Marketing Environment Search, Essay Example

Technology and Marketing

New technologies are continuously improving and replacing existing products. Although technological change is often difficult to predict, suggest how the following companies and products might be affected by the Internet and digital technologies: (a) Kodak cameras and film, (b) American Airlines, and (c) the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Technology has become an essential and integral part of the business world today. Technology has transformed many facets of business, from the production process through the final sales and marketing where the product reaches the consumer (Kerin). In many ways, technology has affected all companies. In this paper, I will seek to delve into the manner in which technology has influenced and/or affected three companies and their products.

Kodak Cameras and Film

The Age of Smartphones

Smartphones revolutionized the communication industry. The digital gadgets were able to condense many useful tools that businessmen and ordinary people needed into one small device. Notably, the smartphones were able to double up as digital cameras (Lucas). This brilliant innovation greatly affected and demolished Kodak’s old camera and film making business. Kodak was unable to keep up with the competition that smartphones posed.

Digital Cameras

The invention of digital cameras transformed the photography industry. The technology enabled photographs to be taken and stored in digital space. This changed the preferences of the market where this technology was preferred to the old film technology (Lucas). The technology was compact and reliable with little to no complications. Kodak’s inability to adapt to the changing market and take advantage of its large market share saw it lose its market share rapidly in the late 1990s.

American Airlines

AA.com

Airline business was transformed over 50 years ago when the first passenger service system was developed. American Airlines has been on the forefront of technological innovation with the enhanced AA.com Self-Service Check-In that is operational across the country (Bazargan). The AA.com site boasts over 1.6 million visits in a day. It is by far the largest distribution channel in the United States. The site offers booking with no online booking fees. The AA.com has received the World Travel Award for World’s Leading Airline Internet Site.

Mobile Platforms

Mobile expresses today’s linked traveler and is the force behind technology that American is developing today to simplify travel for the customer.

American Airlines Travel App: The American Travel app has been developed with the aim of providing special attributes and features to make it easier for the traveler to keep up to date with the latest news in a timely manner (Bazargan). This application boasts over 3 million downloads.

This app also has compatibility with numerous platforms, namely:

• Windows Phone 7
• Amazon Kindle Fire
• iPhone, iPad and iPod touch
• Blackberry
• Android

Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan has over the years expanded to take a more philosophical and virtual approach as opposed to a physical one. The Museum now employs technology to appeal to a much younger generation, who might otherwise have and apprentice outlook to art. Owing to the fact that information in the 21^st Century can be transmitted to mobile phones and other devices wirelessly, the museum has been able to keep up with the trend in different ways. Through touch screens, for example, the museum has managed to offer tours of exhibitions and galleries. This largely depends on the manner in which the visitor comprehends the technology and their expertise on the subject matter.

The museum has recently amalgamated its technology operations to form one unit within its operational structure. Furthermore, earlier in the years 2011, the Museum launched its overhauled Web site. This happened after the Museum ensured that all the art pieces that form over 1.5 million pieces was recorded in their online database.

Personal Opinion

Technology is undoubtedly an integral part of society and the business world. The three companies named above represent this in the way in which they represent different aspects of life, society and business, thus they broadly depict how technology has changed and transformed the way human beings go about daily activity.

In my opinion, the manner in which technology has affected the three businesses names above reflects certain critical aspects on business, technology and marketing.

Management of Change

In my opinion, Kodak Cameras and film found itself a victim to resistance to change. The company incorrectly read the market by deciding to stick to the old camera designs that utilized film technology. This was the wrong strategy for the company. This was the reason for the drop of the company’s market share.

Technological Innovation

In my opinion, in order for any manufacturing and/or service company to survive in the 21^st century market, they need to have a technological innovation department. This will allow the company to stay competitive and increase revenue earned from business operations. American Airlines and The Metropolitan Museum of Art grasped this concept. American Airlines have managed to take advantage of the advent of hand-held devices and the internet to bring business operations and services to the customers’ finger-tips, in a literal sense. The Metropolitan Museum of Art on the other hand has managed to read the market trends and develop an innovative way of displaying and marketing art.

I believe that the ability for companies to read the market, adapt to the emerging trends and develop new technologies that provide the customers will ease to access to products and services determines the ability of company to stay competitive and relevant in the 21^st century. In essence I believe that this defines the marketing trends of the 21^st century.

Works Cited

Bazargan, Massoud. Airline Operations and Scheduling. Farham: Ashgate, 2010. Internet Source.

Kerin, Roger A, Steven W. Hartley, and William Rudelius. Marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2011. Print.

Lucas, Henry C. The Search for Survival: Lessons from Disruptive Technologies. Santa Brabara: Praeger, 2012. Print.