Why are smartphones important?

 Music is similar to any other form of fine arts which satisfies the soul and further touches the body. Music essentially enhances the ability to perform work efficiently and smoothly without developing any form of boredom or monotony in the particular process. Krause, North and Hewitt (2015) have highlighted the importance of music in bringing people in several ways whether through similar music choices or based on the inclination in trying something new or performing music with others. With the elevating rate of advanced technologies, individuals have been showing higher level of likeness towards listening to preferred genre of music via different music applications (Zeriti et al. 2014). As mobiles and various electronic gadgets have become an intrinsic part of human lives, Google has recently launched Google Play Music which is a podcast streaming service and online music locker (Cavusgil et al.  2014).The service has been announced in 2011 and primarily operates in platforms android, iOS and web browser.

Google LLC is recognized as a global technology company which designs and provides diverse range of products and services. The company has been particularly focusing on web-based search and efficiently displays advertising tools, desktop systems with extensive consumer content, enterprise solutions along with hardware products (Play.google.com 2019). Google proficiently offers targeted search results from billions of Web pages. Reports of Zeriti et al. (2014) have revealed that the search results are primarily based on a proprietary algorithm, its technology from ranking Web pages known as PageRank enabling the company to generate incomes and revenues through promotion and ad sales. The following report will evaluate the market position and demand of Google Play Music in the Singaporean consumer electronics industry. Additionally, the paper will focus on Market Analysis, Industry analysis, SWOT analysis, Demographic Analysis and Market Entry strategies which should be taken by Google LLC to enable Google Play Music attain a competitive advantage in the market.

While there has been found several applications which stream music and stream it well, Google Play Music is recognized as Google’s music service and comes on millions and millions of devices. Cavusgil  et al.  (2014) have noted that while the application has got old-fashioned, the application is still undeniably recognized as one of the most preferred and useful on the Android scene and with generous advantages to paid as well as free users. Reports of Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes  (2015) have revealed that Google Play Music enables its users to steam up to 50,000 of their own selected songs for unlimited accessibility across majority of platforms. In addition to this, the application enables free users to listen to curate stations along with paid users to stream up to 40 million songs in their streaming library.

Reasons for firms entering new product markets

The Singapore mobile application has been representing over 10% growth since 2017, whereby the average monthly spent on apps grew around 10% to around 195 minutes in Q1 2018 in comparison to Q1 2017 (Demangeot, Broderick and Craig 2015). Reports have revealed that amount of time spent on applications at the global level have augmented at over 35% to around 2.9 billion hours for the first quarter. Meanwhile, according to Samiee, Chabowski and Hult (2015), 40 mobile applications out of 99 downloaded have been used every month on an average basis. Such an amount of usage has led the daily usage to around 12 apps per day that has been considered to be relatively higher than the global average of 11 applications.

Source: (Kozlenkova, Samaha and Palmatier 2014)

1. Political factor-The Singaporean government has been currently involved in economy performance. Further as per reports of Christodoulides, Cadogan and Veloutsou (2015), the government has monopolized or semi-monopolized few industries such as real estate which enables the power of government affect the profitability. While the financial system has been able to increase level of opportunities related to trade and commerce, the society has been undergoing greater level of complexities whereby the policies so governing of PAP (People Action Party) has been essentially questioned (Demangeot, Broderick and Craig 2015).
2. Economic factor- Singaporean financial system has been identified as one of the most proficient performers where the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has been continually growing since Singapore attained independence. Reports of Cavusgil et al. (2014) have revealed that the GDP in market price estimated in 2017 has been $ 212,349.8 million along with the growth of around 17.5% following the growth of 17.9% in 2016. Meanwhile, with the rise of advanced technology, the country has attained a position to utilize Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) which typically gets used for efficiently exchange trading information and has led Singapore to serve as an active trading partner by endorsing the valuable transaction as well as information exchange which can be performed on internet (Samiee, Chabowski and Hult 2015). According to Demangeot, Broderick and Craig (2015), this has further been identified as a highly advanced technology employed by the Singapore government in order to augment the value of Singapore as a trading hub in Asia.

• Social-Cavusgil et al. (2014) while evaluating the social factors of Singapore has observed that major proportion of Singapore exhibit high level of inclination towards multi-language skills signifying the pride of Singaporean. Singapore further debunks a strong interest towards art and music thus will be highly contented in listening to wide array of music from diverse genres.

1. Technological- With majority of exports of Singapore being electronics and technological products, it has been indicated that the country has been enjoying superior level of reputation in inventing, implementing and developing new technologies. According to Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes  (2015), Singapore has been considered as one of those high tech countries which has been persistently offering highly skilful and proficient workforce along with high level of confidence which makes the other global enterprises to invest in Singapore.

Moreover, Cavusgil et al. (2014) have identified another vital factor of Singapore which is its promotion of electronic commerce. Such a development however relies on the stage of pertaining the laws and regulation in order to defend the contracts along with enforcement. This has been specifically due to the importance of safeguarding every agency in Cyberspace (Zeriti et al. 2014).

