Monthly Archives: November 2014

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HELP CHANGE THE WORLD

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FOOD FOR THOUGHTS: If  the United Nations was fully funded why would we need the Arc or social enterprise? 

There are millions of problems in the growing society all around the world: political, cultural and economical issues occur everyday. United Nations organization is the one that is always there to help in solving such global problems. Fully funded UN would benefit society by effective and operative functioning. But what about small businesses, struggling on their path to success? Who would help them, in such a minor (for a global society) problem? It is important to understand that this “small issues” could interfere economical progress and, consequently, prevent the improvement processes in mankind’s social level.

In this situations Arc and social enterprises hasten to the aid. They have an opportunity to focus on such “inconspicuous” problems, reach more local issues. People who has problems with their businesses should not get only funding help, which could be afforded in case of UN’s full funding.

social-entrepreneurship

“Social entrepreneurs are society’s change agents, creators of innovations that disrupt the status quo and transform our world. By identifying the people and programs already bringing positive change, we empower them to extend their reach, deepen their impact and fundamentally improve society.”

Thus, solutions provided my United Nations might not always be sustainable for these petite organizations. Most important, they require proper skills and knowledge to manage company’s performance correctly. These would solve problems in sustainable way and benefit the society at the same time. The reason for that is the social nature of the knowledge presented my Arc and social enterprises. 

Thereby, in my opinion, getting rid of social enterprises is unacceptable, even though United Nations could be 100% funded.

Business

Celebrity Endorsements: Is It Worth It?

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We all know Brad Pitt. What do we think while looking at his picture with Chanel No.5 perfume? “Probably, it’s a good perfume,” – you’ll answer. Maybe. But I would say that it’s a perfect celebrity endorsement example. However, is celebrity endorsement always so useful for a company? And how does in influence sales level? We’ll discuss it right now.

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People would like to be similar to their idols. For many of us, celebrities, their lives and style are the paradigms of “perfect life”. Thus, if famous Brad Pitt uses Chanel No.5, why shouldn’t other people try it? Will it make them closer to their dream-look? Statistics shows that the answer is “Yes”. At least people think so.

However, what would happen, if unpopular company would choose a celebrity of lower level than our beloved Brad Pitt? Would it change anything? Yes, it would. This might be a situation when the star does not have so many fans and this number wouldn’t compensate amount of anti-fans. Consequently, opponents of the celebrity would do everything to make this product non-demanded and, finally, try to lead it to a failure.

 “People want to identify themselves with a certain lifestyle. Often, choosing the right celebrity can invite the right people to buy in and literally un-invite the others,”

– Dr. David Lewis-Hodgson, chairman and director of research for neuro-marketing company Mindlab International

So, it is really important to think twice before spending money on celebrity endorsements. Careful analysis of situation would prevent company from taking a high risk of failure.

Business, Psychology

Make your path to success: organizational culture

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Yesterday we had a very exciting discussion about organizational culture and human resources management. I am interested in both business and psychology, so it was doubly interesting for me, as the process of managing people requires, first of all, understanding of their psychics.

I am a supporter of operant conditioning (is a type of learning in which an individual’s behaviour is modified by its antecedents and consequences), because it is a really good way to influence people’s actions and correct the way they behave. Business is all about working in groups, finding compromises and dealing with people, whether you like them or not.

maya-success

Using operant conditioning techniques could help in building a close and friendly community within organization, prevent conflicts, set goals and support company’s growth. I am going to talk about option, which seems (at least for me) to be the best way of influence – positive reinforcement.

Positive reinforcement is a really good technique, which has to be considered by organizations’ management teams. Giving bonuses to the most hardworking employees, providing them discounts on (or covering 100%) their medical insurance would be good stimuluses for people to love their job, endeavor to perform their work on the best possible level.

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However, in case of wrong usage of this tactic, it has both positive and negative aspects. One should not give bonuses regularly, considering only time, not quality of employee’s performance. It could lead company to the situation in which no one would be willing to work without constant concessions and rewards. Thus, organization would just spend extra money without valuable results.

Otherwise, reinforcing people’s behaviour by introducing some rewarding stimulus is giving a company a huge privilege over its competitors.

Business

Canvas Model: Right path to success?

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A few days ago I’ve read an article from the external blog about Canvas Business Model and it’s influence on success of any business.It caught my attention and I’ve decided to dedicate the whole article to develop this topic on my own blog. What do we know about Business Model Canvas? Why is it so important to use it in company’s strategy? Both ‘old’, successful organizations and beginners in apply Canvas Model in their work process, because it helps them to see companies’ future development paths and the best model they can start with accordingly. There are 9 most important elements in traditional Business Model Canvas:

 

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1. Value Proposition: the product/service, its features/benefits/uniqueness/opportunities and competition in the market;

2. Customer Segments: who the customer is and what problems the product solves;

3. Channels: how company plans to distribute and sell its product;

4. Customer Relationships: how company will create demand;

5. Cost Structure: the fixed and variable costs required to operate business;

6. Key Activities: the tasks the company must perform to succeed;

7. Key Resources: suppliers, commodities, or other essential elements of the business;

8. Key Partners: other enterprises essential to success of the business;

9. Revenue Streams: revenue and profit sources and size.

Overall, BMC (Business Model Canvas) helps to understand connections between most important sectors of the company. A good and detailed BMC could be a perfect navigator for a firm. Business, which is able to understand the causation between decisions in one sphere and consequences in another, has more chances to stand out among all competitors and, finally, reach success.

Business

Name and Fame. Any connection?

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I received pretty good feedback from some of UBC students after posting a creative article “Building Your Brand: Logo Colours”. I faced a very interesting question: “How to choose your company’s name?”

Very often the logo of business is based on it’s name, which means it is even more significant part of branding than colours selection. So, here I will try to provide an answer to this questions, referring to the inc.com article.

There is no doubt that consumers are very often attracted by the name of the product and, of course, those with popular world-wide names are more likely to be noticed.

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There are few key points in choosing the brand’s name, which caught my attention. First of all, it should not be too complicated. Keep it simple. I have asked 20 people about their preferences between two mad-up names for ice cream companies: “Ice it!” and “Ice cream from Heaven”. 18 out of 20 voted for the first one, because the second one is so long, that is sounds like a slogan for the first one, not the actual name. This is how the advice works in real world. Write it down to remember. 🙂

Secondly, do not copy or imitate other firms’ names. Relate to your company as to your own child and try to find very unique and original name. I am convinced that at least once in your live you had thoughts like “This firm’s name is so nice! Is it in French? Italian? Hawaiian?”. I am sure that differentiating company’s name from others is a significant part of magnetizing clients and making them interested in your product.

These recommendations, in my opinion, are vital for company’s success.