As all the business retailers look towards black Friday, they will be hoping all the goods that are being shipped into stores will make it on time, yet the more significant issue is that will it make it at all? Well, based on the Penske blog on “Risk of Cargo Theft Rising”, there has been a increasing number of cargo thefts in the United States indicating that retailers should not assume that theft is unlikely to occur.
Not everything in a company's supply chain is under its control
The companies in most part outsource the transportation of goods from warehouses to retailers, so in reality there is a huge amount of trust being placed on the shoulders of the truck drivers of these cargo’s. This is a significant issue in the supply chain, since the company has little control over whether the goods arrive at the intended location. In a period such as this week, the likelihood of this happening “increases an average 28 percent” as indicated in the blog. So its only necessary that these companies ensure that they are placing its goods with the right choice of transportation company so that the customers waiting in the long lines on a friday afternoon get their goods.
While reading Douglas Mackellar’s blog post on the upcoming Black Friday, it reminded me of the class on performance evaluations. Black Friday is a big day for a lot of retail businesses as it’s the day people go on a shopping spree due to the discounts offered in most stores. As pointed out in his post, Douglas identifies one potential gain of Black Friday as “create[ing] a relationship with consumers prior to the Christmas season”, however, the retail store managers also benefit from this as well.
While all store managers dread the prospect of Black Friday due to the long hours and the constant flow of customers into the stores, this is the best opportunity to increase their performance appraisals. Companies usually recognize the turn in products sold with the number of customers entering the store, so Black Friday would be the best time for managers to motivate their employees and focus on building those relationships with customers because it will lead to more customers at their retail stores in the future. More customers willing to buy products in the future would mean a better performance evaluation and increase pay.
After reading several blogs, I came across Jerrod shin’s post on Organizational Behavior. Jerrod compared the culture of his workplace, Bank of Montreal, with that of Zappos. Of course it’s easy to say that a person would prefer to work in Zappos because of it’s easy going approach and family like culture that surrounds the employees day to day, however, not every company can enforce a culture of the sorts that Zappos creates. In the case of Bank of Montreal (BMO), Jerrod points out how the goals of the business, the beliefs and the professional culture all contribute to his motivation to work for BMO.
New organization, different culture.
The difference between BMO and Zappos shows that not every organization has a similar culture. Each organization has to provide a different image for its customers. BMO as a financial institution needs employees that are professional but are also intrinsically motivated to carry the goals of the company forward. Also, BMO provides its employees with the responsibility of dealing with clients that are placing their trust on the bank. Even though BMO is a large company, it needs to ensure there is a set of beliefs and values instilled upon its employees and that’s the importance of corporate culture.
The Australian company, Boost Juice, founded by Janine Allis represents what one person can do with an idea and investment from friends. After travelling to US, Janine identified the need for healthier alternatives in the Australian food market. She was able to get a investment of $250,000 from her friends that led her to begin the Boost Juice brand. In 2000, Janine opened her first store in the Australian city of Adelaide.
Boost Juice offers a range of products
Opening the business at that time represented a high risk, mainly because the Australian market was not use to the concept of a juice bar. The risk obviously paid off but it shows that at certain times high risk can contribute to success. In the case with Boost, the business went beyond by making franchising a boost juice bar an option and by opening up in areas such as Asia and Europe (specifically the UK) and .
Nevertheless, there needs to be a flow of innovation into the company. Janine ensured there was a menu that offered healthy juices and smoothies made of natural and fresh ingredients. Since Janine places a high value on offering healthy products to consumers, she continues to research methods on improving on her products.
As an entrepreneur, Janine has gone a long way to developing the brand of Boost Juice but this concept could have easily been just a small business. However, Janine took the risk and used innovation to her advantage as a means of gaining in the long-term. Her success is highlighted by the 189 stores located in Australia, and other countries around the world.
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Around March last year, Nestlé was in the midst of controversy with the Greenpeace organization due to its use of palm oil from Sinar Mas, a Indonesian Palm oil supplier. The issue regarding Sinar Mas was that it was causing serious damage to the rain-forests in Indonesia through illegal deforestation. After weeks of public scrutiny, Nestlé ended their partnership with Sinar Mas and made a commitment to only use sustainable Palm oil in its products.
advertising campaign by Greenpeace org. against Nestlé
Recently in September, Nestlé announced that it was going to resume its partnership with Smart, the agribusiness and food division of Sinar Mas. The significance of this decision by Nestlé is highlighted by the efforts of creating a sustainable supply chain. After Nestlé stopped its dealings with Sinar Mas, Nestlé collaborated with the NGO forest trust to ensure that its palm oil suppliers were adhering to the rules of the industry. Companies such as Nestlé have a responsibility to ensure that its suppliers maintain sustainability.
Who supplies this palm oil?
