Summer+2009+Section+08-PS+Week+4

= = = = We started off the class with a recap of the CLV and CLR and then transitioned into value proposition. We were introduced to Guy Kawasaki's "The Art of the Start". Guy's book is meant to guide companies who are looking to start something. Guy emphasizes a few things. A company needs to "jump to the next curve" and "polarize people". == =[|Guy Kawasaki Video]= = By jumping to the next curve Guy is referring to the [|product life cycle curve]. Each product has a lifestyle curve and eventually the product evolves creating another curve that branches off of the previous curve and starts the lifestyle all over again. In class we used the example of ice blocks. Originally, ice was chiseled from the frozen north and brought south by horse drawn buggies. Soon after the ice industry evolved by creating ice houses which allowed more people access to ice, thus creating a new curve. After ice houses were built other technologies were introduced creating even more curves until we reached the curve of today, in home ice makers (Refrigerators). We mentioned class that most companies fail to make the "jump" from one curve to the next such as Woolworths or the Beta player. When referring to "polarizing people" Guy meant that a company needs to create a niche for themselves. If a company is able to be innovative and provide a unique product or service they will have a higher likelihood of success. Otherwise, the company will have to compete with others in the same market.
 * WEEK 4: Products Services and their Lifecycle.** Team Wiki: Michael, Noah, and Keith=

In looking at the RKS Guitars article we learned how you can identify an empty space within a market and fulfill it. The RKS team created unique guitar designs. 
 * Conjoint Analysis:** "Basically you cant take any person thoughts feelings or desires and convert them into numbers and then break down from there.” After talking about Conjoint Analysis we ran an XL Data Sheet based on Airline Satisfaction. We used our own information and ran a Scatter plot with the class results. Turns our most of us favor time and price. Go figure? 


 * Conjoint Analysis is a tool to focus in on what your customer segments value the most. To draw out this information, you construct a survey asking customers to rate their preferences based on various combinations of attributes. For the airlines conjoint analysis, the combinations included 3 different airlines, 3 different routes, 3 different prices, and the choice of an in-flight movie.
 * Based on customer rankings, you can see what attribute customers value most. The reason this works is because there are so many combinations and it becomes a complex process to rank each combination. What most people do is choose the most valuable attribute to them, and use that as a base ranking preference. For example, if I think price is the most important the combinations with the lowest price are going to be my top few choices.
 * Limitations: The results you achieve are going to be based on the attributes and combination choices you provide. Perhaps your conjoint survey doesn't include the one thing most people value, but they rank the choices anyway because that is what they are told to do. You should spend time researching which combinations and attributes to use in conjoint analysis, making sure the combinations reflect the value propositions of your product and the attributes are ones you can actually provide.

**“Disruptive Innovation”** : This is an excellent concept. I picture an explosion, a bomb being dropped. Something that changes the way you do and look at something. Can you think of a product that is immune to this?


 * “Structural Innovation”:** Amazon ratings; capitalize on external disruption to offer new products How do you pick what to focus on?

We talked about the below article: Darwin and the Demon “Darwin and the Demon” The Demon is Inertia the inability to re-invent.

For every curve up there is a curve down. In order to be successful you need to be able to re-invent. I think this could be applied to almost anything. What came to my mind was Hollywood people. For example, Eddie Murphy. Here's a guy that was wildly popular; but unable to re-invent himself and branch out. He has been nothing but a joke since the earliest beginnings of his career. Why is Eddie Murphy not funny anymore?

We also talked about products that never really catch on:


 * Products that never made it:** Alexis came up with the: Pocket Rock’it. Can you think of any others?

Here are some that I came up with; thanks to the power of the internet: 
 * **Smith & Wesson Mountain Bikes:** A study commissioned by the company found brand awareness so strong that consumers said they would consider S&W not only for handguns, but for other products as well. As long as that something isn't mountain bikes. S&W had been selling bicycles designed for law enforcement, security and emergency response since 1997. So in 2002, it took another step by offering mountain bikes to consumers too. Unfortunately, while the bikes continue to be loved by public service officials, the public never caught the "fever."
 * **Cosmopolitan Yogurt:** Cosmopolitan has 58 international editions, is published in 36 languages and is distributed in more than 100 countries, making it one of the most dynamic brands on the planet. You could say it's got this "magazine thing" down pat. All the more reason why it should stick to what it does best. One thing Cosmo does not do best is brand and sell yogurt. Yes, yogurt. From the time of its release, the yogurt was supposedly off of the shelves in 18 months.
 * **Colgate Kitchen Entrees:** The Brand Failures blog explains: In what must be one of the most bizarre brand extensions ever Colgate decided to use its name on a range of food products called Colgate’s Kitchen Entrees. Needless to say, the products did not take off and never left U.S. soil. The idea must have been that consumers would eat their Colgate meal, then brush their teeth with Colgate toothpaste. The trouble was that for most people the name Colgate does not exactly get their taste buds tingling.


 * Jump the Chasm** – “Hey this product is a problem solver, it can knock pins down…and a tornado will form and suck everyone in".


 * Product Life Cycle**…..if you make it to the experimental stage…its time to focus on costs. You outsource what is commodity driven – keep in house what is Unique. Then comes the Fault line and the Collapse.

In a product life cycle, these are the consumer segments purchasing your product. Interestingly enough, the laggards often have the same mindset as innovators - they don't care what anyone else thinks and will buy a product long after it's heyday.



We finished up class by discussing the **Starbucks Article.** This brought to mind the question of: What defines customer service? Is it simply speed of product delivery? Or is it the environment? Or a combination of both?

Most of the groups focused on increasing speed by having specialized positions, with an emphasis on being personable when providing customer service. 

I think it’s a combination of both. What I didn’t like about the Starbucks case, is that the solution for poor customer service is to add additional staff. This is probably an overgeneralization, but the first conclusion managers tend to draw when there are customer service issues, is that there is a lack of “man power.” There are so many other ways to improve customer service and throwing payroll dollars at the problem is one of the most costly solutions.