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SWOT Analysis and Market Research

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AI Summary
The assignment requires a detailed SWOT analysis of three PC manufacturing companies: HP, Lenovo, and Asus. It also involves conducting market research and gathering data from various sources to provide insights into the global PC market. The report includes information on the companies' strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as statistics on smartphone shipments and PC market share.

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MKT 10007
Fundamentals of Marketing
Assignment 3
Situational Analysis of Hewlett-Packard Co.
(Laptop)
Prepared for : Carolina Sandra Giang
Tutorial Group : 03
Tutorial Session : Monday, 10.30 a.m. - 11.30 a.m.
Group Members :
1. Sarah Binti Supahan 101214284
2. Oh Xiu Feng 101214666
3. Grace Lee Ying Ying 101213922
4. Ting Chiong Yi 101216374
5. Brendan Louis Kuok 101215009

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Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to analyse the personal computer industry. The team had
gathered information and statistics by way of secondary research. Firstly, the industry
analysis includes the industry overview which outlines the definition of the industry as well
as determining the product sub category of HP laptops. For market analysis however, the
trends have been observed to be in the form of improvement in security and battery life.
Secondly, it has been determined that Lenovo held the most market shares, proclaiming its
position as market leader in the industry for 2019, whereas the chosen company, HP ranked
second. With that said, the remaining companies have remained stagnant in their own
position for quite some time. Thirdly, an analysis has been conducted on the macro-
environment of the market and several factors influencing the market have been brought up
such as the rapid development of technology, increased electronic taxes, and the change in
consumer lifestyles. Not only that, a SWOT analysis was done on several companies such as
Lenovo, Asus and HP to better understand their performance and obstacles. Additionally, the
chosen consumer segmentation base was Generation Y, but the team has included
recommendations to expand to teens and Generation X. Hence, several justifications have
been applied to ensure there would be profitability in those markets. Not only that, an
analysis on the size and growth, structural attractiveness and company objectives and
resources have been made to measure the market segment attractiveness. Lastly,
recommendations for additional research needed and finally the conclusion has been made
available.
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary..............................................................................................................................i
1. Introduction.....................................................................................................................................1
Section 1...............................................................................................................................................2
2. Industry Analysis.............................................................................................................................2
2.1 Overview of the Industry..........................................................................................................2
2.2 Market Analysis.........................................................................................................................3
2.2.1 Market Trends....................................................................................................................3
2.2.2 Market Share......................................................................................................................3
2.3 Key Players of the Industry......................................................................................................4
3. Macro-Environment Analysis........................................................................................................5
3.1 Technological Environment......................................................................................................5
3.2 Political and Legal Environment..............................................................................................6
3.3 Demographic Environment.......................................................................................................6
4. Competitors’ Analysis.....................................................................................................................7
4.1 Hewlett-Packard Analysis.........................................................................................................7
4.1.1 Production excellence (S)...................................................................................................7
4.1.2 Declining demand (W)........................................................................................................7
4.2 Lenovo Analysis.........................................................................................................................7
4.2.1 One of the leading players in the PC market (S)..............................................................7
4.2.2 Slow market share growth (W)..........................................................................................8
4.3 ASUS Analysis...........................................................................................................................9
4.3.1 Cost Advantage (S).............................................................................................................9
4.3.2 Poor Marketing and Customer Service (W).....................................................................9
4.4 Product/Brand/Sub-Brand Analysis.......................................................................................10
4.5 Opportunities and Threats......................................................................................................11
4.5.1 Opportunities....................................................................................................................11
4.5.1.1 Internet Expansion in Emerging Markets................................................................11
4.5.1.2 Need of obtaining patents..........................................................................................11
4.5.2 Threats...............................................................................................................................12
4.5.2.1 Increase sales of smartphones and tablets................................................................12
4.5.2.2 New entrance of manufacturers................................................................................12
5. Micro-Environment Analysis.......................................................................................................13
Section 2.............................................................................................................................................14
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6. Consumer Segmentation...............................................................................................................14
6.1 Choice of Segmentation Base..................................................................................................14
6.2 Justification of Segmentation..................................................................................................15
6.2.1 Substantiality....................................................................................................................15
6.2.2 Identifiability and measurability.....................................................................................15
6.2.3 Accessibility.......................................................................................................................15
6.2.4 Responsiveness..................................................................................................................16
6.3 Sub-Segments and Profiling Elements...................................................................................16
6.3.1 Teens (13-19).....................................................................................................................16
6.3.2 Generation Y (25-40)........................................................................................................16
6.3.3 Generation X (41-54)........................................................................................................16
Section 3.............................................................................................................................................17
7. Attractiveness of Each Sub-Segments..........................................................................................17
7.1 Size and Growth.......................................................................................................................18
7.2 Structural Attractiveness........................................................................................................18
7.3 Company Objectives and Resources......................................................................................18
Section 4.............................................................................................................................................19
8. Recommendations for Additional Research...............................................................................19
8.1 Additional Research................................................................................................................19
8.2 Primary Research....................................................................................................................19
8.3 Research Design.......................................................................................................................20
9. Conclusions....................................................................................................................................21
Appendices
Appendix 1 – Group’s Performance Report
Appendix 2 – Assignment Cover Sheet
Reference List
List of Tables
Table 1: Technological factors influencing the laptop industry.............................................................5
Table 2: Political and legal factors influencing the laptop industry.......................................................6
Table 3: Demographic factors influencing the laptop industry..............................................................6
Table 4: Global PC market share (2015–2018)......................................................................................8
Table 5: 4Ps comparison......................................................................................................................10
Table 6: Consumer segmentation........................................................................................................14
Table 7: Attractiveness of each consumer segment.............................................................................17
Table 8: Advantages and disadvantages of each method of research...................................................20
Table 9: Detailed explanations on each research method....................................................................20
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List of Figures
Figure 1: Tree Diagram of Personal Computer (PC) Industry...............................................................2
Figure 2: Global Market Share of Personal Computer Vendors 2018....................................................3
Figure 3: Key Players in the Personal Computer Industry 2018............................................................4
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1. Introduction
There are several purposes to this report in which it will cover the marketing environment,
the segmentation base and the brands and sub-brands of Hewlett-Packard Co, a multinational
information technology company based in the United States. An industry analysis of the
company will be conducted alongside a SWOT analysis on the company regarding the
competitors or major players of the industry. Research on the macro-environment and micro-
environment forces in the industry will also be conducted. Furthermore, a study of the
marketing mix (4Ps) of the product will be available. Moreover, the consumer segment base
of the product used in this report will be justified accordingly and the attractiveness of the
segment will be researched Lastly, recommendations will be given and justified with regards
to potential improvement that the company can use.
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Section 1
2. Industry Analysis
2.1 Overview of the Industry
The computer or information technology industry is the assortment of markets from business
to households that integrates technological appliances such as personal computers to its daily
operations. It operates around executing the design of computer hardware and software as
well as manufacturing components that are used in a computer (Encyclopedia 2016). Not
only that, information technology services may also be provided.
The tree diagram above presents a clear illustration of where our brand, Hewlett-Packard
(HP) stands in the personal computer (PC) industry, which falls under the broad computer
industry.
In the personal computer (PC) industry, it is further categorised to stationary and portable
PCs. One of the portable PCs is laptop, which is defined as a small-scale computer that can
be carried around easily and is flat when closed (Cambridge University Press 2019). In
contrast, the business laptop is designed for the convenience to use outside an office.
Therefore, the scope of this report will mainly focus on the business laptop by HP in the
laptop industry which belongs to the portable PC category. Besides that, some strong
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Figure 1: Tree Diagram of Personal Computer (PC) Industry

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competitors’ brands in the laptop industry are also listed along with HP brand like Asus and
Lenovo which will be further analysed and compared with HP in this report.
2.2 Market Analysis
2.2.1 Market Trends
The current market trend of the laptop industry are the improvements such as security
technology, processor performance and development in convertible laptop. These improved
features are triggered by the rapid development in technology and change of preference on
the target market (Neiljack 2017).
2.2.2 Market Share
Figure 2: Global Market Share of Personal Computer Vendors 2018
The pie chart illustrates the worldwide market share of personal computer vendors in the year
2018 (Conn 2019). Generally, Lenovo and HP Inc. dominated the personal computer industry
and contributed the most to the market’s total sales. Lenovo leads in the industry with 22.5%
of the market share followed by 21.7% from HP Inc.
