Introduction
In the manufacturing industry, Food and Beverage (F&B) industry has become an essential part of the agro-based industry because the governments have focused on the national agriculture sector. This sector is commonly known by its initials (F&B), and it’s primarily engaged in preparing meals, snacks, and beverages, for customer orders, for immediate consumption on and off the premises. Besides that, the food industry in Malaysia is dominated by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Nowadays, the Food and Beverage (F&B) sector is more focused on using marketing technology to introduce its products and the company’s image in the market. Innovation in marketing has taken leads to a process of change in organizations and their market offerings. In a market economy, innovation in marketing can also be a key weapon that marketing strategists use to win customers and markets through the development of sustainable competitive advantage. The development of new marketing tools and methods plays an essential role in the evolution of industries. In recent years, new ways of gathering consumer information through innovative marketing programs and technologies have enabled firms to reach consumers more effectively.
Innovative marketing technology focuses on utilizing innovation in the market opportunity to meet customer needs and wants through ideas, products, services, and improvements in technology (O’Dwyer, 2016). Food and beverage (F&B) Entrepreneurs are usually focused on trying to be innovative in marketing technology, especially concerning offering in the marketplace and differentiating their company and products from the competitors. Innovative marketing in Food and Beverage (F&B) is more comprehensive than product innovation; it is not only about new product development, it is not necessarily very original, radical or one-off but covers the whole spectrum of marketing activity within an enterprise.
The current state of technology marketing research shows that there are still limited studies being conducted in the F&B sector in Malaysia. Currently, the problems and challenges businesses in Malaysia face in adopting innovative marketing technology are human capital development, access to financing, market access, infrastructure, innovation, technology adoption, and legal and regulatory environment.
MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd is a well-established food and beverage manufacturer in Malaysia. It was founded in 1971 and has since established itself as a household name for food and beverage, serving over 50 products, including favorites such as MAMEE Monster snack, Mister Potato Chips, and MAMEE Chef. These products are exported to over 100 countries around the globe, and to keep up with the high demand, production has also reached across international borders. The competitive environment has driven MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd to adopt an aggressive promotional strategy to gain market share. The competitive environment is the dynamic external system where MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd needs to compete with another company of Food and Beverage (F&B) that sell a similar product in the market (Lars Noren, 2015). In this case, MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd had to use various promotional tools, including advertising and sales promotion, to capture the consumer in the market. At the same time, the company has to advertise aggressively in Myanmar and China to create brand awareness and familiarize its products in the market because of the current competitive environment. More competition in the market leads to more effort in innovation marketing to boost the business’s growth. Furthermore, the competition in the market also leads to more loss of profit and cost for MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd Company in promotional and advertising. Therefore, the competitive environment has affected the marketing strategy of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd to reach their consumer in the market. The purpose of this research is to investigate innovative marketing technology strategy of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd and to examine the factors that influence the marketing technology in the company.
Literature Reviews
Innovation in marketing
Innovation leads to a process of change in organizations and market offerings. Also, innovation becomes a key weapon marketing strategist use to win market customers by developing sustainable competitive advantage. Innovation is the process of translating an idea or invention into a product or service that creates value, and consumers will pay for a good product (Nagasimha Balakrishna Kanagal, 2015). The Marketing of innovation particularizes the common marketing concepts into the innovating process focusing on decreasing risks, uncertainty, and optimization of resources (Natalia Medrano & Cristina Olarte-Pascual, 2016). Also, innovation marketing develops the marketing philosophy across the innovating process from stabilizing the climate favorable to the arising of the ideas to developing a new marketing tool method. In this case, the small business can fulfill customer wants and needs as an unquestionable goal to control the results of the innovation launching.
Marketing has become a technology-powered discipline, leading to the rise of new kinds of marketing professionals (Scott Brinker, 2016). Marketing Technology, or MarTech, is a technology that enables marketers to be more efficient or effective in reaching their audiences in the market (Rachelle Kerr, 2016). Furthermore, marketing technology is the blending of marketing and technology that applies to significant initiatives, which are efforts and tools that harness technology to achieve marketing goals and objectives in the company. Besides, marketing technology can do by a technically skilled person who has designed and operated the technology solutions in the service of marketing to improve marketing strategy among entrepreneurs. In this case, entrepreneurs can understand the context of marketing technology by reimagining the marketing technology tools they can practice in the market.
