Business Research of American Express Company
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2
2. INTRODUCTION 3
2.1 ABOUT FINANCIAL CARDS 3
2.2 ABOUT THE CORPORATE CARD 3
2.3 COMPETITORS 3
2.3.1 Competitor profiles 4
3. BACKGROUND OF AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY 5
4. CORE AND SECONDARY TARGET AUDIENCE 6
4.1 CORE TARGET AUDIENCE 6
4.2 SECONDARY TARGET AUDIENCE 6
5 STRENGTHS IN MARKET SEGMENTATION 7
5.1 SMALL SCALE BUSINESSES 7
5.2 MEDIUM SCALE BUSINESSES 7
5.3 LARGE SCALE BUSINESSES 8
6 BRAND POSITIONING VERSUS ITS COMPETITORS 9
6.1 PUBLIC’S PERCEPTION OF AMERICAN EXPRESS’S BRAND 9
6.1.1 Expense management 9
6.1.2 Prestigious Leader 9
6.1.3 Best membership benefits and services 10
7 COMPETITIVE PRICING AGAINST OTHER COMPETITORS 11
8. QUESTIONNAIRE 12
APPENDICES 13
APPENDIX A Comparing American Express’s Benefits with Its Competitors 13
APPENDIX B Comparing Membership Reward Points 14
APPENDIX C Qualitative Questionnaire 15
REFERENCES 19
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report entitled – ‘Business Research of American Express Company’ is a group assessment task for 332BUS, Business Research, Coursework 1.
‘If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.
— Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865), the sixteenth President of the United States
The author selected American Express Company, a leader in its industry, and attempts to conduct a business research of it as part of Coursework 1. This is accomplished by:
➢ Establishing its core and secondary target audience definition; ➢ Researching its strengths in market segmentation distribution; ➢ Identifying its brand position versus that of its competitors; ➢ Determining its competitive pricing versus that of its competitors; ➢ Designing a qualitative questionnaire.
[i]
Note:
The content of this report is made for the purpose of XXXX University BA Program, Business Research.
The data presented is intended solely for
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2
2. INTRODUCTION 3
2.1 ABOUT FINANCIAL CARDS 3
2.2 ABOUT THE CORPORATE CARD 3
2.3 COMPETITORS 3
2.3.1 Competitor profiles 4
3. BACKGROUND OF AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY 5
4. CORE AND SECONDARY TARGET AUDIENCE 6
4.1 CORE TARGET AUDIENCE 6
4.2 SECONDARY TARGET AUDIENCE 6
5 STRENGTHS IN MARKET SEGMENTATION 7
5.1 SMALL SCALE BUSINESSES 7
5.2 MEDIUM SCALE BUSINESSES 7
5.3 LARGE SCALE BUSINESSES 8
6 BRAND POSITIONING VERSUS ITS COMPETITORS 9
6.1 PUBLIC’S PERCEPTION OF AMERICAN EXPRESS’S BRAND 9
6.1.1 Expense management 9
6.1.2 Prestigious Leader 9
6.1.3 Best membership benefits and services 10
7 COMPETITIVE PRICING AGAINST OTHER COMPETITORS 11
8. QUESTIONNAIRE 12
APPENDICES 13
APPENDIX A Comparing American Express’s Benefits with Its Competitors 13
APPENDIX B Comparing Membership Reward Points 14
APPENDIX C Qualitative Questionnaire 15
REFERENCES 19
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report entitled – ‘Business Research of American Express Company’ is a group assessment task for 332BUS, Business Research, Coursework 1.
‘If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.
— Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865), the sixteenth President of the United States
The author selected American Express Company, a leader in its industry, and attempts to conduct a business research of it as part of Coursework 1. This is accomplished by:
➢ Establishing its core and secondary target audience definition; ➢ Researching its strengths in market segmentation distribution; ➢ Identifying its brand position versus that of its competitors; ➢ Determining its competitive pricing versus that of its competitors; ➢ Designing a qualitative questionnaire.
[i]
Note:
The content of this report is made for the purpose of XXXX University BA Program, Business Research.
The data presented is intended solely for
References: American Express (2002) About American Express [online] available from [29 January 2008] American Express Company (2007) American Express Corporate Card [online] available from [28 January 2008] American Express Company (2008) About Us [online] available from [9 February 2008] American Express International, Inc American Express International, Inc. (2004), Corporate Card Programs [online] available from [29 January 2008] American Express International, Inc American Express International, Inc. (2007) American Express @Work [online] available from [14 January 2008] American Express International, Inc American Express International, Inc. (2007) Corporate Card Services [online] available from [16 January 2008] American Express International, Inc American Express International, Inc. (2007) Management Information [online] available from [14 January 2008] American Express International, Inc American Express International, Inc. (2007), Corporate Card Services [online] available from [10 February] American Express International, Inc American Express International, Inc. (2008) Personal FAQs [online] available from [16 January 2008] American Express International, Inc American Express International, Inc. (2008) Small Scale business [online] available from [11 January 2008] Bournemouth University (n.d.) Brand Positioning [Online] available from [19 February 2008] CitiBank (2008) About Us [online] available from [28 January 2008] Citibank (2008) CitiBusiness Card [online] available from [28 January 2008] CitiBank (n.d.) Citibank Business/Corporate Gold Card Application Form [online] available from [9 February 2008] Citibank Singapore Ltd (2008) Citibank Rewards 2007/2008 [online] available from [11 February] N Ravindran (2008) The Lure of Plastic Gold and Platinum: Credit Card Battles in a Saturated Market [online] available from [15 January] Statistics Singapore (2008) Statistics [online] available from www.singstat.gov.sg/stats/charts/popn-area.html