The Role of Situation Analysis for a Marketing Plan

The purpose of the situational analysis is to look at a company’s internal environment in terms of its Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities as well as Threats, this enables the company to then set objectives accordingly.

When manipulating a business’s strategy, it is important to focus on the external factors in the environment. An external analysis is where a business conducts environmental scanning that present a company with the key external forces influencing the organization. The facets of external forces examined are the business environment, remote environment, or the competitive environment. A business environment is all of the external factors in the general environment that a firm cannot control, but can affect their strategy. The remote environment is the forces that affect most firms. Lastly, a competitive environment is the firm’s specific industry and its entirety. The external analysis is pertinent to a company called Dick’s Drive- In; without it, Dick’s would not be a thriving popular business today.

By the 1930s, technological innovation in the form of photography enabled us to doubly freeze and

Which of the following early digital cameras was popular with photojournalists when it was first introduced?

The History of Fujifilm - Part 2. (n.d.). The History of Fujifilm. Retrieved November 6, 2013, from http://www.photographytalk.com/photography-articles/1686-photography-tipthe-history-of-fujifilm-part-2

While the original Daguerreotype started a massive surge on photography, two later inventions turned photography social phenomenon that became ingrained in our lives today. The first of these inventions is called the “calotype” process. invented in 1839 by William Henry Fox Talbot this method of photography involved exposing chemically treated paper, producing a “negative” that could be redeveloped. This allow for multiple copies of the same image to be printed, and is the predecessor to modern film photography. The next major breakthrough in the art of photography was the portable camera. Before its inception, most photos were taken using a large, cumbersome device that worked as a camera and darkroom for developing glass plates coated with a sticky collodion solution. (film photography was

In 1888, George Eastman made the first light and portable camera under the company name Kodak (Graham 28). These cameras gave people the ability to take a photo almost anywhere. The cameras had to be sent back to the factory so the photographs could be printed. Twenty years after Kodak’s first camera, they produced an improved camera, called “Brownie”. The Brownie was simple to use, making the art of photography boom. Flash cameras did not appear until the 1930s, letting people take pictures in areas with dim or little lighting. In 1947, Edwin Land invented the instant camera. Land got the idea after his daughter asked to see her picture after he took her photo. The next step in improving the camera was by making it digital, which was done in 1975 by a Kodak employee. As the camera gets smaller and simpler to use, the quality of the photographs it produces gets better.

This report is concerned with situational analysis in CBA. This analysis is important part of marketing plan.

This situational analysis includes industry forces, company statistics and financial information, a list of environmental factors that deal with how the company operates, and competitor information.

Until recently, at least, it was possible to define photography as a process involving optics, light sensitive material and the chemical processing of this material to produce prints or slides. Today though, that definition is subject to change. Technological innovations…are shifting photography from its original chemical basis towards electronics… It is not overstating it to say that the advent of this new technology is changing the very nature of photography, as we have known it. (Bode and Wombell 1991)

The Eastman Kodak Company was established in the 1880’s as a film business, set on establishing its brand name in the marketplace through customer-focused advertising and growth through research and development and low cost mass production. The founder, George Eastman, described Kodak’s competitive philosophy by commenting that “nothing is more important than the value of our name and the quality it stands for. We must make quality our fighting argument” (Gavetti, Henderson & Giorgi, 2005).

Eastman Kodak Company, commonly known as Kodak is an American multinational imaging and photographic equipment, materials and services company headquartered in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded by George Eastman in 1889. Kodak is best known for photographic film products. During most of the 20th century Kodak held a dominant position in this sector. In fact, Eastman Kodak Co. is one of the dominant market share holders within the camera and other photography-related industries. Kodak pioneered amateur photography and is often credited for the invention of roll film and the first camera. The markets for color film and color photofinishing in 1954 were controlled by Kodak. It had over 90% of the amateur color

Organizations need to be aware of what is going on in their environments that might concern them, and more so, during the planning process. Diverse but overlapping environments ought to be monitored; the macro environment, the industrial environment, the competitive environment, and the organization’s internal environment (Ginter, 2013; Pfeiffer, 1986). At Rapha AL, my chosen organization, the environmental scanning will include distinct internal and external factors that would enable Rapha gain excellent understanding of the current and emerging issues that might affect it, and inspire the setting of clear and achievable goals. In this paper, I will analyze and address the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT); discuss current and prospective customers and evaluate the impact of environmental factors on the organization’s effectiveness to achieve the established goals within the strategic plan. Furthermore, I will address evolving external issues that could influence the strategic plan, evaluate the benefits of competitive analysis and Rapha’s capacity to achieve the strategic goals and objectives in a 3-year strategic plan.

This analysis consists of analyzing the external environment of the company (competitors, social, technological, regulations, etc.). The purpose is to identify the key opportunities and threats in the environment.

To establish whether JKB is competitively positioned to tackle the evolving and increasing challenging business environment hence recommend the way forward, a situation analysis must be conducted. This analysis aids in collecting essential information about the organization internal and external factors. Keen interest should be placed on these factors since they have the capability of adversely affecting an organization; they can create or on the other diminish, or altogether destroy the chances of an organization attaining competitive advantage.