Odi Case Study

Case Study 1: ODI Contact Lenses

The early 1900s were a period where commercial egg farming became popular in the United States. The initial solution of debeaking reduced cannibalism and brought down the mortality rates of chicken from 25% to 9%. Optical Distortions’ contact lenses intends to eliminate cannibalism and reduce the mortality rate further. This would also be a cost effective solution for the problem faced by the farmers.

Appealing factors of ODI Contact Lenses:

• Innovative new product that is more ethical
• Tested in big poultry markets like California and Oregon with successful results
• Drastic reduction in Cannibalization which leads to lesser loss of poultry
• Higher savings on chicken feed; about 156 pounds of feed per day
• Elimination of Trauma to Chickens
• Improvement in Productivity as there was no weight loss or decrease in egg production

Unappealing factors of ODI Contact Lenses:

• The lenses could not be reused; could lead to permanent blindness to the chicken if it does not work correctly
• Training workforce to insert lenses on to the chickens
• Chicken farmers’ aversion to use new technology over existing proven methods
• Lenses have to be bought in bulk; not suitable for small farms

Geographic Areas for ODI to focus:

ODI have the right idea to begin in California, since it has a large percentage of farms as well as the total number of chickens on the farm.

Other geographic regions ODI can target are the South Atlantic region and regions in West South Central and both West and East North Central, where chicken farms are dispersed over the region and have a high ratio of Total chickens to Total farms. The top states to target in the USA would be:

• California
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Georgia
• Oklahoma

Other Marketing Segments to target:

• By Farm Size

• Medium Sized Farms
• Large Sized Farms

• By Farming Method

• Farmers using Machinery (Modern Technology)

Pricing Strategy

• ODI is the Innovator of new lens for nonhuman applications
• Monopolistic Position, because of the patent on the hydrophilic polymer
• Capitalize on the situation by going with Market Skimming strategy

• With around the same investment as Debeaking, the farmers are able to save a lot more since there is no losses of birds, no reduction in productivity and savings on grains.

Realistic Goal by 1978

Become a multiproduct company in multiple markets, providing service and distribution in all parts of the country.

Can be achieved by reaching the following targets:

• Regional offices established across USA, with a setup established at prime Chicken farming locations (South Atlantic, Washington and West South Central being top locations)
• Headquarters established at California with fully equipped R&D lab to look into more product lines
• Reach profit goals to generate capital from equity market for development of new products
• Complete the national distribution chain, with trained salesmen catering to all major locations