"Eti bana Browni ver" campaign has opened their blog. See it here http://etibanabrowniver.blogspot.com/
SEO is a powerful tool to increase brand visibility and presence on the web. As the Internet is now a primary source of information and goods, it only makes sense to be as visible as possible in order to attract and meet the needs of your customers. There are many ways to approach SEO efforts, and it can be difficult for businesses just starting out. Luckily, there are many resources available to assist in SEO efforts, especially for small businesses. In this week’s top five we’re providing some tips for effective SEO marketing.
via toptut.com
Most bulk email is boring
This is really the same issue as the previous one.
Self-centered content is dull. It’s like getting cornered by that awful friend of a friend at a party. You know the guy.
“But enough about me. What do you think about me?”
It’s hard to ditch the guy at the party. It’s very, very easy not to read or open an email.
I get dozens of messages every day that are so boring and self-centered I can’t be bothered to unsubscribe. I just set up a rule to automatically throw them in the trash as they come in. Or I let them pile up in the spam filter until I feel like deleting 20 or 30 at a time without looking at them.
And I’m one of the nice ones. Many people will just mark you as a spammer for the crime of being boring.
And my guess is that those are the folks who are getting caught in Gmail limbo — people who failed one too many times to engage their readers, and got unfairly marked as spam.
Now that’s pathetic.
via copyblogger.com
Looking for the most effective way to improve efficiency and business agility with SAP Business All-in-One? Learn how SAP Consulting and SAP channel partners leverage proven methodologies, industry expertise, and best practices to help your midsize company achieve a smooth, affordable implementation with minimal risk.
via sap.com
WordPress is free, which is part of it’s appeal, as are many of the enhancements that can be installed to change the look and function of WordPress, including its themes. However, although there are hundreds of free WordPress themes that you can download and use quite easily, sometimes it’s wise to invest in a premium theme instead. Why? Here are 5 reasons:
1. Customization
The best premium themes are far more customizable than the best free themes. If you want to have the most options for design and search engine optimization without having to learn HTML backwards and forwards, a good premium theme is definitely your best choice.
2. Support
It’s common for the developers of free themes to offer very limited support. And sometimes they offer no support at all. The developers of the best premium themes have more incentive to offer support and will usually have both detailed instructions that are updated frequently and an active user forum. Even the best themes can have technical glitches from time to time, so having good support is manditory when using any WordPress theme.
3. Updates
There is also less incentive for developers of free themes to fix bugs and update their theme when WordPress goes through one of it’s many upgrades. Sometimes they’ll stop offering the theme altogether. Purchasing a good premium theme will usually give you a lifetime of bug fixes and updates so any issues with be corrected in a timely way.
4. Quality
There are very few free themes that come close to the quality of the best premium themes. Everything from design elements to search engine optimization is covered by a good premium theme.
5. No unwanted adware
Free themes sometimes contain hidden code that inserts ads or other things that benefit the theme’s creator instead of you. The best premium themes do not have adware and often you can purchase a license to remove the companies’ logo, etc. so you can ‘brand’ your site and your client’s sites as your own.
via toptut.com
Steve Jobs does not sell computers; he sells an experience. The same holds true for his presentations that are meant to inform, educate, and entertain. An Apple presentation has all the elements of a great theatrical production—a great script, heroes and villains, stage props, breathtaking visuals, and one moment that makes the price of admission well worth it. Here are the five elements of every Steve Jobs presentation. Incorporate these elements into your own presentations to sell your product or ideas the Steve Jobs way.
via businessweek.com
To be successful at Internet marketing, you must understand the essential secrets of Internet marketing. These secrets can allow you to achieve success by finding the right audience, communicating your message properly, and leading consumers down the path to purchase. These secrets include:
![[ForFlipFlops.jpg]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRiC-8ejOfUJtRVP7fTb6OAPuZmpnvSJaIUGihhcedjrEYWxm9zPdILwQY9MAYWtxIP9G4fwoKwx0tdB1LkK9oeqO-0MeQoEdkAzy7MybJHY8Az68sMqha6sQpxMX197SFEq6L2cv40_w/s1600/ForFlipFlops.jpg)
The Year 2000 problem (also known as the Y2K problem, the millennium bug, the Y2K bug, or simply Y2K) was a notable problem for both digital (computer-related) and non-digital documentation and data storage situations which resulted from the practice of abbreviating a four-digit year to two digits.
In computer program design, the practice of representing the year with two digits becomes problematic with logical error(s) arising upon "rollover" from x99 to x000. This has caused some date-related processing to operate incorrectly for dates and times on and after January 1, 2000 and on other critical dates which were billed "event horizons". Without corrective action, it was suggested that long-working systems would break down when the "...97, 98, 99, 00..." ascending numbering assumption suddenly became invalid. Companies and organizations worldwide checked, fixed, and upgraded their computer systems.
via en.wikipedia.org
All forms of libertarianism support strong personal rights rights to life and liberty, but do not agree on the subject of property.[8] The best known[9][1][10] formulation of libertarianism supports free market capitalism[11] by advocating a right to private property, including property in the means of production,[12] minimal government regulation of that property, minimal taxation, and rejection of the welfare state, all within the context of the rule of law.[13][14][15] A number of countries worldwide have libertarian parties which run candidates for political office.
via en.wikipedia.org
AceMoney helps to organize and manage personal finances quickly and easily. It supports all the features required for home or even small-business accounting needs:
- Manage multiple accounts of different types
AceMoney supports checking, savings, credit cards, loans, debt accounts. You can even create your own account type, such as a cash allowance for your kids!
