ICT-Environment-and-Market- for teachers.pdf

Lesson 2: Environment and Market (EM)  Trade to remember: Market – a place where buyers and sellers can meet to facilitate the exchange or transaction of goods and services. Business –is an activity of making money by producing or buying and selling products. Environmental scanni...

Lesson 2: Environment and Market (EM)  Trade to remember: Market – a place where buyers and sellers can meet to facilitate the exchange or transaction of goods and services. Business –is an activity of making money by producing or buying and selling products. Environmental scanning – is defined as a process of gathering, analyzing, and dispensing information for tactical or strategic purposes SWOT- Strength Weakness Opportunities and Threat. NEEDS AND WANTS Needs and Wants of People Everyone has his or her own needs and wants. However, people have different concepts of needs and want. Needs in business are important things that every individual cannot do without in society. These include: 1. Basic commodity for consumption 2. Clothing and other personal belongings, 3. Shelter, sanitation, and health 4. Education and relaxation NEEDS - are essential to every individual so he/she may be able to live with dignity and pride in the community of people. These needs can obviously help you generate business ideas. WANTS - are desires, luxury, and extravagance that signify wealth and an expensive way of living. Wants or desires are considered above all the basic necessities of life. Some examples are the eagerness or the passion of every individual which are non-basic needs like; fashion accessories, shoes, clothes, travelling around the world, eating in an exclusive restaurant; watching movies, concerts, plays, having luxurious cars, wearing expensive jewelry, perfume, living in impressive homes, and others. Generating Ideas for Business. 1. Examine the existing goods and services Are you satisfied with the product? What do other people who use the product say about it? How can it be improved? There are many ways of improving a product from the way it is made to the way it is packed and sold? You can also improve the materials used in crafting the product. 2. Examine the present and future needs. Look and listen to what the customers, institution, and communities are missing in terms of goods and services. Sometimes, these needs are already obvious and felt at the moment. Other needs are not that obvious because they can only be felt in the future, in the event of certain developments in the community. 3. Examine how the needs are being satisfied. Needs for the products and services are referred to as market demand. To satisfy these needs is to supply the products and services that meet the demands of the market. The term market refers to whoever will use or buy the products or service, and these may be people or institutions such as other businesses, establishments, organizations, or government agencies. 4. Examine the available resources around you. Observe what materials or skills are available in abundance in your area. A business can be started out of available raw materials by selling them in raw form and by processing and manufacturing them into finished products. For example, in a copra-producing town, there will be many coconut husks and shells available as “waste” products. These can be collected and made into coco rags/doormat and charcoal bricks and sold profitably outside the community.  5. Read magazines, news articles, and other publications on new products and techniques or advances in technology. You can pick up new business ideas from Newsweek, Reader’s Digest, Business Magazines, Go Negosyo, KAB materials, Small- industry Journal. The Internet serves as a library where you may browse and surf on possible businesses. It will also guide you on how to put the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time. Selecting the Right Idea Once you have embarked on identifying the business opportunities, you will eventually see that there are many possibilities that are available for you. It is very unlikely that you will have enough resources to pursue all of them at once. Which one will you choose? You have to select the most promising one from among hundreds and one ideas. It will be good to do this in stages. In the first stage, you screen your ideas to narrow them down to about five choices. In the next stage, trim down the five choices to two options. In the final stage, choose between the two and decide which business idea worth pursuing. In screening your ideas, examine each one in terms of the following factors: 1. How much capital is needed to put up the business? 2. How big is the demand for the product? Do many people need this product and will continue to need it for a long time? 3. How is the demand met? Who are processing the products to meet the need (competition or demand)? How much of the need is now being met (supply)? 4. Do you have the background and experience needed to run this particular business? 5. Will the business be legal, not going against any existing or foreseeable government regulation? 6. Is the business in line with your interest and expertise? Environmental Scanning There is a need to conduct environmental scanning to identity the needs and wants of people, the niche for your business mission, and to give attention to trends and issues. This may also serve as an evaluation of the type of the entrepreneurial activity appropriate in the community. Environmental scanning is defined as a process of gathering, analyzing, and dispensing information for tactical or strategic purposes. The environmental scanning process entails obtaining both factual and subjective information on the business environments in which a company is operating. As a future entrepreneur, you must be well-versed in this kind of advancement and progression of your environment particularly in technology so as to secure the success of your future business. Always think of something new, something novel, authentic, reinvent the existing ones, and create your new version of goods/products, and services. Bear in mind these simple rules for a successful SWOT analysis. Be realistic about the strengths and weaknesses of your business when conducting SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis should distinguish between where your business is today, and where it could be in the future. SWOT should always be specific. Avoid any grey areas. Always apply SWOT in relation to your competition i.e. better than or worse than your competition. Keep your SWOT short and simple. Avoid complexity and over analysis SWOT is subjective.