| Morning Star Cement (MSC) started operations in 1996, initially through importing
and packing bulk cement for the domestic market in Vietnam. The operation comprises of a
coastal clinkerisation & grinding unit of 1.4 million tpa (without a packing facility)
and a split-located, coastal blending & packing terminal of 1.8 million tpa
(incorporating 0.4 million tpa of pozzolanic blending material). The clinkerisation &
grinding unit was commissioned in early 1998, till which time the importing operation was
predominant. Holtec provided support to MSC’s marketing function continuously for a
period of over one and a half years, between March 1997 and November 1998. Prior to this
involvement, Holtec also conducted the pre-investment market study for the project in 1994
to arrive at the feasible capacity. |
| Morning
Star Cement’s Marketing Zone 
|
Key Assignment Information
- Marketing assistance provided for a continuous period of 20 months.
- Interventions included situation analysis, action planning, impact assessment and sales
training.
- Critical conclusions derived in branding, pricing and distribution channel.
- The assignment involved close operational involvement with the sales & marketing
staff rather than only consulting inputs.
- A total of about 100 consulting days were spent on the field and about an equivalent
number at the home office.
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Objective and
Coverage
- The initiation of the assignment involved a complete situation analysis of
MSC’s target market Southern Vietnam, with respect to demand-supply gap, status of
other players (market share, brand image, pricing, marketing thrust, etc.) and market
characteristics (segmentation, buying/ selling behaviour, needs and perceptions of both
the distribution channel and end-users.
- In addition, the likely future situation in the medium term was also projected.
- The above were used to draw a sales & marketing plan for MSC in the
short-term as well as the medium term. The plan incorporated geographic distribution
(taking into account attractive markets and MSC’s competitive advantage in these),
products & branding, pricing & discount structures, distribution channel network,
advertising & promotion and marketing organisation & systems.
- Specific implementation-oriented action plans for each of the above key marketing
parameters were created incorporating detailed activities, timeframes and
responsibilities.
- The initial sales & market planning exercise was followed up by action plan implementation
assistance interventions, once every 2 months. These interventions were with an
objective to monitor progress, take course corrections wherever required, measure impact
and re-plan.
- A sales training program was included in the implementation assistance phase.
This was oriented at providing the desired attitude, knowledge and skills to the sales
force to equip them with the imminent pressure of selling higher volumes at sustained
prices.
Holtec’s intervention was instrumental in providing Morning
Star Cement with key inputs on marketing issues such as, focus markets, brand name,
product mix, pricing structures, packaging types & customer segments, dealer network
development & servicing, bag design, brand promotion, complaint handling and market
intelligence.
Holtec has executed 20 similar assignments. |