Marketing Basics ( MAR 004-1 )

For Assignment 3 on this unit I think that you will find that all the standard texbooks including Brassington & Pettitt should have some information about the 4
( later 7 ) P's of Marketing

Product
Price
Place
Promotion

People
Process
Physical Evidence

8 Social Media Trends Impacting Business

As businesses continue to integrate social media and become more confident and comfortable with social media tools and platforms, we’re starting to see a change in social media usage. A new study reveals what’s changing with social media.

SmartBrief recently partnered with Summus Limited to survey more than 6,000 of its readers across a variety of industries.

They benchmarked and measured the state of social media usage among businesspeople. The data identified eight prevalent trends that give great insight into the social media behaviors, beliefs and challenges of the majority of businesses today.
FDor more click here.

11 practical business uses for LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter

Here is good summary article by Aliza Sherman listing the business benefits of using the major social media tools, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

She says :
"I’m often asked how social networks can be used for practical business purposes. While convincing people that LinkedIn is a good professional tool is not hard, many folks are not using Facebook for anything other than communicating with friends or playing games, and are not using Twitter at all; articulating the business value of Facebook and Twitter to those people can be challenging."

British Brands ?

One less British Brand now as Cadbury closes its last UK production plant ( a factory near Bristol closes, 400 jobs lost )

Edge, Simon ( 2010) Bye-bye British business ? Daily Express, 7th December, p.28

Rollin', Rollin, Rollin......

Don't forget the Print Journals in our Rolling Stack. Lots of useful information ( eg Mintel Reports ) which is ( shock horror ) not available on the internet.

Family Bargains

The addition of a new shop to Luton ( Family Bargains ) has at least made the main shopping area look less derelict. Family bargains is occupying the site of the old Marks & Spencers. Marks & Spencers moved on to the site of the old Woolworths store ( prior to the complete collapse of Woolworths )


Family Bargains is a discount store similar to the Pound Shop inside the Mall.

The number of empty premises in a town is sometimes seen as a measure of the economy, so at least Luton's numerous 'cheap' stores are making the town centre look slightly more prosperous.

A good article on the subject :
Mathiason, N (2010) Ghost town threat as UK shops fall empty. Guardian, 10th February 2010

Travel and Tourism Analyst

In our sessions this week we referred to a publication called Travel and Tourism Analyst. These are printed reports which are stored with the printed journals in the moving stacks. The report which we showed you was issue 8 from 2008.
Here is a lttle video about using the moving stacks!

Hospitality and Tourism Complete

In our sessions to you in the Pods this week, we recommended the database Business Source Premier for finding articles about adventure holidays. This is the major business and management database.

In addition you should try Hospitality and Tourism Complete, which concentrates on the tourism industry. There is lot of full text material here.

You can access both these by going through the databases for my subject - Business Studies list. I have put a link to this here.

Defining Adventure Tourism

If you are starting work on the Adventure Tourism piece of work, here is a definition from Ralph Buckley....

Adventure tourism means guided commercial tours where the principal attraction is an outdoor activity that relies on natural terrain. It usually involves sporting equipment, and excitement.

Tourists would not necessarily operate equipment. They could be passengers ( eg in a raft ). Excitement for the tourist appears to be the key requirement ( Buckley, 2006 p1)

Buckley, R (2006) Adventure tourism, Wallingford:CAB International

Chapters in the book include river journeys, rafting and kayaking, surfing, snowboarding.

Gentler forms of excitement, which might appeal to the older consumer ( see below ) could also include mountain biking and hiking.

SAGA holidays ( an organisation aimed at the over 50's ) are currently offering holidays to Nepal.

Do they still sell CD's ?

Having heard that HMV is struggling I was surprised to find a new branch in Bedford ( see left ). In fact it's just relocated down the High Street.

Rack upon rack of games and dvd's, but very few CD's on display. Sales of discs must be at an all time low as more music is downloaded.

How on earth will I spend my birthday vouchers ?

Wonder of Woollies

Hearing a programme on Radio 4 the other day reminded me that a good measure of the current state of the UK economy might be the number of unoccupied Woolworths stores.

