Proposed Marketing Strategy to Enter Methanol Market as Diversification for National Gas Company

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Methanol is a key material used as feedstock in the chemical industry which is mainly produced from natural gas and coal. Indonesia is well-known for its natural resources including the large reserves of natural gas which become the third largest in the Asia-Pacific. However, Indonesia and even Asia are having gaps between production and demand that need to be fulfilled. Indonesia only has one methanol producer and still importing a large amount of it despite the increasing demand. A national natural gas company is considering the possibility to produce methanol in order to fulfill the gaps as well as diversification to give adding value to natural gas and also commercialize the oversupply of natural gas from the termination of the export contract. The objective of this research is to find the best business strategy for the company considering various challenges and opportunities. The methodology used in this research is qualitative and quantitative methods using secondary data and primary data. The primary data is collected through a qualitative questionnaire that involved companies that confirm the obstacles in sourcing methanol. The collected data is used to conduct external and internal analysis through PESTEL, Porter’s Five Forces, Customer Analysis, and VRIO Framework. The identified opportunities and challenges are then used to generate strategy through TOWS Matrix and 4P Marketing Mix. As a result, it is recommended for the company that will become a methanol supplier to set a competitive product price, choose a strategic place with high access to resources, promote the sustainability impact and multiplier effect to attract stakeholders and shareholders, and utilize the existing customer channel of natural gas to commercialize the new product.