Technology has changed the marketing landscape and opened up a new channel through technology tools that can help entrepreneurs in business (Kathleen Booth, 2016). Moreover, technology tools can boost efficiency in collaboration and enhance communication between marketing teams and consumers. Marketing technology has several types that can be used in business, especially in the Food and Beverage industry. There are marketing techniques that can be used in the industry, such as customer relationship management, marketing automation, and email marketing.
Factors Influencing Adoption Of Marketing Technology
Business Environment
The business environment is the external and internal factors influencing a marketing culture in the market (Jack Cadeaux & Adrian Ng, 2012). The business environments factor can include customers, competitors, suppliers, government, and marketing innovation that impact the marketing channels in the market (Steven Lysonskiet et al., 2012). The business environment is flexible in nature, and it keeps changing according to the innovation of technology. In addition, the changing of the environment in business is unpredictable, and entrepreneurs cannot predict the future of the economic and social environment. On the other hand, the sociological environment has increased consumer demand in the market, which is affected by consumer attitudes, customs, and cultural values (Yagoub Ali Gangi and Elfadil Timan, 2013). In this case, the business environment has affected the marketing culture, where entrepreneurs need to be innovative in marketing in order to gain customer loyalty. The interaction with the business environment will lead the entrepreneurs to identify the areas for growth and expansion of their business activities.
Technological
The rapid development of technology needs a quick reaction by businesses to survive in an emerging competitive environment and keep up with new trends and innovative services that other competitors might be offering. Technological is an improvement in making products or services that increase marketing productivity and eliminate manual operation in marketing (R. Glenn Richey et al., 2009). Furthermore, technological factors can impact business, such as technological investment, technological application, and the effect of technology on markets. Technological advancement in business affects the quality of goods and services that change the marketing culture to promote the product (Richard C. Leventhal and Andree Swanson, 2016). In this case, the entrepreneurs need to determine the marketing technology tools to use to promote the product in online marketing to reach the consumer in the market (Smriti Chand, 2016). On the other hand, the Internet already helps the technological change in business by providing information about market segmentation, and the company needs to focus on profitable customers. Technological change can bring advantages and opportunities for businesses to create new technology in products and services while increasing productivity and reducing costs in marketing advertising.
The Impact Of Marketing Technology On The Business Environment
Impacts on the Organization
Organizations must adopt new technology in marketing tools in order to compete in the market. Technology has impacted the organization’s ability to collect and organize marketing data to reach consumers and develop different advertising strategies (Fernando et al., 2012).
Social networks and search engines have made entrepreneurs communicate with the consumer while collecting data on consumer behavior. The role of the marketing professional also gives an impact on adding marketing technology in business by creating a new marketing role such as social media management and make research about consumer behavior (Md. Shamsul Arefin et al., 2015). Therefore, the organization in the company can maintain a channel marketing to communicate with the consumer and their retailer.
Impacts on the Consumer
Marketing professional has played a very important role in advertising their product in online marketing. The information about the product or services can be accessed by the consumer through online marketing (Indranil Roy Chowdhury et al., 2014). Facebook advertising and Google paid search results to have an impact on consumer privacy point of view towards online marketing. From a privacy point of view, consumers are exposed to more the content of marketing through the advertisement in online marketing (Michal J. Carrington and Benjamin A. Neville, 2016). The information of consumer view is being utilized to create an innovative marketing technology advertisement. Shaping from the above literature, this study proposes the theoretical framework of factors influencing innovative marketing technology strategy in Figure 2.0.
Theoretical Framework
Figure 2: Factors influence innovative marketing technology
Research Methodology
According to Malaysia’s SMEs Annual Report (2015/16), Food and Beverage (F&B) is the component of value-added of SMEs in the manufacturing sector by 21.3% increase in the year 2014 until 2015. In this case, MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd at Melaka, Malaysia has been chosen because the company is one of the biggest Food and Beverages Companies in Malaysia. The main objective of this research is to examine innovative marketing in Food and Beverage (F&B) where one company will be selected to conduct the qualitative method in this industry. Several interviews were conducted with the General Manager of Marketing, Group General Manager (Sales & Marketing), Assistant Manager of Marketing, and marketing staff of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd. Furthermore, other interviews with relevant marketing department staff of Tesco, Aeon, and Giant in Melaka were also conducted.
