Summary
The Australian running shoe industry comprises various manufacturing and distribution companies that have ventured into footwear production. The key products produced include sports shoes, running and walking shoes, hiking and backpacking shoes, and aerobic and gym wear shoes. The market segment for this industry includes women, men, youths, children, sports athletes, and other customers who may purchase the products for various purposes. Currently, the industry faces various macroeconomic challenges brought on by the evolving technological impact and the global pandemic, which has negatively hit the business.
The industry faces competition from established companies like Nike, Adidas, and Puma. The Australian running shoes distributes its products to other parts of Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA regions based on the market segments. The industry has digitalized most of its operations through online marketing and distribution to access its customers at their convenience and improve the efficiency of operating activities. The Australian shoe industry seeks to actively operationalize its future services for effective management processes and revenue growth.
The Industry Micro-environment
The Australian shoe industry’s micro-environmental factors constitute customers, the management, suppliers, business marketing intermediaries, competitors, and the general public. The raw materials and other resources used in production also constitute the micro-environmental factors (Gander, 2017). These factors affect the operation and the general market segment since each product manufactured and distributed by the Australian shoe industry depends on key micro-environmental factors.
The Internal Management
The Australian shoe industry comprises various companies that operate independently to ensure the production and distribution of footwear and other products are attained. Key issues such as the management structure, culture, goals, key resources, and other internal issues should be considered in the industry since they indicate how the major firms perform in the sector. When a company has a good organizational structure with a clear vision and objectives, there would be high performance due to limited distractions in the production and distribution of its products (Khalifan, Malik, & Tayyab, 2020). The key decisions made by the companies also affect the industry overall since when each company makes a negative decision against its production and distribution, the wider market will be affected negatively.
The Suppliers
In each firm, the suppliers are considered one of the key elements that assist the industry’s performance and general output. The Australian shoe industry has various suppliers who offer the key essential services and products for the manufacturing and distribution of footwear (Macloud, 2019). The suppliers also contribute to the healthy performance of the industry by ensuring that each production firm has the available materials for its service delivery. In both the short run and long run of these companies’ operations, the industry is affected by the existence of the suppliers since any cases of shortages or delays of these suppliers in a company would affect the overall industry sales, and there would be a decline in the performance of this industry.
Marketing Intermediaries
The intermediaries include firms or individuals who help every manufacturing company reach out to their clients through promotion, distribution, and sales of the company products. The major intermediaries in the Australian shoe industry include transport and logistics firms, networking agencies, social media experts, and key business agencies that offer their consultancy services to every company. These intermediaries assist the customers and potential investors in identifying eth right products from the various companies in the industry and offer physical deliveries of the products and services to the final consumers (Wan & Cheng, 2018). Therefore, for the success of this industry, the intermediaries must be considered since they take an active part in the final output of the individual firms and can affect the general sales of the industry.
Competitors
Competitors offer the same products and services in every business. The Australian shoe industry faces competition from other established companies, including Adidas, Puma, and Nike, which offer running shoes and other related products (Meister, 2020). To effectively manage the competition, the products offered by each company from this industry should therefore be of high quality with relatively affordable prices. Therefore, there is a need for effective marketing and improved service delivery through quality production and good time management for the products to be accessed easily in the market. The Australian shoe industry should also invest more in technology since most recent operations depend on technological aspects in their final outputs.
Customers
The customers in this industry include all the relevant consumers, such as ladies, men, youths, children, sports athletes, and other relevant clients who regularly consume these products. Customers play a vital role in promoting the industry’s growth through continuous purchases. For effective output and improved service delivery in this industry, individual companies should aim to satisfy their customers through prompt deliveries, follow-up requests, and established communication channels to aid the delivery processes (Khalifan, Malik, & Tayyab, 2020).
Macro-environmental Factors
Demographic Environment
In recent years, there have been reduced overall sales in the Australian shoe industry due to a decline in consumer incomes due to the global pandemic. The ever-changing customer demands also affect the industry since most consumers do not prioritize ordinary shoes due to changes in the fashion and preferences of the current century. Qualitatively, there has been an overall underperformance in logistics and access to consumers due to limited interaction between sellers and buyers in the global market (Cannon, Doney, Mullen, & Peterson, 2019). Quantitatively, the Australian industry’s general sales have generally declined as the cost of expenditure increases gradually.
Economic Environment
The global economy has declined, leading to changing sales patterns from various producers. For example, the recent market patterns experiences in various parts of the world have led to the reduced purchasing power of consumers due to the unavailability of various opportunities for growth (Bentley, 2018). As a result of increased prices of raw materials for production, there has been a relative increase in the production of the final products from the producers. The qualitative effect of these changing economic patterns has reduced customer purchases due to the consideration of product priorities while making purchase decisions. Quantitatively, the economic patterns have led to declined production due to stagnated products in the global market, leading to reduced sales and overall returns from the investments of individual industries.
Technological Environment
Most companies aim to advance their operations to meet customer demands by encouraging online marketing and distribution platforms. The Australian shoe industry has experienced challenges in adopting these technological changes since every producing firm needs to develop mechanisms of facilitating its operations through online platforms (Wan & Cheng, 2018). Qualitatively, the technological changes have led to a decline in the general incomes of the employees as most of them are forced to resign from their jobs prematurely. Therefore, the quantitative effect of technological advancement in operations has led to changes in priorities of the various software and platforms to be implemented in the companies for improved operations.
References
Bentley, J. (2018). Economic and ecological approaches to technological adoption: in defense of a much-maligned phenomenon. American Journal, 16(1), 31-67.
Cannon, J., Doney, P., Mullen, M., & Peterson, K. (2019). Building long-term orientation buyer-supplier relationships: The moderating role of culture. Journal of Operations Management, 28(6); 506-521.
Gander, J. (2017). Strategic Analysis: A Creative and cultural industries Perspective. London: Taylor & Francis.
Khalifan, Malik, M., & Tayyab, M. (2020). The current state of off-site manufacturing and distribution in Australia and other parts of the world. Journal of marketing and manufacturing.
Macloud, D. (2019). The analysis of Various Macroeconomic factors of production on a firm’s profit maximization. International Journal of Economics.
Meister. (2020). Effects of Covid-19 on Australian shoe industry and the world economy: Sales patterns in the post-digital ecosystem. Journal of International Tradeologists Law.
Wan, G. H., & Cheng, E. J. (2018). Effect of technological adoption and returns to scale in the Australian manufacturing industry. Journal of Research and Innovation, 33(2), 183 – 194.