Starting a vending machine business -

4. Opportunity Analysis and Research
   • Describe your target customers along as many dimensions as you have defined (demographic, geographic, needs, trends, and decision-making processes).
   • Describe the research methods you used to develop this section (surveys, focus groups, general research, & statistical research).
5. Industry Analysis (Remember to cite your sources and give references in APA format.)
   • What is the industry/industries within which your organization operates? (include NAICS codes, if applicable)
   • What factors influence the demand for your product/services?
   • What factors influence the supply of your product/services?
   • How large is your total industry (historic, current & projected size)?
   • What are the current and anticipated trends in the industry?
   • What are the major customer groups for the industry (consumers, government, businesses)? Describe these in detail.
   • How large is your target market? (Number of customers, size of purchases, frequency of purchases, trends -- quantify!) Describe the entire potential market and the portion you will target.
6. Environmental Analysis
   • Perform a SWOT analysis of your potential organization. Remember that strengths and weaknesses are internal to your organization -- hence you can control these -- and opportunities and threats are external to your organization, and hence you cannot control these; you must react to these.
   • What external/environmental factors are likely to impact your business and how likely are these?
   • Are your customers in other countries? If so, how will you reach them?
7. Competitive Analysis
   • How do you define/describe your competitors- both direct and indirect?
   • Describe your organization's competitive advantage along the lines of quality, price, location, service, and speed of turn-around as they apply.
   • Find three competitors and describe them (cite your sources). Use the comparative analysis tables in Chapter 3 of your text to perform a qualitative assessment and/or quantitative analysis.
   • Describe any international competitors. How do you intend to compete with them for your customers?
   • Describe your strategy for outperforming the competition you identified above.
   • What, if any, do you see as barriers to entry that you can create to block out competition. How will you do so?