Scan Monthly No. 003May 2003 |
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Signals of Change
Moblogging
SoC009
Using cell phones to make and access entries on Web logs (moblogging stands for mobile Web logging) is increasingly popular and has implications in several domains. In addition to serving consumers as an informal communications medium, moblogging has potential to expand the horizons of journalism, allowing fast-breaking news to reach consumers through nontraditional channels.
Engaging Consumer Attention
SoC010
The fact that many companies are learning to engage rather than hijack consumer attention represents a competitive threat to companies depending on more traditional attention-grabbing strategies. New attention-engagement strategies are also a portent of change for the advertising industry. Some parties are even managing to generate obsessive levels of interest on the part of consumers concerning certain products.
Revaluing Water
SoC011
The rapid growth of the water industry is one manifestation of a foundational shift taking place in global markets and societies: the revaluation of water. Growing industrialization and population-growth demands on freshwater resources and infrastructure create scarcity conditions, competition for finite freshwater sources, and a willingness on the part of some parties to pay substantial fees for clean water. Many groups, however (including the poor), are in no position to participate in a bidding war for an essential resource traditionally available at little or no cost. The transition to water as a valuable commodity will not be easy.
Context Awareness
SoC012
Development of computer systems that are aware of the user's context is now well under way and involves awareness of elementary factors such as a user's presence online or geographic location. Advancing technology will gradually expand these capabilities to include an awareness of the user's data needs, cultural background, and even emotional state in any particular context. Visionaries dream of sophisticated systems that track and serve consumer needs on a continuous basis through a pervasive-computing environment, transforming the way people live. But the technical and cultural barriers to such pervasive systems are substantial, postponing implementation beyond the foreseeable future—if indeed, they ever emerge.
Insights
| Exploring the Competitive Dynamics of Product-Category Relationships | View summary |
| D03-2426 | Download this Insight |
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When consumers purchase products and services, they often choose from products in two or more categories—such as videocassette recorders and DVD players—that can meet the need at hand (a way to watch movies at home). Moreover, product categories can influence each other, either increasing or decreasing the likelihood that consumers will select a product from a given category. Too often, however, companies lack a systematic way to identify such cross-category influences and either stumble on them by accident or overlook them entirely. As the competitive environment continues to heat up, the need to identify such influences grows. Companies that establish a framework for analyzing the positive and negative influences on their existing product categories can strengthen their understanding of their customers and improve their strategic planning. They can also identify the full range of their competitors, gain a more realistic view of the overall competitive environment, and discover new opportunity spaces for existing products and services or for new ones. Author: Martin Schwirn. 15 pages. Index Keywords: Competitive Analysis; Consumer Behavior; Marketing; Strategic Planning. |
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| Personal Influence Marketing: All about Buzz | View summary |
| D03-2427 | Download this Insight |
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Word of mouth—comments from friends and acquaintances about good restaurants, movies, doctors, and so on—has long been a powerful influence on consumer decisions. However, the rise of the Internet and other electronic channels has increased the power and appeal of this time-tested marketing approach, enabling a single individual to communicate to a large number of people at one time. Use of personal-influence marketing, or buzz marketing, has typically focused on products with entertainment or fashion benefits or products that are novel or "edgy." However, companies don't need to have a new, different, or wild product to ignite buzz: Everyday products like household cleaners and prescription drugs are also buzzworthy. In fact, companies can use this marketing technique most effectively if they design their products and services with buzz in mind. Creating buzz calls for a good match between the product, the target consumers, and the technique for generating buzz. The structure of people's social networks, consumer mind-sets, the degree of involvement necessary to make a purchase decision, and the objective—to ignite, sustain, or reignite buzz—are all important determinants of success. Author: Kristen Thomas. 19 pages. Index Keywords: Advertising; Communications; Consumer Behavior; Marketing. |
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| Nutraceuticals: Opportunities and Threats | View summary |
| D03-2428 | Download this Insight |
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Nutraceuticals have become a major presence in the U.S. consumer market in the past decade, and all key forces—demographics, health awareness, and media attention—point toward increased consumption of these products. Nonetheless, the nutraceuticals industry—which produces a range of functional foods, dietary supplements, and fortified foods—is enduring some growing pains. Regulators and consumers alike increasingly want to see scientific evidence of manufacturers' health claims for nutraceutical products, yet the expense of conducting thorough scientific studies and clinical trials is so great that most companies in the industry are unwilling to take the risk. Moreover, achieving a competitive position is difficult in the nutraceuticals market. Routes to product differentiation are few, paybacks on investments are uncertain, competition to find the next big nutraceutical is fierce, regulatory guidelines are elusive, and achieving and maintaining an intellectual-property position is difficult. Ultimately, having the science and efficacy data to back up product claims could be the most potent differentiator in nutritional ingredients. This new emphasis on science has major implications for the structure of the industry, giving the advantage to larger players. Authors: John Bomben and Nancy Borgeson. 17 pages. Index Keywords: Biotechnology; Food and Drink Industries; Food Technology; Medical Research. |
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| U.S. Corporate Responses to Global Climate Change | View summary |
| D03-2429 | Download this Insight |
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Despite the refusal of the United States to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, a growing number of businesses are proactively addressing global-warming issues, acting voluntarily to reduce their own environmental footprint. Scientific and regulatory uncertainties make corporate action risky, but more and more businesses are looking for opportunity in the emerging carbon-constrained marketplace. Greater efficiency, improved public relations, the threat of onerous regulation, and reduced energy use are the reasons that businesses most often cite for addressing global-warming issues. U.S. corporations have had various responses to global warming, ranging from internal assessment of greenhouse-gas emissions to new-product development. This study looks at actions by three companies—DuPont, IBM, and John Hancock Financial Services—to reduce their impact on climate change. These companies are in the vanguard of climate action, trying a variety of strategies. They are focusing both on internal solutions to reduce their emissions of global- warming gases and on external possibilities, such as emissions trading and investment in carbon sinks or sequestration. These actions counter the conventional wisdom that U.S. corporations choose only "no-regrets" actions that do not risk the bottom line. Author: Carolyn E. Sleeth. 12 pages. Index Keywords: Chemical Industry; Energy; Environment; Financial Services; Forestry; Information Technology. |
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Calendar
Scan™ Briefings
The 2003 biannual Scan™ Briefings in which Scan staff present Scan analysis and findings in Menlo Park, California, will take place on:
- 22 May 2003 at 9:00 am
- 23 October 2003 at 9:00 am
Scan™ Abstract Meetings
Scan abstract meetings (in which SRIC-BI [now SBI] staff participate in a free-form discussion of current Scan abstracts) are open for client observation/participation on:
- 21 May 2003 at 1:30 pm
- 23 July 2003 at 9:00 am
- 17 September 2003 at 9:00 am
- 22 October 2003 at 1:30 pm
- 21 January 2004 at 9:00 am
- 17 March 2004 at 9:00 am
- 19 May 2004 at 9:00 am
Watch List
The Scan program's scanning and research processes identify areas on the periphery of your organizations's focus that constitute potential opportunities or threats. The areas that we decide bear watching go on Scan's watch list of defining forces that are transforming the business environment. Current watch-list topics include:
