It’s funny how we did a case study a few weeks ago on the ever so successful and emerging company, JetBlue. Although ever company has its share of mistakes, it is hard to imagine what really went on in the minds of JetBlue’s management team the day passengers were stranded for up to eight hours in the idle plane right outside of the airport. JetBlue’s CEO, David Neeleman, stated, “We learned a huge lesson. That will never happen at JetBlue again.” Unfortunately, The “huge lesson” had a $30 million price tag. The company’s solution to the situation was a new “Customer’s Bill of Rights,” which allows passengers to claim refunds in the case of a delay after a certain amount of time. In addition, JetBlue adopted a new policy that will take the passengers off the plane if they it has been waiting for over five hours on the runway. The “Customer’s Bill of Rights” will be retroactively applied so that the customers from last week’s disaster will be reimbursed.
I would agree that Neeleman is taking the right steps in terms of solving the problem. Even though the costs are high, I think it is the best way in order to retain its loyal customers. There seems to still be a lot of angry travelers, but I think once they receive their money back, they will be willing to give JetBlue another try perhaps in the near future.
The lesson learned: Companies make mistakes. The most important part is that they positively solve the situation at their own cost. Luckily, [most] people forgive and forget…and life goes on.
Often times, your business can catch you by surprise. Brock Weatherup, the CEO of Fathead, spoke about the spontaneity of his wall decal company, which consists of professional sports such as the NBA, NFL, NHL, NASCAR, and MLB, just to name a few. Allen Iverson was a long time favorite in Philadelphia but then all of a sudden was traded to the Denver Nuggets. Who saw that one coming? AI has was a loyal leader and all time record holder for the 76s franchise for about decade and many did not predict his departure. Trades like this highly affect Fathead, which receives online orders of life size wall adhesives of professional athletes. Once a player is wearing a different jersey, the product is practically worthless. On the flip side, there are also massive orders that catch you by surprise. For example, the releasing of the New York Yankee’s Derek Jeter Fathead was announced right after the ending of the season, but oddly enough, the orders were backed up because of such high volumes demanded by fans.
Managing inventory is a key aspect operating a successful business. Although you may not be able to predict the future, business executives must have a good grip on market demands. If, however, that is not your cup of tea, Weatherup says, “know what you don’t know and find people who know it well.” Build your company around a team of individuals that have more knowledge in particular areas than yourself. Secondly, Weatherup firmly stated, “Love it or don’t do it at all,” meaning that whatever business you pursue should be out of passion rather than greedy ambition. The Fathead CEO’s last words of caution was to “be terrified of the small guys,” which translates into never underestimating your competitors no matter how big or small. Always be aware [ISM #1] that there are other people taking away business from your business.
Here is my salute to Fathead and all Michigan Wolverines:
“Google-ing” has become a new word ever since Sergey Brin and Larry Page launched their revolutionary search engine. Google has really changed how people utilize the internet. However, most people don’t know the capacities of the sophisticated product. As the company continues to expand, it has added various kinds of search criteria such as google maps, books, froogle, patents, video, and many more.
Searching the internet has never been so easy. With the volume of information on the web, Google allows you to use specific “codes” in order to find the specific information you are seeking. For example, when you want to look up specific words, wrap quotations around them. Also, you can place a dash before a word that you don’t want to show up in the search.
Furthermore, Google’s search engine can also be used as a calculator, measurement converter, weather forecaster, and currency converter.
The internet can be a small business’ greatest resource-thanks to these two fellas, Google makes it that much easier:
Daimler Chrysler recently announced that it is laying off 13,000 workers by 2008. The fourth largest automotive company in America (now behind Toyota) are experiencing a major dilemma. CEO Dieter Zetsche proclaimed that they are considering ALL options at this point, including selling off the $5 million Chrysler branch to General Motors, Renault Nissan, or a group in China. There have also been talks of universalizing Mercedes’ “unseen” car parts such as the chassis in order to cut down on production costs. Apparently, German shareholders are strongly against integrating Mercedes and Chrysler car parts and are eager to get rid of its North American partner.
