Analysis of Aviva Marketing Environment

Aviva: A Multinational Insurance Company

Aviva is a British multinational company with its headquarters in London, United Kingdom, mainly offering insurance services. It carries its operations across 16 countries and it has over 33 million customers. It is the largest general insurer and a leading life and pension’s provider in the UK. The organisation is also the second largest insurer in Canada. Aviva was initially called CGNU PLC in 2000 but changed to change to Aviva PLC in 2002 (Aviva 2012).

Marketing and CSR Activities of Aviva

This paper discusses the marketing environment and the CSR activities of Aviva. The report establishes the recent performances of the business and analyses its macro environment. Also, it explores the industry structure analysis and establishes the strategic position of this business. Further, the essay discusses its ethical issues within the environment of operation. Therefore, the paper is critical in helping to unveil the information on the marketing environment and the practices of CSR for Aviva.

Marketing and Financial Performance of Aviva

Aviva has recently delivered growth in profits, dividends, capital and cash. The largest market which is the UK has grown in sales, market share and profit. Aviva is a highly growing business. Six of Aviva’s eight markets has been delivering double-digit profit improvement. It has mostly been investing in their business and in digital marketing to make easy access to products and services for their customers. Aviva financial position has been transformed and it has a good balance sheet to help them give quality services to their customers (Aviva n.d).

Aviva Macro Environment

Political

These are factors that show to which extent the government influences Aviva Company. Political factors comprise of tax policies, fiscal policies, trade tariffs and all these the government is the one that comes up with rules about them. The government’s policies impact a company positively or negatively. The tax policies of United Kingdom have favoured the growth of Aviva business. Aviva has expanded and has been growing since it started its operations because the government policies have been in their favour.

Economic

Economic factors determine the economy’s performance that positively or negatively impact a company and they mostly have long-term effects on the company’s market. The factors include interest rates, inflation rate foreign exchange rates, and economic growth patterns. Aviva has not experienced inflation rates because the economic system of UK has been maintained. The customers of Aviva have not had issues because the price of the services offered has been maintained. Therefore, the market of Aviva has not been affected by economic factors.

Social

Social factors look at the social environment of the market and look at factors like cultural trends, and demographics. The UK demographics impact positively on the Aviva Company, this is because there are so many people in the UK and therefore most people despite the competition come to Aviva for insurance. Insurance does not specify the age at which a person should take it and for this reason, many customers of different ages come to Aviva. The cultural trends do not affect the market of Aviva, hence enjoying a huge market.

Technological

These are the current innovations in technology that affect the operations of the company and its market. Every company should be up to date especially with the daily changing technology. The company should avail its information on the internet for easy access of information. The Aviva Company has been up to date with the changes in technology. There are some services that the company currently offers online and its information can be accessed on their website. The market across other countries has also improved.

Legal

These factors are both internal and external. There are those laws set by the government that affect the entire business environment while there are those that the company set for itself to maintain order in the company so that everyone does not do what they please anytime they want (Cleveland and Laroche 2007, pp. 249). The labour laws and consumer laws of the UK are not too strict for the Aviva Company. The Aviva Company itself has a law that guides their workers on the relationship with customers. The employees should not mistreat their customers.

Environmental

These are factors determined by the surrounding environment. For example, the geographical location in London, this is a city and has many people. Therefore, its operations are easier with the fact that it is located in the city. It is surrounded by other companies in business, for this reason, they get a higher advantage over other companies insuring their properties.

Industry Structure Analysis

Porter’s Five Forces

Competitive Rivalry

Looks at the strength and number of competitors. Intense rivalry makes companies attract customers with aggressive price tags and a variety of marketing campaigns. With high competition in the market, customers can go elsewhere if they feel the company is not meeting their demands. Where there is less rivalry one is likely to have a lot of customers and high profits for example Aviva faces a high competition from AON and AIG but has been able to maintain its market share because of its good reputation and marketing campaigns.

Buyer Power

It deals with the number of customers applying for your services and how easy it is for them to pull down your prices. It also deals with how much it will cost them to subscribe to your competitor’s services and if they are strong enough to dictate terms to your company service delivery. Few customers have more power while most customers give the company power due to their diverse views. In the case of Aviva, it has more power due to many customers and therefore it’s hard for consumers to dictate the terms.

Supplier Power

It determines how easy it is for suppliers to increase their prices and the number of suppliers a company has if their product or services are unique and if switching to other suppliers is easy or expensive (Grundy 2008, pp. 213). When a company has to have other suppliers for cheaper alternatives, it will need more help from them and therefore have stronger position hence impacting the profit. For example, Aviva has different suppliers of office accessories hence they can easily change to other alternatives and be able to get more profit.