- Create and manage budgets
The program has more than 100 predefined spending categories. Setup budget limits for every category and track the difference between actual and budgeted values.
- Track performance of investments
Track 401k, Stock options, Employee Stock Purchase Plans or any other investment activities. You don't need to enter the stock quotes manually: AceMoney will download them from the net!
via mechcad.net
A CV is your personal marketing profile. In just two minutes, it needs to attract an employer to want to interview you, so it needs to really stand out from other candidates' CVs.
CV4Me is an interactive tool that will create a CV for you. Once completed, you can save your CV to your computer, or to your ow
Exploratree is a free web resource where you can access a library of ready-made interactive thinking guides, print them, edit them or make your own. You can share them and work on them in groups too.
The Exploratree web resource has been developed by Futurelab and emerged out of our work on the Enquiring Minds project. It provides a series of ready-made interactive 'thinking guides' or 'frameworks' which can support students' projects and research. Thinking guides support the thinking or working through of an issue, topic or question and help to shape, define and focus an idea and also support the planning required to investigate it further. Exploratree guides can be used as a basis for whole class discussion, or emailed to individuals or groups to complete. They can also be used as a presentation tool to share your findings and thinking with others. As well as providing a set of ready to use thinking guides, which are completely customisable and shareable, Exploratree also enables teachers and students to create their own simply and easily.
With Exploratree you can:
- Use our ready-made thinking guides
- Make a new thinking guide from scratch
- Use it to set class projects
- Print them out (they can go as big as A0)
- Change and customise thinking guides, you can add or change text, shapes, images etc.
- As a teacher, you can set up the sequence that you want the thinking guide to be revealed in, so that you can stage the thinking activity
- You can fill in a thinking guide and complete your project on the website
- You can present your project
- You can send your thinking guide to a whole group of people
- You can submit a thinking guide for comments, so it can't be edited but just reviewed
- Work in groups on the same thinking guide
IELTS is the world’s proven English test. Over 1.2 million candidates take the test each year to start their journeys into international education and employment.
IELTS is recognised by more than 6000 institutions across 120 countries.
You can rely on IELTS - the test that sets the standard.
via ielts.org
http://www.ielts.org/ILINK|%200,|
The Elements of Style (1918) (aka Strunk & White), by William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White, is an American English writing style guide. It is the best-known and most influential prescriptive treatment of English grammar and usage, and often is required reading and usage in U.S. high school and university composition classes. The original, 1918 edition of The Elements of Style detailed eight elementary rules of usage, ten elementary principles of composition, “a few matters of form”, and a list of commonly misused words and expressions.
via en.wikipedia.org
via youtube.com
A huge wall advertisement by The Miller Beer
E-Marketing 2nd Ed. (2001)
by Strauss and Frost. Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0-130-32264-4
(formerly called Marketing on the Internet in its 1st edition)
Publisher's Page, Amazon.com PagePrinciples of Internet Marketing (2000)
by Ward Hanson. South-Western Pub. ISBN 0-538-87573-9
Publisher's Page, Amazon.com PageStrategic Electronic Marketing (2001)
by Brad Kleindl. South-Western Pub. ISBN: 0-324-01319-1
Publisher's Page, Amazon.com PageInternet Marketing, 3rd Ed. (2000)
by Charles Hofacker. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN: 0-471-39051-8
Publisher's Page, Amazon.com PageAdvertising on the Internet, 2nd Ed. (1999)
by Zeff and Aronson. John Wily & Sons. ISBN: 0-471-34404-4
Publisher's Page, Amazon.com PageCustomers.com (1998)
by Patricia Seybold. Times Books. ISBN: 0-812-93037-1
Publisher's Page, Amazon.com PageMarketing and the Internet (2001)
by Eloise Coupey. Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0-130-16975-7
Publisher's Page, Amazon.com PageE-Commerce (2001)
by Rayport and Jaworski. McGraw-Hill HE. ISBN: 0-072-46521-2
Publisher's Page, Amazon.com PageThe Internet Marketing Plan, 2nd Ed. (2000)
by Kim Bayne. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN: 0-471-35598-4
Publisher's Page, Amazon.com PageInternet Marketing (2000)
by Paul Richardson. McGraw-Hill HE. ISBN: 0-072-42793-0
Publisher's Page, Amazon.com PageElectronic Marketing (2000)
by Reedy, et all. Harcourt College Pub. Pub. ISBN: 0-030-21107-7
Publisher's Page, Amazon.com PageStrategic Marketing for a Digital Age (1998)
by Bill Bishop. McGraw-Hill NTC / AMA. ISBN: 0-844-23441-9
Publisher's Page, Amazon.com PageWebonomics (1998)
by Evan Schwartz. Broadway Books. ISBN: 0-553-06172-0
Publisher's Page, Amazon.com PageE-Commerce Management (2002)
by Sandeep Krishnamurthy, South-Western Pub. ISBN: 0-324-15252-3
Publisher's Page, Amazon.com Page
In such cases the Distribution Calculator offers a reliable solution. The user simply enters the degrees of freedom, the test statistic or the level of signifance, and the program calculates the probability or the test statistic, respectively. The Distribution Calculator offers calculations for the normal distribution, the t distribution, the chi-square distribution, and the F distribution. As can be seen from the screen shot you may select for one-sided or two-sided tests. The probabilities beyond the critical values are colored in red.
