Customer

Nissan first came to the United States to sell vehicles in 1958 and began importing and making Datsun vehicles in the United States under the Nissan Motor Corporation, U. S. A. (NMC) name in 1960. In 1990, Nissan North America Inc. (NNA) was created to coordinate all of Nissan’s various activities in North America to enhance the design, development, manufacturing and marketing of Nissan vehicles. In 1998, the two organizations merged operations under the Nissan North America, Inc. name.

NNA’s mission is to provide all Nissan and Infiniti employees and dealers with the tools they need for constant improvement and consumer satisfaction. Headquartered in Gardena, California, NNA coordinates all operations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico including automotive styling, consumer, and corporate financing and engineering. Nissan North America, Inc. markets seven vehicle lines through 1,100 dealers in the continental United States through its Fleet Sales operation.

In addition to the all-new Altima, the vehicle lineup includes the Sentra, Maxima, Xterra, Pathfinder, Frontier, and Quest. Synopsis of Cranston Nissan Case Cranston is a city under the Providence County in Rhode Island State. Cranston Nissan is in the business of selling new and used automobiles and providing automobile maintenance services. Cranston Nissan is also the only authorized Nissan body shop in town. Steve Jackson, the General Manager of Cranston Nissan has just received a letter from Sam Monahan, a customer who has experienced a serious breakdown in service.

Highlight of Order of Events

August 28, Mr. Monahan dropped his car off for repair of rust damage in the following areas:  Roof-along the top of the windshield. Left rocker panel-under drivers door. Left quarter panel – near end of bumper. Rear body panel – under license plate. Between August 28 and September 13 Mr. Monahan experienced customer service at its worst. His vehicle went into the shop for body repairs and came out with several different mechanical repairs. Steve Jackson must identify the root causes of the problem and initiate remedial action. Purpose:

The case provides a detailed chronology of service problems encountered by a customer. The information provides the opportunity to:

1. Categorize the service quality problems at a service facility.
2. Discuss the probable causes of the service failures.
3. Demonstrate the use of a cause-and-effect diagram.
4. Speculate on the actions management should take to the situation.

Determine what the company’s long-term goals are. Categorize the service quality problems at service facility:

• Personnel
• Promised to call customer about the status of the job but never did.

Caused customer to take several long trips to dealership to pick up the car without offering a loaner car.  Delivered car to customer with requested bodywork completed but several other mechanical problems created.  No one ever tried to satisfy the customer. Service department required extra time on car as was “time consuming” showing lack of respect for customer . Shops. Fixed requested problems, but then created others. Gave body shop customer low priority in the repair shop.  Could not repair car when promised.

Materials to repair vehicle not identified or ordered in timely manner No coordination between departments.  No one in steps up and accepts responsibility, but rather, many employees are involved with the customer.  Knew a part had to be ordered, yet did not order it.  Lack of coordination between departments. Not in place for calling customer to provide status of work order . Product appearance (Output). Indicates that exterior parts were not replaced properly after job is completed.  Reveals interior parts damaged by personnel.

Discuss the probable causes of the service failures. There are two primary causes for these problems. First, management has lost control of the very thing the company should excel in – customer service. No one is responsible for coordinating problems within two departments. Second, the company lacks a “quality culture”; employees should pride themselves in solving problems for the customer. An example of the lack of a quality culture is the actions of the employee who brought the car with obvious defects to the customer three times.

Another important feature of the principle of McDonaldization is calculability which emphasizes on the quantity of the product rather than quality. Calculability refers to the cost and size of the products as well as the total time required in order to deliver the services to the customer. According to the principle of McDonaldization, quantity and quality are equivalent. This means that the amount of a product and its quick delivery imply that it is good.

From the product point of view, it is has become commonly important for fast food restaurants to pay more attention to the sizes of the products on offer rather than the quality. However, McDonald’s has become increasingly infamous for providing super sized products thereby tricking the customer into believing that they are receiving large quantities of food against a nominal amount of money. This is contrary since the company obtains the best deal as observed in the large profit margins they get (Ritzer, 13).

The McDonaldization feature of calculability impacts both on employees of the corporation and consumers. Most customers have chosen to eat at these restaurants because the calculated amount of time to drive, order and eat at McDonald’s restaurants would be less as compared to grocery outlets and preparing a home based meal. All McDonald’s restaurants are standardized and therefore the time taken by the customer at one McDonald’s restaurant is considered to be similar to the other franchises.

