Teeny Foods Marketing Management in Bahrain Market

Executive Summery

The growing retail market in Bahrain presents positive business opportunities for Teeny Foods International. The company has successfully penetrated the American market with its strong brand initiatives. The strong brand is linked to the company’s technological prowess that allows it to produce a variety of high quality food products. To add more advantage to its potential success in the Bahrain market, the country’s population is increasingly becoming young professionals with sedentary lifestyle. However, the threat of strong cultural and religious differences between Bahrain and the United States does not present positive aspects for company’s entry into this market.

The branding and labeling of the Teeny Food products should therefore be done in Arabic and based on the Islam culture rather than English and Christian culture. Apart from print and electronic advertising, online marketing should be adopted considering the changing population dynamics. The other strategy is to do market fragmentation and subsequently develop products that are in line with their needs and demands; products that appeal to their tastes.

Situation Analysis

The recent market situation in Bahrain reveals that the country’s retail sector will continue to grow every year, with projected growth from the 2007’s US$3 Billion to US$5.8 billion by the year 2013 (British Council 1). The continuous changes in population demography and “favorable economic outlook” have been attributed to this expected growth (British Council 2). Demographic changes entails considerable number of middle-aged population, rising number of female employees coupled with reduced rates of home meal preparations, and increased urban lifestyle. This would also mean that Teeny Foods adapting to marketing strategies regularly embracing value addition to its products and services. One of the most obvious need and opportunity would be to increase online retail activities.

This is because the target market is mainly comprised of a section of population who spend more time on internet than they do on television (British Council 2). The company will therefore need to focus on online advertisements and promotions as some of their main activities. This would be critical for the company to improve their own-label in the Middle East region, supply chain management so as to reduce operational costs and increase profit margins.

Social conditioning, cultural beliefs and attitudes of the society are known to have great influence on what people buy and use or consume for this case. Due to sedentary lifestyle of the people in major towns of Bahrain, many consumers have become accustomed to linking their health issues with what type of food they consume everyday. They therefore choose what to consume to ensure healthy living.

SWOT Analysis

Strength

Teeny Food has established a strong status in the food industry in the global market. The company has several strengths that help it establish its position in this highly competitive industry. In 2008, the company won the “U.S. Small Business Administration Family Owned Small Business of the Year” award (Teeny Foods, 2). Earlier in 2001, the company had won the “Woman Owned Family Business of the Year Article” (Teeny Foods, 2).

These recognitions are linked to the company’s ability to develop strategic marketing management. The other strength is the ability to produce more with less. That is, the company has managed strategic acquisition; develop new products; involved professional team of management; assembled result-oriented family ownership; and strategic expansion management. Through these initiatives, Teeny Foods managed to produce “six times the dollar volume of 20 years ago with 25 fewer employees (Portland, 24).

Weaknesses

Despite the company’s success in the United States food market, it has not managed to penetrate the international market, particularly the Asian market. The Bahrain market environment is dictated by Islam as the religion and Arabic as dominant language. This is in contrast to the United States which is predominantly English speaking nation, with Christianity as the main religion. The company brands its products in English and mainly put bible verses on bags of its products. This is a threat because Islam’s holy book is Koran.

Opportunities

Many changes have occurred in the global market, particularly in the Asian region. Bahrain business environment is presenting opportunities for food business success. Teeny Food International has both the financial and technological ability to penetrate the Bahrain market. The company is developed through the ethics of family business that is known to help build incredible work ethic, responsibility, commitment, and perseverance in the overall management process.

The successful exploitation of the available opportunity will depend on the ability to brand the products within the cultural and religious contexts of Bahrain. Their extensive use of technology and innovations allow the company to develop extensive variety of food products to carter for its increasing marketing environment. The other opportunity emanate from the popularity of e-commerce and internet. These would help develop wide marketing range initiatives in order to penetrate and increase its strategic market share.

Threats

There are some threats that are paused by the global market. Teeny Foods International’s first threat would come from its competitors, notably Kraft Foods, which seem to have established loyal customers in the region. This is due to their long duration they have been operating in the region, hence establishing itself as a strong brand. Again, the global market has also increased its demand for high quality products at a fairly modest cost. Of the most worrying trend about the global food market is the increased belief that tined foods are never healthy. This is because of medical researches that continuously link fast foods with increased cases for obesity and other health complications.

Marketing Strategy

For the successful penetration of any foreign market, Bahrain market for this matter, Teeny Food must analyze what market segment is made of and what kinds of customers are represented within the segments. The best way to approach this strategic marketing framework is to analyze some successes and failures that competitors within its targeted market have faced (Ryan & Hiduke 29). Secondly, Teeny Foods International needs to balance internal corporate responsibilities with the needs of the customers. The successful management of these initiatives should enable Teeny Foods International to develop and maintain strong marketing initiatives. This can be done through the use of food distribution companies and collaboration with like-minded partners at the corporate level.

With the above strategic marketing approaches, the company would be in a position to conform to the changes in demand and supply. This strategy would be best achieved through segmentation of the target market to allow strong focus in each market segment with specific product. They would therefore be able to develop a variety of products in addition to the current popular “Thick Pizza crust, Medium Thin Crust, Cornmeal Cracker Crust, and Extra Thick Pizza Crust” (Teeny Foods 1).

The other strategy should be in pricing mechanism. The company should analyze its current pricing in the United States’ market and do comparative analysis with that of the Bahrain market. This is because it is noted that pricing strategy is one of the most important issues in marketing initiatives. According to Travis (27), it may be sometimes necessary to lower prices in order to penetrate low-end consumers. By doing this, the company would be involved in penetrative pricing in order to gain competitive advantage in its new market.

Implementations

To penetrate and strengthen its brand in the market, Teeny Foods International will need to strengthen its online marketing initiatives. This can be done through the development of a website specifically for the Bahrain market. The website should be in Arabic and conform to the Islamic culture as the company would be targeting mass market. With increased and exposure to the intended customer, the consumers are able to sample the available food products online and make decision to purchase or do more inquiry. Product quality will be emphasized to lure more target market to want more products. This means that age groups will be used to popularize products according to the strategy in order to reach wider niche market.

Teeny Foods International has the technological capacity to develop high quality products. The company is also able to practice flexibility in branding specific products as the market dictates. The implementation process should therefore involve the process of developing new products by changing their life cycle to suit the demands of the target customers. The company should also embrace promotional initiatives where there is opportunities to collaborate with charitable organizations to popularize their products. This can be emphasized by ensuring that advertisements are made part of promotion process and inviting groups and organizations in their marketing initiatives. Advertisements can also be achieved through electronic and print media.

Works Cited

British Council. Bahrain Market Introduction. British Education Council, 2009. Web.

Portland, Richards. Woman-Owned Business of the Year. Teeny Foods Corp, 2001. Web.

Ryan, John & Hiduke, Paul. Small Business: An Entrepreneur’s Business Plan. London. Thomson Learning, 2003.

Teeny Foods. Good Things Come in Teeny Packages, 2010. Web.

Travis, Tom. Doing Business Anywhere: The Essential Guide to Going Global. Hoboken. John Wiley & Sons, 2007.