The store in Bedford (pictured) is still empty. In Luton M & S moved into the former Woolworth store well before the collapse.

In my home town of Sleaford ( Lincs ) a company called Yorkshire Trading Company seems to be doing brisk business. It's a bit like Wilko's....

Xperthr

Maybe there's a future for paper after all...

We are currently experiencing difficulties with the Xperthr database, but you can access it by going directly to the site and using these passwords :

www.xperthr.co.uk

• xperthr
• conduct
• Well worth it once you get access. There's a good current debate about blogging in Human Resources.
  

Breakfast demand boosts Wetherspoons

As well as the offers of cheap beer and food Wetherspoons Pub chain is now one of the biggest coffee chains in the UK.
There has been a 40% rise in sales since the chain started opening at 7pm recently.

Other good news for the pub chain

• Profits up 7%
• 2,400 new jobs
• 47 new outlets ( total is now 775)

In fact I wish I had some shares.....

Anon (2010) Breakfast demand boosts Wetherspoons, Yorkshire Post, 10th September [accessed via Newsbank Database] on 15th September 2010

Mary Portas on Easyjet's Inflight Shopping

Portas, M (2010) Shop! Mary Portas turns her nose up at easyjet's inflight shopping experience Daily Telegraph magazine 4th September, 2010 p.13

Ever since I've been following this excellent column I have been waiting for Mary Portas to get around to a review of easyJet ( don't tell me that you didn't recognise the logo ! )

Her verdict in brief 6/10 - good customer service, terrible food and overpriced inflight catering.

There is also a paragraph in Mary's article about easyJet's website ( and I'm sure most people will have used that ). The 'Help' function bumps you into a frequently irrelevant page of FAQ's. Better than the telephone support, which Mary claims is "hopeless, just hopeless"

I am quoting all the above from my printed copy of saturday's paper. The Telegraph website of this column

www.telegraph.co.uk/maryportas

has not been updated since the end of July.

Neither can I find this article on the Newsbank database, which includes the content of the paper, but not the glossy magazine maybe ?

Maybe there are some advantages to the old-fashioned print sources after all !

Is the Internet making us stupid ?

Harris, John ( 2010 ) Is the Internet rewiring our brains ? Guardian G2 Supplement, 02/08/10

Carr, Nicholas (2010 ) The Shallows, Atlantic Books

The Guardian article quotes extensively from Carr whose book is published in the UK next month. It has already caused quite a stir in the US.Because of the finite amount of time at our disposal we are gathering small chunks of information rather than undertanding the larger picture. ( Wikipedis entries vs biographies )

Moreover online multi-tasking is destroying our capacity for reflection, contemplation and patience.Too much information a "cacophony of stimuli", encourages "cursory reading", hurried and distracted reading and superficial learning"And even more worryingly ... it's all addictive.

This is easy to measure by counting the number of times we open our e-mail inbox to find ( surprise, surprise ) that nothing new has appeared there...There are bound to be more reports of this naure when Carr's book is published I anticipate...

Karren Brady on Entrepreneurship....

Clinton, J (2010) Football boss Karren : university is no place for an entrepreneur

Express on Sunday, Aug 22nd

Retrieved on Newsbank database ( library.beds.ac.uk ) on 1st Sept 2010

Adding to the debate, Karren Brady, vice chair of West Ham who is particularly critical of universities who teach courses such as Musical Theatre which she doesn't feel worthy or suitable for academic study...

In the article she also lists some other entrepreneurs who didn't go to Uni ( I think we get the idea ).....Sir Philip Green, David Gold and inevitably....Lord Alan Sugar.

Scientific Management

A usual 1st year business assignment will ask you to contrast the theory of scientific management with the multiple theories of human relations management.

We have a copy of F W Taylor's original text in the LRC at Luton. It is out of print now, and our copy was published in 1967. The original theory dates from 1911.

When approaching this question it may be advisable to look for journal articles on Business Source Premier database, rather than trying to obtain the book itself.

