Executive summary

The report discusses the international market entry strategies and approaches for Hybrid Homes

(Private) Limited to enter Maldives as a new market to expand the market share. The report

contains comprehensive analysis over macro environment of Maldives and discussion over

market segmentation methods to close the over market to identify the right target market.

It is identified two markets such as small and medium size tourism industrial business

organizations and low income level families and provide the justification on target markets in

terms of financial and non-financial perspectives. Further marketing process for new

international market entry is evaluated using 4Ps model.

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Table of Contents

01. Introduction...........................................................................................................................3

02. Overview of the organization...............................................................................................3

03. Macro environmental analysis for international market.......................................................4

04. Discussion on market segmentation methods to enter new market......................................6

05. Justification for selection of new target markets..................................................................7

06. Marketing mix (4Ps) analysis...............................................................................................8

07. Conclusion............................................................................................................................9

08. References...........................................................................................................................10

List of figures

Figure 01: Hybrid homes

Figure 02: Hybrid hotels

Figure 03: Hybrid Homes (Private) Limited Logo

Figure 04: PESTEL Model

Figure 05: Maldives index of economic freedom score

Figure 06: Maldives population growth rate

Figure 07: STP Model

Figure 08: Marketing Mix Model

01.Introduction

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The report discuss international market entry strategy for Hybrid Homes (Private) Limited in Sri

Lanka. During last decade Hybrid Homes (Private) Limited established in Sri Lanka market

being the market leader in Sri Lanka hybrid homes market. Hybrid Homes (Private) Limited

entered to market by installing sites for construction locations and now it has been improved to

hybrid restaurants and hotels. In overall perspective, Hybrid Homes (Private) Limited has built

strong market reputation for hybrid homes construction in Sri Lanka market. It is discussed the

macro environmental attractiveness and challenges of Maldives market to execute the

international market entry strategies and approaches for Hybrid Homes (Private) Limited. In

addition to that STP model (Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning) is used to evaluate the

optimum market segmentation methods to cluster the whole market in order to target the right

market for Hybrid Homes (Private) Limited in Maldives. In addition to that it is implemented the

marketing strategies based on 4Ps model which includes Product, Place, Price and Promotion.

Macro environmental analysis for international market entry is performed based on the

interpretations of PESTEL analysis which focuses on environmental factors in terms of political,

economic, social, technology, environment and legal. In overall perspective, the report aim to

evaluate whether entering to Maldives market is profitable to Hybrid Homes (Private) Limited in

terms of expanding the market share and gain the financial benefits as well.

Figure 01: Hybrid homes

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Figure 02: Hybrid hotels

02.Overview of the organization

Hybrid Homes (Private) Limited introduced new construction concepts to Sri Lanka with

innovative construction methods with related to containers. At the initial stage of the business

process Hybrid Homes (Private) Limited provided the services to install temporary site locations

for larger construction projects in Sri Lanka. Under innovative and unique product development

approach of Hybrid Homes (Private) Limited, product portfolio moved to hybrid home concept

to provide an option to construct a small house using containers for low income level people in

Sri Lanka. In addition to that there is a huge demand from restaurant sector in Sri Lanka for

hybrid restaurants.

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Figure 03: Hybrid Homes (Private) Limited Logo

03.Macro environmental analysis for international market

Macro environment analysis for Maldives market is performed based PESTEL analysis discusses

on environmental factors such as environmental factors in terms of political, economic, social,

technology, environment and legal (Batter, 1999).

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Figure 04: PESTEL Model

Political environment

Political environment in Maldives is not at stable position. As a result of that fiscal policies and

monetary policies are changing frequently (Mariyam, 2013). As a result of that business

organizations are facing the problems of implementing the strategic decisions to achieve the

growth perspectives. In addition to that there are incidences have been recorded regarding

unethical political influences to business sector.

Economic environment

Business decisions and business plans are formulated based on the behaviors of economic

environmental variables. Interest rate in Maldives is high compare to other South Asian

countries. In addition to that higher inflation rate in Maldives decline the purchasing power of

the people (Mariyam, 2013). As a result of that Hybrid Homes (Private) Limited will not be able

to decide premium prices for Hybrid Home products.

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Figure 05: Maldives index of economic freedom score

Social environment

Social environment mainly discusses variations and changes in people behaviors and

composition and how those changes impact to the business decisions and market demand for the

products. In Maldives, population is increasing rapidly (Mariyam, 2013). Space availability

construct houses are considered as one of the major issue for Maldives people.