Findings
Marketing technology is the tool and platform that a marketer uses effectively to increase sales and gain more profit towards
a product that has been launched in the market. However, each company has its style of marketing techniques that can help them to increase sales and profit but the elements in marketing technology that they apply still have the same goal, which is to communicate with the customer through an online platform. The Marketing Department of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd uses marketing technology as an alternative to increasing the understanding of their consumer while strengthening their relationship with the retailer that become an intermediary for the Mamee product. In MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd, the General Manager of Marketing is responsible to manage the marketing technologies and he will be deciding the marketing techniques that will be used to implement in this company.
General Manager Marketing of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd stated that innovative marketing technology is the acceptance of technology that gives an advantage in the marketing field which leads to this department achieving the company goal. Furthermore, he stated that innovative marketing technologies can help the marketer to increase the marketing strategy by using the current technology to become more flexible and creative to capture customer needs and wants. Besides that, the General Manager of Marketing in this company stated that they use Search Engine Marketing (SEM), which is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to provide more access to our customers to look up our product on the internet. He also mentions that Email Marketing is one of the marketing technologies that this company uses to approach their retailer and consumer by sending a commercial message to them. In this era, he proposes to this company to use social media software and more focusing on Facebook applications to reach customers more specifically.
However, the General Manager of Marketing mentioned that one of the marketing technologies that this company uses for several years is “Systems, Applications and Products” (SAP) ERP. This system has helped MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd Company more aggressive in the market and increased the brand name of its product in the world market. On the other hand, to achieve success in marketing technologies they’re a lot of obstacles to implementing this kind of strategy in the market. According to the General Manager of Marketing, obstacles to implementing marketing technologies can be seen from the aspect of finances and don’t have the expertise from workers to implement the technologies that this company uses.
The researcher has also conducted an interview with one of the respectful person in MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd which is the Group General Manager (Sales & Marketing) that manage the sales in this company. He has stated that innovative marketing technology can create the experience and give other people to access the experience. In addition, he agrees that nowadays marketing it not only about art and creativity but it’s also about programming, code and technology utilization, and analytics. He also mentions to creating interactive marketing will increasingly view as a revenue source and participates across the entire customer lifecycle.
Moreover, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has given them an advantage in managing their retailer and customer information and it leads them to produce the new product in the market according to demand from customers. Furthermore, this system helps this company to build a relationship with their retailer and create customer loyalty through the Mamee product in the market. Besides that, the marketing technology has given them a lot of advantages in the market which is helping these companies gain a competitive advantage in the market and strengthen the brand name of MAMEE-Double Decker.
The disadvantages of the marketing system that happen in this company have led the marketing department of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd to overcome the problem by providing an expert to manage the marketing technologies. Besides that, they also have an SAP system that monitors their module in this company, which is sales and distribution, financial accounting, and quality management. SAP ERP also has cross-application components such as Document Management System (DMS) and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), which can be implemented with any of the main modules.
The Assistant Manager of Marketing agrees that Innovative Marketing Technologies is an alternative to increase the understanding of their consumer while strengthening their relationship with the retailer. This is because the retailer and consumer of Mamee products have an important role that gives benefit this company to increase their services and product. Furthermore, they study marketing technology from Marketing Technology Landscape by Scott Brinker which guides the entrepreneur to choose the appropriate technology in marketing based on their problem. The marketing technologies give a solution to the entrepreneur to expand their scope of marketing which is include the new channel in the market, communications to experience, departmental intersections, and more strategic marketing. In this case, MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd has grabbed the opportunity to use the marketing technologies such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and SAP ERP. On the other hand, they develop the infrastructure services to make renewal in marketing and internet services important which leads them to make innovation in product and marketing strategy.
Furthermore, the Assistant Manager of Marketing stated that marketing technologies have been used for more than 15 years and the technology become advanced and has persuaded them to transform their marketing strategies. The marketing technology has given an advantage to this company to build a relationship and partnership with the retailer to sell the Mamee product. Today, the partnership of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd with retailers such As Aeon, Tesco, and Giant has increased their sales and made the brand image of Mamee products more popular in the world, especially in Asia. The marketing technologies that they use such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) have given them a specific target market in Malaysia where they more focus on children, teenagers, and adults buying the Mamee product. On the other hand, the marketing technologies also allow corporate social responsibility to build relationships with their customer through football sport where this company distributed their Mamee product to a supporter in the stadium. Therefore, marketing technologies allow this company to create engaging customer experiences and be able to demonstrate a compelling ROI, and increase the lifetime value of their customers.
