UGB335 Assessment

Strategic Marketing
Evaluation

Student name
[COMPANY NAME]  [Company address]
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................1
Part 1..........................................................................................................................................1
Resource Based View................................................................................................................1
VRIO Framework...................................................................................................................1
Value..................................................................................................................................1
Rare....................................................................................................................................2
Imitate................................................................................................................................2
Organisation.......................................................................................................................2
Competitor Analysis...................................................................................................................3
Perpetual Mapping.................................................................................................................3
Tesla...................................................................................................................................3
BMW..................................................................................................................................4
Customer Analysis.....................................................................................................................5
Ansoff Matrix.........................................................................................................................5
Diversification....................................................................................................................6
Product Development.........................................................................................................6
Part 2..........................................................................................................................................6
International Marketing Strategy...............................................................................................6
Innovation in Production Method..............................................................................................7
Vertical Integration Strategy......................................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10
Appendix..................................................................................................................................13
A) Sales Figures for BYD and Tesla 2014-2019...............................................................13
B) Perceptual Mapping......................................................................................................14
C) Achievements of BYD over the Years..........................................................................15

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Introduction
The future is all about innovation and technology and the companies are striving hard to
explore their options in this regard. Technology is going to be the only thing in the near
future which can provide the companies with the sustainable competitive advantage over the
coming several years. This innovation has caused many companies to follow the trend,
otherwise the future of the companies would have been on stake. In this report, the strategic
marketing will be studied in regard to the company called BYD (Build Your Dreams). This
company has its foundation based on the technological advancements in the world and they
have proved their mettle all across the globe with their state-of-the-art technology and their
adaptation to the changing environment. It would not be wrong to say that they have
successfully pioneered in the industry and the others have followed the trend that they have
set for them. The innovation is the key to the sustainable future, if the technology is not
changing after a while, then people tend to drive themselves away from such a company and
this ends up in the demise of many companies in the past like Nokia and Kodak. This is the
reason that BYD is making sure that they are not the mainstream companies who lose their
customers based on their poor marketing strategy and they tend to do the market often to
ensure that they are up to date with the changing trends and coping up with all these trends.
This report will cover the strategical analysis of the marketing strategy of BYD and how they
have sustained themselves over the years. This report will also mention the future of the BYD
and their options that they can explore in the future to make sure that their brand name is
there to stay and they are not lost in this innovative and competitive world.

Part 1

Resource Based View

VRIO Framework
Value
BYD is a technology company and they have built their value around their founder and the
safety of their products. The founder, Wang Chuanfu, is a man of character and he has long
supported his argument that they are producing the best and safe product in the market (Niu,
2017). He even drank the battery fluid to show that they are able to ensure the safety of their
products first and this makes them unique in the eyes of the people as they are always arguing
that they are the safest manufacturers in the world. Mr. Wang is considered to be the value to

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the company as he is the one taking the company to the new heights and keeping up to the
company mission statement that they are to make their products sustainable and reduce the
greenhouse gas emissions.

Rare
The rarity of the values of BYD is also defined with respect to its founder who is keen about
his business plan which are unique and their marketing strategy is so competent that they
have easily capture the attention of the people from different parts of the world in such a
short span. One other rare feature, that every company in the industry lacks is that all the
parts for their final products are more or less built within the company and it is also because
they are determined to make their products green (Hua and Kimble, 2013). This means that
they are trying to access all the materials within their capacity to ensure rarity and
maximising value. This is a rare trait as they are free from the hassle of suppliers and they are
not dependent on any other firm for their supplies which means that they are able to save time
on their production processes. Time is one aspect, but the monetary benefits are very high as
well which means that the company is able to invest their margins on marketing and R&D
mostly. This gives them competitive advantage and also keeping in alliance with their
mission statement.

Imitate
BYD is a company with so many copyrights that they practically shielded from the concept
of being imitated in any case. This is because they are heavily investing in their R&D and it
is not feasible for the company that they pioneer in some technology and they are not able to
enjoy the lion’s share in that technology. The market always tries to find cheaper products
which can be used to make the lives of the people easier, but it comes at a cost for BYD.
Therefore, they patent and copyrights their technology so that the R&D cost can be covered
in the long run by making a living out of that technological development (Min et al., 2016).
BYD continuously increase their investments in the R&D which makes it nearly impossible
for others to imitate which gives a competitive advantage to the company. Moreover, they are
able to ensure that they are green and efficient.

