The Most Profitable Place the OYBike Should Extend Its Business - Case Study Example

Introduction OYBike is a bicycle docking system that uses mobile phones to hire and terminate the leasing of bicycles. Mr. Henning discovered in 2000 discovered this method of bicycle hire. He then developed this technology and in 2004 he started to operate this system in London. This method of hiring bicycle has become very common in London. This is because this method has become very economical and convenient as a way of London residents accessing a bicycle. In London anyone who is a member of OYBike now can easily access a bicycle, they only need to select a bike from the OYBike dock and then call the OYBike docking control to be given an authorization to use the bicycle. This is generally done at any of the OYBike docking stations, which are strategically located all over London. The process is very economical because it saves bicycle users the cost of purchasing a bicycle as they are assured of getting a bike from the OYBike at any given time. Due to its populated the OYBike have decide to expand their business and operate in other regions. This process requires the OYBike to establish a very strategic plan and place for its implementation. One of these calculated area it should choose to expand its business to is Nairobi city. This is because Nairobi can offer a very good market for its services and hence should consider extending its business there. The city has a population of around 8 million people that can provide a good market for their services. This is because most of these people that live the city use tax to move from one part to the next within the city. Some other people use their own bicycles to move within the town. Therefore the expansion of OYBike into Nairobi city will be a good opportunity for the company to get more customers and also the move will benefit the locals greatly to access more convenient and economical means of movement within the city.(Gerald 2001) Problem Statement The OYBike has a need to extend their business from London and operate in other places within and outside Europe. The company is faced with two challenges, one of the problem is to determine where they will expand their business to and the other one is how establish how they should launch a good promotion for their business in their new operating place. Aims and Objectives. The aim of this report is to determine the most strategic place that OYBike will expand its business to. The report will also identify the best methods that OYBike Company will use to establish a good market for their business. Objectives. The objectives for this report are: 1.To determine the most profitable place the OYBike should extend its business to. 2.To determine the best methods it should use to create awareness for its product in the chosen place. 3. To establish the challenges that the OYBike will experience in it’s new operating place. Hypothesis 1.The most opportune place for OYBike to extend its business to is Nairobi city. 2.The firm should use radio, Internet, newspapers and exhibition as the means of creating awareness of its service to the locals. 3.The challenges that the company will experience in Nairobi are completion from other forms of transport and also cross-cultural communications problems. Literature Review Forms of transport Transportation is the process of movement of people, or goods from one place to another. There are various methods that different people use as their form of transport. These types of transport include vehicles, train, airplanes, ship, bicycle, and motorcycle. The type of transportation chosen depends on the distance to be covered and the resources available. For short distances people opt for the use of vehicles, train and bikes as their form of transport. In cases that involves transportation over a long distance for example movement from one country to another one, people tends to use airplanes or ships, as they are more convenient forms of transport for long distances. On the other hand the form of transport chosen will also depend on the money available. This is because air travel requires a lot of money than land or water transport. This is why this method of transport is restricted to a few who can afford the high cost involved in this form of transport This type of transport offers a quick means of transport. Advertisements Advertisement is a method of creating awareness of a product or services to the people. This is done to inform people of a new product or service that has been launched in the market. Advertisement is also done for products or services that have been in the market to boost their sale. There are various methods that companies can adapt to create awareness for their products. These include advertisement through the radio, television and Internet. In other cases awareness of new products is done through promotion of products during exhibitions where customers are demonstrated on how the product operates. This is a very effective way of launching new products and technologies as the customers gets an opportunity to ask questions concerning these new products or technologies. Also the customer learns how the products these products or technologies operates.(Gerald 2001) Methodology The data used for this discussion is from secondary research from the following site (www.nairobicity.org/article/d) This information helped to guide this discussion in the support of Nairobi city as the right place for OYBike to invest in. Presentation and Analysis The OYBike should establish their business in Nairobi city. This process will enable the company to realize high profits. This is because Nairobi is a big town with a population of 8 million people who offer a potential market for their services. The city does not have other companies that rent their bicycles to the Nairobi people. Therefore OYBike will monopolize their services all over the city, which will enable them to realize high profits. This is because the only completion they will face is from the tax operators. This is because this is the only transportation service that available in the city to transport people from one corner of the town to the next, For the OYBike to get a good response from its customers, they need to launch a very effective awareness for their new product in Nairobi city. They need to advertise their new services in the Television, radios and even through the Internet. This will help to inform Nairobi people about their new services so that they start to use it. The advertisements should also inform the people the various places they can get their bicycle docking places. Through this advertisements Nairobi people will also be informed on how they can become members of OYBike to be able to enjoy this new services in the town. The company should also establish exhibitions to educate the people on how they operate their bicycle services. This will be a good method of promoting their product as Nairobi residents will learn on how to hire the bicycles and how. The OYBike should ensure that it has established its bicycle docking at very strategic locations to convenient their customers. They can put their bicycle docking next to supermarkets so that people who have gone to do their shopping can make use of their services. They should also establish their bicycle docking next to bus and railway stations to enable people have an easy access to their services. Similarly bicycle docking should be established next to tourist’s hotels like next to Hilton hotel. These places will be very convenient locations, as the tourists will hire these bicycles to move around the city.(John2003) The OYBike Company will need to train and engage the local people in their advertisement process. The company will need to recruit some Nairobi people to help them in marketing of their product. It is very necessary to ensure that during exhibitions there are local people who will help to guide the customers on how to use this new service. This will be very important, as it will help to overcome any cross-cultural communications problems that may arise. This is because the local employees will understand the local language and hence no need of having interpreters. The new services will also be highly accepted in Nairobi city. This is because the new transport services will offer a more convenient means of transport within Nairobi. The bicycles will enable the municipal council to do away with the frequent car jams that results from the tax, buses and personal cars. The establishment of the OYBike business in the Nairobi city will help to minimize air pollution within the city. Therefore due to these advantages of these form of transport the OYBike Company will receive a lot of support from the government, as it will be part of a solution from their two major problems in the city. The main problem that the OYBike firm will face in Nairobi as they operate their business is that there business will be low during the rainy seasons. This is because Nairobi is located in tropical climatic conditions with two rainy seasons April and June and September and October. Therefore the company will need to look for a way to improve their bicycle design to include conditions that allow the bicycle users to shield themselves during hot sun and rainy conditions. In this process they will be in a better positions to compete well with the taxes during the hot and wet seasons. The availability of good infrastructure in Nairobi will highly boost the OYBike bicycle services. This is because t\Nairobi city has a well network of roads that connects all parts of the city. Therefore the establishment of OYBike services in the city will facilitate the operation of OYBike bicycle services in the city. Nairobi city has a number of wireless network operators. This will enable the OYBike members to get access to the OYBike bicycles through the use of their mobile phones.(John2003) Conclusion From the discussion above we can advocate for expansion of OYBike to operate in Nairobi city. This is because the city will offer a good market for OYBike services because of its high population. The good road network within the city will also boost the operation of OYBike services in Nairobi city. For their services to sell well in the city, OYBike should establish a very well campaign to create awareness for its new services in Nairobi. It should make use of the good media services available in town to inform the resident of the new services and educate them on how to use it. They should also use the Internet to enhance their advertisement to the locals. The company should recruit local people and train them on how OYBike operates. These local people will assist in educating the OYBike members in Nairobi how to use this new service and especially during the exhibition promotions. Through this process OYBike will establish a very successes market for its services in Nairobi.(John2003) References John C.(2003) Tested Advertising Methods, Prentice Hall:New York. Gerald M.(2001) Effective Promotion Methods, Chicago University Press:Chicago www.nairobicity.org/articles/default Read More