Why does Daimler Chrysler find themselves having to make a drastic decisions such as selling their American counterpart when GM and Ford are in fact losing more money per sold vehicle? In my opinion, it is because of all the pressure from the German side (the 1998 merger was not such a happy reunion). Furthermore, GM would have to be stupid to actually purchase Chrysler. Why buy someone else’s problem? An acquisition from GM would just add on to its already existing legacy costs and overlapping vehicles (eg. Silverado and Dodge Ram, Durango and Tahoe, Neon and Cobalt, etc.) would not help them sell more cars.
What is the solution to the problem? Well if it were only that simple…First and foremost, I think Chrysler needs to focus more on designing and developing cars according to consumer needs and wants. Rather than focusing on market share, the real focus should be on making profits. There is no overnight fix and it will take a few restructuring years before Chrysler can climb back to its original spot.
Marketing- the total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer, including advertising, shipping, storing, and selling (Dictionary.com)
It is really interesting how something becomes a brand. “1800-333-ROCK” is a phone number just about everyone in Southeast Michigan knows by heart. In fact, if they dial the number they probably know that the person picking up the phone on the other end is a “mortgage expert” of Rock Financial, “a Quicken Loans company.” How does a company go from a small start-up to a mortgage banking empire?
Our two speakers, David Hall and Luigi, presented a great overview of marketing and how it can be effectively used to sell your product or service. Whether you are on a small or large budget there are effective ways of marketing your business-different methods work for different kinds of businesses. Rock Financial started their marketing campaign off with a $500/week budget primarily through radio. As the company grew, it used additional methods such as television, billboards, promotions, professional sports, and even buildings. Nonetheless, these different avenues of marketing were always strategically utilized-not only do you have to consider the cost, but also the protection of your company’s image. According to David Hall, the challenge is “keeping it fresh.” Therefore, it is essential to constantly look for new ways of marketing in new and appealing ways. 
What makes a great mantra?
There are various elements that make a mantra great besides being concise and to the point. First, a mantra must motivate and inspire the workforce of the organization; it is simply more than just words put together in a catchy phrase. Having a solid mantra makes all the employees feel like they are on a unified team. If all of the employees can recite the mantra, then they will most likely know the vision and goals of the company. Implementing a mantra that everyone relates to is very important and can easily help structure a team by allowing them always to refer back to it as a source of encouragement and personal accountability. The unifying theme keeps everyone in line and makes them feel good when they come into work everyday to know they have a meaning.
Second, a mantra serves as an integral part of the employee’s jobs. Not only should they be able to recite the mantra by heart, but they should also firmly believe in its inner most meaning. According to Guy Kawasaki, the litmus test for a good mantra is to call a company and see if who ever is answering the phone knows it. The logic behind this is that a great mantra shouldn’t be restricted to the CEO or other top level executives. For a mantra to be great every employee should, if not know the mantra, have the ability recognize and understand it. This shows a level of implementation and infiltration of the mantra that pushes a mantra from good to great.
Lastly, the mantra also provides a sense of pride for the employees, enabling them to perform in the highest level. The company must be passionate about their inner philosophy in order for it to be well executed. The mantra may not be an organization’s complete driving force, but it enables the whole team to accomplish a common goal. If each and every employee at an organization doesn’t live, breathe, and sweat the mantra, it’s essentially useless. A well-constructed mantra must be instilled into the employees and exercised every single day throughout the organization.
One of the most interesting articles I came across in the Wall Street Journal this past week was about the emerald industry. An entrepreneur by the name of Arthur Groom publicized information concerning the imperfections of emeralds sold in retail stores. In fact, he came up with a technology that permanently fixes the irregularities in the precious stones. This stirred a lot of resentment towards Groom amongst the gem industry because this caused emerald sales to plummet due to the consumer’s knowledge of the unknown facts about emeralds. It led even further to Groom receiving death threats from angry retailers and manufacturers from Columbia and Afghanistan. The only person this release did not hurt is the man who discovered the unique technique permanently fixing the imperfections (Arthur Groom).
I picked up two very important lessons from this article. First, don’t mess with the wrong people. Second, this man is a genius for creating a monopoly in the emerald market. Now, people who want to purchase these beautiful stones will want to buy from Groom because they know they are buying a quality product that will last their lifetime. Additionally, Groom refuses to patent his idea because he feels that others will eventually figure out his technology.
