Management Information Technology Strategy Development (Essay Sample)

Information Technology Strategy Development
Name
Institution
Information Technology Strategy Development
Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Executive Summary PAGEREF _Toc484456352 \h 1Marketing Analysis PAGEREF _Toc484456353 \h 2Target Market PAGEREF _Toc484456354 \h 4Strategy for Acquiring Customer Base PAGEREF _Toc484456355 \h 4Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT Analysis) PAGEREF _Toc484456356 \h 4Financial Statements PAGEREF _Toc484456357 \h 5Summary of the relevance of porter’s five factors PAGEREF _Toc484456358 \h 6Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc484456359 \h 6References PAGEREF _Toc484456360 \h 6
Executive Summary
The business plan contains sections including; marketing analysis, which uses porter’s five factors/forces to dissect the market in which the streaming industry is placed, before it is acquired by Unilever. An overview of the five factors/forces includes; competition, the potential of new entrants, bargaining power of customers, bargaining power of supplier and substitutes of products/ services are also given (Roy, 2009). This plan also takes into account the target audience, strategies for customer base and financial statements that will be used to determine the direction of the organization. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing the streaming industry that is yet to be acquired will also be looked into. This will help in knowing the position of the streaming industry regarding competition with other players in this field. Overall, the business plan seeks to provide guidance to Unilever management in acquiring a new business of live streaming.
Marketing Analysis
In this analysis of the streaming industry, the application of Porter’s five forces comes into play, as it is important in helping the business assess its strengths and weaknesses through the lens of competition. Porter’s five forces named after Michael porter strategically looks at the five forces that shape the industry by assessing its weaknesses and strengths. These forces are both horizontal and vertical elements.
Competition in the streaming industry is so huge that Unilever management will have to lay down a set of strategies to ensure uniqueness in the market full of industry players. Netflix for instance, maintains the service of streaming only and the room to purchase the content is not available. Other industry players like Hulu make their content so heavy such that a customer will only remain with the option to purchase and not streaming. Even with this competition from the industry players, customers will always get access to the media they require by developing their own niche as in the cases of TiVo and Plax (Walter, 2015).
In the steaming industry, the customer will have the power to bargain and this is attributed to the number of streaming service providers who even provide the basis for competition. For example, the Netflix mailings offer the customer the power to bargain. Although purchasing CDs and DVDs is slowly fading away, the regional and kiosk rental sites remain available for the customer. Therefore, the market for streaming will most likely be driven by the consumer who has a particular interest when it comes to streaming (Fildes, 2017).
The power of suppliers on the other hand may be complicated as opposed to how it is seen in simple terms. Streaming for the suppliers means that a huge bandwidth and several servers will have to be available. Reliability on the internet and technological devices such as DVD players and smart phones becomes a huge setback for the streaming suppliers. However, the strength of the supplier will lie in the fact that a customer will not just stream, watch, and forget about the media thereof. They will have to store this content, thus, the supplier shares the content with the customer and is therefore, factored in.
The potential of new entrants in this particular field is very low because of the huge infrastructural requirements to start the industry. The number of the few industry players who include Netflix and amazon video/music among others sees this. However, the threat of substitute products and services on the other hand, is high when compared to the number of entrants. This is coupled by the fact that both video and audio may be streamed anywhere. Advancement in the technological sector makes this aspect of alternatives real following the step taken by broadband and mobile service providers to cut down the huge costs of data. Substitutes to steaming may include; smart phones, tablets, and laptops, which are more efficient and have moved on to replace landlines and desktop computers. However, as much as substitutes to streaming may be in existence as mentioned, other factors to using these alternatives may also come into influence. For example the needs and preferences of technology users vary from time to time. While some may even prefer using tablets to stream, others may choose not to stream for one reason or another (Fildes, 2017).
Target Market
The industry should have a particular target market to maximize on its sales in such a way that it draws attention and hence fuel customer demands. Millennials are perceived to be techno savvy. Therefore, the company will focus on them as the target audience. This is because the Millennials are more likely to possess digital devices and even if they do not, they already know the usefulness of streaming so as access a particular product/service. Millennials are, therefore, in a good position when it comes to the use of technology, hence a preferred target market for the streaming industry.
Strategy for Acquiring Customer Base
The world is moving fast with the advent of technology, thus the need to put down strategies for acquiring a long-term customer base. Using live streaming technology, the industry can strategize with a specific focus on the millennial to view and buy its products. Digital campaigns should be authentic by ensuring viewer-company representatives interactions in real time. Utilizing such digital platforms as twitter allows customers to replay the content and even share it. In strategic campaign, interactive elements such as redirecting a customer to the promotion page are used. Use of influences may be effectively incorporated into company campaigns as it encourages a huge following thus creating a good customer base. Lastly, the company can make use of discounts and special offers on some of its products streamed thus reaping from the publicity and increasing customer base.
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT Analysis)
To understand strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the industry, SWOT Analysis will be conducted. The strength of the industry of streaming is in its popularity and convenience. Streaming is becoming more popular, especially among the youth and this will allow the company to improve user experience by increasing content. It is also convenient when used to access information
However, with this strength it is also faced by such weaknesses as changing tec...