Ejup Fejza

Marketing mix strategies of bread producers in Kosovo
Abstract
Marketing is a fundamental or core function of the
business which more than any other business function
deals with customers and their satisfaction. Creation and
implementation of a successful marketing strategy in
business is very crucial, especially when we deal with a
business such is bread manufacturing. Thus, the purpose
of the research was to analyze the development of
marketing as an organizational function of bread
manufacturers companies in Kosovo, to analyze their
marketing strategies and to provide clear
recommendations for companies that do not use
marketing strategies.
uring the research ! have "nd that bread producers
do not even have established a marketing department
and#or do not have employed a marketing or sales
person. $nly few companies, three out of "fteen, intend
to establish marketing department in the future, which is
a sign that bread producers still do not see marketing as
core function in their activities. They do think more on
production than on sales and marketing. %one of the
companies have promotional activities regularly and only
two of them exhibits regularly on the trade fairs in Kosovo
and only one company exhibited abroad.
There should be continuous insistence of
manufacturing companies to advance marketing
department, creating a special unit of market research
and behavior with consumer.
The data for research were collected through
&uestionnaire in "fteen bread manufacturing companies.
Methods used for research have been descriptive,
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Iliria International Review 2013/1
FelixVerlag, Holzkirchen, er!an" an# Iliria $ollege, %ri&tina, 'o&ovo
115
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Mark!i"# mi$ s!ra!#is %& 'ra( pr%(ucrs i"
K%s%)%
Ejup Fejza, Nail Reshidi, Ramiz Livoreka
Mr.sc. '(up )'*+,, r.sc. %ail -'./!!, r.sc. -amiz 0!1$-'K,
comparative, analysis, and synthesis. The research instrument was a
&uestionnaire, the techni&ue has been direct communication and
research was conducted between months *une up to .eptember
2334.
Key words: bread producers, marketing, strategy, consumer,
exhibition, promotion
Introduction
Bread manufacturers in Kosovo, often face the problem of
identifying and implementing a sound marketing strategy in the
marketing of their products and the business of their companies as a
whole. All these are done because of the lack of a marketing
department or even an appropriate person who will deal with defning
the marketing strategy.
Bread market in Kosovo is one of the most powerful sub-sectors of
the food sector in Kosovo. In modern business, there is a need to
establish not only strategic marketing approach, but also access
marketing strategy aimed at creating marketing strategies, areas
which connect marketing strategy in order to establish marketing
oriented strategy under the principles of marketing
.
!he current organi"ational structure of all manufacturers of bread,
part of this study, is appro#imately the same and is shown below in
the organi"ational chart which is presented on the basis of the
conversation made with competent persons of bread producers
companies $%igure &.
1
'enko ,(ata)a, *trategi+e ,arketinga, (aklada -+evak, .agreb /001, page .
_____________________________
116
%rom this organi"ational chart can be seen easily that the bread
manufacturing companies have no marketing department. Based on
the practices of 2estern countries that this sector have paid a special
signifcance, which practices should begin to be applied in our
country, sector 3 marketing department plays a crucial role in the
companies that produce di4erent types of bread is a determinant of
the company5s development policies. *uch a structure-organi"ational
chart proposed by the authors of this study is shown in %igure /.
_____________________________
117
%rom this organi"ational chart we could note that the sales and
marketing department are common 3 as a department, which +ustifes
the time limit and development phase of bread manufacturing
companies in Kosovo and has been accepted by companies as a good
solution for functioning of their activities in future.
1. Marketing, defnition and evolution
!he meaning of the word 5marketing5 can be found from its Anglo-
*a#on etymology. 6rofessor 7akupi
/
says the word marketing consists
of two words8 ,arket 9 Ing. !he word 5market5 means the market and
the su:# 5Ing5 frst word gives the sense of the process, action or
meeting to win.
!o better understand marketing defnition, it is need to present
defnition by well-known author 6hilip Kotler, who says8
5,arketing is social and managerial process whereby individuals
and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and
e#changing products and value with others ;
<
.
1.1. Marketing concept
!he term =marketing concept= summed business philosophy of the
company, institution or individual that characteri"es the
2
7akupi, Ali, 6azat e Marketingut. 6rishtin>, Kosov>8 ?niversiteti i 6rishtin>s, /000.
page @
3
Kotler. 6h. and Amstrong A. 6rinciples of marketing, (inth Bdition, 6rentice Call
International, Inc, (ew 7ersey, ?*A,/00,D
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118
concentration, or focus on the customer, e#pressed through constant
e4ort and harmonious whole enterprise in the process of meeting the
needs and desires of consumers and its ob+ectives of enterprise
E
.
