Category Archives: MBA

MBA

1977 Apple Marketing Philosophy

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In 1977 Mark Markkula wrote a one page marketing and strategy position statement for Apple Computers. It was written as part of the company incorporation on January 3, 1977.

Apple was less than a year old and had only released the hobbyist Apple I. It was yet to really make an impact. Mark Markkula wrote:

The Apple Marketing Philosophy

1. Empathy

We will truly understand their needs better than any other company.

2. Focus

In order to do a good job of those things we decide to do we must eliminate all other unimportant opportunities.

3. Impute

People DO judge a book by its cover. We may have the best product, the highest quality, the most useful software etc.; if we present them in a slipshod manner, they will be percieved as slipshod; if we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities.

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8 Factors of Low Price Sensitivity

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How sensitive to price are your customers? Should you make that price cut to keep up with new entrants to the market?

Whilst this is obviously a complex issue, there are a number of factors to search for in your customer base that may indicate they are less worried about the price of your goods or service than you think:

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Vinomofo: Marketing Ownership Change

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When a successful startup gets bought out how can you go about marketing ownership change so that the “sellout” label is avoided? By embracing it Vinomofo style!

Vinomofo, a daily wine deals startup from Adelaide was in this situation recently. They were bought out by a larger fish, Catchoftheday (COTD). It’s a great success story, something the founders can be very proud of. To give some context, I have taken some quotes from an AFR article that helps paint the scene:

They started out five years ago, driving a van around South Australia’s wine regions and filming their tasting experiences. That led to an award-winning online forum, qwoff.

They needed to come up with an idea to commercialise their work, and a wine daily deals concept was born:

When Mr Dry, 34, came up with the idea of an online daily deals site in early 2011, Mr Eikmeier was initially doubtful. Continue reading →

Understanding Business Opportunity Porters 5 Forces

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MBA Schools love to educate us on various tools of thought or approach but over time many are proven wrong, not-quite-right, or just another management fad.

One that looks like it may go the distance, equally at home applied to existing businesses or new ventures – Porter’s 5 Forces.

Understanding Business Opportunity Porter’s 5 Forces

Porters 5 Forces model breaks down the attractiveness of a market to five categories- threat of new competition, threat of substitute products or services, bargaining power of customers, bargaining power of suppliers and intensity of competitive rivalry.

The following diagram illustrates it best:

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Alternatives to Maslow: Max-Neef

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Alternatives to Maslow: Max-Neef

As discussed in an earlier blog post, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has been getting a bad rap. The categories of Maslow’s are great, but the use of the pyramid seems questionable.

This line of thought, and a recent marketing assignment, had me wondering – if Maslows is faulty, what else could I reference when explaining possible needs of the consumer?

Enter Max-Neef’s theory of Fundamental Human Needs. According to wikipedia Max-Neef classifies the fundamental human needs as:

  • subsistence
  • protection
  • affection
  • understanding
  • participation
  • leisure
  • creation
  • identity
  • freedom

Kathy McMahon from blog peak oil blues has written a great post on Maslow’s and Max-Neef, if you have ten minutes to spare, check it out.

 

Company Orientation Towards the Marketplace

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Businesses orientate themselves to the marketplace in different ways. The theory of company orientation towards the marketplace categorises businesses into one of five main orientations – production, product, selling, marketing and holistic marketing.

The production concept focuses on production efficiency, low cost and mass distribution. It is based on the assumption that consumers prefer products that are cheap and easy to obtain. Companies pursuing this strategy are effectively stating they can deliver their product to the end customer quicker and cheaper than their rivals.

At odds with the production concept is the product concept. The founding belief of this concept is that consumers prefer higher quality products that are innovative, more effective, or more styled than their cheap and easy to obtain counterparts. The assumption of this concept is that customers are able to detect and appreciate the higher quality.

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Maslows Hierarchy Of Needs

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Maslows Hierarchy Of Needs is a very widely used MBA and marketing model. What is it, why is it contentious, and should you use it?

In 1943 Abraham Maslow came up with the theory that is commonly referred to as ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’. Maslow believed that we have five main categories of needs:

  • Physiological
  • Safety
  • Belongingness & Love
  • Esteem
  • Self-Actualization

It’s widely used, not just in marketing. In the marketing context it is used to help think on how the companies product or service meets these (usually) non-stated needs. By meeting the holistic needs of the consumer, the product will be more meaningful to them, and in turn, have greater success.

The following diagram summaries the theory:

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Marketing is not the Sales Back Office

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From a technical background, I never really understood what marketing was. I think a lot of people think of marketing as the sales back office, those in sales who prefer to stay in the office, the ones that organise the brochures and events, and think on how a product can be dressed up to sell more. Studying marketing management has made me realise that a marketing department is so much more.

Sales is only a small facet of a marketing departments concern. I believe a great marketing department will ask (and prove) things like:

Who are the customers?

What problem are we solving for them?

What is the essence of our value proposition?

Marketing should be less about putting dressing on the product and more about understanding and improving the essence of what the product does for the end user. A key benefit of this way of thinking is that it opens the mind to considering other opportunities to deliver similar customer value and lessens reliance on a particular product. We see this now, with electricity companies, rebranding themselves as energy companies, or how apple has successfully repositioned from computers to encompassing “your whole digital life”.

The product or service you provide will be disrupted at some point, and this reframing will help prevent such an event from being a business disaster. Maybe even it will be your company doing the disruption.

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