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1. ONLINE VIDEO AND ADVERSTISING
This texts is about the new tendency that firms are adopting in advertising. Since more and more people watch YouTube rather than TV, they are creating video channels and starting advertising on YouTube. They keep the two advertising means parallel, meaning that they still invest in TV but also start investing on online videos. I think that this is a very good marketing strategy: entertaining is evolving, so brands need to keep un with the times. Moreover, advertising on YouTube is useful for those firms that want to address to a young public : people now use Netflix, YouTube and the Internet in general during their spare time. It’s important to create catchy advertisements , in order not to let the watcher skip the advertising (since in some cases you can do that while watching a video). You reach more people, and at least for the first 5 second s they will watch your video (while, for example, on TV you can switch to another channel).
2. DECLUTTERING THE COMPANY This text is about the phenomenon of cluttering-decluttering. Clutters are all those additional, out of the real job, stuff to do while we’re working. The higher level of management, the more clutters you need to handle (it’s the price of success). Example of clutters: organizational complexity (one single person needs to be able to do so many things at the same time), meetings (too many), mails (people are distracted by them during meetings, but also because of the continuous flow of emails, some employees end up working non-stop at home too). Solutions – decluttering: periodic spring-cleaning – simplification; weekly meetings; avoid clutter accumulating. I really fi nd myself in this phenomenon. I see my dad living among clutters: he works all day long, he goes around to clients and organizes meetings, he handles so many situations at the same time (like employees, clients, Rotary members, family, friends… ); he often brings work at home, meaning that he works after dinner (he is a freelance professional) and when he doesn’t have his computer with him he always writes emails from his phone. In my own small way, I could say that my clutters are : studying – uni, dance – teaching and studying, charity activity, friends, family, house holding sometimes… we are a “busy” family, we like to do many things at the same time even though we sometimes complain about that. I think, more in general , we are living now in a society which requires this multi-tasking attitude: people live in a rush, they want things as soon as they ask for them, they need to talk to you immediately, we’re not able to wait for anything anymore. Moreover, I think our city Milan brings us to this condition: during the week you go round and sometimes you really think that many people are crazy. They just run all the time, you feel it also when you talk to them or when they chat with you. But in the end, I think we end up being overwhelmed by this environment. It’s a matter of survival: if you don’t like the rush, the stress, and the fact of handling all these clutters at the same time, then you should not live in this city. Going back to the text, considering “ business” clutters , I don’t really see a solution to this phenomenon. The best thing to do I think would be to learn to do di ff erent things at the same time: the better and the faster you learn, the earlier you’ll get to the top. There’s no way to get out. 3. MUSIC AND SHOPPING This text is about the influence that music can have on customers when buying. Some brands are using this strategy to lead people to buy things and to buy more. Classical music corresponds to more elegant choices e.g. H&M and Nespresso use trendy music
to lure clients, while Ebay uses appealing but not seductive music because they don’t want their customers to be influenced. I really agree with this article, meaning that I think that music can in fl uence your shopping. Even before getting into a shop : if I’m walking around listening to music, and listening to happy and catchy songs I may very probably enter a shop and buy something. So, if I enter a shop and house or pop music is playing, I’ll tend to spend more time in it, so I’ll end up getting out with some full bags. But, shops and brands need to be careful not to fall into the extreme side: Abercrombie for example, too loud music, too dark atmosphere, you can’t talk to your friends, so you want to get out as soon as possible in order not to get a bad headache. What I don’t like is music on online shopping websites (I’m already listening to my music on the computer and I always have to look for the “o ff ” button on the website). I would recommend classical
music in furniture shops. Studying marketing made me notice
these strategies.