Credo Database also includes a very good ( though somewhat concise ) definition of the theory.

Entrepreneurs and University.

You don't learn entrepreneurship at University

So runs one of the AMP questions. The debate has recently been highlighted in the Daily Express as A level results were published this week ( Daily Express, 17th August 2010 )

Among those mentioned in the article :

Sir Richard Branson, now worth 30bn he left school at 15.

Peter Jones ( Dragon's Den star ) - left school after A levels in order to start making money. He had several failures before making his millions, and counts 'learning from his mistakes' the best kind of education.

Michelle Mone ( Lingerie entrepreneur ) She founded Ultimo after leaving school at 15. She claims that her poor background discouraged her from seeking higher education, and that working at an early age taught her alot.

And of course Sir Alan Sugar....

The question is....which successful businessmen / women did go to Uni ?

Branding Demystified

A couple of useful e-books on branding now available.

Brand Culture and Branding Demystified.

Check library catalogue for further details. The latter title includes some very good examples of what being a brand means, and case studies...

Print versus online advertising

Those of you whose AMP project involves the study of online advertising might look at the decline in the sale of print journals ( particularly those aimed at the youth market )

The decline of the NME is spectacular in this respect.

In the UK ( July - Dec 09 ) the NME sold 35,163 copies in the UK - a spectacular drop from 85,011 ten years ago.

Figures from Mediatel database ( accessed 10/08/10 )

Alternatives to primary research...

At AMP level the focus will be very much on secondary research from academic journal articles. An alternative to carrying out your own primary research might be to look at sources such as the Ipsos MORI site to find out the primary research which has already been carried out for you.

There is quite alot of information available free here, and the source would not be out of place in your bibliography, as MORI is a reputable market research body

Pictured above is a recent free report on attitudes to downloading music.

http://www.ipsos-mori.com

Dahlen on Marketing Communications

Dahlen, M (2009) Marketing communications : a brand narrative approach, Wiley


This new recommended textbook for public relations units may be useful for any AMP projects involving branding, public relations or marketing communications.

It covers case studies of popular brands such as

Dove soap
Harley Davidson Motorcycles
Nike

There is a whole chapter on building brand equity included, and also material on 'Beyond traditional branding', which could be useful for several topics.

Strategic Management

Thompson, M (2009) Strategic management, London : FT Prentice Hall



Recommended on several reading lists ( both undergraduate and postgraduate ) and also of relevance to several of the AMP topics.

Sounds old-fashioned , but use the index to see if your topic is covered here.

Celebrity Pay

One of the trickiest AMP topics in our experience has been the one about 'Are celebrities worth their pay ?' There are very few keywords here to search, and the whole question seems to be really about the whole nature of capitalism . Should a pop-star really be paid more than a doctor or nurse for example ?

Some of these issues are covered in Victoria Prowse's article in Economic Review 'Why do people work ?' Economic Review, Sepember 2009.

New LUSH Shop in Luton...

Luton's new Handmade Cosmetics shop....

The latest addition to the Arndale Mall in Luton fascinated me enough to have a look at Mary Portas excellent review of the Lush Chain. Although this is a couple of years old there are some points here that are still relevant I think...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3663833/Shop.html

LUSH is a shop which can often me smelt before it is seen. In Luton it is near to Greggs, so I wondered if their pasties would now of bath bombs.
Mary Portas is very complimentary about the chain's customer service and marketing strategies.

If you are studying the Cosmetics Industry, or maybe British brands in general there is a more recent Key Note Report Cosmetics and Fragrances 2010. Lush is a real success story of recent years, and seems to prove that even in tough economic times people will still treat themselves to a few luxuries...

Marketing the Arts

Recently added to the LRC is the MA by R.L Saklatvala

Designing an arts festival : constructing authenticity

University of Beds 2010

Lots of local examples about organising the Luton B Festival ( including a useful list of local names - photographer Ben Hodson gets a namecheck )

I think it would be beneficial to look at this if your AMP concerned any kind of arts marketing, or comparison between commercial and community schemes ?

