Assignment 1 –Development of Business

Case

Vista Marketing International is a Dubai based organization founded in 1998. It belongs to the
NL group of companies that consists of 3 main divisions targeting 3 different industries; Vista
Technologies, Interior selections and Vista Marketing International.

Vista Technologies focuses on enhancing office IT systems through installation of various

products. For instance, they provide installation of server solutions, wireless hotspots, I.P
phones, access points and a myriad of other IT related products.

Interior Selections manufacturers furniture and provides refurbishing solutions for offices,
hotels and individual houses. Moreover they help develop ideas and offer customers the chance
to see what the end product might look like through visual aids.

Finally the company in focus, Vista Marketing International, specializes in below-the-line

advertising that supplies organizations with marketing collateral and branding solutions.
Moreover, they customize various giveaways and cater to companies that require their brand to
be subliminally displayed through innovative corporate merchandise. One of its major clients,
Standard chartered, approached VMI for all their branding and creative marketing collateral
which was needed for the Standard Chartered Marathon. The collateral included cheering sticks,
afro wigs, giant inflatable balls, post its and wristbands. Part of VMI’s task is to ensure that
brand identity is always maintained, thus all the products were blue and green as per the
Standard Chartered logo.
VMI’s organizational structure is portrayed in the chart below:

Nirain Lobo

CEO & Managing Director

NL Group

Andrew D’Costa

General Manager

Sabu Jackson Duncan Couto Dinesh Poornam

Finance Manager Business Development Manager Production Manger

Finance Assistant Sales Team Production Team

The mission of the business is to ensure that excellent service coupled with outstanding
quality is provided at all times to the client while maintaining professional standards. At
Vista Marketing International, we earn our clients trust by assuring them that their
brand is in the best hands regardless of compromising circumstances.

VMI’s business objectives are to provide specialized services in the field of corporate
branding by sourcing and supplying a range of premium corporate and promotional
merchandise that distinctively personalizes an organizations identity. Furthermore,
this is achieved by VMI associating itself with renowned multinational companies
around the globe that offer new ground breaking products and ideas that keep VMI one
step ahead of their competition. In addition to this, VMI’s proactively maintains
relationships with its clients by offering extensive after sales services as well as
upholding a friendly rapport. VMI constantly thrives on expanding its clientele, both
nationally and internationally strategically targeting various markets.
VMI strategically places itself apart from the competition by openly stating that it does
not invest in stock keeping but rather uses its resources to bring in new innovative
products specifically designed to the client’s requirements. This gives VMI an advantage
as it attains all clients that want unique corporate merchandise specific to their brand
that is not easily available elsewhere. For instance, before contacting VMI, Xerox initially
gave away metal USB’s engraved with its company logo, as that was the most they were
offered by fellow branding agencies. Now, Xerox gives away USB’s in the shape of their
logo which was personally designed and produced for them.
Furthermore, another strategy that VMI uses is targeting the radio industry by trading
services to benefit both parties. VMI offers personalized merchandise to the radio
stations in return for free air-time. This enables VMI to target audiences of all age
groups using mass communication tools. For instance, VMI’s target audience would
range from the ages of 35 – 65, as they would potentially be managers or CEO’s. VMI
targets this segment by opting for airtime on a station that plays retro music.
The company also uses low cost advertising on social networking sites like facebook,
twitter and linked-in to target and reach out to customers online. These sites enable
VMI to target specific segments of customers by viewing their company profile and
adding them to their online contact list.
Expanding the organizations clientele involve a series of strategies that VMI uses:
 Targeting events – This includes VMI attaining its clientele by approaching event
organizations and companies participating in these events and offering them
products that are catered specifically to their brands. Two instances of this
would be firstly, approaching companies participating in Gitex as they need
marketing collateral to give out to keep clients interested in their brand.
Secondly approaching the event organizers of the Rugby 7’s as well as the
companies participating in the event. They would both need marketing
collateral in the form of wristbands and stadium giveaways respectively.
 Targeting new companies – This involves a sales team perusing the directories
of various free zones and other business populated areas to find new
organizations being set up. These organizations would need branded collateral
and branded stationary to stock and giveaway.
  Targeting hotels – all hotels need to have branded amenities in their rooms and
lobbies. VMI targets these hotels and offer them new innovative amenities that
they can either giveaway or store in their rooms.
 Targeting multinational companies – The sales team strategically concentrates
its resources on attaining clients that are multinational so as to possibly
convince the organization to use Dubai as a sourcing hub for marketing
collateral. For instance, DHL uses VMI to supply all its marketing collateral
worldwide to 60 various destinations.
 Referrals through other two companies - This involves constant exchange of
referrals between the three companies to gain market share and easy extension
of a data base.

