¶ … Paradox Marketing Implementation for Business Sustainability in Indonesian Telecommunication Company The study provides the analysis of paradox marketing strategy implementation for business sustainability for Indonesian telecommunication company using the Telkom as a center of investigation. The research objectives have been achieved and research questions answered using both the primary and secondary research. The secondary data are collected using a comprehensive literature review from various scholarly research articles. Moreover, comprehensive literature review is carried out by collecting data from various research articles from EBSCOhost database, Science Direct, Emerald Publication, university libraries, and online academic libraries. The quantitative research is used as a method of data collection using the survey strategy. Comparative analysis carried out between qualitative and quantitative research reveals that quantitative research is more appropriate to complete the thesis because it saves time and is cost effective.

The data collected through primary and secondary research have been used to achieve the research objectives and answer the research questions. The results of the primary data reveal that Telkom has used the paradox marketing to achieve sustainable market advantages in Indonesia. Application of the paradox marketing technique has made the Telkom to increase number of cellular subscribers in Indonesia in the last few years, which has made Telkom to increase sales and revenues within few years after the application of the model. Despite the benefits that Telkom achieves from paradox marketing model, the government needs to use different strategies to attract large communication companies from other countries to invest in Indonesia telecommunication industry. The strategy will make the telecommunication services to be more accessible to large number of Indonesian population.

Introduction

Businesses globally have recognized increased necessities to develop skills, aptitudes, and knowledge to compete effectively in the competitive market environments. Emergence of globalization, open world economy, and expansion of internet access have increased interconnections and interdependence of businesses, which consequently lead to competitions among businesses. Moreover, dynamic and complexity of the marketing environments make companies to formulate the best strategy to manage the marketing of business organizations.

A fundamental goal of marketing strategy is to increase sales and revenues in order to achieve sustainable marketing advantages. Marketing strategy includes all short- term and long-term marketing activities dealing with analysis of strategic situation to assist in formulating and selection of market objectives in order to achieve a company's strategic goals. A paradox marketing is one of the marketing strategies that organizations employ to achieve competitive market advantages. Similar to other telecommunication companies that develop different market strategies to attract customer, Telkom (Telekomunikasi Indonesia Company) also develops market strategy to attract different categories of customers, and many stakeholders have appraised Telkom based on its excellent marketing strategy, vision and implementation that that the company has adopted. In 2013, the Telkom won the Telecommunication BUMN Marketing Award out of the 32 telecommunication companies that participated in the competition, which was recognized nationally and internationally. The company has been able to win the award based on the paradox marketing strategy that the company has adopted.

The paradox marketing is one of the marketing strategies that can deliver extraordinary results, which combine elements that are mutually contradictory and exclusive to one another in order to formulate marketing strategy. Formulation of marketing strategy to achieve strategic marketing advantages involves analysis of 4 Ps (Price, People, Place, and Promotion) that forms the basis of marketing promotion. The 4Ps marketing mix model is an effective method to stimulate an organizational marketing strategic positions.

A marketing paradox is a marketing technique that utilizes element of 4Ps (Piece, Product, Place and Promotion) where the two poles create unique combination to determine market paradox. Although, this is unusual approach in a product marketing, however, the strategy can create amazing results. The implementation of marketing paradox can assist organizations to make product and services already private to entire public. The strategy is to make limited products accessible to the public, and affordable to consumer . The Telkom has adopted the paradox marketing using the low cost strategy to make its services accessible and affordable to customers. Using the low costs strategy, the Telkom has been to sell its product to enjoy high profits. (Yahya, 2013). The paper develops research aims and objectives to enhance a greater understanding of the analysis of paradox marketing and its implementation for business sustainability Indonesian telecommunication company..A case of Telkom.

Research Aims and Objectives

The research aims and objectives are presented below:

To investigate the implementation of paradox marketing to achieve business sustainability by Indonesian telecommunication company.

To explore the concept of a paradox marketing and its application to Indonesia telecommunication industry.

To investigate factors...

Since the liberalization of Indonesia telecommunication sector more than 10 years ago, the country has been transformed into one of the toughest market in Asia. The telecommunication sector has been saturated with low prices that make telecommunication companies to record low profits. The low profits occur because prices are more expensive and many consumers are unable to afford the expensive packaging offered by companies. To overcome the problems, Telkom develops the paradox marketing and utilizes the company assets to harness more values for the organization.
Over the years, the Telkom has derived success from the international calls by forming a partnership with Telkomsel, which is a cellular subsidiary. In essence, the study attempts to answer the research questions because of the benefits that telecommunication industry derives from the paradox market model. Although, some studies have investigated the concept of paradox marketing in a business environment (Triyantoro, 2013, Aidan, 2008), however, there is still a paucity of literatures investigating the impact of paradox marketing on the Indonesia telecommunication industry. Garrity, (2012) points out that large number of management literatures have investigated the paradox concepts, however, literatures on paradox marketing is still limited. The marketing areas that attract more attention include customer service, media and technology adoption. However, researchers still focuses limited attention on paradox marketing. The study answers the research questions to fill the gap that has been created with the scanty of literatures.

Research Organization

Chapter 1 discusses the background of the entire project that discusses different concepts to be investigated. The chapter also develops the research questions, research aims and objectives. Moreover, the chapter discusses the reasons that make the study investigating the research aims and objectives.

Chapter 2 explores the past studies related to the paradox marketing and its impact on the telecommunication industry. The chapter explores the concepts paradox and paradox marketing. Moreover, the chapter discusses the overview of Indonesian telecommunication industry and the major factors that make the Telkom implementing the paradox marketing. The study also discusses the impact of paradox marketing on Telkom market sustainability advantages.

Chapter 3 designs the method of data collection, which compares quantitative and qualitative research. The research selects the quantitative research as a method of data collection and analysis based on its benefits that outweigh the qualitative research. The quantitative research is more cost effective and saves research time than the time to complete the qualitative research. The chapter also designs the survey instrument used to collect data.

The chapter 4 provides the strategy that the study employs in analyzing quantitative data. The research uses the descriptive statistics to summary the raw data in a manageable form, and the findings are presented in tables, graphs and words. The findings have been able to answer the research questions and achieve the research objectives.

Chapter 5 is the final chapter that provides the overall summary of the dissertation and recommendations, which provides the leeway for a future research.

The dissertation reviews the previous literatures to enhance a greater understanding on the theoretical framework relating to paradox marketing. Investigating different models relating to the paradox marketing is very critical to understand its applications in the contemporary telecommunication business environment.

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews the literatures that enhance a greater understanding of the concepts paradox marketing and its applications on the Indonesia telecommunication industry. The chapter also investigates factors that make Telkom utilizing paradox marketing strategy in the telecommunication industry.

Overview of Concept of Paradox Marketing

Different theoretical frameworks have been developed to enhance a greater understanding regarding marketing implementations. While marketing theories have been developed from the traditional 4Ps theory -- Price, Place, Promotion and Product, however, new Ps -Process, Physical Evidence and People have also been used in the application of marketing framework. Yahya, (2013) identifies factors that enhance consumer behaviors and the factors include cultural background, family, social class, and situation. All these components play important roles impeding and inducing purchasing decisions. Moreover, five components of marketing theoretical approach that include Personality, Knowledge, Attitude, Motivation, and Demography can influence consumer decisions. The psychological process includes learning…