Market fragmentation Essay Example for Free

Market fragmentation Essay Because the PLC (product life cycle) focuses on what is happening to particular product or brand rather than on what is happening to the overall market, it yields a product-oriented picture rather than a market-oriented picture. Firms need to visualize a market’s evolutionary path as it is affected by new needs, competitors, technology, channels, and other developments. In the course of a product’s or brand’s existence, its positioning must change to keep pace with market developments. Consider the case of Lego. LEGO Group. Lego Group, the Danish toy company, enjoyed a 72 percent global market share of the construction toy market; but children were spending more of their spare time with video games, computers, and television and less time with traditional toys. So Lego recognized the need to change or expand its market space. It redefined its market space as â€Å"family edutainment†, which included toys, education, interactive technology, software, computers, and consumer electronics. All involved exercising the mind and having fun. Part of LEGO Group’s plan is to capture an increasing share of customer spending as children become young adults and then parents. Stages in Market Evolution Like products, markets evolve through four stages: emergence, growth, maturity, and decline. EMERGENCE. Before a market materializes, it exists as a latent market. For example, for centuries people have wanted faster means of calculation. This need was successively satisfied through abacuses, slide rules, and large adding machines. Suppose an entrepreneur recognizes this need and imagines a technological solution in the form of a small, handheld electronic calculator. He now has to determine the product attributes, including physical size and number of mathematical functions. Because he is market-oriented, he interviews potential buyers. He finds that target customers vary greatly in their preferences. Some want a four-function calculator (adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing) and others want more functions (calculating percentages, square roots, and logs). Some want a small hand calculator and others want a large one. This type of market, in which buyer preferences scatter evenly, is called a diffused-preference market. The entrepreneur’s problem is to design an optimal product for this market. He or she has three options: 1. The new product can be design to meet the preferences of one of the corners of the market (a single-niche strategy). 2. Two or more products can be simultaneously launched to capture two or more parts of the market (a multiple-niche strategy). 3. The new product can be design for the middle of the market (a mass-market strategy). For small firms, a single-niche strategy makes the most sense. A small firm does not have the resources for capturing and holding the mass-market. A large firm might go after the mass-market by designing a product that is medium in size and number of functions. A product in the center minimizes the sum of the distances of existing preferences from the actual product, thereby minimizing total dissatisfaction. Assume that the pioneer firm is large and designs its product for the mass market. On launching the product, the emergence stage begins. GROWTH. If the new product sells well, new firms will enter the market, ushering in a market-growth stage. Where will a second firm enter the market, assuming that the first firm established itself in the center? The second firm has three options: 1. It can position its brand in one of the corners (single-niche strategy). 2. It can position its brand next to the first competitor (mass-market strategy). 3. It can launch two or more products in different, unoccupied corners (multiple-niche strategy). If the second firm is small, it is likely to avoid head-on competition with the pioneer and to launch its brand in one of the market corners. If the second firm is large, it might launch its brand in the center against the pioneer. The two firms can easily end up sharing the mass market; or a large second firm can implement a multiniche strategy and surround and box in the pioneer. MATURITY. Eventually, the competitors cover and serve all the major market segments and the market enters the maturity stage. In fact, they go further and invade each other’s segments, reducing everyone’s profit in the process. As market growth slows down, the market splits into finer segments and high market fragmentation occurs. This situation is illustrated in figure 11.8(a) where the letters represent different companies supplying various segments. Note that two segments are unserved because they are too small to yield a profit. Market fragmentation is often followed by a market consolidation caused by the emergence of a new attribute that has strong appeal. Market consolidation took place in the toothpaste market when PG introduced Crest, which effectively retarded dental decay. Suddenly, toothpaste brands that claimed whitening power, cleaning power, and sex appeal, taste, or mouthwash effectiveness were pushed into the corners because consumers primarily wanted dental protection. Crest won a lion’s share of the market, as shown by the X territory in Figure 11.8(b). Figure 11.8 (a and b) Market Fragmentation and Market