This week's case study on Menton Bank. I don't know if it is a real bank, but I cannot find it's information or website in the internet, no wonder the presenting group did not give additional info about the bank in their presentation earlier. I guess, the bank is opened for the sake of learning only! hahahaha..
To be honest, when me and my group worked on answering the questions, we didn't think that there are some flaws in the case. But then, Mr. Sandy mentioned it to us that the new job description of CSR is kinda inappropriate. He said that CSR only needs to be fast and accurate, they must not do cross-selling since the target market is now in the retail segment (many people will be waiting in line to meet with the CSR). The cross-selling and any other prospecting and marketing job should be done by CAR instead. More than that, the change in target market itself (from corporate to retail) will become a trouble. Once the focus is changed, then the whole company operation will have to be changed as well.
What I learned from this case is that, in business, we have to stay focused! A business that decided to operate in a niche market should stay in that area. The sales volume may not as big as businesses operating in mass market but the profit margin earned in each transaction can be much bigger, thus the sum of profit cannot be determined from sales volume only. If this business concentrates on performing well and keep on innovating in its niche market, then it can be the market leader of this small unexploited market. More than that, the competition is not as intense as those in mass market. Each market has its own difficulties and challenges, once we made our decision of which market we're going to serve, then we have to really differentiate and strive to be the market leader.
I have my own small pastry business, it is called Delicate patisserie. I sell different types of cakes ranging from loaf cakes (banana, carrot, cotton cheesecake, brownies and marble cake) to birthday and festive cakes (cheesecake, black forest, fruitcake, etc.) I chose to operate in a higher class of the market, that's why none of my selling price is below Rp. 50,000. I use high quality raw materials and people can even have a customized order. The population of my target market might not be too large, but I have my own loyal customers. What I need to do is to focus on exploring more about this target market and finding more information about what they like and what they need. I will not want to switch my operation to the mass marketing and sell way cheaper cakes because the market is too saturated and I don't think I have the channel to obtain the lowest priced raw materials.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Managing People by Ibu Ita Saleh
Finally, I got back to university today after a week of holiday and one day sick leave.. I'm still sick, a little bit, but much better than the last several days.. Praise God for that!
We had a guest speaker today on our marketing class, Ibu Ita Saleh, the HR Manager of Java Paragon Hotel. Last semester, she was invited to our Human Resources Management class too. It's interesting to learn about the art of understanding people, finding ways of making them do what you want them to do, motivating them and make them learn. Of course it will not be an easy task because every person has his own character, ego and point of view. That's why it is a specific branch of management!
Since primary school, I have shown my leadership skill and always wanted to be the leader of the crowd. My perception is, I don't want to be just someone in the crowd, just one of those people, I wanna be recognized, I want to stand out! That's why, most of the time, people will choose me (or I volunteer) to be the leader of groups. Starting from small school project groups to student council to large school events. I love it when I'm given a responsibility, it's a form of self-actualization for me and it gives me the drive to perform even more and prove them that their decision of choosing me was absolutely right!
It's been long since I understood that handling people, dealing with different people are hard, super hard indeed! The more people involved in the group, the harder will it become. One thing that crossed my mind during the class today was 'if I want to take control of people, then I have to make them do what they wanna do wholeheartedly. The only way to do that is to match my communication methods to their personalities.' Of course we cannot speak loudly, using harsh language and speak directly to the point to someone with a soft heart like Vania. On the other side, I have to speak with simpler vocabularies, more casual tone and a little joke around with someone as noisy and outgoing as Jenifer. Well, from now on, I have to analyze people more to find out ways to communicate well with every one of them. Not easy, but it is very important!
We also discussed about a case study on Accra Beach Hotel today. We had a different point of view from the presenting group. We refused the block booking of the sport group based on our profit calculation and several other reasons like losing the loyal customer, disturbing the vacationers and many more. All in all, when we're going to make an important decision, we have to take into account all aspect that will be affected
We had a guest speaker today on our marketing class, Ibu Ita Saleh, the HR Manager of Java Paragon Hotel. Last semester, she was invited to our Human Resources Management class too. It's interesting to learn about the art of understanding people, finding ways of making them do what you want them to do, motivating them and make them learn. Of course it will not be an easy task because every person has his own character, ego and point of view. That's why it is a specific branch of management!
Since primary school, I have shown my leadership skill and always wanted to be the leader of the crowd. My perception is, I don't want to be just someone in the crowd, just one of those people, I wanna be recognized, I want to stand out! That's why, most of the time, people will choose me (or I volunteer) to be the leader of groups. Starting from small school project groups to student council to large school events. I love it when I'm given a responsibility, it's a form of self-actualization for me and it gives me the drive to perform even more and prove them that their decision of choosing me was absolutely right!
It's been long since I understood that handling people, dealing with different people are hard, super hard indeed! The more people involved in the group, the harder will it become. One thing that crossed my mind during the class today was 'if I want to take control of people, then I have to make them do what they wanna do wholeheartedly. The only way to do that is to match my communication methods to their personalities.' Of course we cannot speak loudly, using harsh language and speak directly to the point to someone with a soft heart like Vania. On the other side, I have to speak with simpler vocabularies, more casual tone and a little joke around with someone as noisy and outgoing as Jenifer. Well, from now on, I have to analyze people more to find out ways to communicate well with every one of them. Not easy, but it is very important!
We also discussed about a case study on Accra Beach Hotel today. We had a different point of view from the presenting group. We refused the block booking of the sport group based on our profit calculation and several other reasons like losing the loyal customer, disturbing the vacationers and many more. All in all, when we're going to make an important decision, we have to take into account all aspect that will be affected
Sunday, September 4, 2011
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