Eye-enhancing Contact Lens- Environmental Scanning

According to Gomes (5), environment scanning is required before beginning any business strategy. This is the act of gathering, analyzing, and disseminating information from micro and macro settings in order to make the most informed business decisions. The goal of environmental scanning is to avoid strategic consequences while simultaneously ensuring long-term corporate success. For example, a product launch would necessitate a complete environment scan to guarantee that the product properly passes through all of the components of the Product Life Cycle theory. In this research paper, the eye-enhancing contact lens branded 1-DAY ACUVUE DEFINE forms the basis of the environment scan. The environment scan looks into the various aspects of the business environment that may positively or negatively affect the sale of the item in the market. Most specifically, the major forces that the scan looks into are economic, technological, competitive, social and regulatory.

The Product

Following several years of intense research on the possible production of eye-enhancing contact lens, the product has finally been launched. The lens serves a variety of purposes and this attracts different sets of customers to it. The 1-Day ACUVUE DEFINE lens is the product following years of in and out of lab research. The lens serves both as a cosmetic product and as a clinical prescription among other functions. The launch of this product proves to be a major breakthrough in the field of eye research (Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Companies 2).

The design of the lens commenced with the circle lens concept. With the level of customers’ sophistication, advanced designs had to be tailor-made to suit the needs of each customer. Consequently, the world today looks at the launch of a convenient eye-enhancing contact lens, the 1-DAY ACUVUE DEFINE.

The Company

Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Companies take pride in the production of the first 1-DAY ACUVUE DEFINE lens. The company began in the year 1959 as Frontier Contact Lenses, a small organization located in Buffalo, New York (Johnson & Johnson, Inc. 2). The primary business then was the production of hard contact lenses. The business has grown over the years and Johnson & Johnson now boasts of being the leading world producer of contact lenses. Latest in its invention is the production of the 1-DAY-ACUVUE DEFINE lens and the DEFINE contact lens. Used both as beauty and clinical products, the two items have attracted customers from its branches all over the world.

Environment Scan

The environmental scan looks into the forces surrounding the sale of the DEFINE lens and the predecessor 1-DAY ACUVUE DEFINE. Given that Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Companies do not operate in isolation, it is necessary to look into the forces that shape up the trends of their product’s sale and production. The major forces considered in this scan include economic, technological, social, regulatory and competitive.

Economic Forces

The economic aspect looks into the costs involved in the production of the contact lenses at Johnson & Johnson, prevailing market prices and consumers’ attitudes towards the pricing policy set by the company. The company has a unique approach towards attracting customers to its new products. For instance, in one of its websites, www.acuvue.com, the company gives each customer the ability to test a lens for free. Given that these are 1-day lenses, customers would most likely return to purchase the product once they are delighted at its performance.

Johnson & Johnson UK and Ireland branches majorly sell the lenses in packs of 30 pieces. Given that most of the branches are located in developed economies, high profitability indices are recorded in annual sales. Given that more than 38 million Americans now wear contact lenses of different kinds, the launch of DEFINE lens by Johnson & Johnson looks forward to high market trends. The sales strategy adopted will determine the volume of sales that will be realized not only in the United States but in all its other branches worldwide. Coupled with its marketing and online promotional strategy, the 1-DAY ACUVUE has attracted the attention of nearly all lens users and they looks forward to using it at one point.

Technological Forces

The product features are unique and designed from advanced technological innovations. To begin with, this contact lens enables pupil optimization. Given that it is so far the only contact lens with resemblance to the optical design of the pupil size for extreme vision experience; users have expressed their satisfaction with it. The lens provides 183 unique designs for built-in precision (Acuvue Brand Contact Lenses 2-3). The built-in hybrid curve design is instrumental in delivery of superior vision experience dually. The spherical periphery ensures optics concentration over the pupil while the aspheric center closely takes on the natural shape of the cornea to the margin of the integrity of the complex front-surface visions.

