Securities Market Line

     The market segmentation theory shows that there is no direct relationship between the prevailing interest rates in the market in both, the short term and long term markets. These short term and long term plans have separate term periods that cannot be replaced among each other. So the demand and supply of debt instruments with short term period and long term period are calculated individually. You can read more on business financing.

     The market segmentation theory finds that the securities that are traded in short term market may undergo a significant flux and the rates that are applied to long term investments remain static to some extent. The market segmentation theory is sometimes also known as the segmented markets theory. The segments market theory mostly agrees and supports the preferred habitat theory. According to the preferred habitat theory, the investors have a specific expectation when one is required to invest in securities with different maturity lengths. When an investor trades on an opportunity that matches their preferences and their assumed degree of risk, the expectations remain within the degree of reason. However, if the investor buys or sells securities that have a maturity beyond their preferences, it will affect their assumption of risks and needs and will require a need for increased return to balance that risk. You can read more on market segmentation analysis.

     Those who advocate the market segmentation theory have pointed out that the evaluation of the yield curves of short term and long term markets show that the rate of interest applied has little or no relationship with one another. In fact, the yield curve is based on the available supply and the demand of options and not interest rates. You can read more on market segmentation strategy.

     Investors Choice Read the rest of this entry »

     Trend analysis, most of the time, is used to take stock of what is going to happen in the future. It is a part of market research. But it is also used to gauge the uncertain events in the past. In the contemporary world, trend analysis refers to a science which studies changes in social patterns, which involve fashion, lifestyle and behavior of the consumers. Those who do this analysis dwell into what were the reasons for a specific trend and how did it impact the market or the environment related to that trend. In some fields, analysis of trend refers to more distinctly defined explanations. For instance, talk about project management and there the whole connotation of trend analysis is one which uses historical results in anticipation of the outcome. Companies prepare their marketing and production policies and marketing strategies based on this analysis.

     Stock Trend Analysis
     Stock trend analysis is the study of the pattern of the stock market – where it rose and where it dropped down, what was the profit to those who had invested in specific stocks and so on. One of the trend analysis methods as far as stock market is concerned is the moving average trends. It is used to measure individual averages. Certain number of days is fixed, lets say 320-day moving average is recorded by averaging the closing price of the last 320 days. In a few cases moving averages are exponentially weighted. However the crux of the matter remains the same. If the stocks are above the 200-day moving average, they are bought and sold on a long term basis. Another way to follow stock market trends is the presidential cycle. It has found out that the stock market tends to peak the highest in the year when there is a presidential campaign. These are the most common methods used in studying stock market trend. Read the rest of this entry »

     Individual interpretation of the marketing function appears to be driven by (and rather unfortunately limited to) the realm of the interpreter’s experience. When I am not pitching a client, I frequently hear casual conversations where marketing is confused with sales, advertising, design or other niche function.

     A Better Definition of Marketing

     The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” Many other firms and organizations have similar definitions. But what does this mean for a small business?

     Peter Drucker, management guru, defines it quite succinctly when he said “The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.” The idea is that marketing can help a company to understand its customer so well that its product or service effectively sells itself.

    To achieve this, we require a number of distinct but inter-related competencies. Having worked with large-cap and start-up clients across multiple industries around the globe, I have found that marketing needs generally fall into the following categories:

     – Business planning: developing the idea behind a business, assessing market demand and evaluating the feasibility of the revenue model (Market research and business case development)

     – Marketing strategy: building a marketing plan to enter a new market or grow your market share (Segmentation-Targeting-Positioning (STP), pricing, growth strategy and competitive strategy)

     – Brand strategy: identifying key differentiators for your company and using them to build mindshare (Corporate identity, logo design, co-branding and product or service branding) Read the rest of this entry »

     The ultimate aim of any business is making profits. In order to achieve this goal, a perfect marketing strategy is very necessary. Marketing is a very wide concept, which involves various activities, like studying the buyers’ minds, their needs and preferences, designing products according to customers’ needs, and promoting and selling the products using various techniques. However, different customers have different needs and preferences and it will be a folly on the part of the seller to treat them alike. You cannot develop and sell a product on assumptions only. While bad products fail to lure the customers, good products may also fail in a low demand market. Hence, a study of the market is indispensable, especially for global brands. One such marketing strategy is target marketing, which recognizes the diversity of customers and identifies the needs of separate segments of a market. In other words, the market is divided into segments and the marketing efforts are concentrated on a few vital segments.

     Market Segmentation Strategy

     Now we know that in target marketing, the market is divided into distinct segments. Dividing the market into groups of individuals, who share similar needs and preferences, in relation to goods and products is called market segmentation. Market segmentation is done on the basis of various factors, like, culture, economic status, geographic differences, behavior, etc. A market segmentation strategy is aimed at dividing a heterogeneous market into different segments of buyers. Each segment have individuals who have similar interests. The interests of each segment may vary with regard to products. Read the rest of this entry »