The Importance of Marketing in Business

The market is fast changing with the tastes and preferences of the customers. Thus, reviewing business processes is key to continuous improvement as it enables companies to realign themselves with the rising competition, identify new market opportunities, and adjust to the needs of the customers (Griffin, R. W., Ebert, Starke, Dracopoulos & Lang, 2014). The review process is also essential to enhance the quality of goods and services offered to the customers. With positive review outcome, the business can maintain its normal operations. However, for the adverse result, realignment is vital to ensure the company achieves the needed objectives.

Question 7

            Businesses can identify changing market trends through consumer segmentation, purchase situation and competition analysis, analyzing complementary products and services, and conducting an environmental study. In today’s business environment, organizational profitability and sustainability are not guaranteed (Madura, 2010). Market analysis is essential to understand trends. To remain relevant and competitive in the market, businesses should innovate continually and look for new growth opportunities through listening to potential clients, customers, and industry insights.

Question 8

            The type of information gathered about organizational customers, employees, and competitors influence the kind of research method employed. There are different methods used to collect data: primary and secondary. Primary research involves gathering original information through surveys, direct observations, or focus groups and interviews. In a secondary analysis, information is gathered already existing findings: data available on the Internet, results from market research, existing data from different agencies.

Question 9

            Technology has become vital to penetrate a highly competitive business environment. For customers, efficiency and reliability are factors for considerations (Elerud-Tryde & Hooge, 2014). Thus, as innovative ideas, the organization should consider having different social media platforms, use drones to deliver orders to the customers, and having online payment systems. The social media platforms will enhance organizational responsiveness and reduce the cost of communication. Drones improve corporate service delivery based on customers’ convenience. Online payment systems strengthen security and make it easy for customers to pay for their products and services without unnecessary movements.

Question 12

            A forum group is essential in connecting people based on their shared interests and allowing them to interact through discussing issues and sharing ideas and experiences. Through the forum groups, customers react to the contents of the products, share challenges, teach each other, and learn through understanding. These forums are essential for improving quality since they enable businesses to gather the views of various stakeholders, clarify the assumptions trending in the market, and understand the practices of the competitors. Moreover, group forums provide organizations with platforms to display plans and based on the recommendations from different parties, businesses can enhance the quality of their practices.

Question 13

            Publicizing business operations and the product is a way of attracting critics and understanding the needs of customers. Apart from forum groups, businesses can also enhance the quality of their services through social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter or conducting interviews. These methods attract the views of different parties through the management can use the gathered information to improve quality. Through these approaches, customers can air their opinions regarding the quality of products and services and give recommendations based on their tastes and preferences.

Question 16

            With the changing needs of the customers, organizational change is inevitable to remain relevant and maintain competitiveness. Change also determines business’ success and continued innovation (Wilcox, 2016). Customers, competitors, the economy, political landscape, culture, and technology are changing and to meet their associated needs, businesses must be innovative and integrate new practices to improve efficiency. However, change often experience resistance, which could result in either a positive or negative outcome. Thus, the organization must deal with these challenges through the adequate financing of the process, allowing sufficient time, engaging the employees, aligning change with business culture, and availing adequate information regarding the needed change.

Question 17

            Changing business practices do not happen easily. Therefore, it involves a series of steps to ensure that change aligned with the future needs of the customers and is in line with various regulations (Frederiksen & Knudsen, 2017). The process involves determining the role of each employee and deciding the changes to adopt through involving all the stakeholders. Once the need for change has been approved, the management then creates a drive for change, ways of implementing and monitoring the change, recognizing short-term goals, sharing the progress, and building on organizational vision. The reasons for change must be shared and understood across the business with threats identified at early stages and resolved. Communication at each step is essential to ensure that all involved parties are together. The management should motivate and inspire employees by recognizing the objectives that have been met and involving them in the remaining processes.

Question 19

            Change must be evaluated to ensure that it yields the needed change. To assess the effect of the change, business needs to identify outputs and outcomes, control groups, and output and results. Calculating the net present value (NPV) is vital in measuring the financial impact of change. The business can also determine the effect of the change on return on investment (Pardo & Pardo, 2008). There is also need to compare the new productivity levels to the previous levels to establish the effectiveness of change through measuring the change in units produced, the output of employee, and the number of customers’ inquiries received within the period of transition. Conducting audit on organizational operations is also important. However, external auditor should be considered to provide a third-party opinion on the impact of change. The evaluation process is essential in each business after the transition to ensure that the needed objectives are met and challenges addressed.

