Olympus Optical Company, Ltd
Rahul Tulsyan
1. Evaluate Olympus’ current strategy.
Olympus’ current strategy is three-fold:
• Recapture market share by introducing new products. This is implemented mainly through Olympus’ extensive product planning process whereby enormous information regarding future mix of business, current and new technological development, business environment analysis, export, domestic market and industry statistics, consumer preferences, future lifestyle change, and competitive analysis is gathered, reviewed and incorporated.
• Improve product quality. Olympus’ quality improvement program focuses on both the introduction of new products and the manufacturing process in general. This strategy is intertwined with the other
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Why did Olympus shift the responsibility for product planning from R&D to marketing?
Prior to 1987, product planning function was part of Research and Development in Olympus. The company later shifted the responsibility of product planning to sales and marketing, based on the following rationales:
• The purpose of the product plan review was to balance the demands of a consumer oriented market with the realities of research and development and production. In this sense, knowing the market situation and market demand is the foundation of the entire product planning process.
• Generally speaking, R&D staff is more inward-looking and product-oriented, whereas marketing people are more customer-oriented and tend to take an external perspective in doing things. Since market and customer information is so important in Olympus’ product planning process, it’s better for marketing people to take on this task.
• As part of Olympus’ product planning process, tremendous information has to be collected, reviewed and analyzed. Majority of the information, such as changes in the business environment, distribution channels, export, domestic market and industry statistics, consumer preferences, lifestyle trends, consumers and dealers’ reactions, feedback on industry trends, and competitive information, come from external sources. Marketing people are usually more capable and competent in gathering and interpreting this
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In the system, design analysis and other additional analysis are used to reduce product cost by analyzing the trade-offs between product functionality and total product cost. Review and revision are carried out throughout the process. Moreover, the continuous improvement and operational control are also used to further reduce costs. However, the functionality reduction during the process will adversely affect the differentiation strategy as what we mentioned
‘The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis often forms the bedrock of any product planning process. It provides a simple yet effective framework for analysing both internal resources and external trends and competitors’ (Pender, L, 1999: 179)
Strategic planning is crucial for the success of all business endeavors. Analyzing currents trends in technology, consumer markets, competition, and the workforce can play a pivotal part in whether or not the organization can survive. Overtime, strategic planning strategies must be modified in order to compensate for changes in the industry. Goals and strategic planning often necessitate change to ensure that the organization is performing at peak level, while offering the most beneficial and quality services to consumers.
Born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas Amelia Earhart never fit in as a lady, she stood out as a tomboy. The name Amelia came from her mother and the mother before her; Earhart’s middle name of Mary was her father’s mother’s first name. Amelia
It was a hot and humid day, on June 3, 1930. Amelia had been at that house since January of that year. How her life had changed so much within the last year. The stock market had crashed and her father lost his job. Her seven other brothers and sisters were boarded out to anyone that would take them, in hopes of them not starving to death. She was the oldest of her father’s children at the age of 15, but she was too young to marry off. Her mother had died earlier last year from pneumonia, and her father could no longer take care of the children alone. He sent her out to Kansas to live with a man and his wife, in hopes that she could survive the hard times, and that she would find a husband within the next few
As a child, she spent the winter months with her grandparents in Atchison and the summers with her parents in Kansas City, Kansas. Earhart's grandparents, Alfred and Amelia Otis were well off, and although Amelia would know some financial hardship in her teens and twenties, her early life was spent in the midst of plenty. Alfred Otis was a retired U.S. District Court Judge, president of the Atchison Savings Bank, and chief warden of Trinity Episcopal Church. Amelia attended a private college preparatory school, where, although she loved to read, she sometimes got into trouble as a result of her independent nature. Her mother and younger sister, Muriel, often came to Atchison to visit, but Amelia seldom saw her father during these years. The Earhart family moved to Des Moines, Iowa, when Amelia was in the seventh grade. Amelia had always been interested in adventurous activities growing up. Since she was the daughter of a railroad employee she was always traveling and seeing new
On page 7 of the second paragraph amelia earhart marries on February 7, 1931 with George Putnam, who helped her work in secret to be the first woman to fly alone.
Amelia Mary Earhart was the first of two children to be born to Amy Otis. Her Grandfather, Alfred Otis, was a high class citizen in Atchison, as well as a judge. Edwin, Amelia’s father, endured many failures which caused his blooming alcoholism to worsen, bringing his family into an unknown poverty. Making a tough decision Amy sent Amelia and her younger sister Muriel to their Grandparents to attend The College Preparatory in Atchison. In 1908, at the Iowa State Fair that Amelia’s father took her to, she caught a glimpse of her first plane. Upon Amelia’s first sight of the plane she had thought it was a “thing of rust wire and wood, not interesting at all.”
Throughout the 1920s and 30s, although forming a thirteenth of all aviators, many women played a significant role in flying. (Corn, p 72) Amelia Earhart was one of these women. She was a pioneer in women’s aviation. In 1928, she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic alongside pilot Wilmer "Bill" Stultz and co-pilot/mechanic Louis E. "Slim" Gordon. Four years later, she became the first woman to fly solo across the same ocean, replicating the record setting flight of Charles Lindbergh. During her life she set many women’s records: altitude records, solo American coast to coast flight records, and speed records. (Amelia Earhart, Achievements) She also came in at fifth place in the Bendix Trophy air race in 1936, of which women won three of the five top spots. (Corn, p 556)
However, this vision generates an overlapping problem between the marketing department and the product development department. The marketing department, among other duties, is responsible for the identification of new opportunities and also to assure the development of new products. Unless these activities are extremely well coordinated with the product development department, there will be misalignment in the strategy of the EPD. Ultimately, this misalignment will affect a third department, i.e. the manufacturing department, since it is directly involved in the product development process.
The R&D department has an important role in a product’s life cycle. This department enables an organization to participate in the following options: new product research and development, redesigning existing products, quality checks and finally innovation, which is the most expensive R&D investments. Prior to developing a new product, organization often put together a research group in charge of conducting a thorough research on the proposed product. The research group is responsible for providing information on the production costs, timeframe as well as product specifications that may attract the market. Lastly the research group is responsible for evaluating the market’s need of the product, prior to production.
If a company has set its objectives there is need to look into the following. Which countries are their target market and who are the consumers and how or which marketing strategy should they use to reach the consumers. The company needs to know what products are best for their chosen customers and if there may arise a need to adjust the company should be ready for it. The other thing they should consider are the import regulations in their country, market and the global rules also should focus on the competition involved looking...
emerging or new market. It can originate from new technology or new market opportunities (Eliashberg, J., Lilien, G. L., & Rao, V. R. 1997). Literature defines product development as exploiting an untapped market opportunity and turning it into a value product for customer satisfaction. Development and introduction of a new product requires extensive research on understanding customer needs, market structure, emerging trends and analysing the internal & external competitive market environments. To evaluate customer satisfaction previous researches provide strong relationship between customer satisfaction and product quality, product features and value for money. ***
Strategic planning directs every movement in a business and is very essential to business performance (London 2002, pp.26-33). The strategic plan and operational plan are extracted from Best Buy Form 10K to better clarify the current situation and future direction of Best Buy.
With the rise of the economy, consumers have become more and more knowledgeable on selecting their favourable product as a result the organization cannot focus on what it sells but on the side focus on what the customer wants to buy.
The second way is to achieve low direct and indirect operating costs is gained by offering high volumes of standard products and offering basic no-frills products. Production costs are kept low by using less parts and using standard components. Limiting the number of models produced to ensure larger producti...