Month: October 2012

In our sixth class, we discussed Facebook’s IPO fiasco.  This led me to research the topic of IPOs and I found an article that discussed the idea of Twitter potentially meeting Facebook’s dreadful fate.  The issue, however, should not be how to successfully execute Twitter’s IPO, but rather whether or not they should have an IPO at all.

A 21^st century technology company like Twitter has no business in the present day stock market.  Wall Street is crawling with old guys who cannot understand why someone would tweet every insignificant event in his/her life.  This investor lacks knowledge in the industry and is in turn, nervous and more likely to make harsh criticisms and rashly sell stock out of fear.

Furthermore, pressure from investors may push Twitter to cheaply create new products or concepts to meet financial expectations.  Companies like Apple have astutely developed a product release schedule that works in accordance with their quarterly reports, but this strategy is not applicable to companies in the social media industry.  Naturally, this industry thrives from and necessitates creativity and inventiveness and cannot be restricted and quantified by a bunch of left-brained suits.

Mr. Dick Costolo, do not go public.

At one point in its lifetime, Research in Motion Limited was producing one of the world’s most popular cell phones.  Its BlackBerry gained such popularity that people began to call it the “CrackBerry”.  At its peak, RIM’s stock was priced at $148/share.  It is now worth $8/share.

How did this collapse come about and how can a bourgeoning entrepreneur avoid the same fate?  Jason Fell wrote an article on this very topic in which he lists four main lessons to be learned from RIM’s mistakes.  Among these lessons, the “Pivot when necessary” idea is the most important.

There are countless factors that contributed to RIM’s downfall, but its most crucial flaw was its inability to adapt to its changing environment.  When Apple released its revolutionary iPhone in 2007, RIM underestimated its potential and did not react quickly enough.  A company must always stay on its toes and be prepared to address growing competitors, especially in the fast-paced technology industry.

RIM may have had early success, but it got too comfortable with its high standing and neglected the fact that if a company is not climbing, it is falling.

Coca-Cola has been selling the world’s most popular carbonated beverage for the past 126 years.  How did this company reach its great success and more importantly, how has it remained at its position for so long?

In class, we learned that once a company has positioned itself in the consumers’ mind, it is very difficult to budge.  I believe that Coca-Cola’s enduring success, however, is not only due to its early claim in the consumers’ mind, but also because of its constant desire to grow as a company.

Coca-Cola has been implementing countless ingenious marketing techniques for years.  In 2010, for example, it launched its “Happiness Machine” video.  With almost five million views, this video proved to be a viral success.  Coca-Cola shrewdly targeted college students and focused on using an ordinary setting to create extraordinary reactions.  AJ Brustein, Coca-Cola’s Global Senior Brand Manager, stated that the magic in the video was created when “students [were] helping each other lift the huge sub, [and] hugging the Coke machine”.

It is no wonder that Coca-Cola has had such great success for so long.  Its constant creativity in marketing strategies has continually earned it the position as the world’s leading beverage producer.