Question 20

            According to Harvard Business School (2006), if the change does not yield the needed outcome, businesses should implement a contingency plan, which enables them to respond adequately to the unexpected results. The implementation of a contingency depends on the organizational size and available resources during the crises. Before execution, the management should adopt it. Communication and notification are essential for effective implementation. The business should execute periodically the steps outlined in the contingency plan as an exercise to prepare for any arising needs. However, key stakeholders should be informed to ensure efficient operations and implementation.

Question 21

            The changes witnessed across the market have resulted in challenges and opportunities. To overcome the challenges, businesses should focus on delivering quality goods and services, investing in training and development of employees, conducting adequate research and development, and integrating technology in organizational processes (Grover & Markus, 2015). Technology has presented new opportunities in the market. Digitizing business processes makes it easier to reach different market segments, increases organizational customer base and responsiveness, and enhance overall management efficiency. Marketing and compliance also assist in overcoming various challenges in the market.

Question 22

            When evaluating continuous improvement processes (CIP), business management should ensure that any realized benefits from the new operations are sustained over a long time (Griffin, R. W., Ebert, Starke, Dracopoulos & Lang, 2014). The process of evaluation includes collecting data, analyzing the received data, and prioritizing them based on the urgency, assessing the findings based on organizational objectives, and productivity of the business and employees after implementing the needed change.

Assessment Task 2

Part A

            Technology has brought a significant number of opportunities. Despite many businesses integrating advanced technological systems in their practices, there are still untapped opportunities in the Australian market. The business ideas generated include mobile money and solar energy for areas of accommodation. Globalization has expanded the market, and with the advanced level of technology, it is easier to make payments across the boundaries. For many years, businesses have used conventional methods such as paying through the banks. Technology has integrated mobile phones with bank accounts making it easier for firms to make payments without going to the banks. Mobile phones have also become micro banks, which customers carry and effect payments based on their convenience. With increased access to mobile devices, mobile banking presents an excellent market opportunity for Australians. For example, in Kenya, Safaricom Limited recently launched United Kingdom-Kenya MPESA services to ease financial transaction between the two countries. The service allows Safaricom mobile subscribers to send and receive money across different mobile networks. In the 21st

century, business efficiency has become an essential factor that each customer considers.

            The demand for energy in Australia has been on the rise with others resorting to the unsustainable source. Environmental sustainability has become an issue of discussion across the globe. Most people depend on hydroelectric even in the areas of accommodation, and with the rising population, the country experiences an energy supply deficit. Solar energy plays a vital role in sustaining the environment considering that it is the most valuable and environmentally friendly energy source. Implementation of the solar systems in areas of accommodation can assist to reduce energy demand and pollution from unsustainable environmental practices. Energy supply from solar is useful to cook, dry, and pasteurize. Solar energy is a practical approach since it maintains environmental quality through solar lighting and solar thermal. Besides, climate change concerns and high oil prices are driving increased use of renewable energy sources. The rising population and expansion of the accommodation sector only mean increased demand for electricity. Investing in solar energy is expansive, although the market has been making inroads into other industries. Each business is concerned about corporate social responsibility (CSR), and environmental conservation is one of them.

Part B

            Establishing communication strategies is an important step, and it involves keeping all the stakeholders in the loop, defining the type of information to deliver, the recipient, format of communication, and time of releasing and distributing the information. An effective communication strategy outlines the message, the target audience, communication channels, resources, and feedback methods. The business ideas, investing in mobile banking and solar energy, are not new ideas in the market. However, the level of investment is low in Australia. The recipients of the message are organizational stakeholders such as the CEO, Senior Management, and Project Teams. The program manager will communicate the progress of the ideas through individual project updates, project status reports, and project executive summaries to ensure each stakeholder understand the development of each business idea.

            Communication tool used is essential to ensure the timely delivery of messages. The channels considered for project communication plan are e-mails, business website, telephones, face-to-face meetings, presentations, and press release. Monitoring and evaluation of the ideas will be based on analyzing the outcomes: the level of awareness of the top management, whether responses are within the expected timelines, decisions are made timely, customer feedback, expectations, and level of satisfaction with the ideas. Evaluation assessment enables business management to measure behavioral, cognitive, and impact obtained from the ideas. For the business ideas, surveys and interviews are the assessment tools to consider. Surveys assist in measuring how the stakeholders feel about the ideas as the approach allows them to rate the programs based on satisfaction and relevancy.