via vias.org
More specifically, a test statistic is computed with
and
degrees of freedom, and the result is compared to this table. For a one-sided test, the null hypothesis is rejected when the test statistic is greater than the tabled value. This is demonstrated with the graph of an F distribution with
significance level. Since this is a one-sided test, we have
via itl.nist.gov
If a marketer can identify consumer buyer behaviour, he or she will be in a better position to target products and services at them. Buyer behaviour is focused upon the needs of individuals, groups and organisations.
It is important to understand the relevance of human needs to buyer behaviour (remember, marketing is about satisfying needs).
The Top 4 Misapplications of the 80/20 Rule
Eighty percent of the output comes from twenty percent of the input. That is basically a summary of the Pareto Principle, or as it is more commonly known, the 80/20 Rule. The rule comes from Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist who noticed that 80% of Italy’s wealth was in the hands of 20% of the population.
Making a critical evaluation of your business concept at an early stage will allow you to discover, address, and correct any fatal flaws before investing time in preparing your business plan. As you work through this phase, Phase II of business development, you will identify factors that are essential to your venture's success while compiling the detailed, in-depth information you need to write your business plan, thereby immensely shortening the next phase in the process.
via inc.com
No Excuses! Time to Leverage Social Media Technology in Customer Service | CustomerThink - CRM, CEM & Social Media
The New Consumer
The phenomenal growth of online social networking and mobile communication is creating a cultural shift in our society. Specifically, these new media are creating a more demanding consumer. Because it is much easier to get information on any topic at any time of day, consumers now expect more immediacy and convenience. Because there are multiple, if not endless, sources available to validate or negate information from businesses, consumers also demand more honesty. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, because the community aspect of social media fosters strength in numbers, consumers demand to be heard.
David MacKenzie Ogilvy, CBE (June 23, 1911–July 21, 1999), was a notable advertising executive. He has often been called "The Father of Advertising." In 1962, Time called him "the most sought-after wizard in today's advertising industry." [1] He was known for a career of expanding the bounds of both creativity and morality.
via en.wikipedia.org
Research on human multitasking
Since the 1990s, experimental psychologists have started experiments on the nature and limits of human multitasking. It has been proven multitasking is not as workable as concentrated times. In general, these studies have disclosed that people show severe interference when even very simple tasks are performed at the same time, if both tasks require selecting and producing action (e.g., Gladstones, Regan, & Lee, 1989; Pashler, 1994). Many researchers believe that action planning represents a "bottleneck", which the human brain can only perform one task at a time.
The term "multitasking" was originated in the computer engineering industry. It was used to reference the ability of a microprocessor, which is the brain of the computer. Multitasking means to process several tasks simuntaneously (from article "You say Multitasking like it's a good thing" by Charles J. Abate, March/April 2009 issue of NEAtoday). Microprocessors can't literally perform several tasks simultaneously. "They are inherently linear in their operation and can perform only one task at a time".
via en.wikipedia.org
FreeMind is a premier free mind-mapping (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map) software written in Java. The recent development has hopefully turned it into high productivity tool. We are proud that the operation and navigation of FreeMind is faster than that of MindManager because of one-click "fold / unfold" and "follow link" operations.
So you want to write a completely new metaphysics? Why don't you use FreeMind? You have a tool at hand that remarkably resembles the tray slips of Robert Pirsig, described in his sequel to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance called Lila. Do you want to refactor your essays in a similar way you would refactor software? Or do you want to keep personal knowledge base, which is easy to manage? Why don't you try FreeMind? Do you want to prioritize, know where you are, where you've been and where you are heading, as Stephen Covey would advise you? Have you tried FreeMind to keep track of all the things that are needed for that?
A planogram is a diagram of fixtures and products that illustrates how and where retail products should be displayed, usually on a store shelf in order to increase customer purchases[1][2]. They may also be referred to as plano-grams, plan-o-grams, schematics (archaic) or POGs.
via en.wikipedia.org
Internet Marketing Acronyms / Abbreviations / Initialisms
AJ - Ask Jeeves
AOL - America Online
ASP - Application Service Provider
AV - AltaVista
B2B - Business to Business
B2C - Business to Consumer
CPA - Cost Per Action
CPC - Cost Per Click
CPS - Cost Per Sale
CTR - Click-Through Rate
DH - Direct Hit
FFA - Free-For-All Link List
HB - HotBot
IM - Instant Messaging
INK - Inktomi
LS - LookSmart
MSN - Microsoft Network
NL - Northert Light
NSI - Network Solutions
PFI - Pay For Inclusion
PFP - Pay For Performance
PPC - Pay Per Click
PPCSE - Pay Per Click Search Engine
PPL - Pay Per Lead
PPS - Pay Per Sale
PV - Page View
RON - Run Of Network
ROS - Run Of Site
SEO - Search Engine Optimization
SEP - Search Engine Positioning
UV - Unique Visitor
WWW - World Wide Web
Y! - Yahoo!
