Strategic Planning in the Small Business

Unit 2

HO 2-4 (continued)

The

replacement

parts

business should

maintain

its mod­

erate,

long-range

demand

growth

trend, and

its stronger

sta­

bility relative

to the automotive

original-equipment

field

is almost

assured. The

sales in this

market will

be aided

by the expanding

car and truck

population.

Most

do-it-yourselfers

will be

limited

to items

such as plugs

and ,

)ints, oil and

filters, and

other easy­

to-install

parts

because of

the complexity

of the

new car engines.

COMPETITIVE

ENVIRONMENT

Target Market

Twenty-nine

percent

of the residents

within

the market

ara

are

renters. Despite

some

concern, the

research

indicates

that

renters do

complete small

do-it-yourself

projects.

The

age dis­

tribution

of the market

area

is also crucial

for predicting

future

behavior

towards the

do-it-yourself

trend.

Today's average

do­

it-yourselfer

is relatively

young

(

2 5

3

4-year-age

group).

For our

market

area, sixteen

percent

of the

population

falls into

this

age bracket

and thirty-four

percent

of the

market

population

is under twenty-five-years

old. These

figures

suggest a

reason­

able

and growing

market

within the

prime age

groups.

Competition

There

are many

competitors

in HAH's

trade area.

However,

seven

of these

competitors

are most

dominant-posing

the

strongest

competitive

threat

to HAH. A

detailed

competitive

profile

is offered

for each

of these

competitors,

and

their

strengths

and weaknesses

are shown

graphically

in Table 1-5.

The

table shows

each competitor

with

an overall

performance

index

which

is a measure

of how

strong each

competitor

is

perceived

to be and

is based

on a total

point index

of 125. The

characteristics

chosen by

HAH were

specific to

their particular

competitive

situation.

50 Part
One The Analysis
Phase

193