I was having a light Saturday "brunch" (as Americans call a late breakfast at lunch time) at a recently opened deli in downtown Chicago when I had what Tom Peters used to call "a blinding flash of the obvious".
There I was, trying to digest the scary financial news, in a city being lashed by recession and unemployment when I noticed that Steve's Dely -a Detroit franchise- was full of people enjoying hearty meals, "comfort food" in a bright, warm space with large windows to the snow and ice-covered streets.
Steve's Deli is one of many examples of business that do good and thrive during hard economic times. I recalled my own experience with hyperinflation and recessions in Argentina: 1981, 1987, 1989 -when Argentina beat Germany's 1924 record with 4,500 % in a single day- , 1995 (after the "tequila" crisis), 1998 (called the "Caipirinha" effect), to mention a few-.
During all those years, as many businesses went under and people lost jobs, others continued and grew.
Enjoying food in hard times? "Comfort" food? Why not? What else can bring back some satisfaction when stress is all around?
Steve's Deli is full every day, lunch and dinner, and serves carry outs and delivery to the entire neighborhood.
BusinessWeek presents its "client service champs" ranking, with Amazon -34 % up in revenues, stock up in Wall Street, hiring and opening new warehouses, expanding business- and others showing that good service can (and usually does) make or break a company during hard times.
Take a look at the article and think about your PII projects. What lessons and ideas can be applied to our projects?
Food for tought can also be comfort food...
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References
- BusinessWeek (2009) Customer service in a shrinking economy
- Bernardez, M. (2009) The power of entrepreneurial ecosystems: extracting "booms" from "busts". PII Review / PIQ
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Sometimes life gives you with a brick in the head, not lose faith
Steve Jobs in his speech at Stanford University
While the financial crisis is making people think about how to invent the future, how to handle uncertainty among countries and the development of several technologies that can be applied in medicine and in education, financial collapse 1is imminent, 2diciembre happened in 1994 when Mexican banks began to close their doors, stacking boxes at the doors of banks, famous names such as Banco del Atlantico, Bancofia, Banpaís disappeared and millions of Mexicans to lose their savings, incentives will 3rescate the bank where the liabilities of private debt to public debt rose, Mexican banks formalized partnerships with Citigroup, BBVA, Scotia Bank, HSBC and Santander, the recovery would last only 12 years, because today, the international financial system is infected by the financial crisis, Mexico sees a great danger by the lack of structural reform financial seed capital to generate the millions of businesses that are entrenched in the economy, and these businesses are part of our economic growth.
We currently have a number of solutions to various problems that are occurring in universities, society, politics and government, one of which is investment in human capital that has been the substantial development between countries, assets of the mind are those that generate more return than other assets, on the one hand, the development of ecosystems of innovation between governments, universities and individuals with innovative ideas about customer service, on the other hand, systems development to a virtuous circle between knowledge, the generation of money and opening opportunities for the company, Alternative Tourism, has some strategies to achieve a social system based on equality among the inhabitants of communities, the culturalization people to achieve business community where residents are the beneficiaries of their entrepreneurial activities.
Through partnerships with companies that impact in our macro indicators, it is possible to increase the employment rate and generate a positive economic factor among communities if the community has a Yavaros local seafood gastronomic kitchen, we can create an alliance with Grupo PERAL for that food reaches the most exquisite sound of the south as a local dish, taste regional and international impact.
The communities haven´t access to technology, whith PATTEN through their technological literacy programs can introduce the communities to manage the programs and newer devices and increasing the use of technologies in the communities, using another technology recycling hardvare in universities, are obsolete. This integrated communities to globalization with a high global competitiveness for regional benefit.
1Salazar Campos Antonio, “Crisis financieros, antececedentes, soluciones y repercusiones” Libro por publicar
2 Crisis Economica de México 1994
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_econ%C3%B3mica_de_M%C3%A9xico_de_1994 (consultado el día 22 de febrero, 2008)
3 Fobaproa: Rescate Bancario. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fobaproa (consultado el día 22 de febrero, 2008)
Steve Jobs Spech at Stanford
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EazT2dpUcZY&feature=related (part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3gsZciLEVI&feature=related (part 2)
Intangible capital that occurs in organizations is vital for organizations to grow, on the other hand, there are saveral ways to develop more innovative business models where the financial return of the hand with the social profitability of the community has generated a set of ideas that can be developed based on the initiative of the people, with a social leadership based on the achievement of the goal is to create a series of chances against poverty and disease in people who do not have access a medical service in a rural area, for example, work together bethewen Patte project can achieve synergies to launch a program of disease prevention via satellite in real time, the development of joint projects between PII, another program can be established is the e-health, which through a system in real time, a doctor can establish contact with the rural community by a person living in the community that the certified nurse virtual PATTE, for diagnostic a disease on a smaller scale on a larger scale. Intel technology with the various strategies developed in rural communities in India of various technology platforms rural, in this moment Intel Corp. launched what it describes as a PC platform specifically meant to meet the needs of rural communities in India. This Intel-powered "community PC platform" can operate in a community setting, adjusting to varying environmental conditions in the country.
The company also announced its "Jagruti" (awakening) initiative meant to provide rural communities in the country with more economic and social opportunities by collaborating with leaders in business, government, education, online services and Internet service providers. The programme supports the spread of rural internet kiosks based on the new Intel-powered community PC. These kiosks will help accelerate access to the benefits of information and communications technologies in villages across India.
