Identification Of The Appropriate Billabong Marketing Strategy

Question

Task: Prepare a report on identifying the most appropriate Billabong marketing strategy using credible sources.

Answer

Introduction
The present study revolves round the effective Billabong marketing strategy adopted by the company. Billabong is a global company which is basically a primary clothing retailer which produces various accessories such as clothing, backpacks and snowboard products. The company sells its product under the brand name of others. In this report on Billabong marketing strategy, the focus will be shed on the change management strategies by Billabong. Along with this, the internal, as well as an external analysis, will be done for the organization through which the areas of improvement will be analysed. An overview of the various change management strategies will be discussed with the recommendation of suitable strategies. The most appropriate Billabong marketing strategy will be identified through the required resources. 

Internal and external analysis of the organization
Strengths

• Strong brand reputation: In these years, Billabong has invested in the creation of a strong portfolio. The SWOT analysis of this organization is just limited to this particular fact (Dickson, 2017). This is extremely useful when the brand needs to expand the new categories of product.
• Robust distribution network: The organization has built a strong network of distribution which lets its product to reach the maximum customer and spread in the target market.
• Robust dealer community: The Company has built a strong culture among the dealers and distributors where they not only promote products but also invest their sales income for training purposes. This helps in understanding the ways in which the customers can gain maximum benefits from the products.
• Amazing performance in the target market: In order to enhance Billabong marketing strategy, the Company has also built expertise when entering new markets and achieves success from them. This expansion has helped the company in generating revenue and diversifies the economic risk involved.

Weakness

• Weak finance planning: The company financial planning is not done properly with effectiveness. As per the current and liquid assets ratio, it is found that the company can use its cash resources in a more efficient manner.
• Lack of investment in technologies: The scale of expansion, as well as the geographies of the company, should plan to expand through putting their resources and investing their capital in technology (Imbarus, 2016). Presently, the investment in technology is not in accordance with the perspective of the company.
• The high rate of attrition in workers: In comparison to the other organisation, Billabong has a high rate of attrition, and there is a need to spend more on the training as well as the development of the company.
• Lack of integration of diverse culture: The Company does not focus on integrating small companies and in merging firms with the diverse work culture.

Opportunities

• New environmental policies: The emergence of new opportunities will create a significant range of players within the industry. Thus, this is a great opportunity for the company to implement Billabong marketing strategy in integrating new technologies and gain significant market share within the new product category.
• Lower rate of inflation: The lower rate of inflation brings a significant change in the market, which enables the credit at a much lower rate of interest to the customers (Larsson, 2017).
• New taxation policy: The framing of the new taxation policy can carte a significant impact in ways of conducting the business, creating new opportunities for the company to increase its profitability.

Threats

• Intense competition: Due to stable profit generation, the number of companies in this industry has increased significantly, and there has been huge pressure on the sales and generation of profits
• Lack of innovative product: The Company has over the years developed a varied range of products. However, this is already present in the market (Phadermrod et al. 2019). The supply of a new category of products is not regular which leads to a lower number of sales in the string
• The increasing strength of local distributor: This is probably one of the most probable threats wherein the local distributors are at a higher margin of the payments.

PESTLE analysis
Political factors outlined for the suitable Billabong marketing strategy

• A high rate of taxation can de-motivate the companies for increasing their profits
• The extent of political stability which the country has in recent years
• A lower rate of wages indicates a higher rate of profits which would increase the chances of survival for the company (Rastogi and Trivedi, 2016).
• The trade barriers with the host country can also project the company. However, the trade barriers with potential trade partners can cause potential harm to the companies through the prevention of exports.

Billabong multinational business
(Source: Zahari and Romli, 2019)

Economic factors considered in the case of Billabong marketing strategy

• The rate of GDP in 2018 for Australia was 1432.20 USD which can significantly affect the growth of the company in the near future as more people can afford the products of the company.
• The demand and supply is an important factor to consider for the company as this can create a significant impact on the financial markets.
• The rate of interest within the country can also carry a significant impact as this would indicate the rate in which the individuals want to borrow or invest (Zahari and Romli, 2019). A higher rate of interest would indicate an increase in the rate of investments leading to more growth for the company.

Social factors

• The demographics of the particular country such as the ages, gender can create a significant impact on the sales of the product. The target population for its products would be both male and female young and middle generations
• To choose the correct Billabong marketing strategy, the company also needs to be conscious regarding the level of health standards, environmental protections which prevails in the industry (Fozer et al. 2017).
• The class distribution also plays a significant role and the majority class in Australia of middle and high-class people. The company should manufacture its product based on the target market.

PESTLE analysis
(Source: Fozer et al. 2017)

Technological factors

• Various recent technological developments have been done by the competitors
• The impact of technology directly affects the product offering and extremely impactful for the Billabong marketing strategy.
• This alone creates a significant impact on the apparel industry as well as the value chain structure in this sector
• Rate of diffusion of technological improvements also creates a huge impact on the company.

