Background of the Company
The Australian agribusiness industry is quite diverse in nature and comprises of operators that are involved in agricultural production or services right across the country’s food supply chain. The operators are those who are primary producers of different types of agricultural commodities, as well as processors, wholesalers and manufacturers. The weather patterns in Australia tend to influence farm yields quite heavily as well as the input prices across supply chain (Prica 2017). In fact, the weather has had an important role to play in casing revenue to fluctuate quite heavily in every segment in the last five years or so. The diversity of the different operators in the agribusiness sector however, has mitigated the fluctuation effects on the sector overall. The revenue from this industry is expected to grow at a slow and steady pace for the next couple of years (Williams 2017). This report prepares a marketing plan based on detailed situational and marketing analysis for Cargill Australia, which is a leading agribusiness in the country and which has a presence is as many as 70 countries of the globe. The report discusses international opportunities and strategies for the growth of Cargill Australia in the country of Qatar in the Middle East and also discusses appropriate and inappropriate modes of entry for this company into Qatar. The report concludes with recommendations on how the future of the company in the Qatar can be strategically directed.
Cargill Australia engages in the provision of food, agricultural, financial as well as industrial services and products in different parts of the world. Along with customers, farmers, communities and governments, Cargill Australia makes a concerted effort to help people thrive through the application of its insights (Cargill.com.au 2018). Cargill Australia has as many as 155,000 employees working for it in seventy different countries of the world. When it comes to manufacturing and marketing agrarian and food products, Cargill Australia adopts a strategy that involves buying, processing as well as distributing oilseeds, grain as well as various other commodities to those who engage in the manufacture of food and also animal nutrition products. Cargill Australia also provides livestock and crop producers with services and products (Cargill.com.au 2018). When it comes to food products in particular, Cargill Australia provides food manufacturers and food service providers with quality ingredients like beef and poultry products as well as a number of health promoting ingredient systems and ingredients.
- Political – The emirates type of governance is what is dominant in the country of Qatar. While the country is supposedly transforming into what may be termed as a constitutional monarchy, there are no political parties that are allowed to participate in the process of governance and there is no such thing in Qatar as free and fair national elections. Suffrage in Qatar is something that is limited to the municipal elections only for females as well as males who are eighteen years old or older. The expatriate residents of Qatar are entirely excluded from the municipal elections while there are many residents in Qatar who have been forcefully constrained from the process of citizenship application (Katzman 2016).
- Economic– The economy of Qatar is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The construction industry in the country is one that is particularly prosperous with people from all over the world looking to buy real estate in the country in large numbers. Gas, natural oil and hydrocarbon are some of the other major industries in the nation of Qatar with heavy investments being made on the part of the government authorities in liquefied natural gas. Qatar is capable of looking into the natural gas needs of many countries of the world including those of the United Kingdom and the United States of America (El Mallakh 2015).
- Social – Education and public health service in Qatar are made available to the residents of the country entirely for free by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor. The Ministry also helps widows, orphans and various other Qatari nationals who are in dire need of assistance. Both Islamic and law customs restrict the activities of women in Qatar. Women in the country are forced to stay mostly at home and cannot even acquire a driver’s license if they wish to. Sharia law in Qatar governs child custody matters and inheritance matters and tends to favor only the men (Maktabi 2016).
- Technology– The information technology market in Qatar is one of the largest in the world. Nanotechnology is quite widely used in the country, and it is assisting in the manufacture of high quality products in Qatar at very low prices. The IT companies also enter into collaborations with one another in order to enter the market (Aktas et al. 2014).
- Legal – A discretionary legal system is what prevails in the country of Qatar, which is under the control of the Emir. Civil codes are however, implemented in the country and Islamic law has a very important role to play when it comes to personal matters. Jurisdictions meted out by the International Court of Justice are not accepted in Qatar (James-Hawkins et al.2017).
- Environment – It is the Ministry of Industry and Agriculture in Qatar that is responsible for environmental conservation and wellbeing. In 1984, the country established an Environmental Protection Committee in 1994 for monitoring environmental problems (Richer 2015). Oil supply conservation, preserving natural wildlife heritage and increasing water supply using desalinization tend to be high on the environmental priority list in Qatar.
Pestle Analysis of Qatar
- Strengths– Cargill Australia is renowned for its production of food and agriculture products such as beef, cotton, grain and oil seeds. Customers of Cargill Australia can rely on the freshness and top-notch quality of these products no matter when and what time of the year they carry out their purchase. The agriculture and food products of Cargill Australia are entirely safe for use and consumption, and the food products especially are not known to trigger adverse effects in those who use them. Suffering from health related problems like food poisoning is quite a rarity when it comes to the food products and ingredients made available by Cargill Australia.
- Weaknesses – The food and beverage products especially farm produce, such as beef, that are made available by Cargill Australia tend to be mostly perishable in nature. The company refrains from the use of preservatives to keep its food and food related products like food ingredients, in good condition when being refrigerated or stored in a larder, as it believes that preservative use is something that can greatly harm the quality of its products.
- Opportunities– The Cargill Australia Company is hugely popular in Australia, and several other countries in the world, and there is no reason why it should not do well in the Qatar either. There are plenty of food manufactures and food service providers in the cities and towns of Qatar that will be interested in procuring the high quality fresh farm produce like beef and other essential agrarian products like grain, grain seeds and oil that are manufactured by Cargill Australia.