The duties of the employees of this corporation are also quantity based. This is because the standardization of McDonaldization principle does not give room for employees to deliver quality products. It instead focuses on delivering as many quantities of the products as possible in the quickest way possible. This has lead to the feeling by customers that the services offered by McDonald’s are basically average (Ritzer, 14). Predictability This is the third feature of McDonaldization which is based on the uniformity and standardization of the products.

As observed with other features, predictability affects both the employees and the consumers. A customer entering a McDonald’s restaurant in Chicago would expect the taste of the BigMac to be the same as those in Berlin or anywhere across the world. This implies that customers will expect the same standardization all over the world failure to which leads to upsets. The feature of standardization forms the heart of success of the principle of McDonaldization.

This uniformity allows all McDonald’s franchises to offer standardized products across all of its outlets. This ensures that consumer’s get the same product at all times irrespective of the location the product is purchased as well as enabling the company to benefit from huge discounts and economies of scale. The process laid down by the principle of McDonaldization also makes it possible for their jobs to be predictable since employees are trained to carry out their duties in a specific format and thereby reducing the risk of unpredictable conditions.

The course of actions for the employees is preplanned so that they are always aware of what they are required to do. McDonald’s as many other institutions which are customer oriented use scripts which are memorized by the employees. The McDonald’s restaurants create the same experience irrespective of the outlet visited throughout the world. Indeed people always return to McDonald’s because of the predictability and uniformity of their products (Leidner, 82).

The peripheral environment includes of different kinds of aspects out of the company doors that typically onto have much control over. Managing the strengths of internal operations and recognizing potential opportunities and threats outside of company’s operations are keys to business success. Premier Food is one the famous and largest retailer in UK which is primarily renowned for food manufacturing. Premier Food is well managed in its internal and external factors which lead them to progress successfully.

TASK 1 I(a) Purpose of Different types Of Organization Premier Foods Premier Foods produces a range of own-label products across many food categories. Premises major markets are the United Kingdom’s biggest food tillers, wholesalers and convenience stores, and food manufacturers. They have a crystal clear defined plan of merging reflected in the recent addition of the premier product like Ox, Botchers and Homicide. Their expertise passes over in a wide range of food and drink sectors, and reputation of their comprehensive range means that they have an annual group turnover of over IEEE million.

By owning some of the Auk’s most recognized food brands, they additionally manufacture hundreds of products that cater for the food accommodation industry and are introduced to supply retailer branded food product to the Auk’s popular food retailers. Avoidance It is a major international telecommunication corporation with coverage in 29 countries and partnership contact with a further 42 countries including Safari in Kenya. It has almost 75,000 workers in all over the world and in 2014 had more than 295 million clients. In the UK, almost 25 million people are using Avoidance services for communication.

Avoidance’s goal is ‘to be the world’s telecommunication leader and a key element of this is to build a good relationship with the customer by trust and admiration. The company ensures this by taking a relevant step by which they are contending their equines in all over the world. By taking this type of approach they increase its reputation and builds customer loyalty. Its corporate techniques and its Corporate Responsibility (CRY) techniques are internally linked. Avoidance be certain of their long-term retailing achievement emanate from contemning business in an imperishable way. (b) Central economy VS. Market economy In market economy, market prefers mutually beneficial exchange between producer and consumer and system that rely on markets. That means what to produce determined by consumer, how to produce is determined by the reducer and who gets the products depends in the purchasing power of the consumer. On the other hand, in central economy the production of goods and services is undertaken by state-owned enterprises. That means an economic system in which decisions are taken by the government rather than by the interaction between consumers and businesses.

Both this system generally used to prevent economic problem. In market economy the price Of the product is always fluctuating. As a result sometimes it’s very hard to grab the customer in one product. Also there have some opportunity for the producer like a great revenue opportunity. On the basis of the physical and tactical position both premier food and Avoidance can survive on that following economic decision. But as premier food is a food manufacturer, they are very flexible in central economy rather than market economy because the coordination of scarce resources at times of crisis, such as a war or natural disaster.

Free markets also fail at times to allocate resources efficiently, so remedies often involve the allocation of resources by government to compensate for these failures. As for Avoidance, they can survive in both economic systems. 1 (C) Identify Reasons Of stable demand Of rimier food The strategy of Premier food is very simple. They produce safe and reliable food that give the customer satisfaction and produce a great variety of product that gives opportunity to the customer to taste different flavor. That’s why consumer always attracted to the company’s product. Over the last 1 0 years company expand its business globally.

They did an agreement with the Gores group to improve their operational infrastructure and to upgrade their technology. As a result they are now manufacturing more foods effectively and ensuring more safety measure to the food’s safety. Also recently they are selected a telecommunication provider AVOIDANCE to provide integrated communication. So that its gives the company to boost their marketing strategy. So on my perspective; think Company’s customer environment is better than 10 years ago. I(d) Objective of the different Stockholders Premier food is the largest food manufacturing company in ASK.