New Entry Threats

The threat of new entry gets to deal with the potential of other people getting into the market which will bring competition (Rahmani et al 2015, pp. 91). The company should know the cost of getting into the market. The key technologies should be highly protected and it should not be of less effort to get into your market. With Aviva, it has strong and durable barriers because of the reputation it has already built over the years.

Threat of Substitution

Substitution is the likelihood of customers finding another way of getting services and products or doing what your company does. A substitution that is easy and cheap weakens the company’s position and profitability. For example, if Aviva’s customers can get the other way of offering insurance online using the company name, then it will lead to a reduction of its profits. Aviva has ensured that customers cannot get any other way of obtaining their services.

Value Chain Analysis

It consists of activity analysis, value analysis, evaluation and planning. Activity analysis involves identifying the activities the company is undertaking to deliver services to customers. The activities include marketing of services, sells, delivery and support (Morgeson and Petrescu 2011, pp. 451). The company should recruit people with the skills to give the best services and motivate them, for instance, Aviva has been up to date with the most effective and efficient techniques to deliver services to their customers. It has also been working on the feedback from customers.

Value analysis deals with what a company does to add great value to the customers. This is the things that customers value like easy access to services, for example, you can claim Aviva Company’s services online or via a call. Evaluation and planning deal with deciding what changes to make from the response in the market and planning to work on those changes. For example adjusting the insurance coverage requirements to be more accommodating to the client’s needs (Dobbs 2014, pp. 32).

Strategic Position Analysis

SWOT

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and threats. Strengths are the advantages a company has, what it does better through the unique resources it has and what people see in its marketer’s strength (Aaker 2009, pp. 65). Aviva has a number of strengths, it has robust and diverse product portfolio, network across 3000 towns and 20000 planning financial planning advisers, focusses on schemes with social importance, has good brand visibility through advertisement campaigns, globally it has over 46000 employees and it’s the 6th largest insurance company in the world with 53 million customers in 28 countries in the world. Weaknesses are what should be improved, what should be avoided, what people in your market view as weakness are factors that lose your market. For example, Aviva has weaknesses in that it had a controversial advertising campaign that caused a problem for them and it also experienced customer complaints about policy execution problems.

Opportunities are interesting trends that the company is aware of and it can easily spot a gap for its enhancement, for example, Aviva can explore a growing rural market, it also has working urban youths that can be their customers, therefore, increasing their sales. Another opportunity for Aviva is that it can carry out an escalating awareness amongst people about securing their future, therefore, bringing in more customers. Threats are obstacles a company faces, what the competitors are doing, bad debts or cash flow problems and the threatening changing technology. For example, Aviva faces threats such as economic crisis and entry of new NBFCs in the sector.

Application and the Additional Appropriate Analytical Tool to Aviva

3Cs

The 3cs stands for the company, the customers and the competitors. It is an industry model that offers strategic analysis that is needed for success. These three factors should be focused on for any organisation to succeed. When coming up with a business strategy, every company should consider the three factors for the business to run well (Goi 2009, pp. 2).

The company has to focus on maximising its strengths. The company should influence the functional areas such as image, products, culture, service and technology that can make the organisation be successful. The company should always make critical decisions and take available opportunities to enhance itself. For example, if there is a rise in labour costs, outsourcing some work can be cheaper and the company should consider doing that. For example, Aviva has some employees that are outsourced, some even work from other countries to reduce transportation costs (Aviva n.d).

The customer is the key factor in any company. Any activity that a company carries about is supposed to be for the interest or benefit of the customer. There is no company that works for the sake of benefiting its stakeholders or any other parties (Stock and Boyer 2009, pp. 690). The company looks at the needs, the requirements, demands, motives, and the customers’ demands. When Aviva came up with the insurance business, it had to consider the age of those who would be interested, geographical location and that is why it advanced to other countries, and peoples’ interest. Most people are interested in insuring their properties and life in case of something that is unplanned occurs. The company also had to look at the possible competitors that their customers may prefer.

Lastly, there is competition. For any company to succeed it should outdo its competitors. A company should look at its difference with other companies in costs so that it is not too high for the customers neither should it be too low to incur loss instead of profit (Hendrikse 2008, pp. 34). Aviva ensured that it created a positive image to its customers so it took over its competitors. Aviva sells more than its competitors because it has invested more in public relations and advertising. The company has mainly focused in the UK because it is where it gets most of its profits from their competitors. It has also been able to enlarge itself creating other opportunities in other countries making it get more profit than its competitors.