Environmental factors

• Present weather conditions affect the company's ability to transport the resources as well as the finished products which probably affects the Billabong marketing strategy.
• Changes in climate also make some of the product useless for example in some countries winter has become very mild due to global warming
• Relying on renewable source of energy can be quite expensive as it requires support from the government along with a good customer base.

Legal factors

• There are various laws established by the government with which the company needs to abide by (Islam and Mamun, 2017). These include health and safety law and discrimination law for protecting the employee and ensure that fair treatment is provided to the employees
• Data protection laws and intellectual property law can help in protecting the patent of the product manufactured by the company.

Literature review
Change management refers to the effective management of organizational shifts, changes as well as transformations. The process needs to arrange for managing the change systematically. There are various theories and framework which are used by Billabong for maintaining the change in the organization. The company uses the McKinsey 7-S model is one such change management framework which helps Billabong marketing strategy to understand the business structure and the areas of improvements (Hossan, 2015). Using this model, the leader of the organization can successfully analyze the current business through queries revolving around 7 S's."

• Strategy: This refers to the plan of the building as well as maintaining a competitive advantage over the competitors
• Structure: this includes the presentation of the company
• System: It involves daily activities as well as the procedures for the staff to get actively involved and get the task done.
• Staff: The employees and other active members of the organization
• Skills: The competency skills and knowledge of the employee in the company
• Shared value: This refers to the core values of the firm which is reflected in its corporate culture and work ethics
• Style: The style of leadership followed within the company

McKinsey-7S’
(Source: Cameron and Green, 2019)

According to the research conducted on this Billabong marketing strategy report, this model helps the company in analysing the specifications which are required for running the company and the strategy which should be approached for achieving the objectives. It allows the company to analyze the ways through which the change in the demands of the customers can be delayed along with the adjustment of the strategies for environmental issues. The structure of the team refers to the division of the team and organizing them as per the requirement (Cummings et al. 2016). The main system within the organisation is also examined, such as the HR system, communication as well as storage of the documents. As far as the shared values are concerned, the core value, which is important for the team culture, is examined. The type of leadership followed the company is also demonstrated. The leadership followed within the Billabong marketing strategy is democratic.

Change strategies required to improve the situation
The change strategies can be improved through managing the efforts which would help employees to understand the reasons for the change. A detailed message regarding the vision, as well as change for the betterment of the employee, can be less resistant to the changes.

Management support for the change: A comfortable environment gets established among the employee when the management support the need for change (Sabet et al. 2017). The management communicates the process of change through effective communication and interaction with the staff.

Employee training: To implement Billabong marketing strategy, the company should invest their income in conducting training of the employee, which would help in meeting up their weaknesses. The company possess a lot of weaknesses which can be mitigated through employee training. The training for the employee should be given on both on the job as well as off the job training (Macchion et al. 2015.). The involvement of employees in training for the training purpose can also help in eliminating the issue related to the diverse culture. They should, consequently make the workforce much stronger. A better workforce would eventually help in strengthening the customer base and increase the generation of profits by the company. It would also ensure accurate financial planning effective management of resources.

Intranet services: Billabong should use internet service for communicating the changes required within the organisation. This would also enable the company to conduct the training and communication of any information in a secure way (Cirella et al. 2016). With poor communication, the employee’s faces increased resistance to the changes. This being proactive in communicating can greatly help in minimizing the resistance and make the employee feel that they are an important part of the process.

Recommendation for the most suitable strategy
The most suitable strategy which can be recommended for Billabong marketing strategy is employee training.

Employee training: Conducting training for the employee both on the job as well as off job can greatly help in mitigating the possible weaknesses faced by the company. This would help in preparing the employee for meeting up the varied challenges of the job and organisation. Along with this, it would also provide knowledge as well as skills for the newcomers and improve the performance of the job. Once the employees get trained, the supervision will not be required, and they can easily reduce the wastages of resources within the organisation (Martino et al. 2017). With proper training, employees can easily produce quality products and enable them to face tough competition from its rival firms. Furthermore, the employee can easily adapt to the changing technologies and can successfully implement the technological when and whenever required. Trained employees show a higher rate of performance through optimum and effective utilization of resources. Along with this, conducting training makes the employee much more committed towards the organizations.

Incorporating new technologies in the company: Billabong should invest more in technological development which is the recent trend followed by its competitors. Integrating its product with technology can help in attracting customers and generates revenue from that (Mulyana and Sutapa, 2016). The company can incorporate pay and go feature in its retail stores so that customers don't have to wait in the queue. Furthermore, the Billabong marketing strategy should also focus on making the product innovation which can also facilitate the growth of the company.

Which resources are required to implement the suitable Billabong marketing strategy?
The proper implementation of the strategy requires the need for suitable resources which can foster effective implementation. Briefly, three resources will be required for implementing the above strategies, which are namely technological, human resource and financial resource. 

Technological resource: The training of the employee will be conducted on an online basis. This would require intranet service where a portal would be required. Through this portal, the employee would communicate and share relevant information among them, making the process much more effective. Furthermore, the study used to develop this report on Billabong marketing strategy signifies that the integration of retail stores with technology such as pay and go would require apps and other such devices through which the system will be managed.