So they are greatly affected by their stakeholder like customer, employees, government, community, owner etc. The customer of premier is always seeking for safe and reliable product and value for money. The employees of the company ho give their best to make the business successful want job security, job satisfaction. Company must ensure that want to give better service to the consumer. The government manages the economy so company must give them Taxes and ensuring new job opportunities. 1 (E) Responsibilities to the Stakeholders Premier food is maintaining a good relation with the consumer.

As a result they are now able to find out the solution of relevant problem very effectively. Company offers a great Variety of product which give opportunity to the customer to taste different product. Employees are the major element of the company. So company gives them proper satisfaction by paying them properly and ensuring a great job environment. Premier foods audit their financial statement time o time. This will make the government to feel that they are following their rules and regulations. Moreover they are paying taxes properly.

TASK 2 2(a) PESTLE Analysis political UK Government is very much concern about the condition and derivation of the food people eat. They also want to make sure that food is originated in very ethical way, with give attention in the environment, which is generally accepted welfare standards are practiced. As per government policy Premier Food Continued commitment to ELK sourcing such as Hoops bread made from flour 100% garnered in the I-J. Premier Food always maintain a strong food Safety unit to check the food that produced by them. Economic In the world, the United Kingdom has one of the paced increasing food and drink markets.

Only the food and drink category achieves sales and paramount magnification areas lie in value integrated products I. E. Ready foods or Non-European prescription. Premier foods presumed that the UK cuisine market is extremely competitive, ‘inductively authorizing consistent product origin and dependable supplier whilst finding more competitive racing and innovative incipient products’. On that purpose Premier Foods make an agreement with an private investment firm named Gores Group trading as Hoops Ltd that help them to introduce new technology to smooth transition.

Social Over the year premier Foods made further significant progress in their four major Corporate Social Responsibility (CARS) sector of retail place, Environment, Workplace and Community involvement. They also gives bolster to local charitable party in a regular period and motivates their workers to organize various activity and grow money to support in the good causes near o where they work such as Employees raised a fantastic IEEE,OHO for corporate charity partner ‘Cancer Research KICK’. Technological To build new technology, Premier foods make an agreement with the Gores Group that help them to smooth Transition.

Legal Premier foods operate in an industry where it is very difficult to have a product that is different to its competitors, when they do release a product with an innovative capability it is vital to protect the rights to it through patents, copyright, trademarks or design to ensure they are not “stolen” by their competitors. Not only are competitors a threat of intellectual, but Premier food must ensure they do not fall victim to counterfeiters. Environmental The company started to give five star environmental awards to their entire production site in 2009 in order to maintaining the environment from any kind of disaster.

The scheme is a benchmark ascertaining ‘energy utilization, waste, dehydrogenate monoxide utilization and carbon dioxide emissions are meticulously monitored. They also use unfriendly machine and work environment which has a adverse effect on polluting environment. They always try to maintain CEO friendly Environment. 2(B) How following factors Effect premier Foods Unemployment Rate: unemployment denotes being fired from the firm or corporation or positions where the people want to work in affirm or company but retain none. Unemployment is one of the most paramount macroeconomic be speaker to quantify the efficiency of an economy.

If one person fired from his job then one person is less from the economy who will not pay state and federal income taxes, one fewer individual who will not able to pay additional retail tax income as a work less worker will fixating on curtail on their dispensable additional spending due to less expandable income and very much worried bout further economical security. As a food manufacturer, it will effect on their selling. ICP inflation For the day to day consumer, it means prices for things go up. But, if the ICP is rising quicker than people average wages, then the consumer’s purchasing power declines.

They can’t buy as much as whatever it is as they did in the past. So it has great effect on Premier Foods. Interest Rate Interest rates are a quotidian element of business.. Companies focus exuberance on money they scrounge, and when they have adventitious money, they apprehend ebullience when they ascertain that cash in a secure investment. Companies additionally complaint enthusiasm when the company’s consumers purchase goods and accommodations on credit. A elevates or reduction in enthusiasms returns have a great effect on this business performance as well as the purchasing style of the company’s consumers.

As premier food is a very big manufacturing organization so they also need to get loan from the financial institution. As a result this factor has a great impact on the Premier food. Exchange rates Exchange rate is an important tool in international trade. Without this, it is not possible to trade. If the Premier’s goods become expensive in other countries cause of international trade then those foreigners will not purchase those goods. RIP Inflation: Retail price index measures the change in the cost of a basket of retail goods and services.