While the companies image is at stake, it also ensures that in the long term there will be less and less third-party’s supplying palm oil that effects the environment. Nestlé made an impact by abiding to its principles and working with NGOs that guided the company through the process.
Sources:
2) http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/nestl-ngo-clean-up-palm-oil-supply-chain
Control has reached a new midst with the latest Google application, the chrome remote Desktop beta version. Users of Google chrome that also hold a Gmail account will now be able to access other computers from another computer, even if they are running different operating systems.
Google has it all.
Technology has become essential to us and with this new application in our hands people can not only share data but also enables organizations to manage other computers without the administrative costs. Since the technology is in its testing phase, many users are restricted to access one computer at a time. Although it seems as though Google have developed an innovative application unlike no other, there exists a software created by TeamViewer that provides the same solution as Google chromes new application.
Although TeamViewers software has already been tested and used among many people, the essential part of Google’s application is that it has been targeted for the general public, basically everyone using Google chrome. Similar to Google’s search engine, chrome has become widely used as a web browser and thus Google will have a greater advantage in exposing their application to its potential customers.
Sources:
1) http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20117619-264/chrome-extension-enables-remote-computer-control/
Aeroplan to AIMIA. Which name is better?
AIMIA, it’s the name that Montreal based Groupe Aeroplan has chosen to represent its company from now on. The company has made this decision to rebrand as a way to increase their status in the international market but also to recognize that they are not solely an airline loyalty programme company.
The company has maintained that its well-known loyalty programs will continue to run under their respective names, however, their business to business programs will now be represented under Aimia. These seem like minor changes but re-branding will mean that the company loses its image that has been developed since 1984.
New style
Although there will be negatives to such a change, the companies approach will ensure that it is not solely associated to the airline industry which will be a key part in their ongoing development as a loyalty programme business. While rebranding now seems a little late, getting it done signals a company’s intentions for future growth and will attract potential investors. In addition the company’s large portfolio of loyalty programmes around the world from UK to Canada to India will now be well represented. Better yet, AIMIA reaches out with it’s unique name structure.
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Burberry has gone to extra lengths recently to market their new perfume, Body. The company has decided to take an innovative solution to capture its customers by using the band ” the feeling” to record a song that will represent the perfumes “sensuality and attitude”. While it seems an unusual approach, it will essentially position the brand’s perfume in the minds of consumers.
Burberry's new marketing solution
On the downside, the company has increased it’s costs and potentially added the risk of lowering the image of the brand among potential customers. However, the costs might not impact the sales of the perfume as the released single will not only represent the perfume but the company as a whole. In addition as an established designer label, Burberry will only need to entice customers to the product not the brand itself.
Indeed, the company is adding value to what seems only like a marketing stint as it will connect people to its perfume through the song. Depending on the tune of the song, it could potentially be a hit among customers with people in the future associating Burberry to the single “Rosé”.
Sources:
1) http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/oct/07/burberry-designer-label-release-single
Malaysian airlines have recently made modifications to the seating plan for its ordered A380 flights. However, the company will have to wait until 2012 to receive its airbus 380 orders due to its seating plan changes.While this might seem like a long wait, Malaysian airlines in actual fact have waited four years to finally become part of the A380 culture. The changes were made by management in an attempt to enforce Malaysian airlines status as “premium” and oust competitors.
Airbus 380 Seating allocation chart for airlines
As the airline industry gets more competitive, the focus on “premium” services seems like an approach worthwhile taking but it also adds to the costs for potential customers in those premium seats. Its differentiation strategy is also targeting a market that will represent 17 percent (premium economy, business and first class passengers) of their customers on their A380 carrier, the other 83 percent being economy passengers. The key aspect of Malaysian airlines decision is that they have reduced the amount of first class and business class passengers to accommodate premium economy, unlike its competitors. This seems risky unless the pricing margin will make first and business class exclusively to those who really want to be treated like premium customers.
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Australian supermarket chain,
lower prices for Coles branded milk
Coles, has been under scrutiny lately due to price cuts made earlier this year for their own brand milk . The decision to cut the price of its own label milk was due to the strong competition between rival supermarket company, Woolworths. As the two supermarket chains fight it out for a bigger share of consumers, others in the form of suppliers and retailers are feeling the effects dawn upon them.
While Coles and Woolworths maintain their strategy of marketing their milk brands at a reduced cost, farmers are under severe financial pressure. Roughly 36 million dollars has been lost in the dairy farmers industry since the decrease of Coles brand milk to a dollar per litre in January 2011. Though Coles takes the hit for its milk brand price cuts, it gains from consumers purchasing other goods in their supermarket therefore the real damage done is towards the branded milk sold in their supermarkets. One such instance is evident with Parmalat, whom have taken a $767,000 hit in sales. As sales drops for branded milk, so does the income for dairy farmers thus the possibility of leaving the industry becomes realistic.
