In the world of business, there is always going to be rivalries.  One of the most iconic and worldwide known rivalries is the battle between Coca Cola and Pepsi. With Coca Cola’s creation back in the 1880’s and the spark of Pepsi after only a few years, the two now famous brands have been going against each other for the top spot of the soft drink industry for decades. To position themselves above the other, they have employed creative advertising tactics to change the consumer mindset about each other ( such as this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DijFob8vxgI ). Each brand has innovated their products in correspondence with their rivals innovation. Examples would be Vanilla Cola and Pepsi Max. The origin of these two soft drinks came from each other’s products. Pepsi and Coca Cola have not stopped in making sure they do not fall behind in terms of products, market share, etc.

Pepsi True

Recently, Pepsi has unveiled their newest product called Pepsi True, a “green cola” with 40% fewer calories than a regular Pepsi and sweetened using naturally sourced sweetner. Is this a new product that the world has not yet seen? The answer to this question is no. Last year, Coca Cola released its “green cola” ( called Coke Life) and pay attention to this, the product has 36% fewer calories than a regular Coca Cola and sweetened using naturally sourced sweetner. Does this sound familiar? I think so. If you look at a side by side comparison between the two products, even the look and presentation is nearly identical.

Coca Cola Life

The interesting part about these green colas is that when Coca Cola release their version, the community was very divided on the taste of it. There wasn’t even an immediate uproar from the community it was launched in and it for sure didn’t gain world wide popularity (you can tell by the amount of green colas available in Canada and US- none). Even so, Pepsi is still relentless in making sure it does not fall behind to Coca Cola, despite the fact that green colas, so far speaking, has not even been remotely successful. While Pepsi may see that currently green colas are a bust, they may be afraid that future healthy trends will catch on and make green colas the “in” thing in the soft drink industry. Pepsi wants to make sure if such a trend does catch on that they will still be in fighting contention with Coca Cola.

SOURCE:

http://www.businessinsider.com/pepsi-has-launched-a-new-green-cola-pepsi-true-2014-10

image- Google Images

In the world of business,  the hardest thing to build up and strengthen is arguably your customer base. As mentioned in the previous blog post, BOTH employees and customers play a crucial role in the success of a business. In terms of a smaller or startup business however, the ability to create a happy and positive working environment is much easier, because there is a smaller and more intimidate employee base. Everyone in the company knows who everyone else is. The latter of the criteria for the success is what I think is the hardest challenge a small or startup business must face.

Are traditional surveying tactics still viable?

Katie Richard’s article is on a data collection business that has been started to help other businesses collect important information about its consumers. This software provides comprehensive customer profiles just based on their “call, email, and credit card transaction”. Most importantly, businesses gets an updated and real time spending behaviour of every consumer they have. With this information, they are able to analyse it and uncover possible business trends, improvement to their products, and changes in consumers demand. The idea’s advantage is similar to a direct business model, where manufacturers are able to cut out the middlemen and receive direct feedback and customization from customers on their products.  While this software provides a more implicit way of collecting information, this will no doubt be extremely beneficial for startup businesses. If they are able to effectively utilize the information given, this will make the life of the operations management team so much easier. The operations team will know exactly how to position the company and provides services and goods that give value to the consumers.

In the new age of innovative technology, businesses must realize and utilize its full potential. Traditional surveying tactics may not be the best solution anymore in terms of convenience, and reliability, and it for sure won’t be able to give you direct feedback after every transaction/purchase.  Smaller businesses should embrace this new technology before other businesses realize its potential. It may be the leg up they need to compete with big name companies.

SOURCE:

http://www.businessinsider.com/signpost-launches-data-collection-tools-2014-9

image- Google Images

In the world of business, we tend to focus heavily on consumers and profit. In the commerce classes that I am currently taking, we have been mainly fixated on the customers, the people who purchase a business’s products and services. We’ve learned the importance of being able to observe and adapt to changing demands and markets, and we’ve delved into how to create  and deliver value propositions to consumers.  This is completely understandable as the main point of a business is to make profit and it is impossible for any businesses to function without any consumers. BUT is it the only thing that determines the success of a business? What if there is something even arguably more important than creating value for consumers? ...like a business’s employees?

This article I found on Business Insider suggests that we may be overlooking the importance of our employees. No big companies would be  in its position without the work of its employees.  An entrepreneur or CEO’s brilliance in business may play a role but it’s the employees that make the magic happen ultimately. Without employees, a business’s operation and productivity would simply go downhill. There is just no one single person who can do ALL the work necessary.  Research as shown in the article indicates that employees are more productive, make better decisions, and are more creative and motivated when they are happy. The bottom line is that businesses who have happy employees are much more productive and efficient. With a higher level of productivity and efficiency, you are bound to be more profitable in the long run. If a business wants to be successful, ensuring that a business has a strong and dependable employee base is very necessary.  Think of it as an investment with an almost guarantee long term reward.

While I completely agree on the importance of creating value for consumers in the products that a business offers, I think a business also needs to make sure it creates value internally. People shouldn’t be dreading and hating to go to work on a day to day basis. Creating a positive, fun, and happy working environment is just as important as making sure customers value needs are met.

SOURCE:

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-happiness-at-work-matters-2014-8