Study On Gree Air Conditioner's Marketing Strategies In South American Market

In the course of the development of Chinese household appliance industry for more than 30 years,a large number of outstanding enterprises have emerged,such as Haier,Midea,Gree appliances and so on.In recent years,the air conditioning industry has been highly competitive,and even some companies from other countries enter into our domestic market one after another.Since 2012,due to the cooling of the real estate market and the withdrawal of incentive industrial policy,the bottleneck of the growth of domestic market demand has emerged,and it indicates that Chinese air conditioning industry is facing various unprecedented challenges.But it is gratifying that,with the rapid growth of the world's economy,the global air conditioning market has expanded year by year,which brings opportunities for Chinese air conditioning enterprises.Along with the acceleration of economic globalization,those outstanding export-oriented enterprises are actively engaged in the exploration and practice in overseas market,but the path to overseas is often rugged and difficult,and the development in overseas market is full of unknowns and challenges,especially because of the differences on language,culture,custom and law,etc.Under the condition of more and more domestic industries' internationalized development,how to make powerful and effective marketing plans and strategies in order to further promote the overseas market expansion becomes a vary important determinant for our domestic enterprises succeeding in the international market place.Gree Electric Appliances Inc.of Zhuhai was founded in 1991.At the beginning,Gree was a small factory with only window air conditioners' production lines and the annual production volume was less than 20,000 sets.So far,Gree has grown up to be one of the world's largest air conditioning companies,as well as in the international road,Gree air conditioner has become a representative of Chinese enterprises to "Go Out",and it deserves "World Brand".As a leader of the air conditioner industry in China,Gree has gradually led the appliance industry from "Made in China" towards "Create in China" with its superb technology and continuous innovation.However,with the rapid development of global appliance manufactures and the accelerated pace of foreign expansion of most enterprises,Gree is faced with more and more challenges and competition from home and abroad.Therefore,it is vital for Gree to develop reasonable and feasible international marketing strategies and rationalize its implementation,so as to strengthen Gree's competitiveness in the international market and consolidate its niche market position.In recent years,the South American market has become the object market for so many air conditioning enterprises,which can be attributed to its characteristics,including steady development of macro economy,relatively stable political situation,rich in natural resource,especially the cooper,important raw material for air conditioner manufacturing,large population and great market potential and so on.After consulting a lot of data,the author finds that there are relatively few studies on the development of Gree air conditioner in the South American market,so it is particularly important and significant to analyze the marketing strategy of Gree air conditioner in its South American market.This thesis takes the Gree air conditioner's entry into South America as an example to analyze the Gree's air conditioner marketing strategies.Regarding to Gree's entry into South American market,the reason,process,influential factors and existing problems is analyzed to find out the advantages and disadvantages of Gree air conditioner's marketing strategies.Then some suggestions for improving Gree's market strategies is put forward to further expand Gree air conditioner's market in South American.Based on the theories of international marketing,this thesis applies several kinds of strategies and analysis models to study Gree air conditioner's marketing strategy in South America,and it is divided into six parts.In the first part,the author introduces the research background,methodology,significance,and the innovation and deficiency of the research.The second part focuses on the introduction to the theory of international marketing strategies applied in this thesis,such as STP,4Ps,PEST model,and Porter Five Forces model,which lay a theoretical foundation for the following analyses and recommendations.The third part describes the development process of Gree air conditioner and its current situation in the South American market.In the fourth part,the analysis of marketing environment in South America is made with the using of the PEST model,which shows the unique features of South America in aspects of politics,economy,society and technology.Then the current competition status in appliance industry in South America is discussed with Poter's five forces model.Last,the strengths and weaknesses of Gree's competition are conducted,and its strengths include good quality,continuous innovation and attention on brand building,and its weaknesses include a few sales channels,lack of international talents and less experience of international marketing and management.The fifth part uses STP theories to analyze the status of Gree's segmentation marketing,target marketing and position marketing in South America,and takes 4Ps theory as a tool for analyzing Gree's specific marketing strategies in South America,and then summarize the marketing result of Gree separately on the level of customers,government and society.And in the last part,on the basis of the above analyses,the author puts forward some suggestions to optimizing Gree air conditioner's marketing strategies in the South American market,including improving the quality of products,enhancing the channel management,reinforcing corporate image and increasing the recruitment of potential talents.The last part is the conclusion,in which the suggestions are explained to be not only for Gree's market expansion to a larger market but also for making a contribution for the more and more domestic enterprises' realization from "Made in China" to "Create in China".