sexta-feira, junho 26, 2015

E mudar de .... ? (preencher o espaço em função da sua realidade)

De certeza que em Portugal isto levantará velhos Velhos do Restelo para mais umas rodadas de providências cautelares e outras ilusões fáceis, enganadoras e transitórias, "Carmakers launch peer-to-peer vehicle sharing":
"Three of the world’s biggest carmakers have jumped into peer-to-peer vehicle sharing, as the automobile industry scrambles to stay relevant in the age of Uber and BlaBlaCar.
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Within hours of each other, Ford, General Motors and BMW announced Airbnb-style schemes on Wednesday – with each manufacturer claiming to be the first to let car owners earn money by renting out their new vehicles to other drivers.
...
“I think car manufacturers are rapidly waking up to the fact that part of their current and future clientele are not interested in owning cars any more,” he added." [Moi ici: Corrente que está longe de chegar a Portugal, país onde o preço relativo de um automóvel é dos mais altos e, no entanto, onde mais cresce a compra dos ditos cujos]
Pense na sua empresa... pense no seu negócio...
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Estes gigantes do mundo automóvel, são capazes de fazer experiências, de testar novos modelos de negócio, de alterar as suas propostas de valor.
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E a sua empresa, e o seu negócio, enquanto o mundo à sua volta, muda o que faz? Vai para as TV e jornais pedir um apoio, um subsídio, uma protecção, uma barreira artificial?
"Dan Ammann, president of GM, last month outlined the dilemma for city-dwellers who rarely use their cars. “It’s the last thing you should do because you buy this asset, it depreciates fairly rapidly, you use it 3 per cent of the time, and you pay a vast amount of money to park it for the other 97 per cent of the time,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times.
...
“However, demand for personal transport in cars continues to increase. The more cars get used – ie shared – the faster they wear and need to be replaced. So pooling and sharing isn’t necessarily negative, unless one fails to get involved.”
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The other benefit for manufacturers is they can introduce young consumers to their products."
E mudar de estratégia? E mudar de modelo de negócio? E mudar de proposta de valor? E mudar de canal? E mudar de clientes?

Outra fonte "MINI relaunches its brand and offers Airbnb-style sharing to car owners"

Porquê um balanced scorecard?

"Managers should always try to maximize profits, except when they should not. The occasions when they should not are when other strategic priorities must be considered, and are explicitly taken into account.
...
poor alignment on priorities is a serious obstacle to capturing value.[Moi ici: Recordar a série "Tecto de vidro"]
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With such trade-offs to manage constantly, it can be hard for companies to make unambiguous decisions about priorities. But the confusion runs deeper than that. In the real world, the decision-makers are not companies but rather people within those companies. Individual objectives often are not aligned."
O desenho de um mapa da estratégia e, depois, a sua conversão num balanced scorecard, permite alinhar, focar, canalizar e explicitar:

  • atenções para um conjunto de prioridades;
  • acções concretas que se reforçam;
  • recursos sintonizados com as prioridades;
  • mensagens com um conteúdo em torno da proposta de valor; e
  • prioridades em função dos clientes-alvo. Recordar que ter inimigos nos negócios pode ser um bom sinal
A sua empresa tem um balanced scorecard? E um mapa da estratégia? 
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Não?! 
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Estará na hora?

quinta-feira, junho 25, 2015

Curiosidade do dia

"Os dados da execução orçamental mostram que, em universos comparáveis, o défice das Administrações Públicas aumentou 108 milhões de euros até Maio, quando comparado com o período homólogo. Está agora nos 1.098 milhões."
Trecho retirado de "Défice orçamental agrava-se em 108 milhões de euros até Maio"
"O défice da Administração Pública atingiu 868 milhões de euros nos primeiros cinco meses do ano, uma redução de 123 milhões face ao período homólogo, revelam as Finanças em comunicado."
Trecho retirado de "Défice melhorou 123 milhões de euros até Maio"
Rápido, sem olhar, responder à pergunta:

- Qual o nome que assina o artigo do JdN?