1. Legal-The Singaporean Constitution has been regarded as a supreme documented law which has been sincerely indicating the fundamental freedoms of individual along with the structure and organization of Singapore Executive, Legislation and Judiciary. Studies of Gay (2016) have revealed that a primary emphasize of the Singaporean Legal System reflects a strong anti-corruption law.
2. Environmental-Singaporean Government has been efficiently attempting to deliver as well as maintain a clean and strong environment along with water resources for all its citizens. Reports of Kozlenkova, Samaha and Palmatier (2014) have claimed that the country has the most efficient solid waste management as an island-state. However, as Singapore shows immense deficit of land so the rate of landfill the waste has been eventually removed to only 14% of the non-incinerable and another over 55% has been estimated to be cinerated.

Thus, through the evaluation of Singapore’s political, economic, social, technology, legal and environmental factors it can be revealed that the highly inclined tech savvy citizens would essentially create significant avenues for mobile applications like Google Play Music to successfully make a market entry to Singapore (Samiee, Chabowski and Hult 2015).

Porter’s Five Competitive Forces

• Competitive Rivalry or Competition- Google play music experiences a severe competition such as Yahoo music, Spotify and Apple Music. According to authors, Google due to its wide range of product range constitutes a diverse range of market rivals. These factors however have led the company to exert a strong force on Google’s market economy (Play.google.com 2019). Thus, customers using Google Play music application face inexpensive switching expenses as it is easy for them to shift away from it to other applications.
• Bargaining Power of Buyers- Authors has observed the bargaining power of buyers as weak in influencing Google’s business. Reports of Zeriti et al. (2014) have exposed that each purchaser typically makes insignificant amount of contribution to the revenues of Google LLC, in this manner exercising an unconstructive force on the application. However, due to the elevated and ever-increasing demand for products from Google Play music along with other competing applications, individual buyers tend to exert negligible influence on the mobile application (Samiee, Chabowski and Hult 2015).
• Bargaining Power of Suppliers- Authors have indicated that soaring accessibility of supply in amalgamation with the wide range of suppliers primarily condenses the result of the bargaining power of any single supplier on the business of Google Music Player application (Gay 2016). Furthermore, as suppliers for Google LLC applications are essentially varied the company has managed to comprise of a diverse range of products related to Google Search, Google Glass, and Google Fiber.
• Threat of Substitutes or Substitution- According to Mollah, Quoreshi and Zafirov (2016), Google LLC has been facing relatively moderate level of substitution. It has been noted that the low switching expenses has enabled customers to shift their preferences from Google’s promotion services to the substitute services (Play.google.com 2019). Moreover, in the view of Zeriti et al. (2014), the restrained to increased availability of substitutes implies that buyers possess relative options if they observe a propensity to shift from using Google play music to other mobile applications.
• Threat of New Entrants or New Entry- Reports of Demangeot, Broderick and Craig (2015) have stated that the temperate price of business operations implies that a relative number of Start-up businesses might have the propensity to make a market entry and directly compete in opposition to Google.

• Strengths- Google Play Music contains over 35 million of songs from varied genres. Moreover, consumers can upload over 50,000 of songs and add to the library (Play.google.com 2019). According to Gay (2016), great content has been identified as something which all popular music streaming services have comprised of as wide range of distinguished players contain rich song databases.

Furthermore, consumers can upload preferred music by playing Google Play Music on the web, Android and iOS devices and obtain diverse music suggestions on the basis of customers’ music preferences. Cavusgil et al. (2014) have stated that with paid subscription, tech savvy and music lovers can get the access to more than 35 million songs along with offering purchasers with personal and family membership schemes. An individual subscription plan costs around $10.99 per month, whereas the family membership plan costs over $15.99 (Christodoulides, Cadogan and Veloutsou 2015).  

• Weaknesses- Reports of Kozlenkova, Samaha and Palmatier (2014) have revealed that one of the main things which buyers dislike about Google Play Music is its absence of lyrics. Even though there can be observed numerous trending features which Google Play Music has been offering, consumers have critiqued the application for its lack of installing lyrics in its database (Gay 2016). Additionally, Google Play does not have an extensive available base whereby some of its paid applications have no availability in certain regions and territories even if the country is listed on its distribution list (Play.google.com 2019). 
• Opportunities- Cavusgil et al. (2014) have stated that Google with growing level of wide advertising reach has the chance of expanding its product array by using two types of promotion techniques namely Google Display Networks and video promos. In addition to this, increasing level of visibility aimed for display endorsements would give Google Play Music the opportunity to offer higher level of visibility for demonstrate unique advertising techniques.
• Threats- Spotify one of the leading mobile applications has been identified as a major threat to Google Play Music’s market advantages. Thus, Google has been planning to strategically compete with Spotify’s parent company YouTube Music that is an identified as a significantly fascinating video-based music operating service that manufactures on Alphabet’s YouTube trademark (Play.google.com 2019). 

