Melissa Lim

The “green wave” has hit our shores, and everyone ranging from consumers, firms and governments are highlighting the importance of sustainability as well as taking immediate action to curb environmental and social issues. Study: Sustainability a Priority for CEOs tells how despite the economic downturn and a flurry of global challenges, “93 per cent of CEOs see sustainability as critical to their company’s success”

It is encouraging to know that many CEO’s of major co operations are beginning to see the importance of sustainability, and many firms are also starting to adopt the concept of “ecoimagination”, where they double  investment in creating more innovative eco-friendly products. However, the road to successfully implement sustainability in core business concepts faces many challenges. I believe that among the many ways to overcome these challenges, building a strong Eco-Advantage culture is one of the most essential. This culture can be created through ambitious goal-setting, incentives, training, and tools to  help engage all employees and investors in the vision

Achieving greater environmental and social sustainability takes time, effort and a sincere leadership commitment. A well executed sustainability program improves the environment, enhances society, and is good for the economy and the well-being of business in the long run. Businesses that master the art of Sustainability will successfully delight their clients and increase the value for their stakeholders.

Resources:  http://www.eco-advantage.com/pdf/greenToGoldChapter1.pdf:

This week was the deadline to hand in our Business Plans and working together with my teammates got me thinking about  Class 5 where we learned about group dynamics and effective teams. Overall, my team was quite efficient  and every one got along well. From the beginning, we had set clear goals, objectives, segregation of tasks and deadlines to make sure that everyone knew what they were doing and was committed to the task given.

Being in an effective team is all about having trust and making sure that everyone has an equal chance to contribute ideas. Brainstorming content together and avoiding conflicts are also some of the ways in making sure that your team is working productively.

It is definitely important to start developing our team building and people skills now as they are essential in our future careers. No business functions with  individual efforts of one person, it is always a group of people who with their coordination are able to initiate activities and results. Being in an organization is all about having to deal and work with people of different cultures and backgrounds. Social networking is key and being able to cooperate effectively with your co-workers will be a huge boost to both the company and yourself.

While I was busy browsing through business articles, hoping to find something relevant that I could blog about, I happened to stumble upon this video, which shows interviews of random people commenting on what is good customer service.

i think it’s definitely the little things, that’s what i think companies forget, they always think about these big things, these big marketing campaigns or business solutions but it’s always the little things that are going to affect you.  – Marco Luciani (from the video)

In class, we’ve talked about the importance of excellent advertising and marketing plans in order to generate sales and boost demand. But is it enough? Good customer service is the lifeblood of any business. You can offer promotions and slash prices to bring in as many new customers as you want, but unless you can get some of those customers to come back, your business won’t be profitable for long. With good service, customers will leave feeling happy and satisfied, and there is a high chance that they will spread this positive feedback among their peers, who may then try the product or service you offer for themselves and in their turn become repeat customers. Thus, this is an important strategy to build long term consumer loyalty and uphold a strong brand image.

Listen to customers, deal with complaints, be helpful at all times and go the extra mile in order to satisfy a customer’s needs, these are small yet important steps any company should take if they want to be successful. Companies have to make sure that their customers emerge as winners as well.

Social media has taken over the world, and companies everywhere are grabbing this opportunity to advertise and promote their business in any type of interactive web-based platform there is. From creating their own Facebook page, to a Twitter account, the latest trend today is advertising through online video ads.

Just recently, MSNBC.com, Yahoo.com, and Hulu.com has begun introducing ASq, a tool that allows consumers to choose which ads they want to view in online video clips. Youtube, the largest video-sharing website  is studying this concept and has a high chance of implementing it in the near future.

Online video ads are quickly becoming the medium of choice to drive both brand awareness and sales. With this new ad-selecting tool, consumers will show more interest in the product that is being advertised as they are the ones who chose to view the product ad. They are more likely to visit the company website to learn more about the product and this will definitely boost market demand and sales.  More companies are also opting to go for interactive video ads which creates a more personal interaction between a business and its customers. Studies have shown that 69 percent of online users have watched a video online, and 24 percent do so at least once a week. Users are more likely to press the “Play” button more than they click on image ads.

In conclusion, social media is slowly becoming a revolution and is the biggest target market for companies to promote and advertise their product. Online video is definitely a standard component in social media, there is no doubt about this. With the right content and the right recognition, using the video through the internet can be a powerful tool to any business.

Today i came across an article that I thought had some significant relevance to what we learned in class about strategies for good marketing – “RIM’s Playbook up against the iPad”. RIM, the company that gave us the Blackberry is launching its new tablet computer “Playbook” early next year and is facing some tough competition from the iPad.

Based on the Positioning theory we learned in class, the easiest way to get into a consumer’s mind is to be the first in its category. Thus,  it would be hard for the Playbook to enter into the market as the iPad has already established a huge name for itself and is the first of its kind. When people think of portable tablet computer, the iPad immediately comes to their minds.

However, good brand positioning for a company also calls for 3 major key points which is concentrating on the brand’s points of difference, points of parity and understanding the frame of reference within which their brands work. For RIM, the Playbook has some similar features and points of parity to the iPad which gives consumers a clear image of what the Playbook is and what it has to offer. From the article, the Playbook also has distinct points of differences that distinguishes itself from the iPad, especially the fact that the  Playbook is offered at a lower price. This would be an advantage for RIM as its sales could be successful among those of lower income or students. The main aim for Playbook buyers for RIM is its 50 million blackberry users and this shows that RIM has established a clear frame of reference.

It would be very difficult to compete against leading mogul Apple’s iPad, but over the long run and with clever marketing and advertising plans, the Playbook could be able to hold its own name and gain their own consumer loyalty.

In the recent years, environmental concerns seems to be the latest issue circulating around the world. Today, governments are trying their best to raise awareness among the public, many shopping malls are starting to implement the “no plastic bag” rule, the media is coming up with more movies and documentaries about the earth and mother nature, and now Wal-Mart is taking a risk and setting goals to deal with a few of the environmental and social problems in the world.

Based on the article, strategies for wal-mart include no companies that employ slave labor, especially in developing countries, no soybeans sourced from illegally deforested areas and no beef sourced from any newly cleared amazon lands.  Wal-Mart Brazil is definitely showing good business ethics by making a difference and going green. With support from other major companies as well, like Cargill, Johnson&Johnson, Pepsi, Kimberly Clark, etc, pollution can be reduced, forests can be conserved and we will also be one step closer in tackling the major issue of human trafficking.

Wal Mart is able to spread awareness about these problems among their customers, and this environmentally friendly approach could help them gain new customers and improve customer loyalty. They won’t be facing pressure from awareness groups and will be able to set a good example among other cooperations. Wal-Mart is making an impact globally and setting higher standards in the business world. Kudos to them!