The Customer Base of the Companies - Assignment Example

Video Cases: File 1 Name Institute of Affiliation Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Video 1: Harley-Davidson Motor Company 3 Video 2: Body Glove 5 Video 3: Quova 7 Video 4: Assyst 8 Video 5: Patagonia 9 Video 6: Starbucks 11 Video 7: Second City Creativity 12 Video Cases Video 1: Harley-Davidson Motor Company 1. What factors account for the fact that Harley-Davidson’s customer base is as diverse as it is? The company considers employees from diversified backgrounds of gender, age, personality, values and beliefs and ethnicity among other factors. It is all about a common enthusiasm shared by the community that works for Harley-Davidson. Individuality, independence, and adventure are brought together and reflected in products and services that have attracted a large number of loyal fans. 2. One company manager says, “We are successful in all of our communications when we don’t deviate from who we are, when we don’t try to be something that we are not, when we don’t get caught up in the trends of the marketplace.” Does this advice apply to other small companies that are trying to build brand recognition among customers? This advice is unique to Harley-Davidson and it worked well for the company. However, most other small companies are caught up in the need for high-visibility campaigns and consistent proclamation of a simple advertisement message that uses a lot of money and time resources just to promote growth. Small companies can use this advice by being confident in their own abilities and slowly be able to attract their own group of brand loyal customers. 3. What challenges to Harley-Davidson’s brand management does selling globally present to the company? How do managers meet those challenges? One of the major challenges is to balance the gap between supply and demand, as inadequacies to meet the demand provided opportunities for competitions. The same time, the company wants to establish the brand’s presence but without evoking marketing dictatorship. The management also lacks a centralized brand management for the international markets leading to fear of lack of consistency. However, the management meets the challenges by ensuring consistency in the company’s marketing approaches, growing their brand, and sticking to what they are without compromising quality or aspects that attracted their customers’ base. 4. Should Harley-Davidson use the same marketing campaigns in every country in which it operates? Explain. The company should not use the same marketing campaigns for every country but should modify from a country’s cultural point of view. This is because communication in the promotion may not be understood in the same way across all countries. Western and Eastern countries have different philosophies in interpreting the message communicated. The good thing is that the company already has a diversified team of workers that can assist to channel particular promotion methods for specific countries. 5. A marketing executive says, “The key to success in growing our brand in the future comes from knowing who we are and sticking to it, understanding customer bases, looking for market opportunities, and applying the brand appropriately.” Work with a team of your classmates to brainstorm other products to which the Harley-Davidson brand might be applied appropriately. Explain your reasoning. A Wurlitzer jukebox, A Rolex Watch, and a Bang & Olfusen stereo are some of the products by which the Harley-Davidson brand might be applied. This is because of the consistency in quality and ability to maintain loyal customers for so many years despite the emergence and fall of competing fads. Video 2: Body Glove 1. Which characteristics of the “typical entrepreneur” did Bill and Bob Meistrel, the founders of Body Glove, exhibit when they established their company in 1953? They showed persistency in sticking to set goals, as evident among entrepreneurs. As youths, they had the followed their dream of moving to California, owning a submarine, explore the waters for treasure and go deep-sea diving. A unique identity trait of an entrepreneur is also to bring an idea to reality for the gain of the society. Bill and Bob exemplify this trait when they discovered that neoprene wetsuits are warmer than the rubber ones. They then used the skills in providing this high quality and better swim suit. Entrepreneurs are also enthusiasts at their creation and it is evident that Bill and Bob enjoyed what they did. 2. What role did creativity and innovation play in Body Glove’s history? Does the company continue to emphasize creativity and innovation? Creativity and innovation helped to bring to the market a superior product in regards to the neoprene swim suits which were warmer than the rubber ones. Over six decades later, Body Glove is still an iconic surf brand. The company extended the creativity and innovation by establishing other products and services that appeal to water sports enthusiasts including resort hotels, diving cruises, and neoprene cell phone covers. 3. Many of Body Glove’s employees live the “active beach lifestyle” that is a key part of the company’s values. Does this fact give the company a competitive advantage in the marketplace? Explain. The fact that the company’s employees live the “active beach lifestyle” a s a key part of the company’s values, gives the company a competitive advantage in the marketplace. This is because it is easier for the employees to identify with the customers’ preferences and they can use these ideas to further improve their product. Also, it helps to establish a strong customer relationship as it will be easier to offer consultation to customers from a knowledgeable point of view. 4. How would you describe Body Glove’s company culture? Since its establishment, Body Glove has always been about the lifestyle. It is a lifestyle for people who love the sports activities on water. The company started on a tight budget but the ability to mingle with people and pass the message of the business across has brought customers to it. The company utilizes a bottom-up budgeting process to ensure that they are entirely debt free, and at the same time increase flexibility of operations as a way to evaluate its own performance and motivate its managers to increase the company’s sales and efficiency. 