Starbucks over Recession

In recession, like many businesses, Starbucks hasn't avoided its negative effects. For a top band in world Retail, it has had reasonable strategies to confront difficulties and is now in the process of deep introspection on the fundamentals of reinventing itself. To the extent of my analysis, we would concentrate on how it run on in this recession climate.
To deal with the complain of quality service, especially speed service, its' CEOs proposed to serve more space in its restaurant as table sets instead of couch in the past. Also, to avoid from reduction in net income, they cut salary expense down by laying 1000 employees off and operating costs by closing 600 stores on over American. In the past, Starbucks was house of Premium Retail where customers found solace. The reason they came to it is more than coffee. So, in the recession, instead of reducing the price, they have increased the coffee quantities in each cup of coffee to attract traditional customers.
Along with what Starbucks had achieved in this period, other issues has been raised. Food Chains such as McDonald's are waking up to the rich aroma of coffee- and are all out to serve coffee. From a fast food outlet, customers are getting fast coffee at a fraction of what they could expect from Starbucks. And its' recession time folk, one in ten American are under the pressure of unemployment, perhaps, they wouldn't want to sit in their couches and keep sipping coffee. Obviously, Starbucks has a double-edged problem - one from its competitors and other from its own customers.
The recession isn't going to last for ever, so for now, Starbucks has to figure out how to handle emerged issues.

McDonald's big loss

The Fall of the Super-brand

According to Antonio Diaz Morales, marketing professor at the Instituto de Empresa de Madrid (IE), McDonald’s problem is that “although consumption outside the home is never going to stop, it is hard to have just one format that addresses people’s needs. One day, you can go to a restaurant like McDonald’s, but you can’t go every day ... The American consumer can be more loyal, but it is unthinkable that this would happen in Europe where there is more supply.”

It is true if you head to Mc Donald to eat, what would you expect? Like me, for the first time setting my feet in America, I was so eager to try the first bite of a chicken hamburger in Mc Donald since I was starving:-). Time after that, I feel the food there is so greesy and don't have lots of new things in the menu:(.

To prepare a fast food model for the 21st century, McDonald is going to revise every aspect of the business. This includes not only the way the company creates and presents its products but also designs new restaurants, merchandise and even improve the way people work. In each foreign country, the company launches new marketing strategy suitable with the culture. The campaign of Mc Donald focuses around the motto, "i'm lovin' it".

In general, McDonald is doing its best to recover from the big loss in the context of economic recession. In the United States, during the second quarter of the year 2003, the company announced an increase in sales for the third quarter amounting to 10 % compared with the year earlier. To get a full article in details, please make a click on this website here:
http://www.wharton.universia.net/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&id=671&language=english

As a fan of Mc Donald or simply a regular customer or even seldom one, how do you suggest the company to put on a small change to make the food come to you more tasty?:-)

Coca-cola image promotion strategy

I have just found an interesting story talking about the way that Coca-cola develops its trademark and brand advocacy. The story has gained much coverage in public is the case involving Coca-cola and the a well-known Second Life content creator, Vint Falken. Coke themed outfit was made by Vint. The use of registered trademarks on an unauthorized basis has been the most prominent to date and created much discussion about this. The outfit, available to buy in SL, was also promoted in SLexchange (a website for retailer in SL). The outfit has been embedded Coca-cola trademark on purse, necklace, double layered prim skirt, top (worn as a jacket) and a bottle of Evian. This is very new and interesting way to advocate Coca-cola brand image for consumers.

So is this a sign that the real-world brands are simply giving up trying to police their brands in virtual worlds? There are many strategies that giant corporations use to polish their brands. This activity that Coke applies is new and potentially developing in the next coming years. In this case, Coca-cola has made a smart move. They have understood that allowing residents to work with their brands will bear far greater opportunities than if they prevented brand usage. Coke works hard to promote their brand in the real world and now utilize other options for their brand to be extended virtually by other people which is a very productive strategy.

Link: http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/?p=859

Among soft drinks such as Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew or Dr. Peppers, I still do favor Coke or Pepsi:-). Which brandname do you pick?

Youth Violence emerge in Chicago

As I watched on the CNN channel today, youth violence in Chicago is rising and becomes a big problem for this whole country. Attorney General Eric Holder met with Chicago's mayor and community leaders to discuss remedies for violent crimes involving young people. He said at a news conference: "Nearly two weeks ago, this nation was shocked, shocked by a video showing scenes of such graphic violence that they left an indelible mark in the mind of every American who has seen them."
He also said that 60 percent of the youngsters surveyed had been exposed to violence, directly or indirectly, in the past year; nearly half of the adolescents said they had been assaulted at least once, and more than one in 10 were injured as a result.
While watching this show, I was thinking that why violence is the first solution pop up in young people's minds to solve conflicts. It is true that exposure to violence on TV or in any other media badly affects their cognitive thinking and their behaviors. This is really the serious problem which can't be solved in a day but in a long run!
Source: CNN channel, Oct 7, 2009. Cabinet Officials, Chicagoans discuss ways to end teen violence.