Case studies

Market Development Plan for Marine Electronics growth company

Our Client:  A New Zealand based company specialising in safety electronics for seagoing vessels ranging from small leisure craft to light commercial. The company has designed and developed a range of unique intelligent devices that enhance vessel safety and protect property and lives.

The Challenge: Within 18 months of formation the company had already established interest in the product worldwide and orders from overseas distributors. For the near to medium term, the company needed to make some decisions about markets to focus on, sales and distribution models, internal structuring and funding in order to take best advantage of the opportunity afforded them by a growing international market.

Our approach: Working closely with the company founder we began a process of identifying the most likely customer profiles and use cases that had thus far been observed. We also investigated the existing distribution model and channel partners. Initially we undertook a range of targeted research, identifying and understanding the various markets for the technology, along with carefully developed use cases specifying the reasons customers would buy and recommend the product.

Once the key buyer profiles and associated vertical markets had been identified, we proceeded to build a market development strategy. The key here was to create a plan that could be executed and that could also be used to inform the process of raising capital – in terms of market opportunity and also likely costs of pursuing the opportunity more aggressively. During the planning and early implementation stages, we coordinated and chaired a Strategic Advisory Board for regular meetings.

 

Outcome and client benefits: The company was able to continue developing existing market relationships and their pursuit of advancing R&D for their product line whilst the plans were built. The resulting market development plan served to guide initial business development work and was also used by the company in the development of their approach to raising capital, which they successfully completed in 2010.

 

 

Market Due Diligence for IT Hardware product

 

Our Client:  The Lines Company. One of New Zealand’s larger rural electricity network providers.  

The Challenge: The Company had advanced the prospect of making a significant equity investment in a young New Zealand company with a product suite developed as an accessory to IT hardware purchases. Prior to making an investment decision the company needed to perform international market due diligence to better understand the commercial potential of the opportunity.

Our approach: Initially the project required us to gain a rapid understanding of the product suite and the proposition to market. A second part of the initial stage was to gain a clear picture of the intended customer groups and the business model under which they would order and pay for the product.  

Armed with this information, we conducted research remotely via desktop and locally in the US market using a research associate. The main drive of the research was to validate the initial markets that had been uncovered and also to test the proposition versus the competition in adjacent intended markets. The resulting knowledge was then used to test the sales and business development forecasts.

Outcome and client benefits: The Company was able to make a clear and well informed decision regarding a significant six-figure investment commitment

 

 

Market Development Strategy for new software product

 

Our Client:  Voola software.  

The Challenge: Voola was newly created software, built using the latest .Net tools from Microsoft and designed to make the development of online databases simpler and easier for a range of clients. The product had applications in a wide range of potential markets and the company needed to refine and target their markets for development.

Our approach: As we often do, we took a staged approach to this project in the following order;

• We began by getting to a clear understanding of the product proposition as seen by the customer and then articulating it.
• We then profiled a few of the most obvious candidates for type of client, settling on a few
• Next came research of each vertical market, including understanding how they were going to respond to the product propositions developed for them and what their actual needs were
• The potential vertical markets were refined and prioritised
•  A market strategy for development by the company was created
•  Lastly ongoing assistance was provided for the execution and ongoing improvement of the strategy

Outcome and client benefits: The project was completed on time and to budget. The client was able to focus on some very specific market segments, using messaging and communications that were targeted for and tested with those segments.

 

 

Health Sector Project – Information Architecture Review

Our Client: A large Public Health Organisation (PHO) responsible for servicing, allocating funding and supporting GPs in their area, running a range of clinical programs to improve population health outcomes.

The Challenge: The client did not have the “big picture” strategic overview of information needs they required to determine priorities for IT support systems. Because of Government health funding structures, the organization must manage a large number of programs simultaneously. This means inefficiency and duplication of effort is difficult to avoid.

Our Approach: The knowledge of information needs is distributed within the client organisation between a number of program coordinators, so it was necessary to bring this knowledge together and collate it. We did this through a combination of a questionnaire and workshops, at which we gathered the required information and then presented it back to the stakeholders in an organised form. From the information gathered at the first workshop, we were able to identify around 100 separate types of information managed by the organisation or exchanged between the organization and other entities. Out of this fragmentation we identified around a dozen key information flows, and five “process areas” common across all programs. This provided a way to better manage the information flows, potentially enabling improved operational efficiency, better availability of information where it is needed, and increased agility in targeting population health needs.

Outcomes and client benefits: A clear picture of the information needs of the organisation; highlighting of key issues (fragmentation and replication of processes); a structured picture of information process needs forming the basis for organisational improvements; strategy outlining proposed steps to implement the improvements.

 

 

Our Client: Company M provides a range of business development assistance to small business owners, the self employed, and managers to help them grow their business.

The Challenge: To provide a Software as a Service (SaaS) product to their clients that captures and delivers much of the valuable intellectual property that Mimosa has to offer. They needed to get this up and running as quickly and efficiently as possible through the smart use of existing technologies.

Our Approach: Build vs. Buy decisions were critical, so we needed to work with the client to quickly assemble a list of the key product requirements and start the decision process. The client had already identified possible technology partners, but the key partner chose to pull out when we starting asking hard questions about how they would support the product requirements. This prompted a search for alternative technologies that would meet the requirements. We located suitable technologies and mapped out a system architecture showing how they would be used to support the requirements.

Outcomes and client benefits: Early termination of an ineffectual partnership; clear definition of the product requirements; identification of technologies that are appropriate to build the product and a plan to do so.

 

Functional Food and Drink: Overseas Market Entry Planning and Execution via Licensing Deal

The Client : A2 Corporation

The Challenge: Following on from a previously successful engagement, A2 contracted CTM to review market opportunities and to develop a market entry plan for Korea. Because of the timing of negotiations underway, only 6 weeks were allowed for the completion of the market analysis and entry plan.

Our Approach: using our network, we quickly established a relationship with a trusted in-market specialist research team who we contracted to conduct some primary research on our behalf.

We used primary and secondary data sources and our knowledge of the benefits of the A2 product to frame discussion around a number of key questions that were put to local consumers in the target groups that had been identified. Over time we developed a series of potential customer profiles, ranked and characterised, and identified certain buying influences and preferences.

We looked at the competition and their product offerings, their positioning and the existing profit and margin structures as well as supply chain capacity. We combined this information to construct a buyer model that laid out how the market worked and where the key relationships in the supply chain lay.

We wrapped this analysis into a market entry plan that described how, given the existing competition and customer buying preferences, the A2 product should be positioned and packaged.

Outcome and client benefits: A2 was able to differentiate between licensing partners in Korea and to confirm the best approach to the market. The level of detail supporting the plan was such that the local licensing partner adopted our plan as the go to market approach, and A2 have since announced the successful launch of their A2 milk in Korea in a recent press release.