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On the contrary, ASUS held the least market share in the industry and contributed the least to
the market’s total sales, which is only 6.0%. Nonetheless, Dell, Apple, Acer Group, and other
companies made up of 16.2%, 6.9%, 6.1% and 20.6% market share in the industry
respectively. In brief, Lenovo and HP Inc. were the two top sellers in the PC industry that can
be deduced by their large proportion of market share in the market.
2.3 Key Players of the Industry
The figure above depicts the market leaders in the personal computer industry based on the
percentage of shipments for the year 2018 (Statista 2019). As shown above, the market leader
is Lenovo who owns the most market share in the personal computer industry at 22.5%. In
second place is the group’s chosen company, HP Inc with 21.7%. The remaining companies
such as Dell, Apple, Acer and Asus own about 6% to 16% of the market share altogether
whereas other minor companies in the industry own 20.6 percent of the market share.
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Figure 3: Key Players in the Personal Computer Industry 2018
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3. Macro-Environment Analysis
3.1 Technological Environment
Trend Direction Explanation Strategic Implications
Rapid
development of
laptop
components
Fast changing of technology
New innovation
Put latest products at risk of
becoming obsolete
overnight.
Observe the market
carefully
Manufacture products
that will not become
obsolete if a new
technology is introduced
Convertible or
Hybrid Laptops Convenient and stylish
Can be used as a laptop or
tablet (2 in 1).
Produce more 2-in-1
laptops.
Table 1: Technological factors influencing the laptop industry
According to Beal (2019), Gordon Moore, observed that the processing speed of integrated
circuit chips double each year. Due to this, the latest products of HP may become mainstream
once the new technology is out. HP may also be forced to lower the prices of their new
products to make way for the latest products. Furthermore, according to Allan (2017), 2-in-1
laptops can function as a tablet and laptop and gives the convenience of both. This is more
affordable for the consumers. In this case, HP should produce more 2-in-1 laptops because as
of now, majority of their laptops are standard.
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3.2 Political and Legal Environment
Trend Direction Explanation Strategic Implications
Electronic Import
Duty and Taxes High imposed tax will
increase the price of the
laptop.
Move the factory to
lower tax rate country
Table 2: Political and legal factors influencing the laptop industry
According to Aiman Maulana (2018), laptop as an electronic product is imposed tax at 5% by
the government in Malaysia as of September 2018. Additionally, in some countries like
Brunei, there is a charge of import duty at 20% for imported goods (Easyship Fulfilment
Services Ltd 2019). These taxations will force HP to increase the price of their laptops to
cover their cost of exporting the laptops. Therefore, it is beneficial for HP to move their
factory to low rate tax countries where they can achieve higher profit.
3.3 Demographic Environment
Trend Direction Explanation Strategic Implications
Lifestyle Busy lifestyle
High quality of life
Time constraint
Faster processor speed
to minimise valuable
time wasted
Table 3: Demographic factors influencing the laptop industry
Nowadays, most people have busy lifestyle because they have higher lifestyle compared to
older days people. So, there are time constraints as they spend most of their time working and
have less time for leisure. Hence, people need faster processor speed laptop to ease
complicated tasks like big projects or assignments in short period.
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4. Competitors’ Analysis
4.1 Hewlett-Packard Analysis
4.1.1 Production excellence (S)
According to Bhasin (2019), around two personal computers and two printers from HP are
shipped every second. Additionally, HP also lies at the second position for shipping PC
equipment in the world. From this, HP products can reach consumers very quickly and can
enjoy a variety of HP brand laptops to choose from, which prevents shortage problem on
certain fast-selling laptops.
4.1.2 Declining demand (W)
A decline demand in HP’s PC segment is observed as stated by Bhasin (2019), there is a 2%
decrease of net revenue in laptop segment. Besides, the total number of units sold by HP also
declined 3% year-to-year in the first quarter of 2019 as according to Ness (2019). This is due
to strong competitors in the market who able to offer similar products at a lower price. This
would result a more intense competition for HP to not only compete with the competitors in
the laptop industry but also the smartphone industry.