Figure 06: Maldives population growth rate

Technology environment

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Invest in technology is important to ensure the business process efficiency and effectiveness. In

Maldives, technology environmental factors have been developed over the period of time with

the expansion of ICT market (Mariyam, 2013).

Eco-logical environment

The main economy strength of Maldives is tourism industry and natural environment (Mariyam,

2013). It is essential to comply with environmental protection business practices and green

business models to ensure the business sustainability in Maldives.

Legal environment

In running a business organization, it is required to focus on labor laws, environmental protection

laws and taxation laws (Mariyam, 2013).

In overall perspective, Maldives is an attractive market to promote Hybrid Homes due to social

environmental issues such as lack of adequate land spaces to construct homes, higher cost of

living etc. Further it is essential to implement proper financial management strategies to

overcome the possible financial market issues and problems in Maldives financing market.

04.Discussion on market segmentation methods to enter new

market

Market segmentation involves with clustering the whole market into several clusters based on the

common specification and characteristics of the market (Cattani et al, 2017). Market

segmentation contains sub processes such as defining the future customers, identifying the

market segments, match the competitive advantages with market expectations and develop the

marketing management strategies (Huselid et al, 1997). There are main four market

segmentation approaches such as geographic market segmentation, demographic market

segmentation, psychographic market segmentation and behavioral market segmentation.

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Figure 07: STP Model

Geographic market segmentation involves with cluster the whole market based on the

geographical locations. When target market has large geographical volume, geographic market

segmentation approach is suitable to enter the market through small geographic market.

Geographic market segmentation is suitable for the countries which have larger geographical

volume. In Maldives scenario, geographic market segmentation is not viable due to small

geographical volume of the country. Demographic market segmentation involves with

segmenting the whole market based on the characteristics of population. For example;

demographic market segmentation approach considers about race, religion, gender, occupations,

family size etc. In promoting hybrid homes to Maldives market, it is important to have a clear

understanding over average family size of Maldives people to plan the hybrid home structures

and basic capacity.

Psychographic market segmentation approach links with the people thinking pattern over

household consumption patterns and perception towards hybrid homes. It emphasizes that

business organization should evaluate the perception and attitudes of market participants to plan

and build the product features and specifications. However, hybrid home concept is a new

concept to Maldives people and it is not practical rely on psychographic market segmentation

due to lack of people understanding over importance and significance of hybrid homes.

Behavioral market segmentation considers the people satisfaction and expectation by consuming

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the existing products in the market. Behavioral market segmentation emphasizes that there is a

better market opportunity to enter the new market, when customers are not satisfied with existing

products in the market.

In order to determine the market segmentation method to enter Maldives market, Hybrid Homes

(Private) Limited should use combination of demographic market segmentation and behavioral

market segmentation to identify the right market segment to implement and execute the market

positioning strategies.

05.Justification for selection of new target markets

In order to promote hybrid homes products to Maldives market, it is identified 2 target markets

as follows;

Small and medium size tourism industrial business organizations.

Low income level families.

Small and medium size tourism industrial business organizations

Maldives is a tourism industrial based country. That means tourism industry is the backbone of

Maldives economy. The biggest challenge for small and medium size tourism industrial business

organizations in Maldives is, there is no adequate initial capital and resources to expand their

hotels in attractive manner to reach the premium tourists (Suresh, 2012). Building construction

cost is high in Maldives due to all the construction materials are imported from international

market. Small and medium size tourism industrial business organizations in Maldives can moved

to hybrid hotel concepts to develop and promote unique hotel concept in Maldives at lower

construction cost and limited construction timeline. In addition to that hybrid hotels can be

moved to another place from existing place (Suresh, 2012). It will be a great solution for small

and medium size tourism industrial business organizations who do not have their own lands to

build the hotels and hybrid hotels can be installed in rental land and move to another land at the

end of land lease period with previous land owner.

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Low income level families

When evaluate the income distribution among Maldives population, majority of families can be

categorized as low income level families. More than 80% low income level families are living in

rental premises. Building their own house has become a dream due to higher living cost. Hybrid

homes method is a good solution for low income level families to build their own house at lower

cost (Suresh, 2012). Generally basic hybrid home can be purchased at USD2000 cost which

includes one kitchen, two room, one bathroom, one living area and one dining area.