Consolidation Strategies However, even a consolidated market condition will not last. Other companies will copy a successful brand, and the market will eventually splinter again. Mature markets swing between fragmentation and consolidation. The fragmentation is brought about by competition, and the consolidation is brought about by innovation. DECLINE. Eventually, demand for the present products will begin to decrease, and the market will enter the decline stage. Either society’s total need level declines or a new technology replaces the old. Thus an entrepreneur might invent a mouth-rinse liquid that is superior to toothpaste. In this case, the old technology will eventually disappear and a new life cycle will emerge. AN EXAMPLE: THE PAPER-TOWEL MARKET. Consider the evolution of the paper-towel market. Originally, homemakers used cotton and linen dishcloths and towels in their kitchens. A paper company, looking for new markets, developed paper towels. This development crystallized a latent market. Other manufacturers entered the market. The number of brands proliferated and created market fragmentation. Industry overcapacity led manufacturers to search for new features. One manufacturer, hearing consumers complain that paper towels were not absorbent, introduced â€Å"absorbent† towels and increased its market share. This market consolidation did not last long because competitors came out with their own versions of absorbent paper towels. The market fragmented again. Then another manufacturer introduced a â€Å"superstrength† towel. It was soon copied. Another manufacturer introduced a â€Å"lint-free† paper towel, which was subsequently copied. Thus paper towels evolved from a single product to one with various absorbencies, strengths, and applications. Market evolution was driven by the forces of innovation and competition. Dynamics of Attribute Competition Competition produces a continuous round of new product attributes. If a new attribute succeeds, several competitors soon offer it. To the extent that many airlines serve inflight meals, meals are no longer a basis for air-carrier choice. Customer expectations are progressive. This fact underlines the strategic importance of a maintaining the lead in introducing new attributes. Each new attribute, if successful, creates a competitive advantage for the firm, leading to temporarily higher-than-average market share and profits. The market leader must learn to routinize the innovation process. Can a firm look ahead and anticipate the succession of attributes that are likely to win favour and be technologically feasible? How can the firm discover new attributes? There are four approaches. 1. A customer-survey process: the company asks consumers what benefits they would like added to the product and their desire level for each. The firm also examines the cost of developing each new attribute and likely competitive responses. 2. An intuitive process: entrepreneurs get hunches and undertake product development without much marketing research. Natural selection determines winners and losers. If a manufacturer has intuited an attribute that the market wants, that manufacturer is considered smart or lucky. 3. A dialectical process: innovators should not march with the crowd. Thus blue jeans, starting out as an expensive clothing article, over time became fashionable and more expensive. This unidirectional movement, however, contains the seeds of its own destruction. Eventually, the price falls again or some manufacturer introduces another cheap material for pants. 4. A needs-hierarchy process: (Maslow’s theory). We would predict that the first automobiles would provide basic transportation and be designed for safety. Later, automobiles would start appealing to social acceptance and status needs. Still later, automobiles would be design to help people â€Å"fulfil† themselves. The innovator’s task is to assess when the market is ready to satisfy a higher-order need. The actual unfolding of new attributes in a market is more complex than simple theories suggest. We should not underestimate the role of technology and societal processes. For example, the strong consumer wish for portable computers remained unmet until miniaturization technology was sufficiently developed. Developments such as inflation, shortages, environmentalism, consumerism, and new lifestyles lead consumers to re-evaluate product attributes. Inflation increases the desire for a smaller car, and a desire for car safety increases the desire for a heavier car. The innovator must use marketing research to gauge the demand potency of different attributes in order to determine the company’s best move. Summary: * Each stage of the PLC calls for different marketing strategies. The introduction stage is marked by slow growth and minimal profits. If successful, the product enters a growth stage marked by rapid sales growth and increasing profits. There follows a maturity stage in which sales growth slows and profit stabilize. Finally, the product enters a decline stage. The company’s task is to identify the truly weak products; develop a strategy for each one; and finally, phase out weak products in a way minimizes the hardship to company profits, employees, and customers. * Like products, market evolves through four stages: emergence, growth, maturity, and decline.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Essay