Abstract:
This paper performs a census of the 101 performance measures for portfolios that have been proposed so far in the scientific literature. We discuss their main strengths and weaknesses and provide a classification based on their objectives, properties and degree of generalization. The measures are categorized based on the general way they are computed: asset selection vs. market timing, standardized vs. individualized, absolute vs. relative and excess return vs. gain measure. We show that several categories have been exhausted while some others feature very heterogeneous ways to assess performance within the same sets of objectives.
Keywords: performance measurement, portfolio, funds, Sharpe, alpha, Treynor, market timing
via papers.ssrn.com
Retailing Management by Levy and Weitz is the best-selling textbook in the retailing market.
Retailing is a high tech, global, growth industry that provides challenging and rewarding career opportunities for college graduates. This book and its corresponding tools and exercises were written to expose students to the excitement of retailing and prepare them for a career in retailing and related fields.
The General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) is a high-level modeling system for mathematical programming and optimization. It consists of a language compiler and a stable of integrated high-performance solvers. GAMS is tailored for complex, large scale modeling applications, and allows you to build large maintainable models that can be adapted quickly to new situations.
via gams.com
Risk Taking Is Acceptable to Management
Management must recognize the risk/reward relationship and find organizational mechanisms for handling it. And it must communicate a clear understanding that reasonable risks are acceptable, since they are the handmaidens of progress. On the innovative front, two methods are available for dealing with risk: diversification and cheap failures. They can and should be used in concert.
via youtube.com
This is the second part (response) of the eBay viral named Dear Manu.
Are you losing customers because you don't know how the brain works?
Do you really understand how the marketing brain works? Are you harnessing its immense potential to make your business generate greater revenues? Wouldn't your strategy and tactics be vastly different, if you understood these psychological marketing ideas?
If you don't understand the simplicity and predictability of the brain, a lot of your business could be walking out the door. And you may not even realise it! Here's your opportunity to learn the psychology behind what makes your customer's brain tick. Then you can use this information, to keep them stuck to you like glue!
John P. Kotter, in a 2001 Harvard Business Review article, claims that most organizations are Overmanaged and Underled. He explains the differences between Leadership and Management, which I summarize below:
Leadership Management Cope with Change Cope with Complexity Set a Direction Planning and Budgeting Aligning People Organizing and Staffing Motivating and Inspiring Controlling and Problem Solving
via shmula.com
The marketing concept and strategy development for e-commerce The marketing concept with its central idea of market orientation stresses customer focus, but what emphasis can be placed on this when dealing with a new phenomenon? There was plenty of evidence in the case studies of the widespread use of customer and competitor feedback and research in general. This was made up of both feedback through sales contacts and also the use of a whole range of more formal market research methods. Indeed in the area of competitor research there was often far too much information and the problem for managers was in dealing with it all. However there was little evidence that market intelligence from customers had a significant influence in making the big strategic decisions that needed to be made to mobilise the e-commerce projects in these organisations. While undoubtedly the managers in the case study organisations would like to have a clearer vision of the future provided by customers, the reality is that they have to rely on what they already know and gut feeling. The Buildsoc technology manager sums up the situation in making strategic decisions:
Nobody knows or even has a well-founded view that will turn out to be the truth . . . the organisational impact is unknown, the ground rules are different . . . It's almost like how did gas companies react, when electricity was competitive? What is it we know about what we've been doing previously which will help us. That to me I see as the biggest challenge.
In taking this approach thinking has to be flexible, as plans may need to alter. The Interbank marketing manager warns against being too prescriptive: Within Interbank I think we have a very clear strategy, but not a very time detailed one, because you don't know what's going to happen three months down the line. Often there's the danger of being too strategic and saying right in three years time we will be doing this, this, this and this.
This challenge of the need to anticipate the future in dealing with innovation is not really encompassed in the market orientation models. Kohli and Jaworski (1990) acknowledge that intelligence generation involves anticipating customers' future needs, but do not develop this thought. Indeed in a later paper Jaworski and Kohli (1996) argue that innovation is an outcome of market orientation. The relationship between market orientation and innovation is not clear. On the one hand there is an argument (Hayes and Abernathy, 1980) that a market-oriented focus could be detrimental to innovation, based on the idea that market orientation seduces the business to being narrowly interested in short-term customer needs. On the other hand it is proposed that models of market orientation should focus more on innovation (Hurley and Hult, 1998). They suggest that, if market orientation requires the adoption of new behaviours (innovation), the construct of innovation should be included in the existing models of market orientation. Other studies of market orientation (Narver and Slater, 1990; Slater and Narver, 1994) took the position that the existence of a customer and competitor orientation in creating customer value will be sufficient to give a business a competitive advantage in all circumstances. Latterly Slater and Narver (1998) seem to have modified this view by adding that a market-oriented organisation develops long-term thinking and tries to satisfy latent customer needs. However the mechanics of market sensing in this way still seems to be very vague and it is not clear how it fits into the original market orientation models. Slater and Narver (1999) admit that the understanding of market orientation continues to evolve and much is still unknown.
The experience of the managers in the case studies appears to be that although an enormous amount of research and intelligence was gathered and used within the companies it was of only limited applicability in developing strategy. This is because of uncertainty about the future and the difficulty in researching theoretical propositions with customers.
