Week 3 EOC: Making Money For Good

EMD Serano, a biopharmaceutical division, raises $150,000 for multiple sclerosis research. Sclerosis is debilitating disease in which your body's immune system eats away at the protective sheath that covers your nerves. Which then messes up the communication between your brain and the rest of your body? With the help of one-hundred fifty plus employees, EMD made a one-hundred fifty mile trek from Marina Bay in Quincy to Provincetown on Cape Cod along with two thousand other riders. Boston Celtics center forward Brian Scalabrine also worked with EMD to get the research they need for those who have MS, which is a very low key disease with little help to the majority who have it. The event raised $1.5 million for multiple sclerosis research. Making money for a good cause, is what the world is lacking in, but there are those few who do take a stand and get the word of mouth out there and with action.

Week 3 EOC: Internet Privacy vs. Market Research

        When it comes to one’s privacy when surfing the net, you most likely believe no one is keeping track of you, right. Wrong, according to Market research.com, internet search engines such as Google, MSN, AOL, and Yahoo know what you are up to online. Creepy indeed, personally I find this to be a way of getting the different demographics. If I were to work in any sort of marketing field, this would be a convenient way to get the research I would need to have successful target marketing for advertising. If "you were in the Gap, and the sales associate said to you, 'OK, from now on, since you shopped here today, we are going to follow you around the mall and view your consumer transactions,' no person would ever agree to that," Sen. George Lemieux, R-Florida, said this week in a Senate hearing on Internet privacy.(WallStreetJournal.com) Mr. Redgrave said the service now analyzes text “hundreds of millions of times per day.“We can understand the specific things [Web users] are talking about. We can understand exactly how they feel about those things,” he said.(http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/07/30/analyzing-what-you-have-typed/).“Social media is an amazing opportunity,” Mr. Redgrave said. “For the first time in marketing history we have hundreds of millions of people online telling us what they like, what they hate and what they’re going to do before they do it … That’s extremely valuable data.”(http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/07/30/analyzing-what-you-have-typed). I personally have no problem with the whole privacy scandal, yet. But until companies have not got into my personal emails, blogs, etc. Then I will be behind them all the way.

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

       The Boston Consulting Group is based all upon star, cash cow, question marks, and dog. The star, which is a high growth product, would be the Nintendo Wii. “Today's revision suggests that the roaring pace of Wii growth that we've seen until now may be over," said in a report in the Times."The numbers also imply that we are going to see a sudden collapse in the fourth quarter from record margins to some of the thinnest margins Nintendo has experienced for three years. (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=207059?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=CVG-General-RSS). The cash cow, which is less invested in, but very heavy cash produced product, would be the PS3. "This will drive PS3's unit sales," said Hirokazu Hamamura, president of Japanese game magazine publisher Enterbrain. "It is still more expensive than its rivals, but the revision has put the machine within the allowable range of game machine prices."(http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2006-09-22-ps3-price-lowered_x.htm).The question mark would be any iPod/iPad touch products from apple. “While the iPod touch in November accounted just 0.05 percent of all the use on the tens of thousands of websites tracked by stats firm Net Applications, its use has seen steady gains that put the touch screen Wi-Fi device at 0.15 percent -- still small, but a threefold increase in its footprint in less than half a year.” (http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/0//ipod_touch_web_share_triples_as_windows_reaches_new_low.html). Surprisingly the apple products still have a bit more of catching up to due in the market of video games consoles, but it is not too bad. The dog, which may not have large sources of cash, would be PC games. “The right way to gauge the success of consumer PCs is no longer the adoption rate of households with PCs, or even the number of PCs per household, but rather the number of machines per individual," according to Bob O'Donnell, vice president of Clients and Displays for IDC.”(http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10037754-92.html).

Week 1 EOC: Excellent Customer Service

Luckily I have had many great customer service experiences. But the one experience that truly stands out the most would have to be my shopping experience at Old Navy. About a year or so ago I went in to Old Navy, by my house, to buy outfits for the upcoming season. The store had about four to five customers inside; it was a pretty slow day. I walk in and this associate named Vikki, greets me and right away asks me if there’s anything she could direct or help me with. I said what I was interested in buying and she pulled out different styles and colors in my size and had a fitting room ready for me in a matter of ten minutes. I’ve been a customer for Old Navy for awhile now and I do know that they don’t hire or label any associate as a stylist. Vikki was very helpful and when I wanted something they didn’t have in the color I wanted she offered to call other stores and that it would be shipped to my house if I didn’t want to come back and pick it up. I spent three hours in the store that day and purchased over three hundred dollars, but Vikki gave me a forty percent discount for my entire purchase. I was satisfied so much with her assistance I offered to talk to her manager and let him know what a great employee they had. Sure enough she’s now the district manager for the Las Vegas Old Navies.” When dealing with customers, Zappos employees must check their egos and competitiveness at the door. Customer-service reps are trained to look on at least three rival Web sites if a shopper asks for specific shoes that Zappos doesn’t have in stock and refer customers accordingly. “My guess is that other companies don’t do that,” Hsieh says. “For us, we’re willing to lose that sale, that transaction in the short term. We’re focused on building the lifelong loyalty and relationship with the customer.”(Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, 10th Edition, Page 2).

Week 1 EOC: My Voice

       Most people always feel as everyone in the fashion world are designers of some sort. Funny thing is that not many people understand that the fashion industry has much more to offer then just designing garments to be displayed down a runway by the so called, “pretty people”. The industry has buyers, visual merchandisers, retail managers, business owners, etc. My personal interest for this profession started at a fairly young age and has stuck with me for quite some time now. The phrase “Passion for fashion” has got to be one of the most common quotes heard from by fashion lovers everywhere, anywhere from the clueless toddlers to the experienced veteran ones. Studying the different areas there is to the fashion industry has opened up so many creative ideas from anything to window displays to which paint color will best attract a customer/client to buy something from the store. In my eyes I see a world of endless possible creations, and knowing that keeps me interested. Designers may be sketching out the newest trend, but the ones behind the designers seem to be the ones who truly bring the trends to life.