Final Customer Purchasing from the Product Producer

Acquire Steps: Acquire steps include all activities the customer completes preceding the use or the consumption of the product. These steps include the customer's efforts needed for evaluation and acquisition of the product.

B.
Resources: Reduce resources required for the use of the product

2.
Time – Reduce the time the customer must spend with the product

A. Reduce steps the customer must use with the product

Bring products closer to the customer
Bring current products closer to new customers
Cover a broader geographic market with current products

Serve new customers in a new geographic market

No.	Year	SIC	Note
1	2000	1531	Meritage Corp. says new home sales will decline due to the lack of affordability. So, Meritage Corp. will build smaller, less expensive houses to keep its sales up. They build their homes in cities where an influx of jobs continues to lure new residents.
2	1985	3570	United Tote recently formed a joint venture with Wembley Inc of London, which owns about 20% of its shares, to acquire race tracks in North America. Wembley will help United Tote market its Tote systems abroad.
3	2000	3630	Whirlpool Corp. manufactures and markets major home appliances and related products for commercial and home use in Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
4	1992	3711	Opel is spending billions on an aggressive expansion into eastern Europe.
5	2003	3711	The Audi company believes they are under-represented in North America, so in response they are boosting the number of dealerships in the U.S. to at least 150 from 68 and expanding the vehicle sales targets from 85,700 to 180,000.
6	1998	4213	Increasingly companies are going global, so their transportation companies must follow them. Federal Express has integrated air and truck in many countries. Also UPS, CNF and Burlington Air Express are well situated.
7	1991	4481	Cruise operators sometimes offer special promotional fares in a specific region of the country.
8	2002	4512	American Airlines Inc. the world's biggest airline is going head to head with JetBlue by flying nonstop from JFK to Long Beach California, JetBlue's westcoast hub.
9	1997	4813	SBC had sparsely populated Arkansas and Oklahoma as home states and turned them into money machines. SBC was first to recognize importance of international market investing in 10% stake of Telmex in 1990.
10	2003	4813	Like Lucent, Nortel also is pushing extend its reach outside North America. Both companies get more than half of their revenue from the U.S., while the well-diversified Alcatel gets 18% of its $17 billion revenue from the U.S.
11	2003	5812	Panera Bread is a bakery/café chain with 500 stores; it plans to open 120 more this year. It is penetrating the West Coast market with a 60-store opening across Southern California. Its market potential is estimated at 1,500 stores.
12	2001	5812	Despite Starbucks' massive success, several smaller competitors such as Peet's Coffee & Tea, have been continuing expansion at a rapid rate. However, Starbucks' 3,881 stores around the world are a fierce match for the 200 stores of Peet's Coffee and Tea Co. and Caribou Coffee Co. combined.
13	1995	5999	Some 80% of world skiers live outside the US. Foreign vacationers spend twice as much and stay twice as long. British now contribute 40% of revenues at Breckenridge spa. Ski the Summit targeted the British, next will target Germans.
14	2005	7363	Temporary day-labor firm Labor Ready's rivals are mostly privately held local or regional outfits. Labor Ready is the only company of its kind with a nationwide footprint, putting more than 600,000 people to work in a year.
15	1992	7900	Six Flags Amusement Parks are closer than Disneyland. 84% of the country's residents have a Six Flags park within 300 miles of their home.

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