WGU Task 1 Business C-714

Answer

WGU Task 1 Business C-714

This paper provides a market entry overview for the U.S. boat manufacturer by focusing two parts including Part A and Part B. Part A discusses the company aspects from the provided scenario. Part B discusses the firm’s product from the provided scenario.

Part A: Discussion of the Company Aspects

1. How Aspects of the Company Impact Decision-Making Process

Company Culture

An organization’s culture bears a significant influence on its decision-making ability. Having a robust culture contributes to more efficient decision-making (Jalal 2). The U.S. fishing boat manufacture boasts of a strong culture founded on innovation and equality. Therefore, this culture can positively impact decision-making by ensuring that all employees or organizational members are provided with equal opportunities to present their innovative views or ideas to the management, which in turn can inform and facilitate the firm’s decisions.

Organizational Structure

The company possesses a decentralized organizational structure, which enhances the speed and efficiency of decision-making. In decentralized organization structure, the daily decision-making responsibilities and operations are delegated to the lower-level and middle managers by the top managers (Joseph par. 3). Therefore, the company’s organization structure enhances decision-making in that middle and lower level managers at the organization do not have to wait for approval from the founders or top management for them to embrace strategic decisions that require quick response.

Strategic Direction

Strategic direction involves actions embraced to attain the organizational strategy’s goals (Hammar par. 3). The company’s strategic direction in terms of mission and vision statements provides a clear path to the decisions that the organizational management should embrace to excel in the novel market (Indian market). While the organization’s mission emphasizes the provision of the most innovative and customer-driven design, its vision focuses on sustainability. Therefore, the company’s strategic direction positively impact decision-making when it comes to innovativeness and sustainability, which are vital for success in the Indian market. It is vital to note that India’s The National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) emphasizes sustainability and innovative boat designs, as opposed to the current non-mechanized fishing boat.  

2. Company Culture’s Influence on the Market Entry Strategy

The success of an organization’s international operations relies largely on the entry mode choice into a novel or foreign market (Barua and Mahmudur par. 4). The company’s culture of innovation and equality will greatly influence the market entry strategy adopted by the organization in India. Currently, fishers in India use non-mechanized boats, which are not encouraged by the NFDB. Therefore, there exists a gap for the company to fill in this foreign market. In relation to this, the company will embrace a market entry approach focused on innovation of the fishing boats, with the aim of replacing the existing non-mechanized fishing boats with its sustainable foldable boats that have net-zero environmental impact. Moreover, the company will join the market as a business that values the needs and views of customers and employees through its innovative customer-driven boat designs. To achieve this goal, the company will focus on the provision of incentives for its employees’ creative ideas and creation of testing laboratories in India, where customers can use the firm’s products and generate design feedback, as it does in the U.S. Furthermore, the U.S. boat manufacture could adopt a market entry approach that focuses on partnering with innovators in India’s information technology and gaming industries.

3. Whether the Company’s Structure is an Advantage or a Disadvantage

The company’s structure serves is an advantage. Decentralized organization structure places the organization is a suitable position to realize its strategic objects, deliver its mission, and accomplish its vision. Decentralized structure empowers organizational employees to make decisions (Joseph par. 2). As such, the company stands to benefit from innovative ideas developed and adopted by employees, especially in the foreign market where the embracement of technological innovations in boat production still lag. This advantage will enable the company to deliver its mission of providing innovative, customer-tailored designs and achieve its vision of sustainability. Besides, decentralized structure enhances decision-making and response times (Joseph par. 5). The company will benefit greatly from this structure when it comes to the adoption of quick decisions in the new market and responding to urgent issues such as partnering with innovators and plastic manufacturers to meet the NFDB requirement of using India-made plastics. Decentralized structure also enhances the ability of firms to expand their operations by allowing new units in different geographical locations to function independently in terms of making decisions that meet the specific areas of consumers in such regions (Joseph par. 6). Thus, this structure will enable the company to expand its operations in India and Asia in an efficient and effective manner, as intended by the management.

