Today was a rest day for my exercises – so had the luxury of lazing around after I got up early. But remembered that classes start today at 8 AM.
Today was a packed day with four sessions. Interestingly, from today we also have a new Professor to discuss – Business, Government and International Economy – Prof Richard Vietor.
Our first session was on Marketing – and a case study of Snapple. For me session was not so interesting, as the focus is more on product marketing. I wish there was more emphasis on services marketing as well – maybe we will hear more of this in the future. Prof. John Quelch, started off with a dramatic statement, “ I am quite sure that Marketing in your organizations is just better than flower arrangements”. You could hear a lot of chuckle around the classroom – maybe from almost all except those from the marketing profession.
There was a good discussion on how brands can get messed up, especially after an acquisition – which was the case study. It was also a Marketing 101 class, which was good for me.
• 4 Ps of Product mix – Product, Place, Promotion and Price
• 5 C’s of Marketing analysis – Customer needs, Competency Skills, Competition, Collaborators and Context
• 6 M’s of Marketing Communication – Market, Mission, Message, Media, Money and Measurement
Good marketing needs customer intimacy and this also includes your partners. Not sure how much Marketing teams understand customer needs in real business contexts.
The second session on Singapore as a country was just fantastic. It is amazing to see how much progress has been made, if we know a little bit of history and what Singapore was in 1965. Almost all credit should be given to the visionary leadership of Lee Kuan Yew – who is the man behind the vision and foresight. We also learnt a lot today on Productivity growth and how to measure it. Total Factor Productivity is a term used to measure the efficiency of labor and capital. Of course there was discussion on the control by the government and how the government decides what you can do and what you cannot. The data in terms of GDP, exports/imports, budget surplus , savings and reserves – and how these have been managed is stunning. The concern is this – how long can this continue, especially with no natural resources and shift economic realities in terms of cost of operations. Time only will tell, but if the past is any reflection , the future is equally bright.
The post lunch sessions was a continuation of the decision making discussion that we had yesterday. Some important points which I noted:
• Most often we don’t ask for the right data – ask the question what data do we need to make decisions; and not just decide based on the data we have; this limitation is called “Bounded Awareness”
• Defaults are crucial – they make a big difference in decision making; this is the same as explicit consent vs presumed consent
o We don’t fly unless it is safe
o We will fly unless we see that there is a problem
• Most often we search for confirming data
• And in decision making, there is always a bias towards action – sometime it is better to take no action !
Post class, had very little time – as I had to read up three cases for discussion. Spent time discussing in the living group till 10:30. When there is so much to read, all members come into the discussion with various levels of preparation and hence in such cases, the efficiency reduces. Poor listening is also very visible – with many people making the same points all over again. But still working out okay … more later.
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