Curiosidade do dia

Este exemplo do Toblerone:

• Toblerone Chocolate Bar Design Overhaul Outrages Fans
• Libra tirou 10% ao Toblerone. E a reacção dos clientes não foi doce
• Toblerone's trim: Is this the thin end of the wedge?
• O brexit encolheu ingleses e chocolate

É mais um a considerar num futuro episódio de "Benvindo a Beirais" passado no day-after da saída do euro:

Q pena ñ se fazer um "Benvindo a Beirais" passado no day-after da saída de Portugal do euro. A avalanche de "Marmites" seria linda

— Carlos P da Cruz (@ccz1) October 13, 2016

Muitas pessoas têm uma limitada capacidade de abstracção... como escrevia o velho Reich. Assim, o melhor seria criar um episódio onde as pessoas comuns passam pela experiência de uma saída do euro. Em vez de teoria, as pessoas veriam inflação venezuelana, veriam escassez, veriam açambarcamento, veriam os políticos a brilhar com a ilusão monetária.

McDonald's - As minhas cartas em cima da mesa (parte IV)

Chamem-me bruxo!
.
Só que eu não sou bruxo!
.
Basta perceber de estratégia e de como ela não pode ferir o ADN de uma organização, e de como ela tem de ter por trás um mosaico alinhado para poder ajudar a gerar resultados positivos.
.
Recordo, por exemplo:

• Quem são os clientes-alvo da McDonald's? (Julho de 2013)
• McDonald's - As minhas cartas em cima da mesa (parte I), (parte II) e (parte III) (Outubro de 2015)

E agora convido à leitura de "McDonald's Finally Realizes Fancy Build-Your-Own Burgers Aren't Worth the Effort":

"McDonald’s much-hyped “Create Your Taste” menu, which allowed diners to customize their burger orders, is kaput. ... Sandwiches will still be customizable in some markets, but not quite as customizable as the previous program allowed.
...
But as Business Insider notes, there were some problems with the program — namely, that it was too costly and slowed down operations.
...
will be able to do, allowing McDonald’s to focus on what it does best: cheap food and all-day breakfast."

A McDonald's não é uma empresa de vão de escada, tem CEO formados nos MBA mais conceituados que se possam imaginar, tem o apoio de consultores de empresas de renome mundial e, depois, cometem estes erros de palmatória.

Curiosidade e interrogações

Ontem em "A explicação simples" procurei dar uma resposta à pergunta porque é que as exportações têxteis portuguesas caíram para os Estados Unidos durante os primeiros 9 meses de 2016.
.
Já há noite, resolvi pesquisar como evoluíram as importações de têxteis pelos Estados Unidos. Assim, cheguei a este site: Trade Data - U.S. Textiles and Apparell Imports by Country onde encontro estes números:

Estranho!
Segundo os americanos, em USD, as exportações portuguesas de têxteis aumentaram este ano.
.
BTW, na linha da minha explicação simples esta notícia, "Mercado japonês na mira das empresas portuguesas de têxteis e tecidos". E se repararem, com atenção, até encontram:

"Adiantando que até 2015 aquele foi o principal mercado internacional da empresa, absorvendo 20% das exportações, tendo só este ano sido ultrapassado pelos EUA, a responsável garante que continuará a ser um destino privilegiado para os produtos da empresa, cuja meta é manter no Japão o ritmo anual de crescimento de 15% nas vendas."

Talvez esta série "Market-driven ou market-driving" explique melhor a evolução do que a simples evolução da cotação do euro face ao dólar.

Grandes marcas e marcas grandes em Mongo (parte II)

Parte I.
.
Julgo que um bom exemplo do que vai (está a) acontecer em Mongo é descrito por este artigo "4 Secrets to Building a Multi-Million Dollar Niche
Company":

"It started off taking niche retail one step further, by selling its high-end gear to a specific set of customers: expedition-style hunters, who spend days outdoors.[Moi ici: O objectivo não é a massa, o objectivo não é vago. O objectivo é claro: um nicho, um cliente-alvo muito específico, ou numa outra versão um JTBD com uma "luta" bem definida]
...
This intense focus on one type of product [Moi ici: Recordar a série sobre o plancton e as empresas grandes que nos tratam como plancton] has become a popular model for e-commerce startups
...
Master materials
Specialization won't pay off if the underlying product doesn't improve on what's available. [Moi ici: Estamos a trabalhar para um nicho, para especialistas não para os que acham que é um nice to have e que não utilizarão o produto ou serviço para a intenção inicial. O produto ou serviço será testado e os clientes cobrarão qualquer falha mas também saberão recompensar uma superior experiência de uso] "I didn't want to cut corners on materials,"
...
Hairston shares all of his sourcing--and his decision-making process--with customers, in part to justify what he charges. "By being transparent, you build a ton of trust," he says. "No one's perfect in business-building; sharing those challenges, and your mistakes, builds a personal connection. People like that."
...
Cut out middlemen
Since Kuiu's products cost a lot to make, Hairston embraced an increasingly popular ecommerce model: Instead of making "a jacket that costs me $100, and selling it for $200 to Cabela's, which sells it for $400 to the customer," he says, he cuts out the middle step. Kuiu produces a jacket for $150 and sells it directly to customers for $300. (Apparel companies like Everlane and Bonobos and outdoor brands Trew and Stio follow a similar model.) "Consumers are getting a product that costs less but is substantially better," Hairston says.[Moi ici: Imaginam a ameaça que isto representa para o retalho físico?]
...
Solicit feedback
Eighteen months before Kuiu launched, Hairston became a blogger: [Moi ici: Tantas empresas que têm medo de dar este passo apesar dos insistentes apelos que faço para que o dêem] "I started it to try to keep relevant; my fear was that people would forget who really built Sitka." His blog eventually got picked up by Bowsite, a popular forum for hunters, which brought him thousands of readers--and potential customers. Almost more important than the promotion was the feedback Hairston received from readers, inspiring new products.[Moi ici: O que é que se defende aqui acerca da co-criação e da importância da interacção?] He initially assumed that most hunters would want only a larger backpack, for long trips--but then online readers requested a smaller daypack. [Moi ici: Voltar a ler a parte I e tentar descobrir qual o papel dos media tradicionais na criação desta pequena grande marca. E se forem ao blogue da Kuiu é facil perceber a concentração e a disciplina de rejeitar sugestões que não se enquadram no foco.]
...
Jettison what's extraneous
Partly because of his Sitka experience, Hairston keeps Kuiu extremely lean. He has no board, and he outsources accounting, graphic design, PR, warehouse work--even his CFO position.
...
He pays more up front for these freelancers than he would for full-time staff, but argues it saves him money over time. "They do it better than I could train staff to do,""

Tem uma ideia para um nicho que conhece bem?
Quer trabalhar para Mongo?
Tem um projecto?
Talvez possamos ajudar!

Grandes marcas e marcas grandes em Mongo

O que é que defendo acerca de Mongo:

• uma explosão de tribos/nichos;
• we are all weird;
• cada vez menos força para as marcas generalistas e ascensão de marcas focadas em nichos/tribos

O que é que encontrei num artigo do caderno de Economia do semanário Expresso de 29 de Outubro, "Jornais e revistas estão subvalorizados":

"se as audiências dos meios de comunicação passivos e de massas caírem, as marcas que se construíram com essas grandes audiências podem sofrer no futuro e ficarem facilmente expostas à concorrência das marcas mais pequenas.
...
Houve tantas marcas que foram construídas em anúncios famosos. Hoje continua a fazer sentido, porque é muito difícil construir uma grande marca sem televisão."