4.2 Lenovo Analysis
4.2.1 One of the leading players in the PC market (S)
Lenovo, being one of the top sellers of personal computer globally, dominated the market
with 22.5% of market share in 2018 (Conn 2019). The company is able to adopt Smart
Technology and reasonable prices of its products (Pratap 2018). As an illustration, Lenovo
Smart Display 8’ was produced using the Smart Technology and sold at around RM 830.00
(Lenovo 2019). Thus, consumers will prefer to purchase the Lenovo Smart Display 8’ that
has good functions and is reasonable, which contributes to the sales of Lenovo’s products in
the PC market.
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4.2.2 Slow market share growth (W)
Global PC market share by units, percent (2015–2018)
Rank 2015 2016 2017 2018
1 Lenov
o
19.
8
Lenov
o
20.
7
HP 21.0 Lenov
o
22.5
2 HP Inc. 18.2 HP Inc. 19.4 Lenov
o
20.
8
HP Inc. 21.7
3 Dell 13.6 Dell 14.7 Dell 15.2 Dell 16.2
4 ASUS 7.3 ASUS 7.6 Apple 7.4 Apple 6.9
5 Apple 7.2 Apple 6.9 ASUS 6.8 Acer 6.1
6 Others 33.9 Others 30.7 Others 28.8 Others 20.6
Table 4: Global PC market share (2015–2018)
Subsequently, Lenovo has slow market share (Conn 2019). Based on Table 1, the global
market shares of Lenovo increased from 19.8% in 2015 to 20.7% in 2016 and experienced
the slowest growth with only 0.1% of difference in the following year. Furthermore, the
entrance of other competitors such as HP Inc., Dell, Apple and Acer is one of the factors that
Lenovo is not able to increase its market share in the PC industry quickly (Bhasin 2019).
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4.3 ASUS Analysis
4.3.1 Cost Advantage (S)
The ASUS headquarters are located in Beitou District, Taipei, Taiwan and currently has its
manufacturing facilities in 4 countries (SuccessStory 2019). One of these countries is
mainland China, where the costs of labour and production is relatively lower than most
countries. Due to this, their production is extremely efficient and they are able to produce
more units with the same amount of resources as their competitors (Faizul 2017). This
enables Asus to lower its price to attract consumers but still make a hefty profit. Not only
that, ASUS is currently planning to setup a manufacturing facility in India, where labour
costs are known to be one of the cheapest in the world (Sourcify 2019).
4.3.2 Poor Marketing and Customer Service (W)
Asus company has shortage of marketing skills compared to Lenovo or Apple. Asus
advertises their products more on social media (Bhasin 2019). Many of Asus advertisements
are only a one-way communication strategy such as banners, posters and billboards. Due to
this, there is absolutely no communication amongst consumers and the company and the
consumer’s thoughts are not known. Another factor is that Asus has very poor after sales
service. According to Smith (2019), the editor had a very bad experience with Asus’
customer service whereby the call centre agents were very unprofessional and unqualified.
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4.4 Product/Brand/Sub-Brand Analysis
A table below compares the product of HP brand and sub-brand, HP Envy x360 15” with the
other two strong competitors’ products, Lenovo IdeaPad 320 and Asus Vivobook S15. From
this, it can be clearly seen that HP product is mostly similar to the competitors’ products
despite there are some unique offering in each of the products for product differentiation.
4Ps HP Envy x360 15” Lenovo IdeaPad 320 Asus Vivobook S15
Product Long battery life
Allow storage
customization
AMD processor
Foldable into a tablet
Speakers by Bang &
Olufsen
(Lee 2018)
Cheap
Large hard disk
drive capacity
Intel Core i5 7th Gen
Dolby Audio-
optimized speakers
(Lenovo 2019)
Thin and light
Dual storage
Intel Core i7
NanoEdge display up
to 15.6”
Sonicmaster
technology
(Asus 2019)
Price RM 3475.00 RM 1999.00 RM 3099.00
Place Most consumers prefer to buy laptops online, mostly through online platform like
Amazon with a vast variety of laptop from manufacturers around the world. Moreover,
some purchase directly from physical official store or retail store for allowing own
customization on storage (Lacoma 2018).