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is classified as an anxiety disorder that can develop after an individual has observed and/or experienced an extreme traumatic event that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury to one’s self or another (APA, 2000). An extreme traumatic event can include, but is not limited to, military combat, terrorist attacks, natural or manmade disasters, sexual assault, physical assault, robbery, and torture (APA, 2000). The type of traumatic event could influence the way in which medical and mental health care professionals assess, conceptualize, and subsequently treat the individuals with a PTSD diagnosis. For this reason, sexual assault, as the traumatic event that led to the development of a PTSD diagnosis, will be the focus of discussion. The current statistics on sexual assault exemplify the need to focus on this particular population. For example: every two minutes, someone in the United States is sexually assaulted, and each year there are about 213, 000 survivors of sexual assault (RAINN, 2009). The purpose of this paper, then, is to explore how cognitive-behavioral therapies assess, conceptualize, and treat clients with a sexual assault history and a PTSD diagnosis. Treatment Components of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy The treatment components of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) that are typically utilized in the treatment for PTSD include psychoeducation, prolonged exposure and/or in vivo exposure, cognitive restructuring, and anxiety management (Harvey, Bryant, & Tarrier, 2003). Psychoeducation Psychoeducation includes providing the client with information about the common symptomology that may be experien... ... conceptualize, and treat clients with a sexual assault history and a PTSD diagnosis. The sexual traumatic event, experienced by the client, may elicit negative PTSD-related cognitions that are perpetuated by avoidant behavior. Prolonged exposure, in vivo exposure, and cognitive restructuring can challenge and correct such negative cognitions and avoidant behaviors. Psychoeducation can provide information, as well as a rationale about therapy, whereas anxiety management training can provide coping skills to engage in exposure and cognitive restructuring interventions. In general, cognitive-behavioral therapies can provide the means by which to assess, conceptualize, and treat clients, and has also shown to be efficacious (Dobson, 2010; Dobson & Dobson, 2009; Foa et al., 1999; Foa & Rauch, 2004; Harvey, Bryant, & Tarrier, 2003; McDonagh et al., 2005; Roman, 2010).

Taste of Iron Water

Cary Wolfe Professor Murrey English 200, Tuesday & Thursday Class 26 February 2013 Word Count 1008 The Appalachian: Separation An Analysis of Separation in Jim Wayne Miller’s â€Å"The Taste of Ironwater† My small Appalachian hometown is peaceful, with its flowing streams and rolling hills, somewhat untouched by the rest of the world, a place I hope to never leave again. Separation is defined in multiple ways; the one used in this story is the process of separating or the condition of being separated (DEF. ).Just like Buddy, the main character in Jim Wayne Miller’s â€Å"The Taste of Ironwater,† I once was in a state of overwhelming separation from the armed forces, my spouse, and my Appalachian home. After finishing my last deployment in the United States Army, I came home to an empty house and a Dear John letter. I was only sixty days from becoming a civilian. Then I had to decide through all of the anxiety from separation what I wanted to do: I had fami ly close by that had found me work, if I wanted to stay in the south, or I could return home to endless possibilities.This story helped me see the trials and tribulations of separation in a different light. In the story a man named Buddy had run into an old friend, L. C.. They talked about the good old days, and their friends who had made something of themselves. Odell took the hell raiser to preacher approach in life, while Haskill Bayes (a not as intelligent person) had graduated from a community college that had open up near their hometown. Soon afterward, Buddy’s mom had sent Preacher Odell to pay him a visit, and in return Buddy decided to return home.Throughout Jim Wayne Miller’s â€Å"The Taste of Ironwater,† Miller showed the pattern of separation in Buddy’s life, through the military, his wife, and the small hometown he had left behind years ago. One way, Buddy’s transition from military to civilian life is not just a change in employment, but a change in culture and lifestyle as well, played a part in his separation from civilians. Buddy had a soured personality; he didn’t enjoy or have a want to be around anyone. â€Å"And you take, lots of folks from Wolf Pen’s up here workin, but just getting up, goin’ to work, comin home, you hardly ever see anybody† L.C. said (155). â€Å"He liked it just that way—not seeing any body† Buddy’s thoughts (155). â€Å"Buddy’s dad had a room over on Oak, Buddy hadn’t seen him in two-three weeks, didn’t want to† (155). Buddy’s strict way of life had disappeared, no one had the disciplined that had been in graved into him, it’s was easier for him to just be alone. Another pattern of separation in the story would be