Os meus dois filhos já saíram de casa para irem estudar. No entanto, quando moravam connosco, o único momento de televisão que viam, porque o viam com a mãe, era a série "Walking Dead". Quem proferiu aquele segundo trecho não conhece a realidade, as gerações mais novas já não vêem televisão, consomem tudo via internet. O meu filho mais novo estuda cinema, é um devorador-compulsivo de séries e ... não vê televisão. Recordo que no último ano em que viveu connosco trazia o smartphone para a mesa de jantar para contar as notícias hilariantes ou macabras que tinham despertado a sua atenção no Facebook.
.
O que é uma grande marca? Será que grande marca é o mesmo que marca grande?
.
Mongo será um mundo de muitas pequenas grandes marcas e de algumas poucas marcas grandes, também por causa do primeiro trecho. Se deixa de haver meios de comunicação uniformizadores do gosto, menos tendência teremos para que se mantenham as marcas de massas.
.
Continua.

Curiosidade do dia

Recomendo vivamente a leitura de "What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class".

A explicação simples

Ao longo dos anos aqui no blogue zurzi vezes sem conta em Paulo Vaz, director-geral da ATP – Associação Têxtil e Vestuário de Portugal, porque sistematicamente traz para a praça pública um discurso que menoriza o sector. Ainda me lembro da campanha absurda que com o deputado Nuno Melo fez contra os têxteis paquistaneses.
.
Como se o têxtil português competisse com o têxtil paquistanês.
.
Depois, o bottom-up surpreendeu-o, enquanto ele ainda pregava o fim do têxtil por causa da Ásia, os empresários tinham dado a volta e punham o sector a bombar novamente e a protestar por falta de pessoal.
.
Por tudo isto, tenho sempre dupla precaução relativamente ao que Paulo Vaz diz.
.
Assim, ao ler "Por que caíram as exportações têxteis para os EUA?" e sem qualquer informação extra, comecei a pensar em alternativas que expliquem o fenómeno. Então, com um sorriso nos lábios, inventei esta justificação:

• Os Estados Unidos é um mercado muito concentrado no preço 

"É que o mercado dos EUA "é um dos mais sensíveis em relação ao preço, mesmo em produtos de valor acrescentado"

• a capacidade produtiva é limitada e não pode ser aumentada tão rapidamente quanto crescem as encomendas
• as encomendas dos mercados europeus têm crescido e pagam muito melhor

"As exportações de têxteis e de vestuário aumentaram 6% nos primeiros nove meses do ano.
...
Já os destinos europeus reforçaram o seu peso no total das exportações, registando um crescimento de 9%, com Espanha a reforçar a liderança enquanto melhor destino – mais 12%, para 1,341 mil milhões de euros. Regista mesmo o maior crescimento absoluto: acréscimo de 148 milhões de euros.
.
Alemanha (com um aumento de 27,6 milhões de euros, o que traduz um crescimento de 9%) e Itália (mais 18,6 milhões de euros, o que significa que cresceu 14%) são outros mercados em destaque.
.
Fora da UE, a ATP destaque o crescimento registados nas exportações para a Macedónia (mais 384%), México (18%), Turquia (17%), Arábia Saudita (56%), Marrocos (8%), Canadá (8%), Cabo Verde (23%) e Japão (16%)." (fonte)

Assim, se eu fosse director-geral da ATP, em vez de estar com explicações complicadas:

"Por outro lado, há uma justificação mais ligada com a gestão de expectativas. "Houve uma altura em que as exportações dispararam pela convicção de que se podia chegar rapidamente a um acordo [comercial da União Europeia] com os EUA, ainda no mandato de Obama. ..."

 Avançava com uma mais simples:

• Perante constrangimentos ao aumento da capacidade produtiva, as empresas portuguesas preferiram canalizar a produção para mercados que pagam melhor e valorizam mais a vantagem competitiva portuguesa

"You’re No Luke Skywalker"

A propósito de "You’re No Luke Skywalker: For Career Success Today, It Pays to Play Yoda" e recordando "Mambo jambo de consultor ou faz algum sentido?":

"We like to think we’re Luke Skywalker in the story. We’re heroic, and we’re going to tell the story about all the heroic results we’ve produced – but the real way we should be telling the story is that we’re Yoda. We should be the guy helping the customers – they’re the Luke Skywalkers, the stars of the story.
.
When you flip those roles, it means you get rid of all the slides that show all your awesome office locations and the old white guys on the board of directors and the great logos you’ve had over the years. You tell a better story about how we get there together."

Recordar:

• "Afinal quem é o herói?" 

Um desafio para muitas empresas

E volto a "When Kale Compete With Coffee":

"Building on the going-from-an-old-solution-to-new-solution concept, the purchase timeline model encourages you to look for specific moments that lead to a behavior change in the form of a purchase. Each stage of the timeline represents a moment that gets the customer closer to a purchase. The study of each stage reveals helpful data about the interactions between customers and the system of progress."

"First thought. This is when the customer realizes that she needs to make a change sometime in the future. A JTBD forms.
...
Passive looking. A seed of change has been planted in the customer’s mind. She starts to think about and notice alternative solutions for the JTBD.
...
Event 1. This is the moment when the customer decides there is a need to make a change."

Agora, considerar este exemplo retirado de "When Does a Job to be Done Start (and end)?":

"Alan Klement: A recent churn interview we did brought up some interesting questions about when a JTBD starts, when does someone stop having a JTBD, and when is a Job getting done?
...
When he first launched his business, he was just using Google Sheets, Google Docs and email to manage his team. He wasn’t completely happy with it, but it was good enough.[Moi ici: Este é um desafio para muitas empresas. Os potenciais clientes vão penando com alternativas sofríveis porque não conhecem alternativas superiores. Por isso, o "primeiro pensamento", que inicia aquela figura lá em cima, muitas vezes não tem gatilho que o desencadeie]
.
That all changed when a friend [Moi ici: O rastilho é ateado e ele corre rapidamente do "primeiro pensamento" até ao "compromisso de compra"] of his introduced him to Basecamp. Seeing Basecamp in action really opened his eyes. Up until this point, he had assumed that people in a business like his just used Google Docs and email. But when his friend showed him this new way of doing things, he was so excited that he signed up for an account on the train ride home."

O que é que a sua empresa está a fazer para chegar até estes potenciais clientes que vão vivendo com alternativas dolorosas porque não conhecem mais nada?
.
A estória começa com um "job getting done", a situação de partida. Depois, nasce um "job to be done" que inicia a pesquisa de uma nova alternativa. Depois da compra, depois da instalação e uso, depois da percepção da melhoria da situação, ou não, chegamos ao fim da figura com o "job is done".

Curiosidade do dia

"Acreditar que a devolução de rendimentos vai estimular o crescimento, quando o investimento e poupança estão em mínimos históricos e a dívida mais alta do que nunca, não pode ser levado a sério. No entanto, esta proposta está longe de ser injustificada. Ela pretende simplesmente servir os interesses das clientelas políticas tradicionais da esquerda. Estas, há muito que deixaram de ser os proletários, para se cristalizarem nos grupos que vivem da benesse pública, funcionários, pensionistas, professores, etc. A nova alternativa que estamos a seguir é esquecer o interesse nacional para desviar os magros proveitos do reduzido crescimento para alguns favorecidos. Entretanto, o aparelho produtivo continua a sofrer a austeridade porque essa, afinal, não tem alternativa.
.
Apesar disto tudo, existe uma novidade radical e espectacular, que este governo conseguiu, e que ninguém considerava possível: ter o PCP e o BE elogiosos, cordatos, colaborantes, como nunca se viram. Ainda não sabemos bem o motivo, mas é provável que, aos correligionários, isso seja explicado por não haver alternativa."