Part B: Discussion of the Company’s Product from the Provided Scenario

1. Description of the Specific Characteristics of the Emerging Market that Affect the Organization’s Product

There exist certain characteristics of the emerging market that can influence the company’s products including low innovation levels, favorable legal environment for business, large pool of consumers, and market demographic of clients aged between 13 and 70 years. When it comes to low levels of innovation, India’s market still lags in innovation, as many traditional fishers still use non-mechanized boats. As such, the firm will be compelled to manufacture more mechanized boats for these clients. In relation to large pool of clients, aquaculture and fishing are key industries within India’s coastal regions. As such, the company will have to manufacture more foldable fishing boats, with the aim of matching the market demand for its products.

When it comes to favorable legal environment, regulations and laws surrounding the employment of non-mechanized boats favor the importation of foldable boats, as they are considered convenient for fishers to carry them from home to the water. As such, the U.S. boat manufacture will have to focus on the production of more foldable boats. Moreover, the NFDB promotes the employment of natural fishing equipment, as means of reducing interference to India’s fishing ecosystem. Thus, the company will have to incorporate environmental sound materials in manufacturing in products including environmentally friendly waterproof coating and recyclable body parts. However, the requirement by the NFDB that boats be made of plastic sourced in India, will compel the company to either partner with India’s plastic manufacturers or establish a plant in India for plastic production. When it comes to market demographic of clients aged between 13 and 70 years, the firm will have to manufacture foldable boat designs that are portable and comfortable to accommodate the needs of these users.

2. How Either an Novel Product or an Improvement to the Firm’s Existing Product Would Meet the Market Characteristics Identified
3. Details of Steps Involved in the Design Thinking Process

The firm’s existing product meets the market characteristics in many ways including being foldable to meet the needs of clients aged between 13 and 70 years, made of environmentally friendly coating and recyclable body parts to meet the existing laws and regulations established by the NFDB. Moreover, the company has the capacity to produce more boats that can meet the high market demand and fill the gap left with low innovation levels in terms of substituting the non-mechanized boats.  As such, the company’s product is left with two market aspects to meet, which are producing comfortable boats that are suitable for individuals aged between 13 and 70 years, and seek for appropriate ways of sourcing plastic materials for manufacturing the boats in India. Considering that the company’s existing product meets most of the market characteristics, an improvement of this product would be ideal for the company, as developing a novel product would be more costly. To achieve this goal the company will have to adhere to the following steps:

Step 1: Empathize

The company would have to commence the product improvement process by empathizing with the customers, particularly individuals aged between 13 and 70 years. For example, the firm could conduct usability tests, interviews, or surveys to establish an understanding of the target buyers’ experiences and pain points about the boats in relation to comfort.

Step 2: Definition of the Problem

In this stage, the company should compile information collected during the empathize phase and thoroughly evaluate it to define the key issues observed about the existing product in terms of the comfort it provides. Human-centered approach should be embraced in problem definition. For instance, the company could state “boat users need to feel the comfort provided by the product”.

Step 3: Ideation

This stage will involve the generation of ideas and establishment of remedies for the comfort issues identified in the existing product. The company will have to be creative at this stage and encourage unconventional thinking, as a means of arriving at innovative solutions on how the boat can be made more comfortable to the target users. To accomplish this goal, the firm will have to organize sessions of collaborative brainstorming and encourage free thinking about appropriate ways of making the boat comfortable.

Step 4: Prototype

This phase will involve the selection of appropriate ideas to make the boat comfortable to target users, and commencement of prototype. The creation of the product’s prototype ensures the ease of conducting thorough tests on the remedies generated in the stage of ideation.

Step 5: Test

In this stage, the product developer tests the product’s usability to establish whether it solves the issues identified in the stage of problem definition. As such, the company will have to test the boat for its ability to provide comfort to users. The firm can accomplish this goal by recruiting test participants. 

1. Effects of Three Aspects from the Scenario on the New Product Improved in B2

Company Culture

The company’s culture of innovation will positively impact the generation of creative and innovative ideas on how the boat can be made comfortable to target users.

Company Ethics

The firm’s ethics of making decisions that are sustainable to the environment and customers, will influence the product improvement in terms of the selection of building materials that promote comfort, while being environmentally-friendly.

Organizational Structure

The company’s decentralized structure will ensure quick decision making in terms of adopting effective solutions for making the boat comfortable to users, as middle and lower level managers do not have to wait for directives from the senior management.

In conclusion, this paper has adequately provided a market entry overview for the boat manufacture by discussing the firm’s aspects and product from the provided scenario.