Internacionalizacion

ENTERPRISE-RENT-A-CAR STUDY

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MARKETING

Marketing and product strategies for growth

Introduction

Enterprise’s ability to keep the customer at the centre of
everything it does depends on the skills and commitment of its

As an organisation develops a strategy, it is not making short-term

employees. The main focus for Enterprise is to find new ways todecisions. Instead, it is creating a pathway that leads to a long term

provide real solutions for people and businesses with

goal. Strategic managers have to make many decisions. For example,

transportation problems. A focus on customer service is the

they have to differentiate their activities from their competitors. This

driving force behind the business. For example, customersbenefit

means making their products and services distinctive and different

from a local pick-up service to take them to the branch to collect

from those of rivals, creating a unique selling point (USP) that, in turn,

their car. It is this level of customer service that makes Enterprise

strengthens its brand. They also have to consider the scope of their

different from itscompetitors.

activities. For example, should they simply operate in one market or
should they enter a range of different markets? If they do enter

Ansoff’s matrix

different markets, how should they enter them?
According to the Chartered Institute of Marketing, ‘Marketing is
This case study illustrates how Enterprise Rent-A-Car has
expanded its operations beyond its core business of car hire.The
case study uses Ansoff’s matrix to illustrate how it has developed
its strategies to improve and grow the business, creating new
products and extending its services into new markets.

the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating
and satisfying consumer requirements profitably’. To do this,
organisations require a marketing strategy. A marketing strategy is
somethingthat affects every part of an organisation. It is about
using everything that a business does to create value for others.
This includes customers but it also benefits employees and

More than 55 years ago, in 1957, Enterprise was founded by Jack
Taylor, an entrepreneur, in Missouri, USA. Starting with just seven
cars he invested his money and ideas into Executive Leasing,

shareholders.The main purpose of a marketing strategy is to
set out the means by which agreed marketing objectives are to
be achieved.

which later became Enterprise. Since then the company has
become the largest car rental company in North America, and
arguably the world, with annual revenues of $14.1 billion and
68,000 employees in 2011. Enterprise Rent-A-Car is an
internationally recognised brand,operating within the United
States, Canada, the UK, Ireland and Germany. It currently has
more than 7,000 rental offices in five countries.
However, as the company has developed it has maintained the
approach and feel of a smaller business. In fact, Enterprise is still a
privately-owned business, with three generations of the Taylor family
involved in managing the organisation. Even thoughEnterprise is a
big company, it is run like a small business. Its branches are
decentralised. This means that local managers have the freedom to
make decisions based on the needs of each location.

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Curriculum topics covered: • Ansoff’s matrix • Market development
• Product development • Diversification

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This matrix suggestsfour alternative marketing strategies:
a) Market penetration - involves selling more established products
into existing markets, often by increased promotion or price
reductions or better routes to market, for example online.
b) Product development - involves developing new products or
services and placing them into existing markets.
c) Market development - entails taking existing products...