Case study of portaldetuciudad.com

Résumé du document

This report discusses ITEC's strategy about ‘portaldetuciudad.com'. We will analyze the company's actual situation, its key problems with the web design of its portals that needs to be changed, the lack of available languages and finally the business model of the company that is not safe for its incomes. We will also analyze the company's key opportunities with its huge expansion perspectives and the fact that it is a strong brand in Spain.

Then, we will make recommendation and implementations for the company's strategy, in a first time ITEC will have to strengthen its position in the Spanish market before entering the French market in 2016. The author has used SWOT, Porter's five forces and a PEST analysis to support its analysis.

The research demonstrates that there is a big problem with the portals design (see in appendix 6.1 SWOT). Indeed, even if the portals are very interesting with a lot of information about the cities, this is presented in a total disorder with a lot of text and small sections.

According to Shelly, Napier and Rivers, the most important aspect for a website is visual, indeed, even if there are a lot of good information, it has to be presented in a clear, logical and easy way. According to Porter's diamond, if ITEC wants to be more competitive, the company will have to think about it.

Extraits

[...] (2008) International Marketing and Export Management (6th PrenticeHall Daft, Kendrick and Vershinina, (2010) International business Communication, South-Western Ellacuriaga, A (2008) Who Leads the Global Web Strategy, Search Marketing Firms or Translation Companies? Available at: http://www.spanishseo.org/global-web-strategy-search- marketing-translation-companies (accessed 23/03/2011) Griffin,W and Pustay,W (2010) International Business (6th New Jersey, Pearson Education Hofstede, G (2004) Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, New York, McGraw-Hill Hoy, F and Stanworth, J (2003) Franchising: an international perspective,‬ London, Routledge Iglesias, J.J. (2010) Interview with Juan José Iglesias on Yourcityportal.com. [...]

[...] It could allow ITEC an international reputation and let five years to prepare it “Portaldetuciudad.com” a strong brand in Spain In accordance with SWOT analysis (see in appendix 6.1 ) we have seen that “portaldetucuidad” is now recognized as a strong brand in Spain so using Using Porter's Five Forces (cited in Daft, Kendrick and Vershinina, 2010), it can be used to differentiate this brand from its competitors and to enter foreign markets Recommendations 3.1 Short term and mid-term strategy As we have seen in the first part, the actual strategy is quite strange, indeed, the company claims a leading position in its markets with a good level of service for its franchisees and a big know-how but in the same time ITEC offers low prices and this system must be redesigned. So as a short and mid-term strategy, the author recommends to ITEC to strengthen its position in the Spanish market. For that, the company has two options. Firstly, ITEC can adopt the differentiation strategy, according to the SWOT analysis and the first part of this report, we have seen that the website's design and the translation are a problem. Indeed, the portals are available only in few languages and their design is very bad. [...]

[...] Thus, even if they have already 150 portals over Spain, there are a lot of cities and touristic places that do not have yet their portals. According to Seid and Thomas (2010), franchise is an appropriate expansion strategy if it is built on a consumer demand that is growing and secure. Regarding a possible international expansion, in accordance with Hofstede the company will have to be careful about the cultural differences between Spain and the chosen country. Indeed, ITEC may will have to change its business model, its management methods with franchisees or its portals. [...]

[...] - Distinctive competence: ITEC has a big experience (know-how, strong brand portals ) and is well positioned in Google and the major search engines. - Scope of operations: We want that in a first time, ITEC strengthen its position in the Spanish market and to penetrate the French market in a mid-term strategy. - Resource deployment: In a first time, as ITEC will stay in the Spanish market, we will allocate the same resources but to penetrate the French market, the company will need to allocate specific resources for it. [...]

[...] ‘Portaldetuciudad.com' is intended inter alia to a touristic audience so they cannot just have their websites only in Spanish, Spanish dialects and English. To get a larger audience, ITEC should think about translating their portals in more languages. According to A. Ellacuriaga (2008), translation and referencing (on search engine like Google or Yahoo) are the keys to success for a website which is devoted to a touristic audience The business model As we have seen in the SWOT analysis, this franchise business model brings low incomes for ITEC. [...]