A. Lesson 2 of our class asked us to consider external factors for strategic planning, in relation to our company or industry. As I mentioned before, I work for a self-publishing company. I had to consider several external factors in previous projects, when developing an issues management and crisis communication plan for example, as well as a company backgrounder. It was helpful to have worked here for several years, and to intimately know some of the background, issues, and ins and out of the company. But, I think it also creates a challenge: When you're intimately acquanted with a company and all of its actions, it creates somewhat of a bias. Just an observation--it seems best to straddle that middle line of thinking like a consumer/outside entity, but also utilize the knowledge you have of your industry.
B. The missions listed seem to definitely be consumer focused versus a product focus. I think having a consumer focus with a mission is ultimately more important than a product focus. As we learned in our "Marketing Myopia" article, it's best not to too narrowly define a focus for a company--whether that mean a certain product or a group of products. Also, the focus should be on consumer's interest. Therefore, the better choice would be a mission centered on the core values and interests of the customer base purchasing the products.
My company recently started an iniative to teach core values and our mission to all employees who enter the company (aptly titled "ASI University"). The mandatory classes also help teach employees about the process of publishing a book from start to finish, and what other departments and other co-workers actually do.
While there isn't a published mission statement on the company's website, one of the statements that we use is "At Author Solutions, Inc., we provide the technology and services that make publishing easy, affordable, and available to anyone--anyway, anywhere, anytime." This focuses on what we offer to help aspiring authors' dreams come true. I think it's a statement that we do utilize each day (helping authors achieve their dream of becoming published).
C. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the rise of electronic books and the popularity of tablets such as the iPad and Kindle has definitely impacted the publishing industry. "Brick and mortar" bookstores such as Borders, who didn't have the foundation or structure to remain profitable during the rise of e-books, collapsed. For those publishing companies that relied heavily on paperbacks and print copies for sales have also been suffering, and those slow to adopt the technology to format electronic copies of books have gone to the wayside. These companies didn't do the necessary boundary scanning in order to respond proactively to industry changes and the needs/wants of consumers.
Another example of an external change in environment are rising gas prices and an increase in demand for eco-friendly cars. More and more consumers are looking for an alternative to gas-fueled vehicles (like the Chevy Volt, for example), or for vehicles that are more fuel efficient (such as the Prius). So, car manufacturers are investing more time, money, and energy in cars that meet this demand.
The mobile technology industry (phone manufacturers, phone carriers, etc.) has seen some recent changes with the rise in popularity of first smart phones and now tablets. So, newer products are trying to merge the two products into one--a smart phone that is also a tablet. This industry is anticipating the needs and wants of the consumer by offering a new hybrid.
D. Levitt suggests that customers buy benefits and not products. It's easy to point out the benefits of self-publishing rather than the product itself (the finished book). Self publishing provides a vehicle for authors to bring their book to market, to publicly share their written works, to increase their credibility as a professional, and more. The list of benefits that our company's products provide for writers and authors is lengthy, and so when an author approaches our company to help publish their book we know they are buying a dream or a goal rather than simply the book itself.
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