So if the index shows high rate then it will create great effect on company’s price of the product. If the price of the product increases then the customer may not give attraction to the product. So it’s necessary to control the RIP inflation. 2(C) Indication of social and cultural factors affecting consumers which lie behind Premier Foods Premier Foods have 30 food manufacturing sites, 12 distribution depots and flour mills across the United Kingdom, working almost 19,000 people. Many of their production areas have a long past with a intense relationship with their local neighborhood.

For example, Ambrosia has been making popular dairy-based products, at the same site in Devon, since it was established in 1917. The Creamery began with only a dozen Staff and now employs 270 local people; over its 93 year history, generations of families have worked at the production areas. Each of their sites has a neighborhood winner who along with their working partner determines which local charities and movements o get presuppose with and support. In December 201 1, the agreement with CRUD, a charitable organization is come to end.

The partnership with CRUD is recognized in a great accomplishment, the company’s entire worker did a hard work and activities for CRUD so much, and as consequence of the employee’s activities they raised IEEE,OHO against an initial target to raise IEEE,OHO. At the end of 2010, they again asked all their employees to nominate their preferred charity partner for 2011 and 2012. The charity with most votes was “Help for Heroes”. Although company Specialized with various mind of brands like OX, Quern , Hoops, Botchers and Brannon Pickle which make them power brand of the country.

For that following reasons Premier foods now recognized as both power and support Brands. 2(D) Choosing the Right Strategy Premier Foods now established as UK leading food manufacturer, specializing in many consumer brand product like OX, Quern, Hoops, Botchers and Brannon Pickle. It is predicted that 99% of UK population buy at least one premier product in each year. Their employee’s efficiency and management skill and adopting new technology increases the production, its quality and ells. In recent strategy change they linked with Avoidance which help to boost in their marketing support.

So in this prospect they have to expand their business in different European country. As a result they can use different environmental advantage to boost their production and cutting marginal cost. So on my perspective; they need to concentrate on expansion. Task 3 3(a) Significance of International Trade International trade is mutually beneficial for two countries. It is important for the I-J so that it can maintain its economics strengths and improve in an increasingly competitive global economy. There are many important elements that are important about international trade, economic strengths and global markets.

Without international trade business would not be as profitable and economies would suffer. If UK leaves IF, then it will create a great impact on economy. If UK based company had to only retail and trade their manufacturing item internally, never retailing or presuming their items to customer in another marketplace or countries, the government of the country would completely restricted Its percept. They may earn a steady trade from UK customer, but they wouldn’t be prosperous to increment as much as if the many retailed with ten other countries realtor. Additionally it withal engender a disadvantage for the company.

EX. is a free traded area where products are able to move independently with no border maintenance and no import VAT and obligations. On the other hand, Business like premier Food has to give additional cost for import goods or raw material. So, it will be a bad news for Premier Food. 3(b) Impact of global factor in UK business Premier food and Avoidance, both have face loss if UK leaves EX.. They have to cost more money than before to continue their business in EX.. They are not blew to do their activities independently with no border maintenance and no import VAT and obligation in all EX. country.

Avoidance is more lose than Premier Food because they spread their business in most of the EX. country. For this decision they have pay more money and as a result it will create a great impact on their consumer mobile billing system which is not so good for the company. 3(C) Impact of EX. policy in LIKE UK economy is greatly influenced by the ELI membership in a number of ways. One of the most important effects rise through the Single Market, the element of economic integration through which the Else’s ‘four freedoms’ are established. EX. has a great combination in their policy which affects the other policy too.

The EX. maintain a great relationship with other countries outside the community to negotiate retail and to make investment and the competence is a man made community with a general peripheral tax on imported products. This relationship thus contributes a deep affects the Auk’s trade relations with non-E members. An expanded EX. creates new markets for the UK exports. It allows the I-J firms to enjoy the benefits of economies of scale and so gain from trade. New markets for UK exports and increased intention from new member’s countries should increase dynamic efficiency.

The UK firms like Avoidance and Premier food in the traded goods and service sectors will be forced to improve their competitiveness. The UK will have a good trade relation with other countries. There will be a trade creation. Conclusion From the above observations premier Food have to monitor some important issue. Premier food is a Food manufacturing company beside that is a listed company in the London Stock Exchange. They started from a small scale but now reached the global arena. They should be more attentive to meet the objectives of its stakeholders.

It is a food based organisation and the heart of our business is coffee where you can find some quality food as well. Its basically designed for all types of customers such as people who doing shopping can come with family and have a coffee for relaxation, business people, passing through people etc. Below you can find the vision, mission and value statement of the organisation and brief description about the organisation structure and its functions vision statement. Our commitment to society is nothing new.

We’ve always known that as well as providing the best brand of the coffee in the world, a sustainable retail business needs the support of healthy communities and a high quality environment. Since the 1972s, Costa coffee has been actively involved in improving the quality of life for a wide range of communities. We’ve always tried to make an active contribution to the needs of our stakeholders, whether as customers, employees, investors, suppliers, partners or neighbours.

Entering the 21st century our commitment remains as strong as ever, but the world is keep changing. Business is becoming global, society more diverse and our business is under greater competition than at any time before. Companies have to consider how their actions impact on an increasingly connected set of issues. our aim to serve the most satisfied cup of coffee for every single penny that our customer spent wherever we trade, by demonstrating a clear sense of customer service and consistency in our brand standard.

To be unique brand in the market for the coffee and satisfy 1 million customers every year. We always value our customers so we always ensure to provide better value for the money every single customer spend. Stakeholders are those who have a concern in the organisation they can be share holders, managers, employees, suppliers, customers, government and brand owner.

According to the size and structure of the business we need 7-9 staffs including the manager. To understand the structure very easily I have done as following. Indeed it is hard to define the leader ship effectively. Leadership is having the ability to give guidance to those that will follow. The design, creation, and management of the group actions that direct the combined efforts of individuals in the group and their resources to achieve a goal or accomplish a mission.

It is used everywhere in many ways. A leader is not only used in the business world, but also in education, clubs, sports, volunteer work, government, and even in your own home. I think it is wrong to say that there is one best style of leadership which can be applied in conjunction with all subordinates, because the style of leadership used by leaders/managers should be depend upon the type of staff within a company and situations. Different situations require different approaches and skills.

Abstract

Any business requires proper planning in order to have a clear goal.  A plan is like a blueprint of a house that defines the procedures of action. Without proper planning, any business will incur too much cost and time will be wasted. A plan starts with a mission and vision statement that identifies the goal of the business. It is different from a marketing statement. A marketing statement is a statement that identifies the strategy of the business to accomplish the mission.

If a business wants to introduce itself to the market, its marketing statement should be interesting enough to be remembered. It should not address how “fantastic” the business is, but about “what’s in it for them?” As one author said, “When you have the interest and attention of potential customers make sure you have something that you can give them or send them as a follow up.” (McConnell, I. 2006).

Business Plan Question

Discuss what you think is good, wrong or lacking with the following statements excerpted from business plans. These marketing and competitive strategy statements were excerpted from previous students’ business plans. (These are not mission statements)

1. “We will offer the highest quality products at the lowest price with the best service in the Seattle area.”  Answer:  The good part of this statement is that it gives the best qualities of the business, but this statement is too superficial of its best features and it doesn’t address “what’s really in it for the customer,” which is what’s wrong with this statement.  What’s lacking in this statement is the strategy of the business.  A suggestion: omit the statement “with the best service in the Seattle area.”  Replace it with a statement that gives the business a broader, global possibility to expand.
2.  “ABC’s customer service will be professional, prompt, efficient, and accurate every time we interact with anyone over the phone or in person. We will meet and exceed customers’ needs and expectations of price, service, and expertise.” Answer: The good part of this statement is its second statement; however, how will it meet and exceed expectations of customers?  Is it just the “customer service” of the business that makes the business?  The first statement needs to be omitted because it is given that all businesses offer professional, prompt and efficient service.  The statement didn’t need to describe the way it is operated like “phone or in person.”  The strategy lacks here plus “what’s in it for the customer.”
3.  “XYZ will enable customers to perform their core missions with maximum operability while achieving good environmental stewardship and sustainability.” Answer: The first phrase, “enable customers to perform their core missions,” hits a little bit of “what’s in it for the customer,” however, the second phrase, “with maximum operability” is too broad and the words used are too complicated.  The last phrase made it more complicated which is what’s wrong with the statement.  It lacks the exact strategy to achieve the first phrase to complete the statement.
4. “ABC will provide the fastest, friendliest service in the most convenient manner for our customers.” Answer: The good part of this statement is that it describes the fast and friendly service that any customer would expect from a business; however, the phrase, “most convenient manner” is redundant.  It doesn’t exactly describe “how” the business will make it convenient for the customers.  The statement also lacks “what’s in it for the customer.”  Fast and friendly service is given that all businesses should have that, but how is it going to make the customers go back to get their service again?
5.  “CCC’s products follow all the latest trends in fashion t-shirts that will attract the professional dresser, casual dresser, and customers who prefer the latest trendy t-shirt styles” Answer: The good part of the statement is that it tells that it focuses on the latest trends in fashion for the target market; however, the statement had to mention the different categories of dressers, which made the statement redundant. It is suggested to omit professional and casual dresser and just continue with the word “customers.”  It didn’t answer the question on how it will attract the customers and what’s lacking in this statement is “what’s really in it for the customer?”  The business may offer the latest trends like all new fashion stores do, but what will make the customer go back and buy again?
6.  “AAA will take its place in the community as the number one rated customer service orientated computer sales store and computer maintenance service provider.” Answer: The good part of this statement is that it describes what the business is all about; however, the statement is too superficial and business – centric.  A suggestion:  Revise the entire statement and focus on what’s in it for the customer and the strategy to achieve customer satisfaction rather than focus on the business itself.

 What did you learn from this exercise? (Be specific) Among these marketing statements given by other proposals, creating a business plan and a good marketing statement/strategy indeed helped me in identifying a product’s purpose.  A product isn’t just made merely to earn a profit.  A product has value; its quality and name gives it its competitive edge in the industry.  Studying the business proposal I made, I chose the garment industry and my product is a line of high-end swimwear for women.  The name of my product line is Blue Luxury Swimwear.

The mission statement started with “Blue Luxury clients are successful women who surf on the crest of the trend wave.”  This clearly identified the target market.  I chose the upper class of the elite group of women because the investment will be worth it.  Women in this group buy clothes at a very pricey figure because they “want people to know it.”  A comparative study was done on a few high-end swimwear brands.  Most of them only display up to four designs and leave the customers with no choice but the ones displayed, and the designs are exactly the same.

Customers are stuck with no other option that’s why they sometimes hop to another clothing store that offers more “variety.”  The designs of Blue Luxury swimwear look more appealing than other swimwear brands available in the market.  There is also a feature of the swimwear called the “hidden pocket,” which no other swimwear brands have yet.  This “hidden pocket” is a “water-resistant coating and is perfect for protecting money, business cards, and photos from getting wet.”  It will lead the designs of Blue Luxury more interesting.   The main operation strategy to market Blue Luxury Swimwear is to put up exclusive stores in “select city” outlets that are high-end.  There are only a few high-end stores so the other strategy will be through “special order.”

The management team will consist of dedicated fashion designers, who, by their characters alone, have very discriminating and elite tastes.  They can effectively market the brand because of their credible sense of fashion. The best marketing statement for this high-end line of swimwear thus can be: “Blue Luxury Swimwear makes a woman feel she is very rich and very attractive even when wet.”

References

1. McConnell, I. (2006, November 7). How to Create a Memorable and Interesting Marketing
2. Statement. Retrieved May 29, 2008, from http://ezinearticles.com/?How- To- CreateA- Memorable- And- Interesting- Marketing- Statement;id=350958
3.  Yi-Fang, C. Business Plan Proposal. Document sent May 29, 2008.

With the growing need and demand for house cleaning products, what the consumers did not notice was the harm that was being caused to the environment and the human life. The environment was harmed due to the toxic raw materials that were being used in the products as well as the process of testing these products on animals.

Animal testing has been a major issue for the past fifteen years and there are still some who support it. The human life was affected by the fumes which were generated through the products when they kept at home and the children would always be watched for not going too close to the products.

After reviewing a normal routine of a house wife, I realized that the use of such products was large and that there must be a solution for the increasing environmental and human life hazards that were being introduced. The best option that I had was to develop a solution for these threats.

The basic idea of my company was to develop a health and environment friendly portfolio of house cleaning products that would develop the understanding and importance for caring for the environment and health. I did not believe in competing against price because I knew that my product was of prestige and of quality which is what the other competitors did not think of or match.

Since I initiated this new product line, the first mover advantage paid off in large amounts, from which my belief for this company grew even further. I then decided to continue growing the company with various products required in the daily chores, as long as they were made of environment and health friendly raw materials.

Ethical issues involved

When I started this company I knew that the image that I had created for the company was premium based, meaning that I would paid for the quality and the concept that I was carrying. I had gained brand equity within the first few years of operations and this allowed me to grow upon my own image further.

I promised the consumers that there would be no hazardous material introduction into the products sold by me. This was the ethical ground I stood on for several years till I reached a point where I had to make a decision between being ethical and earning at the same level as before, or I had the option of being unethical for a certain product development and earn big profits.

Parties affected

If I were to decide whether to continue with the processing of the cleaning cloth, I would put my brand equity at stake because what I would have to balance and check is whether the introduction of my new product is more important or less important than my brand equity which I had developed and gained in years.

