- lack of patent protection
- a weak brand name
- poor reputation among customers
- high cost structure
- lack of access to the best natural resources
- lack of access to key distribution channels
In some cases, a weakness may be the flip side of a strength. Take the case in which a designline has a large amount of manufacturing capacity. While this capacity may be considered a strength that competitors do not share, it also may be a considered a weakness if the large investment in manufacturing capacity prevents the designline from reacting quickly to changes in the strategic environment.
Opportunities
The external environmental analysis may reveal certain new opportunities for profit and growth. Some examples of such opportunities include:
- an unfulfilled customer need
- arrival of new technologies
- loosening of regulations
- removal of international trade barriers
Threats
Changes in the external environmental also may present threats to the designline. Some examples of such threats include:
- shifts in consumer tastes away from the designline's products
- emergence of substitute products
- new regulations
- increased trade barriers
The SWOT Matrix
Designline should not necessarily pursue the more lucrative opportunities. Rather, it may have a better chance at developing a competitive advantage by identifying a fit between designline’s strengths and upcoming opportunities. In some cases, the designline can overcome a weakness in order to prepare itself to pursue a compelling opportunity.
To develop strategies that take into account the SWOT profile, a matrix of these factors can be constructed. The SWOT matrix (also known as a TOWS Matrix) is shown below:
SWOT / TOWS Matrix
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S-O strategies pursue opportunities that are a good fit to the designline's strengths.
-
W-O strategies overcome weaknesses to pursue opportunities.
-
S-T strategies identify ways that the designline can use its strengths to reduce its vulnerability to external threats.
-
W-T strategies establish a defensive plan to prevent the designline 's weaknesses from making it highly susceptible to external threats.
The Marketing Audit
The marketing audit has certain similarities to a financial audit in that it is a review or appraisal of your existing marketing activities. Carrying out the marketing audit provides the opportunity to review and appraise your whole marketing activity, enabling you to assess past and present performance as well as to provide the basis for evaluating possible future courses of action.
Because the designline environment is constantly changing, the marketing audit should be used as a reference tool, with constant updates reflecting changes in the external environment and your own internal business experiences.
1. External Audit
External factors can be split broadly into three groups, the economic environment, the competitive environment and your own market environment. Consider these areas from designline’s point of view - will any changes have an impact on designline, will they affect your competitors, will they allow them to compete where them could not, or inhibit their ability to compete. If the answer is yes, then the factors should be included in the audit.
With the advent of the internet, there are now many sources of information on your competitors and their environment. they may also be surprised how much business information is available from your nearest city library.
1.1 The Economic Environment
1.2 Competitive Environment
How competitive is their market? What are your competitors doing, likely to be doing? Evaluate the following:
- The threat of new entrants to designline
- The threat of substitute products
- The bargaining power of customers
- The bargaining power of suppliers
- The rivalry amongst current competitors
- Who are their competitors?
- Who are thei major competitors, how big are they, what is their market share?
- What reputation do they have?
- How do they distribute their products, what are their production capabilities?
- What is their marketing like - do they diversify?
- What are their key strengths and weaknesses?
1.3 The Market Environment
- Total market size growth and trends
- Market characteristics, growth and trends
- Products, prices
- Physical distribution channels
- Customers/consumers
- Industry practices
2. Internal Audit
This is their opportunity to put designline under the microscope - do they know as much about their own situation as they should?
- Sales (total, split by geography, industry, customer, product)
- Market shares
- Profit margins
- Costs
- Marketing information research
- Effectiveness of marketing mix
Allocate Necessary Resources: It is also important here to carefully analyze the initial capital requirements of entering or further penetrating a NY, and the payback timeframe that is needed Entrepreneurs must be acutely aware of the need to plan for a reasonable payback horizon designline have to take advantage of the resources available from sources external to the designline, such as the information services of domestic and New york governments, and major domestic banks involved in the international arena. This analysis of available resources should include consideration as to how the designline can strategically take advantage of resources that are not a direct cost to the organization.
Develop Strategic Marketing Plan:
By the time the designline export manager completes this strategic New York marketing plan, many critical questions should have been answered such as: 1) Does the designline really want to enter the NY market--and why? 2) What target market segments will be of major importance and what marketing strategies w ill the designline use to exploit these target markets? 3) How do competitive firms successfully market their products to the NY target market? 4) Who is the primary competition, and how do those competitors successfully market their products in the NY market in question?
