Marketing Strategy of Heaven Kigali
The aim of the report is to analyse the decision-making skills for international strategic marketing in the context of case study of “Heaven Kigali – Knocking on Heaven’s Door”. The report includes the marketing strategy that has been embraced by heaven. The opinion related to the sustainability of the Heaven’s strategy is also included. Marketing environmental analysis has been done by analysing macro and micro environmental factors which leads to the challenge for Heaven’s. However, the challenges related to the environment that are faced by company are effectively managed with the use of strategy that is discussed in the report. The possibilities linked to the training school with the bar and restaurant business are analysed which will guide the company to take further steps towards their long terms plans.
The title of the case study is “Heaven Kigali – Knocking on Heaven’s Door” which talks about Kigali that is the capital city of Rwanda’s in South Africa. The city features a small business with the name of the Heaven Restaurant & Bar. This business is considered as the young business with all the incumbent challenges that are faced in this stage of development of industry. The case talks about the environmental challenges that are faced by the business in an evolving country. In addition, the case includes the ways or strategy that is used by the city to manage the same. The case includes the details affecting the market condition in the country, financial support, accessing employees and skills levels. It also includes the macro and microenvironments situations faced by the business.
Heaven constructed in the year 2007 January and June but they didn’t open the business till May 2008. The business has staff of 18 with three interns from the Akilah Institute for Women. This shows the sufficient number of employees which helps the in accomplishing the strategies. One of the effective strategies followed by the company is partnership. Heaven performed partnership with Akilah Institute with the motive to bring the improvement in the service levels.
The strategy that was followed by the company to have 100% Rwandan cooks which indicate that they are serving the food according to the local people. This shows the strategy that they want to serve best to the community due to which they appointed cook from the place where they are operating a business.
Market segmentation is the process of dividing the market into different groups of customers or segments based on different characteristics. The segments that are considered by the firm include demographic, psychographic, and behavioural segmentation that mainly include the professional, business travellers and the expatriate community (Armstrong, Adam, Denize and Kotler, 2014). Moreover, the company reaches to the local market segments and Heaven’s found that the key attractions are the initiatives that are taken by the business for their community. Considering the needs, the initiative was taken by them, which include the courses that can enhance the skills of local people, and these courses are Entrepreneurship that took place in September 2012.
Sustainability of Heaven Kigali’s Marketing Strategy
A target market is a group of customers with the business serviceable available market that business has decided with the aim of earning the effective profit (David, 2011). The target market of Heaven is set on international tourists, business travellers, expatriate communication and some Rwandan professionals. This reflects that the company use differentiation targeting strategy in which they target different types of people that fall under different market.
The positioning includes the place of the brand and their products in the mind of the customer (Frynas and Mellahi, 2015). The positioning strategy of the company reflects that the reputation seems to be the major focus for the company. Some of the local community customers consider Heaven as the high-end restaurant and they visit the place on occasion because of their perception that prices of the restaurant are high.
The marketing mix is a set of marketing tools that are mainly used by the company to meet the marketing objectives in the target (Išorait?, 2016). This marketing tool includes product, price, place, and promotion strategy that has been followed by the Haven.
The product is a major element of the marketing mix strategy. The core product of heaven is food to the local community. Along with this, the core product of Heaven needs to be augmented with the quality services that are clear from the slogan that says great food and drinks. The supplementary products that are added with the products include the great cocktails, mojitos with the mint grown, the passion fruit margarita, and many others
Price is another factor which reflects the amount that is charged by the company for getting the product (Wilson and Gilligan, 2012). The pricing strategy that is followed by Heaven includes the middle range that was finalized after considering the analysis of the key competitors present within the company. This reflects that they keep the prices of products in a way so that they can easily earn the profit.
The place is the location where the restaurant is located and the place from where they are operating their business operations (Grant, 2016). Heaven is located at the prime location that is only three streets away from the Mille Colliness, which is famous 4-star hotel that is featured in the Hollywood blockbuster Hotel Rwanda. Further, this has been found that the residential neighbourhood is quickly transitioning to the commercial properties that are present at the location.
