Telstra's Market Audit Essay: Trends, Segments, Competition. (70 Characters)

The next stage of the marketing audit is for you to consider the market for your organisation and evaluate the opportunities and threats that exist for your chosen organisation. NB: if you have a number of markets it is a good idea to focus on just one. Incorporating theoretical concepts into your discussion from (are these in relation to the new or the old version of the book) of the text, and with the use of other theoretical sources and secondary research. please discuss the following:

1. Briefly describe the industry market for your organisation and evaluate current trends in:

a. Growth

b. Profitability

c. Macro environment ( PESTLE factor)

2. Outline and examine the major market segments for your organisation and identify your primary and secondary target markets.

3. Discuss the level of involvement your primary segment is likely to have towards your organisation in terms of the decision making

4. Describe the nature of competition in your industry. Explain and analyse your organisation's place in the market by comparing and contrasting its strengths and weaknesses to your main competitor.

5. Taking into consideration the primary segment, their level of involvement and the competition. create a positioning map for the market place. 

The report presents a brief overview of the Telstra Company. It describes that how the company provides telecommunication products and services to its customers. It explains the growth and profitability of the company. It analyses and evaluates the micro and macro environment of the company. It explains that how external macro environment factors affect the business activities of the company. Telstra is one of the biggest telecommunication companies across the world. The report also explains the primary and secondary market of the company. It describes that how the company involves the primary market segment in the decision-making process. It explains the market mix strategies of the company. The report tells that how the competitors influence the business activities of Telstra. It also evaluates and analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the company. It analyzes that how the company is increasing its business in the market.   

Telstra Corporation Ltd. is an Australian telecommunication and media corporation which was founded on 12 June 1975. It provides telecommunication network and market voice, internet access, mobile, pay television and other products and services. It is one of the largest telecommunication company in the world. Telstra head office is located in Melbourne, Australia. It also provides GSM, CDMA, 3G wireless and satellite services to worldwide customers (Dalcher, 2014). Currently, the company operates and manages the telecommunication network in more than 19 countries globally. The main vision of the company is to enhance and improve its position in the market. Telstra has made many worldwide investments in the Asia Pacific areas.  The Australian government sells 4.9 percent of share to the individual and institutional investors to stake in the association partial privatization. The company established a special department which is responsible for the development of the data, e-commerce business and internet. The company also launched a new generation of the mobile network to share and exchange the server. The company uses customer focused marketing strategy and value differentiation strategy to achieve the organizational goals and objectives (Loomis & Taylor, 2012).

The Telstra makes excellent growth and profitability strategies to gain various advantages in the market. Telstra earning income is approx $636 million under the NBN definitive agreements (Raiche, 2015). Net cash from operating activities has increased and the revenue of the Telstra is approx $27.1 billion (2016) and the operating income is approx $6.3 billion (2016). The total profits and assets are also increasing day by day. The total profit of the Telstra is approx $5.8 billion (2016) and the total assets are approx $40.45 billion (2015). The total equity of the company is approx $14.51 billion (2015).

Growth and profitability

Retail revenue of Telstra: Telstra retailers provide various kinds of telecommunication products and services to its customers (Moorhead, 2015). The retail revenue of the company is showing in below chart.  

                                            (Source: Somasundaram, 2017)

The macro environment is a situation that exists in an entire economy. The macro environment factors include the external and uncontrollable factors which influence an organizational decision-making process and affect its strategies and performance. The external environment also affects the business activities of the company. Thus, the company should evaluate and analyze the macro environment factors which exist in the environment. The external factors are such as legal, political, demographic, technological changes, social conditions and natural forces (Alqahtani, 2013).

PESTLE analysis is an analysis of the macro environment which affects the Telstra. An organization cannot control on external factors, therefore, they are beyond the control of the firm. It creates different kinds of threats and opportunities in the company. PESTLE stands for political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors of the macro environment (Curwen & Whalley, 2014). The external factors are discussed below.

Political factors: The political factors affect the Telstra business. The political factors are discussed below.

• Political steadiness, antitrust laws, wage legislation
• Product labeling requirements, pricing regulations
• Intellectual property protection, industrial safety regulation

Economic factors: These factors also influence the business activities of Telstra which are discussed below.

• Labor costs, inflation rates, interest rates, economic growth rate
• Unemployment rate, infrastructure quality, comparative benefits of host country
• Efficiency and effectiveness of financial market, discretionary income, government involvement in the free market (Ganesh & Zorn, 2011).

