Shomei Cards

Your deliverable consists of two Discussion posts. Your first post should be 150 words. Your faculty member will assign you one or more trend(s) to discuss.. then respond to two other topics discussed by other students.. (see attachment)

Discuss the Effect of Industry Trends

You are making good progress on the components of the presentation to the Shomei Cards Board. This morning you arrive at your office to find another e-mail from Chris outlining the next phase of the project. Read her e-mail for more information.
E-mail from Chris Harolds on Industry Trends

E-mail from Chris Harolds on Industry Trends

To: You, Analyst
From: Chris Harolds
Subject: Trends in the greeting card industry

I think the board will like the strategy statement you developed for Shomei Cards.
Next, I'd like you to study what's happening in the greeting card industry overall. Please identify trends that may affect Shomei's profitability.

When doing this, consider how industry trends pose opportunities and threats for Shomei Cards. Then I'd like you to comment on how these trends affect the sustainability of our competitive advantages and the strength of our industry position. Finally, describe how the trends affect our competitors' industry positions and competitive advantages.
I am including the market research and industry report that you have used before. I thought an article I found, "E-greet or E-gress," and a response to the editor would be helpful as well.

Thanks!
Chris

Rationale
Any strategic decision must be evaluated with careful consideration to changes in the industry. Understanding industry trends will help you develop a strategy that exploits those trends favorable to you, while avoiding trends that may hurt your firm.

Your Deliverable
Your deliverable consists of two Discussion posts. Your first post should be 150 words. Your faculty member will assign you one or more trend(s) to discuss: The Internet and changes in consumer demographics. In your post
? comment on how the trend strengthens or weakens the competitive advantage and industry position strength of Shomei Cards and its competitors.
? comment on the trend analysis posted by at least one of your peers. Your comments should include whether or not you agree with their assessment of how the trend will impact Shomei and the reasoning behind why you agree or disagree. Post your comments to the Discussion.
? You want to think about how these trends affect the industry in general then how they will affect each of the five named companies in particular

What you might want to think about is how the trend will affect the key competitive advantage you identified for Shomei in task 4 and how it affects your strategy statement from task 5. As you can imagine, we're building to a crescendo in task 7, and I'll be looking for the logical linkages you build in these last four tasks when I evaluate your task 7 report.
Your second post should be 100 words and posted the day after your first post for Task 6. In your post
? discuss which industry trends most significantly affect the viability of Shomei Cards' competitive advantages and the strength of its industry position. Post your comments to the Discussion.

Suggested Approach
Read the project materials and learning resources associated with this task.
Project Materials
? Greeting Card Industry Executive Council Report on Industry Trends
? Competitor Survey
? Card Industry Report
? E-greet or E-gress
? Letter to the Editor
Learning Resources
? Industry Trends
Additional Reading
? Porter, Competitive Advantage, pp. 445-81.

(Other discussions by other students, how would one respond to such a topic/discussion??? Pick 2 and discuss:)
-The Internet and increases in paper prices and payroll costs
-The Internet and increases in oil and gas prices
-The Internet and the change from seasonal to everyday cards
-Increases in paper prices and payroll costs and changes in consumer demographics
-Increases in paper prices and payroll costs and the change from seasonal to everyday cards.
-Increases in oil and gas prices and changes in consumer demographics
-Increases in oil and gas prices and the change from seasonal to everyday cards
-Changes in consumer demographics and the change from seasonal to everyday cards
-The Internet and increases in paper prices and payroll costs
-The Internet and Increases in oil and gas prices
-The Internet and changes in consumer demographics
-The Internet and the change from seasonal to everyday cards
-Increases in paper prices and payroll costs and changes in consumer demographics
-Increases in paper prices and payroll costs and the change from seasonal to everyday cards
-The Internet and increases in paper prices and payroll costs
-The Internet and increases in oil and gas prices
-The Internet and changes in consumer demographics