Symphony Mobile Phone is a part of leading telecommunication and Consumer Electronic group SB Tel Enterprise Limited (a legal Unit

of Edison Group) the group is operated by Entrepreneurs who were behind establishing two very popular mobile phone brands in Bangladesh: Siemens and BenQ. Within short period of time since its introduction at the end of 2008 the brand has become very popular especially among the young people. Because of its unique propositions Symphony Mobile now occupies number one position in Bangladesh above Nokia according to market share. Innovation and exclusive design clearly differentiate Symphony from other brands available in the market. The brand has launched the first ever branded dual sim phone in the country. Continuing with the same trend of delivering breakthrough products, Symphony Mobile launched X110, Bangladeshs first ever Qwerty keyboard phone with Track ball. Moreover in the coming months lot of new products are introduced which include full touch screen and smart phones. Symphony offers customers reliability, value for money and wide range of choice. While the performance, reliability and durability of the products are as good as any leading global mobile phone brand handset with attractive features and functionalities are offered at a competitive price. Symphony has customer care centers in all major districts in Bangladesh. Collection points have been set up in the smaller districts in order to ensure prompt and reliable service to the remote areas. Run by professional people and customer driven standard operating procedure the motto of the customer care department is to make customers fully satisfied. Lot of value added service such free service check up, free down loads are in the offing. Symphony will grow at a faster pace than the growing Bangladesh mobile phone market. The brand will continue to introduce innovative high quality products and is fully confident of winning hearts and mind of our valuable customers

Table 7.1 Examples of elements included in the export marketing mix 1. Product support - Product sourcing - Match existing products to markets - air, sea, rail, road, freight - New products - Product management - Product testing - Manufacturing specifications - Labelling - Packaging - Production control - Market information 2. Price support - Establishment of prices - Discounts - Distribution and maintenance of pricelists

- Competitive information - Training of agents/customers 3. Promotion/selling support - Advertising - Promotion - literature - Direct mail - Exhibitions, trade shows - Printing - Selling (direct) - Sales force - Agents commissions - Sale or returns 4. Inventory support - Inventory management - Warehousing - Distribution - Parts supply - Credit authorisation 5. Distribution support - Funds provision - Raising of capital - Order processing - Export preparation and documentation - Freight forwarding - Insurance - Arbitration 6. Service support - Market information/intelligence - Quotes processing - Technical aid assistance - After sales - Guarantees - Warranties/claims - Merchandising - Sales reports, catalogues literature - Customer care - Budgets - Data processing systems - Insurance - Tax services - Legal services - Translation 7. Financial support - Billing, collecting invoices

- Hire, rentals - Planning, scheduling budget data - Auditing Details on the sourcing element have already been covered in the chapter on competitive analysis and strategy. Concerning investment and control, the question really is how far the company wishes to control its own fate. The degree of risk involved, attitudes and the ability to achieve objectives in the target markets are important facets in the decision on whether to license, joint venture or get involved in direct investment. Cunningham1 (1986) identified five strategies used by firms for entry into new foreign markets: i) Technical innovation strategy - perceived and demonstrable superior products ii) Product adaptation strategy - modifications to existing products iii) Availability and security strategy - overcome transport risks by countering perceived risks iv) Low price strategy - penetration price and, v) Total adaptation and conformity strategy - foreign producer gives a straight copy. In marketing products from less developed countries to developed countries point iii) poses major problems. Buyers in the interested foreign country are usually very careful as they perceive transport, currency, quality and quantity problems. This is true, say, in the export of cotton and other commodities. Because, in most agricultural commodities, production and marketing are interlinked, the infrastructure, information and other resources required for building market entry can be enormous. Sometimes this is way beyond the scope of private organisations, so Government may get involved. It may get involved not just to support a specific commodity, but also to help the "public good". Whilst the building of a new road may assist the speedy and expeditious transport of vegetables, for example, and thus aid in their marketing, the road can be put to other uses, in the drive for public good utilities. Moreover, entry strategies are often marked by "lumpy investments". Huge investments may have to be undertaken, with the investor paying a high risk price, long before the full utilisation of the investment comes. Good examples of this include the building of port facilities or food processing or freezing facilities. Moreover, the equipment may not be able to be used for other processes, so the asset specific equipment, locked into a specific use, may make the owner very vulnerable to the bargaining power of raw material suppliers and product buyers who process alternative production or trading options. Zimfreeze, Zimbabwe is experiencing such problems. It built a large freezing plant for vegetables but found itself without a contract. It has been forced, at the moment, to accept sub optional volume product materials just in order to keep the plant ticking over. In building a market entry strategy, time is a crucial factor. The building of an intelligence system and creating an image through promotion takes time, effort and money. Brand names do not appear overnight. Large investments in promotion campaigns are needed. Transaction costs also are a critical factor in building up a market entry strategy and can become a high barrier to international trade. Costs include search and bargaining costs. Physical distance, language barriers, logistics costs and risk limit the direct monitoring of trade partners. Enforcement of

