Business
Question 1
Product life cycle has 4 stages namely; the introduction stage, growth stage, maturity stage and decline stage.
In the introduction stage, the product of a company is in its early stages where it has just been launched. In this stage, the company has not yet started to receive any profit from the product which has been introduced or launched. The product is usually promoted, marketed and distributed during this stage and it faces no competitions from similar products of different companies. During this stage, the company which has introduced the product in the market or launched the product also may incur losses from the product and not profit.
In the growth stage, the product may have started to attract some market from the public therefore its sales and profit will start to go up a little bit. In terms of competition, the product will still have few competitors from the market. At this stage, the organization will have an option of working on the product quality to make it better so as to attract more audience.
In maturity stage, the product has been highly recognized and well known by the public. It starts to receive a lot of competition from the outside market therefore challenging its immediate organization to come up with new ways on it so as to maintain its sales and increase its profit.
In the decline stage just as the name suggests, there will be a decline in the market of the product. This may be as result of many factors like; overload of the product in the market, or as a results of change in the consumer interests to a similar product in the market. This drop in the market of a product is unavoidable but the company may shift its market focus and lower the product price therefore making some profits from it.
Product life cycle curve
Marketers will change their strategies in the following ways as their products moves from one stage to the next.
Introduction stage: in this stage, the product is being advertised so as to increase it awareness in the market, there are certain steps which the product will undergo like ensuring it has a good quality, it is well branded and protected: trademarks/patents are made on the product. Consumers may be informed on how to use the product.
Growth stage: During this stage, the marketers are trying to identify the market which likes their brand so as to widen their market. The quality of the product may be change and improved, the price may be left constant, and in order to attract more markets; the channels which will be used to distribute the product may be added.
Maturity stage: In this stage, because of competitions the features of the product will be improved, the product price may be reduced and there will be high level of product promotion.
Decline stage: during this stage in order to avoid losses from the product because of its drop in market sales, the marketers may decide to reduce the product price, include additional features on it and target a different market.
Question 2
DICEE is a word used by Guy Kawasaki and it is an acronym for Deep, Indulgent, Complete, Elegant and Emotive. According to Guy Kawasaki, all products need to have the above quality for it to be great.
Deep: A great product needs to still function and use its features well even after it has been used for a while. A consumer should not change to another product but stick to that product even after he/she refines his/her demands. Example of a product is Gmail -Google account. Even after a person has used it for a while, the email account still functions and its features is used for mailing.
Indulgent: A great product needs to be rewarding to a consumer and make them feel very special when purchasing it. Example, when one is purchasing sports shoes; he/she know how it will be very rewarding for them because it would lower their chances of hurting their feet.
Complete: A great product should be able to include the entire experiences of its users. It needs to be beyond being physical. Example Coca-Cola- when the companies document the experiences of its users.
Elegant: A great product needs to improve all of its stakeholders- it should make them to be better and work the way they would want it to work. Example is Microsoft
Emotive: A great product needs to inspire its consumers to tell people who are in contact with them about it because it is complete, deep, elegant and indulgent. They should be inspired and forced from within to tell others about how the product is good, worthy it, great and satisfactory. Example, when one used to use Facebook social media platform, he will realize how it has additional features than maybe Gmail like instant chatting, video or photo sharing platforms, likes, and smiles so they would be compelled to share the great news with a friend to start using Facebook.
Question 3
Millennial generation’s mostly own gargets which are internet enabled for entertainment. A huge percentage of the generations are social media users. This fact can influence a company’s product/services positively if the company chooses to advertise its products/services in social media platforms. They may also target the generation by indulging in discussions about their product or services so that they may be able to improve its quality and satisfy the public. These discussions may also enable the company’s to correct on any mistakes that they may have done on their products or services.
Millennial generations are involved on purchasing products online. The companies may decide to open websites and blogs which will enable this generation to contact them online for their product or service thus impacting on them positively.
A research done by Hawe & Strauss (2007) show that millennial generations are used to purchasing products/ services impulsively. The companies may decide to be affected by this fact positively if they are loyal and their products or services are rewarding to the consumers.
Question 4
Fraud triangle is a model that lists down and describes features which compels a person to engage in a fraud in his/her occupation.
Pressure: An individual who performs or commits a fraud does so because of a reason. This reason is what will pressurize the person to commit a fraud. There must be a cause for it. The causes may be because the person is addicted to maybe drugs, or he/she may want to pay some bills that are pilling in his general life. The person will then decide to perform a fraud in secret in order to solve the problem. Another cause of the fraud might be greed- he/she wants to became rich with little or no work.
Opportunity: This is the power to commit a fraud. The people who engage in or perform fraud are aware of the power and the ability they have to do it and get away with it. The opportunities may be created by various factors example the fraudster may employ his/her power or authority so as to fraud an organization, the organization may have week securities or supervisors who are managers or even the organization may have inadequate procedures which are able to sense a fraudulent activity. Organizations have a duty of ensuring that frauds cant occur in their companies by placing adequate security measures which are able to detect and control frauds related activities.
Rationalization: this occurs when the person who is committing the fraud looks for an excuse or some form of personal justification on reason why him/her performing that act is acceptable in the society. Some of these self-justifications may be: him/her performing the fraud will assist him/her to save a life of a close family member who may be undergoing medical treatment, him performing the fraud will help him not to lose his properties or according to him, no one is able to help him or understands him.
Question 5
“ it is not where the puck is right now that matters, it is all about where the puck is goingwhen you figure that out, you are going to win the game”.
This quote is important for any business because it means that one needs to focus on the end results and not be discouraged because of the immediate results. In businesses especially at the beginning on its introduction stage, the sales and the profits may be low and the business person may be discouraged. He is not supposed to be discouraged especially if he has followed DICEE by Guy Kawasaki and he has laid down all of his visions and missions well, and has set a goal and he has a map on how to achieve his goals. He should be organized, continue to work with his target generations, work on his product strengths and try to fill any gaps that bring mistakes and learn from the mistakes. He is also supposed to be focused but not be discouraged but figure out where he wants his business to be and how he will reach there.
A company which is on its introduction stage is not supposed to be discouraged if they feel like they are making more loss than profits. Instead, the company needs to change its strategy and improve its product or service quality so as to make profits. It is supposed to learn from its mistakes and aim to be better. A company should have aims, goals and visions and it should lay out well-structured objectives which would help them to reach the vision and goals.
References
Dorminey, J, Fleming, A.S., Kranacher, M., & Riley, R. A. (2010). Beyond the fraud triangle. The CPA Journal 80(7), 17-23
Hayes, R. H., & Wheelwright, S, C. (1979). Link manufacturing process and product life cycles. Harvard business review, 57(1), 133-140.
Howe, N., & Strauss, W. (2007). Millennial go to college. Great falls, VA: Lifecourse Associate
Lou, Y.I., &Wang, M.L. (2011). Fraud risk factor of the fraud triangle assessing the likelihood of fraudulent financial reporting. Journal of Business and Economics Research (JBER), 7(2).
Ng, E.S., Schweitzer, L., & Lyons, S.T. (2012). New generations, great expectations: A field study of the millennial generations. Journal of Business and Psychology, 25(2), 281-292
ShAre, M. (2012). Marketing through enchantment. The Guy Kawasaki Approach. Information outlook, 16(05), 36
