Strategy and Reviews

This week we had to look at three classmates blogs, and I choose Mindy's, Marcin's and Kristin's. Mindy was straight and to the point on what was happening in Pharmsim. She analyzed two reports, Shelf Space and Shopping Habits.  She analyzed that the shopping habits helped because it can be scene where the products are being purchased to help with channel sales. Mindy also analyzed the push and pull strategy tell how she could apply it in her Pharmasim simulation.

Marcin on the other hand started out each blog with a graphic as he did four smaller posts throughout the week.  He discussed how the push and pull strategies were employed in his company and then automakers. In the previous blog, he looked at Pharmasim for pricing strategies but skipping the application of the push pull strategy in Pharmasim.  His other two blogs were brief descriptors about other topics related to the class.

Lastly I reviewed Kristin's blog.  Her blog is bright, has an engaging title for each week and various images to grab the readers attention. She also writes with a 'talkative' voice for easy reading.  This week she discusses the stress of working together but how nice it is have teammates now. Kristin also highlights the big topics from the lecture discussing how the competitor strategy can be ineffective if you are the market leader. Her blog also had great wit and humor for the reader to enjoy.

Drucker says that it is the customer who ultimately determines the marketing decision and what a  business is because they are the one pay for these goods and services.  This is true since a businesses main objective is to create customers.  The customers are the one who decide the value of the product and the need for the product.  If a customer does not have the need for the product they will not buy the product.  That is where early market research in development is needed to see if the consumer wants to buy a product. 

Drucker listed five certainties: the collapsing birthrate of the developed world, shifts in disposable income, new definition of performance in an organization, global competitiveness and grown incongruence between economic globalization and political splintering. These have certainly held true for the past 30 years but will they for the next fifty.  The one certainly will but I am going to spin to say the continued growth of third countries will create large knowledge centers.  This is attributed to the second certainty of globalization. The internet is now far reaching and people are able to get educated through a new source to enrich (some would say "westernize") their lives. This certainty will be key in how companies build their workforce in years to come. Companies have also redefined performance at work and some have limited how their workers can accomplish it. Yahoo has stopped all telecommuting to increase face to face contact and inspire innovation.  This has been a change to work place production and will effect Yahoo and other companies.  Lastly the global economy is so interconnected one countries decisions on bailouts or interesting rates. Japan's stock exchange fell 7.3% yesterday after announcements by Ben Bernanke of the US Fed and China's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index.  This just shows how interconnected the world economics are and will continue to be. US politics for some is starting to have an isolationist view of the world. Ron Paul in his failed presidential campaign discussed it.  Overall these five certainties will continue on for the new 30 to 50 years and companies must be mind full of them.

Historical data is crucial to all companies but it does not always have to predict the future. Data is important to marketers to see how their past decisions have worked and evaluate customers decisions.  This can help the marketers formulate plans to use for the future but it cannot predict the future.  Consumers are irrational and forecasting is one of the toughest statistical areas to work.  This data is important to reveal past trends and what decisions created those trends.

Lehmann states one way to increase profits is to lower the variable costs.  And the main example is to lower the number of the work force.  In today's world, companies are working to become "lean."  They layoff the "fat" those employees that are sitting in the sweet spot until retirement or they offer early retirement packages.  This cost cutting measure can have large consequences for the company as they loose year of experience and tribal knowledge.  Another way to cut costs is the removal of office supplies and other items that create a positive environment for employees. These just reinforce the statement that "beating will continue until moral improves."  Companies are driven by the bottom line and stockholders but that is not always the best way to improve costs.

Early on we talked about the strategic and market plans and how they help to focus the company. 

Now seven weeks later, Drucker discusses defining the specific purpose in Chpt 11. This reinforced why defining a purpose in necessary for a company to ensure that everyone is on the same page and headed in the same direction.  Every aspect of the business must have buy in to this strategy and work to complete it.