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MET is the market leader in the increasing competitive mobile telecommunication industry in Ghana. It offers subscribers amaze of exciting options under pay monthly and pay as you go services. MET network coverage is in extensive covering all ten regional capitals and many rural and remote areas. MET continues to invest heavily in infrastructure to expand its coverage across the country. The MET brand its driven by five keys values. They are leadership. Innovation,integrity,relationships and can-do.
MET has integrated mobile telecommunication services into the development of a brand that has become lifestyle. This fact is clear demonstrated by its active involvement in various marketing initiatives that are close to the heart of subscribers. MET might incorporate electronic or internet marketing into other forms of advertisement to increase its market share which in turn is possible to generate more profit. Internet marketing also referred to as web marketing or online marketing according to relevant literature review varies according to each author’s point of view, background and specialization.
While Smith and Chaffed (2005) defines it as: “Achieving marketing objectives through applying digital technologies”, Strauss and Frost (2001) define it as: “The use of electronic data and applications for planning and executing the conception, distribution and pricing of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives”. It involves the use of mobile phones text messages, emails and social sites to reach its target market.
Promotional campaigns may includes advertising and marketing campaigns involving the use of one or more of surveys, interactive games, contest, sweepstakes location-based promotion (Levin et al 2002) . Promotional campaigns is a series of advertisement using various marketing tools that share the same message and ideas to promote a business or events to target audience. A typical campaign uses different media resources including internet,newspapers,television,radio and print advertisement. This study therefore seeks to investigate the effect e-marketing as part of a promotional campaign has on the financial performance of MET Ghana.
Telecommunications not excluding MET Ghana are seeking ways to get better value for their marketing investments in this rapidly changing marketing communications environment. Therefore, with effective promotional campaign including e-marketing, MET Ghana management can increase their market share which will improve their financial performance. Corporate financial performance can be measured by variables which involve productivity, profitability, growth or customers’ satisfaction; these measures are correlated among each other.
Financial measurement is one of the tools which indicate the financial strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Those measurements are return on investment (ROI), residual income (RI), earning per share (PEPS), dividend yield, price earnings ratio, growth in sales, market optimization etc (Barbara & Loon, 2005). 1. 2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Over the years, e-marketing has generated an increasing interest among academics and practitioners. While numerous studies have provided important insights into e- marketing, our understanding of this topic of growing interest and importance remains deficient.
The chapter will review relevant theoretical and empirical literatures on the topic. The Chapter Three will represent the methodology chapter. The chapter will outline n detail, the research design, the target population of the study, the sample size, the sampling techniques, the data collection instrument, and the statistical tools that will be used in the data analysis. Chapter Four will represent the results and discussions chapter. It will present the data collected from the field and summarize them via tables and graphs.
The chapter will also discuss the findings of the study relative to the empirical literature. Chapter Five: this chapter will represent the conclusion and recommendation chapter. The chapter will summarize of the major findings of the study and inclusions reached and will also make relevant recommendations based on the findings. The limitations of the study as well as suggestions for future studies will also be included in this chapter. CHAPTER TWO 2. 0 LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter presents relevant theoretical and empirical literatures related to the topic of study.
The theoretical literature presents and attempts to explain theories that relate to the research question or hypothesis, or proposition or subject matter in general. Also the empirical literature describes what have been practically observed ND validated objectively on the subject and how it relates to the subject matter 2. 1 Theoretical literature 2. 1. 1 Concept of Electronic Marketing Electronic marketing changed the face of marketing through technology enabled observation, surveying and experimentation.
Most firms now use at least one of the commercial online services for accessing general news information or for research on more specialized subjects. Tens of thousands of commercial databases are available worldwide, providing information on business, technical, and scientifically, company reports, broker reports,newspaper and Journal articles, and patent documents. These online commercial and research information sources provide variety, up-to-date information, cost efficiency, and accessibility to far-reaching information.
Technology-enabled observation in marketing research is highly objective because it records actual behavior, as opposed to what the researcher thinks is important. The recent resurgence in e-marketing has been enabled by the increased productivity and processing power of information technology, and marketing is taking advantage of this. 2. 1. 2 Market Orientation and Firm Performance Market orientation, as a corporate culture, characterizes an organization’s disposition o continuously deliver superior value to its customers (Slater and Nearer, 1994).
