Internal And External Communication

The process of sending and receiving message ia called communication. The message should be in appropriate manner so that the receiver can understand the information given in the message and give feedback to the sender. Feedback is very important for effective communication. There are two types of communication

Internal/Organisational Communication

External Communication

Internal/Organisational Communication

This type of communication occurs inside a company. If a food company (sender) sends message to a sales manager (receiver) that he should increase the amount of products for he is going to take for next 2 months and then the sales manager reply(feedback) to the company to know the exact figures he should increase. This is an example of internal communication. Communication within the company employs and suppliers. So Communication connects all several actions drawn in company and confirms that all the workers are heading towards similar goals and know exactly what their tasks are and by when they have to do it. Communication should be effective for a company to get success. Internal communication includes Directors, Managers and Workers. Except face to face it can occur through telephone, fax or email advance company use technology to communicate internally

External Communication

A company needs to communicate with public and consumers outside of the business. This is known as External communication. For example a company needs to tell the consumers about new products and promotions offered by the company and the company has to contact banks for loans. External communication includes Customers, Suppliers, Communities, Shareholders and Banks. It can occur through fax, email, Video, letters and advertisement

The diagram shows the available ways of communication:

Communication can give many benefits to the company. It helps a company to motivate its employs to work and make them a part of a company. It helps the manager in decision making and thus can get accurate information about it. Good communication will increase the sales of a company and will also build a good relationship with the suppliers and also gives a chance to increase finance by giving information to the bank about the profit of the company

Upward and Downward communication

Downward communication is passed by Directors to Managers and then passed on to the Company’s employs i.e. Directors make rules and procedures which are then passed to the company employs and they control and observe. Downward communication can improve efficiency of working and it can also certify that all the employs are working towards the same goal

Upward communication occurs in the lower level of company and then it is forwarded to the upper level it can be feedback, thoughts or ideas. Upward communication increases the motivation of the workers and makes them feel respected and appreciated and also informs about the views of employs.

The company i have chosen to study is J. Sainsbury plc. (Sainsbury). I have picked this company because Sainsbury was at critical stage in history: Sainsbury’s have gone through a stage of refusal. At that stage they have over taken by many competitors like Tesco and Asda. It is very unusual for big companies to disappear completely from UK these companies have attained share from Sainsbury through by keeping their price low while Sainsbury was busy in developing business and promoting products which have better quality instead of affordability

Now the consumers in UK started to trust the communication, quality and prices of Tesco and Asda and their consumers were increasing day by day. Sainsbury was in a big danger of competing with modern retailer environment but in summer 2004 they started a price cutting policy to somehow compete with others.

Sainsbury is trying to respond to every challenge it faces, but the competition in the UK market is becoming intense and Sainsbury is facing difficult situations to come back to its original position. Sainsbury was left behind in competition because of its failure to draw consumers to buy products on quality basis.

Previous Marketing Strategies and their failings

The company has invested its important resources in marketing through traditional channels. Communication channels also proved it successful in a way of creating fresher image and more youthful image for UK supermarkets, which was done by advertising on TV channels by a chef, Jamie Oliver. Sainsbury has failed to enlarge their business because of the old image, which shows that they are expensive and premium in brand, which then resulted in success of its rivals.They were challenging Sainsbury in terms of assurance and quality with a lower price then Sainsbury and some observer said that this was the main factor involved in the problems of Sainsbury decline.

Poorly Coded Messages

Sainsbury was forced to to simplify their television advertising strategies when they took the advertsing campaign made by jhon Cleese which was after proved to be a flop with customers, the staff also said that the message involved in that commericial was confusing. Sainsbury was trying to promote itself as a low price, however they failed to appreciate that. They should be listening to the customers instead of talking with them

Sainsbury always tried to shown itself as synonymous in the quality but on the other hand the consumers said that it is more expensive than its rivals adn the previous campaign took by them failed because of the poorly coded message. As a result Sainsbury failed to transfer their message of low cost and high quality or one of high quality and then they suffered as a reult

Current Marketing

Now Sainsury’s current outdoor campaign aims in providing the best quality products. They took the decision to use the large raodside posters to tell the custmers about their cost effectiveness the message was straightforward. It is difficult to win many awards but winning the consumers through simple and straightforward message is now their largest agenda.

Future Communications

The chain communication is in middle of a strategy which is paying full attention on it revival in UK supermarket business in between 2004-2008 period, they have streamlined their business and and have introduced a price cutting policy in summer 2004. This activity was necessary for for Sainsbury to meet the challenges shown by Tesco and Asda and the threat increased when Morrisons took over Safeway in 2004

Conclusion

Unfortunately,it is a bit early to give the conlcusion for sainsburys new communicaion strategy adn streamlined structure and is also difficult to make recommendations on how tominprove the communcation. In my opinion It needs to enlarge the range of its communicaiotn discipline in result to new developments. For example, the Internet, which is very strong communication channel. Currently, Sainsbury’s communication above the line can be seen and are higly effective, whereas below the line it appears to be non-existent.I will recomend Sainsbury to higly develop their “Below Line” communication, using websites and stores to forward their message on low cost, high quality products which will then result in bringing back the company in competition with Tesco and Asda.