The promotion includes the way through which the company generate awareness about their products and services in the market (Lovelock and Patterson, 2015). The strategy of promotion is weak for the company though they are linked with the tour operations and with the people who conduct the large group bookings. These tour operators and booking group promote the Heaven restaurant in the market.
The analysis of the strategy reflects that the entire strategies that are formed by the company are sustainable. In my opinion, these strategies are sustainable because they are not affecting the environment, social and economic responsibilities (Kumar, Rahman, Kazmi and Goyal, 2012). The operations of the company are transparent and clear which means they are communicating openly with the customers, suppliers, and partners. The company has introduced the entrepreneurship program for the welfare of the local community. This simply means that Heaven is able to meet the corporate social responsibility. Moreover, this initiative of the company supports the local community to improve their living standard. Along with this, the motive of the company is not only to earn the profit but also to work for betterment of the people in the community due to which Heaven’s have kept the medium range prices for their products.
Macro Environmental Challenges Facing Heaven Kigali
The macro environment includes the external factors that affect the working of Heaven in the business environment (Dawson, 2014). In the case study, the environment of the place is analysed with the three factors that are affecting working of company. These factors are discussed below –
Social-culture factors
Social-culture factors include the culture, demographics, and other factors that can affect the working of the company (Hollensen, 2015). The country is dealing with the issue of gender, age, and elements related to health that is emerging prominently. In addition, the problem of an adolescent for the girls and young women is increasing. This shows that the females suffer a lot due to which the business is not able to maintain the diversity. However, the Adolescent Girls Initiative was taken to offer them formal education and assistance to the girls to set their business. Under the initiative, more than 2,700 women and girls received the training in vocational skills that are under the supervision of the Workforce Development Authority. This shows that the development of the country and culture will take place. However, when we talk about the present situation, the businesses are facing the issues of culture.
Economic factors
The economic factor includes the growth, GDP, interest rate, purchasing power and many other elements that can affect the working of the company (Chernev, 2018). The city was under the top performer when it comes to performing the business activities as per the Doing business 2010 report. In the year 2011, the country was also ranked among the 10 most improved economies that is a positive sign for the business. In addition to this, Rwanda was considered as the third place where the company can perform their business operations in SSA in the year 2012. The growth of the city was remarkable as it accelerated to 7.2% in 2010 and 8.6 in 2011 from 4.1% in 2009. This reflects that Heaven has the positive side but some the issues are still there, out of which major issue is that the country is not developed. The manager of Heaven encounters that the country has registered a progress but poverty is widespread in the area with 44.9% of households living under BPL. Moreover, the unemployment of the young people is disappointing for the country with 54% of the population under 19 years. Moreover, the women has remained unpaid in the business with 18% and 23% are working under non-farm based employment. This is a major issue because this factor directly affects the profit of company because the purchasing of the majority of people is low as they are under the poverty line.
Micro Environmental Challenges Facing Heaven Kigali
Political factors
Political factors include the change in the regulations by the government that affects the working of the company (Ho, 2014). Rwanda always remains in the contradictory because of its political history. The country has experienced the worst genocide in the modern era. Heaven faced the issue of the ethnic tension that is linked with the traditionally unequal coexistence of the dominant ethnic group in the country. This leads to the problem for the business, as they have to consider the needs of the dominant ethnic group. According to the ethnic issues of the country, the company has to give the preference to the males instead of females. Moreover, this huddles the development and growth of the restaurant. The country also witnesses the issue of corruption, which affects the operations of the heaven, company because they have get indulge in the activity of corruption to the government. This has been found that unfavourable government regulations are present in the area that leads to changes in the monetary and fiscal policies that directly affect the survival of the business.
