Global Aging Population: Opportunities And Threats For Businesses

Macro-Environmental Factors that Impact a Business

The objective of this report is to study the impact of global aging population, both positive as well as negative and the various opportunities and threats that are associated with such impact, which may be utilized by businesses to provide services and facilities to a substantially large target market.

The specific purpose of this report is to understand the different threats and opportunities brought on by the impact of an ever growing global aging population and the manner in which such threats can be combated and opportunities well used to earn profit through the provision of facilities and services that give comfort and assistance to people in their old age.

The area of coverage for this report is the global aging population in general. The tools for analysis and investigation that have been used to write this report include the extensive survey and in depth analysis of secondary literature on the subject of global aging population.

There are a number of macro-environmental factors that impact the manner in which a business operates. These are the socio-economic environment in which the business carries out its operations, specifically the social fabric and the economic setup of the country, the legal mechanisms that are in place to ensure that the business is able to conduct its activities in a secure and well protected environment, the political system and modes of governance that are currently operational in a country, and the immediate natural environment (Tung 2014).

The market is the place in which the buying and exchange of commodities, goods and services takes place. Market segmentation refers to the process by which a broad business or market comprising of potential and existing customers is divided into various sub groups of consumers, known as segments. The four bases of market segmentation are demographic segmentation, psychographic segmentation, geographic segmentation and behavioral segmentation. In other words, a market is divided on the basis of the behavior of consumers, their geographic location, their mental makeup and based on how many they are in number, and whether or not they form a part of the majority or minority of a country’s population. Once the market segmentation is carried out, the target market is defined, based on exactly the type of consumers or customers that a specific business wants to reach out to in order to sell its goods and services, and which such goods or services or product is positioned in the target market. Positioning refers to the manner by which a product is designed and marketed so as to stand out from related products in the same market.

Defining the Global Ageing Population 

Population ageing refers to the increase in median age of a country’s or region’s population due to factors such as rising life expectancy and the steady decline in fertility rates (Lee and Collins 2015).

The trends in global ageing population seem to indicate that the world ‘s population will reach 1.5 billion by the year of 2030, and that by the decade of the 2050’s, the figure will have crossed 2.1 billion. This seems justified, given the fact that more and more people these days are opting out of having children and life expectancy is far better now than it ever was before.

Understanding Market and Market Segmentation

Some of the concerns associated with global aging population in the next ten to fifteen years is the rising cost of healthcare and reduced availability of job opportunities for younger people. If life expectancy is good and the older population is able to be fit and fine and in a position to render their best professionally, even in their post retirement years, this presents a threat for younger populations in a country who are on the lookout for jobs, and who need to support themselves and their dependents. The rising cost of health care is particularly a very big concern associated with the global aging population. The more old people there are in a country, the more expensive it will be for the country’s administration as medical services and benefits shall have to be made available for their wellbeing and comfort.

High Fertility and Mortality Rates 

One of the major causes of global aging population is the high fertility and mortality rates prevalent in today’s day and age. Due to the advancements that are made in the domain of medical technology, people are able to take care of themselves better and are consequently able to live longer and healthier lives. More and more people are becoming conscious these days about the importance of healthy living, and while following a balanced and nutritious diet is so crucial, given that it provides the body with the right amount of vitamins and minerals and other nutrients needed for it to grow, develop and remain in good shape.

A substantive decrease can be witnessed in the size of the conventional modern day family following the period after World War 2. People often tend to delay marriage these days because they prefer to have a career instead, and children tend to migrate to other countries to study and work, settling down there and focusing on independent living as successful professionals. The rise in the cost of living has also contributed to the decline in family size today, as the larger the family size is, the more will be the number of mouths to feed.

Due to higher rates of urbanization, people have better access to healthcare services these days. People are able to access diagnostic and other healthcare services that enable them to lead healthy lives for the most part of their existence.

The low rate of immigration is also something that has contributed to the global ageing population. Many people are staying back in their own countries these days instead of going away to another country for a career, in order to look after their parents who are getting old.