Organisation
As the brick in the resource-based view of the firm, it is to study the organisation itself. BYD
never wanted its employees to struggle in their workplace and wanted them to enjoy the
work-life balance like no other company in its competition. This is the reason that the

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employees are more than satisfied to work under the brand name of BYD. They practice flat
hierarchy to stop incentivising people on the basis of ranks. BYD promotes a culture of
equality and this can only be making sure that there is a healthy competition in the
organisation and the employees are friends first and then competitors to each other. This
promotes the air of innovative ideas and this leads to the progress of the company.

The above framework indicates only in one direction that the company is proud of their
tangible assets, but also, they celebrate their intangibility and their marketing assets (Laitner
and Stolyarov, 2013). Their biggest asset is their employees who make the survival of the
company possible and this leads to the innovative ideas that is the second largest asset of the
company. This verdict may not be in line with their mission statement as they have marketed
their green products first but their values and practices narrate that they celebrate their
employees who then in return gives the company a chance to meet their mission statement
and goals.

Competitor Analysis
BYD is competing in the industry which has caught onto the trend of making their products
green and they are also trying to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, the
companies are also introducing the best in class product that are even better than before and
do not run on fossil fuels (Schlesinger, 2014). BYD is taking its time to adjust to this
changing dynamic as they wanted to be pioneers in the technology and keep it that by
investing heavily in their R&D.

Perpetual Mapping
Tesla
Last year, the news broke that Tesla surpassed the industry giant BYD in their sales and this
meant that BYD is slowly getting deprived of their market share (Appendix A). Tesla under
the sheer leadership of Elon Musk has taken onto the world with a surprise (Kedrosky, 2013).
Like BYD, Tesla holds the value in the form of their leader who is also the founder of the
company. He also makes public appearances and apparently it seems that he likes the
attention of the people as it is doing wonders for the company. Tesla became a successful
manufacturer of Electric Vehicles by using a simple formula and that was to take their
production to China which reduced their cost of production to a bare minimum as compared
to before. Once, he had eyed the Chinese market, it was not long that the Chinese roads were
flooding with the cars with Tesla emblem on their face of these vehicles. This was just

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because of the pricing strategy and the fact that the company was now locally manufacturing
reduced their cost by a lot.

After America, China became the largest market for Tesla, and this became difficult for BYD
to compete with the likes of Tesla as they were marketing more strategically. This is the
reason that they made entrance in the Chinese, to target the largest untapped market on the
face of the planet Earth and also to reduce their manufacturing cost (Liu and Meng, 2017).
But in one category where even the recent industry failed to imitate BYD was that they are
not able to manufacture their own batteries which still makes it costly to build a vehicle
especially if that vehicle is electric. BYD is making their own batteries which makes their
businesses related yet diversified. On the other hand, Elon Musk is running another
completely unrelated business of Space X, which is responsible for space missions and other
related activities.

Tesla plans on making batteries themselves, but they still have to come a long way. They are
in close competition for one solid reason and that is their innovativeness and their marketing
strategy which makes them stay in the public’s eye all the time and they making it to the
news as well based on their rivalry.

BMW
This motor group is not making substantial growth in the market as they are not actively
involved in making EVs, and they are also outsourcing their batteries like Tesla. BYD
outclass both these companies by making sure that they are not outsourcing their products to
be used in their final products. BMW is still fixated on making traditional petrol- and diesel-
powered cars and this totally negates the idea of existence of BYD and Tesla altogether. This
is the reason that they are not actively taking part in the marketing of their EVs. At one point
in time, BMW marketed its BMW i3 in the market as one of the most affordable EVs in the
world but soon it came to the realisation of the people that the major players are making
much more efficient cars. Moreover, BMW lacked the infrastructure since the start which
drifted their customers away to the likes of BYD and Tesla (Bablo, 2016). The standing of
BMW next to BYD and Tesla in shown in the perpetual mapping given in the appendix B.

