Calendar Case Study
Case Study #2: Campus Calendar
Executive Summary
Collegiate Images (CI) is a start-up envisioned by eight college students. They have a small amount of starting capital and face a handful of key product and operational decisions. They have settled on making a calendar with images of students in it. How they go about this is key, their relative success will be immediately apparent and their initial set of decisions will be critical to the entire endeavor.
They have collected some data and are aware of the fixed costs of setup and production. CI needs to understand the basic factors of their enterprise and not become too focused on their data to such an extent that they use it guide all decision making, they need to retain a basic understanding of product offerings and likely buyer behavior in fall 2009. They are in the calendar business, they have niche content, and they have a handful of college based market segments to cater to.
Situation Analysis
Environment
Economic conditions and trends The current recession is affecting all Americans in a variety of ways, but within the college campus of Eastern Washington University the disposable income a student would spend on a novelty calendar is unlikely to be severely threatened by the current economic crisis.
The primary concern for CI is the basic limitations imposed by the calendar business itself. The initial fall launch and the gift buying season preceding the holidays is critical. After the middle of January the demand for calendars falls off tremendously. Calendar stores are effective seasonal and the window for sales is short and focused.
College students now handle most of their organizational and reminder needs electronically. The calendar application on a phone or computer is going to be the first choice of many. The CI calendar is going to have to succeed as novelty item, more akin to a poster than a scheduling tool. It needs to have the right production value to support this aim.
Executive Summary
Collegiate Images (CI) is a start-up envisioned by eight college students. They have a small amount of starting capital and face a handful of key product and operational decisions. They have settled on making a calendar with images of students in it. How they go about this is key, their relative success will be immediately apparent and their initial set of decisions will be critical to the entire endeavor.
They have collected some data and are aware of the fixed costs of setup and production. CI needs to understand the basic factors of their enterprise and not become too focused on their data to such an extent that they use it guide all decision making, they need to retain a basic understanding of product offerings and likely buyer behavior in fall 2009. They are in the calendar business, they have niche content, and they have a handful of college based market segments to cater to.
Situation Analysis
Environment
Economic conditions and trends The current recession is affecting all Americans in a variety of ways, but within the college campus of Eastern Washington University the disposable income a student would spend on a novelty calendar is unlikely to be severely threatened by the current economic crisis.
The primary concern for CI is the basic limitations imposed by the calendar business itself. The initial fall launch and the gift buying season preceding the holidays is critical. After the middle of January the demand for calendars falls off tremendously. Calendar stores are effective seasonal and the window for sales is short and focused.
College students now handle most of their organizational and reminder needs electronically. The calendar application on a phone or computer is going to be the first choice of many. The CI calendar is going to have to succeed as novelty item, more akin to a poster than a scheduling tool. It needs to have the right production value to support this aim.