Promotion Advertising through events as well as mass media such as social media, magazines and
newspapers (ReadEssay 2018)
Table 5: 4Ps comparison
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4.5 Opportunities and Threats
4.5.1 Opportunities
4.5.1.1 Internet Expansion in Emerging Markets
Emerging markets like China has approximately 720 million of Internet users, which is the
highest in the world and followed by India that has 462 million of internet users (Ocampo
2017). Internet users in these emerging markets are able to own gadgets like laptops and
smartphones in recent years due to the country’s growing economies and the spread of
internet connectivity. The growth in a country’s economy increases the consumer’s ability to
obtain better goods and services (Ocampo 2017). For example, laptops and stronger internet
connection. Therefore, players in the PC industry like ASUS and Lenovo that intends to
expand its business may take this opportunity to capture the emerging markets.
4.5.1.2 Need of obtaining patents
Subsequently, a patent provides two important functions, which are protection and disclosure
(‘The role of patent information in supporting innovation’ 2017). The patent prevents the
inventions of the patent holder from being exploited by the competitors commercially that
often are not covered exceeding 20 years after the patent has been issued. Thus, the
competitors are not allowed to introduce similar patented products into the marketplace. If so,
the patent holder could take legal actions against the competitors by making them surrender
the profits earned from the patented product and stop engaging in any sales and marketing
efforts related to the product (‘The role of patent information in supporting innovation’ 2017,
p. 1). Furthermore, a patent discloses information about new technological trends to stimulate
innovation as experts estimated that up to 80% of the new technological information can be
obtained from only patent documents (Pridham & Sheafe 2015). Hence, companies in the
industry can be protected from exploitation of their own invention and are able to get the
latest technological trends from the patent.
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4.5.2 Threats
4.5.2.1 Increase sales of smartphones and tablets
The global market size of smartphone is expected to increase from 1.46 billion in 2018 to
1.57 billion in 2022 (Statista 2018). This imposes a threat to the laptop market because the
steady growth of technology in smartphone and tablet in terms of the software, hardware and
accessories could lead to the replacement of laptop in the future. Besides, there are numerous
functions on the Windows has been develop in smartphone mode through Android apps and
IOS such as Microsoft Word and Quickoffice Pro and technology advanced in hardware such
as wireless keyboard and mouse (Yamada 2017).
4.5.2.2 New entrance of manufacturers
The entrance of new manufacturers of laptop such as Huawei will be a threat to the laptop
industry. According to Athow (2019), Huawei manufacturer is offering a business laptop,
Huawei MateBook X pro with great specifications at reasonable prices. This laptop comes
with upgraded performances such as stylish design, high screen resolution and extremely
durable battery life. Additionally, the pricing is competitive to the HP Spectre Pro, Apple
MacBook pro and other laptops that offering same performance in the market.
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5. Micro-Environment Analysis
Suppliers are mandatory to the success of the company, HP because they provide products or
services to the company (Corrigan 2018). According to HP Development Company (2019),
the role of HP suppliers is mainly to provide the raw materials and components to
manufacture the final products as well as the assembling services of small components for HP
laptop and other electronic devices.
Moreover, HP company engages suppliers through a supply chain responsibility program,
where HP chooses their suppliers by evaluating the supplier sustainability requirements. For
any suppliers who are doing business with HP would have a contract that obligates to obey
with HP's sustainability policies.
Besides, there would be a high risk in HP production if the relationship with vital suppliers
collapsed. HP is highly dependent on the supplies as most of the supplies of materials are
from external suppliers (Pratap 2019). For example, if HP fails to get the key components
such as processors from Intel Company and NVIDIA graphic cards, HP would face a
shortage problem in the production or increase in the price of production (HP 2018).
HP could leverage suppliers for extra opportunity by maintaining a good relationship with
them. Maintaining good relationship with suppliers not only ensure constant supplies of
resources in the production, but also get up-to-date to the latest information or technology in
the industry. With that, HP has a high advantage in competing with other competitors as HP
would take the leading step to reach their consumers first by providing the latest trends.