BMW is not innovative when it comes to the competition in the EV sector and they lack the
expertise and R&D in this sector as well. BMW is the trend follower when it comes to the EV
and they are not been recognised as electric cars in the world. They are known for their M
badged cars with fast petrol-powered cars with huge exhaust notes to wake up the entire

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neighbourhood. BMW i3 was a success but if it was only driven within the city as the
infrastructure lacked in many countries (Smyrnov et al., 2019). Moreover, the range was so
small as compared to BYD that the people preferred BYD over BMW. BMW tried their luck
in the supercar category to gain some momentum in the EV sector with the introduction of
BMW i8. But this car is not truly electric which meant that it was aided with a petrol motor to
make sure that the car reaches the nearest charging points or filling stations. This did not
make their product stand out in the eyes of the customers. Therefore, BYD is competing well
when it comes to BMW.

Customer Analysis
The customer of today is more informed than ever. Moreover, they have resources at their
disposal that lead them to make the right and informed choices whenever they are coming
across buying a new product (Kamakura, 2013). Innovation is the key to keep the customers
of today on a hook. It is necessary to keep customers on a hook and keep them in anticipation
of a new product to be launched; this way the customers are targeted in an efficient manner
without crossing any ethical boundary.

Ansoff Matrix
This matrix can make the fair judgement of how the company is taking care of their
customers by keeping them on the hook. There are four different categories namely:

 Market penetration
 Market Development
 Product Development
 Diversification

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Figure 1Ansoff matrix

Source: Research Gate

But the focus of BYD is essentially on innovating and this means that they are into two
categories diversification and Product development.

Diversification
BYD is always looking to keep their customers in line for the new product but this does not
necessarily mean that they are marketing the product in the same market over and over again.
BYD tends to innovate often and invests heavily in their R&D to ensure that the customers
are getting the best product available to them in the market. They are diversifying in the
related markets to ensure that they are able to use their own products as well. They are a huge
manufacturer of batteries and at the same time, they manufacture EVs that use these batteries
but they tend to retail their batteries as well as use them in their vehicles. This means that
they are selling in completely different markets as the purchaser of the car in one segment
and the buyer of the batteries is another one.

Product Development
In these tough times, the companies cannot survive if they are not innovating in their existing
markets because the customer is more demanding than ever, and this means that BYD has to
innovate more often to keep the customer with them. Recently, Tesla has tried to break into
the market by increasing their sales but the diversification in the business is keeping BYD
afloat. But BYD has to innovate further to compete with the likes of Tesla as the customer is
indicating their incline towards a new brand in the market which is the sound of an alarm for
BYD (Zheng et al., 2018). BYD is innovating but they are doing at least one thing wrong that
is offsetting their customers to make a change. This thing is noticeably their design features

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that are more inclined towards the traditional car designs and the customers feel like they do
not have the feeling of driving an EV if they have the same design language with the
traditional cars. Tesla, on the other hand, is giving this experience.

Part 2

International Marketing Strategy

International marketing strategy is a point of concern of every Multi-National Company
(MNC). MNCs take care of each and every country and tailor their marketing strategy
according to that country. This is the reason that BYD also had to make sure that they are
implementing individual marketing campaigns in each country. Recently, BYD has expanded
its operations in multiple countries to further strengthen their brand name and identity. This
expansion is closely related to their motto of making the world a better place and what better
way is to make this happen than to expand in the world because the operational activities of
BYD is known to the world. Their ability to meet the standard of each country deserve an
applause. Over the years, they have expanded in multiple countries giving them the exposure
to different cultures and markets. This exposure has been truly utilised by BYD as they have
been the world’s largest EV manufacturer for three years straight.

They have so far been successful in the global market but ever since the company Tesla has
entered their local market of China, BYD seemed to be struggling. This was because of the
reason that the company had never really given much though on their own country as an
international market and this was depicted in their yearly sales decline in the year 2019 since
the very first quarter and it was then Tesla surpassed them in sales in their homeland. This
came as a shock to the company and this was not something that the company was
anticipating but soon this realisation struck that China is a part of global market (Guo, 2015).
The introduction of Tesla opened China to the global EV market and soon the Chinese people
started opting for Tesla and BYD took the hit for it and this pattern was replicating in other
countries as well. This made the company realise that they are to treat their home country as
an international market. Otherwise soon enough, Tesla will take over the Chinese market
completely and then BYD will remain second in place for the years to come.