5) What specific operational steps must the designline take to be successful? 6) When must these steps be taken? 7) What resources will the designline need to commit to each element in the marketing plan?
A good strategic marketing plan will answer these, as well as many other questions of major importance to the designline. While the value of a sound strategic plan is intuitively obvious, it has also been demonstrated empirically. A highly technical study has demonstrated statistically that thorough export plans, and organizational structures appropriate for executing those plans, are crucial factors in achieving success in exporting from home bases in various countries.
Organize Operational Team:
The teamwork required for success In NY market tends to be complex for a number of reasons. first, the individuals involved include virtually the entire company from the production, finance and marketing staffs, to the shipping and traffic personnel. doing business in a New York market will typically require a number of distinct operational activities, and management must make sure that appropriate responsibility has been assigned. Second, are the organizations outside of the design line, such as freight forwarding company that works with the designline’s traffic personnel. Such companies handle the shipping, packaging for export, and even a great deal of the documentation required.
Third, are support organizations for the operational team, such as the international banker whose expertise can aid the designline in its analysis of New york market opportunities and other issues noted in this material, as well as in financial concerns including capital financing and collecting receivables from NY customers. Since the designline’s banker can play such an important role in this regard, care must be taken to select a bank with adequate New York market capabilities and correspondent bank relationships.
Implement Marketing Strategy:
If the decision-making paradigm, as illustrated through Steps 1-8 of the planning model, has been approached correctly, and each of the steps for success considered and analyzed carefully, the designline should be prepared and ready for a successful entry into, and penetration of, the NY market. How ever, should problems occur---and they no doubt will---the designline, and its operational team, should have established, through sufficient preparation and information acquisition, the foundation and have the necessary resources to address implementation problems effectively and efficiently.
Evaluate and Control Operations:
In many respects, this final key step, Step 9, is
really a postscript to the preceding nine. However, it is
such an important element for success that it deserves
full attention in the overall process. The evaluation and
control of operations means just that .No matter how thoroughly the designline has prepared, or how successful it
has been in entering and penetrating a NY market,
a review will be needed to make sure that optimum
results are being achieved The NY market, like the local
domestic market, i s changing constantly, and the
exporting designline must be prepared to .
change with it.
For example, management may find that by given modifying the designline’s product, the existing foreign, market can be expanded; or that a new set of economic and social conditions permits the designline to introduce its product to a new target market segment. The only way the designline can take advantage of such changes is to remain in control of the marketing situation, and the only way that can be done is to evaluate and control ona regular basis . This final step never ends . The day that management of the designline decides to skip this regular review is the day it should start considering whea ther it really wants to stay in the NY market in question.
Answer 2. Marketing mix :
As they as want to export Olympus the can use the best marketing mix so they enter the market.
Marketing mix is price, promotion, product and place
Price: they have to decide best price to enter the market .They can use penetration pricing it means The price charged for products and services is set artificially low in order to gain market share. Once this is achieved, the price is increased. For example they can put price for the Olymbus low after they achieved New York market they raise the price again.
They also can use price skimming it means price for the product is high this pricing usually using for new inventions or new staffs.
Promotion: designline have to take the best promoting Olymbus in New York .they can use following promotion methods:
Sponsorship.
Sponsorship is where an organization pays to be associated with a particular event, such as football team and etc, cause or image. Designline will sponsor sports events such as the Olympics or Formula One. The attributes of the event are then associated with the sponsoring organization.
Public Relations
Are promotion on the public such as on putting advertisement on the football stadium board.
Direct Mail.
It is clear as the name says the designline can find out the customers for the Olymbus in New York and directly send them mail explain Olymbus for them/
Advertising: they also can advertise the Olymbus on TV, newspaper and etc.
Product: product it self can be a marketing mix like the have to decide what colour in NY they need buses and what physical characteristics New York likes.
Place : designline have to decide in which area and which place of New York there is demand for Olymbus and try to achieve that market.
Answer 3. Secondary market Research(secondary market information) :
If they considering extending designline business into new markets or adding new services or product lines, start with secondary research. This type of research is based on information gained from studies previously performed by government agencies, chambers of commerce, trade associations, and other organizations. This includes Census Bureau information and Nielsen ratings. For example in new York they can use the following ways :
Public sources. These are usually free, often offer a lot of good information, and include government departments in NY, business departments of public libraries in NY, and so on.
The State and Metropolitan Area Data Book provides a wide variety of statistical information on states and metropolitan areas in the United States. Published by the U.S. Census Bureau, it's available online for $31 through the U.S. Government Printing Office and at larger libraries In NY.
