Agroindustrial project analysi

38 AGROINDUSTRIAL PROJECT ANALYSIS* Relative importance of needs and reasons?* Implications for the marketing plan?How would they buy the product?* Decisionmaking unit (DMU)?* Impulse or planned purchase?* Purchase frequency?* Seasonality?* Purchase location?* Credit to distributors?* Implications for the marketing plan?What market information and methods of data collection areneeded?* Data needs?* Data sources?* Methods of data collection?* Reliability?* Cost?* Value of additional information?Capacity of ssI's to gather?Analysis of the Competitive EnvironmentAgroindustrial projects do not exist in a vacuum. They enter amarketplace crowded with agroindustrial firms and products, andtheir success partly depends on their ability to compete with otherfirms. Accordingly, a marketing analysis should examine the structureof the market, the basis of competition, and the institutionalconstraints affecting the competitive environment.Market structureMarket structure has been a traditional focal point for economistsstudying industrial organizations and the competitive environment.The structure of a particular market is also relevant toa new firm considering entering it (see "Market structure" in thesecond section of the bibliography for further reading).A structural examination of a market can begin by identificationof the competitors, which can be public or private enterprises, re-