Trecho retirado de "Há mesmo alternativa?"

Imaginem que o PS estava na oposição

Imaginem que o PS estava na oposição.

.

A sério, concentrem-se e imaginem que o PS estava na oposição.

.

Como comentaria este resultado?

Basta recordar como comentava a evolução positiva do desemprego ao longo de 2014 e 2015.

.

E como é que o PS no governo comenta a evolução destes números?

.

.

.

Quer que lhe diga? 

.

.

.

Cá vai: "Exportações portuguesas com melhor resultado de sempre" 

.

.

.

Qual é o truque? 

.

Não falar de exportações de bens e falar do todo (de bens e de serviços juntos). O que é algo estranho porque os números das exportações de serviços saem sempre mais atrasados que os dos bens.

.

E o que é que este anónimo engenheiro da província tem a dizer sobre a evolução das exportações de bens em 2016?

Grande força das PME https://t.co/zfQuevR3qw

— Carlos P da Cruz (@ccz1) November 10, 2016

Mantendo a coerência do meu critério de anos para avaliar a evolução do desempenho das exportações portuguesas, retiro o efeito das empresas grandes, retirando as exportações de combustíveis e lubrificantes, e as de automóveis e as de ferro fundido.

.

E quando fazemos isso, o panorama é muito muito bom:

Será que até ao final do ano de 2016 as PME conseguem exportar mais mil milhões de euros do que conseguiram fazer  em 2015?

.

O que diria o PS na oposição desta afirmação do ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros da situação:

"a estimativa do Governo aponta para um crescimento de três por cento, o que representa uma "redução do ritmo de crescimento face a 2015, mas significa também crescimento""

E Trump foi eleito

E Trump foi eleito.
.
Alguns escrevem que o foi porque os Estados Unidos aderiram ao euro e deu cabo da sua competitividade o que levou a deslocalizações em massa e consequente desemprego industrial para americanos com baixa escolaridade.
.
Mas esperem aí, os Estados Unidos não aderiram ao euro, mantêm a sua moeda própria. Quer dizer que o problema nunca foi o euro?

• "It was never the euro"
• It's not the euro, stupid! (parte I)

Enquanto os economistas-políticos da nossa praça, como Ferreira do Amaral, dizem que o mal reside no euro que nos roubou competitividade. [BTW, não passa de conversa de Saruman, confiram os números da nossa competitividade].

.

O que é que sempre defendemos aqui?

.

Não era o euro, era a China!!!

.

Por exemplo:

• O choque chinês num país de moeda forte (parte I) e (parte II)

Interessante que só agora comecem a aparecer os estudos que vêm documentar o tal impacte chinês, como por exemplo aqui: "Guess What's Destroying the Middle Class?" [Só estranho é que o título retrate o fenómeno como sendo uma realidade ainda a ocorrer quando na verdade a onda da globalização já está a recuar, basta pesquisar o marcador "reshoring"]

.

Nunca me esqueço de apresentar esta tabela:

Pena que os economistas sejam tão políticos e fechados nas suas torres de Sarumans e não visitem as empresas que fazem a economia real, não falo das empresas sediadas em Lisboa e no PSI 20, falo das PME.

A alternativa de qualidade

Este é uma alternativa interessante,"Condé Nast: Portugal duplica hotéis entre os melhores do mundo". Em vez de benidorm-like tourism, um mais requintado.
.
Ainda na terça-feira ouvi na rádio alguém da Vitacress afirmar que esperavam crescer 15% este ano a ganhar mercado ao Mar del Pástico espanhol. Recordar:

•  A marca Portugal

BTW, "Move Over, Iceland: The Azores Are the Hot New Adventure Destination"

Alinhamento é fundamental

"Fit5/ It’s not enough to have a distinctive value chain. Its various components  should also fit tightly together. Another Porter quote here:
Strategy is creating fit among a company’s activities. The success of a strategy depends on doing many things well — not just a few — and integrating among them. If there is no fit among activities, there is no distinctive strategy and little sustainability. Management reverts to the simpler task of overseeing independent functions, and operational effectiveness determines an organization’s relative performance.
Fit, I think, is the key strategic principle that has been the most ignored by traditional companies in the past 30 years. From what I have observed working with those companies and speaking with their managers, most transformative efforts in the past have tried to loosen fit rather than strengthen it."

Trecho retirado de "A Stout Porter: Business Strategy In the 21st Century"

Curiosidade do dia

Comparar com:

"A taxa de desemprego na Zona Euro manteve-se nos 10%, em Setembro, um valor estável face ao mês anterior e que compara com a taxa de 10,6% registada em Setembro do ano passado. Este é valor mais baixo desde Junho de 2011."

Trecho retirado de "Desemprego na Zona Euro mantém-se em mínimos de 2011"

"Struggling moments"

"Customers buy and use your product because they want to make their life better. ... This is what we mean when we say “Jobs to be Done is about progress”.
.
However, customers hit roadblocks during their journey to become a better version of themselves. These struggling moments are what cause them to reach for a solution…and they belong in your Job [Moi ici: Comparar as duas versões que se seguem]
When I’m lost…
...
When I’m lost in a city that I’ve never been to, don’t know the local language, and worried that I’ll be wasting my time in places I don’t want to be in…"

Trechos retirados de "Your Job Story Needs A Struggling Moment"

Palavras fortes para fazer pensar

"If a customer isn’t profitable, they aren’t a customer—they are a leech. It’s all about servicing customer needs... profitably. Not every customer is your customer, or your target customer."

Trecho retirado de "Episode #116: Interview with pricing expert, Tim Smith"

"to form a relationship ... providing suggestions and answering questions"

"Why are more and more buyers avoiding salespeople during the buying process? Sales reps, according to Forrester, tend to prioritize a sales agenda over solving a customer’s problem. If organizations don’t change their outdated thinking and create effective sales models for today’s digital era, Forrester warns that 1 million B2B salespeople will lose their jobs to self-service e-commerce by 2020.
.
The answer to the shift away from reliance on outbound sales could reside in social selling, the strategy of adding social media to the sales professional’s toolbox. With social selling, salespeople use social media platforms to research, prospect, and network by sharing educational content and answering questions. As a result, they’re able to build relationships until prospects are ready to buy.
...
Social selling concentrates on producing focused content and providing one-to-one communication between the salesperson and the buyer.
...
with social selling, the goal is for the rep to form a relationship with each prospect, providing suggestions and answering questions rather than building an affinity for the organization’s brand.
...
Social selling makes sense for achieving quota and revenue objectives for multiple reasons. First, three out of four B2B buyers rely on social media to engage with peers about buying decisions.
...
It doesn’t take a significant amount of time to get started in social selling. B2B salespeople only need to invest 5% to 10% of their time to be successful with social. Salespeople should begin carving out a small percentage of their daily time for social media. Regular interaction with a prospect may not lead to a direct sale this week or quarter, but could result in a significant win within the year.
...
After all, social media is too important to be left to marketing. In fact, a recent study found skilled social media sales professionals are six times more likely to exceed quota over peers with basic or no social media skills. It is time to get started with social selling and meet your prospects where they’re spending their time."

