Monthly Archives: October 2010

This post is basically applying the concepts that I’ve learned in class using MacDonald’s as an example.

MacDonald’s is a fast food restaurant with high rivalry. However, it has been a successful business because it is able to maintain the position of first in the fast food category. Although there are many other competitors among the fast food restaurants, MacDonald’s is the first at providing food at a cheap and convenient locations. Therefore, in summary, its point of parity is a fast food restaurant and its point of difference is that it is quick and cheap and there are many branches located throughout the world. If I had to do a very brief SWOT analysis on it, I would say its strength is that it has a strong brand name, convenient locations, and cheap food. Weakness is obesity is becoming a problem, need to find create more healthy foods. People are more health conscience therefore MacDonald’s is finding lowering sales. Opportunities-if Mcdonalds is able to create more healthy foods at the same price, it will have a major potential to grow even more. Threats – increasing competition. If I had to make a value proposition for MacDonald’s it would go like this -> To people who want affordable, fast food. McDonalds is a fast food that has affordable foods that many convenient locations to buy from.

With over half of all North Americans using the Internet as a primary source of entertainment as well as information, would it be beneficial for companies to develop their own pages online? In order words – is it essential?

Certainly, the majority of companies have a company web page dedicated to their goods or services. What’s the importance of this? Well, seeing how the majority of the people living in North America depend on the Internet to find information, getting the company’s web page on the web will enable the company to gain that much more potential customers. If you think about it, nobody ever looks in a the Yellow Pages anymore for phone numbers or addresses, everybody relies on the Internet via phones, laptops, and desktop computers.

In conclusion, yes it is necessary to have a company page online. It would provide information for potential customers. But creating a new web page would also mean hiring a person to create it, which also means spending money. One could think creating a web page is a strategy. In the long run it will help people identify who and what the company does and create a positive image for the company

Burger King has started to expand its market into Russia where its major competitor McDonald’s has already set foot in 20 years ago. This is a big risk as McDonald’s has already 240 restaurants in Moscow alone. The strengththat Burger King posses over McDonald’s would be bringing something new. Even though the prices in Burger King are slightly higher than McDonald’s, it is still considerably cheap in respect to other restaurants. However, like all the fast food chain restaurants, it will have to compete with McDonald’s which is not an easy task to do. Burger King making the decision to ultimately expand into the Russian Market also means that their research team has found that it is worth them to spend billions of dollar on establishing the brand name and opening branches all across the country. Not only does McDonald’s poses a big threat, other fast food restaurant looking ot expand into the Russian market is as well. Dunkin’ Donuts, one of the largest restaurant known for serving coffee and donuts are also planning onto expanding their market into Russia as well. In order for Burger King to succeed they must first be able to gain a good first impression and be able to provide good services that will keep customers loyal to them.

http://newsblaze.com/story/2010012114113100001.bw/topstory.html

Shoppers Drug Mart is currently trying to offer more banking options to its customers. By mainly selling prescription drugs, and other over the counter drugs, Shoppers Drug Mart has limited products to offer customers. In order to be successful, it will have to gain many customers in a very competitive market. With Loblaw and Canadian Tire already offering banking services to people, Shoppers will need to find a way to attract customers. The question is does Shoppers have the system and money to accomplish this? Security will be a main issue that will rise up. Will they need to invent/ create a better safer system that customers will feel more secured about? What about locations? Brands? Other banks? These are all questions Shoppers will need to consider. One of the reasons as to why Shoppers is heading into this direction is because they are losing money on selling pharmacy items only. Shoppers originally already offered a credit card through a joint operation with MBNA before adding more services in the finance area. This means that Shoppers probably have analyzed and decided that it will gain more revenue by adding this service and has predicted that more than enough customers will be attracted to the offer. As this is not a minor decision, Shopper will need to make sure that their analysis and prediction will be correct or else the consequences will be severe.

 With more people “glued” onto the Internet, the Internet has truly become a place where people can connect with others. Businesses can take advantage of this opportunity and “connect” with their customers. Having successful social media will allow one company to excel greatly. Advertisements on the side of popular Internet places, such as facebook, will allow many people to come in contact with the store. Presently, newspaper advertisements are obsolete. Not many people are relying on newspaper to provide them with new, instead gadgets such as the itouch and smart phones will allow a person to connect to the Internet and receive the same information for free. Television advertisements are also more costly, therefore advertisements on websites may be one of the cost effective ways to capture people’s attention about the store/ company. Many large companies are turning to social media to help gain customers. Disney, for example, launched a website for its customers to upload their picture and allow other people to see it. Although Disney will have to spend money on this website, however, it will help gain customers. People seeing other people’s picture may motivate them to “go try” the rides for themselves hence Disney earning more revenue. With more people than ever, blogging and actively participating in social network sites such as facebook, hotmail, and twitter, business can take advantage and make people recognize themselves there.