( do the same principles apply )

Marketing Financial Services

New book by a member of staff in the Business School. Jillian Farquar has recently published a book on the marketing of financial services. Could be a useful source for those of you whose project concerns finance or accountancy.

Will be added to LRC as soon as possible.

Entrepreneur honoured at University of Beds

Those of you studying the role of the Entrepreneur in society, and which skills they need should look out for Jan Telensky, who is being honoured at our graduations this week.

Czech-born Jan's concept was that there is a massive demand for new online games, and those who have the skills to produce them can be trained online.

The CATS faculty at the University of Bedfordshire runs courses on gaming, and has strong links with Mr Telensky. There is plenty of information on :

http://www.train2game.co.uk

as well as several articles on Jan Telensky on Newsbank

It is possible to find material on the computer gaming industry on several of our databases.

Business Review

Another excellent source of UK case studies is this quarterly journal. Each 40 page issue is packed with them. The April 2010 issue looks at what has worked, and what has failed for Stelios Haji-Ioannou (Head of easyGroup) Although the journal is really aimed at A Level students you can always follow up your research on other databases such as Key Note and Business Source Premier.

In the meantime here are some 'easy' principles , and what they mean when you climb aboard your flight....

Price Elastic ( fall in price leads to high demand )

No frills ( High fixed costs but these reduced by no meals on the plane, quick turnaround on the runway )

Yield Management System Price changes according to demand. Book your plane early before the price goes up too much !

High Asset Utilisation Large % of seats will be taken on your flight.

Outsourcing to the customer ( Let them print out their own boarding card ).

Mike Sturrock ( Head of Operating Systems at easyJet ) has done some guest lectures at the University recently. These might be worth looking out for in the future.

Death of an Entrepreneur

The recent death of entrepreneur Nicolas Hayek, reported widely in the press struck me as relevant to several of the questions set in the Applied Management Project.

Hayek was the man behind the Swatch. His simple idea was that a watch need not be expensive, but could still be desirable, if marketed as a stylish "must have" brand.
A fashion accessory as much as a timepiece.

The idea ( and the Swatch ) are still going strong today. Hayek became one of the world's weathiest men...

A look at Hayek's background, and the nature of his ideas could be relevant in particular to the question about whether entrepreneurs are born or created....

Lies, Damned lies and statistics....

Interesting graphics, and stats from a variety of sources ( ONS, Government Departments, MORI )

Prospect Magazine on changes to Britain 1997-2009

Rise in home internet access from 4% - 73%

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/how-britain-has-changed-since-1997/

The Role of the ASA

Higher complaints to the ASA show that business is not interested in CSR. Discuss

This AMP Project really depends on finding out what the remit of the ASA really is.

The ASA ( Advertisng Standards Authority) is an independent regulator of advertising across all media.

The ASA studies adverts which are misleading, inappropriate or offensive. An advert could however be misleading without being against the principles of CSR. Check the ASA website to check which advertisements have infringed the code.

http://www.asa.org.uk/

Facts and figures might also tell their own story. In 2008 there were 26,433 complaints and 2,475 ads withdrawn. Perhaps the public these days are more 'willing' to be offended.

Certainly some of the advertisements in our old journals would not be considered acceptable today.

(Depicted ad from Country Life 1973)

Entrepreneurs - Born or Made ?

AMP Question about whether Entrepreneurs are born or created at Business School.

This article raises a few points concerning the role of ambition in the creation of an entrepreneur.

And that crucial factor , exploiting an opportunity in the market. The example cited here is James Seddon and his creation 'Eggxactly' for soft-boiling eggs.

Researching a market however, to find the gaps, is also important. Surely some of these skills can be taught and learnt at Business School.

Some of the personal traits of an entreprenuer are given with examples :

Be Passionate ( Gordon Ramsey)

Resilience ( Keep calm, carry on, Learn from mistakes - Richard Branson )

Be outgoing - don't shy away from publicity ( Alan Sugar )

Be confident, not arrogant ( Stelios ?)

Whether you went to business school or not however may also be irrelevant if you have not got the money for start-up costs, or if the economy is against you....