Como não recordar a Indium Corporation.


Trechos retirados de "84% of B2B Sales Start with a Referral — Not a Salesperson"

"The market is a goal collective"

Parte I.

Outra perspectiva acerca dos ecossistemas da procura:

"Viewing markets as goal collectives rather than as individual customers is especially critical in business-to-business where multiple key decision-makers are involved, sometimes all present at the same meeting.
The key to business success is the navigation of the goal landscape. This can truly transform the selling approach.
.
In the case of a scientific instrument manufacturer, this question started with: who is the customer – the director of the research institute, chief financial officer, procurement manager, lab manager? The answer, of course, is all of them. And each has different goals. Unfortunately, in most instances, the main touch-point had been when the sales person met procurement head on; each side armed with ten-point negotiation plans. By realizing each decision-maker had different goals – ranging from the head’s focus on international reputation, procurement’s focus on sales price and the lab manager’s focus on usability – the sales force was able to map out a goal landscape. Armed with a handy guide, sales people could lead with different sales pitches depending on whom they encountered. They could also zone in on the key player for whom their offering had the most convincing competitive advantage.
The firm also changed its practices by encouraging sales people to visit as many parties within a single organisation as possible compared with the old practice of commanding a specific number of visits to different organizations per day.
...
The customer consists of multiple parties, each with their own goals. Success is created by showing how you offer the best solution across these collective goals rather than by focusing on a unique selling proposition for “Barry the island”
.
Communications and sales efforts should explicitly focus on multiple parties. Either in face-to-face meetings or by reframing goals by personifying these with co-decision makers, reminding your counter-party that they need to consider a broader range of goals
...
To gain legitimacy, companies need to provide value to all relevant parties."

Trechos retirados de um excelente texto, "So you Think You Know your Customers? de Nader Tavassoli, publicado por International Commerce Review, Vol. 10, nº 1 Spring 2011

Curiosidade do dia

"O suicida não tem horizonte temporal, vive na conjuntura do fim porque para ele não haverá mais nada depois de desaparecer. Quando o suicida elabora o seu orçamento, as contas parecem certas, mas só porque não tem de clarificar o que fará para o orçamento do ano depois desse e porque também já desistiu de pagar os compromissos que assumiu no passado: nem investe, nem paga a dívida.
...
Trava-se um suicídio mostrando um futuro diferente, já que o passado ninguém pode mudar. O futuro só não será austeridade se houver investimento e crescimento, se a cultura da dependência distributiva e clientelar for substituída pela valorização da competição e pelo prémio ao mérito, se a construção do futuro tiver como base a recusa de repetir o passado."

Trechos retirados de "O orçamento do suicida"

"Aim to help customers achieve their goals."

Trechos retirados de um excelente texto, "So you Think You Know your Customers? de Nader Tavassoli, publicado por International Commerce Review, Vol. 10, nº 1 Spring 2011

"A single customer may belong to multiple goal segments
.
Goal-based approaches to market segmentation – rather than a customer-segmentation approach focused on demographics, for example – have long been argued to lead to more meaningful segmentation schemes.
...
However, even when segments are defined according to goals (needs) the next logical step for many marketers is to assign customers to discrete segments.
...
However, products and services are not bought and consumed to satisfy personas, if there even is such a person as a Barry. Barry is a different person at work, at play and at home. He is a different person on different days of the week.
.
Barry who shifts between independent goals. The implications of seeing consumers as a bundle of goals can be profound.
...
Individual consumers can be members of multiple segments if they buy and consume ice cream to satisfy different goals. Unilever has Solero in its arsenal to compete against Coke for refreshment seekers and Magnum to compete with Häagen Dazs for indulgence seekers. On both occasions Unilever is competing for Barry’s custom. To take this point further, Barry might be value conscious in buying family sized Carte D’Or packages on promotion, but not shy away from a full-priced Magnum at the corner shop when he wants to reward himself.
...
Consumers and customers choose products and services to attain goals and not for the attributes of the offering. Depending on which goal is most active, their preferences and choices can shift dramatically.
...
Using ads, packaging or salespeople, companies try to illustrate a competitive advantage by credibly demonstrating some sort of superiority of product attributes – faster, whiter, smaller, less fatty and so on. This is product-focused selling. Goal-based selling does not exclude a discussion of product features, but its primary goal is to shift the customers’ mindset towards goals that put these into the best light; that activate latent goals that suit your brand at the critical moment. Next, the sales person needs to identify a discrepancy between the desired versus actual state, and demonstrate how the product or service is a means to close this gap."

Preço e JTBD são contextuais

Voltando a este artigo de 2007, "Finding the Right Job For Your Product", encontro um trecho que vem suportar um conselho que dei aos meus vizinhos da Comur na Murtosa.

"Consider another illustration. A maker of boxed drinks, whose products were a mixture of 40% fruit juice and 60% flavored sugar water, had placed its products in the boxed drink section of supermarkets, juxtaposed with competing products that were 100% fruit juice.
.
Though the pure juice products were much more expensive, sales of the juice/water drinks were languishing. When interviewed about their purchases, customers, who were mostly parents, revealed that the job they were trying to get done had a functional dimension — to put a healthy drink in their children’s school lunches — and an emotional dimension — to feel like they were taking good care of their children. When pitted against the job candidates that contained 100% juice, the mixture drink simply wasn’t qualified; it rarely got hired. The company then had its drink placed in another location in the supermarket, in snack foods, and sales improved markedly. When compared to the job candidates in the snack aisle, a drink that had 40% real fruit juice solved the emotional component of the “good parent” job much better than the competing candidates."

A venda depende do contexto!
.
Recordar as conservas de truta fumada da Comur e o meu conselho em "Conservas e pricing".
.
O meu conselho inicial era para situar o preço das trutas fumadas junto do salmão fumado a 3,5€ as 100 ou 150g em vez das latas de sardinhas a 0,60€. Esse conselho motivado pela percepção de que o preço é contextual, aqui é reforçado por uma outra percepção, o JTBD da truta fumada se calhar está mais próximo do JTBD do salmão fumado do que o JTBD das conservas de sardinha ou cavala.

"not all customers are created equal"

"In the enterprise space, sales are lumpy and a couple of deals may represent most of this quarter’s new revenue. So every prospect is strategic. We go the extra parsec on every opportunity; we see each proposal as a must-win. We’ve never met revenue that we didn’t want, and any technical challenge can be solved with a one-off fix. After all, there aren’t enough F2000 companies that we can chance losing even one to fussy product concerns.
...
But not all customers are created equal. At many enterprise software companies, I see one or two outlier customers consuming an inordinate share of support time, product management attention, engineering cycles and roadmap focus — hugely out of proportion to their actual revenue or market value. Maybe we should fire just those two, and free up scarce resources for dozens of more relevant customers.
.
Pareto analysis implies that 20% of our customers generate 80% of our profits. Philip Kotler suggests an even more unbalanced mix: that our top 10% of customers represent 150% of profits, and our bottom 10% account for minus 100% of total profit. (In other words, firing the right 10% of our current customers would double profitability!)
...
Aren’t They All Just “Customers”?
...
Take the Lead with the Customer
Once we’ve sold the idea of firing a customer internally, we have two other big tasks: designing an equitable “out” for the customer/prospect, and having an uncomfortable discussion with them.
...
Outlier customers misapplying our products can waste tremendous amounts of time and attention. Sometimes, we have to fire one or two to serve our core customer well."

