Netflix has quadrupled its earnings by promoting its original content in the latest quarter(CBC news, Netflix passes HBO with 3.1 million U.S. subscribers,Oct 21).

In the Comm 101 class, we have discussed which strategy Netflix should take: make its own content, corporate with GOOGLE or ABC,HBO etc. In the class, I believed that Netflix should corporate with HBO and ABC for the reason that if it liaise with HBO and ABC, not only it can expand its content, but also share subscribers with these two giant cable companies and lower cost of buying TV shows. But now, I changed my mind— making its own content is the best way to make it more profitable.

By making its original series, it can attract mountains of loyal customers who only stick to Netflix rather than HBO or ABC. This can decrease the threat of substitutions. Now, Netflix is facing with the problem of whether it should raise the price due to the impact of inflation. Price increasing will restrict the growth of viewers or even make Netflix lose some of its consumers. However, after the success of its first original TV show, House of Cards, it is more reasonable and acceptable to jack up the price due to the fact that people are more willing to pay more because of the only access to their favourite series. Though, it costs more to generate its own TV programmes, it can pass the costs to consumers by increasing price.

Reference:CBC New, Netflix passes HBO with 3.1 million subscribers, 2013.10.21)

Hai Di Lao, a Chinese hot pot chain, is launching its first retail store in the U.S. and also have started several retail stores in Singapore.

Hai Di Lao positions itself as excellent customer experience through providing an entertainment-filled waiting area with board games and hand massages. It uses extraordinary service as a great competitive advantage. According to my own experience, most of the restaurant chain in China is features with tasty food, leading to the trend that tasty food becomes one of the feature of the whole frame. To stand out, Hai Di Lao differentiate itself through excellent services which most of the restaurants cannot provide.

In terms of business ethics, I believe that they are relative according to different backgrounds and environments. For instance, in China, because of some political challenges, food safety is one of the biggest concerns and the regulations of food safety are not trust-worthy. As a result, Chinese individuals have gotten used to the unsafe food and they don’t have a strong awareness of food safety. In this case, Hai Di Lao can use blended soup to slash its costs by purchasing much cheaper materials as well as simplifying the producing process. Blended soup is not likely to trigger its status in China whereas it won’t be the same in the U.S and Singapore. As people in the U.S and Singapore are more aware of food safety and the governments are more efficient, Hai Di Lao has to review the work they’ve  done regarding to business ethics. Blended soup will not be helpful anymore in overseas markets.

Reference:Hai Di Lao, Chinese Hot Pot Chain, Plans To Bring ‘Noodle Dance’ To The U.S.(Rachel Tepper,5/22/2013)

According to a report about total smartphone subscribers in the U.S in 2013, iPhone ate up all its competitors including its biggest rival, Samsung. However, the war of the two giant companies is far from over.

In term of brand positioning, Apple differentiate itself by building up a image of great innovation. When people talk about Apple, “creative and expensive” immediately pop out in their mind. On the other hand, Samsung is more affordable for most people, which works as a cost advantage for Samsung. Unlike Samsung, Apple build its competitive advantage by continuous innovation which can be proved by the latest iPhone 5s. In my personal perspective, Apple is more successful in leveraging brand positioning. People can easily connect such words like Steve Jobs, creativity and smart with Apple. However, it is more difficult to think about the characteristics of Samsung. Every company has to make up his own characteristic in the way that authors make up the characters of their stories. Apple is more like a real human being who has clear features and cannot be replaced, whereas the features of Samsung are not that clear.

Still, there are a lot we can learn from Samsung. If you are a big fan of Korean dramas, you can find that all of the people in the play use Samsung. I was very impressed by this kind of method of marketing. Samsung take advantage of the influential Korean dramas to boost its sales. K-pop stars are fairly popular in Asia and fans of the K-pop stars just follows their idols to buy Samsung. Also, Korean dramas have the fashionable image which Samsung have built through sponsoring the drama making.

Reference:

Apple’s iOS ate up Android, Blackberry U.S. market share losses this summer(Oct. 4),Daniel Dilger

http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/10/05/data-bites-dogma-apples-ios-ate-up-android-blackberry-us-market-share-losses-this-summer

Starbucks and Costa are two leading coffee companies in the world. In China, Starbucks is much more crowded than in Costa. It is also the same in other parts of the world.

Starbucks position itself as relaxing, high-quality and convenient. with a main market target of white-collar workers and youngsters. The coffee shop is nearly everywhere in the city which relates to its image of convenient and easy to buy. By publishing Starbucks music DVDs , it has not only reach a consistent branding, but also made a great consumer insight of their products. The CEO of Starbucks recently made some political announcements ( suggesting no guns in Starbucks ) which helped the giant company to enhance its friendly and laid-back image. However, compared with Costa, it gains less credibility in terms of its quality.

Costa mainly target on upper middle class people. It position itself as high-quality and  high-quality lifestyle. It differentiate itself from other coffees by “the perfect cup in four Ms”, which means freshly ground beans extracted by perfect machines and perfect skills. Costa obtains a better reputation for quality than Starbucks. However, its brand positioning is not that relevant to consumers nowadays especially when it expands to other markets out of Europe. People are now living in a fast pace, leading to their preference for more relaxed environment.

Financial Times: Costa tops table of coffee outlets

http://www.allegra.co.uk/pdf-files/2007-05-28-ft.pdf