The demographic of Singapore’s population has been significantly shifting over the time. The analysis of Singapore’s demographic profile authors have stated that the citizen population has been ageing because of low fertility rates along with rising life expectancy (Worldpopulationreview.com 2019). Tuschke, Sanders and Hernandez (2014)have stated that the rapid increase of ageing has insightful implications on the country’s economy and society. The total populace of Singapore has been essentially comprised of Singapore citizens, Permanent Residents (PRs) in addition to non-residents. In addition to this, the non-resident population has been distinguished as a diverse group who have been dwelling for employment, educational purposes or other family reasons. Till June, the total population size of Singapore has been accounted to 5.74 million (Worldpopulationreview.com 2019).

Whose experience matters in the boardroom?

Singapore’s Total Population Growth

Source: (Worldpopulationreview.com 2019)

Singapore has successfully established itself as a crucial entrance to Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as other Asia Pacific markets for foreign companies. According to authors, the country has been offering various international business enterprises possible access to an English speaking business setting, expert labour force along with the single business friendly legal and tax classification in the World (Sleuwaegen and Onkelinx 2014). These factors however have enabled Singapore to be a supreme initiation hub for start-up firms in expanding into the Asia Pacific region. Fu et al. (2015) through analysis have mentioned that the severe protection system in evaluation to other nations in the region has facilitated Singapore to be unique in establishing for software enterprises. Moreover, authors have stated that the Port of Singapore and Changi International Airport have enabled to position Singapore successfully as a leading transportation centre thus formulating an intention affluent atmosphere for high business value software companies (Tuschke, Sanders and Hernandez 2014).

Singapore in the view of Fu et al. (2015) has been distinguished as a highly critical country due to its diverse array of options ranging from digital to outdoor to print. Thus, companies like Google LLC aiming to enter into Singapore mobile application market must take into consideration the qualities of the range of marketing media in Singapore for market share as well as positioning (Girdzijauskaite and Radzeviciene 2014). Furthermore, the approaches through which international businesses aim to market in Singapore through offline as well as online services have been stirred up because of the heightened implementation of digital media (Martin et al. 2014).  At this stage, Mollah, Quoreshi and Zafirov (2016) highlighted that as Singapore has strategically cultivated a significant prominence in terms of innovation and creativity along with a standard of living, the country has acquired second position as a smart city with its majority of population inclining towards mobile applications.  In addition to this, the highly increasing economy rate of Singapore has been motivating many local as well as foreign investors like Google to extend their services (Chetty, Ojala and Leppäaho 2015). Furthermore, it is essential to consider the Singaporean business environment whereby the taxes have recently been reduced (Wu and Ramesh 2014). The revenue tax rate for businesses established in Singapore has been estimated around 18% (Hasan and Ali 2015). Nonetheless, as per Kozlenkova, Samaha and Palmatier (2014) these companies have the likelihood to give tax if their chargeable earnings go beyond $320,500 per year. 

Equity market contagion during global financial and Eurozone crises

Product- Google’s Android operating system has been identified as one of the lightest operating systems ever manufactured with additional features which have brought to lives of individuals with the help of mobile applications, which can be downloaded from Google Play Store specifically Google Play Music (Wu and Ramesh 2014).

Place- As several scholars like Mollah, Quoreshi and Zafirov (2016) have realized Google as an internet giant, with its Google Play Music has attained market gains and shares of Spotify and other mobile applications and have ensured that mobile application has been re-launched with android operating system. However, in the view of Zeriti et al. (2014), exquisite marketing strategy of introducing outmoded mobile enterprises with Android has not only transformed the fortune of those businesses but has essentially helped Google to extent its products across the world. Till 2016, there has been witnessed a significant 2.4 million people on Android whereby intended for smart phone market which comprises of Apple and Microsoft as substantial market coverage (Play.google.com 2019).

Price- Sleuwaegen and Onkelinx (2014) have mentioned that major proportion of mobile application users require to pay for smart phone applications which have been running separately on Android Systems. Google LLC has been significantly functioning with this policy of launching new as well as updated Android Operating Systems with newer brands. Several applications utilize advertisements as well and endorsements further predominantly belonged to Google.  Google has a vital ad sense which runs various promotions and advertisements on mobile apps along with mobile sites (Lovelock and Patterson 2015). As a result, even though the operating system has shown utmost exceptionality, Google, through its freemium model obtains the development capital back without any forms of criticalities or difficulties.

Promotions- According to Kim, Min and Chaiy (2015), Google has been recognized not only as an Internet player but has been considered by several as a sanctified place for every mobile developer, programmer as well as Internet fanatics. Google has recently been adopting exclusive technique of branding Android Operating Systems which get hold of an additional set of attention and increase its popularity among the peers. Google Play Music factually calls for no commercials or promotions essentially because of its great popularity in the contemporary world Shams and Huisman 2016).

Conclusion

 Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that Google Play Music with its unique and advanced features has significant capacities to extend its products as well as services in Singapore. In addition to this, the mobile application though with certain areas of disadvantages such as deficit of lyrics has been competent enough to acquire significant market shares in the Singaporean mobile application market. Thus, taking into consideration the cultural diversity and inclination towards art and music, Google LLC can collaborate with local business enterprises in order to acquire greater level of confidence and beat its major threat Spotify and further acquire competitive advantages in Singaporean mobile application industry.

What is music?

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