Nobody knows or even has a well-founded view that will turn out to be the truth . . . the organisational impact is unknown, the ground rules are different . . . It's almost like how did gas companies react, when electricity was competitive? What is it we know about what we've been doing previously which will help us. That to me I see as the biggest challenge.
In taking this approach thinking has to be flexible, as plans may need to alter. The Interbank marketing manager warns against being too prescriptive: Within Interbank I think we have a very clear strategy, but not a very time detailed one, because you don't know what's going to happen three months down the line. Often there's the danger of being too strategic and saying right in three years time we will be doing this, this, this and this.
This challenge of the need to anticipate the future in dealing with innovation is not really encompassed in the market orientation models. Kohli and Jaworski (1990) acknowledge that intelligence generation involves anticipating customers' future needs, but do not develop this thought. Indeed in a later paper Jaworski and Kohli (1996) argue that innovation is an outcome of market orientation. The relationship between market orientation and innovation is not clear. On the one hand there is an argument (Hayes and Abernathy, 1980) that a market-oriented focus could be detrimental to innovation, based on the idea that market orientation seduces the business to being narrowly interested in short-term customer needs. On the other hand it is proposed that models of market orientation should focus more on innovation (Hurley and Hult, 1998). They suggest that, if market orientation requires the adoption of new behaviours (innovation), the construct of innovation should be included in the existing models of market orientation. Other studies of market orientation (Narver and Slater, 1990; Slater and Narver, 1994) took the position that the existence of a customer and competitor orientation in creating customer value will be sufficient to give a business a competitive advantage in all circumstances. Latterly Slater and Narver (1998) seem to have modified this view by adding that a market-oriented organisation develops long-term thinking and tries to satisfy latent customer needs. However the mechanics of market sensing in this way still seems to be very vague and it is not clear how it fits into the original market orientation models. Slater and Narver (1999) admit that the understanding of market orientation continues to evolve and much is still unknown.
The experience of the managers in the case studies appears to be that although an enormous amount of research and intelligence was gathered and used within the companies it was of only limited applicability in developing strategy. This is because of uncertainty about the future and the difficulty in researching theoretical propositions with customers.
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter we will examine our research methodology. First we will indicate the objection of research. We used some methods to collect this information. We interviewed with the executive managers of the company that we chose to examine. Also we used Internet to get information about our product and Google.
THE OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH
Our goals to make this research were to get information about the company we chose to examine. We made a deep interview with xxxx and xxxx and collected information. We used Internet to collect information about the company.
THE METHODS
We used several methods while doing this research. Firstly, we searched from the internet and than we made some interviews with a few managers. We also used some magazines about Google in this research.
Interviews
Firstly, we talked to xxxx who is head of the company. We asked him some questions about getting job in Google, the characteristics of Google employees, social guarantee of workers, etc. and he answered them.
Finally, we had a deep interview with xxxx who is a marketing manager in Google. Our interview continued at about 45 minutes. We asked him many questions about their market share, competitors, target market, promotion ways, and strategies to keep customers loyal, their problems and solutions. We were well-informed after that interview.
INTERNET
We have searched lots of sites to collect information about Google. The web site is www.google.com. We have also searched journals about marketing, management, corporation, etc. in the web sites www.ege.edu.tr
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, we examined the methods that we used to collect information. As a result of this research, we almost collected all the information we need. We had some interviews and learned to talk with an executive manager in a formal way. We think this will help us in our business life too much.
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The previous two sections have focused on the operation of the marketing concept at the levels of the development of strategy and organisational change in relation to the introduction of e-commerce.
This section focuses on the operational level in considering how e-commerce on its own and in conjunction with other channels is being used in relation to customers. Respondents from all four organisations mentioned three common elements of customer management that they expected to be delivered through e-commerce. These were:
(1) the provision of information on individual accounts;
(2) two-way communication with customers;
and
(3) self-servicing of transactions.
These contacts can be considered to be significant to the marketing process because of the importance of customer service as part of a consideration of the total relationship that the organisation has with the customer. Relationship marketing has been put forward as the new paradigm in marketing, in particular with regard to its significance in services companies. It is defined as being about establishing, maintaining, and enhancing relationships with customers and other partners (GroÈnroos, 1994, 1996) and provides an alternative view to the traditional US functional model of marketing. The services marketing literature (Reicheld and Sasser, 1990; Berry and Parasuraman, 1991) stresses the link between service quality and customer satisfaction and retention. It is argued that by improving the quality of service customer satisfaction will be improved and in turn a satisfied customer will be favourably disposed to a strong relationship with the provider. There may be a new type of opportunity to nurture customer relationships by using e-commerce. It may have advantages in optimising the quality of two-way contact (Sharpe, 1999) and by combining the ability to respond directly to customer requests and to provide the customer with a highly interactive, customised experience, companies may have a greater ability to establish, nurture, and sustain long-term relationships (Winer, 2001).
At Insco the degree to which end customer relationships are managed is strictly limited because the primary relationship with the customer is through the IFA and therefore direct interaction with end customers through either e-commerce or conventional means was negligible. Similarly at Internatco the focus in the past has not gone much past the IFA. Therefore, according to the Internatco project manager: If you define our customers as IFAs, at least initially, I think we are very well aware of what IFAs are doing and what they want from e-commerce.
