The North American electronics market is considered a high-technology industry. The barrier to entry is medium, and the product life cycle is relatively short. Companies tend to have multiple products with different pricing and functionality to fulfill the needs of customers in different segments. End of 2014: Company A has 35% of the market share, whereas Company B and C still have 15% and 10% market shares respectively. The other 40% of market share is shared amongst more than 80 other firms including Americans, Canadians, and other nationalities. End of 2019 (just before COVID hits): At the end of the year 2019, 50% of the market share belongs to three big American firms (Company A: 25%; Company B: 15%; and Company C: 10%). The other 50% of market share is shared amongst more than 100 firms including Americans, Canadians, and other nationalities.

You have been recently hired by Company A as a new graduate, and you were asked by your manager to provide a report based on the following question.

Q1. In no more than 500 words,

a. What problem(s) can you find based on the information provided, reasonable assumptions/research, and concepts you have learned? Elaborate your view/response. (Hint: both symptoms and root causes; so, use Micro- and Macroenvironment factors, BCG matrix, 4p’s, etc. to support your arguments) (30 marks)

b. Design a marketing research based on the problem(s) you have identified in Q1 and elaborate your research plan (Hint: what is the question you are trying to answer? What is the nature of your question(s) (e.g., exploratory, descriptive, etc.)? What kind of data do you need to gather (primary, secondary, both)? From where do you get the data? What will be your sampling method if need be? etc.) (30 marks)

Q2. Having answered Q1a&b, and in no more than 300 words, conduct a SWOT analysis and suggest two strategies/alternatives for company A’s problem(s).