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Section 2
6. Consumer Segmentation
Segment Base
(Generation)
Usage
Rate
Lifestyles Purchasing Power
Teens (13-19) Medium Trend Savvy
Doing simple research
for information
Doing assignments
Researching for
education opportunities
Seeking entertainment
Financially weak
Mostly depends on parents
or family (allowances)
Generation Y
(25-40)
Heavy Trend Savvy
More active in their
career
Heavy work tasks
Keep up to the latest
trends
Socialising is important
to them
Financially stable
Able to apply instalments
Generation X
(41-54)
Medium Non-tech savvy
Less active in heavy
work tasks
Leisure surfing
Prepare for retirement
Provident funds
Table 6: Consumer segmentation
6.1 Choice of Segmentation Base
Demographic segmentation base is used by segmenting the different groups of consumers
into three main generations, which are the Teens, Generation Y and Generation X. This
allows easier evaluation of the different generations of consumers’ reaction towards the
company’s marketing mix.
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6.2 Justification of Segmentation
6.2.1 Substantiality
PC markets can succeed as laptops are essential tools. According to Takahashi (2019),
regardless on how the economical state, it will always have customers due to its importance
in daily routines. To justify this, a research conducted by Marsan (2008) states that the PC
industry will not be affected by any downfalls such as recession due to its importance.
6.2.2 Identifiability and measurability
The purchasing power of laptop and the profiles of consumers can be easily identified
through purchasing records as consumers would be requested to include their personal
information while purchasing the products. From this, companies derive useful statistics.
Whereas, the market segments could be measured through population size by generation or
age group, population density at different geographical areas or income. For example, the
population size of millennials reached 71 million in 2016 and is estimated to grow to 73
million and soon surpass Baby Boomers as the largest generation in America in 2019 (Fry
2018).
6.2.3 Accessibility
The market segments can be reached with the marketing mix developed earlier in Table 5 as
the companies’ products can be distributed indirectly through online shopping platform. For
instance, Amazon allows consumers to purchase laptops from major manufactures such as
Apple, ASUS or Dell and provide delivery service to where they reside (Lacoma 2018).
Moreover, the companies can communicate with the market segments by advertising their
products in events and through mass media. To illustrate, HP’s price promotion
advertisement was informed to the consumers through social media and reading materials
(ReadEssay 2018).
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6.2.4 Responsiveness
According to Hachman (2018), the largest PC growth occurred in the second quarter of 2018
with 2.7% growth since the highest recorded back in 2012. As of now, the PC market has
been flat but it still doing relatively well (Gartner 2018). Majority of the market players
promote their latest products in social media which has a very quick response rate and it
assists the companies by observing the current market trends. By using this strategy, the
company can monitor the consumer’s expectations and comments on the product so that they
can better improve their product line.
6.3 Sub-Segments and Profiling Elements
6.3.1 Teens (13-19)
Teens are quite tech savvy when using laptop and at a medium usage rate. They usually use
laptop for educational purposes and entertainment. They would simply search for information
online, do assignments, research for ideal college to further studies and seek entertainment
through social media during their free time. However, the purchasing power of teens are
limited as they mostly depend on their monthly allowances or parents purchase decisions.
6.3.2 Generation Y (25-40)
Generation Y or the millennials would have a heavy usage rate as they are more active in
their career and loaded with heavy work tasks. They are also tech savvy and keep up to the
latest trends, like current news, latest technology and customers' behaviour. Socialising is
important to them to communicate with colleagues, managers, customers and suppliers. In
terms of financial, they would have a stable income but some may need instalments for
luxury purchase.
6.3.3 Generation X (41-54)
Generation X are not as tech savvy as the other two segments and less active in heavy work
tasks but their usage rate would be medium as they sometimes surf Internet for leisurely for
own entertainment like scrolling through Facebook for funny videos. At their age, they are
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mostly preparing for retirement from high-paid jobs and an amount of provident funds would
be provided on retirement hence the purchasing power would be relatively high.
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Section 3
7. Attractiveness of Each Sub-Segments
Table 7: Attractiveness of each consumer segment
Segment
Base
(Generation)
Size and Growth Structural
Attractiveness
Company Resources
and Objectives
Teens 87% of teens have
access to a laptop or
desktop.
73% of teens would
base their purchase on
brand reviews
(Antonow 2018).