Let us not forget that brand equity is not built over night and neither is the confidence that the customers have in you. This is an elaborate process which allows the customers to first use the product and then feel comfortable with it. Once the customer is comfortable with the product then he / she would use the word of mouth in order to market the product.

The word of mouth has been a renowned and most powerful marketing tool for any company because it is the customer who would have the power and convince the other customers’ buying preferences more than the traditional way of marketing through advertisements and discounts.

If the customer is happy with the product then there is a guarantee that another customer would be told about the product. And it is human intuition that if one knows about a certain product from a friend, there would be a moment where the individual would certainly agree to try it out once.

Another party that would be affected by the decision would be the stakeholders who would be evaluating the performance of the company. As the company has been doing well, the stakeholders would have built a strong confidence and trust within the company and me to continue to grow at the same pace.

The stakeholders are an integral part of the company because here I am running a sole proprietorship where I receive all the revenue, but rather I am a part of a corporation that appoints me the responsibility of increasing each shareholder’s value to an optimal level. And in order to fulfill that responsibility, I need to innovate and grow at a continuous rate.

If I were to take the decision of creating the cleaning cloth from an unfriendly material, there is a chance that the stakeholders would give up on me and would lose their trust and confidence in the decisions are made. This would be the impact from their own personal perspective when they analyze the ethical standards and values.

However, if the revenue and sales of the company was to drop after the introduction of the cleaning cloth, there is a chance that the brand equity of the company would fall drastically, causing the shareholder value to decrease in the same manner. So the stakeholders would be impacted both mentally as well as financially.

My character and integrity

Considering the input of my character and integrity for this decision, I would surely have to say that I have not certainly not been in such a situation before where my ethical values would have been tested to the extent where I would need to decide between introducing a certain product into the product line or not.

If I were to analyze this situation, I would have to way the benefit from introducing this product to the values and beliefs that I have inbuilt in me. I may have the devotion of introducing new products to the company; however, I am not an individual who would make decisions solely on the revenue being generated.

When I enter a company and work for it, I whole heartedly and solely take responsibility for all the actions that are being taken in it because the company is an entity that I must monitor and evaluate at all times. I must always show my true potential to the stakeholders and this is why I was appointed as a chief executive officer.

Potential actions to be taken

Purely, the first decision that must come to mind is to scrap the plan to include a cleaning cloth into the product line because the generation of revenue is less important than the trust and the confidence that the customers and the stakeholders have in built into the company as well as to maintain the mission of the company.

A possible action that could be taken is to conduct a research study in order to analyze and screen the corn plant feedstock for genetically modified organisms. This would allow the company to better understand the environmental or health hazards involved with the process materials and how the process can be re-engineered.

Another basic but heavy investment can be made into ones own corn plant farm where the company can monitor the farm. This action would certainly take a lot of time, however, if the cleaning cloth was to be introduced by me in any case at some point in time, now was the time to start the research study and develop my very own farm.

My second source will be an investigation into the entrepreneur Thomas Pellereau, the recent winner of the reality TV show ‘The Apprentice’. As the winner, he was offered a 50:50 partnership deal to go into business with Lord Sugar, who would provide an initial investment of £250,000. But before setting up this business with Lord Sugar, he has been through an arduous process to prove his entrepreneurial capability. So what entrepreneurial skills has Tom demonstrated?

Tom Pellereau is an innovator (not an inventor). The difference between innovation and invention is slight but significant. Invention is the discovery of a completely new idea (for example, designing the first TV would be an invention) while innovation is the improvement or transformation of an existing idea (like plasma screen TVs). In practice, this means that Tom discovers flaws in some existing products and redesigns them to make the product better, before bringing the new product to market. An effective innovation can be as profitable as an invention, because if an innovation is significantly better than the previous version of the product, the previous product may be phased out and the innovation can ‘steal’ a large portion of the original market (LCD and Plasma TVs have almost completely replaced cathode ray tube TVs).

However, Tom’s products have often failed to hit the mark. Some of them were branded as ‘failures’, which was disappointing for Tom to say the least. There are also risks associated with innovations, as sometimes they may just not be popular. However, Tom still drove onwards, motivated by his passion for innovation, and eventually succeeded. His determination throughout his innovating career has been essential to his success. Had he given up earlier, he would not be in the position he is today. In Tom’s case, drive/determination was an essential skill.

Innovation is a skill that stems from creativity, the ability to create new ideas. Creative ideas and innovations may appear in a ‘flash of inspiration’, often after the innovator has used and found a fault in an already marketed product and tried to fix it with their own innovation. Tom’s creative flair allowed him to conceive many new innovations which were very popular when brought to market: an improved and product has a competitive advantage over its rival products.