Marcouse, I (2007) So, you want to be Richard Branson ? Business Review (14) 1 p.2-3

Statistics and the Press

Newspapers will frequently take their stories ( in this case their headlines ) from official national statistics.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) has been gathering material about the way Britons live since the 1970's.

This week it was announced that the annual spending on sweets in the UK for instance was £372 per child.

If you are doing a business topic which includes any kind of statistical data analysis check which figures maybe available.

Several of the AMP questions concern web-based marketing / advertising. It would be vital to find some recent figures on online access in the UK for this type of research.

In 2009 according to the ONS 70% of households had internet access

What Future BHS ?

In this week's Saturday Daily Telegraph Mary Portas looks at the fortunes of that High Street institution British Home Stores

www.telegraph.co.uk/maryportas

Owner Sir Philip Green promised a bit of a revamp to introduce some of his other mid-market brands, but this doesn't seem to have helped BHS turn the corner at present.

There are some alarming contrasts with rival Primark.

In Luton these rival stores are literally a stone's throw apart ( please don't test this out )

I'm just noting however that BHS usually seems to be more populated by older shoppers ( potentially a big market ), and housed in brutalist 60's buildings.

The picture of the Market Street, Manchester looks very similar to our Luton branch ( pictured )

The Cockroach Business Model

Is the cockroach business model (humble, basic & safe ) the secret of long term survival ?

AMP questions like really asking you to think about how complex a business model should be. Cockroach is unlikely to be one of the keywords which you would use, but the analogy to the animal may be worth considering.

Cochroaches ( despite being simple creations ) are one of the hardiest creatures in nature, and most likely to survive for example, a nuclear holocaust.

Could developing your business in the same way work in a time of recession ? Or is it really the case that more innovation ( and less simplicity ) is required ?

Look at both simple and innovative business strategies before reaching your conclusion.

CSR - a fundamental change or 'greenwash' ?

Don't ignore some of the useful information in printed journals , such as this this one.

Held in print at the Park Square library, and definitely worth a browse for some recent academic opinion....

Obtaining material from other libraries

During your AMP you may uncover articles, or books which you need, and that we do not hold in our collection. If this is so we can obtain these items for you ( usually from the British Library )

This short video explains how the system works

http://lrweb.beds.ac.uk/libinfo/inter-lib

Paperless Office ?

After we had seen the AMP Group studying this topic, we came across quite a few articles on the ACM database ( Just do a quick search on the library catalogue )

Some people have commented that a paperless office is about as likely as a paperless toilet.

Paper has many of the following uses :

• Legal Contracts - often still found in this form
• Communication device - eg printed lists of phone numbers
• Display - posters / information
• Portability - books vs their electronic equivalent
• Status - would we really trust someone with no paper in their workplace ?

(Pictured on the left - my in-tray )

AMPeter Godwin

Thanks for your attendence at today's sessions in both J110 ( very hot ) and A004 - pictured.

We appreciate that it was a long day, but look forward to seeing you all again in your groups later in the week.

Welcome to the AMP - Contacting us this week

Welcome to the AMP.

We'll be seeing lots of you this week. The best way to ensure that we are around if you want to see us is by e-mail :

peter.godwin@beds.ac.uk

alan.bullimore@beds.ac.uk

We will get back to you as soon as possible, and arrange to see you.

Enjoy the project....

Management and Organisational Behaviour

There are currently lots of reservations on this book.
Mullins, J (2007 ) Organisational Behaviour, 8th ed

Don't forget that if you are unable to obtain a copy there will be several academic articles by the same author on this topic ( for example through Business Source Premier database )

As these kind of textbooks are republished frequently we will not buy unlimited amounts for of libraries.

Enron - Smartest guys in the room

In stock in the LRC, Luton this 2005 dvd about the 2001 Enron scandal, the largest financial scandal in American history.

If you are studying business ethics, corporate social responsibilty or financial scandals this might be a good starting point.

Corporate Social Responsibility Blog

This one is an excellent source for definitions of corporate social responsibility, case studies, and informed debate on the topic.

