Dodo Loves Marketing

Save this for the potentially huge account (or huge current customer) you know you are about to lose to a competitor. (Clear it with your boss first, of course.) ..more

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This desire for peace is surely understandable, but it can lead to trouble. If unchecked, the hope for conflict to disappear brings the expectation that if mediation is successful, my client’s relationship will be free of conflict in the future. If that is my mission, I am doomed to failure.

A Fantasy

Our fantasy is that conflict should be absent in ‘good’ relationships. We regard conflict as a social disease, and assume that there must be a cure. ..more

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During the first fifteen years of life, the carving of these synaptic connections is where the drama unfolds.

From the day she was born, the child’s mind begins to reach out, aggressively, exuberantly. Beginning at the center of the brain, every neuron sends out thousands and thousands of signals. They are trying to talk to one another, to communicate, to make a connection. Imagine every one alive today simultaneously trying to get in touch with 150,000 other people and you will get some idea of the wonderful scale, complexity, and vitality of the young mind. ..more

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The plan that you use must be:

• clear and specific in its content
• easily understood by all who use or see it
• capable of accepting changes at both a detailed and broad level, and
• capable of being used to monitor what’s actually happening.

The simplest forms of the project plan that will do this for you are:

The Gantt chart, and The Critical Path network. ..more

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The activities of your implementation project won’t always happen in the way or at the time that you plan them to. The way to counteract the difficulties that arise from these diversions from your plan lies in the way that you create and use your implementation project monitoring and control system. When created and used with care, this system will identify the project’s drifts and divergences and provide you with what you need to put your project back ‘on line’. ..more

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Achieving global synergies

The concept of synergy is simple: the whole should be more than the sum of the parts. It is often described as the ‘2 + 2 = 5′ effect. The search for synergy is one of the main drivers of the trend towards the globalisation of industry, particularly in manufacturing and logistics.

It has often been suggested that there can be significant benefits if R&D, product development, manufacturing and marketing can be coordinated in order to avoid ‘re-inventing the wheel’ country by country, and also through economies of scale in procurement and production. ..more

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Developing a global logistics strategy

A number of issues arise when global logistics strategies are being considered. One key concern is the question of the appropriate degree of centralised direction as against local autonomy. Traditionally many companies have preferred to devolve decision-making to a local level, yet almost by definition it is difficult to see how global supply chains can be optimised in terms of service and cost if they are planned and managed on a fragmented, local basis. On the other hand the attractions of local autonomy are clear, in terms of responsiveness to the market and the ability to ’stay close to the customer’. ..more

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One of the most striking trends in recent years has been the globalisation of markets, organisations and industries. Its impact can not only be seen through the global reach of well-established brands like Coca-Cola, Marlboro or Gucci, but it is also apparent in markets as diverse as computing, automobiles and consumer electronics. Nor is the trend towards globalisation confined only to products; we see similar transformations in services such as banking, retailing and satellite TV. ..more

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Everyone talks about convergence, while just the opposite is happening.

Whenever a new medium hits town, the cry goes up, “Convergence, convergence. What is this new medium going to converge with?”

When television hit town, there were stories everywhere about the convergence of TV with magazines and newspapers. You weren’t going to get your magazines in the mail anymore. When you wanted an issue, you would hit the button on your TV set and the issue would be printed out in your living room. (We don’t make these things up. We just report the facts.) ..more

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So what becomes of our individual privacy and anonymity in a world where there is an Internet-ready device at every turn we make. Aren’t we being bombarded with enough information and advertising as it is? Are car manufacturers going to “eavesdrop” on our weekend getaways? And who’s going to know that I rode an elevator in Chicago last Thursday afternoon? Is “somebody out there” going to know every TV show-watch? Are we marching toward a privacy nightmare or a service and convenience dream? What is going to keep the car manufacturer from selling your whereabouts to other vendors, or even letting it fall into the hands of sophisticated robbers who could drop by your house while you’re spending the weekend in the mountains? ..more

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Try to visualize your customer.

He’s standing before you.

He’s not frowning_; nor is he smiling. He is perfectly neutral. Yet, there’s something strange about him.

Coming out of his forehead, reaching up toward the ceiling, is an antenna! And at the end of the antenna is a sensor, beeping away like crazy.

And the sensor is taking in all of the sensory data around it—the colors, shapes, sounds, and smells of your store, or your office, or the restaurant where you’re meeting for lunch.

The sensor is also taking in sensory data from you: how you are standing or sitting, the color of your hair, how your hair is combed, the expression on your face— Is it tense? Are you looking directly at him or off to the side?—the crease in your slacks, the color of your shoes—Are they shined? Are they worn? Are the laces tied? ..more

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As I suggested at the beginning of this chapter, most entrepreneurs have a very specific purpose for their business plan and, once that purpose has been accomplished, the formal planning process is over. The People Express business plan is theonly written plan the company ever put together. The question of why the company never assembled another plan to guide its astonishing growth is one that prompts extensive explanation from founder Donald Burr.

Quite simply, he begins, the company didn’t really need an operating plan once it had financial backing. Not even for budgeting purposes?

“We felt budgeting was one of the things that stand in the way of customer service,” he explains. “The mind-set of budgeting is that it’s finance driven instead of customer driven.”

Burr points to Continental Airlines, which acquired People Express, to illustrate his point. “Continental Airlines lives by budgeting,” he says. “From the food to the uniforms to the people, it’s budget driven. You end up with a seriously flawed product as a result of such a process.” ..more

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Home Depot’s vast assortment of building supplies shows that it, too, knows that customers savor choice. But an even more important reason for its lasting success is that it knows how to capitalize on a customer’s wish to perform a task him- or herself. Home Depot employs our second strategy to attract the searchers, showering them with advice and insight.

This paradise for those who subscribe to do-it-yourself turns modestly competent amateurs into confident renovators and barely competent fumblers into people capable of remodeling their kitchens. Home Depot’s employees don’t do the job for you. Instead, they make accessible the information, products, and people you need to complete it for yourself. You feel capable of improving your own skills, which is exactly the feeling that searchers are seeking. ..more

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