Example Of Research Paper On Analyzing The Competitive Business Environment

Introduction

The competitive nature of the business environment implies that a business and its market position can easily be impacted should the movements and trends in the market segment, industry and global community are not predicted and analyzed effectively. It is not possible for a business organization to establish effective competitive positioning strategies without a clear understanding of the business environment, its competitors, their weaknesses, and strengths. This paper will analyze the competitive business environment through looking at the marketing mix.

Marketing Mix

A marketing mix refers to a group of controlled factors that form the strategic position of a product in the market. It is very important when analyzing the competitive business environment especially when determining the offer of a brand, and it is usually affiliated with the basic four P’s: Product, Price, Place and Promotion (Richter, 2002). The main objective of marketing is to maximize the marketing mix, providing the best possible blend of the seven P’s to maximize the capability of marketing endeavors.

Product

Product is the blend of all the benefits, advantages and features that it offers to its target market. It entails particular attributes such as packaging, quality, customer services and after sales support (Kotler, 2000). There is no reason for developing a product that no one is willing to purchase, whereas many business organizations decide what to offer first, and then hope to find a market for it afterward. On the contrary, the successful business organization will establish what customers want or need and then establish the right product with the required level of quality to offset those needs presently and in the future.
In order to remain competitive, a business organization must take into serious consideration the product’s characteristics such as packaging. Product packaging has a lot of functions with regards to market competition. For instance, it facilitates the purchase decision by the consumers through acting as a source of attraction. It can also facilitate product differentiation since it contains company logos, names and the color scheme of the company. It also assists the consumers to recognize the product as it sits among the competition’s products.
Product’s quality is also another important attribute of a product that a business organization must take into serious consideration for it to remain competitive in the market. The product must live up to a particular standard expected by the consumers. If the quality level of a product is not met, then the business is deemed to remain non-competitive in the market.

Price

Price is associated with the pricing strategy of the product. It includes trade-in allowances, discounts and credit terms to fix for the competitive circumstance in order to adjust the price in accordance with the purchaser’s perception of the product. Business organizations may apply divergent pricing strategies based on varied circumstances (Blythe, 2006). Some of the pricing strategies are listed below:
Competition Pricing - involves setting prices in comparison with competitors. It is one of the popular strategies applied by small retail business as an effort to avert price wars and still maintain a stable level of profit.
Penetration Pricing – can be applied where a business organization fixes a price lower than the general market so as to upsurge sales and market share. Penetration pricing is suitable for products with high products with high price responsiveness whereby a small deviation in price will lead to a big deviation in demand.
Skimming Pricing – entails fixing a high initial price compared to those of competing products. It is applicable to prestigious products because buyers are likely to be more prestige cautious instead of price.
Premium Pricing – is applied where a business may feel that there is a reasonable competitive advantage for its products. Such high prices may be placed for luxurious products.
A product is only worth what buyers are prepared to pay for it. The price should be competitive, but this does not necessarily imply the cheapest. The pricing must also provide a profit, and it is the only component of the marketing mix that generates revenue as others represent a cost.

Place

Place is where the sales are to be carried out and the way the products will be delivered. It entails distribution channel, managing inventories, the scope of market coverage, transportation, and logistics. Place involves all efforts aimed at delivering the product to the target customers (Kotler, 2000).
In order for a business organization to be competitive, the place where customers buy a product, and the method of distributing the product to that place, should be convenient and appropriate for the customer. The product must be present in the right place, at the right time, and in the right quantity, whereas keeping inventory, distribution and storage costs to an acceptable level.
Customer surveys have illustrated that delivery performance is one of the most important when selecting a supplier. Place also implies ways of displaying the product to customer groups. This could be in a shop window, however, with the swift improvement of internet technology and surging broadband consumption there is a shift towards selling products online especially with the extended application of e-commerce technology. As the internet enhances a geographically vanished market, business organizations are currently able to reach a wider target market at a low cost.

Promotion

Promotion points out to the promotional efforts that communicate the advantages of the product to the target market in order to convince them to buy it. It may involve different ways of promotions such as advertising, direct marketing, sales promotions and personal selling (Blythe, 2006).
In order for a business organization to be competitive, its promotion must result in attention, convey a consistent message, be appealing and most importantly give the customer a reason to select the product rather than others. It should also communicate the merits that a customer obtains from a product, and not just the features of that product.
In addition, business organizations must recognize that promotion does not just imply communicating to customers only. It is essential to ensure that internal stakeholders are aware of the attributes and value of the product. This will ensure that the employees are knowledgeable and can share their expertise with their customers.

Conclusion

Business organizations currently operate in an environment of unprecedented technological and social upheaval that has introduced new levels of competition. Business is becoming global, customers are more demanding, many markets now provide little room for growth, environmental pressures are growing and the speed of change is quickening all the time. Taken together, all these factors constitute a new challenge for business organizations, and it is important for them to analyze their business environment effectively if they are to remain competitive in the market.

References

Blythe, J. (2006). Marketing. London: SAGE Publications.
Kotler, P. (2000). Marketing management. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Richter, T. (2002). Marketing mix standardization in international marketing. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.