Sim, eu sei, fácil demais.

Imagine que a sua empresa percebia o porquê...

"Employees don’t know your strategy
Surveys suggest that 50 percent of employees don’t have a clear understanding of their company’s strategy."
Concordo com a resposta de Ron Shevlin à pergunta:
"Why do 50% of employees NOT have a clear understanding of their company’s
strategy?"
Cá vai:
"The company doesn’t have a clear strategy.
 ...
Many people believe that Peter Drucker said it best when he said “strategy is as much about figuring out what you won’t do, as it is about what you will do.” Few people, however, seem to like my corollary: “If you don’t figure out what you won’t do, you’ll find yourself in a lot of doo doo.”"
Infelizmente, demasiadas vezes a resposta às perguntas:

  • o que vos distingue?
  • o que vos diferencia?
  • em que é que são realmente bons?
  • qual a vossa vantagem competitiva?
  • por que é que o vosso melhor cliente, a pensar no que é melhor para ele, opta por trabalhar com a vossa empresa?

É um ou mais rostos cheios de dúvidas, de incertezas, de opiniões cheias de "perhaps", cheias de nevoeiro, ...
"STRATEGY FOG: A state of being in which an organization is unable to clearly see where it is, how it got there, where it’s going, and/or where it should go."
Imagine que a sua empresa percebia o porquê...
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Uma coisa é empurrar, outra é ser puxado por um propósito, por uma bússola, por um destino.


Trechos  retirados de "Clearing Up The Strategy Fog"

Amâncio Ortega era um pacato subcontratado, até que um dia [em 1975] aconteceu-lhe uma desgraça..."

"Amâncio Ortega era um pacato subcontratado que produzia em regime de private label para quem o contratasse. Até que um dia [em 1975] aconteceu-lhe uma desgraça..."
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Primeiro, os resultados:
"Inditex, the fast-fashion retailer's parent company based in Spain, recently said profits in the first quarter jumped by a whopping 28%. Sales were up by an impressive 14%."
Segundo, a justificação, um modelo de negócio diferente:
""Unlike fast-fashion retailers, which have buying teams sourcing current trending fashion from third-party vendors, traditional specialty retailers have design teams creating product they believe is going to be trending 12 months out,
...
Zara's unconventional business model eliminates this risk [Moi ici: have a "fashion miss," it means markdowns,].
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The company's strategy involves stocking very little and updating collections often. Unlike brands that update only once a season, Zara restocks with new designs twice a week, [Moi ici: Os membros da tríade ficam à nora com estas cenas que arrasam os modelos baseados no Homo racionalis]
...
it encourages customers to come back to the store often. It also means that if the shopper wants to buy something, he or she feels the need to buy it to guarantee it won't sell out.
...
"They broke up a century-old biannual cycle of fashion," an analyst told Hansen. "Now, pretty much half of the high-end fashion companies" — Prada and Louis Vuitton, for example — "make four to six collections instead of two each year. That's absolutely because of Zara."
Specialty retailers will need to follow suit in order to succeed, according to Goldman."

Acerca do futuro das plataformas

Esko Kilpi continua a fazer-me pensar na evolução das plataformas com "From Firms to Platforms to Commons":
"Traditional business economics focus on economies of scale derived from the resource base of the company, which scales much slower than the network effects these new firms build on. The start-ups have a huge advantage over incumbents.
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A platform company should therefore be as open, as accessible and as supportive as possible, to as many users as possible. This is unequivocally the route to optimum value creation. Internet scale economies can create almost boundless returns without the (core) company growing at all.
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The central aggregator of enterprise value will no longer be a value chain, but a network space, where these new firms are fully market facing and the customer experience is defined by apps.
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The previous iteration transformed firms to platforms. Perhaps the next evolutionary step in the life of firms is a transformation from platforms to open commons with shared protocols."
Recordar:



Acerca do pricing

"Many chains use a cost-plus approach. That is, prices are based on food costs plus a labor charge and an overhead factor. The problem with cost-plus pricing is that it is a short-term, inside-out approach. Not only does it leave you vulnerable to variability in commodities pricing, but it also doesn’t reflect the full margin potential of your offerings. Customers may be willing to pay more for some items, but cost-plus pricing essentially treats all products the same. Pricing should be decided from the outside in.
...
You should approach pricing as thoughtfully and strategically as your menu.
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Reinforce your brand identity. Use price to communicate what your brand stands for.
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Be clear about your competitive positioning. Don’t be afraid to charge more if you’re competing on quality, exclusivity, or a superior experience.
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Vary price to emphasize brand differentiation and value. Variable pricing draws attention to the value you offer or to the one dimension that most meaningfully differentiates you from competitors.
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Vary price to target customer segments.
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Anchor your pricing. Price anchoring uses cues to set the customer’s expectations.
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Pricing is too important to be made as an arbitrary decision. And just because consumers have cut back on spending doesn’t mean pricing is simply a game of  “how low can you go.” With a strategic approach, you can use price as a helpful tool in your brand-building toolbox."

"1. Similarity Can Cost You Sales...
Sometimes marketing (and pricing) needs to help customers get the difference between products, because as it turns out, too many options can be demotivating to consumers.
...
if two similar items are priced the same, consumers are much less likely to buy one than if their prices are even slightly different.
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2. Utilizing Price AnchoringWhat's the best way to sell a $2,000 watch? Right next to a $10,000 watch!
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By placing premium products and services near standard options you can create a clear sense of value for potential customers, who will then view your less expensive options as a bargain in comparison.
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3. The Secrets of Weber's Law...
the just noticeable difference between two stimuli is directly proportional to the magnitude of the stimuli.
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4. Reduce Pain Points in the Sales ProcessAccording to neuroeconomics experts, the human brain is wired to "spend 'til it hurts."
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Reframe the product's value.
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Bundle commonly bought items.
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Sweat the small stuff.
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Appeal to utility or pleasure.
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It's either free or it isn't.
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5. Try Out an Old ClassicEnding prices with the number 9 is one of the oldest pricing methods in the book...
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6. Emphasize Time Spent vs. Saved...
study shows that consumers tend to recall more positive memories of a product when they are asked to remember time spent with the product over the money they saved.
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7. Never Compare Prices Without a Reason...
the act of comparative pricing can cause unintended effects in consumer evaluations if there is no context for why prices should be compared.
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The focus should be on why prices are cheaper, not just that they are.
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8. Utilize the Power of Context...
Where you buy is just as important as what you buy.
...
9. Test Different Levels of Pricing...
Some customers are always going to want the most expensive option, so adding a super-premium price will give them that option and will make your other prices look better by comparison.
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10. Keep Prices Stupidly Simple"
"Let the consumer – not your competition – determine the value of your product and remember that it is much easier to lower your price after a product launch than it is to raise it down the line."
"no great companies can be all things to all people; you have to choose what sort of organization you are-- and exactly what value you're delivering. They divide the world in three: Are you primarily a product company? a customer-service driven operation? or an operationally efficient enterprise?
...
Until you decide what kind of company you are, you can't develop an effective pricing strategy. Product-oriented companies can command premium prices because they deliver truly distinctive goods and services. Customer-centric companies have to be middle-of-the pack in their pricing, though they can command a degree of a premium based on outstanding service. Companies grounded in operational efficiency present a value-based model, and so must price themselves below the midpoint. What are you? You can be some of all three. But you have to major on one."