5. What factors led Body Glove managers to outsource production of the company’s wetsuits overseas? The raw material neoprene, for making Body Glove’s wetsuits was very expensive in the US. Labor too was costly and hence to help the company make profit and remain competitive, it had to outsource its manufacturing operations to Thailand. Video 3: Quova 1. Quova CEO Marie Alexander describes her management style as “hands under” rather than “hands on” or “hands off.” What does she mean? By ‘hands under” the CEO implies that her management style is interactive without being too controlling as is the case with hands-on, or too detached, as is the case with hands-off. She works one-on-one with members of the team, and as her team member, and this is a great management approach to identify problems, and seek solutions in a more effective way. 2. Does Alexander’s gender make it easier for her to be nurturing in a work environment? Explain. Alexander’s gender makes it easier for her to relate to relate to issues of emotions that can affect workers. Emotional balance of workers is just as important as their work and when they recognize that the management cares, it becomes easier for them to perform at their best. This is also favorable for women employees who are likely to be the most adverse affected with gender stereotypes. Since the manager is a female, it reduces the chances of this gender stigmatization. 3. When it comes to managing people, what does Alexander say is her greatest challenge? The greatest challenge in managing people is in bringing out the best of success in them as people are affected by both work-related and personal-related factors. A manager has to consider both of these while managing each individual in the organization. 4. Alexander says, “If you are not seeing conflict in an organization, then the organization is not growing.” Do you agree? How does Alexander manage conflict at Quova? It is true that if conflict is not visible, the company is not growing. Conflict is significant in that it marks change, and a chance of brainstorming for better solutions. Alexander manages conflicts by allowing the parties to explain their concerns and letting the entire group participate in seeking for solutions together. 5. What does Alexander mean when she says, “We can achieve wealth in more ways than [just] financially. Alexander implies that wealth can be gained in many forms, even if not in finances, it can happen in other areas such as knowledge sharing, and skills. By establishing its own niche, the company can succeed to accumulate other benefits that may not be necessarily finances but aspects such as longevity in the market, innovative products and services, and employees at their best in expertise. Video 4: Assyst 1. What is an ESOP? How does an ESOP work? An ESOP or an Employee Stock Ownership Plan is a retirement plan designed to aloe the employees an ownership interest in the company in which they work. Unlike other employee benefit plans which diversify their holding by investing in a range of assets, an ESOP invests basically in the stock of the company. 2. What benefits does Assyst reap from its ESOP? What costs does it incur? The most important benefit is that the ESOP has enhanced customer relations for Assyst and consequently increased productivity. This is because the employees feel like the owners of the company and perform with the thought that they are part of the owners of the company. Basically, employee morale is increased, which is reflected in higher productivity and reduced staff turnover for the company. Positive customer relations are great and act as a competitive advantage by increasing loyalty and drawing in more customers. On the other hand, the costs of that Assyst incurs include complexity in the transactions and the initial costs of establishing one are quite high. Ongoing ESOP administrative expenses are same as profit sharing plans and this means reduced dividend for the company in its own because of the profit sharing aspect. 3. What pressure does creating an ESOP place on a small company such as Assyst? Creating an ESOP for a small company such as Assyst places a lot of pressure due to the initial and ongoing administrative tasks involved in managing the ESOP. It requires following up in compliance requirements which can be quite a task as well as create conflicts in the organization. Video 5: Patagonia 1. How do you think most entrepreneurs view Yvon Chouinard’s decision not to allow Patagonia to grow rapidly? The other entrepreneurs must have viewed Yvon’s decision as self-limiting as she can easily follow in trends that other companies follow in a similar business environment and save her company some money from liquidation. However, Yvon has proved that persistence and strategic moves such as creating a sustainable business can help a company past a volatile business situation. 2. More than 25 years ago, Yvon Chouinard decided that his company would engage in environmental tithing, giving a portion of its profits to important environmental causes. How common was this practice then? What does that say about Chouinard as an entrepreneur? The practice of social responsibility through striving for both business and environmental needs were not common at the time, as many companies focused on the economic goals of the company alone. However, Patagonia developed a different kind of thinking and set to foster this aspect of social responsibility. As an entrepreneur, Chouinard says that it is her duty to be on the outside and bring ideas into the company as well as forge change. Changing and adapting to the situation at hand is what keeps her going whereas some people will avoid the threatening effects caused by change. Chouinard is happy that since her company decided to give away one percent of its annual sales to 650 environmental organizations through its one percent for the Planet Program, several other companies have joined in. Yvon believes that investing in the well-being of the planet makes good business sense. 