The Environment of a Group of Products - Computer - Essay Example

? Analysis of the environment of a group of products - computer Table of contents 0 Executive Summary 3 2.0 Introduction 3 3.0 Online Product 4 3.1Environment of the Product 4 3.2 Comparison of the online product with the offline product 5 4.0 Value Chain analysis 6 4.1 How does the product create the value? 6 4.2 How value has been created 7 5.0 Recommendation 8 6.0 Conclusion 8 7.0 Bibliography and References 9 1.0 Executive Summary The evaluation of the marketing strategies incorporated by firms worldwide can be a difficult task. In fact, it is possible for important differences to exist among firms with different culture and structure. The conditions in the business environment also play a key role in the identification and promotion of successful marketing plans. Current paper focuses on the challenges that the marketing strategies related to a particular group of products, computers, tend to face in the global market. Particular emphasis is given on the product’s environment but also on the potentials of the product to create value, a fact that would increase the demand for the particular product in the global market. It is revealed that the promotion of computers worldwide has radically changed, compared to the past. Online promotion is mostly used for products of such characteristics. Still, the use of traditional marketing strategies, simultaneously, could lead to the increase of this product’s popularity; such prospect would be quite important if taking into consideration the fact that computers are gradually replaced by tablets, as also analyzed below. 2.0 Introduction When checking the effectiveness of a marketing strategy, there are certain issues that need to be taken into consideration: a) marketing strategies are not standardized worldwide even for products of the same category/ characteristics, b) when referring to Internet, marketing may have different priorities, focusing on communication and the exchange of information; in opposition, in traditional marketing plans emphasis is given on the achievement of the company’s goals but also on the increase of organization’s profits; c) the success of marketing strategies can be depended on several factors; in other markets, online sales may be considered as a daily activity while in certain markets the alignment of marketing strategies with the business strategy cannot be avoided. Computers, as a critical industrial sector, have achieved an impressive rate of growth; still, the position of computers in the global market is severely threatened: the technology is continuously developed while communication and cooperation have become critical requirements for the successful integration of the products in markets worldwide. The appearance of devices that can replace PCs has led to worries in regard to the survival of the industry in the future. The value chain analysis could help to understand the potentials of the specific product to stabilize its position in the future. 3.0 Online Product 3.1 Environment of the Product The performance of computers within their environment needs to be checked from time to time. The current market trends lead to assumption that online products have more chances to achieve a high rate of growth. Still, the technology available for the realization of such projects can be quite costly, not allowing the development of such projects. The trends in regard to the online and the offline environment of the product are presented in detail in the following section. At this point, the following question appears: what does the term environment of the product means? In general, this term is used to show all characteristics of the product’s environment, including the level of the economy, the mode of social and economic framework of the state involved and c) the level of competition. The conditions in the computer industry are quite competitive; only firms that are already well established in the market will survive; as a result the performance of computers in regard to innovation need to be extremely high. The characteristics of the product’s internal and external environment are presented analytically in the next section. 3.2 Comparison of the online product with the offline product Today, online products are often valued more than the offline products. According to James (2012) in the near future online sales would be the only form of sales available worldwide. In addition, the transformation of public transactions, in all its aspects, will be radical; these transactions will be mostly based in the exchange of data between the parties involved (James 2012). In their common form, computers may become unnecessary (James 2012). In such environment, the performance of a product can be quite unstable. The prospects of online sales have been made clear in the following fact: during the Christmas of 2012 the level of online sales was significantly increased covering the gaps of losses because of the low performance in other business operations (Ruddick 2013). In another article, also focused on the characteristics of online shopping, it is noted that the future of computers seems to be rather disappointing (Heller 2011). Reference is made, as an example, to the use of i-phones and other similar devices for developing tasks that, up to now, have been developed by computer (Heller 2011). Particular emphasis should be given to a report published by the EU. According to this report in 2012 online sales reached the 15.5%, while in 2006 this percentage was just 6.7% (E-Commerce Europe 2013), a continuous increase in online sales is the key characteristic of the product’s online environment. In regard to its offline environment, the product has to fact the following forces: a) competition from other firms, b) continuous increase of prices/ inflation; choosing online sales has been a way for ensuring that you will be notified when the money is available and c) continuous update of technology; not all firms operating in the particular industry are able to respond to the technological needs of their external environment; in fact, many studies have revealed a severe threat that computers would have to face in the near future: computers will be fully replace by tablets or iPhones (Malone 2010, Aptito 2012 and Arthur 2012). According to the above issues, the product has to face a series of forces in its environment. These forces, and the relevant opportunities, would be clear through the SWOT analysis: a) Strengths: continuous increase of online sales; continuous increase of the involvement of technology in most human activities, b) Weaknesses: computers cannot follow the advances of technology at the same level as other devises, such as iPhones, c) Opportunities; there are many developing countries worldwide where the needs for computers are still high; entrance in new markets could be a possibly strategy for computers to keep their market share; d) Threats; a decline has been identified in the demand for computers (Arthur 2012) 4.0 Value Chain analysis 4.1 How does the product create the value? The value chain analysis is based on the following rule: through a series of processes a product can create value (Bamford and West 2010). The above analysis begins with the identification of the value creation process, as developed within each organization; the value creation process is the process through which product adds value to its organization. The creation of value, as an element of the value chain analysis, is taken place through a series of activities that belong in two, major, categories: ‘primary activities and support activities’ (Peng 2008, p.91). In practice, there are specific ‘resources and capabilities for the support of each one of the above activities’ (Peng 2008, p.91). Primary activities refer to those organizational sectors that are critical for the survival of the organization, such as inbound logistics, Operations and marketing (Peng 2008). The support activities can have only a supplementary role, ensuring that the primary activities will be fully completed, with no delays or failures (Peng 2008). It should be noted that the value chain analysis also allows the identification of business sectors that are not of primary importance for the organizational performance (Crosson and Needles 2010). The activities of these sectors can be developed by the help of external contractors, meaning the outsourcing (Crosson and Needles 2010). 