eng

TCC2
Building Brands
The brand is just a badge. It is a name.
- Why do we buy from one company rather than from
another?
- Why do we prefer product A to product B?
- With a strong corporate brand name, a company can sell
a wide range of very different products. However, the real
important thing is what is behind the name?
- The company’s personality
- Its way of doing things
- The set of values that affect all its activities.
What does a brand name mean?
. It is a badge
. A way of creating a global identity
The most important thing is what is behind
the badge.
The brand gives people an understanding
of what the company is and how it treats its
employees and customers. It shows the company’s
personality.
A brand that is already recognized globally is
VIRGIN.
What does the Virgin brand represent?
.
Quality
.
Value for money
.
A different way of doing things.
Virgin does not think about the business as an
individual business, it does not think about a
product; but it is a brand that has grown
historically into really something that people
believe in a set of values attached to it:
- They think of quality and value for money.
- They think of innovation.
- They
think
of
fun,
challenge,
competitiveness.
- They think about Virgin doing things
differently.
Virgin achieved rapid growth in a new
market using the strength of its brand. It
used the company’s core competence.
- What is a core competence?
- How is a core competence identified?
There are three fundamental tests:
. The first test is, does it create customer value? Is it
something that is very important in the customer
experience?
. The second test is, is it something that it is difficult to
imitate? Is it something that competitors would have a
hard time duplicating?
. The third test is, is it something that could provide a
gateway to new opportunities? If it meets those three
tests, it is probably a core competence.
An example of a company that really
understands its core competence is Disney.
Disney has gone from theme parks to movies
to retailing to ship cruise lines, now adult
education and retailing.
Disney has a core competence in story - telling
and character development.
The power of the brand is considerable.
Identifying core competencies behind the
brand helps companies to grow their existing
business and enter new markets.
Risk Management
TCC2
Futurists advise public companies on predicting future
trends, emerging markets and risk management.
In this way, companies use current information to
make accurate predictions about the future.
One of the aims of these types of predictions is to
identify risks that may affect organisations in the
future.
However, recent events such as financial crises,
terrorism, diseases and environmental disasters
indicate that companies can neither predict nor
eradicate risk from modern business.
Types of risk:
Operational, financial, environmental and political
1- Operational risks when you buy the wrong raw
materials for your manufacturing site and your site
cannot operate.
2- Financial risks could be an exchange rate risk: that
means buying things in euros and you are selling
them in dollars.
3- Environmental risks like flooding or drought
involving new regulations that one should comply
with.
4- Political risks in countries where there are unstable
political regimes.
Financial and operational risks can be predictable
because they can be identified, mapped and
procedures can be put in place. However, political
and environmental risks are more unpredictable
because the climate could change, the political
situation could change, and it is impossible for
companies to predict what is going to happen. In
such situations, companies appoint a risk manager
trying to minimize the risks in each category.
From an external perspective, companies work
with external auditors, specific consultants and
insurance companies.
From an internal perspective, modern companies
have an internal audit department, the IT audit
department and also a specific risk management
department all working together to actually
identify and map the risks and also put in place
systems and procedures again to minimize the
risks that a company is looking at.
So consultants should be able to
- Identify the risks
- Map the risks
- Analyze the potential impact if the risk occurs
- Put in place the future procedures or systems, IT
or other types of systems in order to avoid
company bankruptcy, takeovers, or asking for
government support.
Innovation
Tcc2
The business environment is changing at an everincreasing speed. To survive, companies need to find
ways of doing things differently. They have to innovate.
One of the main areas of innovation is in the collection
and the management of information, which has
become a major commodity in its own right.
Information Technology and The Internet have created
new business opportunities and new ways of doing
business.
The Internet allows companies like Dell, one of the
world’s largest PC makers, to sell directly to the
customer.
Therefore, Information Technology has 2 advantages:
- A means to an end, not an end in itself.
- The huge amounts of information that it provides. This
information is used as a resource, Data Compression.
Companies need to change the way they do
business since now they can manage very large
amounts of information better because of
Data Compression which means companies need to
innovate their businesses by using the information
available in massive amounts since they have the
ability to compress and understand that data.
The Internet has become a means of handling large
amounts of information. What benefits does it bring to
business?
- It offers customers choice and convenience. Buying
has become easier because of “one –click shopping”
and lower costs to the customers.
- It offers customers
an expanding range of
services such as finance and consultancy.
- It gives the company a closer and more personal
relationship with the customers by reducing prices,
building intimacy and lowering the costs of doing
business.
- The Internet enables companies to do business all
over the world. Online stores can get to know their
customers individually on a customer-by-customer
basis. They can suggest things they would like to buy,
match products to customers, by knowing what they
enjoy.
Using Information and Technology to innovate and
keep ahead of the competition is a top priority for
business today. It fact, it may provide the key to
survival. If companies wait on the sidelines until there
is a clear market signal with how they should be
responding, the battle is over. They have lost and
therefore they must start taking risks, learning and
adapting.
TCC2
NEW BUSINESS
New business ventures originate when entrepreneurs
set up companies either to sell innovative products or
services or to compete against established businesses.
Before starting a new business, entrepreneurs often
conduct a market research to determine the validity of
their idea and the feasibility of their business model.