The Internatco sales manager notes that there is a certain amount of commonality in the approach of half a dozen large insurance companies who have done their groundwork to find out what IFAs want from e-commerce. The Internatco organisation development manager sees electronic automation to be a source of competitive advantage to try and develop a distinctive proposition for intermediaries. At the same time a number of the Internatco respondents recognise that dealing primarily at arm's length to the customer, through intermediaries, will be challenged by e-commerce with the idea of providing a direct route for the customer to contact the company. With the development of e-commerce it is anticipated that there will be far more contact with end customers ± with a big communications centre: Now we will have more contact with them at pre-sale and even more contact after the sale, because they will be able to see their portfolio, etc. (Internatco marketing manager). This new operation selling direct to the end customer is seen as a model for the future by the Internatco organisation development manager. The problem is that this is in conflict with the existing way of operating in business channel silos with each laying claim to ``own'' their customers.
A similar challenge in managing customers in a consistent manner across the many different ways that customers may now interact with the organisation is also recognised by many of the Buildsoc respondents. The Buildsoc business improvement manager points out: One challenge is to actually make that customer experience and infrastructure as consistent as we can across all channels . . . exactly how we structure it . . . we need to think about it, but perhaps we need to be looking at the needs of customers, how they are defined across the channel. There will be somebody looking at the specific infrastructure associated with one particular channel, but I think we should be looking at the customer relationship and the management of that across the piece. There are major implications for branch roles in customer management if increasingly transactions become more self-service. In theory advisors in branches could be more focused on customer needs at different stagesof life and providing advice. In this information collected online may help in understanding customer needs, according to the Buildsoc online services development manager:
We want to build up a profile of the members' habits online. If we're providing them with non-financial content, we also get a better picture of their interests and of their likes and dislikes and that helps us build up a profile and it helps us to further member relationship management across all distribution channels. At the same time the creation of a central customer service unit to deal with telephone and e-commerce customer contact means that feedback is gathered in a central administrative area and head office staff are receiving direct communication from customers on service issues. In taking an integrated approach to e-commerce Buildsoc has added a further new channel and created some major challenges for itself in effectively and consistently managing the customer relationship across both the traditional and new channels. Things are much simpler at Interbank, where customer management is totally confined to this one business unit. It is claimed that Interbank was developed from the start from the point of view that it needed to be customer focused, with new staff, a new culture and processes that were designed around the customer and channel. Emphasis is put on the way everyone responds to customer comments. As the Interbank business strategy manager says:
I think the trick is not only getting the feedback, but being able to react to the feedback. In talking about his role the Interbank operations manager claims to worry about what the customer worries about. He gives a specific example of an exercise that demonstrates this approach:
We're struggling at the moment to understand the way in which customers are contacting us and why they're sending us e-mails. Why they're contacting us that way and how often do they send us e-mails, how quickly do they want a response to those e-mails? How do we schedule our workloads internally within the service centre to be able to handle those e-mails and handle those secure messages and get them back to customers within what they think is reasonable, which is generally within 24 hours. There is also a lot of emphasis at Interbank on involving all staff in understanding customer requirements and in improving the service. Feedback is collected and then all staff are involved in coming up with suggestions for improvements. The aim is to create an environment where staff act on what they hear from customers, often taking on responsibilities outside their nominal role in order to resolve customer issues.
Interbank demonstrates the way that CRM can be implemented effectively from a standing start with new customers. The advantage of short chains of command in Interbank is that you can get things done quickly as communications are simple and decisions can be made rapidly. However it is also recognised that this commitment to reacting quickly to feedback needs to be maintained despite the growth of the operation. What Interbank does demonstrate is how the marketing concept can work effectively at the operational level. A strong parallel can be drawn with Kohli and Jaworski's (1990) information processing model of market orientation in the way that intelligence from the customer is collected, shared within the organisation and acted upon. Alternatively, taking Narver and Slater's (1990) culture based model of market orientation, Interbank can be seen to have a very customer focused culture and it is effective in achieving interfunctional coordination in responding to customer requirements.
For a market-oriented organisation it is not enough to be focused on customers and competitors; it is necessary to be responsive to changes in the market (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990). In a large organisation this involves a high degree of interfunctional coordination (Narver and Slater, 1990). Small focused teams have been instrumental in forcing through change in both Buildsoc and Interbank. The Buildsoc marketing manager recognises the benefit of smaller group decision-making to short cut bureaucratic processes: I think a lot of people are warming to the idea that the business should be making the decisions in smaller groups and those smaller groups reporting their decisions to other groups, not necessarily inviting other groups to comment. There's got to be a corporate ownership and a greater level of trust in people's decision making . . . so I think the e-development has been a great stimuli to say do we really have to make decisions this slow and have committee meetings all over the place?
This is also recognised by the Buildsoc retail operations manager who suggests: The answer might be to make yourself small in the way you operate, but within a big context. That sounds a bit odd, but if you look at the companies that seem to be able to produce things very quickly [they] are very small companies. Then they get big and that slows them down. It's a question of acting small but being big, if that makes sense.