Part C

Problem:

            Australia has a low number of people using mobile money. In recent years, the market has been expanding which calls for the need to tap market opportunities. Implementing the idea will strengthen Australia’s financial market and enhance efficiency in the payment system.

Plan Description:

            With more people having access to mobile devices and bank accounts, there is a need to reduce the hustle of going to the banks to make and receive payments. Investing in mobile money banking is key to unlocking such potential.

Key Objectives and KPI’s:

            The objective of the idea is to strengthen Australia’s financial market and enhance efficiency for businesses to make payments based on their convenience. Thus, the KPIs include increased access to financial services and penetrating the untapped market.

How to Implement Change:

            Based on Kotter’s theory, change implementation process involves creating urgency, forming powerful coalitions, creating an organizational vision for change, communicating the vision, removing obstacles, creating short-term, building on the change, and anchoring the changes in business culture.

Staff Identification and Requirement:

            Effective implementation of the idea requires different personnel to take on the transition role. Some of the staffs include transition team leader, project leader, project team, information technology manager, and a legal practitioner.

Inventory of Materials and Resources:

            Production support and transition resources are required to ensure effective implementation of the plan. The needed resources include labor, tools and equipment, and materials and supplies. Software and hardware and human personnel with experience in project management and technology are required to implement the project.

Promoting Continuous Improvement and Sustainability:

            Building a continuous improvement and sustainability culture is vital to ensuring organizational success. To promote continuous improvement, the management should encourage participation, closing the loops, removing barriers to advancement, welcoming new ideas, celebrating incremental and providing support for development, and recognizing and rewarding improved performances.

Change Promotion:

            Change is promoted through defining and aligning it to business goals, determining impacts and those affected, developing an effective communication strategy, providing training, implementing support structure, and measuring the change processes.

Success Strategies:

            Success strategies for the business idea include understanding customers through visualizing success, striving for optimal rather than maximum performance, building a business to last, engaging the target market, and learning from the competitors.

Timeline:

            Project implementation is to take three months with each activity taking an approximate period of a week.

Gantt Chart with Implementation Stages:

Evaluation and Measuring of Results:

            The idea will be evaluated based on relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability. Evaluation methods include conducting surveys to establish if business objectives are met.

Change Monitoring:

            Change monitoring methods include performance indicators, which involves measuring inputs, processes, outcomes and impacts of developed interventions.

Contingency Plan

            A contingency plan is a tool used in anticipating and solving organizational problems arising during responses. The anticipated problem is an economic recession that could influence people’s purchasing power and spending decisions. To address the issue, it is recommended that the business involves human personnel with a finance background.

Assessment Task 3

            The nature of the call centers is changing to meets the experience and expectations of the customers. A business can have an amazing product or service, but fail to make the clients. If a company deals with a large customers’ base on a regular basis, it is essential to understand the significance of customer service.

Innovative Ideas:

            To remain competitive and effective in delivering the needs of the customers, integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into customers interaction and creating a two-way social media conversation is recommended. Business is moving deeper into the predictive analytics by using the AI applications to assist in streamlining call center experiences for the customers and agents. An effective social media presence is a necessity for meeting the needs of the clients. Clients are looking for business partners with high responsiveness. The way companies use social media is changing; they are going beyond posting and sharing information.

Communicating the Ideas:

            A proper communication strategy is vital to ensure the success of any business idea. The recipients of the message are the top management of Bayside Call Center. Thus, official channels of communications are recommended: face-to-face, emails, presentations, video conferencing, and telephone conversations. An effective message is simple, but has a deep meeting, builds on the customer and market insights, and leaves room for response.

Supply Chain and Service Delivery Systems:

            In recent years, effective supply-chain and service delivery systems have emerged as a crucial competitive advantage for businesses. Bayside Call Center should be differentiated from its competitors by the way it manages its supply chain, especially the services it offers. For the new ideas, the supply chain involves a transformed value creation through ensuring flexibility in the logistics processes, focusing on the customers and services, digitizing business models with flexible support, and integration of scalable cloud services to reduce investment risks. The business also needs to establish information conduits to allow efficient sharing and tracking of information.