A Marketing Staff in the marketing department of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd said that the software in marketing technologies give marketers more access to the digital world and lead them to become more expert to capture customer need and want. This has been proved by their product where they offer an impressive range of over 100 products which includes key all-time favorites such as Mamee Monster Snack, Mister Potato and Mamee Chef. In addition, MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd has also achieved breaching worldwide consumer markets; exporting to a staggering number of over 100 countries and growing to fulfill customer need and want.
Nowadays, marketing technologies become a need of all company include their company because customer behavior has changed where the customer more focus on using the internet to purchase products. In this case, this company uses technology in marketing to avoid failure in a new product where the customer today is more advance in using technology and gives the company more challenge to capture the customer in the market. According to Marketing Staff mention that Internet Services has an important role that leading the promotion of this company on social media platforms such as Facebook and this method can sustain the business of Mamee products in the market. Through Internet Services, the sales of Mamee products have increased because of the promotion on Facebook, Instagram, and the Official Website of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd. However, the marketing staff of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd stated that a marketer needs an expert to manage marketing software and collaborated with the IT department to create an innovation in marketing and give customer satisfaction with the product that has been launched in the market.
Consumer Acceptance Towards Marketing Technology
The distribution channels of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd Company in Malaysia consist of three stages: producer, retailer, and consumer. This company is the producer that sells the products in bulk to retailers such as Aeon, Tesco, and Giant, where this retailer will sell it to the consumers. However, the retailer will be a consumer accepting the marketing technologies MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd implements in their distribution channel. Ashley Lochead (2015) defined that consumer acceptance is directly linked to satisfaction in purchasing a product or service. Besides, consumer acceptance continuously challenges marketers and companies to provide better services and products in the market. Therefore, this study suggests three concepts that MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd can use: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and relative advantage.
Perceived Usefulness
Perceived usefulness can be defined as the degree to which a person believes using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance (Renny, 2013). The perceived usefulness is essential to some companies because it will help the workers perform some tasks in the office. Also, perceived usefulness can determine an individual’s intention to use a system to mediate actual system use. Therefore, the researcher has interviewed the marketing department of Aeon, Tesco, and Giant to understand the perceived usefulness in the scope of consumer acceptance in marketing technologies that MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd Company has implemented to them.
In the marketing department of Aeon, the Mall Manager stated that perceived usefulness is one of the strategies to make their worker expert in using marketing technologies in this department. This is because they need to synchronize their marketing with their producer to get benefits while promoting the product. As a
retailer, they always communicate with the producer to get information about the product. Meanwhile, the Sales Manager of this company agrees that the perceived usefulness can determine the intention of the workers to receive the marketing technology from a producer that can make the process more systematic. For example, the MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd Company uses internet services as a communication module to sell the product to the final customer. This statement was supported by Tanja Sedey (2013), which emphasized that online communications channels are dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content sharing, and collaboration with each company.
In addition, the Promotion Officer mentioned that MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd Company uses email marketing as a notification about the new product and leads the marketing department of Aeon to purchase the Mamee product. On the other hand, when the producer companies promote their product, it will give advantages to them in marketing strategy. However, if the retailer company wants to promote the producer’s product, they need to get permission from them before launching the promotion template. According to Sales Officer, marketing technologies that MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd Company implements have given them an advantage in approaching the customer and making it easier to understand the consumer need and wants. Application such as SAP ERP has made the company more systematic in managing product purchasing and avoiding cost overruns in the company. Thus, the technology that MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd Company already impacts implementing the perceived usefulness that can persuade the marketer to use advanced technology.
Next, the marketing department of Tesco consists of Mall Manager as a leader, the Sales Manager, the Promotion officer, and the Sales officer that manage the marketing task in this company. According to the Mall Manager of Tesco, perceived usefulness could measure the creativity of marketers to approach their customers using the technology advance. Furthermore, the marketing technology we receive from MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd is more on marketing automation, connecting multichannel communication that focuses on specific consumer needs and wants. In the same way, the Sales Manager agrees that marketing automation can help them sell the Mamee product more efficiently and give their consumer access to the product information. Marketing automation can give them an impact to manage advertising and provide excellent tools for the sales team to approach the customer.