quarta-feira, junho 24, 2015

Curiosidade do dia

"As exportações portuguesas de bens para Espanha cresceram 10,1% nos primeiros quatro meses do ano, para um total de 3.468 milhões de euros, indicou à Lusa a delegação de Madrid da AICEP.
...
As manufacturas de consumo (têxteis e confecção, calçado, brinquedos, joalharia e outros produtos de consumo) representam 18% do total e registaram um acréscimo de 11,7% (mais 65 milhões de euros).
.
Os bens de equipamento cresceram 12,1% e o sector automóvel aumentou 10,8%."
Trechos retirados de "Exportações de bens de Portugal para Espanha cresceram 10% até Abril"
"Portugal exportou para Espanha quatro milhões de euros por dia em serviços nos três primeiros meses do ano, num total de 364 milhões de euros, indicam dados provisórios do Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE) espanhol.
Este valor representa um aumento de 3,3% face ao mesmo período do ano anterior."
Trecho retirado de "Portugal exportou para Espanha 4 milhões de euros em serviços por dia"

Ponto da situação

Ontem ao princípio da noite, um desafio do @pauloperes permitiu desenhar esta figura, para sistematizar o nosso progresso:
Um JTBD e vários contextos possíveis (recordar link "Não começar sem saber qual o trabalho e o contexto seleccionado")
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A unidade de análise é a combinação JTBD e um contexto concreto.
O serviço prestado por uma organização é contratado pelo cliente para realizar um trabalho na sua vida, no âmbito de um certo contexto, para atingir um resultado (outcome).
Falamos de resultado (outcome) como uma consequência na vida do cliente, como um benefício, como uma experiência procurada e valorizada. Não falamos de ouput, não falamos de uma coisa concreta que é transaccionada e que tem especificações independentemente do cliente concreto. O cliente não procura a coisa, o objecto, o produto! O cliente procura o que a coisa faz na sua vida.
A coisa, o objecto, o produto transaccionado, é um recurso processado pelo cliente na sua vida para produzir o benefício, a experiência procurada.
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Durante esse trabalho o cliente vai sentir resistências e problemas (barreiras). Por exemplo, porque não tem o know-how ou a paciência, para tirar o melhor partido dos recursos que lhe são disponibilizados. A monitorização do progresso, durante a realização do trabalho, pode dar força para seguir em frente, criando uma espécie de espiral de motivação positiva:
"People don’t want just the outcomes; they want the progress outcomes represent."
Recordei os objectivos proximais, para vencer as barreiras.
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O olhar para trás no fim é o sublinhado a amarelo daqui:
"When you design for outcomes, you’re designing for your customers’s future past — the moment, at some end, when they look back and evaluate."
Como Kahneman e Gigerenzer escrevem, o que recordamos das experiências não é o mesmo que o que sentimos durante a sua vivência inicial. Há aqui qualquer coisa de Damásio?
Falta incluir a co-criação na primeira figura.

Perguntas críticas cheias de sumo

Uma lista de perguntas críticas cheias de sumo:
"WHO are you trying to reach? (If the answer is 'everyone', start over.)
HOW will they become aware of what you have to offer?
WHAT story are you telling/living/spreading?
DOES that story resonate with the worldview these people already have? (What do they believe? What do they want?)
WHERE is the fear that prevents action?
WHEN do you expect people to take action? If the answer is 'now', what keeps people from saying, 'later'? It's safer that way.
WHY? What will these people tell their friends?"

Texto retirado de "Every marketing challenge revolves around these questions"

Para reflexão


"Yet the future is about more than just technology. Health and economic trends, population growth and climate change, just to name a few, will also create massive challenges—and massive opportunities. The time to prepare for the future is always the present.
...
Most executives are busy people. We embed ourselves into the networks of our companies and industries. So, not surprisingly, the issues we spend the most time thinking about are focused on the present - customer demands, competitive moves, supply chain snafus and the like.
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Yet Dr. Canton urges managers to take a broader view. How do they see their business in 20 years?
...
Yet look 20 years ahead and the concerns are quite different.
...
A big part of his job is not only getting his clients to see that these issues exist, but to prepare them to take effective action.
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So to become truly future ready, trendwatching and analysis are necessary, but not sufficient. Leaders today need to act.
...
you need shape your future before someone else does. Those that lack the courage to predict and shape their future may become victims of an unwelcome destiny.”
E na sua empresa, quem pensa no futuro?
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Trechos retirados de "To Prepare For The Future You Need To Shape It—Or Someone Else Will"

Quantas vezes?

