Archive for 2010
Top 6 – May 2010
“In an authentic world failure is something you embrace. It’s almost a noble pursuit. I come from that world—it supported me in creating the punk aesthetic.” Malcolm McLaren, Manager of the Sex Pistols The main drivers to entrepreneurship are economic growth and unemployment. Both the necessity driven entrepreneur and the opportunity seeking entrepreneur are equally…
Read More11 Lessons From Chick-fil-A on Entrepreneurship and Marketing Strategy
Recently I attended an event where Dan Cathy, President and Chief Operating Officer for Chick-fil-A in Chicago, speech. During the talk Dan evangelized the values of Chick-fil-A which include treating customers and employees with respect. Dan also stated that “We distinguish our product based on the value we provide rather than price.” Though I had never stepped foot in a Chick-fil-A restaurant, that comment tripped me off to the fact that I was about to experience a story about a unique entrepreneurial enterprise known as Chick-fil-A!
Read More Business Markets Game Changers
Reenergized Emerging Markets and Renewed Pricing Power
The game in business markets has changed. The opportunity landscape has shifted from the stalwarts of North American and Europe to the onetime turbulent and unstable emerging markets. Furthermore, the pricing power that shrank to the ether is returning to the tangible as markets return to growth.
These are bold claims and require bold reengineering of corporate strategy. Before you the reader consider these to be audacious statements from an ill informed outsider on unimportant and irrelevant industries, let me provide the evidence.
Read MoreTop 6 – April 2010
“There’s so many things that have been said over and over again that need to be said again and again,” Soliloquy From How It Happens (The voice of I.F. Stone), Short Stories, Kronos Quartet, 2004 Mexican Food Triumphs in India: Witness Taco Bell’s Growth in The Land of Masala Japan, the Home of Sushi, Declines…
Read MoreSony Initiates Standards War in e-Readers
In the last weeks of March 2010, just before the media hoopla hit a crescendo on the release of the first Apple iPad, Sony took a shot to establish a more tenable position within the e-Reader market by dropping the price on the Sony Pocket Reader to $169. Is this the beginning of a standards war or a last ditch attempt to move units before Sony finds itself left in the wake of the Apple iPad?
Read MoreTop 6 – March 2010
Ah, March, we all get to be Irish for a day. “May the dust of your carriage blind the eyes of your foe!” Choice is the key to succeeding in markets. Customer choice that is. Customers demand accountability. Address problems honestly and quickly. Witness: Toyota. Offering customers a variety of quality and price points better…
Read MoreGetting Pricing Right – Nordstrom vs. Abercrombie & Fitch
The recession has tested even the most resilient business model. Through it, Nordstrom has glowed while Abercrombie & Fitch glowered. What caused the disparity in performance between these two strong firms? Their pricing strategies.
Read MoreProfessorial Musings form the World of Marketing
Recent issues of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have been particularly rich in their commentaries of heretofore magnificent corporations who have fallen on hard times. In particular: Toyota, Palm and Blockbuster. ?
Read MoreTop 6 – February 2010
“Here lies a humanist.” Abdurrahman Wahid, First Democratically Elected President of Indonesia, 1940-2009 Utility defines value. Does your new idea meet this test? PWYW continues to find new uses in the market for firms with strong and personal customer relationships. If the company doesn’t work, then the customers don’t get served. Trademark challenges create management…
Read MoreIPad Has All the Ingredients for a Classic Marketing Blunder
Fresh from its fabulous success with the iPod and iPhone, Steve Jobs has unveiled the latest in Apple’s “iPortfolio,” the iPad. Amid all the hoopla of a major media unveiling, there are some obvious elements of a classic marketing mistake.
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