The Statistical Abstract of the United States provides tables and graphs of statistics on the social, political and economic conditions in the United States. Published by the Census Bureau, it's available online for $48 through the U.S. Government Printing Office and at larger libraries in NY.
U.S. Industry and Trade Outlook presents recent financial performances of U.S. manufacturers and identifies emerging trends. Published by the Commerce Department in cooperation with McGraw-Hill, it's available online for $76 through the U.S. Government Printing Office and at larger libraries in NY.
One of the most important information resources you'll find is the SBA. The SBA was created by Congress in 1953 to help American entrepreneurs start, run, and grow successful small enterprises. Today there are SBA offices in NY and every state , the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Among the services offered by the SBA are financial assistance, counseling services through Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs), management assistance through programs like SCORE, and low-cost publications. The counselors at SCORE can provide you with free consultation on what type of research you need to gather and where you can obtain that information. They may also be able to suggest other means of gathering the information from primary sources. SBDCs generally have extensive business libraries with lots of secondary sources for you to review.
Commercial sources. These are valuable, but usually involve cost factors such as subscription and association fees. Commercial sources include research and trade
associations, such as Dun & Bradstreet and Robert Morris & Associates, banks and other financial institutions, and publicly traded corporations in NY.
Among the best commercial sources of information are research and trade associations. Information gathered by trade associations is usually limited to that particular industry and available only to association members, who have typically paid a membership fee. However, the research gathered by the larger associations is usually thorough, accurate, and worth the cost of membership. Two excellent resources to help you locate a trade association that reports on the business you are researching include the Encyclopedia of Associations (Gale Research), and the Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources (Gale Group).
Local newspapers, journals, magazines, and radio and TV stations are some of the most useful commercial information outlets. Not only do they maintain demographic profiles of their audiences (their income, age, gender, amount of disposable income, and types of products and services purchased, what they read, and so on), but many also have information about economic trends in their local areas that could be significant to your business. Contact the sales departments of these businesses and ask them to send you their media kit, since you're working on a marketing plan for a new product and need information about advertising rates and audience demographics. Not only will you learn more about your prospective customers, you'll also learn more about possible advertising outlets for your product or service.
Dun & Bradstreet is another commercial source of market research that offers an abundance of information for making marketing decisions. It operates the world's largest business database and tracks more than 62 million companies around the world, including 11 million in the United States. For more information, visit Dun & Bradstreet Small Business Solutions. Finally, there are educational institutions that conduct research in various ways, ranging from faculty-based projects often published under professors' bylines, to student projects, theses, and assignments. You may be able to enlist the aid of students involved in business classes, especially if they're enrolled in an entrepreneurship program. This can be an excellent way of generating research at little or no cost, by engaging students who welcome the professional experience either as interns or for special credit. Contact the university administration and marketing or management studies departments for further information.
transport institutions. These are frequently overlooked as valuable information sources even though more research is conducted in transport, and technical institutes than virtually any sector of the business community to collect secondary research about bus.
Although secondary research is less expensive than primary research, it's not as accurate, or as useful, as specific and customized research. For instance, secondary research will tell you how much united state spent last year on bus, but not how much they're willing to pay for the olymbus designed by designline has in mind.
Answer 4.Government protectionisms and trade barriers
olicy of protecting domestic industries against foreign competition by means of tariffs, subsidies, import quota, or other handicaps placed on imports. The chief protectionist measures, government-levied tariffs, raise the price of imported articles, making them less attractive to consumers than cheaper domestic products. Import quotas, which limit the quantities of goods that can be imported, are another protectionist device. Wars and economic depressions historically have resulted in increases in protectionism, while peace and prosperity have tended to encourage free trade. Protectionist policies were common in Europe in the 17th – 18th centuries under mercantilism. Britain abandoned many of its protectionist laws in the 19th century, and by World War I tariffs were low throughout the Western world. Economic and political dislocation led to rising customs barriers in Europe in the 1920s, and the Great Depression produced a spate of protectionist measures; world trade shrank drastically as a result. The U.S. had a long history of protectionism, with tariffs reaching high points in the 1820s and the Great Depression, but in 1947 it became one of 23 nations to sign the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which substantially reduced customs tariffs while reducing or eliminating quotas. Despite trade agreements such as GATT and NAFTA, calls for protectionism are still heard in many countries when industries suffer severely from foreign competition. Designline should consider about the trade barrier before exporting to New York market.
