Month: October 2011

The idea of maintaining an organizational with a strong culture and imposing desirable values and beliefs for prospective employees sounds much easier to do than the actual implementation process. The Boston Consulting Group, one of the world’s most prestigious leaders in management consulting, has maintained a solid position on Fortune 100’s Top Companies To Work For over the past six years, placing second overall in 2011.

The company’s engagement in international projects such as “Save the Children” – with a goal to “improve the way to create change for children”, outlines their beliefs and values placed on corporate social responsibility. These initiatives promote the fact that their projects are diverse, and employees can work on what they have a passion for. Aside from unceasing dedication to the community, BCG, mindful of their carbon imprint, launched global environmental initiatives in early 2009.

BCG has developed many internal qualities that make the company desirable to work for. A 50-60 hour work week is enforced, which is an attractive factor because many consulting companies today are reputed for competitive environments and extensive hours. Diversity is also highly respected, as multicultural networks are created, and the company also aims to be one of the best places for women to work at.

The fierce competition between Apple Inc and RIM over the past few years have left fierce marks all over the smartphone industry. As of 2008, Apple’s US Smartphone share was at 19.2%, trailing behind RIM’s 44.5%.

Now take a look at today’s market: RIM’s stock continues to plummet after a disappointing response (or lack thereof) to the Iphone 4, while Apple’s stock has increased and remained steady. As of mid 2011, Android currently tops the US smartphone market with a whopping 39%.

The question is: when did they even come into this picture? Insert the existence of HTC, the new smartphone manufacturer penetrating into the market with new Android devices.

My fellow classmate Katrina makes a strong point about iPhone 4S lacking in its ability “to satisfy the innovation-hungry consumers”. A 5% drop in the company’s stock (NASDAQ: AAPL) shows that investors were left unsatisfied. The 4S does not incorporate 4G LTE technology, a feature that is rumoured to be in Google Nexus Prime. With the holidays being two short months away, Apple has yet to prove that they are going to come out as winners in upcoming quarterly fiscal period.

Facebook, the world’s largest online social network founded in February 2004, is a global phenomenon that has dominated the social media industry for the past few years. A new company planning to enter the social media industry faces a tough barrier of entry against its competition. Despite these challenges, Google decided to take a stab at the industry, introducing their new project Google+, an online platform targeted to “make online sharing more like real life.”

For the first few weeks of the beta launch, Google decided to release a small number of private invitations. This was an effective tactic on behalf of the project’s reputation, as the public’s anticipation grew. Google+ incorporates many features similar to Facebook adding new ideas such as Circles, Hangouts, and Sparks. These features seem to have an edge compared to Facebook’s features, seeing that Google provided their answers to concepts such as “tweeting” and video-calling. Facebook’s initial response to the launch of Google+ was the launch of their new video calling feature in tandem with Skype. Once the social network settles down and becomes more popular, Google will continue use their platform to compete with, and perhaps overtake, the social phenomenon of Facebook.

Ever since its initial launch in 2008, Groupon has expanded into an internationally renown daily-deal website that is currently valued up to $25 billion dollars. The acquisition of Citydeal, the European equivalent of Groupon, has also helped the company with its international growth. However, the e-business continues its success by relying on information technology and management information systems to execute the daily operations needed to run the business efficiently.

Groupon deploys NetSuite, the online management system that provides accounting programs, in many of its operating countries. This cost-effective software allows the company to keep track of its financial records in a simple manner, as it is easy for a company that has grown this rapidly to lose track of their financial reportings. In essence, it provides sufficient capacity for growth at the global level. Consumer patterns are analyzed with a system called Vertica Analytics Platform. It is quite essential for a company that is run exclusively online to incorporate systems that will report and measure a high volume of transactions that occur daily. These consumer behaviors assist with developments in creating target markets and increasing customer satisfaction.

The coffee market has seen a hike in prices during 2011 for a couple reasons: Production difficulties for coffee producers (“long-persistent La Nina weather phenomenon”), and an increase in demand for smaller emerging markets. As a result, several major coffee companies, including market share leader Starbucks Coffee, have imposed an increase in coffee prices.

Starbucks Coffee is a well positioned leader that occupies a strong brand name in the coffee market. The company’s massive innovations set themselves with successful points of difference against its competitors. Its points of parity also set a high bar for the rest of the market. Despite their imposed price increases, the company effectively overshadowed this action by introducing their newly reformed loyalty program: My Starbucks Rewards. The benefits are advertised in “levels”, and stars are given out based on number of transactions, rather than the dollar amount. This tactic could be advantageous for the company in the long run, as the average customer is given a considerable amount of incentive to return in the future. Starbucks uses this marketing strategy timely and wisely, promoting it weeks ahead, but launching on the same day that the price increases come into effect.