Do Business Well

Why do I continue to assume that a person’s success on one rung will have any relevance to his or her likelihood to succeed on the rung above? More than likely I have been confused about what is trainable and what is not. I have made no distinction among skills, knowledge, and talents, and this clumsy language has made it easier for us to say, “If John has shown himself to be a good salesperson, then I am sure I can just train him to be a good manager.” Or, “Since Jan has proven herself a solid manager, I am confident that I can teach her the strategic thinking and the vision needed to be a great leader.” Continue Reading »

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But everybody wants to grow, and you can’t blame them. So what should an Internet brand like Amazon.com do? There are five fundamental branding strategies for a leader in any category.

1. Keep your brand focused.

There are more than 5 million dotcom sites registered on the Internet, and you want your site to stand for more than one thing? Amazon.com should stay focused on books and music CDs. After all, the site accounts for just 4 percent of the $24.6 billion book market in the United States. Continue Reading »

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The Internet ties all information systems together regardless of their physical location. In effect, it has enabled a company’s internal computer network, its local area network (LAN), to extend its reach on a global scale. Organizations are therefore no longer constrained by the information systems they can build or buy and install on their own physical premises. Every computer is connected to every other computer on the Internet. This simple truth changes everything. What used to be “internal computing resources” at a company have now become external resources that the engaged organization makes available to all its constituents. The reality of the Internet is that everybody is connected to you and you are connected to everyone else: your customers, your vendors, your suppliers—even your competitors. It doesn’t matter where a particular network function is physically located or who operates it, just as long as it’s secure and reliable and provides the right functionality to solve a particular problem. Continue Reading »

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5. Building a solid foundation: infrastructure required to manage your business

Just as you need a solid foundation for a building, so you need theright infrastructure for your business. This needs to be addressed ahead of time. Seriously, many businesses fail because they become too successful. Their infrastructure can’t cope with their growth and so their business literally falls apart. Don’t make that mistake. Clearly define what infrastructure will be required to run your business, both in the short and long-term. Let’s look at the different components of your business infrastructure:

• Premises: What is the physical capacity your business will require? What will be the optimal location for you in terms of closeness to your customers, major roads and the location of the competition.

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The Logic of the Game

To the hotel Manager, the Boss’s game was a good one, so he learned how to play it. It was a simple game, but effective. It was built on the following logic:

Most people today are not getting what they want. Not from their jobs, not from their families, not from their religion, not from their government, and, most important, not from themselves.

Something is missing in most of our lives.

Part of what’s missing is purpose. Values. Worthwhile standards against which our lives can be measured. Part of what’s missing is a Game Worth Playing. What’s also missing is a sense of relationship. People suffer in isolation from one another.

In a world without purpose, without meaningful values, what have we to share but our emptiness, the needy fragments of our superficial selves? Continue Reading »

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Not all of these formative impressions are under the direct control of the supplier, but that does not make them less powerful. Think about what is said in the press by industry observers or about word of mouth from friends or colleagues and how all of these affect a product’s or company’s credibility. That is why endorsements and testimonials are such powerful tools and why market leaders frequently showcase their most prominent and prestigious customers.

Glance through the press releases of market leaders and you would fine numerous references to other market-leading companies. Siebel Systems counts Schwab and IBM among its customers, and IBM makes it known that it not only is United Parcel Service, Inc.’s, supplier of choice but also is scooping up contracts with several new companies in the e-business field.

For market leaders to construct a larger-than-life market presence, their messages have to resonate with customers. Customers may understand your value proposition, appreciate how you are different, and accept your credibility on the basis of your well- respected customers. But unless they feel that you are committed to their well-being, they may still not pay attention to you. Continue Reading »

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Remember one of the most talked-about business events of the late 1990s—the year 2000, or Y2K, scare? Companies and governments scrambled to prevent outdated computer code from crippling their information systems. Bracing themselves for power outages or actual disasters that were expected to mark the end of the twentieth century, untold numbers of consumers stockpiled staples, candles, and water. Then, at the stroke of midnight on December 31, 1999, the Y2K scare fizzled like a burned comet. All but forgotten in a matter of months, it was overshadowed by weightier pressures such as coming to grips with the Internet and the bobbing stock market.

Some critics called the scare a blatant marketing ploy, fanned by consultants, technology providers, and litigation lawyers planning to intimidate gullible managers into parting with half a trillion dollars worldwide. Even though that is a staggering number—it is more than. five times what the United States spent in the Gulf War from 1988 to 1990 to fight another menace, Saddam Hussein—the financial toll of Y2K was not excessive. Continue Reading »

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• At the operational level, another challenge for marketers with regard to Web-based inter-organizational networks is that customer communications do not necessarily involve just one customer talking toone enterprise. Decisions need to be taken on where responsibility lies for particular tasks, to avoid duplication and customer confusion. To provide the kind of service that improves the chance of customer loyalty, companies need to co-ordinate their partners and vendors and customers through extranets that facilitate the sharing of information across company boundaries. Kalakota and Robinson (1999) suggest considering partners and vendors to be part of the firm’s extended enterprise, and this means sharing customer communication issues with everyone in contact with the customer through integrated applications such as customer service, field service, sales and marketing. This is the most critical issue currently

facing ‘clicks and mortar’ firms in developing a successful Internet strategy. Such open policies of information sharing mean that a whole host of issues have to be addressed concerning the ‘ownership’ of customer data, notwithstanding the technical difficulties inherent in integrating computer systems belonging to different organizations through an extranet. 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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Franchising is widely seen as the safest route open to those who want to enter the competitive world of entrepreneurship with a safety net. It has also been recognised as the vehicle of choice for the expansion of a small business into a national network. There is yet another facet to franchising, however, that is less well recognised, namely its power to transform an entire industry and the public’s perception of that industry.

One company that has taken this potentially stony path and have negotiated it successfully is Cash Converters, an international network of second-hand goods stores with its origins in Australia. Indeed, within a few short years, Cash Converters have managed to revolutionise the second-hand goods market by transforming its image from that of a dingy store of almost ill repute, frequented only by individuals in dire straights, into a high street shopping experience that holds strong appeal for the middle to upper market segments.

Cash Converters business model revolves around the buying and selling of second-hand household goods over the counter, for cash. Arguably this is something its traditional competitors have been doing for centuries. What distinguishes Cash Converters from others in this field is their approach, which has been designed with one objective in mind: To attract a high-class clientele, be they sellers or buyers, and turn them into regular customers. The way the company went about this can serve as a lesson in innovative marketing and the utilisation of franchising at its best, cleverly rolled into one highly profitable concept.

Background

Cash Converters first opened its doors in Perth, Western Australia, in 1984 and currently operates over 550 stores in 23 countries. In South Africa, the company commenced operations in 1994, based on a master licence agreement with the Australian principal and already, over 60 franchises have been sold. During the past year, global sales of the group exceeded one billion Rand, with South Africa contributing a credible 130 million Rand. Richard Mukheibir, Managing Director of Cash Converters Southern Africa, is convinced that careful attention to three key areas, namely people, branding and systems, form the foundation of Cash Converters‘ success.

People

It has become fashionable among managers to claim that “people are our greatest asset” but at Cash Converters, much more than mere lip service is paid to this statement. By its very nature, the franchise requires a hefty investment, but to qualify as a Cash Converters franchisee requires a good deal more than a healthy bank balance. The company is looking for individuals with a sound track record and a clear vision of what they want to achieve in life. They must be good quality people with a strong orientation towards family and community. It has been found that in many instances, married couples make ideal franchisees. Continue Reading »

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