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.

Economic

It has been a while not updated my blog..........I know...just been busy...haha, an excuse that everyone always use. I guess been busy is a good thing though, which means the economic is getting better, isn't it? So, let's talk about econoice!

The economy of Asia (52 countries) consists of >4 billion people (about 60% of the whole world population).

The wealth margin of Asia differs widely between countries and this phenomena is due to its vast size, cultures, environments, and government systems and administration.

Japan, China, India, South Korea, Indonesia and Iran is the largest economies in Asia in terms of GDP .

But, in terms of GDP by purchasing power parity (PPP), China is currently the largest economy in Asia and the second largest economy in the world. Japan falled behind China.

East Asian & South East Asian's economic growth rely much on industrial manufacturing and trading.

Middle East depend more on the production of commodities, principally oil, for economic growth.

With the overwhelming rapid economic growth and large trade surplus with the rest of the continent, Asia has accumulated over US$4 trillion of foreign exchange reserves - more than half of the world's total.

From what I see, one thing i am happy about is that I speak Chinese!! YA!!

Organizational behavior

It seems easy to understand how to be a good leader and in what way we can make the organization to be a better one by just reading a book, however, it is totally out of control when it comes to real life sometimes. We all know the theory, but how to make it happen is another story. My boss always told me that working experience is much valuable because a lot of time, a theory doesn't apply to real life. Also, the result may be various depending on cultural diversity.

But reading the book actually give me some ideas of what an organization should pay attention to and focus on to make everyone a better performance.

Marking Strategy 1. Consumer Analysis

I will implement what I have learned from this chapter into my future business plan, which is a web/graphic design studio.

Seven-Part Process of Marketing Strategy

1. Consumer Analysis

2. Market Analysis

3. Review of the competition and Self

4. Review of the Distribution Channels

5. Development of a “Preliminary” Marketing Mix

6. Evaluation of the Economics

7. Revision and Extension of Steps 1-6 until a consistent plan emerges

Consumer Analysis

What is the need category? Who needs us and why?

Every business needs packaging design and a website to promote their product.

Because:

1. Consumers buy a product a lot of time because of its graphic design better than its function.

2. Consumers willing to pay more on a better looking product.

3. Consumers now search the web for business instead of looking through yellow page.

4. Consumers spend more time searching and comparing a product on the Internet before they leave home to buy.

Is the product a high- or low-involvement product?

I will consider doing a graphic/website design a low-involvement product because it is not really necessary to the product, but! I believe it will help the business somehow, at least it helps catching consumer’s attention at the beginning.

Do I intend to segment the market? Why? How?

Geographic - Bay area (locally serve)

Demographic - 35-60 years old, own personal business, Asian business owner

Psychographic- People who exposed to Internet more often, or more aggressive on advertisement.

Behavioral- going to own a business, or a business owner who has no branding system and a website yet.

My ethical challenge

For a start up company, every spending has to be critical.
For myself, who want to own a design studio, using design programs such as Adobe products will be a must. However, every design program would cost more than I can afford.
So, my ethical challenge will be "copyright."

Nowadays, free downloading is readily available along with the Internet penetration. Less and less people buy CD album at the store because they can download the whole album on the Internet for free. I will definitely face the same situation that my design work might be copied once I put it on public.

One hand I want to keep the cost down, another hand I want my work get payed.
How do I make it work? hard hard hard......

Accounting.......so hard

Oh My God!! Accounting is just not my thing...
It is one of the category that I have never thought about getting to know it.
I am just not a huge fan of putting money in order. (not only in money though XD)
For me, it will be a trouble to do all the counting and documenting.
The God gives everyone at least one talent, I guess "Accounting" is not the one I would get.

However, if I want to own a business, accounting is definitely a field that I have to cross.
So, there we go!! Here is what I have learned today:



Main Financial Statement

1. Balance Sheet:

• Assets, liabilities and ownership equity are listed as of a specific date.
• The only statement which applies to a single point in time.
• A formula : Amount of assets = total liabilities + total amount of shareholder's equity.
• To perform a company's operating conditions

2. Income Statement:

• Show the company made or lost money during the period being reported.

3. Cash Flow Statement:

• Displayed in the specified period (usually one month season. Is mainly one-year annual reports) of cash inflows and outflows of financial reports.
• Determine the company's short-term viability, especially the ability to pay bills.

Hoo.........I think it's enough for today!!

My business vision

I always enjoy graphic design and creative drawing. My dream job is to own a graphic design company that will help customers to design their company logo, product catalog, brochure, and business card. This idea can be further applied to different industries, such as restaurant menus and marketing websites.

Creating a good visual attraction is the first step to catch buyer’s attention, so I believe even in an economy down time, this type of business will sustain. With the convenient internet technology nowadays, my graphic designers can be recruited internationally to keep down the cost and they will be contracted on a project base. I will also recruit part time art school students to take a roll in the project since young people are most creative with their designing styles.

Every company will need some type of advertisement on their products whether if it’s a product catalog or a website, so I do see a good potential in this industry.