Marketing Golfball In Sweeden

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING GROUP PAPER

Table of Content

Section page

Executive Summary 3

Introduction 4

Mission statement 6

Consumers' analysis 6

Target market 7

Consumers' characteristics 8

Market demography 8

Target market by cities 9

External Analysis of Sweden/Infrastructure 9

Business-Related Infrastructure 10

Consumer-Oriented Infrastructure 10

Economy's analysis 10

Technical and Transportation Infrastructure 11

Political and Legal 12

Natural Resource Market Performance 12

Cultural 13

Social Environment 13

Competitive Analysis 13

Marketing Strategy 15

Marketing Mix 15-19

Product

Place

Promotion

Price (see financial attachment)

Executive summary

In 1984, Fantastic Golf Company was created in Tampa, Florida in order to manufacture and distribute high-quality, affordable golf clubs and equipment. Fantastic uses the same successful business model as high-end golf balls companies like Callaway, Titleist and Taylor Made. Design and assembly of fantastic clubs occurs at the Tampa facility. Like its high-end competitors, the company uses the latest golf club technology to create products with ultimate playability. But, fantastic provides its retailers with a mid-range price point and the best sales margins in the golf industry. The end result is a comparably high-quality, high-performance golf ball with a more attractive price tag. In January 2004, Fantastic Golf Company expanded its market to Sweden. By using the same business model like our home market, we were able to conquer a multi-billion dollar industry that is showing a growth in popularity in Sweden. The company continues to produce golf balls that emphasize excellent value and outstanding performance. The geographic focus of Fantastic Golf has been very successful in the Southern and eastern portions of Sweden and our product line are golf balls

Introduction

The product that we have chosen to produce and sell is golf balls. We will produce a top of the line golf ball that will travel further than the average ball. Our goal is to produce a top of the line golf ball, which is created by cutting edge technology that will last longer and travel further than the average golf ball. The name of our golf balls is 2 Long. Our balls will be sold per sleeve (3 to a sleeve), per dozen and per case. The country that we have chosen to market our product in is Sweden. Sweden was largely unknown as a golfing destination many years ago but, thanks to a number of reasons, has turned the corner from its underachiever status to world-beater. Annika Sorenstam put Swedish and ladies golf on the map when she became the first woman in more than 50 years to feature in a PGA Tour event against the men in the Bank of America Colonial. But it doesn't stop there, add Ulrik Johansson and Jesper Parnevik from the men's game to Catrin Nilsmark and Carin Koch from the ladies game, and you have a country that has produced more than its fair share of talented golfers.

Golfing in Sweden is both a pleasure and an eye opener. The first Swedish golf club, Gothenburg, was founded in 1902 and was quickly followed two years later by Stockholm. Golf, then, is nothing new to the Swedes and any visitors will soon realize that. Also, this past year the Sweden Women's World Amateur Team won the Championship by three over Canada and the United States.

Golf has become incredibly popular over the last 10 years in Sweden. New golf courses are built in large numbers and there are as many as 365 in the whole country today. Most located in the southern area, but the interested player will have no problem finding great courses all the way up the Arctic Circle. Golf is a popular sport, and it does not cost that much to be an active golfer.

Sweden, the fifth largest country in Europe, with less than 9 million inhabitants has a rich history filled with unique twists and contradictions. Sweden is the most "American" of European Union members; however that does not mean that Swedish market replicates that in the United States. Assuming that it does, often leads to problems for American exporters.

Sweden is unquestionably attractive to foreign investors, offering a well-educated highly efficient work force, outstanding management skills and the second lowest corporate tax rate in Europe. The number of foreign owned companies increased more than 40% between 1990 and 1997. Foreign owned businesses employ over 14% of the Swedish work force. The United States is second only to Finland as the largest provider of foreign direct investment. The number of American invested companies in Sweden has grown from 350 to over 600 in the past 7 years. Cumulative foreign direct investment has increased more in Sweden than any other European country.

Numerous surveys rank Sweden among the top three countries that provide the best climate for innovation in the world. Among the factors considered are investments in R&D (4% of Swedish GDP), number of patents, and the percentage of industry that is classified high tech. Sweden and the United States are the leading IT nations in the world in terms of IT hardware, software, and services. Sweden has the highest number of phone lines (fixed and mobile) per capita as well as the highest percentage of Internet users in the world. Over 50% of those that have Internet connections use it daily. Over 35% have