Drawing some parallels between Volkswagen and Swatch: two very similar strategies
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
If you are reading economic newspapers those days, chances are high you come across articles on Volkswagen and Swatch. Both groups are profits champions and analysts just love them. On the one hand Volkswagen became the world’s #2 car manufacturer…
Low-cost and high-profits: business models reshaped
In times of economic crisis it is well known that price sensitivity increases. One visible consequence is that low-cost business models like Ryanair, Aldi, Colruyt, Ikea and the like are doing very well. They outperform actually older players and you…
Unicredit explicitly warns investors about national currencies reintroduction scenario
Very few people have noticed it but readers of this blog will be aware of an event that recently took place in Italy, when Unicredit launched a capital increase on the market. The bank edited a 300-page leaflet which sums…
Pay What You Want
In 2009 a paper was published in the Journal of Marketing on a new concept called “Pay What You Want” (PWYW) which seemed to be interesting for firms. This research showed counterintuitive results, namely that consumers will exploit their control…
The coffee capsules war will not happen
Sara Lee launched last year its Nespresso-compatible capsules. In Paris only 100000 samples were given for free. In August Sara Lee announced that they had reached the 100m$ revenues with this product. Still, the question remains for me whether this…
1855.com : how long can they survive?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Life is sometimes hard, especially for losers. Within a few days I read two different articles about 1855.com. The first one was published in the magazine "la Revue du Vin de France" which is a magazine specialized in wine and…
A PESTLE analysis may have helped the eco-construction sector
One of the decisions the Belgian government took to reduce the debt was to cancel the 40% tax deduction on works carried out to reduce energy consumption (isolation, double-glass windows, …). The consequence of this decision will be to change…
Meet first the legal requirements first, then speak about customer service: the Mobistar case
First of all please allow me to mention than by sharing this post on Facebook and twitter you will help other individuals. The purpose of this post is to write about my fight against Mobistar in an attempt to enforce…
Is this what marketing in the wine industry looks like?
A friend just offered me a bottle of wine. It was just wonderful. Thank you. What surprised me was the tag attached to it, which claimed the 94 points obtained from Robert Parker in the Wine Advocate. Well, ok everyone…
What is the marketing positionning of Blancpain (Swatch group)
Blancpain is a famous watch brand owned by the Swatch group which, in my opinion, deserves attention for several reasons. Blancpain is first of all a brand with history; not only an historical tradition of watchmaking that goes back to…
Sara Lee vs. Nespresso : missed target
When I attended the “stratégie clients” show in Paris two weeks ago, I heard Julien Morel, the COO of Nespresso, explain how Nespresso was able to keep its market share in spite of new players like Maison du Café (Sara…
Customer experience in Paris : « stratégie clients » trade show
I spent two days in Paris to observe the latest trends as far as distribution is concerned and also to attend the “stratégie clients” show which was dedicated to customer relationship, loyalty, CRM and the like. This show was reserved…
Aligning customer’s and firm’s perspective on quality
I’m currently re-reading Prof. Oliver’s monograph on consumer’s satisfaction. The chapter on quality reminded me of one striking example. Oliver explains that quality is to be understood differently whether it is approached from the consumer’s perspective or from the firm’s…
The service-profit chain at work
I recently read a post by Bruce Temkin on his blog who was emphasizing the importance of employees in the customer satisfaction process. The link between employees satisfaction and customer satisfaction were first made popular by Heskett et al. in…
Customer experience: CEO’s passion is essential
I'm just back from a week in New York where I followed a workshop on the management of Customer Experience at the Columbia Business School. From the work sessions with my colleagues we found out that the CEO plays an…
Customer-centricity lost : it’s all about industrial revolution
Think about it for one moment. Three-hundred years ago, when you needed let’s say a tool, you just had to go to a craftsman who had specialized in manufacturing that very tool. At that time, such a craftsman was mastering…
Century 21 grows on industry inefficiencies
I discussed in a previous post how unprofessional real estate agents in Brussels seem to behave. A quick survey showed disastrous response rate from real estate agents, about 90% of them failing to answer a written inquiry. In my conclusion…
It’s never too soon to prepare the sale of your company
I was visiting a client in the south of France last month and on my way back, in the plane, I was seating (as it is too rarely the case) next to a very sympathetic passenger who was willing to…
The energy drink market at SIAL 2010
One of the markets I discovered the amazing vitality of, was that of energy drinks. Basically, for me, the energy drink market was limited to Red Bull, Burn and a few alternatives which put millions of Euros in advertisement. What…
How does Air France – KLM deal with customer’s satisfaction?
After I blogged last week about Accor and the way they deal with satisfaction in their annual report, I thought it might be interesting to do the same exercise for another company. Researches based on the analysis of annual reports have…
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