Trechos retirados de "Let’s Fire a Few of Our Customers"

“Price matters most when the seller believes price matters most.”

"In one of my keynote addresses, I often share that:
.
“Price matters most when the seller believes price matters most.”
.
When I work with individual companies to improve their margins, each and every one of those engagements starts with someone emphatically telling me that their “Clients are different. They really only care about price.” After seeing results, my clients realize that most of the perception about price is borne by the seller, not the buyer.
.
There are three specific steps you can take to ensure that you and your client appreciate value more than price.
...
Step 1: Don’t Focus On Price
...
often, the person doing the selling starts the conversation with their client about price without even realizing it.
...
focus on results and value, not price.
...
Step 2: You Are Not A Commodity – Recognize Your Value
.
You might think that you provide the same stuff as your competitors. If your business involves human beings, you are not a commodity. The buyer may want you to think of yourself as a commodity, but unless you are simply delivering the same people (as sometimes happens with government contractors), then you are different. More important than having marketing material that says you are different, you and your colleagues need to believe in what makes your company’s products and services different. Then you can focus your efforts where that differentiation matters most. Your unique attributes often pertain to your experience rather than the general services.
...
Step 3: Find Impact Together
.
When speaking with your client about the issue they hope to solve, recognize that the “issue” is the tip of the iceberg. In our research we know that customers make buying decisions when they appreciate “What problem you solve and why they need what you offer.” While discussing their issue (for example, hiring a new IT provider) might uncover what problem they are trying to solve, we don’t yet know “why they need it.” To uncover the magic of why they need it, you ask questions like “What happens if six months from now you still haven’t solved this?” If they cannot convince you that this Issue has enough Impact associated with not solving the Issue, then it might not be worth your time to pursue the opportunity. If you are more passionate about solving the issue than your client, bring your wallet…you’ll have to pay for it.
...
When you avoid bringing up price, when you recognize your value, and when you find impact together, you’ll carve out a niche where customers appreciate value over price. And the next time you think that your customer is focused on price, step back. You might be the one concerned about price."

Trechos retirados de "What To Do When Customers Only Care About Price"

Curiosidade do dia

Não é preciso fazer um desenho para juntar esta outra "Curiosidade do dia" com:

• João Vasconcelos: "Há empresários que têm dificuldade em acompanhar o aumento do salário mínimo"
• João Vasconcelos: "Nunca tivemos tanta intenção de investimento como agora"
• Portugal lidera queda das vendas a retalho na UE

The Mid-market (parte III)

Parte I e parte II.

"Does all this activity mean the mid-market is finally disappearing, or can operators in this segment of the market evolve to survive? We ask the experts... [Moi ici: Seguem-se trechos da resposta de Richard Millman]
...
They need a clear strategy and proposition for the consumer, differentiating on quality of product and service. They need to find their point of difference, both as a chain and as individual clubs. Going upmarket — as some mid-market operators are trying or have tried to do — presents a marketing challenge. It's easier to do if you have just one club than a chain, because to successfully make this move, operators must really understand their local marketplace — what their USP is locally — and how to capture new groups of customers. There are still lots of new audiences out there, provided clubs can define their proposition and find something unique to offer their particular geographic and consumer market."

Acerca da importância do alinhamento.


Trechos retirados do número de Outubro da revista "Health Club Management"

Market-driven ou market-driving (parte III)

Parte I e parte II.
.
O exemplo da aceleração que a Benetton introduziu na sua forma de trabalhar para tentar fazer face à Zara, H&M et al:

"These transformations in the company’s logistics and operations have enabled to increase the number and structure of collections. Before 2003, retailers had to order the most of the items (80 per cent) before the beginning of the commercial season and only two collections were available, the Spring/Summer and the Autumn/Winter. The rest of the items (reassortments or flash) were mainly reorders and, only in small amounts, orders of new products designed during the selling season (20-30 per cent)
.
Because of this rigidity, customers searching for the last fashion trends did not return to the shops. To face this problem, the Benetton Group has increased the number of collections and decreased the amount of orders received before the selling season. The traditional seasonal collection was substituted by two main collections (Contemporary 1 and Contemporary 2) articulated in four launches: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter with a time-to-market between four and eight months. In addition, in order to favour customers’ footfall to shops, Benetton has introduced new collections during the selling season:
• trends, a collection more sensitive to the fashion tendencies with time-to-market between one and four months;
• just in time, a collection that aims to satisfying sensitive customers fashion;
• continuative items, these items represent the core of the Benetton collection and are manufactured in stocks and brought to the market in a very short time (seven days in Italy and 15 days throughout the rest of the world); and
• nice price articles, which are basic yet original and are inspired by the practical needs of day-to-day living."

 Talvez o melhor que a Benetton podia fazer seria não tentar competir no campeonato do fast-fashion. Encolher, fugir dele e procurar manter-se como uma empresa market-driving.

"it is the situation rather than the customer"

Voltei a este artigo de 2007, "Finding the Right Job For Your Product" e, mais uma vez tive de concordar com: nunca é tarde para aprender, às vezes é demasiado cedo.

Não sei há quantos anos li este artigo pela primeira vez. Ontem, tinha de começar a trabalhar numa empresa por volta das 10h30 e resolvi aproveitar para dar uma caminhada matinal de 7 km onde aproveitei para o reler. Este trecho caiu bem dentro e ainda está aqui a ressoar:

"The problem with focusing on customer needs is that a customer finds herself needing different things at different times. [Moi ici: Recordei logo um projecto em curso em que os clientes só dão o trabalho à empresa em certas circunstâncias e optam por um concorrente quando estão sob outras circunstâncias] In contrast, the situation, or the job, is a simpler, more stable point of focus because it exists independently — disembodied, as it were — from the customer. [Moi ici: Para quem começa os projectos de estratégia à procura dos clientes-alvo, significa que na verdade estamos à procura dos JTBD-alvo] Although there may be a  correlation between customers with particular characteristics and the propensity to purchase particular products, it is the job that causes the purchase to occur.
.
Another reason it is so important to understand the situation that precipitated purchase is that this yields insight not just into the functional dimensions of the job to be done but into the emotional factors as well: fear, fatigue or frustration; anxiety or anger; panic, pride or pain; and so on. Products don’t engender emotions. Situations do. Hence, to provide the set of functional, emotional and social experiences in purchase and use that are required to do the job completely, it is the situation rather than the customer that must be the fundamental unit of marketing analysis."

Quando estou apertado com o tempo, preciso de uma XXXX e não quero falhar na promessa que fiz ao cliente...

Quando preciso de ajuda para me ajudarem a criar uma XXXX e conseguir surpreender o cliente ...

Quando um cliente me vem visitar e precisamos de ajuda sobre um contratipo de uma XXXX para tomar uma decisão rápida ...
.
Estou habituado a dizer que o cliente-alvo valoriza:

• rapidez;
• consultoria;
• disponibilidade

E na verdade, talvez seja mais correcto dizer que naquelas circunstâncias é o que o cliente valoriza. Talvez quando esteja sem pressão do tempo ou pretenda um trabalho corriqueiro o preço seja o seu factor preferido para a selecção.

E assim se faz Mongo

"In addition to meeting the perennial need for growth, marketers have been launching more brands in response to the fragmentation of traditional segments. Consider, for example, how customers are migrating out of the middle to the low and high ends of the market in cars, clothes, computers, retailing, and other industries. At the same time, while globalizing consumer tastes are creating segments in some markets that cut across geographies, growing ethnic diversity in other markets is exacerbating fragmentation as customers seek products with local flavor. Furthermore, it's increasingly feasible for marketers to develop and launch brands cost-effectively for fragmenting customer segments. Distribution costs and communication costs are falling, and manufacturing flexibility is on the rise."

