3-5 page paper

Industry Analysis Assignment Instructions

MKTG 311

Industry Analysis Assignment

The first step for students is the selection of the industry they would like to research. It is strongly recommended that students choose an industry in which they might like to work upon graduation.

First, for students having difficulty in even knowing what industries exist, NAICS links are provided (http://www.naics.com/search.htm).

Next, students select a specific company within their chosen industry. To find enough information to complete the project successfully, students are encouraged to select a for-profit organization that sells a product or service. Furthermore, students are informed that data collection will be much easier if the organization is publicly traded on a major stock exchange. 

You are required to write an executive summary, introduction, and include paragraphs detailing the (1) industry’s dominant economic features, (2) drivers of change, (3) companies in the strongest/weakest positions, (4) the industry’s attractiveness. This should be about 3-5 pages.

Industry Analysis vs Market Analysis

An industry consists of businesses that produce or supply related products or services and the companies that support these producers and suppliers, such as the distributors that move a product from a manufacturer to a market. The industry analysis identifies and describes defining characteristics of the industry's major competitors and customers. For example, the industry analysis describes the products and services the industry provides and the scope of the industry's market. Also described are the economic, legal, cultural and political issues that might affect the industry's performance. Historical industry sales trends and profits are also discussed, as is the outlook for sales and profits. In addition, the analysis describes the company's strategic opportunities and the ways a company plans to exploit the opportunities.

Purpose of Market Analysis

A market analysis, like the industry analysis, is an element of a business plan used to confirm the commercial feasibility of a company. While an industry analysis confirms the existence of a strategic opportunity, the market analysis confirms the existence of a profitable market for a company's products or services. The market analysis serves as the basis of both a sales forecast, which confirms the commercial feasibility of the company, and production and operational targets for all other company activities.

Market Analysis

A market is defined by geographic boundaries. For example, the area defined by a zip code is a market as is an international market that consists of several countries. Within the market is a target market, which is the group of potential customers to which a product or service should appeal. In turn, market competition refers to substitute products and alternative products that are available to consumers within a market. A market analysis describes each of these three factors, as well as the way a firm will position itself to benefit from the market opportunities. For example, the market analysis will refer to the market boundaries and the economic and competitive factors that influence market activity, such as the market's unemployment level and living standard. Also described is the market niche -- the customer group to which a company's products will appeal -- and the characteristics of a product's target market, such as purchasing attitude and purchasing criteria. The market analysis will also state the potential sales volume or value and the products and businesses with which a company will compete for profits.

(excerpt taken from https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/difference-between-industry-market-analysis-1606.html)

MKTG 311: Industry Analysis Grade Rubric

Company Chosen: ___________________ Industry: ______________________________________

Team members: ______________________________________________________________________________

Components	Possible Points	Your Points
1. Executive Summary and Introduction. Instructor Feedback:	16
2. The Industry's Dominant Economic Features. Instructor Feedback:	16
3. The Drivers of Change in the Broad Environment & Impact They Will Have. Instructor Feedback:	16
4. Companies in the Strongest/Weakest Positions. Instructor Feedback:	16
5. Industry’s Attractiveness and Prospects for Long-Term Profitability. Instructor Feedback:	16
6. FINAL – Incorporation of edits from the rough draft	20
Points deducted for failure to follow instructions or for poor writing skills. Instructor Feedback:
Total Points

Detailed Description of Assignment

Executive Summary - 16 points : Introduce your industry in 2 or 3 short (five to seven sentence) paragraphs. The introduction frames your research and defines not only what you will be analyzing, but also what you will not be analyzing. This is especially important in an industry with multiple or disjointed segments. Use at least three different sources.

1. The Industry's Dominant Economic Features – 16 points

Choose TWO from this list:

· Market size,

· Growth rate and what stage of the life cycle is the industry in,

· Number of rivals and their relative size,

· Prevalence of forward/backwards integration, channels of distribution, pace of process and product technology change,

· Whether products are highly differentiated or very similar,

· To what extent are economies of scale in purchasing, distribution, advertising, etc. important,

· To what extent do learning curves exist,

· Are high rates of capacity utilization important for profitability

· What are the historical levels of profitability.

