Familiarity Really Does Breed Contempt

Based on an article -  http://www.spring.org.uk/2008/05/why-familiarity-really-does-breed.php

People's intuition is that learning more about a new acquaintance will lead to greater liking. In fact, on average, we like other people less the more we know about them.

Given how irritating other people sometimes are, it's surprising how many of us are eternal optimists about forming new relationships. Indeed people seem primed to like others: the 'mere exposure effect' is a robust social psychological finding demonstrating that just being exposed to someone causes us to like them more.

A good example of the 'mere exposure' effect is a study by Moreland and Beach (1992) who introduced four fake students to a large college course. Each of the fake students - chosen to be of similar appearance - attended the course to varying degrees, some going to many classes, others to few; but none interacted with the other students.

At the end of the course the one student most people preferred, despite never having talked to her, was the one who had attended the most classes.

If the mere exposure effect holds for developing social relationships then, as we come to know more about others, we should come to like them more. It seems familiarity should breed liking. A recent study by Michael I. Norton from the Harvard Business School and colleagues certainly suggests that this is most people's intuitive understanding (Norton, Frost & Ariely, 2007).

Norton and colleagues first surveyed members of an online dating site, asking them whether they generally preferred someone they knew little about, or who they knew more about. 81% said they would prefer the person they knew more about. In a second survey of undergraduate students fully 88% said they would prefer someone they knew more about.

More than one Target Market = More than one Brand Promise. Agree?

Most views/definitions of branding take the position that it is the customer who actually determines what the brand means (to them).  Organisations try to influence them.  Hopefully by understanding what their target market wants from a brand.

Thus I have always supposed that any Brand is relative to a particular target market.  Many brands have more than one target market.  This does not become a problem when the TM's are grouped fairly close together of is the brand promise is fairly generic - but what about when two (or more) diverse Target Markets are involved?  It is going to be difficult to offer exactly the same promise/message to them.

So do you have more than one Brand message? What do you think?

Essential Intellectual Traits

These are the traits I think will help you develop better thinking.

Intellectual Humility …
Intellectual Courage …
Intellectual Empathy …
Intellectual Autonomy …
Intellectual Integrity …
Intellectual Perseverance …
Confidence in Reason …
Fair-mindedness …"
 
'What do you think?  What would you add?

The Benefits of a Market Orientation is a Competitive Advantage

Why would a company want to pursue a market orientation? What benefit is it to them? 

Werll - being market oriented will lead to superior performance for the business.

Some would argue that having a focus on customers and aiming to satisfy their requirements is a costly exercise. However, the benefits of market orientation have been shown to include financial gains for the organisation, improved customer satisfaction, improved workplace conditions, and superior new product performance.

Competitive Advantage

A strong customer orientation forms the foundation of an organisation’s sustainable competitive advantage. Developing a thorough understanding of all customer groups allows an organisation to develop products and services that are tailored to customer needs and requirements. If an organisation can provide superior value to their customers, there is a greater likelihood of purchase, repeat purchase, and word-of-mouth recommendations. This will lead to a potential increase in sales, market share, and profitability.

For a competitive advantage to eventuate, an organisation must provide value to its customer that is superior to that of its competitors.

If an organisation is going to achieve optimal quality and value for the customers it is essential that every employee in the “chain of production” be committed to working toward this goal. A delay in delivery, a production flaw, a rude credit officer, or an unreturned phone enquiry can all contribute to the customer’s perception of your offering.

If every employee provides a product (goods and services) of optimal value to the next person in the chain of production, then the final product should be of optimal quality. However, the end consumer will notice weak links in this chain.

Check out the previous article as well - Let me know what you think?

Market Orientation is Marketing Orientation

Peter Drucker is thought to be one of the earliest proponents of modern marketing. He suggested that the purpose of the company is to create a customer.

Drucker advocated that organisations should have a guiding philosophy that puts the customer as the focal point of the entire company.

Most companies today would accept that without customers to sell products, services, or ideas to, they would not exist.  Yet over fifty years down the track,  too few actually act on that concept

Theodore Levitt  was one of the first to coin the phrase ‘the marketing concept’. He described it as a customer focus, co-ordinated marketing effort, and profitability. In the same article he argued that ‘market orientation’ could be the key to company success.

Levitt, argued that the marketing concept prescribes that “business success requires being customer oriented rather than-product oriented...”.

