Section 1: Market Research Plan

1.1.Introduction

ZenTech is a technological company that has the ambition of making it across different states in the United States. The company is involved in software development and development of video-game consoles. It is currently located in Chicago, Illinois. The company intends to know the level of competition it might get in its attempt to invest in LaGrange, Georgia. The company has identified the urban setting of LaGrange as a potential market which explains the need to conduct a market assessment of the level of competition to expect. Competitive analysis forms part of the company’s marketing plan. It is meant to identify the competitors while evaluating the strategic input they put while determining the strength and weaknesses they have with respect to the product and services the researching company produces. The research is meant to improve the prospects of the company beyond Chicago, Illinois. Research on competition has activities such as comparing the attitudes of consumers to those of the organization; comparing the services provided and those of competition; identifying the frequency with which consumers use the products of competitors; identifying the competitors that can pose a lot of competition; measure the level of awareness.

a.      The Strategic Objectives to be Undertaken

The objective that ZenTech has in the need to export technological services to LaGrange are as follows:

• Expand the services rendered to markets beyond Chicago for the sake of diversifying the risks incurred in the technological industry
• Access markets that are less competitive or competitors may be unwilling to venture because they lack the start-up needed
• Gain experience with a new market environment and know the potential of the business in a setting beyond the original

Achievement of the objectives will enable expansion of the operations that are currently located in Chicago. The company can then begin to gain recognition across states beginning with Georgia.

b.      Research Areas

• Comparison of the attitudes of consumers to those of the organization;
• Comparison of the services provided and those of competition;
• Identification of the frequency with which consumers use the products of competitors;
• Identification of the competitors that can pose a lot of threat both to market entry and survival;
• Measurement of the level of awareness

1.2.            Research Objectives

Following the information in the previous sections, the objectives of the research will be to:

• Examine the Georgia’s political, legal and business environment while developing a key description that involves important aspects that help or prevent the entry of new enterprises in the market

The purpose of the objective above is to give an overview of the characteristics of the state while identifying the essential aspects that ZenTech is unable to handle because they are externally defined.

• To give a comprehensive profile of the technological environment in Georgia, specifically LaGrange

The purpose of the objective is to give a profile that adequately defines the market status of LaGrange, Georgia while evaluating the level of sustainability that can be projected in the offerings of ZenTech and the adaptation of the products and services rendered. It is also meant for product adaptation which includes the development of various platforms.

• Identification of key competitors and assessment of the services offered, the market share and the competitive advantage

The purpose of this objective is identification of gaps with the intention of gaining a competitive advantage against competitors.

1.3.            Scope of the Project

Deliverables are the services and products that may come out of the project. They are what describe the things business clients should expect at the end of the project. The deliverables at the end of the project in this case include:

• Fashioning the design of software to the market in LaGrange
• Conducting a feasibility study to determine the ability of the software to penetrate the new market while fighting off competition successfully
• Ensuring that the program becomes market friendly by enabling advancements in future

The deliverable will however exclude the implementation of the proposed software project, the study recommendations and maintenance of the system that has been designed through the software project.

The resources that are available for the team include computer systems, design programs, and other software that can be used in the design. The project will try to fashion its products using dynamic language such as python and static language such as C#. The programs provide an avenue which can be explored to design a complex and useful system for the potential market. The human resources that need to be availed include computer programmers who have been employed by the company, system design experts, project managers and other experts who have a relevant input to facilitate the project implementation phase. There is also need for sales and marketing experts who can help in popularizing the products and services that the company deals with so that by the time they are introduced in the market, it will be ready for them. The project has constraints such as time and budget. The initial budget estimate for the test implementation phase is $1 m to be spent through a period of 1 week.

1.4.            The Research Method

The research will be conducted primarily through surveys on the ground and interviews. The information will be gathered qualitatively and quantitatively. The use of quantitative data will be in comparing the market size and the costs incurred in ensuring that the product and service reach the market around the area. The use of qualitative data will be in comparing some of the aspects in the markets such as considerations of culture, issues in the market and the trends.

a.      Analysis of the Environment

There is some information required in understanding various aspects that affect the market and its potential. On the qualitative side, information that is needed is political which will be able to give a description of the extent to which the government intervenes at the state and local level. It will also describe the stability of the region in terms of politics. The legal information will go towards describing issues such as the protection of intellectual property and censorship. The business information that is qualitatively required is on the fluctuation of currency. the quantitative side of things will describe information regarding the years policies by the current government have been implemented and the period the government has been in power; the taxes incurred corporately, on sales and import basis; in business terms, information will be concerned with the level of inflation and data on the history followed by the fluctuation of currency.

The source of such information is progressive government records and internet sources that are up to date with current developments. There are various records with information on how the policies and operations have been updated.

b.      Development of a Market Description

The market will be described both qualitatively and quantitatively. The qualitative description will be intended to determine the marketing language used. The qualitative information will also be used in describing the use of internet and mobile phone, to economically show the level of education, commitment to research and development and disparity characteristics in income. Qualitative information on the basis of trade will be used to show the characteristics of the LaGrange market in terms of software use and development. Quantitative information will be needed to describe the market, infrastructure, the economy and the trade. The information on market will describe the distribution of different segments within the market, rates of use with respect to the internet and computer systems, the economy on how the education ranks and the rates of literacy, use of research and development as a portion of the GDP and trade between the two states.

c.       Description of the Software Industry

The information that is required in describing the software market in LaGrange will be both qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative information will regard the characteristics of the software market in LaGrange and different sub-sectors and the software distributors in the region and state. Quantitative information will revolve around the size of the market and statistics on software development, the use of the social network according to statistics and the degree of penetration of software. Most information will be collected online but some has to be collected through physical surveys that lead to the collection of information to help in defining the strategy that can be employed.

d.      Information of the Competitive Intelligence

The essential information that will be collected in this regard is in line with the competitors in the software space; the competitors that give software services, where they are located and their affiliations and intelligence on software opportunities in LaGrange and for ZenTech. The quantitative information that will be required is concerned with the staff numbers of competitors and the bases they use.

e.       Boolean Operators

The Boolean operators that will be used in the research are AND, OR, (), “”, and site. The meanings that they denoted are inclusiveness, exclusiveness, prioritization, the exact language and the specific site explored respectively. These operators were used in defining the search space on while the computers were being used in research.

