of AMICA Besides, the reportalso shows achievements as well as difficulties in the process of brand development atAMICA Corp, then proposes some recommendations based on difficulties.

3 Research questions

As showing in above sections, I saw that AMICA was a very potential company withnew useful business operations However, I have recently carried out interviewquestions with fifty randomized people who have shared their ideas about the brand ofAMICA including:

3.1 Do you know what the brand of AMICA is?

3.2 If yes, do you know what fields of business operation of this companyare?

The result is that up to now the brand of AMICA is not really popular withconsumers Therefore, the question is how to make the brand of AMICA more popular?

4 Methodology

The report combines methodology and practice to propose recommendations forbrand development of AMICA Corp Besides, it uses other methods such as:

- Methods of calculation research through interview, discussions with brand

managers from different departments in the company

- Methods of synthesis analysis of process and development policy for the brand of

AMICA

- References and materials from internet, newspapers, and books.

5 Key term definitions

5.1 Brand

Brand is the signs that individuals, companies, organizations or entities use tospecialize and create separate definitions for goods and products, as oppose to types ofcommodities of other entities Brand is the property of a company relating to a name,

or a word, a phrase, a logo, a symbol, an image or a combination of above factors.5.2 Brand equity

Brand equity is understood as the unique value that the brand brings to the involvedsubjects (businesses themselves, customers, shareholders, employees, etc) The brandequity consists of two aspects First, the perceived value is emotions, feelings ofconsumers with the brand Second, the financial value is the behavior of consumers -they choose to use the organization's brand or the competitor (David Aaker, 1980)

6 Scope of the research

- Scope of research subject: The report only researches the state of brand

development at AMICA Corp

- Scope of space: The report only researches the state of brand development atAMICA Corp in Hanoi area.

- Scope of time: Analysis of the state of brand development at AMICA Corp islimited in the period from 2007 to 2009

Because the internship time at AMICA Corp and my knowledge are limited, thereport is inevitable from errors and omissions I expect that teachers will help me make

it more perfect

CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Building, developing and maintaining brand value has been interested in research byenterprises since the 70th of the 20th century Brand is a tremendous asset ofenterprises, it offers stability, market development, strengthening marketcompetitiveness of businesses in the increasingly harsh competitive environment

Currently, integration with the world economy, businesses and the Statemanagement agencies in Vietnam have paid special attention to the tasks of the brandand brand development

Brand appreared a century ago with the sense to disfinguish the goods of thisproducer from other producer The word “ brand ”comes from the Norse langauge “brandr ”, means “ stigmatize ”(to burn) is the way pet owners mark their animals torecognize them

The brand is everything A brand is the sum of the good, the bad, the ugly, and theoff-strategy If is defined by your best product as well as your worst product It isdefined by award-winning advertising as well as by the god-awful ads that havesomehow slipped through the cracks, got approved, and, not surprisingly, sank intooblivion It is defined by the accomplishments of your best employee-the shining star

in the company who can do no wrong-as well as the mishaps of the worst hire that youever made It is also defined by your receptionist and the music your customers aresubjected to when placed on hold For every grand and finely worded public statement

by the CEO, the brand is also defined by derisory consumer comments overheard in thehallway or in a chat room on the Internet (Scott Bedbury, 2002).

According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), a brand is “ a name, aword, a symbol, a design, or a combination of them intended to indentify the goods andservices of one seller or groups of sellers and differentiate them from those of othersellers” (Michael Craig, 2000: 156)

Brand is the sum of all elements of material , aesthetic, argument and emotion of aproduct, or a product line, including the product itself, the name, the logo, the image,and all the images overtime were clearly created in the customer mind to establish afoothold there In this view, the product is only part of brand, mainly providesfunctional benefits to customers and brand is only part of the product.Thus, thecomponents of mix marketing ( price, distribution, and promotion ) are also part of abrand (John Murphy, 1998)

“A brand is a product, service, or organization, considered in combination with itsname, its identity, and its reputation.” (Simon Anholt, 2005: 25)

For a brand more popular with consumers, enterprises need to be more active interms of finance, planning new creative brand strategies through innovation to improvethe quality of the goods and services, the achievements, reasonable prices, andespecially investment more in the brand promotion strategy (Vương Nam Quân-ĐặngThanh Tịch, 2008)

Besides, brand strategy theories are also applied in the report that a brand strategywill create a unique identity that will differentiate you from the competitors

Brand strategy towards a relatively narrow market segment, in which businesses try

to gain competitive advantages through lower costs or products differentiation byapplying the theory of "the needs of a group can be satisfied better by completelyfocusing on serving that group " (Trương Ngọc Dũng, 2006: 213)

Brand strategy is a policy which an organization selects to compete with other rivalsbased on sustainable competitive advantages to achieve brand objectives The strategywill determine the direction of an enterprise, all efforts about tactics will not rescue astrategic mistake (Michel Roll, 2006)

