Ignoring trends, Elie Ofek and Luc Wathieu
A reflection by Tamim Alruqayb
The authors of ignoring trends are sending a very crucial message to the reader. They begin by saying that the ignored trends could shake up a business. This very strong statement leaves everybody wanting to discover what the mentioned trends are. The authors go ahead and give the surprising new things that can affect the product strategy. The authors concentrate more on the digital products and services and say that the products play a big role in every day life of the consumer. The authors do not forget to mention that the great recession has made consumers more aware and alert about spending money. On to the latter point, the authors added that the global warming public concern that is growing significantly has influenced the purchasing decisions. Alongside the message given by the two authors, they also pose a question on whether each one as an individual is paying more attention to the implications of those trends.
The primary audience of these authors is the managers and the reason for sending this message is to make them make better strategies and articulate the major trends which they fail to recognize. According to the authors, the managers fail to recognize the profound but less obvious ways that the trends influence the aspirations, behaviors and attitudes of consumers. Managers view some trends as peripheral to their core markets, which not right especially for the sake of the consumers. Without the consumers, managers would probably have no work to do because there would be no companies in the first place. The message therefore helps the managers come up with better strategies and ideas in order to design more products and at the same time retain most of the functions and attributes of the same traditional product. The authors tell their audience that there is gold in trends and therefore should make use of the trends that seem irrelevant. (Luc, 2009)
The authors give various products in this article as evidence and support to the managers who are the intended audience. They give an example of Nike, which is a big success. The reason behind Nike’s success is embracing trends such as gym kits and shoe sensors. All these are a result of technology and if Nike ignored the trends, it could not be where it is today. Today Nike represents one of the broad innovation strategies that many firms embrace to address trends that are powerful and important.
The authors conclude by saying technological, environmental, political, economic and social trends present firms with opportunities that are unique for growth. The trends above affect how people perceive the world in their region. They add that firms need to get more experience on how to ride the trend’s wave to success and if they do not do that, they stand at a higher risk of going away with the powerful tide. (Elie, 2009)
The authors gave the message in the best way especially by using current examples like when they said that it takes audacity to put into considerations that the fear of global warming could bring in new kitchenware. The managers who are the intended audience need to embrace the new trends in their companies fro better products and services and by so doing, the message will have been of great help to them. As the authors said, failing to do so will only put them into danger of going with the powerful tide which I believe is the opposite to success.
Elie, O. (2009). Trends, business administration. Harvard: Harvard Business School Print.
Luc, W. (2009). Trends, management and technology. Georgetown: Harvard Business review.
