Professional Documents
Culture Documents
IDEA GENERATION
Sources of Opportunities
There are many ways to uncover or discover opportunities. Some look at the big picture and study the
emerging trends and patterns. While others analyze the specific customer segments being targeted in
the marketplace.
Macro Environmental Sources of Opportunities
The macro environment refers to "big forces" that affect the area, the industry, and the market,
which the enterprise belongs to. These forces influence how the business should be conducted,
how consumers will behave, how supply and demand will move, how competitors would position
themselves, and how the cost of doing business will proceed.
The macro environmental forces can be divided into six (6) categories known as PESTEL. These
categories are as follows (Oxford College of Marketing, n.d.):
1. Political. These forces determine the extent to which government and government policies
may impact an organization or a specific industry. Some examples are political and taxation
policies.
2. Economic. These factors impact the economy and its performance, which directly impacts the
organization and its profitability. Some examples are interest rates and raw material costs.
3. Social. These factors focus on the social environment and identify emerging trends. This helps a
marketer to understand their customers' needs further and wants. Examples of social factors
are demographics and changes in lifestyle.
4. Technological. These factors consider the rate of technological innovation and development
that could affect a market or industry. Some of its examples are digital technology and
automation. There is a tendency to focus mainly on digital technology, but methods of
distribution, manufacturing, and logistics should also be considered.
5. Environmental. These factors relate to the influence of the surrounding environment and the
impact of ecological aspects. Businesses nowadays prioritize CSR (Corporate Social
Responsibility); that's why this element is becoming more important. Factors include waste
6. Legal. These factors include laws that may affect the operations of a business. Organizations
are required to understand what is legal and allowed within the territories they operate in.
Some examples are consumer law and health and safety regulations.
Opportunities to the
Factors Threats to the Enterprise
Enterprise
1. Political
The increased purchasing
Tax exemption for 13th-month
power of the customers
pay and other bonuses up to
leading higher retail sales
P70,000 passed by congress
rivals.
Food Authority ensures that the Philippines has a stable supply and price of rice. In relation
to this, the NFA rice being sold in the Philippine market is cheaper than any type of grain.
5. Global markets. These are business expansions that cater to different countries and
normally customize the product or service and its message based on the country they are in
(Bhasin, 2017). For example, McDonald's is present in almost every country globally and is
very critical to the details of their product offering depending on their target market.
Micromarket
This refers to the specific target market segment of a particular enterprise or those currently
buying the goods or availing the services offered by the enterprise or its direct competitors. Micro
market clearly defines the location and specific customer group the enterprise wishes to serve.
Segmentation is more crucial in micro market analysis as the definition of value for money differs
from group to group. For example, Makati City is the leading business district in the Philippines
where different groups of people work. However, these groups of people can be divided into
subgroups through market segmentation such that the customers in each group share the common
set of needs and wants and have more or less similar or related characteristics (Business Jargons,
n.d.). Groups can be segmented through demographics where information such as purchasing
power, age range, family status, etc., can be gathered. The information helps identify what groups
prefer pack lunches, fast food establishments, eateries, and casual dining.
Consumer Preferences, Piques, and Perceptions
o Consumer preferences refer to the tastes of particular groups, such as the food they eat or
the clothes they wear.
o Consumer piques. In contrast to consumer preferences, consumer piques or dislikes refer to
the things that irritate customers. For example, many customers dislike lone queues, then a
sit-down or "fast casual" dining could be a great opportunity.
o Consumer perceptions. There are times when the enterprise does not change the product;
what changes are the way consumers perceive the product. For instance, when a customer
sees chocolate being sold in a packaging that's not appealing to them, they might perceive
that the chocolate has cheap quality or does not have a delightful taste.
If the answer to all the questions is a consistent "YES," then steps in opportunity screening may already
begin. At the simplest level, an entrepreneur may want to make a risk-return grid shown as follows:
Risk
Low Risk Medium Risk High Risk
Return
High Return Best Good Fair
Medium Return Good Fair Bad
Low Return Fair Bad Worst
Table 2. Risk-return grid for screening opportunities
12. Risks. These are inevitable in the field of entrepreneurship. However, the entrepreneur must
determine what opportunities carry more risks than the others.