Microenvironment includes elements and factors of an organisation that have an immediate effect on the area of operations that include the performance and decision making freedom. The factors that directly affect the working include competitors, customers, distribution channels, suppliers and the public (Baker, 2014). In the case study, this is clear that there is no direct microenvironment challenge that is faced by the company. According to the CEO, Alissa, the internal environment of the company is not affected due to any of the factor. This is evident that registering the company and construction of premises was very easy for the company. However, the fiscal policies affect the institutional arrangement that were not consistent for starting up the business operations. This factor is considered as the microeconomic factor that can huddle the company. In addition to this, the country includes the high tax on both the salary and income with very limited benefits related to the tax mainly in the private sector. This indirectly affects the customer’s income that reduces the purchasing power of the people. The less purchasing power of people ultimately affects the sales of the company. In addition to this, there is very less tax benefit in the private sector. Moreover, the bank loans charge an interest of more than 16% and the business has invested $250,000 so that they can simply qualify the right equipment for importing and supplies tax-free.
Management of Challenges by Heaven Kigali
The challenges that were faced by the company were managed by them effectively by following numerous strategies. Initially, they faced the challenges related to the macro environment. The Adolescent Girls Initiative helped the company to manage the system because now the condition of women’s and girls were improved which helped them in performing the business operations because the cultural values of the country were improving. Another issue was related to economic progress, the issue of poverty, corruption and other factors affected the business. However, on the other hand, the place was lauded as the business-friendly destination in SSA that means the registration of the company was not an issue. Moreover, the marketing mix strategies of the company helped them in generating the profit in the market. The motive of the company was to offer the best experience and services to the customers that lead to the success for the profit of the company.
The company unpacked the marketing strategies that are adopted by the business from the sourcing of start-up capital to cope with sometimes-unfavourable government regulations. All these plans or strategies of the company help them in managing the business in the tough environment.
In my opinion, Alissa understood the situation and environment with this she prepared the strategies. The company has generated a good amount of profit but now it is high time to give back to society. The entrepreneurship initiative is not enough to bring the change as Heaven should consider the needs of customers and should meet the same by implementing effective CSR policy. Heaven should have taken strict steps to bring the changes in the environment.
This has been found that Rwanda has only a few schools that focus on training in culinary and hospitality skills. This helps the staff in churning out graduates with the little and no practical experiences. This has been found in the case study that most of the staff in Heaven had no work experience. This was the reason they need to spend the first few months offering the training to staff. The CEO of the company said that their mission is to train the staff so to offer the international standards of services. Alissa is interested in restaurant and school but didn’t have enough amounts to invest in the school. The restaurant is open which offers the benefit to the student as they can work in restaurants at night as an intern. Possibilities of this environment are possible in the market. Moreover, the training program will open the opportunities for economic development of the business. Alissa husband has experience that was utilized by investing in training staff in areas ranging from customer service to culinary skills. CEO hired two American chefs and there managers so that they can effort to bring the improvement in the original menu and also to offer training in culinary skills which include proper food storage, hygiene, grilling and many others (Khan, Khan and Khan, 2011).
Possibilities of Heaven Kigali’s long-term plans
Husband of Alissa can run the training school that will help them in enhancing the skills of the people who are interested in getting the learning for enhancing the skills of hospitality. Accordingly, this is clear from the case study that there is a possibility of the long-term plans to be a training school as well as a bar and a restaurant business in case.
Conclusion
In the end, it can be concluded that Heaven is dealing with the different challenges related to the business environment. The marketing strategies that are used by the company in this environment are explained with the help of the segmentation, targeting and positioning strategy. Along with the marketing mix, strategies that help the company to survive in the market are discussed which shows the reason due to which the company was able to earn the profit. Further, the analysis related to the business environment has been done with the help of the micro and macro environmental factors. The three major challenges that are faced by the company include political, economic, and socio-cultural factor. The analysis related to the micro environmental factors is included which shows that are indirect issues are present instead of direct issues. All these challenges are maintained by the company with the use of the strategies that are discussed. In the end, there is discussion related to the possibilities of long-term plans of the company that are related to school and restaurant in the country.
References
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