Case: Construction Company
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| 1 INTRODUCTION The topic of the holiday homes in Finland inevitably touches upon the interest of the Russian citizens in the holiday property in South Eastern Finland. The notable growth of the annual property purchases by Russians started in 2005 and reached its peak in 2008 (Dobrowolski 2013). Though the National Land Survey of Finland indicates the decrease in the amount of purchases since 2008, at the beginning of 2013 the property owned by Russians amounted to 5350-6200 with 68% located in South Karelia and South Savo (Ministry of Employment and the Economy of Finland 2013). Along with the promotion of South Eastern Finland as a tourist destination, the described development has made the region lucrative for construction of individual holiday homes and holiday villages, thus increasing the competition among the companies offering construction services. The topic of the thesis is the Marketing Communications of a Construction Company Karjalan Rakennus ja Maalaus Ltd. (Karama). The company is attributed to the small business sector it operates as a general construction contractor in South Savo and South Karelia. One of the areas of expertise and experience of the company is the construction of the high-quality holiday homes. Currently the company has several ready- to-move houses available for sale. As for the new holiday homes construction, Kara- ma undertakes projects with estimated cost of at least 1 million euros. The research question of the thesis is how to improve marketing communications of the company Karama. The focus of this work is kept on the marketing communications of the company with customers from Russian Federation investing in the high- quality holiday property in South Savo and South Karelia. In order to answer there- search question the following issues are studied - what are the currently utilized marketing communications tools - what is the company’s communication performance from customers point of view - what are the available communication tools and channels and how can they be utilized- what are the company’s potential cooperators which can facilitate marketing communications to the chosen group 2 The thesis work is aimed at the following outcomes - discover preconditions for the communication with Russian customers - prepare a list of channels through which the message can be communicated to the target group - prepare a list of possible cooperators which can facilitate marketing communications The research is based on the interviews conducted with the owner-manager of Kara- ma, two individual buyers of holiday homes and the systematic review of the Internet sources. The company will be able to use the research results as part of actions to betaken with the purpose to achieve the desired marketing communication objectives. The work is divided into three parts theoretical background, empirical part and conclusions. The theoretical part contains a descriptive summary of existing knowledge of the marketing communications tools, their impact on the buyer’s purchase decision and the factors influencing the selection of the tools. This part gives understanding of the conventional theories. The subsequent part of the literature review reconsiders the application of the traditional theories to the thesis case. It summarizes the studies of the marketing in small enterprises and presents core specifics of marketing in the construction company. This part represents a basis for focusing the thesis work and allowed to redefine the research methods. The empirical part includes research concerning the currently utilized marketing communications methods, individual consumers purchase decision-making and the ways the company may facilitate it, investigation of the available communication tools and how they can be utilized, and opportunities for partnering with the purpose of improving marketing communications. In the conclusion the fundamental findings and recommendations based on the results are presented, together with suggestions for further consideration. |