Scanning the Marketing Environment - Geek Squad Company - Case Study Example

The owner and founder of the company, Robert Stephens, started the company with only $200 after realizing the need for the use of technological equipment and machines and the challenges in operating such machines. Most of the people complained that the manuals for the equipment took a long time to read and they could not understand the instructions (Kerin 47). Stephens took advantage of this gap in the market and established the company to help the population manage their equipment, and at a standardized cost.
Problem Statement
There exists the problem of competition that faces the Geek Squad Company due to the changes in the environment. There is also a lot of technology improvement in the market, an aspect that has created the need for more and specialized maintenance of the equipment provided to customers.
Discussion of the Questions in the Case Study
The key environmental factors that contributed to the start of the Geek Company is the presence of customers who could not understand nor cope up with the technology present in the various equipment they purchased. Stephens took advantage of this gap to start-up Geek Squad.
The Best Buy Company purchased Geek Squad in 2002. The main factors that contributed to this purchase were the increasing awareness among the customers for the increasing importance of service (Kerin 52). The customers were so happy when they bought items at Best Buy but they soon returned them and demanded a refund since they could not efficiently operate the equipment. This was the case especially for the women who expected personal services during and after the service, and especially for installation purposes.
As such, Geek Squad should have consideration for the trends likely to affect the business in the future. There is increasing technology that will make consumer electronics more complicated (Kerin 54). More people will want to purchase one of the electronics, and this will increase the demand for the services of Geek Squad but lower the costs of maintenance of the equipment. However, there will be increased competition in the industry since many companies will try to offer the same service as Geek Squad to their customers, and this will require the establishment of more rules of operation in the industry.
The use of Public relations, therefore, is the best promotional method that will enable the Geek Squad Company to attract more customers to the company (Kerin 63).
Conclusion

The Geek Squad Company has managed to survive and adapt to the changing environment, and especially the existence of competition in the market. By ensuring that it constantly improves its terms of service to the market, then it will manage to expand its business operations to the international market.