contracts may be costly and weak legal integration between countries makes things difficult. Also, these factors are important when considering a market entry strategy. In fact these factors may be so costly and risky that Governments, rather than private individuals, often get involved in commodity systems. This can be seen in the case of the Citrus Marketing Board of Israel. With a monopoly export marketing board, the entire system can behave like a single firm, regulating the mix and quality of products going to different markets and negotiating with transporters and buyers. Whilst these Boards can experience economies of scale and absorb many of the risks listed above, they can shield producers from information about, and from. buyers. They can also become the "fiefdoms" of vested interests and become political in nature. They then result in giving reduced production incentives and cease to be demand or market orientated, which is detrimental to producers. Normal ways of expanding the markets are by expansion of product line, geographical development or both. It is important to note that the more the product line and/or the geographic area is expanded the greater will be the managerial complexity. New market opportunities may be made available by expansion but the risks may outweigh the advantages, in fact it may be better to concentrate on a few geographic areas and do things well. This is typical of the horticultural industry of Kenya and Zimbabwe. Traditionally these have concentrated on European markets where the markets are well known. Ways to concentrate include concentrating on geographic areas, reducing operational variety (more standard products) or making the organisational form more appropriate. In the latter the attempt is made to "globalise" the offering and the organisation to match it. This is true of organisations like Coca Cola and MacDonald's. Global strategies include "country centred" strategies (highly decentralised and limited international coordination), "local market approaches" (the marketing mix developed with the specific local (foreign) market in mind) or the "lead market approach" (develop a market which will be a best predictor of other markets). Global approaches give economies of scale and the sharing of costs and risks between markets.

New Category Business Opportunity In Bangladesh Cell Phone Cell Phone & few facts Cell Phone is the major media of communication in Bangladesh. And cell phone market of Bangladesh is the most highly grown market of Bangladesh in last five years. Basically Cell Phone is used for voice call communication but as telecommunication service providers and cell phone manufacturers are providing more facilities, its serving many more purposes. First and foremost it is used for Personal Communication (Voice call, SMS & MMS), Business Communication (Voice call SMS & MMS), Multimedia Media Applications (Radio & MP3 Player), Clock, Scheduler, Calculator etc Imaging & internet surfing. And for now it has become part of culture and status. Non urban and semi urban are hard core users followed by urban population. Usage of Cell Phone amongst urban population with higher disposable income is using the product less compared to semi urban population.

ICT Market Size in Bangladesh Brand PC 1% Cell Phone 43% Clone PC 31% Laptop 12% Gadgets 7% Accessories 6% Market Size in Million TK. 2534 (USD 362 Million) Source: Brand Forum & AC Nielsen Estimate 2009 Market Share of Leading Brands in Cell Phone Market Share by Volume 2% 1% 0% 1% 2% 8% 25% 5% 4% 6% Nokia Samsung Sony Erricson Motorola Benq Siemens Symphony 12% 22% 12% Sprint BlackBerry HTC Market Size: 2.96 Million PCs Source: Brand Forum & Other Independent Research Bodies Market Share of Leading Brands in Cell Phone 2% Market Share by Value 1% 1% 3% 1% 1% 4% 28% Nokia Samsung

3% 4% Sony Erricson Motorola Benq Siemens Symphony Sprint 13% 15% 24% BlackBerry HTC Market Size in Million TK. 1102.8 (USD 157.54 Million) Source: Brand Forum & Other Independent Research Bodies Estimate 2009