A database will be stored in the app, which would be capable enough to handle the working of the system (Alhamad, 2017). Furthermore, the other technological resources include computer hardware, modems, computers and routers. The license of the software also needs to be done so as to ensure that the company abides by the legal factors. The patents, as well as copyrights of the product manufactured by the company, also needs to be protected.

Human resources: This basically involves the skills and knowledge required for conducting the strategies. The training which is to provide dot the employee can be given on an online basis or offline by the company. Furthermore, the company can outsource the training, which is to be given to the employees. Outsourcing the training procedure would require capital which is to be considered by the Billabong (Hackett, 2015). For maintaining the database of the apps, servers would be required, which would be maintained by the system engineers. Thus, it is important for Billabong to recruit an engineer another professional for maintaining the technological part of the business in order to boost up the Billabong marketing strategy.

Financial resource: For making the financial planning effective and robust is important to hire such persons who would analyze the financial factors and thereby manage the budget. For the various new system installed in the retail stores of Billabong would need investment which is required to be planned effectively (Sutapa et al. 2017). The stocks are required to be converted into cash which would act as a financial resource of the company. For the training, capital would be required if the entire training is outsourced. Furthermore, new marketing techniques which would be adopted by the company would also require a financial investment.

Conclusion
Billabong is a global company which deals with fashion brands. Through analytical tools and techniques such as SWOT and PESTLE, the areas of improvement of the company are analyzed. As a part of Billabong marketing strategy, employee training is the key areas of improvement, which is analyzed with the help of tools. Along with this, the product which is manufactured by the company also needs to be improved for attracting customers and serving in the industry. The management strategy, which is followed by Billabong helps in analysing the position and requirements. Few resources are also provided, which can help in implementing the change strategies in an improved manner.

References
Alhamad, H., 2017. Billabong marketing strategy Leveraging data for increased sustainability of products & factories (Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

Cameron, E. and Green, M., 2019. Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.

Cirella, S., Canterino, F., Guerci, M. and Shani, A.B., 2016. Organizational learning mechanisms and creative climate: Insights from an Italian fashion design company. Creativity and Innovation Management, 25(2), pp.211-222.

Cummings, S., Bridgman, T. and Brown, K.G., 2016. Unfreezing change as three steps: Rethinking Kurt Lewin’s legacy for change management. Human relations, 69(1), pp.33-60.

Dickson, T., 2017. How to Brand and Market a Fashion Label: New lifestyle brand 48.

Fozer, D., Sziraky, F.Z., Racz, L., Nagy, T., Tarjani, A.J., Toth, A.J., Haaz, E., Benko, T. and Mizsey, P., 2017. Billabong marketing strategy Life cycle, PESTLE and multi-criteria decision analysis of CCS process alternatives. Journal of cleaner production, 147, pp.75-85.

Hackett, T., 2015. A comparative life cycle assessment of denim jeans and a cotton t-shirt: the production of fast fashion essential items from cradle to gate.

Hossan, C., 2015. Applicability of Lewin's change management theory in Australian local government. International Journal of business and Management, 10(6), p.53.

Imbarus, P., 2016. Surf Portugal-redefining The business strategy using the value creation wheel framework (Doctoral dissertation).

Islam, F.R. and Mamun, K.A., 2017. Possibilities and challenges of implementing renewable energy in the light of PESTLE & SWOT analyses for island countries. In Smart Energy Grid Design for Island Countries (pp. 1-19). Springer, Cham.

Larsson, T., 2017. Billabong marketing strategy Utveckling av actionkamera accessoar med integrerat ND filter och vattenavstötande egenskaper.

Macchion, L., Danese, P. and Vinelli, A., 2015. Redefining supply network strategies to face changing environments. Billabong marketing strategy A study from the fashion and luxury industry. Operations management research, 8(1-2), pp.15-31.

Martino, G., Fera, M., Iannone, R. and Miranda, S., 2017. Supply chain risk assessment in the fashion retail industry: An analytic network process approach. Int. J. Appl. Eng. Res, 12, pp.140-154.

Mulyana, M. and Sutapa, S., 2016. The Impact of Entrepreneurial Orientation and Collaborative Networks on Creative Industries Performance. Billabong marketing strategy Jurnal Dinamika Manajemen, 7(2), pp.166-181.

Phadermrod, B., Crowder, R.M. and Wills, G.B., 2019. Importance-performance analysis based SWOT analysis. International Journal of Information Management, 44, pp.194-203.

Rastogi, N.I.T.A.N.K. and Trivedi, M.K., 2016. PESTLE technique–a tool to identify external risks in construction projects. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), 3(1), pp.384-388.

Sabet, E., Yazdani, N. and De Leeuw, S., 2017. Supply chain integration strategies in fast evolving industries. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 28(1), pp.29-46.

Sutapa, S., Mulyana, M. and Wasitowati, W., 2017. The role of market orientation, creativity and innovation in creating competitive advantages and creative industry performance. Jurnal Dinamika Manajemen, 8(2), pp.152-166.

Zahari, A.R. and Romli, F.I., 2019. Analysis of suborbital flight operation using PESTLE. Billabong marketing strategy Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 192, p.104901.