Gardening in ruins: Export plan on the application of transportable and inflatable plant cultivation units in crisis regions

Kurzfassung

New Horizon Technologies (NHT) aims to implement plant cultivation technologies used in space in the terrestrial market to ensure a sustainable life on Earth. The company currently uses the facilities of the German Aerospace Center in Bremen to develop the prototype of the transportable and inflatable plant cultivation unit called MEPA. This should be used in humanitarian aid to supply beneficiaries with fresh food. The company’s motivation for this research is that it is not active in this market and wants to successfully enter it to sell MEPA. This research focuses on the application of MEPA in regions affected by natural disasters. The key research question is: What relevant factors influence the sales of MEPA in the market for transportable and inflatable plant cultivation units? The sales are influenced by NHT’s ability to improve internal processes and systems to create brand awareness. First of all, NHT needs to invest in improving its brand awareness. Otherwise they remain unknown and in addition to this, there should be a focus on customer intimacy. Moreover, relevant factors that influence the purchase decision of relief organizations positively are independent use, local resources, easy transportation, resistance, sustainability, growing of filling plants, affordable price and adaptability. Sales can be expected when they are fulfilled. MEPA would be applied in development contexts instead of emergency aid and NHT needs to focus on this segment to generate sales. The strategic framework revealed that mission and vision are very weak, while the internal analysis revealed that marketing planning, CRM, the financial situation and the product price are problematic. Despite this, NHT has good knowledge of product management and segmentation. The valued characteristics easy transportation, easy handling, fresh food production, higher output, locationindependence and resource-saving are rare for greenhouses except fresh food production. Concerning the trends of the market, it is shown that the occurrence of natural disasters cannot be predicted. Floods and droughts have immense effects on crops and can trigger food crises. In general, the market is difficult to enter due to long development time, high funding and patents held on MEPA. Furthermore, relief organizations make increasingly use of cash aid instead of deliveries and NHT depends on the supplier Heimplanet. The market is attractive as there is a low threat of substitutes since they do not have the same bundle of characteristics as MEPA, a lot of people are affected and the transportation costs are currently high, which favours in-situ production. Regarding the microenvironment, it is revealed that THW, WFP, ADRA and Plan International are interested in MEPA, but they would use it in development aid in a stabilized situation, areas where cultivation is impossible, refugee camps, war zones and in general in Africa instead of after natural disasters. Container farms are identified as competitors, but they cannot compete on price level. As NHT is a start-up without clients, they need to focus on potential customers and build up brand awareness. A logo and business cards must be created to be recognized and to give contact details. Furthermore, a website and social media accounts are necessary to give product information, updates about the development stage and to be reachable for interested organizations. It is indispensable to present MEPA at fairs such as the Humanitarian Congress in Berlin and AidEx in Brussels as this enlarges the awareness among potential clients and spreads the word. Articles in magazines of humanitarian associations such as Venro and a newsletter that informs about events within NHT and the development of MEPA are also promising. Finally, an office is needed, which can hold additional staff needed for those events and further market analyses and a transport company must be chosen to explain potential customers how the delivery works. These actions are scheduled for the following twelve months and the costs amount to approximately €40,464.66.