By 2020, teens will
account for 40% of all
consumers (Benbria
2018).
93% of teens go
online.
Average 9 hours a day
spent online.
95% of teens have
access to a
smartphone.
45% are online
‘almost constantly’.
HP aims to provide
for the community
and society by forms
of corporate social
responsibility.
Achieve consumer
satisfaction through
quality and service.
Generation Y 70% of millennials
own a laptop.
Partially rely on
parents to support
them financially.
More likely to be
interested in laptops.
Watch digital videos
at least 3 hours daily.
57% of millennials
base their purchase
decision on quality
(Honigman 2013).
Majority of
millennials use laptop
for work, study and
travel.
Spend on average 8.5
hours a day on social
media.
Spend a little more
than 6 hours per week
on social media.
60% are loyal to
currently purchased
brand.
33% rely on reviews
before purchasing.
HP seizes
opportunities for
growth and aims to
expand their market
segment as wide as
possible.
HP emphasized on
continuing to
consistently provide
the highest quality
and value to their
products.
Generation X 61% of gen x own a
laptop.
Great purchasing
power (55k to 100
yearly income)
Roughly half of all
generation Xers are
supporting a parent
and a child (Woo
2018).
72% of Gen Xers uses
Internet to research
business.
Spend on almost 7
hours a week on
social media.
Spend 110 minutes on
mobile daily.
Has high brand
loyalty.
54% feel overlooked
by brands and
marketers.
HP has always
prioritised customer’s
needs and wants.
Aims to create
technology that can
be useful for the
society.
(HP 2010)
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7.1 Size and Growth
In the personal computer industry, there are 70% of Generation Y that owns laptops.
Honigman (2013) claims that 57% of generation Y base their purchase decisions on the
quality of products but are more likely to purchase generic brands rather than name brands.
Teenagers however, despite being financially weak, 87% of them owns laptops. Also, 73%
are more likely to purchase laptops from reliable brand reviews (Antonow 2018). They are
also expected to account for 40% of the global consumers (Benbria 2018). Lastly, Generation
X is the most financially powerful generation but also the least to own laptops. Although their
purchasing power is great, many are still supporting children and parents which makes
purchasing laptops nearly unaffordable (Woo 2018).
7.2 Structural Attractiveness
Communications with market segments are mostly encouraged through online sources like
official website, articles, blogs or social media as according to Anderson (2018), teens spend
almost 9 hours daily online. Besides, Generation Y spend an average 8.5 hours
(Hebblethwaite 2018) whereas Generation X go online for around 110 minutes daily
(Anderson 2019). Additionally, Generations Y and X have relatively high brand loyalty
hence good satisfaction of first purchased product impacts vastly on next purchase. Strong
competitors are mainly smartphones and leading brand, Lenovo and HP but there is still new
entry of competitor like Huawei into the laptop industry.
7.3 Company Objectives and Resources
HP aims to achieve customer satisfaction through quality and service and reaching the
corporate objective to reach sufficient profit to enhance finance growth (HP 2010). Therefore,
the Generation Y that pursue high quality of product matches the HP’s corporate objective
and resources. HP are able to gain profit from the purchase of luxury laptops from the
Generation X who are financially stable to attain finance growth (HP 2010). Lastly, HP is
able to increase its brand publicity through the word of mouth of the laptops’ heavy user, the
Generation X.
20

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Section 4
8. Recommendations for Additional Research
8.1 Additional Research
Upon analysing and reviewing the information collected in Section 2, a few important
questions have come to mind that the team would like to obtain more information on. The
team, after much consideration has come up with three key questions that could be answered
clearly.
The key questions are as followed:
1. How can HP obtain feedback and benefit from the information
collected?
2. What features or benefits can HP do to influence customer
decisions?
3. What can HP benefit from expanding to these markets?
To further understand and answer these three questions, the team has decided to use primary
research.
It is important in obtaining these information to ensure the new market strategies
recommended are able to be conducted efficiently and effectively. For example, if the team
concludes that HP should obtain feedback from customers as well as potential customers to
ensure consumer satisfaction. The team would suggest HP to conduct interviews and surveys
to properly collect and understand the consumer’s opinions and post-purchase behaviour.
