MARKET ANALYSIS

Market analysis consists of: market position, market objectives, market segments, market structure.

Market position - market niche, market leader, market follower, market challenger.

Market niche - small part of an existing market;

Market leader - maintain dominant position in the market;

Market follower - follow the lead of the market leader – pricing, product development etc;

Market challenger - seek to adopt strategies to challenge market leader’s position.


Market objectives - national growth, intwernational growth, ethical objectives, market share, consumer focus, product focus, image, social responsibility, revenue maximisation, shareholder value, overcome competitors.

Market objectives will involve/determine some or all of: Market Penetration, New Product Development, Branding, Diversification, SWOT Analysis.

Market segments - age, religion, gender, income level, lifestyle, ethnic grouping, social class, geographical religion, family circumstances, behaviouristic.

Segments: mass markets, multiple segments, single segment.

Mass markets - high volume, low margin goods – confectionary, cars, clothing, food stuffs;

Multiple segments - appealing to wider range of groups – e.g. 4x4 vehicles – town, country, gender, lifestyle, social class;

Single segment - often a specialised product, e.g. machinery, exclusive goods.

Market structure - highly competitive, imperfect competition, oligopoly, duopoly, monopoly.

Nature of the market structure determines marketing strategy:

• Pricing strategy;
• Branding;
• Product Differentiation;
• Market Penetration;
• Direct Selling.
  

QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE FACTORS IN DECISION MAKING

Quantitative factors

Provide a numerical basis for decision making – reduces decisions to looking at a monetary value placed on different choices, e.g. (Forecasted sales figures for the next 3 years; The cost of a series of redundancies against the longer term financial benefits to the firm of this process);

But: such data provides only part of the story

Other factors need to be taken into account, particularly the effects of decisions on stakeholder groups and their response to such decisions, e.g. (The takeover of Manchester United by Malcolm Glazer might make financial sense but the reaction of the supporters might make the move unworkable).

Qualitative factors

Qualitative factors look to take account of these other issues that may influence the outcome of a decision;
Can be wide ranging and especially need to consider the impact on human resources and their response to decisions.

SWOT

SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture or in any other situation of an organization or individual requiring a decision in pursuit of an objective. It involves monitoring the marketing environment internal and external to the organization or individual.

PEST

Might also need to factor in other external issues that might influence the decision making process which can be summarised as:
–Political
–Economic
–Sociocultural
–Technological
Political could be in its widest sense, e.g. the internal politics of a firm as well as the national and international political effect.

Human Resources Management

Impact on a firm’s human resources is essential to consider, in particular the effects on:
–Motivation
–Morale
–Recruitment and Retention
–May be difficulty to assess and measure
–May need to distinguish between short term effects and long term.

Decision Making

Decision making is the cognitive process leading to the selection of a course of action among alternatives. Every decision making process produces a final choice. It can be an action or an opinion. It begins when we need to do something but we do not know what.

• Eventual decision may rest on the balance between the perceived effects of quantitative and qualitative.
• If the long term effect on the workforce for example was to reduce productivity or increase absence because of the impact on motivation and morale, the fact that a decision makes financial sense may be shelved!
• Qualitative by its nature, therefore, is very subjective.
  

MAKE A GOOD PRESENTATION

Presentation - is the process of presenting the content of a topic to an audience.

What makes a good presentation?

The material of presentation should be concise, to the point and tell about interesting things. In addition to the obvious things like content and visual aids, the following are just as important as the audience will be subconsciously taking them in:

• Your voice - how you say it is as important as what you say;
• Body language - a subject in its own right and something about which much has been written and said. In essence, your body movements express what your attitudes and thoughts really are;
• Appearance - first impressions influence the audience's attitudes to you. Dress appropriately for the occasion.

It is important to prepare the structure of the talk carefully and logically, just as you would for a written report. What are:

1. The objectives of the talk;
2. The main points you want to make.

So:

• Introduce yourself;
• Comunicate with other people;
• Speak clearly, slowly, understandable;
• Use visual aids;
• Trust yourself;
• Never read from a script.

Be yourself - create the your brand and image - it's far easier than trying to copy anyone else and also is a great differentiator.
Be in your optimum presentation state - this is calm, connected, energized, curious, happy.

Be optimistic, sound cheery and smile -that’s what people will remember.

Don't be afraid to state what is obvious to you, it may not be obvious to the audience .

The most important think is :

Know your subject and know it well or else don’t stand up!

Finally ...,
Enjoy yourself.

The audience will be on your side and want to hear what you have to say!

BUSINESS ORGANISATION

BUSINESS ORGANISATION:

business functions and organisation charts

There are 7 business functions such as:

• Human resources
• Sales and Marketing
• Research and Development
• Production/Operations
• Customer Service
• Finance and Accounts
• Administration and IT

Teacher was talking about those functions, about all of them,explained everything. Human resources function: Recruitment and retention (Job descriptions, Person Specifications );Dismissal; Redundancy; Motivation; Professional development and training; Health and safety and conditions at work; Liaison with trade unions.

Sales marketing: Market research; Promotion strategies; Pricing strategies; Sales strategies; The sales team; Product – advice on new product development, product improvement, extension strategies, target markets.

Research and development: New product development; Product improvements; Competitive advantage; Value added; Product testing; Efficiency gains; Cost savings.

Production/Operations: Acquiring resources; Planning output – labour, capital, land; Monitoring costs; Projections on future output; Production methods; Efficiency.

Customer service: Monitoring distribution; After-sales service; Handling consumer enquiries; Offering advice to consumers; Dealing with customer complaints; Publicity and public relations.

Finance and accounts: Cash flow (Monitoring income/revenue, Monitoring expenditure); Preparing accounts; Raising finance (Shares, Loans); Links with all other functional areas.

Administration and IT: Managing estates – cleaning, health and safety, maintenance, security; Reception; Clerical work – reporting, recording, record keeping, communication; Overview of quality control; Use of IT systems.

Then we were talking about organisation charts. There are 4 types of srtuctures:

1. Hierarchical structure;
2. Pyramidal structure;
3. Centralised/Entrepreneurial;
4. Matrix structure.