"If you have the strategy like competitors, then you have no strategy If the strategy

is different, but very easy to copy then that is a poor strategy If this strategy is uniqueand very hard to copy, you have a strong and sustainable strategy " (Rick Branson,2006: 191)

In addition, the report takes into account other theories on brand promotion and therole of public relation in brand promotion Brand promotion is a difficult stage which islong-term and costly However, it makes the brand attract the most attention ofcustomers and markets Public relation plays an important role in brand promotion Ithelps businesses convey the message to customers and raise their prestige with lowcosts

Each developing country has its own economical, political, cultural, and historicalconditions which influence to developing the brand of businesses Thus, enterprisesshould have different measures to developing their own brand consistent with theirspecific conditions In the context of global integration, Vietnamese businesses have tocreate their own separate identity so that their brand can be outstanding from others

The main objective of this research is to propose recommendations to make the brand

of AMICA more popular with consumers, so many related theories are used to illustratemore clearly about the problems of the brand and brand development These theoriesconsist of theories on the brand, brand strategy, brand promotion which the author hasapplied in different parts in the report

CHAPTER 3 ANALYZING THE STATE OF DEVELOPING THE BRAND OF AMICA

1 General assessment

In the process of brand development, AMICA Corp has had remarkableaccomplishments even small but actually helped the company improve the currentsituation

The first achievement is that AMICA Corp has changed its awareness positivelyabout the importance of the brand In the past period, due to insufficient informationand knowledge about the brand, AMICA Corp didn’t fully understand the role of thebrand in business Therefore, they have not deployed investment strategy fordeveloping the brand in long term However, up to now the brand term has been usedvery widely in Vietnam on mass media, AMICA Corp has raised its awareness of thebrand The company realized that the brand was one of the most important assets withbig profits (Allen-Martin, 2007) to its Thus, AMICA Corp has paid attention to branddevelopment because the brand has helped the company identify its products andservices with products and services of other companies in the same business field

The second achievement is that AMICA Corp has built for itself a branddevelopment strategy, including plans on finance and investment in brand promotion.However, due to medium and small scale, AMICA Corp doesn’t really have richfinance and human resources major in brand development In addition, in branddevelopment strategy, the company just focuses mainly on research content and newproduct development, advertising and customers care

2 Analyzing the state of developing the brand of AMICA

(Melisa-is too long which (Melisa-is difficult for consumers to remember, read, pronunciate and spell.2.1.2 Logo

This two-color logo makes consumers relatively easy to remember The first color isshown in red on the phrase AMICA creating strength and passion in business Thesecond color is expressed in black on the rest letters making consumers think ofseriousness, exclusiveness, subtility, and tradition In addition, looking at this logoconsumers can immediately identify the name of the company The bold lines causesstrong impression about the company However, disadvantage of this logo design is toosimple Colors, lines, shapes separate from each other creating a disproportionate logo

2.1.3 Slogan

“ Accomplishments of Management by Intelligence, Creation & Aspiration ”

This slogan is very rich content It expresses ideas of the company which areachievements in management, intelligence, creation and aspiration Moreover, thisslogan does not overlap with the slogan of other companies, in accordance withcustomary practice, and easy conversion to other languages However, the limitation ofthis slogan is a bit long, and hard to remember

2.2 Brand promotion

Consistent brand development with promotional products and the company has usedthe main advertising method which was promotion through the internet by building aprivate website for its own company which was http://amica.vn (Appendix 6) Thiswebsite has large quantities of information stored in the database, the company canchange information management, website content as it wants (Appendix 2) It consists

of the following functions:

- Service Module: Showing information, photos and company’s services on thewebsite Each service has a service request form allowing customers to easily contact

order to look for potential candidates for itself.

- Online Advertising Module: Allowing the company to manage the banner, thelogo of its partners on its website to create website revenues

- Search utility: Including two search functions: Quick search and Advanced search.Quick Search allows users to quickly search any information in the website throughsimple operation is first to enter your search terms and then hit enter to get results.Advanced Search allows viewers to limit the area of seeking information to display theresults more accurate

- Integrated dept counter: Including the number of people who have accessed to,Web browsing

- Online contact form : Allowing customers to contact, feedback, order with thecompany through the website system when required

Beside building for itself a website, the company has promoted through cards,catalogs, and newsletters (Appendix 6)

Generally, AMICA Corp doesn’t diversify forms of brand promotion The companyonly focuses on construction and website development, promotion over cards, etc.Forms of advertising offer professional characteristic as broadcast in television,broadcast through Public Relation activities such as participation in exhibition,sponsorship, event marketing haven’t been made Thereby, the way AMICA introducesitself, and its brand is too simple, lean and poor about both content and form made itdifficult for consumers to remember features of the products