One trend that is common in the international marketing strategy for BYD is that wherever it
went, it was welcomed by the government of that country. Every country is striving hard to
make their products available to the people at a low price point but not at the cost of harming

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the environment. This was one of the promising features of the company. BYD’s mission
statement was one of the points of attractions for the company. BYD was of the point that the
use of fossil fuels must be eliminated once and for all from the entire world. This will
decrease the level of pollution and moreover, these fuels can be of importance for the future
generations. Countries like UK and USA and many other countries are trying to encourage
brands like BYD by subsidising their operations in the country (Masiero, Ogasavara, Jussani
and Risso, 2016). This has led the company to open up their workstations in different
countries as long as they meet the world’s standards.

Innovation in Production Method

BYD is known for its production method technology. They have been in business to make
their manufacturing division flawless. This has caused the company to gain fame across
borders. They have completely changed their production method and tried to innovate over
the years to keep up with the mission statement of the company. BYD has always made sure
that their mission statement is abided by like any restricted vow and their motto that new
energy gives us new future. They have completely worked on this motto and made sure that
their inhouse technology is also in alliance with the mission statement as their products are.

Vertical Integration Strategy

It is the strategy that makes it stand apart from the competition and over the years the
company has been working on this strategy. This strategy is in place to ensure that the
company is able to source all their raw material within the company (Bor, 2017). This may
seem like an expensive option but in reality, it is more than safe and cheap to run, and it
returns huge margins in profit to the company. One of the major benefits of the vertical
integration strategy is to make sure that the company is reducing its cost which will late be
reflected in the company’s pricing strategy. It is one of the reasons that this model is being
practised by BYD.

BYD has never outsourced any of its operations and this has led to several challenges in the
past, but the overall benefits outweigh these challenges. This was also a useful method for the
company because of their diversification and overall, this diversification is related to one
another. The analysis of this model shows that the company has successfully managed to
make their products being made within the company and this gives a sense of security to the
customers as they are more concerned about the products than before.

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One other hidden benefit of this strategy was that this strategy is aligned with the mission
statement of the company. This gives the company complete control over their procedures
and this is depicted in their manufacturing facilities. The entire materials required is readily
available to the company and there is little or no lag in the supply of the materials
whatsoever.

The only drawback that can be identified in the vertical integration is that if the demand starts
to fall in the industry, it will not only hit the manufacturing division but the effect of it will
resonate in the lower sections as well. This will raise many legal concerns in the future in
case of any emergency and hiring a lawyer for the company would be more than necessary
for the company then. The labour cost, the expenses which are fixed and remains this way for
the entire year. This leads the companies to take off from that country before mishap occurs
and the entire image of BYD is at stake.

Conclusion
Analysing the marketing strategy of BYD was full of life-long lessons. The market is
expanding day by day and the new opportunities are looking towards the people and the
companies which are looking for a chance to do business in the international market place. in
conclusion, the marketing strategy seems to be working for BYD everywhere except their
homeland as they were not focused on their home market based on the assumption that it is
their local market. But ever since Tesla has taken over the sales figures of BYD, BYD must
realise that they have to go a long way to make their market position stable again in China.
China is like any other market in the world. In all these years, the country has evolved and
BYD is still able to compete with the changing trend and this will open new doors of
opportunities and potential untapped markets.

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References
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Journal, [online] 8(2), pp.576-586. Available at: <https://www.mdpi.com/2032-
6653/8/2/576>.

Bor, B., 2017. Integration Strategy and Organizational Performance: A Case of Vertical
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Kamakura, W., 2013. How Customer Evolve: A New Framework for Customer
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Kedrosky, P., 2013. Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, and Steve Jobs: Who is an Entrepreneurial
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Schlesinger, B., 2014. Electric Vehicles: Electric Vehicles May Reduce Oil Imports While
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Smyrnov, O., Borisenko, A., Marchenko, A., Romanenko, A. and Yevtushenko, S., 2019.
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Appendix
A) Sales Figures for BYD and Tesla 2014-2019

Source: Electrek

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B) Perceptual Mapping

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 C) Achievements of BYD over the Years

Figure 2: Achievements Over the Years

Source: BYD

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