Macro-Level Factors in the External Environment

Macro-Level Factors in the External Environment

Introduction

The dynamism of business structures have been changing at a very rapid rate. In consistent with this, the ability to launch new products in the market is embedded on the understanding of the internal and external factors that affect such a product. With this in mind, one of these factors comprises of the macro-level factor. In addition to these factors, the environment within which to launch the products also matters. In line with this, there is the external and the internal environment that has to be considered before launching any new product in the market. This research paper will therefore focus on macro-level factors in an external environment and how they affect cell phone products in the market.

Research Findings and Discussion

It was found out that macro-level factors in an external environment have impacted greatly the structure of the cell phone industry in the global market place. According to National Research Council (U.S.) NII 2000 Steering Committee (1997), at one time the cell phone was simply a symbol of communication that entailed wireless communication among people in different locations (p.192). As a result, consumers in rich nations opted for more complicated cell phone products while their counterparts in poor nations demanded for simple cell phone gadgets. However, these trends have drastically changed since the cell phone is no longer just a symbol of communication. The contemporary consumers have turned the cell phone into a gadget of doing business (p.192). As a result, the cell phone industry is inclined towards emerging with innovations that can meet these requirements. For instance, most cell phones that have been launched in the market in the recent past have sophisticated features that support video recording, camera and transfer of data over the internet. Thus the need to communicate and carry out other business activities has forced the cell phone industry to embrace hi-tech innovation.

With this in mind, it is important to look at the connection between macro-level factors and political, economic, social and technological origins. It is important to understand that human beings by nature have always sought to be free or rather to enjoy a particular type of freedom. As a result, people have eliminated every issue that binds them and takes away their freedom. The way of democracy therefore has always prevailed in most communities across the globe (Forsyth, 2009, p.513). In addition to this, the developed of societies economically have proved to be an important factor towards achieving this freedom. As a result, the strength of a society is measured by how developed economically a society is. In line with this, the technological inventions have proved to be a critical channel towards attaining an economically powerful society across the globe that is able to foster its own freedom.

The above factor could prove to be important elements when considering the cell phone industry in future. In this respect, the cell phone industry would need to launch new products in the market that foster the freedom of the society in such a way that one is not tied at a fixed place but rather is able to move freely while at the same time being in a position to accomplish every tasks that he or she has in mind. More importantly, whereas the emergence of the cell phone industry came in with an aim of easing communication, the economic contribution of the cell phone industry in an individual and corporate life would remain as an important factor to be considered in future. In addition, with the advancement in technology, this industry would also need to consider the technological advancements in their innovations.

It was also found out that Porter’s five (5) forces of competition were critical factors that also needed consideration in launching of a new cell phone product in the market. In this regard, Gleyberman (2010) argues that these five forces include horizontal competition: competition from substitutes, new entrants, established rivals and two sources of vertical competition: the power of buyers and of suppliers (p.9). Generally speaking, these five forces were determinants of whether a particular product in a certain industry would be profitable or not.

However, it is important to note that the macro-level factors could change the specific aspects of porter’s five forces of competition. It is important to understand that the need for new technologies that can foster freedom and serve consumers by meeting their specific needs remained as a critical loophole that could be utilized by new market entrants to overthrow the existing established rivals. This is still the case with the substitutes and new entrants in the market (Gleyberman, 2010). For instance, when a cell phone company had established itself with a particular brand in the market, this could easily be overthrown when another company launched another brand that had more features that were needed in the market by consumers.

Conclusion

In summation, one of the macro-level factors that impact the cell phone market the most is the desire by consumers to be able to access a wide geographical region through different forms of communication using their cell phones. In this regard, the cell phone industry would need to manufacture cell phones that have the capability to communicate and share data over a developed network that covers a wide geographical area.