In F1E, 6eter Grucker pointed out very clearly the role of
marketing for the company5s success. Bven in today5s time on
marketing his concept has value and viability of uncontested8
=If we want to know what our +ob is, then we should start with the
mission ... !here is only one correct defnition of the mission of the
enterprise8 customer satisfaction. 2hat the company intends to
produce is not of primary importance-especially not to the future and
its success. Hrucial is that the customer intends to buy or what
represents value-this defnes what is your enterprise, which produce
it and whether it will prosper it. =
1
2. Marketing activities of bread producers in osovo
*ome of the marketing elements that apply to manufacturers of
bread in Kosovo, stating that the lack of marketing department in
these companies is evident, can be e#plained as follows8
2.1. Market researc! is usually done by the driver and3or owner
of the company on the basis of discussions with retailers on what
should be produced, which items should be removed from production
for the day or certain time, who are the company5s competitors, what
risks e#ists to their company products, etc.
2.2. Market seg"entation is mainly based on geographical
variables3areas of selling their products, and also demographic
variables.
2.#. $ositioning- Bread of *heki Hommerce is known in the
market as =state bread= referring to the bread Iuality, accurate
weightJ and with fewer additives, this bread which was previously
produced by state-owned companies, so as such a bread is reIuired
in the market and is positioned very well.
2.%. Marketing "i& develop"ent in bread producer
co"panies
2hen taking place on competitive marketing strategy, company is
ready to start detailed planning of the marketing mi#, one of the main
concepts and the most important modern marketing. ,arketing mi# is
defned as the set of instruments and controlled marketing tactic,
which combines all elements in order to meet the needs and
satisfaction of its customers. ,arketing mi# consists of everything
(
-i)anin, ,.!.8 Bankarski marketing, Informator, .agreb, FF@, K.
)
Grucker, 6.8 !he 6ractice of ,anagement, Carper L 'ow, (ew Mork, F1E, citat n>
faI>n <@ t> librit Bvans, 7.'.L Berman, B,8 ,arketing, (ew Mork, FK@
_____________________________
11'
what the company can do to inNuence the growth of demand for its
products. ,ultiple options can be grouped into four variables or
instruments known as the =E 6s=8 6roduct, 6rice, 6lace and 6romotion.
Bread producers in Kosovo has o4ered only specifc types of bread
to their customers, they do apply similar prices using the price
fghting strategy as their winning strategy, promoting their products
mainly by putting stickers on their transportation vehicles and
distribution channels they use are mainly wholesale channels,
meaning they sell bread to retail shops and groceries.
#. (esearc! "et!odolog)
!he ob+ect of the research was bread manufacturing companies in
Kosovo8 *heki Hommerce, Ko-Bake, ,ullisi, Kosovar+a, bakery in
,itrovica and other si# bread producers. Initially a Iuestionnaire
based survey was prepared and the results of which are part of this
paper. *heki Hommerce bread factory is chosen as the base model,
thus, the marketing strategies are compared between *heki Hommerc
and other companies used in this research paper.
,ain methods which are used in this paper are8 descriptive
method, comparison method, analyses method, synthesis method
*urvey Iuestionnaire was used as the main research instrument
while direct contact with company management was made at the
beginning of the research.
!he survey was conducted between 7une and *eptember /00F.
%. (esults
!he frst Iuestion raised in the Iuestionnaire8 Go you have sales or
marketing department as separated in your companyO All surveyed
companies responded negatively, i.e. (P and it turns out that the
bread manufacturing companies still in Kosovo do not treat marketing
as a key function within the company functions $!able &.
