Essential Financial Concepts

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What is the Market or Site Potential?

Qatar may be categorized as an emerging market. The following data was gathered for the market potential of Caribbean flavored soda based on Qatar’s soft drink market.

Market size- Qatar accounts for 2% of the market for soft drinks currently, while AE currently represents around 18% of the 14.4bn-litre total GCC soft drinks market. Saudi Arabia, the biggest of the countries accounts for almost 65% of overall GCC beverage consumption.

Market growth rate- Similarly to its neighbors Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Qatar has a very high per capita consumption of soft drinks. As a result of having the smallest population among Gulf countries (just above 2mn), the soft drinks market has not yet saturated. There is room for growth in volume and value, especially in the fruit juices, bottled water and functional drinks categories.

Market intensity- The GDP - Purchasing Power Parity of Qatar is 199 ( billions of $) with a global rank of 54.

Market Consumption Capacity-

Commercial Infrastructure- is served by a network of over 1,230 kilometers 764 miles) of primary and secondary roads, linking Doha with major industrial and oil producing areas. Telecommunications services in Qatar are thoroughly modern. Telephone service is provided by the Qatar Public Telecommunications Corporation (Q-Tel), which is 55 percent government owned.

Economic Freedom- Qatar’s economic freedom score is 70.8, making its economy the 32nd freest in the 2015 Index.

Market receptivity- Foreign investment is generally limited to 49 percent of the capital for most business activities, with a Qatari partner(s) holding at least 51 percent. However, the law allows, upon special government approval, up to 100 percent ownership by foreign investors in certain sectors, including: agriculture, industry, health, education, tourism, development and exploitation of natural resources, energy, or mining.

Country risk- Dependence on the hydrocarbon sector (two thirds of fiscal revenues and over 90% of exports), Uncertainty over the evolution of the natural gas price due to shale gas boom and Productivity in need of improvement and dependence on foreign labor

Marketing strategy

It takes a lot of time and effort to develop and maintain a marketing campaign that resonates with your intended audience. As a strategic thinker, however, the development of a marketing campaign takes even more consideration. After all, we're always searching for ways to gain the oh-so important competitive edge. There are times, though, when we all hit the proverbial wall. If you find yourself in that situation, then you may want to check out this marketing strategy that will definitely spark your creative energy. One of the most successful means of going into a new territory with hope of being profitable is going into what is known as a joint venture. A joint venture (JV) is a business agreement in which the parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets. However, the venture is its own entity, separate and apart from the participants' other business interests. Marketing partnerships have a number of benefits to push a marketing campaign. For starters, when you collaborate with someone else, you tend to deliver better content. On top of that, marketing partnerships are cheaper to create, see success more quickly, and expose your brand to a new audience.

The entire purpose of a JV represents the optimism of two firms that they can unite to achieve marketplace goals that neither could achieve alone. While some joint ventures work other do not, unfortunately.

Mode of entry

The essential act of entrepreneurship is new entry. Whereas new entry can be accomplished by entering new or established markets with new or existing goods or services. New entry is the process of launching a new venture, either by start-up firm, through an existing firm, or via internal corporate venturing. The new marketing entry has three basic questions; when, where and how to internationalize. There are three rules which govern the strategies used for deciding which mode of entry to use. Most organizations fancy the strategic rule which states that you first compare different types of entry mode and evaluate before a decision is made. My partners and I did this and the mode of entry would have to be that of strategic alliance. A strategic alliance is an agreement between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon objectives needed while remaining independent organizations. This form of cooperation lies between mergers, acquisitions and organic growth. In the first instance a merger is the combination of two or more companies, generally by offering the stockholders of the company securities in the acquiring company in exchange for the surrender of their stock. On the other hand, acquisition is like when one company takes over another and clearly establishes itself as the new owner. With regards to our new product we will settle with a merger because the company has already established its name locally.

Benefits of strategic alliances:

- Can capitalize on the individual strengths of each participating organization.

- Can provide local contacts and links to local communities/stakeholders who may be critical to the success of the program you want to launch or implement.

- Involves shared responsibility for the development and execution of a particular program or service.

- Limits a participating organization’s liability to the scope of project involved.

- Provides reduced-cost opportunities and expertise for each participating organization.

Product Strategy

When firms decide to market products there are many decisions to make, each decision can have a long term impact on the success of the product. Market research at the beginning of the marketing process will help firms make many product decisions including product development, target market and pricing. The product design is essentially important because the design of a product can often be the thing that sells it, as this is the most obvious aspect of a product. Also product design is key in the technology sector as well as it will be dictated by the target