Summary of Contingency and Exit Strategies
Entering a new market is always fraught with numerous challenges and threats, No matter how thorough the market research carried out prior to the identified step, there is always a threat of missing an essential element that will define the success of the entrepreneurship (Autry et al. 2013). Therefore, one must bear in mind that the Go Healthy Company may need a backup plan that will support it in case of failing to become a success in the designated environment. The exit strategy will imply that the entrepreneurship will have to terminate all its activities in the target area and focus on the home market, instead. Replenishing the resources and recovering from the failure, thus, will take a rather short amount of time.
Possible Scenarios
It should be noted that the process of integrating into a new market is fraught with numerous challenges due to the possible miscalculations in the market research carried out and the restrictions to the changes of the firm’s values, mission, and brand image.
Optimistic Scenario
In the best-case scenario, the organization will be perfectly capable of attracting the target audience to the product and allocate all resources in an appropriate manner that can be viewed as favorable for the further operations.
Pricing
In case the customers are fascinated with the product and the company immediately, therefore, purchasing the goods actively, it will be reasonable to set the prices at a moderate scale (Khanna & Palepu 2013).
Marketing
In the best-case scenario, the marketing approach will trigger a rapid increase in the company’s popularity and the number of customers. Particularly, the features such as age (18-35, 36-50, 51-75, or an even more elaborate scale), social, ethnic, and cultural background, etc. should be considered as primary means of carrying out customer segmentation. The tools for carrying out the marketing process should be shaped correspondingly, with the use of social networks as the means of making the company known to the younger population, and the use of the traditional marketing approach as the ay of catering to the needs of the older audience (Dibb & Simkin, 2013).
Anticipated Scenario
It is expected that Go Healthy will perform rather well in the target market. It would be wrong to assume that the entrepreneurship will immediately become the leading company in the specified market; however, Go Healthy does not intend to. Instead, the organization will aim at taking a very specific niche in the identified environment so that it could cater to the needs of its customer successfully.
It is also expected that the financial strategy adopted by the company will serve as a rather solid foundation for the business-making process. As soon as the costs are allocated and the first steps are taken, the further improvement of the financial approach can be made. To be more exact, a focus on the promotion of sustainability as the primary means of resources allocation must be considered an option. The above approach will allow for distributing the financial resources proportionally to the degree of urgency and significance of the tasks (Burns 2014).
Pessimistic Scenario
However, in order to make sure that the company will be capable of dealing with the challenges of the target market, one will also have to consider the possibility of a worst-case scenario. Therefore, the pessimistic one will have to be analyzed as well. It would be wrong to claim that the pessimistic outcome will inevitably trigger a rapid and uncompromising demise of the organization. Instead, it should be viewed as an opportunity to learn essential lessons and shape the corporate strategy so that similar instances should not occur in the future (Sincere, 2014).
Pricing
In case the entrepreneurship fails to attract the target customers, the current pricing strategy will have to be reconsidered. Given the fact that offering excessively low prices will drive the company bankrupt, it will be crucial to consider the introduction of numerous discounts for customers. In addition, customer cards for the customer loyalty program must be viewed as an option for compelling clients to use the firm’s services regularly.
Marketing
The issue of product promotion is, perhaps, the trickiest aspect of the company’s integration into the target market. When considering the possible dents in the current marketing strategy, one must admit that it is aimed at a very wide audience (18 to 65). Therefore, the marketing experts will have to try very hard to come up with the brand image that will appeal to the people of the target age. Given the differences in the characteristics of the identified generations (X, Y, and Z), one will have to admit that a coherent segmentation approach should be adopted. Specifically, the segmentation process described above will have to be used.
In addition, the brand image will have to be tweaked so that it could appeal to a broader audience and at the same time create a very specific impression. Therefore, in the pessimistic scenario that will involve a complete lack of enthusiasm among all denizens of the target population involved, one will have to consider the rearrangement of the financial resources allocation. Particularly, using the principle of sustainability and making sure that excessive costs should be reduced to a logical minimum, the company will have to focus on altering the current brand image and strategy by identifying specific tiers of the target demographics
Liquidation
When considering the existing possibilities, one must bear in mind the fact that the company might face the threat of suffering extensive losses that will ultimately lead to its demise. Therefore, in case none of the strategies above work or seem fit, it will be necessary to view the option of liquidation as the only sensible one. The specified approach will imply terminating all operations in the target market; however, it should not be viewed as the ultimate failure. Instead, essential lessons must be derived from the above experience (Lanier 2015).
Specifically, the information concerning the planning of the marketing approach, in general, and the branding strategy, in particular, will have to be taken into account. As it has been stressed above, the fact that the entrepreneurship is aimed at appealing to a very fast amount of customers may be interpreted as both an opportunity and a challenge. Therefore, if the company fails to interest the people that it views as its potential customers, crucial information concerning the choice of the techniques that it will have to consider when expanding into another market will be made.
In addition, the liquidation strategy must not be considered a retreat as it will inform the company on the tools that have to be used when entering the next market. Particularly, the economic, political, social, and technological issues will have to be analyzed in the context of the firm’s opportunities and assets.
Reference List
Autry, C W, Goldsby, T J, Bell, J E, & Hill, A V 2013, Managing the global supply chain (collection), FT Press, New York, NY.
Burns, P 2014, New Venture creation: a framework for entrepreneurial start-ups, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, NY.
Dibb, S, & Simkin, L 2013 Market segmentation success: making it happen!, Routledge, New York, NY.
Khanna, T, & Palepu, K 2013, Winning in emerging markets: a road map for strategy and execution, Harvard Business Press, Boston, MA.
Lanier, J 2015, Value-creation in middle-market private equity, Gower Publishing, Ltd., Burlington, VT.
Sincere, M 2014, Predict the next bull or bear market and win: how to use key indicators to profit in any market, Adams Media, Avon, MA.