All start-ups face a high degree of risk and it is
estimated that only 2O percent of new businesses are
actually successful in the long term.
Future entrepreneurs always have to provide a
business plan in which they describe their concept and
their business approach. They may receive assistance
from outside organisations such as incubators and
venture capital firms or from individual business
angels, usually in exchange for a stake in the company.
Start-ups can be funded either directly by the founders
or by using capital provided by investors or banks. In
some countries, governments may provide low-interest
loans or interest- free grants to entrepreneurs.
A new business needs to offer an innovation – a new
product or service- or to be able to do something that
already exists better or more cheaply than before.
Some key business skills:
• Business planning.
• Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the
business and planning accordingly.
• Marketing skills.
• Setting up and overseeing sales and marketing
operations, analyzing markets, identifying selling
points for the product and following these through
to market.
• CRM ( customer relationship management)
• Managing the entrepreneur’s relationship with
customers and keeping them happy; managing the
customers’ data (data compression) and adapting
products, services and delivery accordingly.
The entrepreneurial quality check:
1- Self- confidence
As an entrepreneur, it is a self - belief and passion
about your product or service - your enthusiasm
should win people over to your ideas.
2- Self- determination
A belief that the outcome of events is down to
your own actions, rather external factors or other
people’s actions.
3- Being a self- starter
The ability to be resourceful and take the initiative;
also to be able to work independently and develop
your ideas.
4- Judgement
The ability to be open-minded when listening to
other people’s advice, while bearing in mind your
objectives for the business.
5- Commitment
The willingness to make personal sacrifices
through long hours and loss of leisure time.
6- Perseverance
The ability to continue despite setbacks, financial
security and risk.
Mistakes that entrepreneurs make about startups:
1- Spending too much time developing products or
services without going out to sell them.
2- Not having a good team: entrepreneurship is a
team game. It is important to find a foil that is
somebody with the opposite set of skills to
themselves. Therefore, if they are good at
delivery entrepreneurs can be good at sales.
3- Not finding customers
Advices for future entrepreneurs
Future entrepreneurs should :
1- They should contact mentors who can give
good advice and how to improve the product
or the service. May be a family friend who has
some business experience and contacts.
Mentors can do two things: First, they can test
your idea to see if it is a good idea, they can
give you practical advice on how to make your
product or service better. The second thing
they is they can pick up the phone, or start
writing letters for you, they can make contacts
for you.
2- They should prepare an” elevator pitch” to be
able to sell the idea to potential customers or
investors (in one or two minutes). A good
pitch should include the five Ps:
• Pain: where is the pain or the problem
that you solve?
• Premise: What does your business
actually do?
• People: What makes your people better
than somebody else’s people?
• Proof: You have to have some proof (that
you have a good business idea), and the
best proof is some happy customers that
you can direct potential customers to.
• Purpose: What is the purpose of your
business? Of course, the first purpose is to
make money; the second purpose is why
you are doing this business and not
something else. Are you making the world
a better place? Are you having fun?
So it is necessary to have an
- Innovative product
- A certain amount of luck
- A great deal of determination
- An unusual idea that will grab the
attention of buyers.
- Offer discounts to customers who pay
their bills regularly
- Chase payment promptly
- Find out if the customer is having cash
flow problems and offer to let him pay
by instalment if necessary.
- Issue invoices promptly and follow up
immediately if payments are slow in
coming.
- Adopt a policy of cash on delivery(c-od) as an alternative to refusing to do
business with slow-paying customers.
TCC2
Building Brands
The brand is just a badge. It is a name.
- Why do we buy from one company rather than from
another?
- Why do we prefer product A to product B?
- With a strong corporate brand name, a company can sell
a wide range of very different products. However, the real
important thing is what is behind the name?
- The company’s personality
- Its way of doing things
- The set of values that affect all its activities.
What does a brand name mean?
. It is a badge
. A way of creating a global identity
The most important thing is what is behind
the badge.
The brand gives people an understanding
of what the company is and how it treats its
employees and customers. It shows the company’s
personality.
A brand that is already recognized globally is
VIRGIN.
What does the Virgin brand represent?
.
Quality
.
Value for money
.
A different way of doing things.
Virgin does not think about the business as an
individual business, it does not think about a
product; but it is a brand that has grown
historically into really something that people
believe in a set of values attached to it:
- They think of quality and value for money.
- They think of innovation.
- They
think
of
fun,
challenge,
competitiveness.
- They think about Virgin doing things
differently.
Virgin achieved rapid growth in a new
market using the strength of its brand. It
used the company’s core competence.
- What is a core competence?
- How is a core competence identified?
There are three fundamental tests:
. The first test is, does it create customer value? Is it
something that is very important in the customer
experience?
. The second test is, is it something that it is difficult to
imitate? Is it something that competitors would have a
hard time duplicating?
. The third test is, is it something that could provide a
gateway to new opportunities? If it meets those three
tests, it is probably a core competence.
An example of a company that really
understands its core competence is Disney.
Disney has gone from theme parks to movies
to retailing to ship cruise lines, now adult
education and retailing.
Disney has a core competence in story - telling
and character development.
The power of the brand is considerable.
Identifying core competencies behind the
brand helps companies to grow their existing
business and enter new markets.