Um exemplo concreto deste postal "Prisioneiros das rotinas..." neste artigo "The story of the invention that could revolutionize batteries—and maybe American manufacturing as well". Meio incrédulo dei comigo a ler:
"The reason battery factories are so huge ... goes back to a chance event at the birth of lithium ion.
...
But Sony also had to quickly figure out how to manufacture this new kind of battery on a commercial scale. Providence stepped in: As it happened, increasingly popular compact discs were beginning to erode the market for cassette tapes, of which Sony was also a major manufacturer. The tapes were made on long manufacturing lines that coated a film with a magnetic slurry, dried it, cut it into long strips, and rolled it up. Looking around the company, Sony’s lithium-ion managers now noticed much of this equipment, and its technicians, standing idle.
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It turned out that the very same equipment could also be used for making lithium-ion batteries. These too could be made by coating a slurry on to a film, then drying and cutting it. In this case the result isn’t magnetic tape, but battery electrodes.
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This equipment, and those technicians, became the backbone of the world’s first lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant, and the model for how they have been made ever since. Today, factories operating on identical principles are turning out every commercial lithium-ion battery on the planet."
Interessante como nunca ninguém questionou a dimensão das fábricas, os pressupostos, apesar das centenas de milhões de dólares, até arrepia.
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Quantas vezes isto acontece na vida das empresas?
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BTW, ao ler a parte final do artigo:
"In a new report, McKinsey describes a broad new age of manufacturing that it calls Industry 4.0. The consulting firm says the changes under way are affecting most businesses. They are probably not “another industrial revolution,” it says, but together, there is “strong potential to change the way factories work.”
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For decades, the US has watched its bedrock manufacturing industries wither  away, as they’ve instead grown thick in Japan, in South Korea, in China, Taiwan and elsewhere in Asia. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the US lost about 5 million manufacturing jobs just from 1997 to 2014. This includes the production of lithium-ion batteries, which, though invented by Americans, were commercialized in Japan and later South Korea and China.
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So Chiang’s innovation could be a poster-child for a new strain of thinking in the US. This says that, while such industries are not likely to return from Asia, the US can possibly reinvent how they manufacture. The country wouldn’t take back nearly as many jobs as it has lost. But there could be large profits, as the country once again moves a step ahead in crucial areas of technology."
Não pude deixar de recordar "Mais especulações"

terça-feira, junho 23, 2015

Curiosidade do dia

"Uma das promessas do euro, em particular para os países mais fracos, era a de dar maiores garantias e reforçar a confiança, promovendo maior estabilidade e prosperidade. Hoje, demasiados países do euro estão confrontados com o contrário. Isto é, com serem obrigados a fazerem um esforço maior para conseguirem financiar-se e manter a confiança, exactamente por estarem no euro. Uma moeda comum limita a margem de manobra. Mas uma moeda comum devia reforçar a confiança, sendo especialmente benéfica para os países mais fracos. A gestão que as instituições europeias fizeram da crise, enterrou essa promessa. A pertença ao euro deixou de ser um valor, para passar a ser um fardo, que contribuiu para afundar de forma mais forte os países mais vulneráveis. A pertença ao euro deixou de ser uma vantagem, para ser apenas algo que devemos manter porque os custos de saída seriam muito elevados."
Fico sempre intrigado com a qualidade dos alunos formatados por estes professores:
Para estes formatadores bom é haver inflação, é destruir poder de compra na ilusão monetária, Já viver dentro dos limites da sustentabilidade da riqueza criada é que não dá.