Other capabilities of this lens include the application of the Lacreon Technology, Class 2 Ultraviolet Blocking and the Eye-inspired design (Acuvue Brand Contact Lenses 2). Given these unique innovative technologies put in place, the product has proven to be more convenient than earlier versions of the lens adopted for use under the production of various companies. Given the convenience of these technologies, the market presence of the lens will most likely go unquestioned. Johnson & Johnson Companies have launched a unique product into the market of lenses that will most likely capture the attention of every lens user in the market. The costs of these technologies, however, have an immense effect on the pricing of their products. As more advancement is made, prices are likely to shoot up. Customers that are not able to adopt these new technologies will stick to previous version of contact lenses on the basis of affordability.

Competitive Forces

Despite being a unique product in the market, 1-day acuvue and define lenses face significant competition from related products. Other than Johnson & Johnson, there are other companies incorporating other advanced technologies into the contact lens business. The corporation faces stiff competition from three major brands in the world. These include Bausch & Lomb Incorporated, Alcon and Coopervision, Inc (D&B Hoovers 1). All the three companies are involved in production of contact lenses using advanced technologies just as Johnson & Johnson. Despite the fact that 1-day acuvue define lens remains superior to all the contact lenses in the market so far, the competitors also have products that uniquely attract their loyal customers. This stiffens the competition in the industry.

Social Forces

The company operates at a time when social media is at its peak. The launch of the lens was widely shared among various stakeholders through social media platforms. In addition, the company’s websites also served as information centers from which customers could easily retrieve product details. The company faces challenges in terms of adaptability to the social trends taking place in the business today. For instance, a simple blog error is enough to tarnish its product posting. Therefore, Johnson & Johnson tends to keep a low social media profile to safeguard information on its products.

Coincidentally, a low social profile also limits the scope of its product presence. It is, therefore, necessary for the company to review its communication strategy to develop an optimal policy towards social media presence. Reaching out to larger markets worldwide to create awareness on 1-day acuvue define lens requires active social media intervention. As opposed to traditional marketing methods, social media presence leads to high sales volumes at low operational costs, hence high profits. The company also has a comprehensive customer care policy that details its interaction with customers and quality values (Johnson & Johnson 1).

Regulatory Forces

In its new product, Johnson & Johnson tend to apply advanced technologies. A few regulatory issues have been raised regarding the appropriateness of these technologies to the human eye. For example, the impacts of boosting the resolution of the human eye beyond the standard limits is said to have an effect on the human eye in the long-run. Despite high customer acceptance among various users, regulatory bodies continue to conduct research on the long-term sustainability of the advanced contact lenses. In addition, Johnson & Johnson, being a multinational, operates in mixed cultures, some of which tend to oppose the use of its products. The company, however, has an inclusive policy that supports its operations in all countries of business. This has led to limited restriction to the sale and launch of its 1-day acuvue define contact lens.

Conclusion

The environment scan positions the product strategically. From the technological, social, economic, regulatory and competitive forces analyzed above, the define lens launched by Johnson & Johnson tends to be widely accepted by various users in the market. With a few challenges being identified in the economic and technological aspect, the company is steadfast towards mitigating all the risks associated with these limitations. The product remains superior in the market despite stiff competition from other producing companies.

Works Cited

Acuvue Brand Contact Lenses. Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. Introduces 1-day acuvue moist brand multifocal contact lenses. 2015. Web. Sep. 27, 2017.

D&B Hoovers. Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. Competition. New York: D&B Hoovers. 2014. Web. Sep. 27, 2017

Gomes, Shyamal. Strategic Management- Environment Scanning. Internet Source.

Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Companies. Define Expectations; Differentiate your practice with an innovative eye-enhancing contact lens. 2015. Web. Sep 26, 2017. https://www.acuvueprofessional.com/sites/default/files/content/us/desktop/pdf/CC15196-%20DEFINE%20Optometric%20Management%20April%202015%20Supplement-%20FINAL.pdf

Johnson & Johnson, Inc. Vision. Johnson & Johnson. 2017. Web. Sep. 27, 2017. http://www.jnjvc.com/about-us/our-history

Johnson & Johnson. Customer Care Policy. Johnson & Johnson. 2016. Web. Sep. 27. 2017.