BUSINESS TOOLS

Dr. Azlin Shafinaz Mohamad Arshad

Head of Entrepreneurship Education
Malaysian Academy of SME & Entrepreneurship Development
(MASMED)
SWOT ANALYSIS
SWOT ANALYSIS
CONSUMER TREND
CANVAS
(CTC)
 An easy-to-follow framework that will help
you not only unpack and understand any
consumer trend, but also help you apply it to
launch successful consumer-facing innovations
of your own.
 Consumer trends are an essential part of
uncovering innovation opportunities.
 Distinguishes between the “Analyze” and the
“Apply” stages.
 During the Analyze stage, you assess a trend and its
underlying drivers. What are the basic consumer
needs a trend is serving and why? What kinds of
change is this trend driving and why?
 During the Apply stage you’ll look at ways in which
you and your business can best tap into a trend, and
who would benefit from this trend.
 How and when to use the canvas
1. Start with the left hand side 'Analyze‘
 Help you unpack and understand the trend.

2. Then turn to the right hand side 'Apply‘

 Identifying what opportunities this trend can
present for your business.

FINALLY CAPTURE YOUR NEW INNOVATION

IDEAS!
 1. ANALYZE
A. BASIC NEEDS
B. DRIVERS OF CHANGE
C. EMERGING CUSTOMER
EXPECTATIONS
D. INSPIRATION
A. Basic Needs
 What deep consumer needs & desires does this trend
address?
 Identifying these underlying needs is central to
understanding any consumer trend.
 Eg: Social status / Self-improvement / Entertainment
/ Excitement / Connection / Security / Identity / Relevance
/ Social interaction / Creativity / Fairness / Honesty /
Freedom / Recognition / Simplicity / Transparenc
B. Drivers of Change
 Why is this trend emerging now? What’s changing?
 Long-term, macro changes (across years or even
decades –eg: urban transition, ageing world and climate
challenge).
 Triggers (more immediate changes – eg: specific
technologies, political events, economic shocks,
environmental incidents, and more
 C. Emerging Consumer Expectations
 What new consumer needs, wants and expectations are
created by the changes identified above?
Where and how does this trend satisfy them?
 emerge when basic human needs bump up against external
change to create (or unlock) new needs, wants and desires.
And identifying these unmet needs and wants is the holy
grail of understanding trends, as it will present you
with compelling innovation opportunities.
 Look for expectation gaps between what
consumers want, and what they currently have.
 D. Inspiration
 How are other businesses applying this trend?
 Seeing what other businesses, entrepreneurs, non-profits,
governments even, are already doing with the trend is a
great way to better understand it
 very few ‘innovations’ are totally new. Most
(successful) innovation comes from combining seemingly
unrelated elements, or taking something and deploying it in
a new context.
 Look at existing business innovations, understand them,
then adapt them to your business.
 2. APPLY
A. INNOVATION POTENTIAL
B. WHO
 A. Innovation Potential
 How and where could you apply this trend to your business?
 4 areas:
 Vision: How will the deeper shifts underlying this trend shape your
company’s long-term vision?
 Business Model: Can you apply this trend to launch a whole new
business venture or brand?
 Product / Service / Experience: What new products and services
could you create in light of this trend? How will you adapt your current
products and services?
 Campaign: How can you incorporate this trend into your campaigns,
and show consumers you speak their language, that you ‘get it’.
B. WHO
 Which (new) customer groups could you apply this
trend to? What would you have to change?
 New consumer behaviors usually start with certain
(niche) segments, before evolving and spreading
throughout the mass market.
Electric cars is a good example
 1. Analyse trends
 Basic needs — What deep consumer needs & desires does this trend
address? — I haven’t spoken to many electric car owners yet, but the ones
that I’ve spoken to mention “environmental consciousness” and “cost
saving” as the basic needs that drove their purchase of an electric car. The
experts at TrendWatching mention some other typical types of basic of
needs worth considering as part of your analysis.
 Drivers of Change — Why is this trend emerging now? — What’s
changing? — To analyse the drivers of change, it’s worth looking at ‘shifts’
and ‘triggers’. Shifts are the long-term, macro changes that often take years
or decades to fully materialise. For example, a rapidly growing global
middle class and increasing scarcity of oil are significant drivers of the
appeal of electric cars. Triggers are the more immediate changes that drive
the emergence of a consumer trend. These can include specific
technologies, political events, economic shocks and environmental
incidents. I feel that recent improvements to both the technology and
infrastructure with regard to electric cars are important triggers.
 Emerging Consumer Expectations — What new consumer
needs, wants and expectations are created by the changes
identified above? — Where and how does this trend satisfy
them? — Purchasing expensive fuel for your car is no longer
a given, and consumers starting to become much aware of
the cheaper and environmentally friendly alternative in
electric cars.
 Inspiration — How are other businesses applying this
trend? — When analysing a trend, a key part of the analysis
involves looking at how incumbent businesses are applying a
trend. For example, the Renault-Nissan alliance has thus far
been the most successful when it comes to electric cars and
learning about the ‘why’ behind their success will help one’s
own trend analysis.
 2. Apply trends
 Innovation Panel — How and where could you apply this trend to your
business? — To me, this is one of the crucial steps when exploring trends;
asking yourself that all important question — how can I best apply this
trend to my business? For example, how does a specific trend fit in with
our current offering of products and services? Why (not)? It’s similar to
when you assess a product opportunity and go through a number of
questions to look at the viability of a trend for your business (see Fig. 4
below).
 Who? Which (new) customer groups could you apply this trend to? What
would you have to change? — How often do we forget to think properly
about who this trend is for and why they benefit from it. Which
demographic is this trend relevant for and why? For instance, with
electric cars, one could think about middle class families who are very
cost and environmentally conscious consumers.