Strategy-A seven S Model example

Since I was doing 85 C as my final presentation for the Marketing class, I will apply this seven S into this popular chain stores.

Because 85 C is a coffee and bakery shop, the founder absolutely adopts a customer structure since it directly interacts with customers all the time. 85 C introduces five star food (skill) made by five star staff into local market (style) with affordable price (strategy) to attract those people who are pursuing quality food with not much money in the pocket. 85 s does not open for franchise, and it has a central kitchen to produce their product and deliver to the stores to maintain the same quality. (System) The store is built in a high class but friendly structure for all level of people to shop in the store, which is also its superordinate goal-everyone is able to enjoy a cup of high quality coffee and five star food with affordable price.

Operations-Capacity

I heard a Japanese restaurant that is so popular and widespread on the Internet. Last weekend I finally found a time to go visit, and I soon discovered the secret of why it is so popular. The capacity of the restaurant is limited to 8 people!! The waiting line is always long at anytime, sometimes you have to wait for two hours to get a seat to eat. The food does not surprise me much , I can find the same quality in other place for sure.
I guess the capacity of this restaurant plays a little magic here.

There is another example plays the same trick. Two same size of scoop of ice cream are contained in two different size of cup. The scoop of ice cream on a smaller size sells better because it looks bigger than another one. I think the visual effect plays the role here.

Business is all about psychology. So study human thinking and behavior might help on business growth.

Operations-Quality

Couple days ago, I was talking to one of my client who is an owner of a Japanese-Chinese restaurant that sells hand-made noodle and dumpling. According to her, the flour she used to made the products is imported from Japan that costs much higher than the flour we buy locally. So the price is few dollars more than the regular noodle dumpling restaurant. She said many customers ever complained to her that the price is a bit higher compare to other restaurant, however, she believes better quality food worth more.

For many people, things made in Japan means quality, and some people are willing to pay more for that. For some people, instead of going shopping in Wal-mart, they prefer shop in department store. In my opinion, maintaining quality is a strategy for a long term business, there are always "some people" willing to pay more for quality.

Finance

Finance, for me, is all about how to use money. To own a business, money issue always comes first, such as how much capital you need to invest, how much you can earn from it, how much you might loose...So we must take precautions to increase the rewards and decrease the risk.

By reading the book, it says that higher risks are associated with higher returns. For example, opening a small cookie shop obtains only little risk because the cost is low and there is not much unforeseen events, however, the profit might not be high, and earnings might be slow as well. Opening a high class restaurant, for instance, contains higher risk because of more cost and more things that need to be taken care of such as getting alcohol license or having nicer dining environment. The profit is definitely higher than opening a small cookie shop.

But, there is no guarantee which one makes more money than the other, having a good business plan is the key. This is why I am taking MBA program!

How OTHER people will characterize you as leader?

Vision, commitment, Management.

As I see myself, I will put vision > commitment > management. (About 50:30:20)
From other people’s view, probably the vision will still be higher than the other two. Even though I am not experienced, my idea and the way of thinking might be innovative and creative compared to those people who are already working in a fixed mode, and they are not easy to change the way they think.
My management skill will be the weakest one due to the look of me is too young and un-reliable enough as a leader. I will need to working on gaining more experience on both industry and life, so I will be more capable of leading others.

What are the competitors doing

Since I want to open a design firm serve only in local area, my competitor will be local design company. Usually those companies don’t do advertisement on the print media but internet. A lot of time the resource of customer is based on referral in this industry.

Here is my research on design firm in bay area.

Luna Graphica

Their service includes graphic design, web design, and internet marketing which pretty much cover the whole branding. By viewing their website, they have strong portfolio and large client list. I even emailed them and pretended myself as a client who was interested in making a website, just tried to see how they treat their clients and interact with them. Their response was pretty fast, and they follow up pretty often. They also provide free consultation. The whole website make viewer really clear what they are selling which is good. The only thing I don’t like that much is that their website outlook can be designed better.

Dystrick

Dystrick is a design firm that serves from brand identity to print system, which makes customers easier from finding different companies to do different jobs. Their portfolio page requires long loading time, however, the style of presenting their portfolio seems more interesting than Luna Graphica. Overall is okay to me since the website isn’t too attractive besides portfolio page.