Buddy’s parting from his wife, Evie. Buddy was in complete denial with his departure to Evie, until Odell the preacher confronted him. â€Å"Man, I got two weeks off.Evie†™s visitin’ her folks—out in New Mexico† (155) Buddy said. â€Å"Right now I’m batchin, L. C. Lookin’ for a place. When Evie gets back† (155). Then Buddy and Odell had a conversion that explains a lot of his actions. â€Å"Buddy, lookit me. You’re lyin too me. All I know is what your Mom told me, Buddy—about you and your wife separating and all† Odell said (158). â€Å"They know, they know down home. When she went back to New Mexico to visit her folks, Buddy had known even before he got the letter that she was long gone† Buddy’s thoughts (158).Buddy’s separation from his wife was actually a small death to him, he no longer had a will to keep going until he found out more people knew the truth about his separation. Finally, the separation that’s had its affects throughout Miller’s â€Å"The Taste of Ironwater† was Buddy leaving his Appalachian Home. These next few sentences were descriptions of how Buddy was feeling about finally going back home. â€Å"It was November, and Wolf Pen would be gray and muddy, but he always remembered it the way it was in spring and early summer† (158). â€Å"Buddy could see it as clear as the grains of sand on the bottom of a spring.And lying there, thinking of home, hating it, loving it he was so homesick for that place he could taste it, like lying on his stomach at a spring down home, drinking the ironwater with its rusty taste—water that stained coffee cups, dippers and water buckets† (159). Up to this point, Buddy hadn’t had any pleasure or any self-satisfaction until he realized that he had just reunited himself with his hometown. â€Å"Hello, home! † Buddy said, turned up the radio and started singing along (159). This was Buddy’s only reconnection, from all of the separation he had been facing throughout the story.We will all deal with some type of separation in our lives, and more than likely it will come in many shapes and forms. Buddy had several separation issues that compared and even reminded me, of many personal events that took place in my very own life, most were issues that are affecting many people today. Separation was showed in mainly negative issues with changes, people don’t enjoy going through and can bring the feeling of life is over, but it also was to remind us life is only what we make of if it, if we let it get us down, it will.The story never told if Buddy had overcome all of his separation issues, but as the story ended there were lots of hints that Buddy was on his way to writing a much better chapter of his life, then again who knows what life has in store. Works Cited â€Å"Separation. † The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. 2003. Houghton Mifflin Company 15 Feb. 2013 http://www. thefreedictionary. com/separation Miller, Jim Wayne. â€Å"The Taste of Ironwater. † Home a nd Beyond: An Anthology of Kentucky Short Stories. Ed. Morris Allen Grubbs. Lexington: UP of KY, 2001. 154-161. Print.

The War Of The Vietnam War - 2247 Words

â€Å"I was persuaded then, and I remain persuaded now, that the war was wrong. And since it was wrong and since people were dying as a result of it, it was evil(O Brien 272).† Tim O Briens If I Die in a Combat Zone is based in the Vietnam war with the main character being Tim O Brien. He explains what it was like to be drafted into the war and the hardships that he went through fighting the Vietcong. The changes that happened before his eyes to people he was fighting with being turned into a deranged person. He describes the fears that the soldiers had of bouncing betties and the people hiding waiting to attack the moment they go to sleep. The Vietnam started in 1955 and ended in 1975 with a total body count of a million people killed†¦show more content†¦The overall weighted prevalence of a positive screen for PTSD in the population was 13.5%. Stratified analyses by deployment status resulted in a prevalence of a positive screen for PTSD of 15.7% in OEF/OIF veter ans and 10.9% in non deployed veterans (Table 2). For all subgroups, the prevalence of a positive screen for PTSD in OEF/OIF veterans was higher than the non deployed veterans. The highest prevalence in both OEF/OIF and non deployed veterans was among VA health care users and veterans who served on active duty. Sixteen percent of OEF/OIF deployed males screened positive for PTSD, whereas 10.5% of non deployed males screened positive. The percentage in the non deployed group. Those more likely to have a positive screen for PTSD in both the OEF/OIF and non deployed groups were Army and active duty veterans (Dursa). PTSD even happened when they were not in the battle zone. This is not just singled to the people in war but also the people who contract PTSD just by seeing someone die on the operating table in front of them. The study seemed to only be on males from the results and the chances of them having PTSD is still pretty high. This is considering how many people have been in war. Hochgesang wrote in the article The Psychological Effects of the Vietnam War that the soldiers in Vietnam mood changed toward the war dramatically. During the war, the main factor that affected the adjustments made by American soldiers and their attitudes was the DEROS