A Marketing Opportunity for Powerbike in Thailand Assignment - 5

A Marketing Opportunity for Powerbike in Thailand - Assignment Example In this report, we find that there are on-going developments that are supporting the bicycle sale business. The major one is the will by the government to support plans leading to use of bikes for short trips within towns and also by students to go to school. This is meant to promote a healthy lifestyle among the citizenry. The residents have also accepted the bikes as they are flexible and can be used to go to other areas that cannot be accessed by vehicles. In Powerbike’s move to change its production base to Bangkok, the company is faced with stiff competition from other well-established industry players, for instance, K.C.I Bicycle & Part Company. However, by focusing on customer needs and developing on its strengths, our company will manage to stay ahead of the competition and remain profitable in this urban market. Thailand is one of the rising Asian countries experiencing rapid economic expansion because of improved governance and high rates of foreign direct investment (FDI). This expansion brings with it pressures on social amenities as more people move from the rural areas to look for gainful employment in towns. The boom years made Bangkok one of the most active and heavily congested cities. The major pressure exerted by this population explosion is on public transport as the locals have to commute daily from residential areas to their places of work. This then necessitates adoption of other modes of transport to ease pressure on vehicular transport. This report focuses on the Thai bicycle market taking a deeper analysis of the consumer behaviour, demographics and psychographics. It gives advice on appropriate ways to maintain market share and weighs the likelihood of entry to the Bangkok market which is characterised by dense population and chaotic public transport. This is done by analysing both external and internal business environment on factors supporting or discouraging expansion programs, for instance, competitive forces analysis. Market segmentation, targeting and positioning are used to give a picture of the specific products Bangkok consumer market demand from bike manufactures.

Economics Article Commentary Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Economics Article Commentary - Case Study Example The Obama administration is visibly tough on outsourcing. The French President is blatantly threatening the Eastern Europe to repatriate car-manufacturing operations to France. The British Prime Minister is vying for reserving the British jobs for the locals. The residents of the developed world, pressed by the recession, think that protectionism will secure their interest. However, the fact is that it will only deepen the crises rampant in the international trade. Protectionism is the policy of restricting trade between the nations by resorting to restrictive regulations by the government of a state to discourage imports and to prevent the entry of foreign players in the local markets. These restrictive regulations may be of various types. The governments may impose tariffs that are taxes on the imported goods, thereby discouraging the importers and making the foreign goods costlier in the local markets. The other way is to resort quotas that is to limit the quantity of foreign goods, thereby increasing their price. Administrative rules are one other way of curtailing imports. The nations may opt for anti-dumping laws to reduce the entry of cheap foreign imports. A direct subsidy or export subsidy that is extending monetary support to the local industries and exporters is one other way of supporting protectionism. As far as monetary measures are concerned, the developed nations can reduce the price of their currencies by exchange rate manipul ations, thereby making the imports dearer. All this protectionism is against the spirit of free trade, which allows the traders to carry on their business activities without any government interference or regulations. The policy of protectionism will not only weaken the local industries in the developed nations by making them less competitive, but will also jeopardize the economies of the developing nations by disabling them from taking advantage of