Market Assessment International

Applying MAPs : Some Recent Assignments

The methodology behind the Market Assessment Program service is powerful enough to solve many business problems such as the few representative examples described here, all extracted from recent client situations. All those Programs have been initiated as a result of a client’s need to select the best course of action; they were designed and executed by MAI to yield all the relevant findings and reliable conclusions (and often unexpected insights) to support specific and practical business recommendations.

Positioning a new product or service

• Determine the best competitive positioning of a new product as a function of customers’ perceptions of the various solutions available to them in the market as the basis for a marcom strategy (Professional Equipment, Communication; US).
• Understand the underlying motivations for certain customers’ requirements for professional services and measure credibility of client in that endeavor (Computer products, Professional equipment; US, Europe).
• Find the most effective way to present, and enhance acceptance of, a state of the art software development tools for Windows and NT programming shops (Software; US).
• Determine the best way to position a suite of services as a function of customer needs, perceived competition, technology requirements and credibility of potential provider (Computers, Servers, Professional Equipment; US, Canada, Europe).

Increase revenues from services

• Re-structure customer services from an ancillary function to a profit center (Professional equipment, Computers, Software; US).
• Re-structure customer support offerings to successfully ease the transition from a "free support" to a "support for fee" policy (Software, Computers; US).
• Define new services that will allow charging additional fees to customer base for post sales support (Computers, Servers, Professional Equipment; US, Europe).
• Test customer acceptance, and price elasticity, of a new suite of service offerings in customer base (Professional Equipment; US & Canada).
• Understand the business model of the demand for new services required from companies as a result of their adoption of a new operating platform (NT Servers; US & Canada)

Identify the demand for products and services

• Model and quantify the medium term demand for certain types of servers (Computers, US & Canada).
• Define best opportunities, and quantify demand of, of professional services as defined by customer requirements (Networking, Computers, Professional equipment; US, Canada, Europe).
• Assess the demand for certain types of software products in various industries, and understand the root cause of that demand (Application software; US).

Increase channel effectiveness

• Understand the competitive forces at play in reseller channels and why products from certain manufacturers are selling better than others (PC products, Servers; US).
• Assess the role of VARs and resellers in promoting, consciously or not, certain products over others in order to establish a viable reseller promotional strategy (US, Europe; PC products).
• Establish positioning (advertising and promotion strategies) for channel entry of a new product into a market crowded with competitors (PC and server products; US).

Define a new product or service

• Define market viability and feature set of a new computer product for existing customer base (Servers; US).
• Assess best contents for certain types of professional services (Networking products; US).
• Identify best product features for today’s network applications in the context of increased requirement for traffic and bandwidth (Communication industry; US).

Sales strategy development

• Prioritize the demand from various sub-segments of a potential market for a new product line to minimize entry costs of, and maximize early return from, initial product launch (US, Europe).
• Understand the underlying reasons behind lower-than-expected sales of a new product, the objective being to redress the situation through an improved sales strategy (Com; US).
• Identify the means by which prospective customers prefer to be sold products and services (US).

International

• Develop reseller and promotional strategies for computer peripherals in various mature and emerging markets (PC products; UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Poland, South Africa).
• Develop best European sales strategy of multi-vendor services (UK, France, Germany, Italy).
• Assess effectiveness of customer support for networking products (Americas, Europe, Middle-East, Pacific Basin).

Special and miscellaneous

• Corporate acquisition. Assess the value, through the eyes of its customers, of a company being the object of a possible acquisition by the client.
• Branding. Assess value of branding for a commodity type product and impact on customers’ purchases and on manufacturer’s recognition and differentiation (PC component; US, Canada).
• HR. Assist client in understanding why its hiring strategy of professional staff falls short of expectations and recommend ways that will reduce hiring cycle time (Networking; US).
• Cost modeling. Model the customers’ cost of computer upgrades with the objectives to make it easier for them to purchase new generation technology (Computers; US, Europe).
• Pricing strategy. Test various pricing structures for new services and new products for maximum revenue generation and minimum impact from the competition.
• Product concept testing. Assess potential market acceptance and demand for a new product concept based on state of the art technology (Servers, Professional equipment; US).

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