Marketing

UNMET NEEDS: Is a customer needed that is not being met by the existing product offering. For example, ski areas have a need for snowmaking equipment that can access steep, advanced trails. The unmet needs can be identify by asking customers, by accessing lead users, by ethnographic research and by systematic create thinking
• Unmet need are strategically important because they representopportunities for firm to increase their market share, break into a market, or create and own market
• They can represent threats to established firms in that they can be a lever that enables competitors to disrupt an established position
• Sometimes customers may not be aware of their unmet needs because they are so accustomed to the implicit limitations of existing equipment
• Unmet needs that arenot obvious may be more difficult to identify, but they can also represent a greater opportunity for an aggressive business, because they will be little pressure on established firms to be responsive
Using Customers to identify Unmet Needs: Customers are a prime source of unmet needs and the trick is to access them, to get customers to detect and communicate unmet need
• The first step is toconduct market research. The research usually starts with a discussion of an actual product use experience. Survey can also play an important role, as monitoring of customers complaints. It is important to take in account the problem research, develops a list of potential problems with the product. The problems are prioritized by asking a group of 100 to 200 people to rate each problem as to whetherthe problem is important, the problem occurs frequently and a solution exist
Ethnographic research: research and involves directly observing customers in as many context as possible. By accurately observing not only what is done involving the target or service but why it is being done
• Ethnographic research is particularly good at identify break thought innovation
• Ethnographic researchcan also be used to improve existing products or service
The Ideal Experience: the conceptualization of an ideal experience can also help to identify unmet needs
Use Creative Thinking: think out the box or think away the box is a key challenge in discovering new offering that are responsive to unmet needs. Think differently can generate new offering that creates or change a category, making theexisting competitors lees relevant as the new offering becomes the frame of reference and standard
STRATEGIC GROUPS: provides a very different approach toward understanding the competitive structure of an industry. Strategic group is a group of firms that:
• Over time pursue similar competitive strategies
• Have similar characteristics
• Have similar assets and competencies
Each strategicgroup has mobility barriers that inhibit or prevent business from moving from one strategic group to an other. An ultra-premium group has the brand reputation, product, and manufacturing knowledge needed for the health segment, access to influential veterinarians and retailers and a local customer base
Using the Strategic Group Concept: the conceptualization of strategic groups can make the processof competitor analysis more manageable. Strategic groups can make the analysis compact, feasible, and more usable; also can refine the strategic invest decision, this decision can focus on what strategic group warrants investment
Projecting Strategic Groups: The concept of strategic groups can also be helpful in projecting competitive strategies into the future.
• During the first phase, themedium and small firms attempt to gain enough market share by merging to compete with the large firms
• The second phase, strong firms make acquisitions to fill in product lines or market gaps
• In the third phase, interindustry mergers occur. Strong firms merge with others outside their industry
THE COMPETITIVE STRENGTH GRID: After identify the competitors; the next step is to scale your own...