4. WHAT ARE BRAND FOR?
This text is about the importance of brands the more importance of the brand on products. Brand equity: describes the value of having a well-known brand name, based on the idea that the owner of a well-known brand name can generate more money from products with that brand name than from products with a less well known name, as consumers believe that a product with a well-known name is better than products with less well-known names. It’s like you buy the brand and not the product. Imperial Tobacco buys a collection of brands. Brand most valuable asset. Why? Because the nature of company I think. A firm exist because of the consumer, in function of the consumer and the brand. So the image of a company is what is closer to the consumer world. The perception the consumer has of a company is what made up a brand. Here we have the concept of brand equity. The more a brand is worth to a client, the more the company succeed. Brands are something intangible: they have no manifestation on balance sheet and people don't think about brands the whole day, BUT unconsciously they inspire loyalty. EXAMPLE (also about consumer experience) – Coca-Cola. Enhancing a brand could be more clever as discounting. A consumer loyal to a brand tend to forgive the company and trust more any kind of innovation, all of this means higher returns and a large market segment. For what concerns discounting, consumers just care about that brand for the only reason of lower prices → it doesn't worth like a relationship. Often a brand has such a strong power that its fans serve as an insurance policy, that means that they would trust the company even when in troubles. On the other hand, there are some brands which have huge groups of fan, but they hardly never buy their products because they are only emotionally involved. I can understand this phenomenon because I'm such a fan of LUSH, a brand of natural cosmetics, but I've bought only 2 or 3 products in my whole life (LUSH problems with distribution). I agree with the general idea of the text. Costumers’ loyalty, synonym of quality. We tend to buy a product by a brand that we know or like, than a product maybe cheaper but that is unbranded or unknown. Apple vs. Samsung (Apple and its ability to create a status around the brand) + Moleskine vs. normal agendas + Rolex vs. Swatch (again matter of status, not really quality) + Lidl vs. Esselunga.
Studying marketing made me notice these strategies.
only when China will fi x some state problems (such as cultural barriers) with strong reforms.
8. THE BRICS BANK: AN ACRONYM WITH CAPITAL BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – created two institutions to be more financially united: the New Development Bank (to finance infrastructures and other similar projects) and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (to help members in difficulties). America and Europe are worried – because they might be potential rivals to the World Bank and the IMF. But there’s nothing to be worried about: the CRA is represented only by intangible resources, it is not actually a fund, like IMF and the NBD is just a list of regional and national banks which join a lending of the World Bank (their money is provided by the World Bank). Moreover, the total amount of money is not enough to finance the BRICS’s projects and these countries lack of cohesion: disparities make hard to collaborate and work together. With the CRA and the NBD the BRICS are trying to be more cohesive but I think that the countries cannot match together. It is hard to fi nd the melting point. For this reason the Us an Europe shouldn’t worry too much. They may worry about the fact that these economies may success on their own , and not considered as a group. 9. GREEN BONDS Green bonds are instruments which tie the proceeds of a bond issue to environmentally friendly investments. Their cumulative value is tiny compared to the total size of bond market, but it is instead a huge amount compared to incomes for environmental purposes. It’s hard to define what is green and what is not, so it’s difficult to say whether a bond is green or not. I think that, economically speaking, everything which deals with the environment could be labeled as green: so investments in wind or solar energy, fi nancing fi rms whose business deals with recycle. Why GB grow the market? 1. going green as a trend : more focus on the environment; 2. opportunity to extend the market (GB are a new kind of bonds = attract investors). 10. NASTY MEDICINE Poison pill = a strategy to prevent takeovers. A firm issues cheaper shares to dilute the stakes owned by the acquirer in order to avoid a hostile bids. It’s normal that a fi rm wants to avoid external control in order to protect its own identity. About takeovers, some experts think that private investors are dangerous form a company because they care only about short-term returns; others state that these takeovers are not unsafe because data showed improvements in the long-term performances. Moreover, there are activists who just want to create an opposition to the board, because they want the strategy to change. In this case I think we can talk about a “ soft takeover ” because activists act indirectly. An acquisition of a large share (by activists) always means an interest in the change of corporate strategy (they are not impartial). I think that poison-pill is a good defense to those who just want to make money out of an investment, to take advantage of the fi rm, who don’t really care about the fi rm itself. 11. BUSINESS IN SAUDI ARABIA Saudi Arabia is a paradise for foreign investors (lower tax rates and cheap energy supplies): in the last 20 years there has been a boom in foreign investments, but now
the government is worrying about those firms which just want to take advantage of the country. They are exploiting these favorable conditions. Anyway, the positive aspect is that these foreigners are training locals, even though it can be expensive for these firm but this will reduce the competition, since the government won’t promote local small-businesses anymore. At this point, what should the government do? On one hand it is seeking good foreign investors, on the other the country is kicking out firms which are out of the conditions they had to meet. I think that Saudi Arabia should wait for more business development and power to be so choosy about investments: it’s anyway useful money to an economic growth. Maybe the government should work on its legal system in order to avoid abuses. I think training locals is a good compromise between getting more income for foreigners by exploiting this paradise, and the chance for the government to develop local high-skills.