- Threats – There are many prominent international agribusinesses operating in the Qatar, especially in the capital city of Doha, that could pose a serious threat to the growth and expansion of Cargill Australia in the country (Franks 2016).
On the basis of the well known theory of competitive advantage, Cargill Australia company will highlight the freshness of its food and agricultural products in the Qatar market. It will enable food producers and manufacturers in Qatar to procure such farm fresh food and agricultural products at a price that is lower than the food products being marketed in the country by related businesses (West et al. 2015). It is hoped that the low price of the agrarian and food products, including beverages, that are provided by Cargill Australia will enhance their appeal and will make customers inclined to purchasing these products in large numbers instead of buying the food products made available by the company’s competitors in the Qatari market.
- Product
The product being marketed in Qatar is includes fresh food produce like beef and agrarian products like grains, grain seeds and grain oil.
pany. Cargill Australia will engage in the individual as well as wholesale marketing of these products when it expands its base to Qatar (Scott 2015).
The place for marketing the food products of Cargill Australia will be prominent cities in Qatar such as Doha, Duhail, Dukhan and Al Dafna. The population residing in these cities, are health conscious, affluent, lead luxurious lifestyles and will be more than eager to get their hands on the fresh and high quality food and agricultural products manufactured by Cargill Australia (Grunert et al. 2014).
The price of the food and agricultural products manufactured by Cargill Australia will be kept as minimal as possible in order to develop a large customer base in a limited period of time. The price of fresh food products like beef will be kept particularly low due to the prevalence of many other beef and meat producers in Qatar, and also because of the ready availability of cattle in the country. It is also hoped that as customer footfall increases, the profit margins too shall rise, making up the deficit in pricing strategies at the early stage of the marketing process (Grunert et al. 2016).
Cargill Australia will take to the use of social media platforms to promote its products in Qatar quite extensively. This is primarily because of the fact that social media platforms are characterized by very wide usage and by opting for social media marketing strategies the company is sure to be able to reach out to a large number of people in a short period of time. Leaflets containing important information about Cargill Australia and the various food products and agrarian products that it is about to launch in the market in Qatar will also be distributed among customers visiting supermarkets and large-scale department stores in the different cities of Qatar (Sidali et al. 2015).
SWOT Analysis of Cargill Australia
In order for Cargill Australia to grow and develop in the best way possible in the Qatari market, the company should consider developing a specific app that customers can use to order the fresh food and agricultural products offered by the company from the comfort of the home and the office. This will definitely have an impact on the sale of Cargill Australia products, as customers, including the wholesale buyers of food products and ingredients, tend to buy food and groceries online these days instead of actually going to a physical supermarket (Ottoman 2017).
Cargill Australia should be willing to exchange food products and agrarian products for related or better ones, if customers are not happy with what they have initially bought from the company’s markets or outlets anywhere in Qatar or online. It should always focus on producing fresh food products of the highest quality and take responsibility for any discrepancies in quality if it is to acquire and retain as many customers as possible for its outlets or branches in Qatar.
Conclusion
Thus, there is every potential for the Cargill Australia Company to expand its presence to international shores such as Qatar, given the huge demand for agricultural and fresh food products in this part of the world. By expanding to Qatar, the Cargill Australia Company will be certain to attract plenty of customers for its products and incur high profit in both the initial and later days of the marketing process.
References and Bibliography
Aktas, E., Topaloglu, Z., Irani, Z., Sharif, A. and Huda, S., 2014, November. Safeguarding Food And Environment In Qatar: A Research Project For Qatar And The Wider World. In Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference (No. 1, p. SSPP0900).
Cargill.com.au. (2018). Cargill at a Glance | Cargill Australia. [online] Available at: https://www.cargill.com.au/en/cargill-at-a-glance [Accessed 13 Oct. 2018].
El Mallakh, R., 2015. Qatar (RLE Economy of Middle East): Development of an Oil Economy. Routledge.
Grunert, K.G., Hieke, S. and Wills, J., 2014. Sustainability labels on food products: Consumer motivation, understanding and use. Food Policy, 44, pp.177-189.
James-Hawkins, L., Qutteina, Y. and Yount, K.M., 2017. The patriarchal bargain in a context of rapid changes to normative gender roles: Young Arab women’s role conflict in Qatar. Sex roles, 77(3-4), pp.155-168.
Katzman, K., 2016. Qatar: Governance, Security, and US Policy (No. CRS-7-5700, R44533). Congressional Research Service Washington United States.
Maktabi, R., 2016. Female Citizenship and Family Law in Kuwait and Qatar: Globalization and Pressures for Reform in Two Rentier States. Nidaba, 1(1), pp.20-34.
Prica, M., 2017. Going global together. Food Australia, 69(1), p.21.
Richer, R.A., 2015. Sustainable development in Qatar: Challenges and opportunities. QScience Connect, p.22
Scott, D.M., 2015. The new rules of marketing and PR: How to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, and viral marketing to reach buyers directly. John Wiley & Sons.
Sidali, K.L., Kastenholz, E. and Bianchi, R., 2015. Food tourism, niche markets and products in rural tourism: Combining the intimacy model and the experience economy as a rural development strategy. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(8-9), pp.1179-1197
West, D.C., Ford, J. and Ibrahim, E., 2015. Strategic marketing: creating competitive advantage. Oxford University Press, USA.
Williams, G., 2017. Sustaining Australia’s food and agribusiness sector. Food Australia, 69(4), p.20.
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