Creative Solution and Contribution to Continuous Improvement:

            CI is an ongoing process that needs continuous engagement at each level of the organization. The ideas offer innovative solutions to the business, AI increases the organizational level of customer interactions and increases responsiveness, which is an essential factor for customers who need quick feedback. The ideas improve organizational responsiveness by creating an effective customer experience through unifying communication across the channels into a single stream. These adjustments assist the business by connecting it with the customers that understand its service history, valuable context, and establish a two-way conversation within the social media platforms. In addition, such interactions enable other customers to see how the company solves its problems.

Innovative and Sustainable Ideas:

            The advancement of technology is changing every aspect of the market. Thus, to remain sustainable in meeting its objectives and the ever-changing needs of the customers, the business needs to align the new strategies with the future technological trends. Customers no longer make calls to find out about organizational operations. With Internet-enabled devices, they can search about the business through the social media platforms or consult search engines. Based on the computer-human interface, customers can find out more about the services and future of the firm. Technology is the way forward for each business entity.

Performance Reports and Variance from the Plans:

            Collecting information regarding project performance, analyzing it, creating reports, and sending them to various stakeholders within the organization is an essential process for tracking the progress of implementation and identifying deviation from the initially projected objectives and deliverables. The reports will be detailed with the projects’ milestones, expectations, and outcome at each point and forwarded to the stakeholders for further scrutiny to ensure that the progress of the project remains in line with the pre-established objectives. If there are variations from the initially anticipate goals, then the management will activate a contingency plan to ensure effective implementation of the ideas.

Risk Management and Cost-Benefit Analysis:

            Cost-benefit analysis is a tool that requires the project manager to compile a comprehensive list of merits and demerits associated with the implementation of the project. The project requires the huge cost to implement: human resources, money, tools and equipment, and costs to ensure adequate compliance with various regulations. However, upon completion of the project, the benefits will include increased organizational customer base, improved responsiveness, effective customer relationship, and positive customer experience. The report on cost-benefit analysis should compare the business value that the ideas will generate against the cost of producing the identified benefits.

Implementing a Contingency Plan:

            Contingency planning involves being prepared to deal with unexpected outcomes of the project. The process requires the definition of the problem, the purpose of the plan, contingency planning responsibilities, and plan development and implementation. From the idea, the anticipated challenge is the inadequate organizational capacity to implement technological-related platforms. Therefore, it is recommended that the IT services from a professional expert outsourced to ensure effective implementation of the idea and transition to the management. Such plans require adequate finances and human personnel to achieve the needed objectives.

Ideas Presentation and Response:

            Presentations and reports are essential methods to communicate the ideas and inform the management of the progress. Technology has eased ways of presenting an idea and considering that Bayside Call Center has different levels of management, official methods are advised: video conferencing, telephone, and emails. These methods enable an effective response to both parties involved in the implementation process.

Idea Testing and Evaluation:

            Innovation involves generating creative ideas and reviewing them to identify those which are successful. Hence, testing and evaluation are essential to ensure that the ideas yield the needed objectives. For the plans, the assessment will be conducted based on the changes in the number of customers, organizational productivity, and responsiveness. In addition, audits can also be carried out to establish if the changes experienced are positive.

References

Elerud-Tryde, A., & Hooge, S. (2014). Beyond the Generation of Ideas: Virtual Idea Campaigns to Spur Creativity and Innovation. Creativity and Innovation Management, 23(3), 290-302.

Frederiksen, M. H., & Knudsen, M. P. (2017). From Creative Ideas to Innovation Performance: The Role of Assessment Criteria. Creativity and Innovation Management, 26(1), 60-74.

Griffin, R. W., Ebert, R. J., Starke, F. A., Dracopoulos, G., & Lang, M. D. (2014). Business. Toronto: Pearson Canada.

Grover, V., & Markus, M. L. (2015). Business process transformation. London: Routledge.

Harvard Business School. (2006). Harvard business review on leading through change. Boston: Author.

Madura, J. (2010). Introduction to business. St. Paul, MN: Paradigm Pub.

Pardo, R., & Pardo, R. (2008). The evaluation and optimization of trading strategies. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.

Wilcox, M. (2016). Engaging change: A people-centred approach to business transformation. London, U.K.: Kogan Page Stylus.