No. 41: 市場シェアを考える。(January 25, 2010)
日本航空の株券がついに紙くず同然になってしまった。政治のしがらみを考えないで、日本航空の問題点を戦略面から考えると、安易な事業拡張がいかに危険かを示している。景気が悪化すると、企業はコスト削減を最重要課題にあげる。しかし、商品数あるいは得意先数を減らすことは、なかなかできない。商品と得意先は多いほうがよいという考え方を捨てることができない。多少、効率が落ちても、商品の数は少ないよりも多いほうがよい。そうすれば、取引先も増え、買ってくれる消費者も増える。その結果、商品や得意先の数を減らす戦略には、大変な抵抗感がある。市場シェアとは、市場のカバレッジと店内シェアの平均の掛け算である。事業構造によっては、市場カバレッジよりも、カバーしている小売店の店内シェアが高いほうが、結果として、市場シェアが高い場合が多い。旅行会社を小売店、北米航路のような路線を商品と考えると、日本航空の現状が理解できる。(Written by Shigeo Sunahara of CBC, Inc.)
No. 41: On market share (January 25, 2010)
Japan Airlines’ certificates decreased the value drastically, and they are now like scratch paper. Without regard to art and intrigue involved in the political world, the Japan Airlines case illustrates from the strategic viewpoint how dangerous it is to expand business without careful consideration. When economy becomes depressed, companies usually place the highest important on cost reduction, and they are very hesitant to decrease the number of products and customers. That is, they can hardly abandon the ideal that the more the products and customers they have, the better business results they can achieve. They stick around the idea of selling a large number of products at the sacrifice of decreasing efficiency because they believe that growing number of products lead direct to an increasing number of customers and consumers. Therefore, every company has to overcome the resistance against decreasing the number of products and customers. Market share is the multiplication of market coverage and the average of in-house shares. Companies generally can get a higher market share by increasing the in-house share instead of the market coverage, though it depends in which industry they are. If you regard travel agencies as retailers and air routes like the North American air route as products, you can easily understand the current situation of Japan Airlines. Travel agencies naturally prefer to sell tickets most profitable to them.
No. 41: On market share (January 25, 2010)
Japan Airlines’ certificates decreased the value drastically, and they are now like scratch paper. Without regard to art and intrigue involved in the political world, the Japan Airlines case illustrates from the strategic viewpoint how dangerous it is to expand business without careful consideration. When economy becomes depressed, companies usually place the highest important on cost reduction, and they are very hesitant to decrease the number of products and customers. That is, they can hardly abandon the ideal that the more the products and customers they have, the better business results they can achieve. They stick around the idea of selling a large number of products at the sacrifice of decreasing efficiency because they believe that growing number of products lead direct to an increasing number of customers and consumers. Therefore, every company has to overcome the resistance against decreasing the number of products and customers. Market share is the multiplication of market coverage and the average of in-house shares. Companies generally can get a higher market share by increasing the in-house share instead of the market coverage, though it depends in which industry they are. If you regard travel agencies as retailers and air routes like the North American air route as products, you can easily understand the current situation of Japan Airlines. Travel agencies naturally prefer to sell tickets most profitable to them.
