Essay Sample on the Progress of the Calderon Company

Introduction

There have been significant improvements with the company over the last eight years. For 8nsnacte, the company began operating with a single product, Able from round one to round 3 but introduced another product at round 4. These two products have been performing well in the market. It is also evident that over the past four rounds, the market size of the first product (Able) was declining, but after the introduction of Ara, the market size began to grow. Based on the information provided for the eight rounds, it is evident that Ara performs better in the market as compared to product Able. This is because while product Able has shown positive growth in market size over the four years since its introduction, product Ara has been inconsistent with a decline in market size at its initial stages. The difference in performance can be attributed to pricing strategies. Product Ara has a slightly lower price than Able leading to an excellent performance in the market. For instance, in round 5, both products had the same price and similar market size. However, at round 6 the price for Ara was reduced slightly while that for Able remained constants. As a result, the market size for Ara increased while that for Able remained constant.

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Current Situation

Strengths

The strengths refer to the unique aspects that help a company to create a competitive advantage as compared to other companies in the industry (Gurel, 2017). At Calderon Company, the wide market share for the two products Able and Ara. The market growth is also favorable for both the high tech and low-tech products.

Weaknesses

Phadermrod, Crowder & Wills, (2019) state that weaknesses make a company vulnerable in the industry as compared to the competitors. At Calderon Company, these aspects include poor cash management mechanisms that lead to liquidity constraints evident in the financial statement. The company also has poor forecasting techniques which makes it often run out of stock. This also contributes to losing goodwill and lack of customer satisfaction due to delayed deliveries. As a result, it may affect customer loyalty and market share in the long run. Another weakness is obsolete machinery evident where the company involves in plant improvements for three times over the eight rounds.

Opportunities

Opportunities refer to the environmental factors that a company can utilize to create a competitive advantage or benefits from the elements in other ways (Gurel, 2017; Helms & Nixon, 2010). At Calderon Company, opportunities include the chance to expand their market share to the emerging markets. The company can also seek product development with the aim of developing new products or modifying the existing products to capture a broader market segment.

Threats

Threats refer to the environmental factors that may affect the operational efficiency of the company and may make the company highly vulnerable in the industry (Helms & Nixon, 2010). At Calderon Company, some of the threats include the continue fluctuation in prices in the market making it difficult to set a specific product price that accounts for the company's profit margin. The increasing competition in the industry is also another aspect that acts as a threat.

Future of the Company

Based on the analysis of the SWOT analysis of the company presented above, it is essential that the company capitalizes on the strengths and opportunities while striving to address the threats and weaknesses. For instance, Calderon Company should focus on maintaining a more extensive market share for both the high tech and low-tech products by providing highly sustainable products that meet the customer needs and preferences. The market share can also be enhanced by delivering their products to new and emerging markets (Phadermrod Et al., 2019). It should also consider adopting better forecasting methods to ensure that they meet the customer demand in the market to avoid loss of goodwill.

Ethical, Legal, and Social Challenges

As the company continues to grow, it is subject to ethical, legal, and social challenges. For instance, it may cover various geographical locations with customers from different cultural backgrounds. In such a case, the company has an ethical obligation to embrace diversity and inclusion towards its customers and workers. Also, it must meet the legal and statutory policies that regulate business operations (Whiteley, 2017). Lastly, it has an obligation to meet the corporate social responsibility (CSR) aspect in the community it will operate.

Global Considerations

As the company continues to grow, it may venture into global markets. This, in turn, may create potential benefits and risks to its operational efficiency therein. Some of the benefits include the expansion of the market share and to achieve this, the company needs to assess the needs and preference of the various customer segments across the globe (Whiteley, 2017). It is worth noting that customers are not the same and different cultures influence consumer behavior. Some of the risks include the changing statutory regulations that may have adverse impacts of the operations such as pricing. Some countries have stringent policies that often regulate pricing techniques. Inflation and other economic factors within different countries can also affect pricing and profitability.

References

Gurel, E. (2017). Swot analysis: A theoretical review. Journal of International Social Research, 10(51), 994-1006. doi: 10.17719/jisr.2017.1832

Helms, M. M., & Nixon, J. (2010). Exploring SWOT analysis - where are we now?. Journal of Strategy and Management, 3(3), 215-251. doi: 10.1108/17554251011064837

Phadermrod, B., Crowder, R. M., & Wills, G. B. (2019). Importance-performance analysis-based SWOT analysis. International Journal of Information Management, 44, 194-203. doi: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2016.03.009

Whiteley, J. (2017). Mastering financial management. London: Macmillan Education, Limited.