Abstract :

The cement industry is currently facing intense competition due to the lack of significant recovery in retail demand following the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with an increasing number of competitors. This has resulted in a surge in oversupply, reaching up to twice the demand, and a decline in utilization to 52%. In order to survive, cement companies release their own economy brands, including Cement Inc. In 2020, Cement Inc. released its fighting brand in Java to fight the eco-brands, using their current premium brand from Sumatra, Semen PDG. Cement Inc. will also release Semen MDK in late 2022 to counteract market confusion about Semen Padang. The total number of brands to compete in the last decade has increased tremendously due to the rising eco-brand trend. In three years, Cement Inc.’s fighting brand portion has grown to 24.6%, indicating a shift in the market towards more economical products. This situation is leading to a decrease in the Cement Inc. revenue, as there is no product differentiation between the premium and fighting brands.

We conducted this study to explore potential solutions to increase revenue by implementing a fighting brand strategy that incorporates product differentiation. The research address three critical questions: (1) What is the internal and external analysis? (2) What is the proposed recommendation for marketing strategy to increase for Cement Inc. through product differentiation of Fighting Brand? (3) What is the implementation plan for the marketing strategy?

The investigation began by examining the cement market condition, evaluating Cement Inc.’s strengths and weakness, as well as the market’s opportunities and threats, using quantitative and qualitative approach to investigate internal and customer’s understanding about the difference between main brand and fighting brand, as well as the expected differences. By the internal and external analysis, the study proposed the new segmentation, targeting, and positioning to propose the new marketing strategy using marketing mix 4Ps through product differentiation for fighting brand to increase Cement Inc.’s revenue in both premium brand and fighting brand. This study limited on retail market in Java, which is characterized by intense rivalry.

---

Keywords :

4Ps Marketing Mix, Cement Industry, Fighting Brand, Marketing Strategy, Product Differentiation, STP

---

References :

1. Barney, J. (1991). Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage. Journal of Management, 99-120.
2. David, F. R., & David, F. R. (2015). Strategic Management; Concepts and Cases; Fifteenth Edition. Pearson
3. Kaufman, L., & Rousseeuw, P. J. (2005). Finding Groups In Data. An Introduction to Cluster Analysis. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
4. Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., & Balasubramanian, S. (2024). Principles of Marketing, 19th edition. Pearson.
5. Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing Management, 15th Global Edition. Pearson.
6. Lynch, R. (2015). Strategic Management 7th edition. Pearson.
7. Porter, M. E. (1979). How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy. Retrieved from Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/1979/03/how-competitive-forces-shape-strategy
8. Porter, M. E. (2008). The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy. Retrieved from Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2008/01/the-five-competitive-forces-that-shape-strategy.