The need to see across the organisational strands and also focus on the shortest timeline for implementation is challenging and is not something that traditional management training has prepared people for (Smith, 1998). It requires seeing the detail for each area and type of person involved, while also keeping the big picture in mind. This cannot be hierarchical (Miles et al., 2000) and traditional rules do not always apply. In Buildsoc and Interbank small teams with the heavyweight support of their respective chief executive were seen to be the best way of overcoming some of the challenges in getting change projects underway. However this was not the end of the story. Getting a change initiative underway is only the start, it then needs to be fully integrated within the organisation.
In order to take advantage of the benefits of e-commerce Porter (2001) stresses the imperative for companies to develop tailored value chains to build up defensible competitive advantage. This involves a high degree of cross-activity integration, for instance sales activities linked with order processing. There is an appreciation from the Insco marketing manager that the response to e-commerce should be integrated: It's not just marketing, it's not just IT, it's product development, it's the whole business and I think people aren't aware of that enough across the business to be thinking in those terms.
Despite the initial success of getting the e-commerce projects off the ground, in some of the case studies, there were very real challenges identified in developing and sustaining an integrated and coordinated cross-functional approach to long-term implementation, where it was taking place within the existing organisation. In the Interbank case study the creation of the separate operation seems to have overcome some of these by sidestepping the issue. The point is that, for an existing company doing business on the Internet, a range of organisational issues arise requiring major adjustments to the organisational infrastructure: culture, people and structures (Boddy and Boonstra, 2000). But changes to mental models and norms (Kondra and Hinings 1998) can be psychologically threatening (Ashkenas, 2000). Therefore it needs to be recognised that the strategic Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal Volume 5 . Number 4 . 2002 . 252±260 decision to develop an innovation will have massive organisational implications (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990). The size of the challenge is neatly summed up by the Insco e-commerce manager: The company started in [date] ± 150 years odd of doing things by paper, it is hard to move the whole organisation and there are few visionaries around that realise that.
The issue of implementation of strategy is recognised in the major market orientation models, however it can be argued that this element is explained less than comprehensively. Kohli and Jaworski (1990) have less to say on responsiveness than intelligence generation or dissemination, but it is at the core of their model. Responsiveness is the action taken in response to market trends, involving virtually all departments in the organisation. However Jaworski and Kohli (1993) acknowledge that their analysis does not shed much light on the change process. In the alternative model of Narver and Slater (1990) the mechanics of responding to change in an integrated manner is described as interfunctional coordination. To accomplish this effectively companies need to develop horizontal structures and manage projects through small multi-functional teams (Slater and Narver, 1994), but they also need to become learning organisations (Slater and Narver, 1995). They agree with Day (1994) that superior ability to learn is critical because of the acceleration of technological change and the need to development distinct competencies to achieve competitive advantage. However they accept that there is no widely accepted theory of what comprises the culture and climate of a learning organisation.
Benchmarking is essential for those developing and implementing water policy. The tools are important for documenting past performance, establishing baselines for gauging productivity improvements, and making comparisons across service providers. Rankings can inform policymakers, those providing investment funds (multilateral organizations and private investors), and customers regarding the cost effectiveness of different water utilities. In addition, if managers do not know how well their organization or division has performed (or is
performing), they cannot set reasonable targets for future performance. Metric benchmarking quantifies the relative performance of organizations or divisions and provides managers and regulators with a foundation from which they can design policies and incentive programs to improve performance.
ROLE OF BENCHMARKING
Benchmarking provides regulators and utility managers with a way to make performance comparisons over time, across water utilities, and across countries. It can promote conflict resolution between these two groups by allowing participants to focus on performance, and can help bridge the gap between technical researchers and those practitioners currently conducting studies for government agencies and water utilities (Berg, 2007). In order to address the wide range of issues that might be encountered when evaluating water utility performance, analysts have developed five benchmarking methodologies, each of which addresses specific issues.
However, more sophisticated quantitative benchmarking tools may be necessary (but not sufficient) for promoting policies that can improve company (and sector) performance. The introduction of greater rigor allows stakeholders to quantify utility progress towards meeting policy objectives, helps specialists identify high performing utilities (whose processes might be adopted by others), and enables regulators to develop targets and incentives for utilities (Mugisha et al., 2007).
Although there are several methodologies available for benchmarking, it is important to keep in mind that a single index of utility performance has the same problems of any indicator: it will be neither comprehensive nor fully diagnostic. This problem can be liked to the information a physician can collect from a patient. Knowing a patient’s temperature, pulse, height and weight help the physician determine whether the person has a dangerous fever and/or is overweight. The indicators point to potential or existing health problems. However, a set of blood tests will provide more detailed information that can aid in diagnosing the physical problems that are only partly reflected in the two health indicators. Therefore, when conducting benchmarking analyses, water professionals must understand the strengths and limitations of different metric methodologies.
BENCHMARKING METHODOLOGIES
Core Overall Performance Indicators include a number of Specific Core Indices, such as volume billed per worker, quality of service (continuity, water quality, complaints), unaccounted for water, coverage, and financial data. These partial measures are generally available, and provide the simplest way to perform comparisons, as well as a summary index
that can be used to communicate relative performance to a wide audience. However, an OPI may fail to account for the relationships among the different factors.