SWOT analysis of mobile marketing for 2009

Mobile marketing will hold its own in 2009. But the industry will have to shout simply to be heard as marketers and advertising agencies navigate a dark economy by feeling the walls. Several conditions apply if mobile marketing is to side with the winning team -- Internet marketing -- and avoid the fate of television and print advertising -- guillotined budgets. In short, mobile service providers must not hibernate, ad agencies must open their minds, carriers must collaborate, publishers must make their inventory mobile, retailers must launch mobile commerce sites and advertisers must not throw baby out with the bathwater. Here is a quick analysis of mobile marketing's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for 2009. Strengths Most personal marketing channel available on the market Measurable for ROI purposes Completely permission-based, with opt-in required for marketing text messages Ubiquity of channel -- 260 million mobile subscribers nationwide, 3.5 billion worldwide Many consumers giving up landlines for mobile Sales of smartphones with Internet capability booming Many marketers, retailers and publishers recognizing need for mobile presence Most powerful loyalty marketing tool Ideal comparison-shopping tool for shopping and buying decisions Mobile applications market growing by leaps and bounds

 The future of couponing The future of search marketing. Google and Yahoo know that Weaknesses Perception problem -- always the bridesmaid, never the bride User experience with the Internet on mobile not ideal -- screen size, keypad and slow network speeds Why not regular HTML browsers like the Safari on the Apple iPhone? Wireless carriers not innovating at faster pace Lack of standards across platforms and carriers Many mobile marketing service providers not sophisticated in marketing outreach -- don't tell, won't sell Fate depends on four major carriers -- AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel Inadequate outreach to advertising agencies and media buyers Opportunities Gives legs to other channels -- store, online, television, radio, print and billboards Mobile is the future -- no, the present -- of database marketing. Marketers must have mobile loyalty program to complement online and offline Benefit from marketing dollars pulled from television, print and radio toward more measurable, ROI-driven media, a.k.a., the Internet and mobile Mobile advertising subsidizes content and services for consumers who understand the tradeoff More SMS text marketing for marketers and retailers targeting offers and alerts to opted-in consumers in database. Make the short code common More quality content on mobile as publishers launch mobile editions. More room for targeted ads Mobile coupons -- killer app for mobile, along with mobile database marketing Mobile marketing jumpstarts mobile commerce sales Threats Mobile is treated as experimental budget -- and cut Mobile marketing service providers hibernate, cut marketing outreach to world -- and then complain why they are ignored in media-buying decisions Associations representing mobile marketers' interests remain on bended knee to carriers. Not good Carriers increase commercial SMS delivery fees to opted-in subscribers. Will kill legitimate SMS marketing Funding for mobile service providers and mobile marketing firms dries up A carrier goes belly-up Legislation to enforce consumer protection on privacy, security, unsolicited messages, location-based ads, misleading advertising and children Ad agencies think mobile marketing is too complicated, thus delaying inclusion in multichannel marketing campaigns Sales of smartphones with Internet capability stall

 Upgrades to higher-price data plans slow down Barack Obama really gives up his BlackBerry

Sales of low-priced Chinese origin mobiles marked a high growth in recent times in Bangladesh challenging the domination of leading global mobile brands, experts and traders said. Brand giants such as Nokia, Samsumg, LG, Siemens, Sagem and Sony Eriksson which dominated the market even two years ago are now facing challenges these days from lesser known brands such as Symphony, Maximus, Sprint, Digital and I-Max. Most of such non-brand Chinese sets account for about 60 per cent of the monthly sales volume, the Bangladesh Mobile Phone Businessmens Association president, Nizam Uddin Ziku, said. He told New Age customers, especially low-end users, were showing less interest in known brands which sell for double the prices of Chinese origin sets but have less features. Users also feel comfortable as importers give a years warranty for such Chinese sets, said an official of the Siemens Bangladesh, which started marketing Maximus two years ago. On an average at least a million new mobiles are sold in Bangladesh every month as the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission statistics show the number of new connections increased to 53.83 million till January from 50.51 million in November 2009. Market operators have said traders have sold mobiles worth Tk 300 crore each month in the recent past. They said official dealers had almost stopped selling brands such as Motorola, Siemens, Sagem and Sony Eriksson in the local market. Many of them have rather started marketing low-priced Chinese origin sets to stay competitive against market leaders Nokia and Samsung, they said. Rageebul Kabir, managing director of the CMPL Nokia, a major distributor of Nokia brand in Bangladesh, said in July 2009 that import of a large quantity of non-brand Chinese mobile had posed worries for traders of mobiles of reputed brands. There are around 300 mobile importers in Bangladesh, according to statistics available with the telecoms regulatory commission. But only 30 to 40 businessmen are active. Almost all mobile imports are from China.

The mobile phone businessmens association president said, All mobiles come from China but we supply sets for low prices.