EETIMES INDIA "Intel designs PC platform for rural communities in India"
http://www.eetindia.co.in/ART_8800412691_1800001_NT_dd8ff28b.HTM
This article show how some companies can remain in a shrinking economy using some strategies to mantain the costumers and attract more. The main idea is that companies has to be flexible and adjust the way they offer procucts an services overcoming the client expectations and capturing market share and obtaining a competitive advantage.
But how can a company overcome the costumer expectations? Or how can we overcome tourist expectation when they visit the south of Sonora? There are three simple but no easy answer to get it:
Knowing what constumer want. The first step is to know what kind of experience want to live the tourist and how much money he is able to pay. Another idea is to include some elements of market intelligence considering trends in the tourism activities and incorporating this information to touristic product design,
Designing new touristic products. With information we get of tourist preference we have to design toruristic product that being atractive to this people considering elements that are valious for market and constinously innovating what corridor offer.
Being flexible. The challenge is to design an special an unique tourist experience , so we have to be able to make little changes in service at the communities, in restaurants or in the hotels, and only we can get it maintaning a close relationship with this stakeholders.
In our weightlifting project, attract the new talent and develop them, be flexible with the terms of the national sport ever faced limited budgets, these budgets to compete with other sports and social programs, enhance national and international results, etc are major challenges being placed on the Mexican sports system in the middle of decadence in sports administration.
It is necessary really understand the problems facing the sport and work together professionally to carry forward the agenda of the national sport to attract new talent to the weightlifting and keeping and attracting new sponsors to support it. Some things we could do are:
• Consider the Federations and Associations autonomous but dependent on the government and create a structure that is anchored approved by the government to find the same professionalism. That means we should look for a scheme equivalent to their governance structures, Directors, departments, etc ... depending on the size of the federation and financial support for the administration, like occur for other public services.
• Deliver / increase budget for federations according to clear parameters. Develop a method to assign resources and then be more objective allocation of resources and to consider issues such as: number of affiliated clubs, leagues, associations, development programs, programs for the 3rd age, national championships, international events in Mexico, sports scores, management and administrative compliance, and so on. In addition, provide greater support and require greater commitment and results in accordance with the approved plan.
•The federations that have corresponding programs receive support not only high performance but according to the strategic development established by the CONADE: Initiation, sport for all, activities for seniors, etc..
A federation that works properly is the key to the successful development and success of the national sports development project because with good coordination, communication and teamwork can facilitate transfer of broad support for the thousands of athletes to whom they represent.
Service, in the knowledge and global economy, is ever increasing it’s importance. This, combined with the money scarcity of the present, puts the client as the indisputable king, who wants personalized quality, instantly, with great service at best price.
Providing a client with a quality product, according to a predefined set of standards, may be easier than giving a personalized service of quality, where the standard is defined by every single person.
At moments of economic crisis like the actual, organizations search for cost cutting. It is easier to cut on the things that are not part of the physical product, like marketing, service, administration, etc., but as Mc Gregor, Mc Connon and Kiley comment in their Business Week article Customer Service in a Shrinking Economy: “Just as companies are dealing with plummeting sales and sinking employee morale, skittish customers want more attention, better quality, and greater value for their money.
For our Prepared Foods project, I find very interesting what Amazon is doing: Learn quickly and decisively from clients complaints, and solve them through process redefinition. Leave only the rare or new type of problems to customer representatives. In this way, they are not only increasing customer satisfaction, but significantly reducing their operating costs.
This is the compromise we are to develop. Train all our personnel to give a highly simplified and quality service, and train them in problem or dissatisfaction identification, solving, and reporting with a simple guide in mind: Solve every problem immediately according to your knowledge, or ask for help with the designated customer representative.
Every problem should be reported in order to analyze it and redesign the involved processes or tasks in order to prevent them from happening again.
Other idea of service would be to design a drive thru concept to save time the customer. They will be able to order by phone or internet, and pick-up the order or get it home delivered.
With regard to the intellectual value that exists not only at the technological level, but as well the value that exists in art, environment, life styles and culture, and taking for example the coffee of Schultz, the wine of Mondavi, and the resurgence of real estate and reconstruction/ redecoration industries, I come out with an interesting idea:
The rescue of the best mexican recipes, through a national contest Project (by regions).
- Recovery of original mexican recipes through a national contest (by regions), motivating the participation of every mexican household.
- Redefine recipes to needs and wants of actual customer, giving it personal identity, as Bimbo did with a chocolate muffin developing a product with personal identity, and giving it a name: Pinguino; and last name: Marinela.
The idea is not Only to rescue the recipe, but the cultural value around it, from the history of the ingredients that compound it, how the recipe was created, used preparation techniques, the used kitchen elements, and context such as habits, customs, traditions, art, architecture, etc.
Is important in all business in which we were the power to define that you will offer, better price or better service? , in a world so competed and so globalised as the one of today the margins of in which we can be moved for being able to offer a better price with respect to our competition are very low, nevertheless the margin which we must with respect to our competition to offer a better service, will always be high. Our project focuses when obtaining the high performance in the rise of weights and if we wished to be able to differentiate to us from our competitors, who are not only the other international bunds, if not the other sports, it is important to think about the service, the question is what service? Good, I speak of a service that can be offered to multiple sports, that instead of see them like competition we see, them like allies, offering them multiple options that satisfy the needs that today the present market does not give them and that they as organization cannot have. Nowadays when one is going to offer a product or service always to which one faces is to that the industralist if it wants what you offer, will always want it but cheap, nevertheless it is important to make notice the client and whom the value of the service who your these offering since if he does not perceive it he considered you one more than offers something in this market more and more limited, in which sees nowadays prevails the one that is distinguished of the others.
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