According to the Promotion Officer, the use of marketing technology in this department can increase workers’ productivity, and the workers can have many choices to use the marketing tools based on the producer’s product. On the other hand, the company has agreed to use the SAP ERP to manage the warehouse and product purchasing, which can avoid waste in the production process. The Sales Officer has mentioned that warehouses are essential to provide the Mamee product in the selling area and as a part of the marketing strategy that gives customers always purchasing the Mamee product in their company. The marketing tool that MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd offers to their retailer, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), has given them information about the customers, and the retailer can gain customer loyalty through the marketing tool. Therefore, the perceived usefulness can achieve among workers of this company and increase sales volume through marketing technologies.
Furthermore, the researcher has interviewed with Sales Manager, Promotion officer, and Sales officer in a Giant Company in Melaka to examine the marketing technology they receive from MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd. The sales Manager of Giant stated that perceived usefulness is the concept of adoption of technology that will benefit consumers in performing marketing activities. This statement was supported by Viswanath Venkatesh (2012), which mentions that perceived usefulness is the degree of ease associated with a consumer’s use of technology.
The marketing department of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd has shared knowledge about the marketing tool that can be used to increase product sales with their retailer. In this case, the Promotion Officer mentioned the marketing tool they are using, like Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Email Marketing, SAP ERP, and Marketing Automation. The marketing tool has given the marketer in this company, to explore the technologies and implement this marketing technology into their daily work. Further, the Sales Officer has agreed that implementing the marketing technology in the marketing department can improvise the marketing system, and the marketer can have more channels to communicate with their customer.
Perceived ease of use
According to Songpol Kulviwat (2007), perceived ease of use positively affects the individual’s attitude towards utilizing the function in marketing technology. In addition, the larger the perceived ease of use of a system, the more favorable the attitude formed towards it will be in the marketing department’s staff. The perceived ease of use can influence the marketing department staff to use the marketing technologies to improvise their marketing technology. This is because consumers nowadays are more expertise in using internet services and social media software. Therefore, the researcher will examine the perceived ease of use that the marketing department of Aeon, Tesco and Giant implement to their workers in the marketing technologies they receive from the marketing department of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd.
On the other hand, the Promotion Officer stated they were using the same advertising methods and internet services to promote Mamee products in their company. This is because they can reduce the cost and maintain the brand image of the producer company. The sales officer in this company proposes that perceived ease of use should be implemented in the other retailer to get
the marketers used to the marketing technologies and improvise the channel communication with their customers. The marketing strategy MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd uses has given their retailer an advantage in a business environment where the consumer prefers to purchase the Mameee product in their entire retailer. Thus, a retailer like Aeon can gain more profit while learning the marketing system to attract the consumer to their company.
The Promotion Officer’s mention of the consumer attitude is assorted in terms of perceptions regarding product information, delivery terms, and service offered from the purchasing the product in the retailer company. In this case, the producer and retailer company must collaborate in marketing strategy to provide good services to their consumer. The Sales Officer mentioned that the marketing technology can increase the company’s sales and profit because the customer acknowledges the retailer company’s role in providing Mamee products. Thus, perceived ease of use is essential to make the marketing environment more interesting with the marketing tool and software variety. MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd has played an essential role in developing the perceived ease of use in the retailer company. This method will lead them to obtain customer loyalty in the market. The collaboration between the producer and retailer company will impact to aggressive marketing strategy in the market.
Factors Influencing the Marketing Technology
Scott Brinker (2016) stated that the goal of any marketing system or tool is to create personalized experiences that foster authentic rapport with customers. Marketing Technology, or MarTech, is a technology that enables marketers to be more efficient or effective in reaching their audiences in the market (Rachelle Kerr, 2016). In addition, marketing technology is a grouping of technologies marketers leverage to conduct and improve their marketing activities. Marketing technologies focus on making complex processes easier, measuring the impact of marketing activities, and driving more efficient spending. Therefore, there are several factors, such as business environment and technology, that influences the marketing technology in MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd Compan
Business environment of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd
Jack Cadeaux (2012) stated that the business environment is an external force, factors, and institutions that are beyond the business’s control and affect the functioning of a business enterprise. However, the business environment has external and internal factors that can influence a marketing culture in the market. The business environment factors include organization, customers, competitors, suppliers, and government. The business environment is one of the factors that can influence the marketing technologies in MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd. This is because factors such as organizations and consumers have impacted the implementation of marketing technologies in this company. The General Manager of Marketing of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd stated that the business environment can help the company identify the opportunity for the business through the external factors in the industry. Furthermore, external factors can be classified as economic and non-economic.