Social analysis: The social external factors play a significant role in Telstra business. The social factors are as follows.

• Demographic, education, values, and attitudes of people
• Education, leisure interest, culture of people

Technological factors: If the company wants to run the business successfully then it should analyze the external environment (Coutts, 2015). Technological factors also affect the business of the company. These factors are discussed below.

• Impact on cost formation and structure, the rate of technological diffusion, impact on value chain structure.
• Technological impact on product offering

Legal factors: Telstra strategies include the following legal factors are discussed below.

• Power consumption regulations

Environmental factors: The following external economic factors affect the company market. They are discussed below.

• Increasing ecological programs, climate changes (Campbell, 2016).

Australians interconnect with each other through the various forms of telecommunication like the internet, telephone, mobile phone, SMS messaging. Now a day’s Telstra is fulfilling the needs of Australians. On the basis of potential consumers, the Telstra target market divided into two categories (Arokiasamy & Abdullah, 2013). They are discussed below.

Primary target markets: The primary target market plays a significant role in Telstra Company. The primary market segment includes the consumers, small business owners, and managers. The consumers of Telstra are more traditional rather than progressive. The company builds tradition and heritage relationship with consumers. Mostly, consumers of the company are residing in Sydney and they are the age group of between 40-50. Small businesses include the traditional small businesses, on the road business and home business.  The company divides its small business according to the types of business through which the company operates and interacts with their customers. Residential and wholesale customers and governments are also involved in a primary market segment of Telstra (Beltrán, 2014).

Macro environment

Secondary target markets: The secondary market also plays a significant role in Telstra. Secondary market includes shareholders, media, and Telstra staff. Australian’s telecommunication markets are opened to full competition. The company has a great liberty to develop and improve product packaging to meet the specific requirements of specific customer segments. The company should analyze the secondary market segment to provide the products and services to its customers (Goggin, 2012).

The marketing mix plays a significant role in Telstra. The marketing mix of Telstra includes the product, prices, promotion, place, people, process and physical evidence. The company marketing mix is discussed below.

Product: Telstra is one of the biggest telecom players in Australia. The product and services of the company depend on the types of consumers exist in the market. Small businesses offer the digital technology, SIM, bundles, mobile phones, the internet and online services.

Price: The Company adopts the excellent pricing strategy to attract the consumers in the market. Telstra offers the special prices for the combo packages which also consists broadband like TV, home phones, and movies. The price strategy of Telstra is easily accepted by the consumers and they take benefits of this strategy.

Promotion: Telstra makes attractive promotional strategies to attract the customers in the market. It generates special offers on occasions. The company not only offers the products and services at discounted prices but also utilize the Wi-Fi, hotspot to improve and develop its visibility and it creates hum among its customers.   

Place: Telstra uses various online tools to increase the sale of its products and services. The company has the various online stores to provide services to its customers. In this way, it provides faster telecommunication products and services to its customers (Greenland, Bainbridge, Galloway & Gill, 2012).

People: The company provides effective customers services and it enhances the consumer experience in the market.

Process: It provides online technical support for sell the products and services of the company. The company also provides 24x7 customer’s services to its customers. Process plays a significant role in Telstra marketing mix.

Physical evidence: It has the various offline stores and centers across the world. Psychical evidence also plays a significant role in Telstra marketing mix.

Now it is assumed that marketing mix plays a significant role in Telstra. The company focuses on the customers through marketing mix strategies. It takes various benefits with the help of effective marketing mix strategies.

The primary market plays an integral role in the decision-making process of Telstra Company. Telstra is the largest telecommunication organization to provide customer services at home.  It is the fully integrated telecommunication organization. The company maintains excellent relationship with consumers to gain competitive benefits. It involves the primary segment in terms of the decision-making process. The company takes regular feedback from consumers to improve the products and services (Cradduck, 2011). It uses customer support system to improve the telecommunication network and market voice. The residential and potential customers provide support to improve service level and business performance of the organization. Area sales managers are appointed to address and resolve the problems of customers related to sales and services of the company. Customers provide support to improve the business efficiency and financial performance of the company. The company focuses on the communication services and channel of communication. The company has 16 offices across the world including USA, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Therefore, the company provides telecommunication services to multinational customers and international service providers. It takes the opinion of managers and owners for providing effective services to the customers (Simon & Slay, 2011).   

