Do Business Well

As I write this at the beginning of the year, there are ten taxicabs in San Francisco that are painted bright purple and yellow and sport a big Yahoo! logo. Each has a computer onboard that offers customers wireless Internet access. For no extra charge you can browse the Web, check your email, trade stocks, order your groceries, look up directions to a restaurant or bar you’ll be patronizing that evening, and so on. Within a couple of years, every cab in San Francisco will have Internet access.

Otis Elevators recently announced that it would begin equipping elevators with Internet access. As passengers ride up and down to their offices, hotel rooms, or meetings, they will be able to read the latest news, check the stock market, or take a quick look at the web- site of the company they’re about to visit. Continue Reading »

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Genie was launched in 2001 as the world’s first exclusively online mobile service. Genie’s 1J K mobile service operates on the BT Cellnet network and is therefore now part of 02. BT Cellnet is one of the largest UK mobile networks, with over 8 million customers, and offers 99 per cent coverage of the UK population. Genie is the UK’s leading mobile Internet company, with over 3 million registered users of the Genie Internet portal. It provides free text messaging and free access to WAP. The mobile Internet is the technology that allows users to view information, play games and manage personal email via a WAP phone. WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol and is the worldwide standard enabling WAP mobile phones to access the Mobile Internet. Genie Mobile Internet provides a number of services available on WAP phones: Continue Reading »

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Interactive Digital Television (iDTV) looks similar to PC-based Internet but is delivered through a television set and can be operated using a remote control. From a standing start in 1999, market penetration by 2002 is currently around 40 per cent of UK households and is projected to rise to 95 per cent by 2010, according to a Netpoll survey. Leading providers include Sky Digital, ON Digital, Telewest and NTL. One of the key drivers for this surprisingly rapid growth has been the provision of free set-top boxes by these platform providers. Services currently provided include home shopping, email, video, banking and travel. Forrester Research (2001) predicts that more people will access the Internet through a television than through a PC by the end of 2004.

Advertising through this mechanism can be interactive, as viewers can respond immediately to request further information or to sign up for a promotion. Digital television has helped increase Continue Reading »

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In recognition of the increasingly strategic importance of privacy issues, in December 2000 IBM announced a new senior management position: Chief Privacy Officer. The company followed this appointment up in November 2001 with a large research initiative on privacy and the formation of an advisory body consisting of public- and private-sector representatives from a range of industry backgrounds. IBM has over 3,200 researchers and eight research and development centres around the world. According to a report by Foremski (2001) in the Financial Times, ’significant numbers’ of these individuals will be redirected to work on technologies that allow large companies to implement privacy policies. The article quotes IBM’s Chief Privacy Officer as saying:

There is a need for IT tools that can help enterprises deal with the many legal and other aspects related to data privacy. We are clearly in a time where deliberations over maintaining the balance between privacy and security are going to intensify in many aspects of society. Continue Reading »

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As the reach of the information superhighway grows, assumptions about equal access to its benefits are increasingly made. These range from the expectation that students have used email and surfed the Internet, to claims that the Internet overcomes global disparities between more and lesser economically developed countries. Companies from all over the world can compete for the same business via the Internet, with sites that do not necessarily reflect company size, longevity or financial success. Continue Reading »

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Since the pioneering work of Burns and Stalker (1961), it has been accepted that unpredictable market and technological environments may require ‘organic‘ organizational structures rather than the more traditional ‘mechanistic’ forms best suited to more stable conditions.

• An example of a ‘mechanistic’ structure would be the hierarchical and functionally divided arrangements still common in long-established organizations such as banks.
• An example of an ‘organic‘ structure would be the creation of flexible cross-functional project teams within a firm to develop specific new products as the occasion demands.

The assumption is that organic structures can generate a high degree of ‘fit’ between the external environment and the internal organizational form. However, the scenario of organic structures enabling ‘matching’ to take place with changing external conditions is increasingly problematic for several reasons:

• The capacity to ‘read’ the requirements of the external environment is seen as relatively straightforward.
• The boundary between the external environment and the organization is assumed to be clear and distinct.
• The achievement of optimum ‘fit’ is regarded as a stable and sustainable configuration.

Continue Reading »

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`Place’ (Convenience in the 4- Cs) means the elements of the marketing mix that marketers use to enable customers to access the benefits of a product or service. Traditionally, this has meant ‘channels of distribution‘ through (e.g.) various wholesaler and retailer combinations. Viewing from the ‘convenience for the customer‘ (4-Cs) perspective gives a more customer-orientated focus. This is a vital decision area for the e-Business for three reasons. First, relatively small local companies can widen their market and even export (e.g. Botham (www.Botham.co.uk), to be described further in Chapter 9). Second, many e- Businesses aim to gain competitive advantage by using e-Systems to de-layer the distribution chain. For example, Dell (www.dell.co.uk) supplies customers directly, rather than through distributors, wholesalers or retailers. Third, distribution is an area where some e-Businesses have been severely criticized for failing to deliver customer service (see Chapter 9 for more details).

Place elements of the marketing mix have been changing rapidly over recent decades, and these changes impact in many ways on the marketing operations of the e-Business. First, the growth of retailer power has involved major retailers taking more control of their supply chains. The involvement of wholesalers has been reduced, tending to give way to contract logistics (under retailer control). At the same time, supply chains have become more efficient, with computer network links between suppliers and retailers — many still based on EDI. Predating the Internet, EDI is based on privately owned third-party computer networks. Stock levels have been reduced using techniques such as JIT and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Control of the physical distribution, ordering, invoicing and payment systems, particularly for major retailers, is often still carried out using EDI networks such as Tradanet (www.gegxs.com/gxs/ products/product/traser). Increasingly, though, retailers such as Tesco are allowing Internet access to their suppliers for real-time electronic point-of-sale (EPOS) data. Trusted supplier partners can thus respond more quickly to changes in customer demand. Continue Reading »

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When discussing franchising, people tend to focus on the rights of the franchisor and the corresponding obligations imposed on franchisees. The fact that franchising is a win-win concept and that every franchisor worthy of this title will assume a clearly defined set of obligations as well is frequently overlooked. When AIDA’s franchise offer comes up for discussion, however, this oversight is unlikely to arise.

Throughout the entire interview that formed the basis for this case study, John Herbst, CEO of AIDA National Franchises (ANF), referred to his franchisees as “clients”. And notwithstanding the fact that he is an accomplished real estate professional, he stressed repeatedly that he is no longer in the real estate business, but in the franchise business. He sees it as his mission to help his franchisees build better businesses. It soon emerged that at ANF, these sentiments are more than mere lip service. Franchisees are seen as customers in the true sense of the word and, as any marketer knows, customers are the very reason for any business’s existence.

Established in 1958, AIDA has long since become a household name in the South African residential property market. Its success is based on the simple philosophies espoused by its founder, namely uncompromising integrity, professionalism and dedication to service. A listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1987 was followed by a management buyout ten years later. Subsequently, a combination of organic growth, several acquisitions and the creation of new divisions prompted management to change the company’s name to Jigsaw Holdings Limited. Continue Reading »

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