Section 2: The Implementation Strategy

Marketing Tactics

The marketing tactics are based on the marketing mix strategy that would help in implementing the strategies of ZenTech.

a.      The Market Segments Targeted

The main company at Chicago has a single segment which uses a mass marketing strategy. The mass marketing strategy does not target a specific market in a single run. The marketers make the choice to ignore different segments and appeal to the entire market with a single offer and a single strategy (Lynn, 2011). The single strategy is used in a manner which it is able to appeal to the whole market and reach the largest number of people. As a method, it has been selected because of its tendency to be effective and cuts the costs that would otherwise be incurred when using a target specific marketing method.

The product strategy that will be used in the plan is the augmented product strategy which is intended to offer after sales services which include software updates. The strategy is inspired by serviceability, customer services and the relationship that exists with consumers. The pricing strategy that ZenTech will use in its activities is the competitive pricing strategy in placing prices on software services and products offered. The prices occur between those charged by competitors and those used in developing the programs. The firm seeks to set up service centers across LaGrange, Georgia.

b.      The Budgetary Allocation

The budget that will be spent in the planning research is $1 million. The budget will be spread in the following way:

• Planning will cost close to $1,500 which would be paid for the research that would be taken
• The implementation of the plan would cost close to $100,500 in the purchase of computers that will be used in setting up the first store. The advertising of the company is meant to cost the company close to $250,000.
• The employees would be paid close to $400,000
• The remaining money would be used in facilitating maintenance

The implementation strategy is concerned with the identification, selection, contracting and monitoring of the external consultant activities. The identification process will be conducted through a survey and various interviews with the intention finding out the characteristics of the market. The first step of the plan is to determine the structure of the organization and the process used in implementing, evaluating and communicating the work undertaken. The development of the action plans involves various partners and organizations that are responsible for the objectives and activities undertaken. The second step is a review process with the intention of refining the actions of the plan.  The third step involves preparation for the implementation. The third step is all about conducting oversight activities that identify the opportunities for the sake of coordination and also combining resources. This is the step where collaboration and clarification of the role of participants takes place. The fourth step is all about preparing to evaluate the processes in the work to penetrate the market by ZenTech. The fifth step involves making corrections with respect to the results obtained from evaluation. The sixth step is to communicate the plan that will be used in the implementation process.

Identification can be done through testing the market through a test drive to see how the local people of LaGrange receive the products and services of ZeTech (Grewal, Kataria, & Dhawan, 2016). Selection of the implementation program will take place after obtaining results from the identification process. The identified of the program would be done through a survey process that helps in collecting different responses. Different programs will be tried out in a test drive and the best out of the programs selected. The contracting process will be undertaken after the selection process has been done. Contracting is done in a market that is positively responsive to the programs proposed. Monitoring is done for purposes of oversight (Memon, Majid, & Mustaffar, 2006). Henry Gantt proposed a mechanism that is used in evaluations (Tache & Ispasoiu, 2013). The Gantt Diagram will be used in representing the schedule that will be followed in ensuring that the project is on course to completion and finally implementation. The computers will be installed with Gantt software that will be used in putting the activities in order. The other monitoring tool that will be used is the Competitor analysis chart that indicates the level of competition that the firm experiences or is likely to experience from the external environment.

Resources Required

There are various resources that are needed in making sure that the implementation program is successful. The resources will be obtained from savings and well wishers. The business has been in operation for some time and will use the savings made to facilitate the program. More funds will be collected from the well wishers of the business so that they can be consolidated and used in the successful implementation.

The likely contingencies in the implementation of the project are the quality of services, the resources and the schedule. When quality is low, the project may need more resources so that the flaws can be corrected. The project needs different resources to complete the work. The resources that are needed tend to be different from each other which increases the costs incurred. The resources that will be needed include are different computerized systems, manpower, experts and various items to conduct the research. The time needed to complete the work may be underestimated at first. The team will need to adjust the time schedule to accommodate the change. More resources may be required for this in some cases while in others they are not.

Stakeholder Satisfaction

The satisfaction of the stakeholders of the business being undertaken will be determined through an online process through a Facebook page. Stakeholder satisfaction is a component that determines how successful the business has been in carrying out a particular program. The reviews that will be provided through an online page on Facebook will give an indication of whether the project has been received well by stakeholders or not. The plan is to engage the stakeholders through an online platform like Facebook through which they are provide reviews that can be evaluated to determine if they are satisfied or not.

Conclusion

ZenTech Company is technologically oriented to provide technological services in software development and design of videogame consoles. The company is a start up that has the ambition of reaching out to numerous markets across the United States. Te first trial phase has been scheduled to take place in LaGrange Georgia away from the current location of Chicago Illinois. The organization intends to implement a program in the form of a project through which it can facilitate the implementation of the proposed designs. Different resources will be required for the success of the company in its endeavour including human and physical resources.