It is important to conduct a comprehensive market analysis to have an understanding over

customers’ expectations of small and medium size tourism industrial business organizations and

low income level families target markets in Maldives to develop the basic designs and

specifications of hybrid hotels and homes (Suresh, 2012).

06.Marketing mix (4Ps) analysis

Figure 08: Marketing Mix Model

Product

In developing the product development strategies for Hybrid Homes, it is essential to consider

the requirements and expectations of the target market customers (Porter, 1981). Most of the

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people in target market expect to fulfil the minimum household requirements from Hybrid

Homes. It is recommended to plan the structure of Hybrid Homes which includes one kitchen,

two room, one bathroom, one living area and one dining area. With these minimum structure of

Hybrid Homes, organization should plan to introduce low cost product to market to match with

the purchasing power of the people and it is recommended to introduce Hybrid Homes

customization option to customers who are willing add more value added features to basic

Hybrid Homes structure.

Place

Place of marketing mix involves with implementing the strategies and methodologies to

distribute the products among target market customers (Lajara & Sempere, 2002). For example;

retail business organizations uses different distribution methods such as ecommerce to reach the

target market customers. In planning the distribution plan for reach customers in Maldives

market, organization should initiate joint venture arrangement with Maldives business entity to

conduct the sales and marketing strategies and position to the product values and benefits to the

customers to increase the customer base within shorter period of time.

Promotion

There are two types of promotional strategies such as pull promotion strategy and push

promotion strategy (Shenhar, 2004). Pull promotion strategy is used to attract the customers

towards the product while push promotion strategy involves with reaching to customer to

position the product values. In this case, it is recommended to use online marketing methods to

make the customer awareness of product existence and use direct marketing approach to reach

customer’s place and conduct direct discussion with the customers to plan the structure of hybrid

home based on customer requirements and budget. Market promotion strategies should be

updated with respect to the changes in perceptions and behaviors of target market customers. In

addition to that it is recommended to perform cost and benefit analysis of each promotion

methods and approaches during the promotion strategy planning stage and perform variance

analysis at the completion stage comparing expected outcome and actual outcome.

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Price

Prices of hybrid homes depend on purchasing power of the people. Further it is essential to

ensure the product quality in order to ensure the business sustainability and build the market

reputation (Vera & Crossan, 2004). Organization cannot impose premium prices due to low

purchasing power of the target market customers. Based on that it is recommended reply on

penetration pricing strategy which ensures high quality and low price of product. Further

organization should review the behaviors of economic market variables to assess the relevance of

pricing strategies with respect to the changes in economic environmental variables.

07.Conclusion

In Maldives, there will be a huge market demand for hybrid hotels from small and medium

tourism industrial business organizations. In addition to that due to higher cost of living in

Maldives, hybrid homes concept will be an ideal concept to construct a basic house at lower cost.

Marketing strategies should be based on online marketing and direct marketing. Further it is

essential to change the business approaches and tactics with respect to the changes in macro

environmental forces. For that purpose organization should have proper change management

mechanism to capture change in business environment and respond.

08.References

Huselid, M., Jackson, S.E. and Schuler, R.E. (1997), ``Technical and strategic human resources

management effectiveness as determinants of firm performance'', Academy of Management

Review, Vol. 40 (1), pp. 171-88.

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Lajara B M, Lillo F G and Sempere V S (2002), “Human Resources Management - A Success

and Failure Factor in Strategic Alliances”, HRM and strategic Alliances Employee Relations

Vol. 25 (1), 2003 pp. 61-80

Marko, M., Dejan, P. and Vladimir, O. (2006), “Strategic Project Management – New

Management Approach”, International Scientific days.

Mariyam R,, (2013), Developments in the Construction Sector of Maldives, Quarterly Economic

Bulletin.

Morrison, A. and Roth, K. (1992), ``A taxonomy of business-level strategies in global

industries'', Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 13, pp. 399-418.

Porter, Michael E. (1981), “The Contributions of Industrial Organization to Strategic

Management.” Academy of Management Review 6.4: 609–620.

Shenhar A.J, (2004), “Strategic Project Leadership: Toward strategic approach to Project

Management”, R&D Management, Vol. 34(5), pp 569-578.

Suresh K., (2012), Develoment of tourism industry in Maldives, International Journal of

Scientific and Research Publications, 2 (4), ISSN 2250-3153.

Vera, D and Crossan, M. (2004), “strategic Leadership and Organizational Learning”, Academy

of Management Review, Vol. 29, (2) pp 222-240

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