Recordar "Polarização do mercado ou como David e Golias podem co-existir"

Trecho retirado de "Profiting from Polarization"

Curiosidade do dia

No tempo da PàF isto seria ridicularizado como não sendo assunto.

Plataformas cooperativas

"Blockchain, however, cleverly makes a trustworthy but ownerless database possible. “Which means you can have platforms that grow without central owners of that platform,” Ramge argues. All the data points that run an auction (the items, their photos, the bids, when they came in) that could all go into a blockchain located on thousands of users’ machines. Creators could build hundreds of different interfaces, all of which would use that same shared database."

Recordar a nossa previsão acerca das plataformas cooperativas.

Trecho retirado de "Can Blockchains Disrupt the Internet’s Monopolies?"

BTW, "A Second Internet, Coming Soon, Courtesy of the Blockchain"

"Study what customers do, not what they say"

Algo que aprendi nos últimos meses e que vem suplantar práticas que tenho seguido ao longo de anos:

"Study what customers do, not what they say.
Just because customers say they’ll buy or use something, doesn’t mean they actually will. Behavioral economists call the former stated preference and the latter revealed preference.
...
It’s a mistake to believe that customer satisfaction is the goal of innovation. It’s also a mistake to believe that customers know what they want — or that we should study customer “needs”. In fact, customers don’t know what they want or what they need.
...
Innovators study switch’n, not bitch’nThe customers who offer the best data about what changes you should make to your product are those who you never hear about. Why? Because (a) they never became your customer in the first place or (b) they left you long ago.
.
Innovation became a lot easier for me when I decided to focus on what customers do, instead of what they think they need or want."

Pensem bem naqueles inquéritos, presenciais ou escritos, que enviamos aos clientes para avaliar a sua satisfação.
.
Trechos retirados de "Bitch’n Ain’t Switch’n — Don’t Be Fooled By What Customers Say They Want"

Market-driven ou market-driving (parte II)

Parte I.

"In the 1990s international incumbents such as Zara, started to erode Benetton’s market position. The rigidity of Benetton’s approach to distribution did not enable the company to rapidly match changing customer’s needs, a capability that was perfectly managed by competitors such as Zara and H&M, due to a total control of the retail-chain.
...
Benetton’s sales come from franchise operations. Zara and H&M, in contrast, own their shops, which make it easier to install unified systems that track global sales electronically’
...
Fast-fashionThe market-driven orientation is implemented also through the fast fashion concept in the fashion industry. The fast fashion concept indicates how some European fashion retailers are adopting effective strategies for answering in real time to consumer fashion trends, revolutionizing the fashion industry. Fast fashion necessitates that companies own an increasing number of shops worldwide, so that through the information infrastructure they can connect the consumer demand with the upstream of design, procurement, production, and distribution. To be successful fast fashion companies require a fast and highly responsive supply-chain. Finally, fast fashion companies achieve short development cycles, rapid prototyping, small batches and variety so customers are offered the late trends in small amounts.
.
Fast fashion is a strategy that has been developed to deal with constant changes in fashion trends. Fast fashion brands have created a system that is able to monitor and match consumer requirements and trends in real time. Many experts in the industry see Zara as the classic illustration of the fast fashion concept in operation
...
Zara’s “fast fashion” is the emphasis of putting fashionable and affordable design concepts matching consumer demand onto the high street as quickly as possible.
.
The company can get a new garment from design, through production and ultimately on the shelf in a mere ten to 15 days whereas the average lead-time for the fashion industry typically ran into several months. Zara’s business model tries to fulfil real time fashion retailing and not second-guessing what consumers’ needs are for next season, which may be six months away. As a result of Zara utilizing this ultraresponsive supply chain, 85 per cent of their entire product range obtains full ticket price, whereas the industry norm is between 60 and 70 per cent.
.
Zara’s garments are produced in small amounts, so as not to be over exposed, if a particular item is a very poor seller. If a product is a poor seller, then it is removed after as little as two weeks. Roughly 10 per cent of stocks fall into this unsold category, in direct contrast to industry norms of between 17 and 20 per cent. Stock are seen as assets which are extremely perishable and that if they are sitting on shelves or racks in a warehouse, they are simply not making money for the organization.
.
Another important strategy of Zara’s “fast fashion” philosophy is to frequently supply new items to retailers’ shops. These “fresher” product ranges stimulate shoppers into frequenting these stores on a more regular basis, on an average of 17 times a year. Through increased stock replenishment of new fashionable items, these stores are developing brand images for being cutting edge, trendy, and fashionable.
...
The resulting increased consumer footfall in shops eliminates the need for large expenditure on advertising and promotion."

Fast-fashion o segredo por trás do retorno de tanta produção da ITV a Portugal. Não é só a Zara, é toda uma série de empresas que embora não sejam tão competitivas e grandes como a Zara seguem, à sua maneira, esta abordagem.

The Mid-market (parte II)

Parte I.

"Does all this activity mean the mid-market is finally disappearing, or can operators in this segment of the market evolve to survive? We ask the experts... [Moi ici: Segue-se a resposta de Michael Clark]
...
Unless it’s a premium or destination club, most consumers will categorise the remainder of gyms as much the same and, as consumer research continues to tell us, they will choose to the join the most convenient one for them. If they have a choice when it comes to convenience, with two or more clubs in similar striking distance, then price becomes more of a factor. This tilts the tables in favour of the budget operators.
.
That said, big box mid-market clubs do have numerous offensive strategies available to them to counter the cost differential. One is to address the ongoing consumer frustration of having to pay for all the club’s services and facilities when they only use one or two areas. This can be achieved by breaking out popular formats – for example, some group exercise genres – into a boutique-style ‘club within a club’, with a separate pay as you go fee structure.
...
Going forward, I feel it will be all about how mid-market operators can articulate their differentiation and how they can attract new markets using technology and other services. A good location alone won’t be enough to stop consumers comparing on price and choosing what they see as a cheaper like-for-like option."

Trechos retirados do número de Outubro da revista "Health Club Management"

Curiosidade do dia

"As the thinking goes, growth of gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the goods and services produced in an economy every year is essential to a country’s stability and prosperity.
...
But some economists are now challenging that view, arguing that it makes more sense to focus on measures of well-being other than growth.
...
Spence and others who agree with him aren’t saying that the economy should stop growing or even shrink (though there is a group of people who do believe that). What they are arguing is instead that it may be more healthy economically to accept a slower growth rate, but still a positive one, while prioritizing policies that address things like inequality and access to services. This idea is, admittedly, somewhat utopian, but giving it serious consideration can illuminate the shortcomings of the current growth-first approach.
.
It’s not just that maximizing growth doesn’t necessarily help people, but also that rapid growth can itself come at a cost, such as when the pursuit of growth is used to push through policies that are expected increase the GDP but may have negative consequences for millions.[Moi ici: Como não esquecer a orgia despesista de 2009?]
...
Indeed, GDP measures activity in the economy, but there’s no way to know whether that activity is actually good for society. Merely sitting in traffic can cause GDP to go up, since people need to buy all that gas, but it has no societal benefit whatsoever, and additionally has negative consequences, such as pollution and frustration, that don’t show up in GDP at all. The BP oil-rig explosion, which killed 11, and the subsequent spill, which leaked 3 million barrels of oil into the Gulf, actually lifted GDP, analysts said, because of the amount of money spent cleaning it up.[Moi ici: A janela partida de Bastiat revisitada]
...
“Economists decided a long time ago that they can’t explain growth,” he told me. “Lots of people thought they knew what causes growth, but nobody actually does.”"[Moi ici: Esqueceram-se de perguntar ao primeiro-ministro de Portugal]

Sabem porque é que a economia não cresce? Porque o Costa não tem ido todas as semanas dar apoio pic.twitter.com/PTjbjcSMqc

— JoãoMiranda (@joaomiranda) November 5, 2016

Trechos retirados de "Does the Economy Really Need to Keep Growing Quite So Much?"