Performance Scores based on Production or Cost Estimates are used to identify the best performers and the weakest performers in a group of utilities. The metric approach allows quantitative measurement of relative performance (cost efficiency, technical/engineering efficiency, scale efficiency, allocative efficiency, and efficiency change). Performance can be compared with other utilities and rankings can be based on the analysis of production patterns and/or cost structures. Estimated parameters can give an indication of economies of scale and/or economies derived from the joint supply of water and wastewater services.
Engineering/Model Company approach has been used to establish baseline performance. This methodology requires the development of an optimized economic and engineering model based on creating an idealized benchmark specific to each utility— incorporating the topology, demand patterns, and population density of the service territory. As with any methodology, this approach also has its limitations. The engineering models that support it can be very complicated, and the structure of the underlying production relationships can be obscured through a set of assumed coefficients used in the optimization process.
Process Benchmarking focuses on individual production processes in the vertical production chain. This approach allows one to identify specific stages of the production process that warrant attention. Many water associations focus on process benchmarking as a mechanism for identifying potential benchmarking partners, preparing for and undertaking benchmarking visits, and implementing best practices. Thus, water utility managers recognize that information sharing and coordination is a significant performance driver across companies.
One drawback to this particular method of benchmarking is that the big picture gets lost: engineers focus on the trees and miss out on the forest.
Customer Survey Benchmarking focuses on the perceptions of customers as a key element for performance evaluation. Customer perceptions regarding service quality are central to evaluating water utility performance and surveys can reveal performance gaps and identify areas of concern. In addition, trends over time can be used by regulators and policy-makers to evaluate utility performance. Nevertheless, many other factors are relevant for evaluating the efficient provision of water services.
performing), they cannot set reasonable targets for future performance. Metric benchmarking quantifies the relative performance of organizations or divisions and provides managers and regulators with a foundation from which they can design policies and incentive programs to improve performance.
ROLE OF BENCHMARKING
Benchmarking provides regulators and utility managers with a way to make performance comparisons over time, across water utilities, and across countries. It can promote conflict resolution between these two groups by allowing participants to focus on performance, and can help bridge the gap between technical researchers and those practitioners currently conducting studies for government agencies and water utilities (Berg, 2007). In order to address the wide range of issues that might be encountered when evaluating water utility performance, analysts have developed five benchmarking methodologies, each of which addresses specific issues.
However, more sophisticated quantitative benchmarking tools may be necessary (but not sufficient) for promoting policies that can improve company (and sector) performance. The introduction of greater rigor allows stakeholders to quantify utility progress towards meeting policy objectives, helps specialists identify high performing utilities (whose processes might be adopted by others), and enables regulators to develop targets and incentives for utilities (Mugisha et al., 2007).
Although there are several methodologies available for benchmarking, it is important to keep in mind that a single index of utility performance has the same problems of any indicator: it will be neither comprehensive nor fully diagnostic. This problem can be liked to the information a physician can collect from a patient. Knowing a patient’s temperature, pulse, height and weight help the physician determine whether the person has a dangerous fever and/or is overweight. The indicators point to potential or existing health problems. However, a set of blood tests will provide more detailed information that can aid in diagnosing the physical problems that are only partly reflected in the two health indicators. Therefore, when conducting benchmarking analyses, water professionals must understand the strengths and limitations of different metric methodologies.
BENCHMARKING METHODOLOGIES
Core Overall Performance Indicators include a number of Specific Core Indices, such as volume billed per worker, quality of service (continuity, water quality, complaints), unaccounted for water, coverage, and financial data. These partial measures are generally available, and provide the simplest way to perform comparisons, as well as a summary index
that can be used to communicate relative performance to a wide audience. However, an OPI may fail to account for the relationships among the different factors.
Performance Scores based on Production or Cost Estimates are used to identify the best performers and the weakest performers in a group of utilities. The metric approach allows quantitative measurement of relative performance (cost efficiency, technical/engineering efficiency, scale efficiency, allocative efficiency, and efficiency change). Performance can be compared with other utilities and rankings can be based on the analysis of production patterns and/or cost structures. Estimated parameters can give an indication of economies of scale and/or economies derived from the joint supply of water and wastewater services.
Engineering/Model Company approach has been used to establish baseline performance. This methodology requires the development of an optimized economic and engineering model based on creating an idealized benchmark specific to each utility— incorporating the topology, demand patterns, and population density of the service territory. As with any methodology, this approach also has its limitations. The engineering models that support it can be very complicated, and the structure of the underlying production relationships can be obscured through a set of assumed coefficients used in the optimization process.
Process Benchmarking focuses on individual production processes in the vertical production chain. This approach allows one to identify specific stages of the production process that warrant attention. Many water associations focus on process benchmarking as a mechanism for identifying potential benchmarking partners, preparing for and undertaking benchmarking visits, and implementing best practices. Thus, water utility managers recognize that information sharing and coordination is a significant performance driver across companies.
One drawback to this particular method of benchmarking is that the big picture gets lost: engineers focus on the trees and miss out on the forest.
Customer Survey Benchmarking focuses on the perceptions of customers as a key element for performance evaluation. Customer perceptions regarding service quality are central to evaluating water utility performance and surveys can reveal performance gaps and identify areas of concern. In addition, trends over time can be used by regulators and policy-makers to evaluate utility performance. Nevertheless, many other factors are relevant for evaluating the efficient provision of water services.
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