Factors Affecting the Viability of Prefabricated Housing in 21st Century UK - Essay Example

Project report-Ikea E s Contents Contents 2 Introduction 4 Background of the Study 4 Advertising image inside a Boklok home 5 Overview to Prefab Housing 5 Prefab Housing industry in UK: an Overview 6 Factors Affecting the Viability of Prefabricated Housing in 21st Century UK 7 Developing the Marketing Plan 8 Information Gathering 9 Analysis 9 SWOT Analysis 9 PEST Analysis 10 Product Ife Cycle Analysis 12 Target Market Analysis 13 Objective 14 Strategy 14 Product Strategy 14 Price Strategy 14 Place or distribution Strategy 15 Promotion Strategy 15 Measurement and Control 16 Conclusion 16 References 18 Bibliography 19 Introduction A marketing plan is an integral part of the overall business plan. A marketing plan can be described as the blueprint outlining the overall marketing efforts of an organization. The study looks to develop a probable marketing plan for Ikea Estate. The journey for Ikea started in the year 1943. The vision of the company is to make the everyday lives of individuals better. The core products of the company are the flat pack furniture. However, quite interestingly the company decided to diversify and enter the prefab housing business. The details about the venture would be provided in another section. As far as the marketing plan is concerned, strategic and marketing concepts such as the SWOT analysis, PEST analysis, Segmentation, targeting, positioning and the 4 P’s of marketing has been used (Kotler, 2001, p. 25). Background of the Study As mentioned earlier Ikea, the master of self assembly, flat pack furniture manufacturer entered the prefab housing business. The company joined forced with a construction firm name Skanska in the year 1996. The prefab houses developed were named as ‘Boklok’. The houses were made available in Finland, England, Denmark and Norway (Kohler and Fetters, 2006, p. 54). Advertising image inside a Boklok home Overview to Prefab Housing Prefabricated housing has attracted many businessmen, architects and politicians over the years. The factors behind the attraction are the promise of an expedient, affordable housing at a relatively modest price. However, many perceive this as a solution provided o solve the housing crisis. Prefabrication can be defined as the assembling of components of a construction structure in a factory unit and transporting the completed the assemblies to the designated site. This approach contrasts the traditional approach of construction, where the raw materials are taken to site and assembled to develop construction structure. The principle of prefabrication is applicable on the grouping of similar tasks using assembly line techniques during the availability of skilled workers. Prefabrication is very effective in the presence of modularization. Application of prefabrication was pursued in construction industry to counter the aftermath of the world war two crises, especially in the UK, US and Japan market. However, over the years the success of prefabricated housing has been questioned over the factors like quality, social status. Therefore the traditional housing still reigns supreme over the prefabricated housing techniques (Biswas, 2011, p. 105). Prefab Housing industry in UK: an Overview In UK the construction housing is mainly dominated by the brick related construction methodology. Add to that the prefab housing business has been mottled due to the social reputation factor as well failure of certain prefab projects. However, in the recent few years the business saw a growth due to the government support. After the world war prefabrication was initiated in the UK. The programs were backed by the government to solve the problem of homelessness. However, the Government never really was committed to the projects as it was looked upon as a temporary solution only. Also there was a serious concern regarding quality of the houses among the public. Things did not help as there were a few major failures related to the prefab housing projects like the 1968 Ronan Pint Residential tower that witnessed major collapses. In the late 90’s however, the prefab housing business saw major shift as the government planned to build over 3 million homes by 2020. The shortage of housing stocks and affordability crisis were the two major drives. Prefabrication housing has now become a serious construction agenda. However, human perception towards the prefab housing still continues to be major obstacle (Davies, 2005, p. 105). Prefabricated system Proportion of UK total 2005 Proportion of UK total 2016 Timber Frame 18.6% 30% Steel Frame 3.9% 25 % Precast Concrete Read More