The economic environment includes economic conditions, policies and the country’s economic system. The non-economic environment comprises social, political, legal, technological, demographic, and natural environment. All these have a bearing on the strategies adopted by the company, and any change in these areas is likely to have a far-reaching impact on their operations. General Manager Marketing mentions that every business depends entirely on the economic environment where the economic conditions, economic policies, and economic system will give advantages and disadvantages to them as an entrepreneur in Food and Beverage (F&B) sector. This economic environment has led them to use software known as SAP ERP to avoid the risk of producing the new product in the market, where this system ensures the relationship with their retailer in purchasing the product.
In addition, Group General Manager (Sales & Marketing) emphasized that the business environment will affect the company if marketing is not strong because the competitor has an advantage in the business environment. Besides that, he agrees that the economic environment will impact the company because of the exchange rates in international marketing, leading the company to expense more toward marketing. The company will continue to strengthen its operations by implementing continuous improvements in selling and distribution channels and investing capital expenditure to increase and enhance the group’s production capacity.
According to the marketing staff in MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd Company, the business environment has a vital role in every business. It helps the business to grow based on the market environment. The interaction between business and market environment will lead the company to identify opportunities and threats in business while helping them meet the challenges successfully. As a marketer, the business environment will help them to deal with business challenges by using environmental analysis methods to solve the problem. In addition, it also helps the marketer gain knowledge and become more motivated to understand the predicted changes in a business environment. The business environment also helps the company analyze its competitor strategies and identifies the areas for growth and expansion of its activities.
Technological of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn. Bhd.
Technological factors are technological innovations that can benefit or disadvantage the business environment. The technological environment consists of factors related to knowledge applied and the materials and machines used in producing goods and services that impact the business of an organization. On the other hand, some technological innovations can increase productivity and profit margins, such as computer software and automated production. Nowadays, consumers and other markets are affected by rapid technological change, shortening product life cycles and creating significant opportunities for innovation. The development of new technology can dramatically affect the needs and wants of the consumer (Smriti Chand, 2016). Richard C. Leventhal (2016) mentions that technological advancement in business affects the quality of goods and services that change the marketing culture to promote the product in the market.
According to the General Manager of Marketing of MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd, technological factors are variables that relate to the existence, availability and development of technology that affect the business. Technological factors also influence the organization to adapt to the environmental changes in technologies. The Star Online supported this statement (2014) mentioned that MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd has invested RM80mil to purchase machinery replicating the ancient Chinese noodle-making technique called la main and another RM5mil for research and development on its Mamee Chef range of instant noodles.
The growth and development in technology can help positively improve labor productivity and drastically reduce transportation costs, communication costs,
distribution costs, and production costs. According to the General Manager of Marketing, technological factors that can affect business include the change that positively affects the marketing, production, and distribution of a product or service. The introduction of technology has helped in many ways, even in virtually every area of business, from the point of production to the point of delivery and marketing technologies that help consumers access the product.
The transmission and technological advancements in the past decades have significantly increased the competitive nature and business dealing in the business world. According to Group General Manager (Sales & Marketing), the company has implemented the use of software, computers, and the internet to transform the business locally, nationally, and globally so that it can compete favorably with other competitors worldwide. In this case, MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd has invested in integrated SAP ERP applications. The SAP ERP application is an e-business software integration tool that delivers content to the user based on their roles in the enterprise.
This system enables the company to analyze costs in a way that was impossible before. They can report on each product’s cost components, from raw ingredients to the proportion of overheads allocated. The MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd Company has reacted to these changes by automating business and manufacturing processes. Therefore, technology has forced businesses to remain flexible, adapting and upgrading to newer and better technological advances. Using more efficient IT systems can help reduce waste, recycle more, or cut carbon emissions. Therefore, MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Sdn Bhd Company has embraced the advances in technology to offer the safety of its product to the customer.
Conclusion
The advancements in technology today have allowed the company to gain new technology to increase revenues and profits of companies. At the same time, technology has created a new business in producing new products and services that the company can offer its customers. Also, technological advancement has helped bring down the linguistic and geographical boundaries barrier with the help of technology, where communication has become quicker, cheaper, and more efficient. Also, technological improvement has helped increase the employment rate through increased productivity, and it also helps to save costs and increase the profit and return on investment (ROI). Thus, companies implementing technology into their mode of operations can improve their sales through websites because the technology allows information to be shared faster.
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