1. Of the three major environments in a situation analysis (internal, customer, and external), which do you think will have the greatest impact on Verizon’s move into the Cable industry? Why? What are some situations that would make one environment more important than the others?
The greatest impact on Verizon would be the external environment which comprises customers, the government authority and the competitors who would be fine tuning Verizon’s efforts of trying to get the maximum franchisee benefit out of its new venture. the customers have invested heavily on this and it is expected that Verizon will be able to deliver to the customer s and cable television viewers the prices that they have looking for increased viewership of channels at just the right prices. The other environment would d be the government deregulation of cable television franchises which could go a long way in paving the success for Verizon’s publicity campaigns and being a trustworthy cable television provider.The externalenvironment of Verizon is dominated by the collaborators. These are the distributors of the high resistant optic fibtre to Verizon. The alliance that Verizon shares with its alliance partners in the cable networking industry also determines its competitive strategy. The customers who dominate the external environment in the form of tangible and intangible benefits that Verizon can address in the form of increased channel viewership at no additional cost would possibly enhance the market share that Verizon would be aiming at.The trends of the current cable industry are customer dissatisfaction due to non availability of channel viewership and if available is very high cost. Verizon could redress this by its dual technology on not only supplying the network but the facility too. Situation analysis for Verizon would probably consider the external and the macro economic factors as being the most important. This is because the organization is trying to bring in deregulation to set up its franchise networking facilities. This would mean the government is trying to give up all its rights on the cable networking .this could have far reaching impact in the form of prices, affordability and increased competition for rights on networking.
1. The political and the regulatory environment:
2. The economic environment
3. The society trends
4. The technological environment:
2. Understanding the motivations of a firms noncustomers is often just as important as understanding its customers. Look in the text again at the reasons why an individual would not purchase firms products. How should Verizon reach out to its noncustomers and successfully convert them into customers?
The non customer can be converted into customers by planning to offer up to 200 digital channels for $39.95 a month, less than cable customers pay for 70 to 80 channels. In addition, customers who already use Verizon for their voice and Internet service will get a $5 discount. This could be best way to pull non customer’s into the customer billing procedure. Competition clearly offers consumers an increase in choice, and it may have some price benefits, but it's not a guarantee of lower prices. This increased choice may allow for increased viewarage and target the non customers too.The new legislation would leave low income households with a chance of having excellent viewership now but as time goes on it will lead to many people looking out for a better networking facility. The non customers can be lured by the strangely huge and high profile advertising campaign that Verizon has designed for introducing this service in the state of New Jersey. The campaign the first of its kind is a huge promise to deliver cable networking at very low cost and a little extra cost and sometimes at no extra cost. The cable viewership market is very wide and has almost become indispensable to homes. Many have been loyalists of Comcast the largest provider of cable TV connections. But the strings of problems that Comcast has been ridden with including many technological problems have forced customers to think of alternatives. This is where Verizon can step in and convert non customers into customers.
3. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats: Which is the most important to Verizon? Why?
The threats pouring into Verizon from the regulatory conditions, from competitors and from state wide franchises is the most important to Verizon. The threat is firstly from the war of communications channels, secondly the legislatures of New Jersey refusing to clear of the franchise bill and low prices which cannot be given by any networking cable company but supposedly can be given by Verizon are threats which it has to face. These threats have to deal with very carefully without antagonizing regulators or customers or competitors so that Verizon can go ahead with its plans.The SWOT analysis is a good way 0f analysis ofthe market position of Verizon.
The strengths that come with Verizon are
A. brand name
B. technology expertise.
C. state of art facility of having used the optic fiber technology.
Theweaknesses are;
1. Un tapped consumer market
2. Internal strife’s regarding the proposed expansion into cable TV networking
3. Competitors trying to lobby against Verizon of trying to get the three in one franchisee proposal.
4. Verizon will be catering only to the most affluent communities for its new service.
The opportunities are:
1. A broader network of consumer base
2. Cable television to cost cheaper.
3. More viewership with better access to many channels.
The threats are:
1. Cut throat competition from Comcast and cable TV network:
2. Visible strategy of Verizon only for profits. For their part, providers of cable television say Verizon's zeal for competition is merely an excuse for a shortcut into the lucrative pay-television market.
3. Consumer will have to pay more at the expense of deregulation.
4. Is it possible for an organization to be successful despite having a value curve that is not distinct from the competition? In other words, can Verizon be successful by selling a me-too product (a product that offers no compelling differences when compared to the competition), cable TV programming, Internet, and phone service? Explain
The only reason for Verizon’s success could be the large viewership it is targeting with an improved technology which could afford uninterrupted services at lower costs than what is given by either Comcast or Cable television network. The other reason for success is the brand name and service clauses that are associated with Verizon. The name spells strength and coming from Verizon it is expected that Verizon being a technology master would be able to deliver what it professes to. The combined services of three in one come at no extra cost to Verizon. It already has the cable wires fixed for its telephone and internet facility .these have been wired with the latest of technology optic glass fiber. Thousands of workers were earlier involved with this new technology. Now all that Verizon needs to do add this cable TV programming at now new technology cost or infrastructure cost. The users of Verizon will be thirdly benefitted with this service.Verizon is hoping that by offering the three in one service it will be able to lure all others who are presently non Verizon customers to making them Verizon customers. The non customers will be benefitted by three facilities at one time. So irrespective of not having any product differentiation it s hoped that Verizon will be able to get better viewership.