4.2 How value has been created In the computer industry, value has been created as follows: the need for communication and exchange of information has led to the rapid development of Internet; the expansion of Internet, as a tool for supporting key aspects of private and business life, has been based on the potentials of people to access the Internet; therefore, at a first level, the computer industry has contributed in the worldwide expansion of Internet, as a tool for communication, for socializing and for developing critical research (Crosson and Needles 2010). Through this way, the computer has entered all industrial sectors and managed to keep its performance high by supporting the performance of the market. Indeed, computer is currently involved in all primary organizational activities, as described in the study of Crosson and Needles (2010), meaning the inbound and outbound logistics, the marketing and the service (Crosson and Needles 2010). Computer is also involved in outsourcing; through the computer certain of the organizational tasks are assigned to third parties. Through the effective performance of outsourcing, based on computer, a firm’s value can be increased a fact that would also help the stabilization of the organizational growth. In the support activities of the value chain analysis reference is made to technology development, as one of these activities. Thus, technology, including computer, is necessarily related to the development of the organization, in regard to all its operations, as described in the value chain analysis model. 5.0 Recommendation Today, online purchases are common in most markets worldwide. In regard to the computer industry, online purchases are also high. Still, there are chances for further improvement. There are certain strategies that could help towards the achievement of the above task. These strategies could be described as follows: a) the funds invested on the marketing of online purchases of computers should be increased; relying on social networking sites for promoting such products cannot be a solution. Rather emphasis should be given on traditional marketing tools, such as direct sales or advertisement in local press; b) another recommendation for promoting the online purchases would be the following one: offers should be introduced in products available online; For examplein this way, more customers will be attracted and the popularity of the particular product will be increased. Finally, the potentials of locals to access Internet should be checked. If the infrastructure available locally is not of the appropriate quality, then the efforts to promote online purchases would fail. Seminars and events would be organized for helping people to understand the benefits of online purchases, no matter the local social and cultural trends. The arrangement of events in schools could help people in local community to understand the context of online purchases, with a specific reference to computers. 6.0 Conclusion The online and offline environment of computers can be characterized as rather hostile. Indeed, competition in the particular industry can be quite high; this is a fact that could negatively affect the industry’s efforts to increase the competitiveness of its products. The use of the value chain analysis has been considered as an effective strategic tool for identifying and evaluating current and future market prospects for the particular product. Still, the findings of the value chain analysis may not reflect all aspects of a product’s environment. For this reason, when having to check the prospects of a new product in a new market it is necessary to use an appropriate model of analysis, so that the risks for failures are minimized. Using other methods of analysis could highly help to verify the prospects of a product in a particular market. In the case under examination, the value chain analysis has been combined with the SWOT analysis in regard to the product’s online and offline environment. In this way, no doubts would exist in regard to the power of online and offline environment to affect business performance. The recommendations suggested above could help towards the increase of the online performance of computers. However, the benefits of the particular plan may not be clear immediately. 7.0 Bibliography and References Bibliography Carlson, P., 2006. Personal Computer Industry Trends. National Center on Education and the Economy. Available at http://www.jff.org/sites/default/files/PC-IndustryTrends.pdf Thibodeau, P., 2012. Gartner's Top 10 tech trends for 2013. The rise of mobile devices becomes the No. 1 trend as Microsoft joins the fight and seeks to retain a strong share of client platforms. Oct 23, 2012. Computerworld. Available at http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9232800/Gartner_s_Top_10_tech_trends_for_2013 References Aptito, 2012. Studies, Trends Show Tablets to Become Primary Computer for Many by 2016. Nov 23, 2012. Available at http://aptito.com/blog/2012/11/23/studies-trends-show-tablets-to-become-primary-computer-for-many-by-2016/ Arthur, C., 2012. How tablets are eating the PC's future – but might save the desktop computer. April 25, 2012. Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/25/tablet-pc-market-analysis Bamford, C. and West, P., 2010. Strategic Management. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Crosson, S. and Needles, B., 2010. Managerial Accounting. Belmont: Cengage Learning. E-commerce Europe, 2013. “Trends in B2C online sales of consumer electronics during the Holiday Season.” Available at http://www.ecommerce-europe.eu/2013/press-release-trends-in-b2c-online-sales-of-technical-consumer-goods-during-the-holiday-season Heller, L., 2011. The Future of Online Shopping: 10 Trends to Watch. Forbes. Available at http://www.forbes.com/sites/lauraheller/2011/04/20/the-future-of-online-shopping-10-trends-to-watch/ James, G., 2012. The Future of Sales Technology. Dec. 24, 2012. INC. Available at http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/the-future-of-sales-technology.html Malone, A., 2010. Report: iPad helps to drive holiday computer sales up 25 percent. Dec 10, 2010. Digital Trends. Available at http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/demand-for-ipad-drives-online-holiday-computer-sales-up-25-percent/ Peng, M., 2008. Global Business. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Ruddick, J., 2013. Online sales surge at Christmas to stabilise struggling retailers. Jan 8, 2013. The Telegraph. Available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9786507/Online-sales-surge-at-Christmas-to-stabilise-struggling-retailers.html Read More