Case Study 6

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 Identifying Market Niches in the Age of Big Data

Q1: Describe the kinds of data being analysed by the companies in this case.

Answer: 
E-Book
Data about purchases of e-book and the reading habits are being collected and potentially sold to the book publishers for their own analysis. The data normally include whether the book is being completed, if the pages are skimmed or skipped and normally which genres have the highest view and are most often finished.

Airlines
Airlines are collecting all kinds of passenger’s information to help them to build a comprehensive customer profiles for their own reviews. Cabin crews can as well use the data to identify the characteristics of the on-board passengers and so they could personalise the customer’s flying experiences and provide them with the best services.

Automobile Company
Automobile company is trying to collect the fuel economy data, mechanical failures and other safety and performance metrics by using the vehicle internet connections to improve the product engineering. For instances, Ford is collecting the data about the driving patterns, schedule and car location so they could suggest the routes to the drivers to avoid traffic.

Q2: How is this fine-grained data analysis improving operations and decision making in the companies described in this case? What business strategies are being supported?

 Answer: 
E-book
The data being collected can helps the publisher to tailor their work to suit the preference of the reader and as well the book editors can use it to choose which manuscripts to publish.

Business strategy being supported:
Focus on market niche
The publisher and book editors can focus on the market niche and target the right readers with the right ingredients to ensure the books are able to sell.

Airlines
The data being collected like customer’s profile and preferences can help to enhance the passenger’s experience with the airlines and it could help to improve the customer service as the customer will feel like the services are tailor-made for them.

Business strategy being supported:
Product differentiation
The services that provided by the cabin crews are all tailor-made for a specific passenger based on their profiles and preferences mentioned in the data collected.
Customer intimacy
The cabin crews are clear on the preferences and characteristics and so they provide them with the best fit services and it makes the passenger feel like they are being respected and valued.

Automobile company
The data being collected is to help the automobile company to clear of what the customer really need and what kind of features they are looking for at the moment. Based on the data, they can get to know what they can do to improve the features and services to their customers and fit their preferences even the customers are from many different parts of the world. The automobile company can as well get to know which car is selling better in every country and so they can enhance their marketing on a certain car type.

Business strategy being supported：
Customer intimacy
If the company able to improve and develop the technologies and features that the customer need, the customer will feel like they are being valued and will be loyal to the brand.
Product differentiation
From the data collected, the automobile company will get to know which type and design of the car is popular in a certain country and so they could enhance on the features and design the car type that suit the preferences of the people in that country.

Q3: Are there any disadvantages to mining customer data? Explain your answer.

 Answer: 
When the companies are mining too much data on the customers, it may upset the customers and turning them against the company due to privacy issue. There are customers complaints that companies are collecting too much data and integrating it from too many sources but companies defend that the uses of demographic data is not covered under their privacy policies and this brought both parties into trouble.

Most customers want a line drawn between data collection to facilitate useful offers and data collection that is too intrusive. Even customers who accepted the unavoidable of profiling are annoyed when they receive some unsuitable offers based on faulty personal information. This issue may cause the customer to feel annoy and fed up to the company and the reputation of the company may drop if the customer spread out the news.

Q4: How do you feel about airlines mining your in-flight data? Is this any different from companies mining your credit card purchases or Web surfing?

 Answer: 
In my opinion, I can accept when the airlines is only mining some normal information like my personal details, my preference on the on board meal or the seats that I always select when I go on board but not too over. It can be dangerous when the airlines know the destination details that you are going to visit and if they hold too much information on your travel history.
I believe that no matter there are airlines mining the in-flight data, credit card companies mining your purchases history or collecting web surfing history, their purposes are the same because they would like to gather the preferences of the visitors or customers and target to fulfil their needs by providing the most suitable services and goods. Their initial purpose is correct but if they make it too over it might be annoyed to the customers. 

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