Criteria Very High Average Low Very Sample Score
High Low Weight
Opportunity Screening Matrix
Rating 5 4 3 2 1 Weight Score*
1. RELEVANCE 2
2. RESONANCE 1
3. REINFORCEMENT OF 1
ENTREPRENEURIAL
INTERESTS
4. REVENUES 2
5. RESPONSIVENESS 1
6. REACH 1
7. RANGE 1
8. REVOLUTIONARY IMPACT 2
9. RETURNS 4
10. RELATIVE EASE OF 1
IMPLEMENTATION
Rating 1 2 3 4 5
11. RESOURCES REQUIRED 1
12. RISKS 3
Total Score
Table 3. Opportunity screening matrix
entrepreneur to keep out of a market with fierce competition. Profiling the competitors will
help the entrepreneur gauge their respective strengths and weaknesses that will enable the
entrepreneur to strategize.
c. Estimating market share and sales
In a pre-feasibility study, it is important to quantify the market potential systematically. Thus,
the entrepreneur should follow these steps (Morato, 2016):
o Define the market coverage or reach the entrepreneur wants to serve.
o Determine the broad market segments within the area or total targeted population.
o Evaluate the relative strength of various suppliers or competitors in the market place by
identifying the dominant businesses and with greater bargaining power, saturated and
unsaturated segments of the total market, and find out the more attractive segments.
o Determine what share of the targeted market segment the entrepreneur wants to reach.
2. Technology Assessment and Operations Viability
Detailing the operations that include technology assessment should be done to determine if the
product/service will meet customer demand. There are four (4) target customer expectations
that affect the scale and complexity of an enterprise's operations (Morato, 2016):
a. Quantities Demanded. This would determine the needed capacity of operations.
b. Quality specifications demanded. This would dictate the following:
Quality of input or raw materials
Quality assurance process (from input to output)
Quality output that meets the standards set
Quality outcomes
c. Delivery expectation. It knows how much, how frequently, and when to deliver to customers.
d. Price expectations. Customers would evaluate the selling price of the product according to
the value they would receive, which should be matched against competitors.
3. Investment Requirements and Production / Servicing Costs
The entrepreneur needs to determine the money needed to start the business opportunity. The
following are the investments that need to be funded (Morato, 2016):
a. Pre-operating Costs. These are related to the preparation of launching the business.
b. Production/Service Facilities Investment. The long-term investment for the actual business
establishment.
c. Working Capital Investment. These are the investments needed for business operations. It is
very important for the entrepreneur to have enough cash to cover inventories, the accounts
receivable, and operating expenses (the expense a business incurs through its normal
business operations (Kenton, 2020).
4. Financial Forecasts and Determination of Financial Feasibility
After accomplishing the first three (3) parts of the pre-feasibility study, the entrepreneur should
start preparing the enterprise's financial forecasts. Financial forecasts refer to the monetary
transactions that the business is expected to engage in. The result will indicate the enterprise's
feasibility.
Three (3) Financial Statements (Morato, 2016) (Berk & DeMarzo, 2017)
a. Balance sheet. This shows what assets the company owns and who has claims on those
assets as of a given date.
b. Income statement. This shows the firm's sales and costs (and profits) during some past period.
REVENUES − EXPENSES = INCOME OR PROFIT (LOSS)
Sales P750,600
Less: Cost of Goods Sold* 460,000
Gross Profit/Margin 290,600
Less: Operating Expenses 166,000
Operating Profit/Margin 124,600
Less: Taxes 21,300
Net Profit After Taxes P103,300
Table 5. Sample income statement
*Note that the cost of goods sold refers to the materials, labor costs, and overhead of
making a product. For establishments, the entrepreneur can compute the costs of servicing
the customers directly as the cost of services rendered.
c. Cash Flow Statement. This shows how much cash the firm began the year with, how much it
ended up with, and what it did to increase or decrease its cash.
