Mature market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Mature market - Essay Example The customers in this mature caterpillar industry(Neson, 1999) are commercial construction companies, equipment rental and leasing companies, general construction firms and includes the mining, agricultural, waste management, industrial and forestry companies. The commercial construction companies are the lion's share of this saturated mature market because the commercial companies have more money to spend, the greatest need for machineries and the greatest need for precision controlled equipment. All market situations contain risks.(Harringon,1999) Although the small construction companies market is now growing, there will be a small income opportunity here because of the small capital investments that the customers will shell out. The machineries market,(Meyer,1983) as is the case with other industries, is affected by the economic situation. In fact Caterpillar and its competitor Komatsu could not help but watch their annual sales go down to the slowing down of the global economy. The Consumer's confidence in the product is another factor in studying the downturn in sales volume which has been long lasting. The weakening of the global economy has contributed much to the saturation or maturity of the machineries market. It is now very difficult to get a new sales orders from construction and commercial companies that need the Caterpillar products. ... Presently there are fifty five major players in the machineries business. Caterpillar occupies the number one spot because it has been in operation for the past forty years. Caterpillar equipments are in demand worldwide because it has gained the trust and confidence of its many clients. Caterpillar is known for products that are of quality and durability but also versatile. The sales people of Caterpillar are very adept at product demonstrations of their machineries and this is another big contributory factor to the success of Caterpillar. (www.bplans.com) According to Daniels, a strategic planning group, a mature company, like Caterpillar, is placed in a situation where there is very sales growth resulting to stagnant, decreasing or even break even sales. Since there are many competitors to fill the needs of only a few markets, then the selling prices will most likely not increase. Companies in the mature market economy like Caterpillar are mostly using more aggressive price, service and quality that is in tune with the customers' wishes. Since the market is tight, there is lesser elbow room to move up in terms of sales and quality services. For mature companies like Caterpillar(Sussland,2000) to grow more, growth opportunities have to be continuously discovered and implemented. This can be done thru surveys, and research and development. Another strategy is to develop an organizational structure that will fit the ever changing marketing environment. This means that there will be a ready flexible support team that Caterpillar is well known for in order to help the Caterpillar clients in every problem situation. Another strategy is revise the internal costing procedures in order to minimize costs and expenses. When expenses are lessened, then net income