Aviva’s Ethical Issues and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Ethics entails dealing with what is the proper course of action for a living being. It involves knowing what’s right and wrong in human behaviours, it’s the values of a company. Corporate social responsibility is being committed to certain business activities of the company to enhance the community’s wellbeing. A company should be able to manage the economic, social, environmental and human rights. When a company engages in CSR practices it improves it the image, attracts and retains employees, improves its market share, has less operating cost and attracts investors (Aviva n.d).

Employment

Employment is one of the CSR activities that companies carry out. It involves giving employment opportunities to the people within that community. Aviva has engaged in activities of employing people within the community they are engaging with. For this reason, a good image of the company has been created in the eyes of customers within the community. One of the ethical issues that Aviva might be facing is acting with integrity that entails following laws and regulations without failure of achieving their set goals when Aviva carries out employment contracts with the people in the surrounding, it does not fully follow the laws and regulations of the country. It applies during terminating of the contract as it does not follow the rules they just tell an employee to quit doing their job. Taking care of the employees is one of the major ethical issues.

Involvement in Community Activities

The approach is one of the CSR activities that every company should be involved in. Supporting the community to enhance its well-being gives the company a good image. The community can help the company to look for more customers through creating a good image in their mind. Good rapport should be created in the community for them to even tell the company about the underlying opportunities (Porter and Kramer 2011, pp. 62). For example, Aviva supports sports clubs. Aviva has sponsored Norwich football team and a rugby team for the enhancement of the community. Through supporting these clubs, the community views the company as part of it and therefore having the good rapport with the company.

An ethical issue in this situation is conducting business in a fair manner. When helping out the community, favouring one place over the other should not be experienced (Aakhus and Bzdak 2012, pp. 231). The company should treat equally all the community members, and try its level best to help out every part of the community. When giving out money, it should distribute it equally. For example, people may feel that Aviva favours Norwich football club because it has invested a lot of money in the football club. Charitable donations should also be fair by not making more donations in one place and making fewer donations in other places. Being responsible to the people, community and the environment is also an ethical issue that a company is responsible for.

Treatment of Customers and Employees

Customers are the ones that make a company run, without customers there is no need for a business. Because of their importance, they should be handled well. When customers are well handled they don’t even think about going to the competitors. Customers should be treated fairly and not be mistreated, or rather other customers should not be favoured more than others (Arendt and Brettel 2010, pp. 1469). For example, if there are offers, promotions or gifts available, all customers should be informed to participate. Every customer has a right to participate in any activity in the company because they are members of the company. Employees should also treat customers equally and they should not despise them. Aviva might face the ethical issue of mistreating employees because of new employees that come in that do not fully understand what was being done in the past.

Just like customers, employees are very vital to a company and they should be treated fairly. Fair treatment of employees is a CSR activity. Fair wages should be given to them as they should not work hard to earn less. For example, when there is a position that should be applied for, every employee should be informed so that those that are interested can apply for it. With this situation, the ethical issues that mostly faces the company are bribery where others use the bribe to get the position. Corruption should not be tolerated in any company.

Stakeholders and Investment Partners

The stakeholders and investors are essential for any growth of any business. They are the ones that bring in business gaps or opportunities for the company to invest in. Investors should not take advantage of this to fraud a company or distort any money from it. Corruption is an ethical issue that faces most companies. The investors and stakeholders take advantage and steal from the company (Ameer and Othman 2012, pp. 61). Since they determine the outcome of the business decisions, sometimes they may tend to favour themselves. They are sometimes bribed to convince the company to get into certain investments. Aviva also faces these threats from the stakeholders and investors are human beings that can be tempted with money. It should ensure the investors are honest with the company. The investors should also not lie about the amount of money to be contributed to the investment so that they can get more.

Conclusion

Before coming up with any business, an analysis should be carried out to know what is needed for the business to achieve its goals. A company should understand that customers are the most important tool that should be taken care of for the business to grow. An analysis should be carried out to determine any issue related to the customer for the success of the company. Competitors should not be overlooked. It is because they highly determine if the business will grow or will collapse. If they get a competitive advantage then the business is likely to come to an end. Every business should try its level best to get involved in the CSR programs to create a good rapport with the community for its benefits. Therefore for any business advancement internal and external factors should be considered.

References

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