Due to the preoccupation with having a career, people are less interested in marriage and even less interested in having children of their own. Consequently, the number of old and middle aged people today is far more than what it used to be even a generation ago.

Self Sufficiency among Older Generations

Opportunity- Grocery Stores for the Elderly 

Profit based organizations or businesses can focus their efforts in develop grocery stores and stores that deal in essential goods that are meant specifically for older people. Older people usually find it difficult to go shopping at supermarkets and departmental stores that are also visited by younger generations, since they like to take their time in picking out products and do not want to stand for long hours in a queue at the payment counter. (Ancoli-Israel 2009).

Understanding the Global Aging Population

While opening a grocery store for the elderly is definitely a good idea, there will be many business heads that can envisage the same opportunity, leading to the possible saturation in the growth and development of such stores.

Opportunity – Apps for Old People 

Businesses can consider developing specific types of technology, like specific apps, that old people can use in order to get things delivered to their doorstep instead of them having to step out of the house. Such apps should be those that ought to be made available for use by senior citizens only and should be the types of apps that senior citizens can use in order to have newspapers and grocery products delivered to them at home, as well as medicine too. (Chand and Tung 2014).

Prior to launching apps, care must be taken to see how many elderly people can use such apps for their benefit. Some may have to be trained extensively before they can start using the apps on their own entirely.

Opportunity – Parks for the Elderly 

Businesses can concentrate on creating parks and areas in localities that are specifically meant for use by older people. It is unfair to restrict older people to using parks that are also inhabited by younger populations, as such places tend to be quite noisy and crowded, with elder people seldom getting the opportunity to relax and to unwind. (Chand and Jaeger 2016).

The creation of outdoor recreation facilities like parks and gardens for an ageing population only can be a challenge. Soon other younger people and their children may also want to avail access to such parks, and it could be more rewarding financially too for a business to increase access to young and old alike.

Opportunity – Home Based Medical Services 

Profit based businesses can focus on offering home based medical services for the elderly so that such people do not have to visit a hospital or a clinic in order to get treated. Home care is usually perceived as the best care and efforts should therefore be made by profit oriented enterprises to provide home care medical facilities that include home based diagnostic services, medication and nursing services among others. (Davies and James 2016).

While home based medical services can definitely be made available for the convenience of the elderly, care must be taken to see that such standards are at par with those services provided within a hospital setup. Else, the business may not have a long life.

Opportunity – Pharmacies for the Elderly 

Profit organizations can develop or set up medical stores or pharmacies in localities that offer special discounts and rebates on the price of medicines, and where the sale of medicines are made available to older people only. It is unfair for an elderly person to come back home without buying any medicine because the queue at the medical store was too long or because the store officials could not give them time because they were tending to other customers (Dobbs et al. 2014).

Many businesses may have the idea of starting medical stores or pharmacies for elderly people, making it tough for people to choose between pharmacies, and resulting in gains for one pharmacy and losses for another.

Conclusion 

Thus, there are quite a few important impacts that are induced by the rise in the global ageing population, which are accompanied by significant opportunities as well as threats that need to be addressed.

The threats need to be mitigated at all costs, by businesses looking to expand and profit from the expansion in the global ageing population today.

• When creating grocery stores specifically for the elderly, efforts can be made to make grocery store services available to other sections of the population too, but at specific hours of the day only, in order for the elderly to actually benefit from the existence of such stores (Murdock 2018).
• Elderly people need to be trained well enough to use apps meant for their benefit. Helping elderly to become technology savvy by offering tutorials for the same is something that needs to precede the launch of fancy technology for elderly assistance in the market. (Lee and Coughlin 2015)
• When it comes to creating parks and gardens for the elderly, the same initiative needs to be taken as in the case of the grocery stores, by offering access to such parks to other segments of the population, at certain times of the day only.  (Tung 2016).
• The home based medical services provided need to be evaluated and monitored on a regular basis to ensure these are at par with services provided in hospitals and clinics (Acs et al. 2015).
• Pharmacies for the elderly need to stand out from related medical stores by offering a wide range of deals and discounts and keeping rare and important medication always available at hand, for purchase (Balandina et al. 2015).

References

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