Go Barca!!
Our study group did the Strategy case write up on the football team, FC Barcelona. The end result was this gorgeous, colorful compilation of over 40 pages about the spirited football club, its challenges and strategies in the exciting industry of European football. For instance, as teams like ManU develop non-core business activities such as financial services and travel agencies, how can FCB compete with its strategy of focusing solely on the basic business and passion of the game of football? Real Madrid spends fortunes recruiting star players, only to have them upset they are winding up on the bench so often...is it better to get the strong players first, to build the team name, or to work with respectable players to build the team name, and then the stars will naturally want to join?? Anyway it was interesting to research. I didn't realize that at FCB the club is actually owned by its conglomeration of over 120,000 members, whom are usually dedicated fans willing to pay the membership fee.
And then it was great to see Barca beat Chelsea just in time for our report as well! ;)
'Behind the Music'
I had a random thought today that doing all of these case studies is a bit like VH1's 'Behind the Music.' Have you ever noticed if you, for example, watch a behind-the-scenes or interview show about a music group, you often automatically have a newfound appreciation for them, the next time you hear their music?? You know more about the band, and you feel somehow more connected with them based on your understanding from watching a feature show about them.
It can be that way with all these endless case studies...forced to plow through endless company details, sometimes very tedious and irrelevant details, you come out on the other side of the case with a deeper knowledge about that company, its history and challenges and strategies, and like it or not, often more of an appreciation. Or at least understanding, if not appreciation. I guess this goes back to my previous post about looking at companies differently after reading their 'behind-the-scenes' case study or doing a project on the company.
Studying everyday life...
Have you ever thought about what a huge impact business has on the modern world? I mean, you cannot go a day, rarely an hour, without coming into some aspect of business. It's actually quite exciting to be studying things that you come into contact with everyday, and to gain further understanding into what is happening behind the scenes.
For instance, now every time I walk past
Marks and Spencer's in the center of town, I think of Sir Richard Greenbury (former CEO) and our class discussions on the decline of M&S, after it tried to hold onto an approach to retail that had worked in the past, not adapting to changing lifestyles and tastes.
I walk past Boots and think of reading about
L'Oreal, and how it took quite a lot of time and effort for them to make their Plenitude skincare line a success in the US, compared to in France. It was interesting to consider certain consumer attitude differences between the two countries, such as the fact that French woman are more educated about skincare on average, and more concerned with reducing signs of aging. American women often thought the skincare line was too complicated, and in particular the boxes and labels of the products would take too long to read! Guess it illustrates the differences in pace of life in the US and France, the American women don't even have time to read a label about their skin products.
We've studied
Microsoft and their culture of achievement and high standards of recruitment. We've talked endlessly about the innovation and adaptations of
Apple, and how powerful a signature product like the IPod can be. Debated whether Apple's recent push into broader markets (i.e. with the new Mac Mini) will decrease the feeling of 'exclusivity' that many apple-owners feel, or whether it will simply increase market share and profits while maintaining it's unique and innovative image. We've done projects, cases, readings on
Intel,
Toyota, MontGras Chilean Winery, Motorola, and more. We did a paper on UK's
Channel 4 and how they must balance being government owned with selling commercial advertisements and competing with BBC. Rob Woodward, Commercial Director who is actually leaving C4 this year, came to speak with us about his experiences.
Kevin Roberts, CEO of
Saatchi & Saatchi, came to provide an inspirational talk for us last week. I will admit I have more respect for the company than for the average advertising company after seeing Kevin speak, much due to the fact that they provide emotion, either laughter or love for instance, in their advertisements, and do not advertise anything they do not believe in. He spoke to us about following our dreams and that sort of inspirational banter. I liked his idea that the ultimate goal of marketing is to gain 'Customer loyalty beyond reason,' through emotion and deeper connections and desires. He talked about the use of mystery, sensuality, and intimacy in marketing, in this 'age of ideas' that we live in.
Yesterday we were discussing a case on
Cobra Beer, the beer which became known as best to drink with Indian food. The founder, Karan Bilimoria, went to Cambridge undergrad and began working on his idea of a less-gassy lager to go with curry at age 26. He started with nothing and worked his way up building this idea and company and getting his beer known among UK curryhouses. Today the company sells more than 50 million pounds worth of beer. We were discussing various expansion issues in class, and our teacher asked what we would ask Karan if we could. Various questions were thrown out, such as 'why would he choose those locations (that he looked at to expand), that doesn't make any sense!' Little did we know, Mr. Bilimoria was in the back of the classroom listening to our whole conversation! Needless to say it was an interesting class, and he gave an insightful talk about his entreprenuerial path, which is something many of us at Cambridge are interested in.
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Well that was a long entry but was just musing about the fact that we really are exposed to such a broad variety of sectors and companies here, and that what we study and discuss is so relevant, timely, newsworthy and interesting. More later.