12. THE WORKPLACE Bosses need to manage different age groups: coordinating people with different needs and skills. The biggest part is the young one, which is entering the high-competitive labor market. Even if it’s the least welcoming of all times, talents are always a valuable asset. The older employees are threatened about the digital revolution (which younger people are more familiar with) and they know they cannot rely on their past experience anymore. We have Millenials, BabyBoomers and Generation X: they act in different ways at work and this what bosses have to deal with. Generation X needs to be motivated and feels uncomfortable under a younger boss; about Millenials, some say that they are good workers (ex: if someone’s using his smartphone during a meeting, it’s a proof of multitasking skills), others say they are overestimated. It perfectly re fl ects the environment we live into. I can bring my personal experience : I had interned in London for two months, working in a young enterprise, everybody was young except for my boss who pretended to be. He always asked me for the silliest things, better easy for me (like Smartphones questions, social media, computer…) and every time I solved his problems he was so surprised and impressed, even though I knew I hadn’t done anything so special. Moreover, I think we are de fi nitely multitasking , because living in the digital revolution takes you to do many things at the same time: you talk to a friend, write to another, check your mails and Facebook page… this helps in the world of work. Anyway, it’s true that the situation now it’s di ffi cult but we de fi nitely have all the instruments to be considered in this environment: if you have talent, devotion and a great mind you’ll always fi nd a way out, an employment. I don’t really believe in younger unemployment: I believe in the presence of many lazy young people. 13. THE NEWSPAPER BUSINESS Every newspaper is rethinking its business strategy (readers keep abandoning print for digital). We’re talking, in particular, about The Times which needs to focus on three aspects: competition (once, the Times had to compete just with the Wall Street Journal: today it has to face online competitors such as BuzzFeed, the Huffington Post, Business Insider… these are all digitally native); business (The Times wants to ignore the so-called “figurative wall” between business and newspapers: today online newspapers are considered as firms, The Times is trying to do both things – they want to collaborate with businesses to analyze the consumption but they want to keep a distance from advertising and sponsorships); print edition (editors still spend too much
division, so specific for airports. Moreover, airports can be considered as laboratories too: Luxottica, for example, opened Sunglass Hut stores in some Italian airports to see if it would work as business in Italy. Good things to experiment and create a retail division, since travelers have speci fi c needs.
16. JAPANESE BOARDROOMS Corporate governance in Japan. In 2011 there had been an accounting scandal in Olympus: something was hidden in the balance sheet. Now, due to a new law, firms will be monitored more closely. Moreover, another law redefined the corporate government rules: firms are obliged to have independent directors on their boards (external directors) – not required before, yes in China and India. Having no external directors, the Japanese top management lacks of supervision causing chronic underperformance. Mr Abe created the so-called Abenomics: he focused his economic program on external directors. This would attract new investors and change the traditional Japanese shareholders’ system (which was more static). It’s a good idea, but the situation it’s tricky because external directors don’t always have enough management experience in large firms and risk to be ignored by managers (EX. Toshiba: they needed to name the new chairman but the internal directors bypassed the external ones). I totally agree with the government decision to have external directors, even if it’s tardive. If the problem in Japan is that these directors may not be so experts in large fi rms, in Italy thinking of fi nding completely external managers is utopist. Internal and external directors need to collaborate together in order to be productive, and not to be ignored. They have to consider each other as a team : external directors are there to give a fi nal unin fl uenced opinion. Title: Boardrooms (=sale riunioni) + revolution (changing). 17. POST-OFFICE BANKING Post office as substitute of bank service. Since there are many unbanked or underbanked people, USPS decided to offer new banking services (it would also another source of money). On the other hand, banks make a big effort to make money on poor costumers. So USPS decided to target these people. Some people think that USPS has no understanding in finance, and its only advantage would be distribution (offices all around, where no banks are). In many countries, however, post-offices already work as banks. I agree with author, because I already tested postal services. In Italy it’s a widespread phenomenon, and lots of people are likely to use this service. I’m personally unsatis fi ed by post-o ffi ces because it’s true they lack of knowledge in this fi eld. As a result I faced lots of bureaucracy in many processes. 18. INSIDER TRADING The text is about insider trading, which means the buying or selling of a security by someone who has access to nonpublic information about the security. It's difficult to define whether this phenomenon is legal or not, but most of times it is. As the author inform, insider trading is a common violation and in most cases the enforcement agencies have won. I think that the publicity of the material is the essential point, because trading while having a special knowledge is unfair to other investors who don't have such knowledge. The authorities are trying to expand the scope of the law, but it becomes more difficult to define what is legal. The wider the scope it becomes, the more cases could be
labeled as insider trading. I think that such delicate issues need to be managed case by case , analyzing all the speci fi c causes and consequences. It would take time, but at least unfairness will be punished.