Philip Kotler added to these ideas when he discussed what he believed it took for an organisation to be market oriented. He suggested that market orientation includes: a consumer centric philosophy, an integrated marketing focused organisation, adequate market information, strategic orientation and operational efficiency.

To be market oriented means more than just focusing on customer satisfaction, although obviously customers are the main focal point of the company. It also means more than just having marketing personnel or a marketing department. Being market oriented is the responsibility of the entire organisation and will lead to good business practices such as operational efficiency.

Maslow and Self Actualisation

Maslow's self-actualising characteristics

• keen sense of reality - aware of real situations - objective judgement, rather than subjective
• see problems in terms of challenges and situations requiring solutions, rather than see problems as personal complaints or excuses
• need for privacy and comfortable being alone
• reliant on own experiences and judgement - independent - not reliant on culture and environment to form opinions and views
• not susceptible to social pressures - non-conformist
• democratic, fair and non-discriminating - embracing and enjoying all cultures, races and individual styles
• socially compassionate - possessing humanity
• accepting others as they are and not trying to change people
• comfortable with oneself - despite any unconventional tendencies
• a few close intimate friends rather than many surface relationships
• sense of humour directed at oneself or the human condition, rather than at the expense of others
• spontaneous and natural - true to oneself, rather than being how others want
• excited and interested in everything, even ordinary things
• creative, inventive and original
• seek peak experiences that leave a lasting impression

An extension on Maslow

1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.

3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.

4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.

5. Cognitive needs - knowledge, meaning, etc.

6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.

7. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

8. Transcendence needs - helping others to achieve self actualization.

The Only Dumb Question Is the Question You Don't Ask

Creativity begins with having questions - asking them and exploring them

Creativity always begins with a question.  Why?  What if?  How? etc The quality of your creativity is determined by the quality of your questions - by the way you frame your approach to circumstances, problems, needs, and opportunities.  A creative approach makes life a questioning process

 Milan Kundera, the Czech novelis says:

 I ask questions.  The stupidity of people comes from having an answer for everything.  The wisdom of the novel comes from having a question for everything.

What is a question?"

A list I have (don't know from where - sorry) says:

A question is an opening to creation.

A question is an unsettled and unsettling issue.

A question is an invitation to creativity.

A question is a beginning of adventure.

A question is seductive foreplay.

A question is a disguised answer.

A question pokes and prods that which has not yet been poked and prodded.

A question is a point of departure.

A question has no end and no beginning.

A question wants a playmate.

Can you add to the this list?

The Nature of Strategic Decisions

Although the process of creating strategy is often discussed as if it were an unconstrained design process, keep in mind that while strategists evaluate strategy, the firm is operating. 

Presumably this involves evaluating the extent to which present strategy is meeting expectations.  It may be the case that only a small part of, say, marketing strategy would have to be changed to correct a problem.  In effect, then, such a change would constitute an acceptance of societal-, corporate-, and business-level strategy, and also of most of the firm's functional strategy set.  Marketing strategy would be all that was rejected.  When a firm's performance is less than satisfactory, the reason often is a functional strategy shortcoming. 

One might say, then, that a "good" business-level strategy would have been poorly implemented by part of its functional strategy set.  For this simple example, a change in marketing strategy could improve performance while other levels of strategy would remain unchanged.

Alternatively, a problem with the nature of a firm's or SBU's business brought about by a major environmental opportunity or threat, a change in that level's goal set, or the development of some internal capability or weakness could necessitate a business-level strategy change.  The new strategy would probably include vestiges of the old along with some unfamiliar elements.  In most cases a whole new functional strategy set would likely have to be designed and put into effect to implement the new business-level strategy.

More generally, one could conceivably change parts of a firm's functional strategy set without changing business-level strategy.  However, rarely would one expect to encounter the case in which a change in business-level strategy did not trigger the necessity to change functional-level strategy in some way, at least not in a successfully managed business.

There is a risk of incorrectly identifying the strategy level at which a problem exists.  The tendency is to change functional level strategies or organisational structure in an attempt to remedy any problem.  Of course, if the problem existed within the firms corporate- or business-level strategy, for example, changing functional-level strategy would not correct it. In fact, this move would be likely to aggravate the situation.  The reason for this tendency is probably that functional strategy changes are potentially less disruptive than changes in the other levels.

Good fortune

Dr. Brian

CEO MAANZ International http://www.marketing.org.au

Twitter @smartamarketing https://twitter.com/#!/smartamarketing

http://www.linkedin.com/in/drduck

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