8.2 Primary Research
Primary research is used in gathering the information needed by group members in this
assignment. For example, a PC organization requesting for the complete control research on
the process and the research is streamlines to the extent that its scope and objectives is
worried. Besides, it is better in interpreting data. Marketers can interpret and examine
collected data based on their wants instead of depending on secondary data interpretation.
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Thus, primary data is more accurate compared to secondary data. Besides, secondary data is
usually not up-to-date and it might not be specific to the situation or place which marketer is
focusing about (Sparrow 2019).
Methods Advantages Disadvantages
Online
survey
Faster because information is
collected automatically
Cheaper because online
questionnaires cut costs for
research
Convenience for respondents
because respondents can answer
the questionnaires whenever they
are free
Survey fraud may occur as some
people answer surveys dishonestly
just for the incentives.
Absence of trained interviewer to
explore respondents’ answers on
open-ended questions may affect the
accuracy.
Limited sampling and respondent
availability because some populations
absence of internet access
Telephone
Interview
Responses can be collected
directly in short time as most
people have telephones
Reach interviewers over wide
geographic area easily to choose
who suites the company
requirement
Good control over who
participates according to
company’s needs
Limited complexity of questions as
interviewers hard to elaborate more
on their responses in five to 10
minutes
Lack of body language like facial or
body expressions and it is difficult to
make judgment on how observant
interviewers are
Table 8: Advantages and disadvantages of each method of research
8.3 Research Design
Methods Details
Online Survey Questionnaires are provided to obtain consumers’ feedback.
Open-ended questions at the end of the survey allows consumers to freely
share any ideas or suggestions.
Attractive incentives like food coupons or promo codes are given to boost
consumers’ participation in the survey.
Can be distributed through social media, online-shopping platforms,
official websites, e-mails and e-payment apps.
Telephone
Interview
A method to collect data through the communication between the staff in
marketing department and respondent on the phone.
Closed-ended questions in the standardised questionnaires will be asked by
the staff.
Interview is carried out on the phone using the CATI (Computer Aided
Telephone Interviewing) system.
The system allows responses from the respondent to be inputted into the
computer system immediately for analysis.
It also prevents filter mistake when answers are evaluated manually.
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Table 9: Detailed explanations on each research method
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9. Conclusions
To conclude, the report basically consists the findings of the brands, HP on the external
marketing environment including the analysis of micro-environmental and macro-
environmental factors, the consumer segmentation analysis and the evaluation of segments’
attractiveness of the targeted market. In addition, the team had provided some
recommendations based on primary sources which are online survey and telephone interview
to obtain information for additional research. The findings included in the report were analyse
based on the secondary sources. Moreover, the purpose of the report was fulfilled as all the
information included are clearly explained and straightforward. Besides, the information used
in this report are specified sources which includes academic sources and business sources.
Lastly, all the areas stated has been adequately tackled by the team with the relevant
information being discussed and obtain through online research.
(2,842 words)
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Appendices
Appendix 1 – Group’s Performance Report
The Group’s Assessment of the Group’s Performance
Component Not yet
Complete Competent Sophisticated
Teamwork
How well the Group resolved any
issues regarding the contributions of
individual Group members.

The Group’s evaluation of the
Assignment we produced.
How well the Group thinks we
demonstrated our subject knowledge.
Evidence
Presentation and referencing
What worked well this time? What did not work so well this time? What will you do differently next
time? Anything else? Would you as a Group like to meet your Tutor to discuss this further? INSERT
Additional page as needed.
The team has acquired very useful information and has learned the importance of the
several factors of marketing and points included in the assignment. Moreover, the team has
definitely bonded over the past few weeks of discussions and meetings. Although, there
were many misunderstandings of what the point had actually wanted us to illustrate,
therefore many opinions and suggestions were made but we were still unsure of the
accuracy. Hence, the group struck a wall and had to figure it out with the time constraints.
Of course, in future assignments, each of the group members will make an initiative to
observe and clear any doubts on each of the content required before starting so that the
flow of teamwork will be smoother. In the team’s opinion, we would very much appreciate
an appointment to further discuss on what we could have done better.
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Appendix 2 – Assignment Cover Sheet
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