2hen asked whether you have a person assigned to marketing and 3
or sale, of the 1 respondents, / of them answered (P or
percentage K0Q and < companies have stated that they have
persons engaged for sale $/0Q&within their company, but that these
_____________________________
12*
persons are acting within the department of administration and
fnance, not as separate., $!able /&
(eglect of the role of marketing and not implementation of key
elements such as promotion, manufacturers of bread is attested to in
the Iuestion of promotional activities in order to promote products or
company. (one of these companies do not regularly have promotional
activities. Put of the 1 companies, F of them $D0Q& stated that they
do not have regularly promotional activities, stating that the Iuality
of their products is the best promoter activity, while D companies
$E0Q& stated that they sometimes make promotional activities
organi"e an event which promote their products their company $!able
<&
!he ne#t Iuestion, do you e#pose in trade fairs, has also shown
that responses to this Iuestion show a not very busy marketing
activities of these companies. Bven D companies $<KQ& stated that
they were never e#posed and do not e#pose either the international
or local fairs. K of the companies $E<Q& state that they sometimes
e#hibit at local fairs, / companies out of 1 respondents, $<Q&
reported that they e#hibit regularly in local fairs, and one company of
respondents $*heki Hommerce - 6rishtina& stated that sometimes also
participated in fairs abroad, mainly in Albania and in ,acedonia twice
$!able E&.
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121
-ast Iuestion from the Iuestionnaire was derived as an idea to get
a response from surveyed companies if they think that in the near
future will establish marketing or sales department within the
company, because the preliminary answers from Iuestions have been
as interesting as depressive on the establishment of the department
of marketing and3or sales and therefore clearly a positive response
came from only < companies $/0Q&, (o answer came from
companies or @<Q of them, which continues to be a concern for the
future and with this they prove that they will continue to further
imitate market leaders to base their actions on the =movements= of
the market leaders. Pnly one company $@Q& stated that the
department will establish if it competition do it. $!able 1&.
5. +iscussion
Guring these years there hasnRt been done any research of this
sub+ect for Kosova bread producers which could be compared with
this research paper and would be easier for discussion. Gi4erent
strategies have been proposed from di4erent authors on strategies.
!hus, analy"ing the essence of strategy would be impossible without
mentioning ,ichael 6orter
D
as the main contributor of strategy who
said that the essence of strategy is the choice to reali"e specifc
group of our activities di4erent from our rivals, by getting uniIue
positions on specifc situations. !his e#plains how our bread
*
6orter, B. ,ichael8 ,!at is -trateg), Carvard Business 'eview, Boston, ?*A, /00,
DK
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122
producers should deal in the future with their marketing strategies.
!hey should position themselves di4erently and uniIuely into the
market, through developing new products or adapting e#isting
products toward the market needs, developing new markets and
having better idea on the matri# product3 markets. !his strategy
includes selection of specifc markets and obtaining of these markets
through the program called marketing mi#
@
. Pther useful marketing
strategy of bread manufacturers would be to get into the niche
markets as an opportunity that gives them a comparative advantage
and leads them toward making better distribution channels and
closer to customers. I believe strongly, those upcoming years, bread
producers in Kosova will follow recommendations derived from this
paper which will make them to think on marketing way of doing
business and not on production way, because today is very easy to
produce but very hard to sell, to get the market for products or
services.
(eco""endations
Bread manufacturers in Kosovo need to make radical changes in
their activities. *ome of the recommendations arising from the study
made can be summari"ed in the following points
!o establish the department of marketing and 3 or sales within
their companies,
!o constantly care on promotion of products and3or their
company through various forms of promotion and advertising
!o avoid as much as it is possible the fght with prices and base
more on product di4erentiation and the company compared to
the competition
!o get the business dare to target markets of the region based
on the Iuality of their products.
(eferences
. 'enko (ata)a, .trategi(e Marketinga, (aklada -+evak, .agreb /001,
/. 7akupi Ali, 6azat e Marketingut.8 ?niversiteti i 6rishtin>s, 6rishtin>,
/000.
<. Kotler 6hilip and Armstrong Aary. 6rinciples of marketing, (inth
Bdition, 6rentice Call Inc, (ew 7ersey, ?*A,/00.
E. -i)anin, ,.!.8 Bankarski marketing, Informator, .agreb, FF@
1. Grucker, 6eter.8 !he 6ractice of ,anagement, Carper L 'ow, (ew
Mork, F1E
D. 6orter B. ,ichael8 ,!at is -trateg), Carvard Business 'eview,
Boston, ?*A, /00
+
Blma"i -il+ana, *trateg+ia ,arketing, Botimet Kumi, !iran>, /00, EF
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12#
@. Blma"i -il+ana, *trateg+ia ,arketing, Botimet Kumi, !iran>, /00
_____________________________
12%

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Marketing mix strategies of bread producers in Kosovo

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