To create superior customer value entails an organization-wide commitment to continuous information-gathering and coordination of customers’ needs, competitors’ capabilities, and the provisions of other significant market agents and authorities (I. E. , suppliers and regulators) (Slater and Nearer,1994, 1995). The eventual outcome, according to Kohl and Gasworks (1990), is an integrated effort by individuals across departments within an organization, which, in turn, gives rise to superior organizational performance.
Kohl and Gasworks (1990) define market orientation in terms of dimensions: 1 . The generation of market information about the needs of customers and about external environmental factors 2. The dissemination of such information among organizational functions and implementation of strategies in response to the information The major elements, in short, are continuous and systematic information- gathering regarding customers and competitors, jurisdictional sharing of information, coordination of activities, and responsiveness to changing market needs (Day, 1994).
Kisser (2001) places heavy reliance on the critical role of information, the value of which is maximized when it is shared among all functions in an organization and is acted on in a coordinated manner. Nearer and Slater (1990), however, advance three behavioral components of market orientation: 1 . Customer orientation 2. Competitor orientation 3. Inter-functional coordination Each of these components is concerned with intelligence generation and dissemination and with responsiveness to the collected information. Hence, the three core behavioral components are posited as being equally important in information alee.
In sum, market orientation scholars forward market-oriented corporate culture as prescriptive of superior customer value and firm performance. For this paper, Nearer and Slather’s (1990) scale is preferred for three reasons. First, it incorporates the essential aspects of Kohl’ and Casework’s (1990) constructs of intelligence gathering, dissemination, and responsiveness, while assessing organizational cultural factors (Holey, Greenly, et al. , 2005; Ellis, 2006) . Second, These researchers have noted that Kohl’ and Casework’s (1990) constructs more accurately reflect marketing concept than market orientation.
Third, some empirical studies, which attempt to develop parsimonious versions of a market orientation scale on the basis of a synthesis (using a factor analysis) of individual items from Nearer and Slater (1990), Kohl and Gasworks (1990) ,and other scales, find that the synthesized versions draw more items from Nearer and Slather’s instrument (Pelham, 2000). A number of researchers have examined the link between market orientation and performance. Most of the studies suggest a positive relationship (Nearer and Slater, 1990; Pelham, 2000; Ellis, 2006).
Nearer and Slater (1990) suggest that the logic of expecting a strong ink between market orientation and performance is based on the concept of a sustainable competitive advantage. A few researchers report mixed results Reworks and Kohl’, 1993; Han, Kim, and Starvation, 1998). Research findings in Iran on the market orientation-market performance relationships imply that focal firms are better than their competitors in terms of their marketing competencies. However, none of the previous studies have explicitly focused on marketing competencies as an intermediate (endogenous) variable in linking market orientation and market performance. 2. . Marketing Competencies and Firm Performance Recent studies show that enterprises can increase their market competitiveness only by coordinating functional area competencies ( IL, 2000; Hill and Jones, 2006). Capon, Jones and Smith (1990) argue that corporate profitability is closely correlated to market development competence. Leonardo, Swastikas and Sammie (2002), propose a direct relationship between the determinants of market strategy and enterprise export competence. Transaction process and after sale service that meet customers’ requirements have also been found to increase sales volume and to improve uncial performance (Hill, 1994).
The literature relevant to marketing and production also shows that the critical factor in corporate competence development is to understand the customers’ needs and provide products superior to the products of other competitors (Hill and Jones, 2006). The application of marketing strategy and marketing competence development establishes a powerful and fruitful basis for developing competitive advantages. The companies that undertake these tend to have superior performance in terms of profit, return on investment, sales, and market share.
Hunger and Wheeled (2001) further suggest that functional strategy is engaged in developing competencies and providing companies or organizations with competitive advantages. It has also been established that firms with superior marketing competencies (compared with competitors) are likely to be more successful; that is, they perform better (Day,1994). The several dimensions identified as firms’ marketing competencies include: product development skills, product quality, technical support, after-sales services, product line breadth, cost/price competitiveness, and customer relationship skills.