For example, Tom’s ‘Stylfile’ product, a nail file, was created by his innovation. Instead of the traditional flat edge of a nail file, he innovated and came up with a curved nail file, to suit the shape of the nail. This gives it a competitive advantage over other nail files, because it performs better. Creative, innovative ideas, such as these created by Tom, are much more likely to succeed in a competitive market than a product which is just the same as all the other rival products. Tom claims that he ‘finds gaps in the market and finds products for those gaps’. [3]

Tom’s creativity really shone in ‘The Apprentice’, where he was continually praised for his ability to come up with new ideas. For example, he came up with the BixMix biscuit idea, of two biscuits mixed together and chocolate on one half of the biscuit. It was a novel and innovative concept, failed only by the team’s inability to create a good taste. However, it was a clear show of Tom’s innovative capability. He also objected when the idea of ‘Every Dog’ was suggested, as the target market was too general and there was no USP/competitive advantage. He was later proved right when the product was rejected.

After Tom was selected to participate in the final, he came up with yet another creative idea for his potential partnership with Lord Sugar. This time, he came up with office chairs, which could help relieve back pain. While this was a concept which had already been thought of, Tom’s product took it one step further, by being able to detect whether the user may suffer from back pain in the future. This additional function helps prevent back pain and could be an innovative edge over other, similar products.

It is clear that Tom’s main entrepreneurial attribute is creativity. All ideas stem from creativity, and ideas and innovations are essential for business. In Tom’s case, without his creativity, he would not have been an entrepreneur, as his innovations have dominated his whole entrepreneurial career. The other major skill which Tom has shown is drive/determination. He has continued to innovate and create even through difficulties and failures, which is an admirable quality. It shows that he is prepared to learn from mistakes and try again and again until he succeeds.

I have attempted to contact Tom with a questionnaire but have received no reply thus far. My third source will be an internet source (study entitled ‘Entrepreneurial creativity and innovation’). [4] This study emphasizes the importance of creativity and innovation as a part of enterprise, and therefore also for starting and running a business. In the study, the author recognizes that creativity and innovation are ‘central to the entrepreneurial process’. The study investigated into small enterprises and asked them questions to collect primary data. Here are some of the results:

1. Notably, out of the thirteen owners of small enterprises who took part in the first phase of this study, only one said that his business offered more of the same, and even the individual in question said that he was ‘always trying to design new products … always trying to create something new’. This suggests that creative ideas and innovations are very important to small enterprises, because they need to have a competitive advantage over their rivals.

2. Another entrepreneur remarked: ‘Having new ideas is very important, if you’re going to be like everyone else, you’re just going to fall in with the rest of the crowd’. This is very true, because in the competitive world of business, rival businesses will be splitting the customers, resulting in lower numbers of customers and less profit, or even a loss. New ideas can be developed, and if viable, can be a valuable competitive advantage that makes your business stand out from the rest. 3. In addition to the qualitative data from the first phase of the survey, there was also quantitative data from the second phase. 89.5% of entrepreneurs surveyed said that new goods or services that they launched were generally successful (see chart below):

Clearly, new, innovative products or services have an excellent success rate (nearly 9 out of 10). This indicates that an USP or competitive advantage is very important, because the product or service will either have a totally new edge which is likely to attract customers, or be able to perform better than its competitors. Hence, these new goods or services are generally quite successful. My fourth source is an investigation into Apple. Apple is now one of the biggest electronics companies in the world, selling a range of products from the iPhone to the iPad. Many of these products are innovations, which have revolutionised the electronics world.

Steve Jobs and Apple have shown great creativity in designing their products. For example, the iPod is a multifunction device, mixing many things that were already available. It was not a new invention, because all of its functions were available before its arrival. Yet it was a massive success, because it was innovative, putting many of the tools that a consumer needs into one device, and bringing it into market. Their research groups found out what people needed, and presented it in their own, unique product. This creativity, the actual creation of the idea, was the root of the greatly successful iPod. But Apple have not just relied on this one product. They have also innovated many other products.

Perhaps even more notably, the iPad is a total innovation of the tablet computer industry. Before the iPad, despite the technology having been invented, no company had been able to take advantage of it. Apple saw the opportunity and pounced on it, carefully designing the tablet so it would be pleasant to use and capable, unlike the predecessors in this industry. They succeeded and made a massive profit, tapping into the full profits of an almost untouched industry. Apple is arguably the most creative and innovative company in the electronics industry. Apple continue to innovate their products to be unique for customers, which is why they attract so many customers.