Background

Switching from fossil fuel energy to renewable energy is one of the most efficient measures to handle climate change crisis in the world (IPCC and Edenhofer, 2014). Australia has set a target to reduce per capita greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 26-28% in 2030 (Australian Government, 2015).

With the highest average solar radiation per square metre in the world (Bahadori and Nwaoha, 2013), Australian residents are encouraged to adopt the rooftop solar power production as a key vehicle to meet the carbon emission reduction objectives (Australian Government, 2015). With an annual growth rate of 8.9% from 2016 to 2021, the value of solar panel installation market has reached 2.0 billion dollars in 2021 (https://www.ibisworld.com/au/market-size/solar-panel-installation/ ). The data collected from an online survey among 1126 Australian respondents shows that 65% of those who had no solar panels were intending to adopt them (Zander 2020).

However, with so many solar energy companies in Australia, offering similar solar products and services, the market is fragmented with intense competition. Due to the closure of Australian government incentive scheme (e.g. small-scale technology certificates or STCs*) in 2030 and rising costs of solar panels, the profit margin of the industry is anticipated to decline. Since solar panel installation companies can hardly differentiate their products and services, price competition is the only marketing vehicle widely adopted by all rivals when they target similar consumer bases. How to create or consolidate competitiveness and gain a sustainable market dominance in the market is a big challenge facing all the players in the industry.

SolarEnergy (a fictitious name for the real company----SunEnergy ) is an Adelaide-based solar panel installation company. Currently, this company is seeking for some professional advices as how to increase its market share in the Australia market. You are expected to work as a marketing consultant and develop a marketing plan for SolarEnergy.

The Task for Marketing Plan Part 1

In this assessment, your task is to analyse the internal situation and external environment for SolarEnergy and identify the most appropriate competitive strategies for the company. Specifically, these are the issues you need to consider. But your analyses may extend beyond, and are not limited to, these issues:

1. What are the likely strengths and weaknesses of the company?

2. Use two tools (or more if necessary) to analyse the external business environment in which SolarEnergy is competing.

3. Who should the company target, and why? Justify your recommendation?

4. What competitive strategy (or strategies) should SolarEnergy use in the market? What key competitive advantage(s) the company has or can develop against competitors who are competing in the same target market?