3. What challenges do companies such as Patagonia face as they try to balance earning a profit, minimizing their impact on the environment, making quality products, and living up to their social responsibility? The challenges that such companies face include not being able to witness the outcome of their efforts in the same environment where other business have chosen to ignore the aspect of working while having the environment in mind. As the latter make quick profits, socially sustainable business have to take a lot of time and resources just to ensure that in every step of the value chain, they have undertaken steps that are compliant with the environmental laws. This can be hectic and increases the management responsibilities, but the ultimate goal is worthy. Video 6: Starbucks 1. Describe the four pillars on which Starbucks’ strategy is built. The first pillar is providing the best coffee. Starbucks is a hallmark name in the mention of coffee and with this strategy it strives to retain its position as world’s best coffee producing company. The second pillar is offering the finest products associated with coffee. As a means to diversify and tap into new markets that will increase growth, market share, and competition Starbucks offers other products associated with coffee such as gourmet sandwiches, donuts, pasta salads, and assorted snacks. The third pillar is creating an environment that is inviting. This is a strategy to invite customers by making them comfortable in the Starbucks environment. Many of Starbucks’ stores provide a good ambience with personalized entertainment sections, and basically nice surroundings that one can work or socialize as they enjoy Starbucks niceties for as long as they want. The fourth pillar is operating in a socially responsible manner. This is a sustainable business strategy. Starbucks is known to outsource its coffee beans in fields that are tenured without harmful pesticides and fertilizers, and they avoid outsourcing coffee from fields where child labor has been used. Starbucks also contributes to environment awareness programs. 2. As Starbucks expands in both domestic and international markets, one of its goals is to “stay small.” How does the company intend to accomplish these seemingly contradictory goals? “Staying small” is a tactic employed to avoid losing face value through over-commercialization of its products which can compromise with quality. It involves creating and maintaining a Starbuck experience that will be enjoyed by those who connect with it. It is more of forming a Starbuck’s culture and that brand loyalty will increase through the recognition that a consumer is not simply taking coffee, but Starbucks coffee. Through brand loyalty, the company can have consistency and hence be able to connect with customers in various parts of the world as it expands. 3. One Starbucks manager says, “The essence of the Starbucks experience lives in our passionate, caring partners (Starbucks’ term for its employees). It’s really the people to people business.” What does he mean? The manager means that the people are the most valued members in a business. By treating its employees with respect, the customers are in turn treated by respect and this increases the number of customers going for Starbucks’ products because of the quality of customer service given. Video 7: Second City Creativity 1. How does Second City’s president, Tom Yorton, differentiate between creativity and innovation? Do you agree with him? Innovation is the ability to come up with new ideas for business solutions while creativity involves how these ideas are made practical and presented to the target audience. Creativity therefore assist the sale of innovation, according to Tom Yorton. 2. Kelly Leonard, Second City’s producer, says, “What differentiates us is our ability to fail and our need to be able to fail to get to something great.” What role does failure play in the creative process? To maintain a creative environment in their companies, how should entrepreneurs view failure? Failure helps the business team to recognize faults and fix them, and in most cases, they even provide an opportunity to spot another idea that can be created for the business. Entrepreneurs should view failure as both a learning step, and a chance from which new or improved ideas can be generated. 3. One of the rules of improvisation is never say “No.” Instead, the correct response is “Yes, and….” Bob Chambers, executive director of the Second City Training Center, says that this concept is part of the company’s business model. What impact does each of these responses have on creativity in an organization? When not saying “no”, it means agreeing with whatever the a business partner or team member has created. This has an effect of encouraging open-mindedness which is a great environment at generating ideas that can be created into practicalities. When saying “yes and…” means that one agrees with the other but also add his or her own perspective. This has an impact of sharing from various sources that can help in the creativity process of providing even much more superior products and services. 4. My job as leader of this group is to give them the resources to create new stuff and to give them the opportunities to develop creative new offerings and new services,” explains Second City president Tom Yorton. What implications does Yorton’s comment have for small business owners? The implication for small business is to encourage flexibility and openness in how the employees work. These entrepreneurial traits have been substantially shown to promote innovation in companies and help in growth. Read More