19. HOW FAR CAN AMAZON GO? Amazon. Pioneer in many fields: books, payment methods, availability of books, cloud computing – software used by Netflix, Spotify and AirBnb, customers reviews. It’s such a pioneer that experts wonder how long can this thing go forward. It was accused for innovate competition but it just provided a cheaper way to shop. Moreover there’s no competition with a company focused on innovation and not profits. In fact, Amazon is also famous for investing in new areas: shareholders don’t care about profits, they just need capital to innovate not to grow. I think that the company has an uncommon vision of pro fi ts, but in this fi eld, in the business of Internet and innovation, it’s a good strategy. Companies like Amazon or Google need to fi nd new ways to motivate its employees. I’d love to work in such environment – I know people working for Google, they love what they do, always positive and smiling – maybe working without thinking about pro fi ts it’s a great way to really appreciate what you do, and love your job. Thinking about a competitor, I can’t really fi nd one. Maybe Ebay but the quality of service and products is not the same. 20. CAN BUSINESS EVOLVE INTO A GREEN WOLRD? Companies are going green. During the Industrial Revolution a huge amount of CO was released within the atmosphere, and caused environmental problems that we are facing today. In the past firms didn’t care about that because they had short-term visions, they focused on short-term results. Nowadays governments are taking action and setting rules to reduce pollution. Companies have to pay for the amount of GHG they emit, so they’re all trying to go green. Producing a huge amount of GHG means paying for those gases, and as a result firms will have to increase prices of their products/services. Insurance companies get higher premiums from firms going green, because firms ask to be insured against CO2 litigation + offering incentives to companies that do their part to reduce emissions or become carbon neutral. I think that companies should seriously care about the environment because it could provide another revenue, I mean bene fi ts for our health. We’re not really concerned about the environment: we always talk about it but not really do anything for it. Heavy industries could be incentivized by insurances. So, business cannot evolve in a green world because of those sectors whose core business is by its nature environmentally unfriendly. 21. COMPANY HEADQUARTERS Many multinationals decide to split their legal, fiscal and other personalities between various countries. In this way they will have more benefits. For example, Omnicom (based in NY) and Publicis (based in Paris) announced a union and they moved their legal headquarter to The Netherlands (management will stay in NY and Paris) because there they have flexible corporate laws (ex. Few requirements on compensation): the management, the board and shareholders can act in order to suit their needs. If The Netherlands is good for corporate laws, Britain has a better tax system (lower tax rates on incomes). Once everybody went to Switzerland but now they are looking elsewhere because the EU is pressing the country to change its tax regimes. I think
The new chief executive of GM is a woman born to it because she is the daughter of one of the employees that made GM success. She studied as engineer at the GM technical school and at the age of 51 she became the first woman to be named chief executive at a major auto company. Not only was she a good engineer, but also did she improve the product and process management changing GM’s culture. She changed GM’s culture: she convinced the top management that they needed to stay up-to-date, she told engineers to listen to costumers’ needs. Beginning with the hiring of Ms Barra, corporate America entered a new era : it’s the proof that women can add more value to the management because they’re multitasking and more sensitive than men, which is a benefit in terms of customer care. Nowadays women work in every fi eld, but they still wait for more legal protections , because of the problems linked to family and maternity.