Financial Ratios and Measurements
As an entrepreneur, it is normal to be interested in knowing how long it will take him/her to
get back what s/he has invested in the enterprise. The income payback period can be
computed as follows:
PAYBACK PERIOD = TOTAL INVESTMENT
ANNUAL NET INCOME AFTER TAXES
When the entrepreneur calculates how much profit the enterprise is earning for each peso
sold, the return on sales formula is as follows:
NET PROFIT AFTER TAXES
RETURN ON SALES =
SALES
If the entrepreneur wants to know the return on investments made, which may come in the
form of assets, the formula to be used is as follows:
For bigger projects or businesses, a feasibility study is much more needed than a pre-feasibility study.
Feasibility study entails a more rigorous approach. It is needed to convince bankers and investors to put
money into the business opportunity.
Opportunity Seizing (Morato, 2016)
The final stage in planning the enterprise is opportunity seizing. Now that the entrepreneur already has
an idea on where to locate the business and how to market the business or market, s/he must be able to
determine the critical success factors that enable other businesses to succeed while being vigilant to
those factors that made others fail.
Below are sample grids for competitor analysis that the entrepreneur can follow:
Table 7. Sample grid for sales volume versus main value proposition
COMPETITOR'S PRODUCTS
Questions for Competitor Analysis Competitor Competitor Competitor Competitor
1 2 3 4
A. Main Customer Segment
1. Profile
2. Traits and characteristics
3. Buying behavior
4. Usage pattern
5. Image of product
6. Major motivation
B. Product Attributed and Features
1. Materials used
2. Sizes available
3. Colors
4. Designs, models, and variations
5. Packaging
6. Weight
7. Ease of operation
8. Durability
9. Frequency of upgrades
10. Functionality
11. Others
C. Marketing Practices
1. Marketing channels
2. Advertising and promotions
COMPETITOR'S PRODUCTS
Questions for Competitor Analysis Competitor Competitor Competitor Competitor
1 2 3 4
3. Communication message
4. Prices and selling terms
5. Places and outlets sold
6. Market reach
D. Market Performance
1. Sales volume
2. Sales trends
3. Best performing models, variations
4. Worst performing models, variations
E. Strengths of Competitor's Products
F. Weaknesses of Competitors' Products
G. Main Value Proposition of Competitors'
Products
Table 8. Analysis of Competitors' Products
1. Choose the correct technology that produces outputs within the customers' quality specifications.
2. Choose the right people to perform the technical and managerial functions to achieve the
targeted results.
3. Design the operating workflow that would assure the effective, economical, and efficient
production of the output.
4. Specify the systems and procedures that would govern the enterprise, motivate and discipline
the workforce, and satisfy the customers.
5. Design the organizational architecture that would allow the people to function at their best.
References:
Bhasin, H. (2017, December 16). Types of market. Marketing91. https://www.marketing91.com/types-
of-market/
Business Jargons. (n.d.). Bases of market segmentation. In Business Jargons.
https://businessjargons.com/bases-market-segmentation.html#:~:text=Definition
Berk, J. and DeMarzo, P. (2017). Corporate finance (4th ed). Pearson.
Burnett, J. (2020, August 10). Types of market. Business LibreTexts.
https://biz.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Marketing/Book%3A_Introducing_Marketing_(Burnett)/0
2%3A_Understanding_and_approaching_the_market/2.02%3A_Types_of_market
CommenceCRM. (2019, June 16). 3 methods of customer profiling. Commence.
https://www.commence.com/blog/2020/06/16/customer-profiling-methods
Educba. (2020). Industry analysis in a business plan. In Educba.com. Retrieved January 20, 2021,
from https://www.educba.com/industry-analysis-in-a-business-plan/
Entrepreneurs Asia Pacific. (2021). Market research. In Entrepreneur.com. Retrieved January 29,2021,
from https://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/market-research
Hayes, A. (2020, October 6). Business plan. Investopedia.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/business-plan.asp
Kenton, W. (2020, October 19). Operating expense. Investopedia.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/operating_expense.asp
Mazzarol, T. & Reboud, S. (2020). Entrepreneurship and innovation. Springer International Publishing.
Morato, E. (2016). Entrepreneurship. Rex Printing Company, Inc.
Oxford College of Marketing. (n.d.). What is pestel analysis? Retrieved February 1, 2021,
from https://blog.oxfordcollegeofmarketing.com/2016/06/30/pestel-analysis/.
Tarver, E. (2020, July 28). Market segmentation. Investopedia.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketsegmentation.asp