Oil absorptive fiber granules – a new product for Södra? Industry and market analysis of the Swedish absorbent market
Abstract: Oil is a necessity for today's society in the modern world. Due to operational activities itsometimes occurs accidents involving oil spills. There are many sanitation methods that areused to combat oil spill accidents and the most suitable method depends on the situation.Absorbents are a sanitation method which is used to target small oil spills through absorptionof the oil. Södra, a wood-processing company, is currently developing an organic absorbentfrom paper pulp. Södra wants to examine the Swedish absorbent market regarding itscompetitors, customers and potential. The investigation of the market provides a foundationfor the decision making process regarding if the product is suited for further development. Inthe thesis, A SWOT analysis is used as the framework in order to show a comprehensiveoverview of both the absorbent market and important product related factors. Theenvironmental effects of Södras and its competitor's products have been included in theSWOT analysis used in the thesis. A qualitative methodology consisting of interviews wasconducted in order to gather sufficient data for the analysis. The conclusions from the findingscould be summarized as following:The absorbent market is a mature market that consists of many different market segments.The customers are situated all over Sweden and they do not purchase large volumes ofabsorbents. The competitors in the industry have very similar products and are small in sizeand most of them have a turnover ranging from 1-3 MSEK/year and 1-3 employees. Theabsorbent industry could be a small part of Södras business since the market is not verylucrative and mainly consists of customers with a low usage of absorbents. It could bepossible to produce the absorbents in occasional campaigns and/or emergency situations andthe surplus of absorbents could be stored for a long time.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE ESSAY. (in PDF format)