26. ANYTHING YOU CAN DO, ICAHN DO IT BETTER Icahn is a famous activist investor (they buy lot of shares and use the share to vote and manage the company). Activism is more and more spread, because people have understood that you can make a lot of money out of it. Critics say that there is a problem on how this money is made: activists focus on short-term returns. But experts proved that actually after 5 years the performance of the company improved. Activists are also seen as governance intermediaries – connection to the title: they offer underperforming firms proposals for business strategy less drastic than takeovers. I think that activism is a good activity for both parts : activists on one side can make a lot of money our from these short-term returns; fi rms on the other can get assets to be used to solve problems or for other investments. But, it can be risky since the fi rm lets itself to be partially run by an external investor, whose interest lies just on returns. 27. PICKING THE WORLD CHAMPION TRADE We’re talking about international trade, and which country gets the most out of it. They say that China’s international trade in goods lead the world in 2013: actually beside goods they trade services/culture too – Pandas. But if we consider the measurement of the sophistication of a country’s export made by Harvard University China ranks 39 th. Moreover, some skeptics about China say that they export products with valuable imported products: they add just 67% to the value of its exports, while America adds 89%. But these measurements can’t be considered since we don’t want to capture the value a country adds to its economy, but we want to capture a country’s integration with the rest of the world: country export what they must, to import what they want. America is the biggest importer and Norway is the one that gets the most bang from its import buck: its currency is 893% over evaluated Norway’s money has a lot of purchasing power when spent on internationally traded goods Norway is number 1 in trade. Everybody will agree if we say that China is one of the leading economies in the world. Without talking about the value added or not to products, their level of exports is huge. Everything is made in China, for their reduced costs, low labor-force costs. So in these terms yes I think that China leads the international trade, in terms of quantity of products exported. If we go more profoundly analyzing other features like currencies, it’s clear that if the krone is so over evaluated it has more purchasing power when spent internationally rather than at home.
28. THE RETURN OF IPOS
We’re talking about the new growing enthusiasm for public listings. We didn’t break the record of 406 listings set in 2000, but 222 companies went public in 2013. All firms got advantages from going public: if the IPO market continues to be strong, many large financial firms may use it to restructure themselves. I think this tendency is more and more adopted because of the need that fi rms have to fi nd money to grow and develop. IPOs are a great fundraising methods: most of all if we let everyone buy o ff erings – the public can invest, feel as part of the company this increases their interest in investing and they care about the fi rm’s progress. In general, I prefer private services than public ones. But it’s just because we live in a country, Italy, where what is public often doesn’t work.
29. WHAT IS AN EMERGING MARKET ECONOMY We’re talking about EME, such as China and Tunisia, two countries with very different levels of resources (Tunisia has less of course) but both embarking on economic development and reform programs. Their main characteristic is that they are moving from a closed economy to an open market economy + exchange rate reforms (a stable local currency builds confidence in an economy). They attract investors the bigger the risk the bigger the reward EME may have to deal with issues of national pride because citizens may be opposed to have foreigners owning parts of the local economy. Investors need to be careful about the time that it would take for these economies to emerge: obstacles may be overcome. Talking about the EME and their investors, I understand citizens’ concern about having foreigners owning part of the economy, but it’s also true that sometimes it’s what you need in order to develop and grow. The important thing is that any investor coming doesn’t damage the inner nature and soul of the country: it’s ok to invest but without changing culture and traditions. Ex. Chinese in Milan. Emerging doesn’t have to mean over-development , over-depletion of resources, damaging the planet: I’m talking about all the environmental consequences that, for example, China caused to the atmosphere. Emerging in a conscious way. 30. SUPERMARKETS IN AFRICA This text is about new supermarket chains opening in Africa. South-African ones are trying to expand, to escape from their State because it’s economically inactive. Many rich world’s firms want to invest in the fast-growing African economy too. New stores may have problems because it may take 18 months to get permissions and contracts in these areas. Shoprite, a South-African chain, has more stores outside its home market than its competitors; but benefits coming from being a firs mover will not last very long. Since African cities are growing so fast, a good location today may not be so good tomorrow; late entrants may find good spots in these malls they are now being built; transports and communication may get better. They need to be careful to the other world’s big retailer chains like Walmart, Carrefour and Tesco that have ambitions in getting into the African environment. I was surprised when I read this article. We tend to think about Africa as a completely poor continent, but we forget that the southern area is as developed as the occidental world. It’s also true that many nations are developing and trying to get out of their di ffi cult condition. I’m not really informed about supermarkets or malls, but I understand why big chains would like to invest in this area. If you start from the very bottom, you
