Tag Archives: environmental scan

by | Tuesday, March 14, 2023 · 7:14 am

What’s Wrong with Fluffy? Do the Test at Home.

We all know that the pet industry is booming. There are more pets in homes than ever before!

And that means people need more pet products such as foods and toys. According to Morgan Stanley financial services company, the pet industry is expected to grow to an estimated $275 billion by 2030!

This growth also means that having more pets bring on more pet illnesses for owners to be concerned about. And visits to the veterinary clinic can be quite costly and time consuming. What if pet owners could get a diagnosis for their furry friends at home? It has the potential of diagnosing pet illnesses earlier, and at a lower cost.

That’s the premise behind a Minneapolis-based company named ‘My Simple Pet Lab’. The company makes in-home pet diagnostic tests for dogs and cats including stool tests, ear infection tests, and more. The tests were designed by veterinarians and can be used by either vets, groomers, or pet parents. Tests can be done at home, sent to the lab,  and results are emailed to you within days. It gives a test result easy to understand and share with your vet automatically online.

Distribution is a key goal for the company and tests are being added to Target stores in addition to Walmart and Amazon, plus through various vet clinics, boarders, and groomers.

A healthy pet means a happy home.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:  

  1. Discuss how to build and use a SWOT analysis grid: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (internal and external factors).
  2. For MySimplePet products, break students into teams and have each team build a SWOT analysis grid.
    1. Strengths: what is company good at?
    1. Weaknesses: what needs work?
    1. Opportunities: what is going on in marketplace?
    1. Threats: what should company be wary of?
  3. Based on the analysis, what are the issues and risks that might occur?
  4. Debrief by building SWOT analysis grid on the white board.

Source:  Williams, N. (15 December 2022). Make of in-home diagnostic tests for pets ready to grow. Minneapolis Star Tribune.

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by | Friday, November 18, 2022 · 8:20 am

Netflix Now Offers Ad-supported Subscriptions

It’s long been rumored that Netflix was considering adding advertising to its streaming service. That time is finally here.

Beginning in November in 12 countries (including the U.S., U.K., Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Germany, and South Korea), Netflix will offer a $6.99 per month subscription option (Basic With Ads) that will show four to five minutes of advertising for each hour of content watched. The 15 to 30-second ads will show before and during TV shows and older movies; for new movies ads will only be shown before the movie begins.

Netflix’s subscriber base dropped significantly this year for the first time in a decade. Netflix is showing signs of maturing compared to other streaming services that are earlier in the cycle and must remain competitive. In 2021 ,it release 500 original programs (roughly $20 billion/year) but only a small percentage became hits.

Why the new pricing package? It’s one of Netflix’s key strategies to increase its subscriber base and improve average revenue per user. The company hopes that the new service option will encourage viewers who currently share passwords to get their own subscription, thereby increasing the customer and revenue base. (Netflix estimates that it has 100 million users who share passwords, making it a significant loss of potential revenue.)

For advertisers wanting to promote their brands, the new service is an opportunity to extend their reach to specific segments based on country and genres such as action, comedy, romance, and more.

Netflix isn’t alone in offering new subscription tiers. Disney+ will soon offer an advertising-based subscription in December at $7.99 per month. Hulu has long offered ad-supported subscriptions which accounts for more than half of its customers; HBO Max also offers ad-supported subscriptions.

Will you switch to the advertising version?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students: What streaming services do they use? How much do they spend each  month? Is it worth it? Do they share passwords?
  2. Discuss the product life cycle. Where is Netflix in the PLC? What is the biggest challenge in that part of the PLC?
  3. Show a WSJ video that outlines Netflix’s strategy: https://www.wsj.com/video/series/news-explainers/netflix-hit-a-subscriber-peak-heres-how-it-plans-to-keep-growing/62158AB3-FBBB-4C38-8F72-30F8E27C9CD7
  4. Divide students into teams. Have each team build a price chart that includes the options from streaming services such as Disney, Prime, Paramount, Showtime, Hulu, etc.
  5. Discuss various pricing models. Which model is Netflix using?
  6. Have students develop pricing objectives for Netflix.

Sources:  Krouse, S. (13 October 2022). Netflix’s ad-supported plan will launch in November at $6.99 a month. Wall Street Journal; Sperling, N. (13 October 2022). Netflix to offer cheaper ad option beginning Nov. 3. New York Times; other news sources

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by | Tuesday, August 23, 2022 · 7:58 am

World Population Grows to 8 Billion in 2022

Marketers understand the importance of doing research and analyzing demographic factors such as population, gender, education, age, economics and geography. This is why they continually track environmental factors – these factors are important in an organization’s strategy and growth.

Recently, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs estimates that the global population, while growing slowly at under 1%, will still reach 8 billion people by mid-November, 2022; 8.5 billion by 2030; 9.7 billion by 2050; and 10.4 billion in 2100. This equates to a 31% increase in Earth’s population by the end of the century.

Half of the world’s population lives in seven countries: China (1.426 billion), India (1.417 billion), United States (338 million), Indonesia (276 million), Pakistan (236 million), Nigeria (219 million), and Brazil (215 million). And, next year (2023), India will exceeds China’s population and become the most world’s most populous country.

Population growth is very unequal though; just eight countries will account for more than half of the global population growth before 2050: Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tanzania.

While some countries will experience economic growth per capita, the increasing number of older citizens will pose problems with health care and senior care. By 2050, people ages 65 and older will account for 16% of the global population, up from 10% in 2022.

And let’s not forget the importance of social factors on population. The coronavirus pandemic plays an important part of the slow population growth as well as economic impacts.

The world keeps spinning!

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Discuss the importance of environmental scanning.
  2. Show the World Population Clock: https://www.census.gov/popclock/
  3. In class, have teams of students examine different topics within the site.
  4. Video of U.N. Population Report: analysis: https://youtu.be/bZZ9gFnCzCM
  5. The U.N. World Population report can be accessed at https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/wpp2022_summary_of_results.pdf
  6. Optional: Assign students to read the report and report on critical information. The report may be divided into sections for different teams.
  7. Based on their analysis, what are the issues and risks that might occur for organizations?
  8. What should organizations do to prepare?

Sources:  Hackett, C. (21 July 2022). Global population projected to exceed 8 billion in 2022; half live in just seven countries. Pew Research Center; Tsui, K. (11 July 2022). World’s population to hit 8 billion before year’s end. Washington Post.; other news sources.

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