Trecho retirado de "A Grécia, Portugal e as promessas europeias"

Várias formas diferentes de facturar

Um texto simples e eficaz a explicar três formas diferentes de facturar:
  • com base nas entradas, com base na quantidade de trabalho;
  • com base em saídas concretas; ou
  • com base nos resultados, nos benefícios.
Em "The Outcomes Business".
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E com base na experiência proporcionada?
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E com base no progresso do cliente? (Recordar a ideia da Amazon começar a pagar aos autores com base no número de páginas lidas)
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Nem todos os clientes estarão disponíveis para todas estas formas de facturar.
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Não basta escolher a sua forma de facturar, é preciso conciliá-la com a preferência ou tolerância do cliente.

Por sua conta e risco - foi avisado

Aviso retirado de "Why You Really Shouldn’t Mess with Price-Buyers", capítulo V de "How to Sell at Margins Higher Than Your Competitors Winning Every Sale at Full Price, Rate, or Fee Lawrence L. Steinmetz, e William T. Brooks.
"Salespeople who are the most successful don’t mess with price-buyers. That’s right - they know when not to sell and to whom not to sell.
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There’s probably not an experienced salesperson anywhere in the world who hasn’t had the unhappy experience of accepting an order from a prospect and, after the fact, wishing that he or she had never even met the new customer. [Moi ici: The winner's curse] One of the most difficult things for salespeople to understand is that the pure price-buyer is devoted to one fundamental, singleminded proposition: “You are not going to make any money on me.
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Period.” Therefore, it is incredibly foolhardy for any salesperson to waste time trying to sell to someone with that mind-set. The pure price-buyer is going to squeeze every drop of blood out of you and your organization before they place the order. [Moi ici: O "price-buyer" honesto compra um produto standard, um produto maduro. A compra deve ser rápida, fácil e sem complicações] There’s nothing more professionally disgusting than seeing a salesperson trying to cajole an order out of someone who simply has no intention of allowing anyone but himself to “make a buck.”
...
1. Pure price-buyers take all your sales time.
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2. They do all the complaining.
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3. They forget to pay you.
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4. They tell your other prospects or customers how little they paid you.
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5. They drive of f your good customers.
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6. They’re not going to buy from you again, anyway.
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7. They require you to “invest up” to supply their needs - and they blackmail you for yet a lower price.
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8. They destroy the credibility of your price and your product or service in the eyes of the end users.
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9. They steal any ideas, designs, drawings, intellectual property, information, and knowledge they can get their hands on."

Marxianismo entranhado

A realidade relatada neste artigo "The Ethics of Pricing for Value" é comum nas PME, também. Foram décadas e décadas de formatação mental, de marxianismo entranhado:
"What always strikes me in these trainings, is the difficulty of researchers to fully understand the key concept of value. This difficulty becomes most apparent in the discussion of pricing issues. When I say that a health service (e.g., some type of
diagnosis) should be priced according to the value it offers to the consumer, I always get pushed back by participants arguing that even when the value of the service is big, it is unethical to charge, e.g., 600 for something that costs only 150."

"We have shifted from..."

À atenção da tríade e de todos aqueles que aprenderam microeconomia nos anos 50/60.
"How well do you know your customers? This seems to be a key question on the minds of not just marketers, but company strategists these days. We have shifted from a competitive landscape in which companies are more exclusively focused on external forces affecting their industries and sectors, to one that has become significantly more customer centric. [Moi ici: Idiossincrasia rules!!!] This intensive customer focus has increased as technology-enabled transparency and online social media accelerate an inexorable flow of market power downstream from suppliers to customers. Now, every company of any scale and in any sector wants to be closer to its customers, to understand them more deeply, and to tailor their products and services to serve them more precisely."
Os que foram formatados, e continuam a formatar outros, segundo o modelo do século XX não percebem esta realidade.
"Graças te dou, ó Pai, Senhor dos céus e da terra, pois escondeste estas coisas dos sábios e cultos, e as revelaste aos pequeninos." (Mateus 11, 25) 
Trecho retirado de "How IBM, Intuit, and Rich Products Became More Customer-Centric"

segunda-feira, junho 22, 2015

Curiosidade do dia

Ao longo dos anos os sinais não eram famosos:

"O que se sabe é que a aquisição deixa de fora o negócio de pão de forma da Panrico. Apesar da Bimbo, conhecida por este tipo de panificação, querer a Panrico, também conhecida pela mesma produção, este produto não será comprado. A opção é uma forma de evitar problemas junto da Concorrência espanhola, segundo avança o jornal espanhol Expansión. O objectivo da Bimbo é o de que o pão de forma Panrico seja comprado por outra empresa."
Uma espécie de Font Salem a caminho?

Não precisamos de ser bruxos, basta analisar a informação que se vai lendo pelos jornais e confrontá-la com o que se aprende na prática, nos livros e na reflexão.
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E a sua empresa, também está numa de descida na escala de valor?

Algo que a tríade ainda não percebeu

"Scale isn’t what it used to be. It’s never been easier to start a company, and as a result new entrants are unbundling incumbents’ businesses and chipping away at their advantage. Upstarts ... decomposing markets into highly customized niches so that the incumbents can’t compete on scale alone. And by now it’s clear that these companies are well positioned to achieve greater success than originally envisioned, and may displace many of the Fortune 500 brands over the next decade or two. It’s also clear that this is an economy-wide phenomenon. The playing field is being leveled across a variety of industries:
...
There are companies attempting to redefine customer experiences in almost every industry including education, healthcare, and financial services.
...
Today’s innovative companies also run the risk of being  disrupted by a new generation of nimble upstarts that will use the very same unbundled business model to their advantage. [Moi ici: Recordar a previsão acerca das plataformas de 2ª geração] Businesses will need to persistently focus on product and customer success, because for most firms scale isn’t a moat any more.
...
Still, the lessons for businesses are relatively simple. For incumbents: you can’t count on scale like you used to. For entrepreneurs: rent scale where you can, and focus on product design above all else."
O mundo mudou e muita gente, sobretudo membros da tríade, continua a pensar como quando tinha vinte anos, e se vivia no Normalistão do século XX.
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Claro que num país de incumbentes, esta nova realidade fluída e muito mais volátil deixa sempre uma especial sensação de mal-estar.

Trechos retirados de "Why Startups Are More Successful than Ever at Unbundling Incumbents"

Dimensão e especialização no Estranhistão

""o facto de a grande maioria delas [PME de construção] ser de carácter regional, o que provou que tinham a dimensão adequada e, por isso, conseguiram sobreviver; e porque eram e são empresas especialistas, que estão focadas em nichos de mercado"."
Primeiro, acerca da dimensão, recordar:

O sucesso não é necessariamente crescer e crescer muito depressa. Recordar também:

Segundo, acerca de serem especialistas, recordar:
Está lá o "desejar sucesso à concorrência", quando se é especialista, existem n especialidades, com n com tendência a crescer com o tempo, como as espécies de insectos. Diferentes especialidades não concorrem entre si porque estão em campeonatos diferentes.
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Entretanto, Mintzberg escreveu recentemente "Win-Winning in a Collaborative World":
"Don’t get me wrong. I am not calling for an end to competition, even if that were possible. What we need is an end to is the winner-take-all mentality - some people having to be bigger, faster, richer, more powerful at the expense of  many other people, and, ultimately, themselves. We shall have to balance competition with cooperation."
Recordar também:
"Os ginásios com mais de um clube (cadeias) registam maiores perdas de clientes que os independentes (um único clube); de forma surpreendente, os clubes independentes que não possuem vantagens de escala, têm recursos mais escassos e menor facilidade de crédito que as cadeias, são mais resistentes e conseguem obter melhores resultados também na variação da facturação” 
O exemplo dos rouxinóis de McArthur é fundamental para a economia:
 Texto inicial retirado de "PME da construção resistiram melhor que o resto do sector"