The Challenges of Determining a Strategic Quadrant

The process of determining my strategic quadrant elements was quite challenging. With a problem as big as distracted driving I struggled to determine which aspects of distracted driving to attack. Although cell phone usage has brought the distracted driving epidemic to the forefront of people's mind there are countless other sources of distractions that are equally as dangerous such as: tending to small children, grooming, eating and drinking, referring to maps/navigation technology, fatigue, and non-essential activities of interest occurring outside of a vehicle. The list goes on. There is also the question of which types of drivers to go after, seniors, middle aged adults, young adults, or teens. I ultimately decided to go after teens because they are the drivers on the road with the greatest risk of accident. The Institute for Highway Safety reports that for every mile that a teenage driver drives he/she is four times as likely to be involved in an accident as an older adult driver.

Another topic that I wrestled with a great deal was how to define categories in my 4 Bs analyses. I ultimately settled on "Undistracted Teenage Drivers" as the category definition in market scenarios where the AAA foundation functioned as the market leader, and decided on "Teenage Drivers" as the category definition in market scenarios where the AAA foundation functioned as one player in a myriad of other competitors seeking to gain share of the teenage driver's attention

With my category definitions determined I used data from the US Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration's website to determine that there are approximately 10 million teenage drivers in the U.S.. Using a 2008 cell phone driving report produced by the AAA foundation, I adjusted young people's cell phone usage data upward by approximately 20% (to compensate for under-reporting biases and driving distractions not related to cell phone usage) as a proxy for general distracted driving trends among teens. I also utilized teen traffic accident and fatality data from the Center for Disease Control's webpage to calculate the approximate percentage of teens who are involved in traffic accidents and traffic fatalities each year (3.5% and 0.04% respectively). With all of these assumptions made I was able to conduct my 4 Bs analysis.

4 Bs ANALYSIS

ACQUISITION/STIMULATE DEMAND
Category: Undistracted Teenage Drivers
Customer Definition: Drivers age 16-19 who regularly minimize the distractions within their control and respond in the safest manner possible to unexpected distractions
Other Players: Distractions such as: cell phone conversations, text messages, changing the radio station, tending to children, grooming, eating/drinking, referring to maps/navigation systems, fatigue, and non-essential activities of interest occurring outside of a vehicle
Bodies: 8,500,000 teenage drivers (= drivers who regularly engage in distracting activities + drivers who sometimes engage in distracting activities)
Beliefs
Conversion Rate: 20% (estimate)
Before: Distractions such as texting, talking or grooming while driving are dangerous but they save me time
After: The increased accident risks of texting talking or grooming while driving outweigh the time saving benefits
Behaviors
Conversion Rate: 4% (estimate)
New Undistracted Drivers: 68,000 (= Bodies * Beliefs Conv. Rate * Behaviors Conv. Rate)
Before: I routinely perform other non-essential tasks while driving
After: I rarely if ever perform non-essential tasks while driving
Key Metrics (a.k.a. Bucks)
Reduction in Teen Accidents: 2380 (= New Undistracted Drivers * 3.5%)
Reduction in Teen Fatalities: 27 (= New Undistracted Drivers * 0.04%)

AQUISITION/STEAL SHARE
Category: Teenage Drivers
Customer Definition: Drivers age 16-19 who regularly minimize the distractions within their control and respond in the safest manner possible to unexpected distractions
Other Players: Distractions caused by cell phones (i.e. conversations and texting). This behavior was targeted due to its strong prevalence among teenage drivers and because of its prominence within the media and among legislatures.
Bodies: 4,000,000 teenage drivers (= drivers who engage in heavy cell phone usage)
Beliefs
Conversion Rate: 30% (estimate)
Before: Talking and texting are not huge distractions
After: Talking and texting are dangerous distractions that can lead to serious injury or death
Behaviors
Conversion Rate: 3% (estimate)
New Undistracted Drivers: 36,000 (= Bodies * Beliefs Conv. Rate * Behaviors Conv. Rate)
Before: I routinely talk and text while driving
After: I choose not to talk and text while driving
Key Metrics (a.k.a. Bucks)
Reduction in Teen Accidents: 1260 (= New Undistracted Drivers * 3.5%)
Reduction in Teen Fatalities: 14 (= New Undistracted Drivers * 0.04%)

RETENTION/STEAL SHARE
Category: Teenage Drivers
Customer Definition: Drivers age 16-19 who regularly minimize the distractions within their control and respond in the safest manner possible to unexpected distractions
Other Players: Distractions caused by cell phones (i.e. conversations and texting). This behavior was targeted due to its strong prevalence among teenage drivers and because of its prominence within the media and among legislatures.
Bodies: 5,200,000 teenage drivers (= drivers who engage in occasional cell phone usage)
Beliefs
Conversion Rate: 40% (estimate)
Before: Distractions such as texting and talking are dangerous but sometimes are necessary because of the time they save
After: The increased accident risks of texting and talking while driving almost always outweigh the time saving benefits
Behaviors
Conversion Rate: 20% (estimate)
New Undistracted Drivers: 416,000 (= Bodies * Beliefs Conv. Rate * Behaviors Conv. Rate)
Before: I sometimes choose to minimize my distractions while driving but at other times talk and text
After: I rarely if ever talk and text while driving
Key Metrics (a.k.a. Bucks)
Reduction in Teen Accidents: 14,560 (= New Undistracted Drivers * 3.5%)
Reduction in Teen Fatalities: 166 (= New Undistracted Drivers * 0.04%)

RETENTION/STIMULATE DEMAND
Category: Undistracted Teenage Drivers
Customer Definition: Drivers age 16-19 who regularly minimize the distractions within their control and respond in the safest manner possible to unexpected distractions
Other Players: Distractions such as: cell phone conversations, text messages, changing the radio station, tending to children, grooming, eating/drinking, referring to maps/navigation systems, fatigue, and non-essential activities of interest occurring outside of a vehicle

NOTE: I chose not to conduct a 4 Bs analysis for this strategic quadrant. Given that my customer definition describes someone who does not engage in distracting activities during driving, I could not determine a way to reasonably approximate how a person could increase their degree of disengagement from distracting activities while driving. The way my analysis is structured teenagers either refrain from engaging in distracting activities all together, occasionally engage in distracting activities, or routinely engage in distracting activities.

CONCLUSION
Based on the 4 Bs analysis I have decided that the retention/steal share quadrant is the most impactful.