(discussion format ) - Assignment Example

DAssignment thank you Our this week was about corporate level strategy and about how companies diversify. Therefore please respond to the following: (write your answer as a discussion format) please stick to the question Make your answer in few sentences thank you 1. Do you think the internet will make it easier for firms to diversify? Why or Why Not?  Please give examples where appropriate. Your Answer here : Me: Undoubtedly, the www is a matchless source for diversification. Even fortune 500 companies such as Hewlett Packard are using the net as a valuable source for diversification, HP recently purchased with Snapfish.

com to start online marketing of printed merchandise; and since HP did not have any experience with merchandising, it seemed like a good idea to purchase an already established enterprise (especially considering that HP is a liquidity-rich company). Very similarly, many other companies benefit from introducing e-commerce into their business models, even smaller companies that market their products through third-party suites such as e-bay are booming. Thus, the internet can help a company to diversify in two ways: (a) Diversifying customer-base (ex: selling on ebay or on own website through e-commerce solutions) and (b) Diversifying product range (similar to what HP did).

Moreover, the internet enables faster communication by the means of VoIP (Skype, IM, Yahoo!) and e-mail, and of course the easy promotion of a business by the means of social networking websites such as twitter or Facebook. Furthermore, websites such as YouTube and Vimeo are just more cheap promotional methods to increase customer base or help in the launch of a new product. Not only that but web 2.0 can also help a company earn more revenues, such as revenues from advertisements on owned website and revenues from selling products from related industries and acting as an agent.

Assignment #2 Please respond to these 3 discussion to what these people think please make you answer short and as a discussion format 1. Do you think the internet will make it easier for firms to diversify? Why or Why Not?  Please give examples where appropriate Yes I think the internet will make it easier for firms to diversify, because just about everybody use the internet. Using the internet can help a firm get more customers, because on the internet they can put more into advertising like, showing movies of what the firm does for business and they can also advertise online all over the world.

Also firms can take customers in other countries by using the internet for business to talk to the customers. For example: Barnes and Noble use the internet for business such as the customers can by book online without going into a store to purchase it. Also eBay is a store online and you can buy anything from shoes, books, and records and their business is blooming well. Your Answer here : Undoubtedly subject 1 did add value to the point I made, the internet is not only easier for the marketer but also the customer as even the customer has the benefit of comparing our products with multiple companies and then making a decision to purchase at the click of a mouse-button.

Not to mention that it is a lot easier for a company to lauch very cheap promotional campaigns. 2. Yes, I believe the internet does help companies to diversify. It allows companies to market and sell their product or service to all parts of the world. It is cheaper and easier to advertise online and reach customers that way than if you had to actually fly to all these places and do presentations, etc. It is faster and more convenient for most people to get in contact with you via the internet, e-mail or chat than it is to call or mail.

It also provides the customer with access to your product or service 24/7, there is no need to wait for business hours to make a purchase or get information.  Overall I believe it would be a good decision to do business on-line if you are trying to diversify as a company. Your Answer here : Although most of the points made here are very similar to what Subject 1 had to say, it was somewhat insightful; especially the ‘purchase 24/7’ part which was missed by myself and others is an extremely important feature of the net, think about it, just by placing a FAQ page, you cananswer all your customer’s queries and the customer can make a purchase at any moment of time, no matter what time-zone he/she is located in. 3. I do believe that the internet can help a company diversify.

It may be tough to diversify locally. However with the use of the internet a company has a broader audience and can therefore sell more. Let’s say a company is operating in a small town. It is tough for them to diversify because their customer base is very limited and a certain product may not sell well in that area and to those customers. However if that same company starts using the internet to expand then their customer base will become larger and more diverse giving the company the ability to diversify.

So, I do think that diversification is easier for a company that uses the internet to sell. Your Answer here : Yet another very fruitful point… ‘target audience’. For certain types of businesses the target audience is quite diminutive in a community, and hence such businesses could not possibly thrive in a small community. For example, many companies thrive by selling online flash based games to a huge pool of gaming fanatics, which they would’ve been unable to find in their own community; or companies and individuals that sell design/photograph copyrights on websites such as flickr.

com, if it wasn’t for the net, the talents of many such creative individuals would otherwise remain unharnessed.