Читать книгу Applied Mergers and Acquisitions - Robert F. Bruner - Страница 87

The most direct way to listen to customers is through the analysis of purchasing patterns and behavior. Four calculations could be done for all comparable products in an industry.

1 Price elasticity of demand, which is simply the percentage change in units sold for every percent change in price. Elasticity gives a measure of the sensitivity of the customer demand to changes in price.

2 Rates of growth on a unit basis, and their sustainability.

3 Sensitivity of demand to pricing and availability of complements and substitutes.

4 Demand segmentation, which focuses on pockets of demand based on geographic area, price, product features, and so on.

Careful demand analysis is challenging for at least two reasons. First, careful analysis requires specialized data that may need to be collected through primary research. Collection of primary data can be arduous and expensive. And second, buying behavior is influenced by numerous factors simultaneously. To isolate the influence of any one factor requires econometric techniques, and a fair amount of clean data. Barabba and Zaltman (1991) give an overview of the organizational and process requirements for successful demand analysis. This is a cautionary foundation for M&A professionals contemplating demand analysis.