Follow up references from academic journals which you might find through Business Source Premier.

But this would definitely not be out of place in your bibliography.

http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/index.php

Using recent examples in your work

We've recently been having discussions in the LRC about displaying our most most glossy magazines. Academics will always want you to use peer-reviewed / scholarly material, but it would be worth browing the shelves of publications such as Admap

Recent examples will show you have tried to keep abreast of the news...here's one about branding and the South Africa World Cup...

Rule Britannica !

The online version of the Encyclopaedia Britannica links to lots of useful journal articles, for example from Marketing magazine. Usefully most of the case studies are UK based for topics such as branding.

Just use our library catalogue to find Britannica, and then keep your searches fairly broad.

The branding search unearthed lots of good materials, which might look quite impressive in your reference list.

Brands - and Telling Stories

If you are looking at brands these two books might be relevant.

Danesi, M (2006) Brands. Abingdon : Routledge

is a new addition to stock in the Park Square LRC.

Lots on what constitutes a brand and the psychology of branding.

Brand Failures is an older book, but very informative about why brands fail.

Harley Davidson for example is a well recognised brand throughout the world - their attempt to launch a perfume however was not so successful.

The image of rugged masculinity did not really work for a shampoo.

Effect of Sporting events on the economy...

Business Management students at Bedford this year did a project on the possible effects of the 2012 Olympics on the economy. There might be some lessons to draw from the effect of this summer's World Cup on the South African economy. *

The home nation hopes for plenty of money, all the stadia to be finished and to look impressive.

They hope for lots of merchandising, and a boost to tourism.

The crises faced by Greece however following the 2004 Olympics look ominous..including more corruption and some dubious accounting practices.

The South African Stadia might look impressive, but the labour used to build them has been short-term. There is little evidence of long term benefit. Most of the grounds will revert to rugby or cricket after the tournament is over...

Once it is over most South Africans may be left to wonder where the money has gone.

Watch this space after 11th July if you are doing this topic next year...

Runciman, D (2010) Football's goldmine, Guardian Review, 22nd May 2010 p.2

Entrepreneurs : Born or made ?

Are you answering a question about whether entrepreneurs can learn any skills at Business School, or whether these are inherent ?

This is a common AMP topic...

Maybe think about which of the following you might learn at the University of Bedfordshire ?

Risk management Creativity and innovation


Determination

Teamwork

Motivation

Can-do attitude

Communication skills

Organisation

Leadership

Initiative

Costa Social Responsibility

Fairtrade products form 17.2 % of the ground coffee subsector *.

That's alot of caffeine,


If you are looking for case studies on fairtrade or CSR then it would be advisable to see what the websites of Costa, Starbucks, or Cafe Nero say on this topic...


* Keynote Report (2009) Hot Beverages Market Assessment [online] via http://library.beds.ac.uk. Accessed on May 18th 2010

Sandwiching in CSR

This week's Mary Portas article* looks at the Pret A Manger and EAT chains. These might make useful UK case studies if you are looking at either CSR ( Corporate Social Responsibilty) or e-business / Web 2.0.

Pret is now 24 years old, and has 202 UK outlets ( none in Bedford or Luton ?) Pret's website is full of material on their commitment to charity projects and sustainability. All tuna is pole-and-line caught...

http://www.pret.com/sustainability/

EAT is a smaller company ( 100 UK outlets ) which has a whizzy iPhone application...the charity page is 'coming soon'.

Both chains might be also suitable for comparison with Starbucks and Costa in their business practices....

*Portas, M (2010) Shop! Daily Telegraph Magazine, 15th May p.11

Fashion Babylon

I've just finished this book - a brilliantly readable expose of the fashion industry which is very relevant if you are looking at luxury brands, celebrity endorsements or the fashion industry in general.

Kate Moss had so many objections that 18 pages were cut out. Some of the stories about her which are still in it are fairly racy too...

Only the lack of an index stops this one from being a fantastic source. Copies on order for the LRC and also the companion book 'Air Babylon'