1. Week 10

PART 1

Find a recent article or video describing the competition between two or more businesses. Post a link to the article or video in the discussion thread and answer the following questions:

1. What are the competing businesses and what products do they sell?

2. Which company do you believe is winning the competition? Why?

2. Part two on a separate word document write 

ASSIGNMENT 5

COMPETITION – MARKET RESEARCH MANAGER ANALYSIS

DUE DATE: WEEK 10

Note: While representative of possible situations faced by Target & Walmart, all scenarios in this assignment are fictional.

REAL BUSINESS

As you learned this week, understanding your competition and adjusting your own business accordingly is critical to a business’s success. A large discount retail store like Target competes not only with other discount retail store stores but also with those stores that offer just some of the products Target does, such as grocery stores. Keeping track of all these competitors is quite a task; that’s why large companies have a team of market researchers dedicated to managing that research.

YOUR ROLE

This week, you’ll assume the role of a Market Research Manager at Target.

WHAT IS A MARKET RESEARCH MANAGER?

Market Research Managers are responsible for creating and improving processes for gathering information on various market conditions, competitors, and consumer trends in their companies’ industries. They are typically responsible for managing a team of researchers and reporting their findings to the head of the department. Teams across the company then use these findings to help improve products, guide marketing efforts, and more.

As a Market Research Manager, part of your role is to consistently analyze Target’s position relative to its competitors and report on these findings. As part of this process, you complete a SWOT analysis for each of Target’s main competitors each quarter. The quarter is coming to a close, and your boss has asked for the latest SWOT analysis for Walmart. 

INSTRUCTIONS

STEP 1: RESEARCH

Search online and find 1-3 articles that discuss the competition between Target and Walmart. For each article:

? Identify Provide a link to the article.

? 

Identify which aspects of the article will be helpful as you conduct your SWOT analysis. 

STEP 2: STRENGTHS

Based on your own experiences shopping at Target and Walmart and the research you conducted:

? Identify 1-2 strengths Target has in comparison to Walmart. For each strength, explain your rationale.

STEP 3: WEAKNESSES

Based on your own experiences shopping at Target and Walmart and the research you conducted:

? Identify 1-2 weaknesses Target has in comparison to Walmart. For each weakness, explain your rationale.

STEP 4: OPPORTUNITIES

Based on your own experiences shopping at Target and Walmart and the research you conducted:

? Identify 1-2 possible opportunities Target has to be more competitive with Walmart. For each opportunity, explain your rationale.

STEP 5: THREATS

Based on your own experiences shopping at Target and Walmart and the research you conducted:

? Identify 1-2 possible threats that might diminish Target’s competitiveness with Walmart. For each threat, explain your rationale

STEP 6: WHO WILL COME OUT AHEAD?

Based on your SWOT analysis, do think that Target or Walmart is better positioned over the long term to come out ahead? Why?

STEP 7: REAL_WORLD APPLICATION

Conduct a SWOT analysis for your company and one of its biggest competitors using the methodology outlined in Steps 2-5. 

1BUS508: CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS 

3. Part three on a separate word document complete the following 

Step 1 – Read the Information Below

Decision making is the process of identifying and choosing alternative courses of action. While we want to make rational decisions, sometimes we don’t—sometimes we make non-rational decisions.

There are four steps in rational decision-making:

1. Recognize and define the problem or opportunity. In business, the problem can come in the form of customer complaints, supplier breakdowns, staff turnover, sales decline, and so on. Organizations proactively seek opportunities to exceed goals, surpass the industry expectations, and to expand and grow the business.
2. Identify and analyze alternative courses of action. Leaders should seek input from multiple sources to interpret and analyze the problem/opportunity to come up with as many options as possible to solve the issue.
3. Choose a preferred course of action. The group want to answer the following:
   • Is the action ethical?
   • Is it feasible? (Costs, technology availability.)
   • Is it effective? If your answer to this question is the resolution is “good enough,” you want to rethink this solution—it will cause more harm than good.
4. Implement the preferred course of action. You need to the participation from all teams to successfully implement the action.

On the other hand, non-rational decisions are generally the result of either satisficing (going with the first available option without much research) or intuition (using your “gut” or just your own feelings to make decisions).

For this week’s discussion, think about a time when you made a non-rational decision on the job or in your personal life.

Step 2 – Post a Response

Respond to the following.

• Was it the result of satisficing or intuition?
• How would your decision have been different using the four steps for rational decision-making?
• How would the steps have helped you to make a better, or more sound, decision?