Our latest guest speaker, Mel Ettenson (a counselor for SCORE- a non-profit organization for small business owners), brought in the idea of utilizing free resources that literally exist all around us. Mr. Ettenson mentioned how people do not take advantage of the free resources SCORE provides for aspiring entrepreneurs like ourselves. With a SCORE branch right around the corner, I figured that it would be of great use for me to speak with at least one of the counselors that have had experience in my field of interest.
On a more important note, Mr. Ettenson gave our class some meaningful advice. The first thing he said before introducing himself was “Always come early” (in which he came 35 minutes early). However, the piece of advice that was more compelling to me was “Read all you can,” which he subtly stated towards the end of his presentation. This ended up being to me what Jim Collin’s refers to as an “Ah-Ha” moment. It wasn’t that I came up with a multi-million dollar business idea, but rather I came to the understanding that reading is knowledge and knowledge is a key element in building a successful company. I think that an idea is only good if it is well thought out. What I mean by this is that many ideas may sound brilliant on the surface, but without a deep understanding of its context, it may even be a terrible idea. By reading everything that can, it will enable me to create a knowledge database allowing me to make wiser decisions, create innovative ideas, and efficiently execute my business plan.
The Friendly vs. Unfriendly
Ever since I learned about the convenience of the RSS feeder system, I have been finding it very useful. It allows me to check out a variety of headlines without having to go to the actual website, and it tells me whether or not I have already read the article. However, the only problem with this is the organization of the multiple feeders. For about a week, I have been going through a variety of systems in attempt to determine how I would like them to appear on my computer. At first, I started utilizing Feedreader3, a free desktop system that organizes your feeders, but I found it irritable to use because only a few of the readers would work at a time. So then I quickly switched to www.newsgator.com because it was a little easier to navigate through and consistently updated the feeds. The only aspect I really did not like about this site was the layout—all of the feeders stay cluttered on the left side of the website and if you have a lot of them like I do, it is difficult to get a good over view of all the updated articles. After going through all of this trouble between RSS feeders, I decided to organize the feeds through Mozilla’s bookmarks. Although this was convenient because I could place the feeds in the bookmark toolbar next to my other “favorites”, again, it kept everything cluttered.
However, I was recently introduced to a web-based news feeder that I found very useful from www.netvibes.com; it is by far the best feeder I have come across. It reminded me a lot of my Google homepage where I could place the weather, email, news headlines, calendar, and etc. all on one page. Netvibes is even more user-friendly because of its organized layout and the ability to easily add feeds or other options. By hovering my mouse over each article, I can get a quick preview and if my page gets too full of feeders, I can also add a tab on the homepage. I have now replaced my homepage from Google to Netvibes. With Netvibes, I can scope out all of updates from my favorite news websites and blogs, find weather information, check the calendar, and view my mail.
Criteria for the Best Magazine
Note: Criteria are listed in no particular order
Depth of Coverage
Depth of coverage is important because:
· When reading news regarding business and global issues, it’s important the stories are thorough and cover all the important facts
· Depth can provide the reader with a greater understanding of the information provided
· Depth allows the magazine company to show that its writers are knowledgeable in the related field
· Depth gives the reader the opportunity to find the underlining meaning of the article
Readability / Understandability
- If the reader can’t understand the content of the articles the message or information will be uselessà therefore the magazine would be missing a large part of what would be required of the “Best Business Magazine”
- Readability and understandability are important to the best business magazine because the information must be able to be practically applied by the readerà for this to be possible the reader must be able to read and understand information in the magazine
Width
- The width addresses the variety of content that a magazine covers.
- It is important the best business magazine gives an insight into a number of areas that would directly impact the reader. A great business magazine would include articles in technology, finance, entertainment, business, and world news
- A variety of coverage can help readers in their personal and business lives
Publisher’s Credibility
· Similar to judging an author’s credentials, knowing more about a publishing company can help you understand their potential biases
· Keep in mind that publishing standards vary for each publishing house. XYZ Publishing may print anything that will bring a profit, whereas X University Press may screen all information they publish to ensure the validity of the content, protecting their reputation
· Also who reads the magazine is important—if CEO’s and entrepreneurs are reading the magazine it adds creditability to the publication
Online Presence
· Recent hour by hour updates (stocks, breaking news, etc.)
· Blogs: discussion of articles (commentaries of controversial articles)
· Shortened version of articles (lets you know if you want to read the full version in the magazine)
· Wider content, but not as deep (a large variety of news that the magazine does not provide)