Internal stakeholders consist of:

1. The managing director – Nirain Lobo

Job description – Oversees all three divisions of the group. However, his main focus lies
with running the Interior selections division on a daily basis while having only weekly
updates regarding the welfare of VMI and Vista technologies.
2. The general manager – Andrew D’costa
Job description – Oversees all aspects of the organization on a day to day basis. These
include managing the finances, production, sourcing, delivery, sales and inventory
within VMI.
3. a. The finance manager – Sabu Jackson
Job description - manages all company overheads (salaries, rents, petrol bills, telephone
bills, etc.), payments made to suppliers and due collections. He is assisted by a junior
accountant that deals with the day to day transactions of the business.
b. The Business development manager – Duncan Couto
Job Description – manages a sales team of three, increases clientele base, introduces
unique marketing strategies to increase revenue and assists the general manager.
c. The production manager – Dinesh Poornam
Job description – To manage suppliers and ensure timely delivery, oversee logistics of
stock and deliveries to clients and oversee quality standards are met during production.
VMI’s external stakeholders include all their clients/customers and suppliers. Their
clients consist of 2 categories; agencies and direct clientele. Agencies are organizations
that outsource branding to VMI in order to supply their respective clients with all
possible services (above and below the line advertising). Direct clients would include
companies that deal with VMI directly to attain corporate branding.
VMI’s suppliers would also consist of two categories; local and international suppliers.
Depending on certain limitations (time, funds, quality, etc.), suppliers from within the
UAE or aboard are given contracts to provide the collateral. These suppliers liaise with a
production officer that manages them, derives new ideas and bargains for the best
rates.

Dubai has become one the world’s leading business hubs; therefore attracting a vast
number of multinational companies and small business entrepreneurs. This is an
environmental factor which is highly beneficial to VMI as all new businesses and offices
need advertising. Moreover, as Dubai hosts a countless number of businesses, other
businesses travel to Dubai for its many trade shows that are held all year around.
Organizations participating in these exhibitions require marketing collateral to giveaway
to their potential investors and this is where VMI comes in. Not only does VMI provide
corporate gifts, but also provides banners, posters and other merchandise that requires
branding.
With the unfortunate case of the recession, VMI has had to lower its prices and work
harder to gain clientele. On the other hand corporate branding is an industry that will
always be needed for the smaller businesses that want to try and give their clients a
tangible marketing product that they can keep with them.

There are always underlying risks that affect every business. The key to averting a risk
before it happens is to identify it and plan accordingly. Risk Identification is a process of
using risk identification approaches to define which uncertainties and threats surround
and affect project activities and to document risk characteristics (www).
The key to a successful business in corporate marketing is to provide relationship
management, innovative ideas, accurate brand guidelines and timely delivery. In
addition to this, in an industry that thrives on imports and exports of goods, there are a
wide variety of risks that could take place. Each point must be carefully executed in
order to maintain a risk free environment.
Relationship management is extremely crucial as it affects both the supply and demand.
Supply of most items is imported from overseas suppliers and the demand relates to
our client base. Therefore retaining a friendly rapport with both, the supplier and client
is key. Introducing new innovative ideas is what gives VMI its competitive edge.
Therefore, VMI encourages its staff to be creative and to think out of the box in order to
please existing clients and to attract more. Companies are extremely particular about
the way their brand is portrayed through advertising. Hence maintaining their brand
identity and strictly following their respective brand guidelines is imperative. For
instance, the brand logos must be printed in the right color, size and font. Punctuality is
essential for VMI as clients mostly order marketing collateral for specific events.
Therefore VMI’s clients depend solely on the accurate delivery dates provided.
A risk assessment is simply a careful examination of what, in your work, could cause
harm to people, so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions
or should do more to prevent harm (www).
Every action has a consequence if not carried out properly. For instance, if relationship
management is not maintained in a professional yet friendly manner, VMI could face
risks such as; loss of a cost effective supplier and dissatisfied clients who may not like
the service. To avoid this happening in the future, VMI could train their employee’s on
how to be courteous towards suppliers and relationship methods to keep a good
rapport with existing clients.
In addition to this, creativity and uniqueness is a strength and advantage that VMI
possesses over its competition. If employees were not encouraged to think out-of-the-
box VMI would lose its competitive edge and could possibly lose clients. Therefore,
rewarding creative and innovative ideas should be introduced as well as keeping a
sourcing representative in place to give weekly or monthly updates of new products.
Clients require accurate advertising for a number of reasons and the manner in which
the branding is portrayed is essential to the company. If the brand guidelines are not
met VMI could face legal prosecution and would have to bear the cost of the goods. To
prevent this from occurring VMI would have to carefully select their production staff
and quality control would need to be in place.
Finally, delivery dates must be strictly abided with. If the deliveries do not coincide with
the given dates, VMI would lose its credibility and could lose clients. In order to prevent
this, VMI would need to firstly, keep a buffer time (an extended date) and secondly,
keep a person in charge to follow up with every phase of production.
Overall, a risk assessment would be needed in order to identify possible areas of
weakness and develop strategies on how to overcome the obstacles. It would also
enable VMI to judge whether the risk is inevitable of whether risk control can be put in
use.
Furthermore, formal risk management would be extremely beneficial to VMI as it would
not only increase and sustain their supplier and clientele base. In addition to this, VMI
would be able to maintain and increase both, its marketing edge and market share.
Lastly, risk management would ensure the smooth operation of VMI along with keeping
its clients extremely satisfied and wanting more of its services.
References:

http://www.todolistsoft.com/solutions/checklist/risk-identification-
checklist.php

http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/fivesteps.htm

www.vista-intl.com