Para reflexão

"We used to have a few simple phases to existence: childhood, education, work, and retirement. Now, entirely new phases of adulthood have emerged.
...
As people age more healthily and work longer, the 50s and 60s will emerge as creative new decades of renewal, mobility and wisdom. Aging societies may not be the sad and boring future everyone fears. They may be an innovative and promising reinvention of human potential.
...
companies will want [Moi ici: Então, por que demoram tanto?] to integrate the consequences of much longer lives into all their products and services. There are huge new opportunities in analyzing and serving the needs of humans are discovering that life hold entirely new chapters. Moving away from quickly outdating stereotypes of aging, retirement, and recreation, to dynamic new images of re-creation and innovations in lifestyle choices is fertile territory. For example, the over-60s entrepreneur is the fastest-growing segment in the UK and people aged 55-64 started 23.4% of all new businesses in the U.S. in 2012, up from 14.3% in 1996."

Trechos retirados de "What Happens When Careers Last 20 Years Longer?"

Market-driven ou market-driving (parte I)

O artigo "From market-driving to market-driven - An analysis of Benetton’s strategy change and its implications for long-term performance" de Raffaele Filieri e publicado por Marketing Intelligence & Planning Vol. 33 No. 3, 2015 pp. 238-257, merece ser lido para quem quer perceber porque, para além da subida dos custos na Ásia, o reshoring está a ocorrer. O artigo leva também a pensar que as empresas de calçado portuguesas que operam como market-driven nos mercados de proximidade, terão de operar como market-driving quando querem exportar para a Ásia ou Estados Unidos.

"The double-dip recession, the growth of low cost retailers, and the capability to rapidly satisfy ever changing consumer fashion needs are three different but intertwined factors which are reshaping the map of competition in the fashion industry. Today’s fashion market place is highly competitive and companies need to constantly “refresh” product ranges within a store to adapt to volatile fashion trends. Market-driven companies such as Zara and H&M seem to master this capability to match customer requirements in real time by offering trendy items at affordable prices.
...
define market-driven management as the activity of “learning, understanding, and responding to stakeholder perceptions and behaviours within a given market structure”. Market driven refers to a business orientation that is based on understanding and reacting to the preferences and behaviours of customers within a given market structure through conducting market research and delivering incremental innovations. This orientation is strongly linked with the acquisition of information and knowledge about customers and competitors, which enable the firm to generate product innovation and to sustain a competitive advantage. The firms’ responsiveness to market needs depends on the propensity to act based on the knowledge acquired from the market
...
the market-driven orientation does not guarantee a sustainable competitive advantage
...
argued that the market-driven approach leaves the organization open to the tyranny of the served market in which managers see the world only through their current customers’ eyes. ... suggest that being market oriented detracts from innovation. To this regard, Christensen and Bower stated: “firms lose their position of industry leadership […] because they listen too carefully to their customers”. The common theme among the criticisms is that businesses pay a penalty for being market oriented. Likewise, while a strong market orientation is indicative of a propensity to innovate, it is not necessarily indicative of successful innovation. In order to induce changes in the behaviours of customers and competitors, simply being receptive to current market trends through market sensing abilities is not sufficient to sustain innovation.
.
It has been suggested that in order to achieve a superior business performance, firms need to actively influence the market rather than being only ready to react to it. To shape the market, scholars have found that a market-driving orientation is better able than a market-driven orientation to gain a sustainable advantage by changing the structure or composition of a market and/or behaviours of its players.
.
Innovation is a pre-requisite for creating customers and this is consistent with the “forward sensing” approach, in which market sensing is aimed to acquire state of the art knowledge which allows firms not only to be responsive but also to generate new concepts and ideas that alter the market structure. ... state that over time even successful market-driving firms change, as they should, into market-driven firms."

The Mid-market (parte I)

"Does all this activity mean the mid-market is finally disappearing, or can operators in this segment of the market evolve to survive? We ask the experts... [Moi ici: Segue-se a resposta de Ray Algar]
...
Mid-market clubs were very slow to respond when low-cost gyms entered the market and disrupted the status quo. Now, unless they can offer something more compelling, it will only be a matter of time before more of these generic health clubs start to close.
.
In the last couple of years, we've seen a disproportionate number of mid-market independents close as membership stagnated, membership prices remained flat and insufficient funds were generated to reinvest into refreshing the experience.
.
The low-cost and premium markets are both well defined, but historically the mid-market brands have deliberately been more generic. Neither one thing or the other.
...
The remaining legacy brands need to take stock and now jettison things which no longer serve them, or their members, and rediscover their core excellence. Similar offerings may be good enough when there's significant geographic distance between clubs, but can be disastrous as the distance between health clubs shortens.
...
Mid-market clubs need to become experts, and build a reputation, in an area they really care about."

Como não recuar a 2005 e ao primeiro artigo que li sobre o fim do middle-market com a polarização do mercado: The vanishing middle market,” The McKinsey Quarterly, 2005 Number 4.
 
Trechos retirados do número de Outubro da revista "Health Club Management"

Não é um "nice to have"

"Define What Your Strategy Is — And What It Isn’t.
.
Good strategy is ultimately about choices: it is as much about what not to do, as what to do. Most organizations don’t lose their way due to a lack of ideas, but by frittering away their focus and attention among thousands of seemingly useful but ultimately draining pursuits. This comes from a lack of clarity around your reason for being in existence, and the inability to draw bold lines separating ‘what will keep us on track’ vs. ‘what will lead us astray’. Next time you help create a big idea, initiative or strategy, do your company a favour and write down what it is, and in even bigger letters, what it isn’t. This includes things that customers or the media may be clamouring for. The effort needed to say no to seemingly legitimate options enforces the strategic discipline of clarifying the unique value your organization brings to people and to the market."

Enquanto lia este trecho senti logo click das peças a encaixarem-se:

A importância de se concretizar o que não se é, para reduzir o perigo da deriva da opinião dos clientes que Alan Klement tão bem relacionou com as causas especiais de Deming e que referi em "Acerca da variabilidade dos clientes".
.
Sistematizar o que não se é não é um mero "nice to have" é um verdadeiro must para nos guiar e evitar a deriva que desfoca e torra valor.

Curiosidade do dia

Mongo no ensino, também.

"He says he has been complaining to ministers for many years about skills shortages in engineering.
...
"We are taking matters into our own hands," said Sir James, who added that he wants the project to develop into a fully fledged Dyson University, with its own degree-awarding powers.
.
Students will be paid a salary while studying and will not have to pay tuition fees - and Sir James says a key benefit will be that students will be working on "live projects" alongside mentors and research staff."