PESTLE analysis

Through feedback, the company can take reviews of consumers to overcome on the competitors. If the company takes feedback of customers then it can improve its online products and services. In this way, the consumers will use the services of the company and they will also buy the online products. After receiving the feedback from customers, the company makes innovative strategies and plans to improve the online and telecommunication services. The company delivers the excellent consumers experience by rendering the best products and online services to its customers. It is developing the telecommunication network for future. Telstra is a leader of telecommunication industry in Australia thus, the company knows the need and requirements of the customers in the Australia. The well trained technical staff has been appointed by the company to resolve the problems of the consumers. The company and handset manufacturers maintain a close co-cooperation and coordination to create a wide range of business in the market. After the various researches, it has been analyzed that Telstra provides a wide range of telecommunication services and products to its customers. In this way, it satisfies the needs and requirements of the customers (Power & Power, 2010).

The main competitors of Telstra are Optus, Macquarie telecom group, Vodafone, iiNet, and Transact capital communication.  Optus provide a high range of telecommunication products and services, business network services and local and international telephone services to the different kinds of customers. Vodafone also provides telecom services to the customers. Therefore, highly competition exists in the market among Optus, Vodafone, and Telstra. Telstra has maintained the high level of market share in the customary product areas. Telstra can overcome on the competitors through its excellent strengths (Voon & Mitchell, 2011).

On the basis of strengths and weaknesses, the differences among Telstra, Vodafone, and Optus are discussed below.

Basis	Telstra	Optus	Vodafone
Strengths	· It expands its business in key market · It maintains amiable relations with regulatory bodies. · It provides wide range of customer portfolio services to its customers · Approx 35,000 employees provide services to its customers across the 230countries indirectly.	· It is one of the largest companies in the Australia. · Provide local support and fast trustworthy services. · Approx. 8500 employees are working for the organization.	· It includes huge market exposure · Generates high revenue and profit · Use excellent marketing strategies
Weaknesses	· Unsatisfactory consumer services and operational and managerial inefficiencies. · It suffers from latency problems when compared to the competitors Optus and Vodafone. · Its prices are higher than competitors. · It maintains limited liquidity position in the market.	· Might drop the fast move benefits · Limited regional presence as compared to worldwide competitors.	· It reducing subscriber base · Reducing brand valuation · Poor performance in Europe · It is losing market share in the USA.

The above description shows that strengths of Telstra are the weaknesses of Optus and Vodafone and the weaknesses of competitors are the strengths of Telstra. Therefore, Telstra takes the various benefits from the weaknesses of the competitors. In this way, the company can maintain the good position in the market. The Optus and Vodafone are not being able to maintain cordial relations with the consumers while Telstra makes good relations with customers. If Telstra wants to overcome on the competitors then it should analyze and evaluate the weaknesses of the competitors.  Telstra has launched 4G mobile broadband network in the world. It is also increasing IT services in the market. Therefore, it is increasing its business activities day by day (Liu, Brotherton, Shellard, Donovan, Saville & Kaldor, 2011).

Market segments of Telstra

The below positioning map of the market is showing that Telstra maintains high competition and high level of involvement, it means that it involves the large number of customers in the decision-making process. In this way, the company gains the benefits of high competition. On the other hand, Optus maintains a low level of involvement and high competition in the market (Gerrand, 2013). Therefore, Optus cannot take more benefits due to the low level of involvement of the customers. The positioning map for the market place is showing in below diagram.

Conclusion 

Now it is concluded that Telstra is the biggest telecommunication company in the world. It provides various kinds of internet and telecommunication products and services to its customers domestically as well as internationally. Now a day’s Telstra is showing the enormous growth in the telecommunication sector. It uses effective marketing strategies to overcome on the competitors. It maintains the loyalty and dignity and good relations with the consumers in the market. Therefore, it attracts the consumers and increases the revenue of the company. It is one of the best well-known brands in the world. Telstra has proved the effectiveness of its network strategy. Now it is assumed that the company should make plans to enhance the telecommunication and internet services in future. In this way, it can make a good identity in the market and it can also take benefits of its competitors (Cripps & Standing, 2011).

  Some recommendations have been given to Telstra to provide better telecommunication services to its customers. They are discussed below.

• The company should continue to work with agents of people to resolve any service concern and problems.
• Telstra must report to the government on the outcomes and result of its projects to improve the coordination and cooperation of new service connection.
• The company should use more effective strategies to improve the telephone services.
• The company should analyze the needs and requirements of different customers in the market to introduce the innovative products and services in the future. In this way, the company can gain high growth and success in the future.

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