· Are there segments within the industry?

· If so, what are they, and how do their presence effect firms, strategies, competition, and levels of profitability within each segment?

2. The Drivers of Change in the Industry and Impact They Will Have – 16 points

Choose TWO from this list:

· Long term growth rate

· Who buys the product and how they use it

· Significance of product innovation & technological change

· Trends

· Marketing innovation

· Entry/exits of major firms

· Extent of Globalization (are they a multinational or transnational corporation)

· Changes in costs and efficiencies

· Emerging buyer preferences (shift towards differentiation or commodity)

· Regulatory influences – for example food truck regulations on permits

· Changes in societal concerns, attitudes, lifestyles

· Reductions in uncertainty and risk in the industry over time.

3. Companies in the Strongest/Weakest Positions – 16 points

Identify ONE KEY COMPETITOR in your industry. Answer the following:

· Discuss how each has positioned, or tried to position, themselves, in their industry. For example, what is their ideal self? What do they tell you that they are?

· Are there positions in the industry that are more attractive than others?

4. Industry’s Attractiveness and Prospects for Long-Term Profitability – 16 points

Choose TWO from this list:

· Growth potential,

· Will competitive forces strengthen,

· Will driving forces increase/decrease profitability,

· Which company’s strategic position will improve/decline,

· How can firms insulate themselves from the unattractive forces in the industry,

· Degree of uncertainty and severity of problems confronting industry,

· Which types of firms/strategies seem to be most lucrative,

· Is this an attractive industry in which to participate?

Helpful Sites

How to find your industry?

http://www.naics.com/search.htm 

Industry information

Sales research

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/market-research-tools-resources

Trends

Indiegogo

Betabrand

Trendhunter

https://www.inc.com/john-hall/7-ways-to-identify-and-evolve-with-industry-trends.html

https://www.thebalance.com/discover-product-trends-social-media-1140456

https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/how-to-identify-market-trends-online-using-tools-and-resources/

https://www.wordstream.com/search-trends

http://www.innovationmanagement.se/2013/08/07/18-top-international-trend-sites/

https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/04/trend-spotting-websites.html

https://www.trendhunter.com/topsites

http://www.daniellevine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Top-10-Trends-Websites.pdf http://www.bizpenguin.com/5-go-to-sites-for-unique-startup-ideas-968/

Segment

· Think with Google: Marketer's Almanac

· American Fact Finder – census data about potential target and sales. American FactFinder is your source for population, housing, economic and geographic information.

· Clarita (Nielsen) MyBestSegments - https://segmentationsolutions.nielsen.com/mybestsegments/Default.jsp?ID=30&pageName=Segment%Details

· Infoscout

· Pew Research Center

· FedStats – under construction

·  

Industry

· IBISWorld – accessed through your library website

· Bloomberg or NASDAQ

· County Business Patterns- Provides subnational economic data by industry, including the number of establishments, employment, first quarter payroll, and annual payroll.

Your client’s business

· Business Dynamics Statistics - The Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS) provides annual measures of business dynamics (such as job creation and destruction, establishment births and deaths, and firm startups and shutdowns) for the economy and aggregated by establishment and firm characteristics.

Collecting data

· SurveyMonkey

· Typeform – Not Free. Similar to Survey Monkey

· Survata – Not free Survata is a brand intelligence research company that operates a network of "SurveyWalls", short surveys that run on its affiliate sites that must be completed to access the content of that website, a function comparable to Google Surveys. 

· Loop11 - is a website user testing tool that enables you to identify navigational and usability issues of any website.

· Userlytics - User testing Websites and Mobile Apps for better User Experience. Use Userlytics to increase usability with a better UI and UX.

· Temper?

Presenting data to clients

· MakeMyPersona – semi-fictional personas

· Ubersuggest – all of the suggested searches for a keyword

· Social Mention - is a social media search engine that searches user-generated content such as blogs, comments, bookmarks, events, news, videos, and microblogging services.

· HubSpot Research - Free tools to help you analyze your marketing strategies and download charts