Tariff: Tax levied upon goods as they cross national boundaries, usually by the government of the importing country.
Quota: In international trade, a government-imposed limit on the quantity of goods and services that may be exported or imported over a specified period of time.
Subsidies:
Financial assistance, either through direct payments or through indirect means such as price cuts and favorable contracts, to a person or group in order to promote a public objective
Embargo:
government prohibition against the shipment of certain goods to another country. An embargo is most common during wartime, but is sometimes applied for economic reasons as well.
Answer 5.
the designing must identify the culture of NY if they want to export their buses to NY market.
For example: they should know that how many people using bus in NY and how
they using it.
Due to its size and the fact that nearly all citizens are descended from immigrants it is in general not possible to identify a single "American" culture. Visitors to the South will find a far different culture than those traveling to California or New York City. However, there is a culture that is said to be American, in a way a stereotype of what America wishes itself to be, a culture that people over the globe have seen in Hollywood film, and that has energized immigrants from all over the world. Like many stereotypes, there is a certain truth to it; likewise, there is a certain falsity. For example, it has been said that America is a "classless" society. This is true in the sense of class as it is traditionally known in Europe or India, where one's class at birth largely determines one's social station in life. But there is a huge disparity in the socioeconomic status of the upper and lower classes in America. The "classlessness" means that one can freely move between them by changing one's financial situation; one's outcomes – not one's origins – determine one's class.
It is also true that Americans are more materialistic and individualistic than many other cultures, though that is probably true of any very wealthy society. The wealth on display almost casually in large shopping malls all over the country might seem shocking to someone from a developing country. Yet it is also true that America is more religious than most other industrialized countries. So it is a mixed bag, and this should make it an interesting place to visit.
Race is an issue that the U.S. is still having difficulty dealing with. The nation's long history of racist policies and attitudes are a heritage that its population continues to struggle to overcome. Even such simple matters as terminology can lead to awkwardness. A foreigner's innocent use of the "wrong" name for a racial group isn't likely to seriously offend, but it's safest to avoid referring to race altogether, or to ask the person to whom you're speaking what the right term is in this country. Note: The answer will change depending on whom you ask.
Many current trends in industrialized and developing countries began in the United States, and almost every modern invention, including telephones, cars, airplanes, radio, television, computers, the Internet, and many others, were either invented or first mass-produced in the United States. The dependence on cars and the national interstate system to get around has long been an American icon, and to this day the United States has one of the highest per-capita car ownerships in the world. Other traditional elements of United States culture include Hollywood films, country music, blues, jazz, rock, rap, pop music, baseball, and fast food.
While numerous political parties exist, the system is dominated by the Democratic and Republican parties. The current Democratic party tends to be more liberal on fiscal and social issues and attracts much of its support from urban voters, especially in the Northeast and West Coast. The Republican party is more conservative on these issues and attracts much support from voters in rural areas, especially in the South. Both parties are fairly centrist (but to the right of parties in most European nations). Far-right or far-left political movements that might take hold in other places tend to do poorly here.
While most domestic political issues have little impact on international travelers, the current debate within the U.S. over immigration is worthy of attention. Ongoing concerns about the availability of jobs, the question of national identity for a "nation of immigrants", the still-open wounds of the country's racist heritage, and new fears of political violence from foreign nationals, have all contributed to impassioned views on the subject. Illegal immigration (primarily from Mexico) is one of the focuses of this debate, but it spills over into policies regarding port/border controls, "guest workers", and even permanent legal immigration. Hostility rarely takes violent form, but suspicion about a visitor's legal status or intentions may lead to discourteous treatment or unpleasant situations, and heated discussions.
So this will help them to know how many buses they can export to New York.
And also the company should know the social environment and how they using bus and for what they are using it like for example some of people using it every day to transport from a home to work place and so they will be more bus needed and its better the so designline can export more bus.
Conclusion:
designline now have the opportunity to export into USA but they can also export into UAE as they are developed country and they need more buses and as in UAE non environmentally friendly as the using batteries and they could also save the petrol in UAE and the buses are also passenger friendly which could be good opportunity
also these buses are cheaper than usual buses so both the UAE and designline could benefit from this export as the designline will achieve market in the UAE and make profit
and also UAE can benefit from environmentally friendly and passenger friendly Olymbuses in their major cities where most of people are using buses to transport all over the UAE.
As metro price are higher than buses so this will help the buses to export more easily and make transport enjoyable.
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