The management has to have the exact level of penetration that they are targeting. Is the scope limited to businesses, cooperations, parastatals or even persons? Asia has a huge population who use computers; the latest surveys show that PC’s at home used an average of features that were available offline. The question now is how one can add more offline features that will allow the users to know of the product. If marketing features are put online, then it only adds extra cost and increases the complexity of the situation. Though a vast proportion of Asia is not as technologically oriented as say Europe, of the people who have the knowledge of technology, computers play the biggest role in expanding the horizon of this knowledge, this is very fundamental in creating a knowledge driven economy that is capable of increasing returns with a huge margin. This therefore makes the consultancy firm a fruitful venture to start in this region of the world.
However, the only strategy that needs to be put is how to present these products to the consumers, and the people who need them most. In any product that this company wants to develop, it is very fundamental that they undergo the initial phase, it is not always easy to translate these vision into reality, as much as this idea may be as modest as it seems the truth of the matter is that at the first instance, it only attracts professionals who are technically capable, the company has to identify this primary target group an appeal to them. The company has to determine the biggest cost for a particular venture, for instance, a strategic physical location, the form of marketing to put in place and this is easily aggravated by the benchmarks that are not available to learn from.
As much as there is immense freedom, the lack of the exact benchmarks to base the work on would prove a challenge to the people who are directly involved in this work. Again the costs and the strategies of maintenance are core to the running of the already set company. It is necessary to have someone balance the work so that the recurring expenses are not exceeded in the process of marketing. Reducing the complexity of how to work in terms of provision of services to the clients, and how to run the company’s operations is key to a successful venture.
The microenvironment of Asia in relation to business consists of factors that are smaller and immediate; they include marketing competition and intermediaries. In technology industry, agents assume a great role in intermediating between the company and the clients. It is relevant for this company to conduct more seminar training for the agents in order to improve their creativity and quality of services to keep track on what the agents does. There are also different multinomial companies that deal with international provision of similar products in Asia, being a brand on its own; the company has to ensure that the products they offer are unique.
The macro economic factors they have no control over include: demographic factors, for instance, the population of Asia, which is composed of the young people, and is ever changing upwards. However education is limited to many, this will hamper the market of this technology, it is essential and the company does prior basic education to ensure that most people are at more or less the same level. The strength of this company is mainly the brand name, the company can thus do much in terms of promoting its product, in order to create awareness to its clients, and agents could take a number of trips to familiarize themselves with the new developments. The main weakness is that the company will be trying to liaise with intermediaries who know the country better; this will lead to great financial loss.
The government regulations and policies will also hamper the business; this is mainly due to restrictions anticipated especially during transaction, for instance, the high level of taxation, inflated land rates, and unnecessary tariffs. Bureaucratic processes are also usually long and time consuming. To ensure that this product does well in the country, it is essential to conduct a pilot test and analyze the results, this is especially due to the fact that it is a new product with new concept and thus comprehension of the consumer might pose some challenge. Since the new technology brought about new challenges, the main questions is how to assure the consumers that the product is genuine, a public relations campaign is essential as a marketing plan.
Additionally, a retail brand will help big time, inspite having many intermediaries in the line; this will ensure that the brand is not lost at the household level. A one on one mapping will also ensure that the level of adoption and innovation is increased; this will call for the company to put strategic campaigns on educative programs. The target market will have to be segmented into the people who are techno-literate and those who need some formal education for this program. Based on the case study, the pilot results produced some very fundamental issues, for instance, there were needs of changing the product themselves. In the case of your firm, the same would apply, the study will help in learning on the intended market, especially through the use of communications, trial rates and other techniques used to decide on the decision prior to launching on other key parts of the country. Most importantly is how to position the product that is the consultancy products. It could be a utility based consultancy, which is pay as you consult, in this instance, the customer will pay according to the consultancy services they receive, and the bills may come on a monthly basis.
Secondly, the company would venture into schools, where PC’s are used by children, especially in development of better learning curriculum for learning purposes. Other features in the same regard would be programs that allow parent to control and track the usage of the internet by their kids. So it is very important to carry out the initial research services prior to engaging into any project, this is because the needs of the different target groups differ. In the case study, an initial research revealed that the parents were much concerned on what internet sites their kids were accessing; this prompted the development of such a feature that would allow the parent to monitor the kids.
Some of the most important critical success factors include; as far as the experience of the customer counts, a lot of convergence is seen in laptops, mobiles and other communication gadgets, all these perform computing functions in a way or another. Most of the techno-literate lot use electronic means, the company should therefore display the information first and foremost in a simple electronic method to reach these people. Simplicity of the presentation of the product to the consumers in the process of marketing is first and foremost the most important aspect of comprehending a brand. Quality checks will need to be made once and again to ensure that the marketing and selling strategies are on track and well executed.
However, the most important step is to do a pilot test, this will ensure that planning of the project is up to date, with the marketing and selling equipment tested for validity and consistency. Most importantly, the financial aspects and the comprehensibility of the clients can be assessed before indulging into the main study. Uniqueness is also important in the process of creating identity, thus the brand should be well done, striking and promoting the idea on its end. Having done all these the integral part of researching is the level of pricing that should be imposed on the services offered, the pricing should consist of a proportion that is readily affordable . In doing this one has to be aware of the perception of the low quality of services being offered, this has to be handed proactively by the PR. Periodic data collection on the response of the customers to the services offered needs to be done to make sure that the uniqueness and the touch of the service provision is still experienced on the opposite end, otherwise because of many companies involved in the business, the company risks being relevant and holding ground.
I would recommend that before this company goes whole into the project, several case studies of the technology companies that have been set up in the country be done; this will give relevant data for validation checks, quality assurance and quality control. Prior advertisement needs to be done to introduce this company to the relevant consumers, at least with the slightest idea of what the company is all about. There may be consumers with little or no knowledge on computers, it is essential to ensure that such people become part and parcel of the training, so that they acquire the relevant education on computers, this will create a huge deal of clientele.
The countries environmental factors have to be adopted to, you as the managing director of this company has the mandate of involving with relevant authority in the country to ensure that the right of conducting business in the country is given priority and all the necessary protection using all forms of judicial tools, this is especially in order to protect against socio-economic political environment, other environmental forces in the economy needs to be reviewed also. A lot has occurred in technological and computing realms in Asia and worldwide, every day a new technology is developed, a new product is natured, and the market is ever becoming competitive and crowded with the players who want to be relevant, old technologies are fast residing, for instance desktops are being replaced by laptops. it therefore calls for increased professionals in computing realms, it also requires them to be relevant in what they do in terms of being updated in the new technologies that are developed. This firm has a better future in consultancy if it remains unique in providing its services and in meeting the requirements of the client.
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