Trechos retirados de "Inventor Sir James Dyson sets up college to tackle skills shortage"

"next time you're imprisoned in a tower"

"people were faster and more creative when they tackled the problem on behalf of others rather than for themselves.
...
Polman and Emich build upon existing psychological research showing that when we think of situations or individuals that are distant – in space, time, or social connection – we think of them in the abstract. But when those things are close – near us physically, about to happen, or standing beside us – we think about them concretely.
.
Over the years, social scientists have found that abstract thinking leads to greater creativity. That means that if we care about innovation we need to be more abstract and therefore more distant. But in our businesses and our lives, we often do the opposite. We intensify our focus rather than widen our view. We draw closer rather than step back.
...
Think about that next time you're imprisoned in a tower. Actually, don't. Instead, have someone else think about it for you."

Trechos retirados "Daniel H Pink: employees are faster and more creative when solving other people's problems"

Para os registos

Li algures que o peso das exportações portuguesas no PIB representava pouco mais de 21% em 1985, ano anterior à adesão à CEE.
.
Em 2008 as exportações representavam 31% do PIB.
.
Ou seja, em 23 anos o peso das exportações no PIB cresceu cerca de 10 pontos percentuais.
.
Agora, ao consultar o Boletim Económico do Banco de Portugal de Outubro último, verifico que o número em 2015 chegou aos 40,6%.
.
Ou seja, em 7 anos o peso das exportações no PIB cresceu cerca de 10 pontos percentuais.
.
Notável!!!
.
Claro que aqueles 23 anos não deverão ter tido uma evolução linear, a primeira década do século XXI deve ter sido sempre a cair por causa do efeito China e da orgia do não-transaccionável.

"Strategy is Not a To Do List, It Drives a To Do List"

"“You stupid x?!x. These strategies are mutually exclusive. Executing both of them would put us out of business.  You don’t have a clue about what the purpose of marketing is because all you are doing is executing a series of tasks like they’re like a big To Do list. Without understanding why you’re doing them, you’re dangerous as the VP of Marketing, in fact you’re just a glorified head of marketing communications.”
.
Strategy is Not a To Do List, It Drives a To Do List
...
Once I understood the strategy, the To Do list became clear. It allowed me to prioritize what I did, when I did it and instantly understand what would be mutually exclusive."

Por isso é que a última actividade na sequência é: o que vamos fazer na próxima segunda-feira?


Recordar "Strategy is not a to do list"

Trechos retirados de "Strategy is Not a To Do List"

As marcas da Amazon

"The bottom line for brands is they can no longer view Amazon as solely a channel and need to acknowledge them as a competitor.""

A loja como concorrente das marcas dos fabricantes. É o cúmulo!!! E as marcas dos fabricantes que se queixavam do aperto nas margens, de repente, ficam sem prateleiras!
.
Em mercados comoditizados as marcas dos fabricantes concentram-se tanto no seu umbigo, na eficiência, que deixam de ser marcas para os consumidores.
.
A memória recua a 2007, a leituras na estação do Carregado, e faz-me ir buscar:

"Manufacturer brands seem to be moving in the wrong direction. While industries with higher advertising intensity tend to have lower private label share, companies are increasingly diverting money away from advertising to promotions.
...
Diverting money from communicating with customers to retailer support is the beginning of a vicious cycle for manufacturer brands. As manufacturer brands spend less building their brands with end consumers, they lose brand equity with the ultimate arbiter in the marketplace. This increases the relative power of retailers and their negotiating power. As a result, manufacturer brands are subject to even greater concessions by retailers. In order to fund these concessions to retailers, manufacturer brands divert more money from consumer communications to retailers.
...
As reseller equity goes up, to maintain balance, manufacturer brands have to spend more rather than less money communicating with customers."

No limite, o dono da prateleira interroga-se: por que devo dar margem a outros quando posso colocar à venda um produto tão bom ou melhor?
.
Amazon a caminho de tornar-se uma espécie de Decathlon ou IKEA.

Trecho inicial retirado de "Amazon’s private label brands are killing it"

Trechos retirados de "Private Label Strategy" 

Curiosidade do dia

"Para muitos especialistas, Portugal deve aproveitar para apostar em produtos onde já é muito  competitivo, nomeadamente, o vinho, o azeite e o queijo."

Uma pessoa fica logo elucidada acerca dos ditos "especialistas" quando:

• a economia de Portugal é resumida à agro-indústria;
• acham que somos competitivos no queijo (LOL);

Farto deste voluntarismo e desta ignorância.

Trecho retirado de "CETA. Uma lança para Portugal aumentar as vendas para o Canadá"

O mundo a mudar

Ontem ao final da tarde na minha caixa de correio electrónico caiu um convite para uma acção de demonstração:

Agora reparem no teor da demonstração:

"A KYAIA - Fortunato O. Frederico, Lda. implementou em consórcio com a FLOWMAT - Sistema Industriais, Lda., Silva & Ferreira Lda., Creative Systems, Lda., CEI - Companhia de Equipamentos Industriais, Lda, INESC TEC- Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Tecnologia e Ciência, FEUP - Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto e CTCP - Centro Tecnológico do Calçado de Portugal o projeto de I&D HSSF - High Speed Shoe Factory.
.
Este projeto teve como objetivo conceber, desenvolver e implementar um novo modelo de fábrica de calçado para resposta ágil em 24 horas, orientado para a produção unitária par a par, capaz de responder sem stocks, às vendas pela internet, às pequenas encomendas e reposições de produtos em loja e ao fabrico rápido das amostras."

O mundo a mudar, as tentativas para ir encontrando resposta, respostas que por sua vez permitem mais mudança num bailado de co-evolução.

"It was just what the 20th century was about: mass production"

 Daqui "Сhristos Passas (Zaha Hadid Architects): It is interesting to work in Russia, but the approval process is complicated here" sublinho este trecho que parece retirado aqui do blogue:

"we do not have any ready-made solutions. We do not believe in mass produced architecture. We believe in mass customization, making everything unique, not making everything the same. Of course, the idea of repetition has something to do with the mode of production we had at the beginning of the 20th century, with machines that would repetitively do the same job, so that you got standard, high-quality products — but it was the same from one to the other. It was just what the 20th century was about: mass production — and if you wanted to have something individualized, you could change the colour, or, say, the buttons.
.
Christos Passas: “We do not believe in mass produced architecture. We believe in mass customization, making everything unique, not making everything the same”
Nowadays, I think, the mode of production is changing. It is very important, because the machines we are using today for fabrication, for construction, are so agile that they can produce unique objects in every case."

Recordar:

• Magnitograd versus Mongo
• O século XX começou há  100 anos
• A marca do século XXI

Um tema que tem tudo a ver com "Budweiser's Battle for Beer Market Dominance Hinges on the U.S.":

"“Small brewers have been growing in market share since the late ’70s and early ’80s, but for a long time they were too tiny to pose any threat to the bigger brands,” he says. “Only in the past 10 years have they really made themselves known, with more than 20 percent of the market in dollar sales.” By volume, their share also is going up, with craft beers representing 12.2 percent of the U.S. market in 2015, he says, and they will likely hit a peak this year.
.
Craft concoctions can do many things the big beers can’t, like offer greater variety, fuller flavor and snappier names (Pepperation H, Apocalypse Cow and Citra Ass Down) or humorous mottos appealing to locals and tourists, like Utah’s Polygamy Pale Ale (“Try one and you’ll want another, and another, and another...”). Watson says craft brewers also tend to be deeply involved with their communities and are highly philanthropic, bolstering brand loyalty in a way the monster beer makers cannot."