Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs lays down five fundamental needs and their hierarchical nature. According to the theory, the lower the needs the more fundamental they are and people will only move to higher needs once lower needs are satisfied. The needs are as follows:

Physiological needs - These needs are for sustenance and include health, food and sleep.
Safety needs - These needs include putting a roof over our heads and protecting ourselves from danger.
Belonging needs - These needs include love, affection, kinship and being a part of groups whether in society or in the workplace.
Esteem needs - These needs are an extension of the belonging needs and are for a higher position within a group so that people respect us.
Self actualization needs - These needs include realizing our potential and achieving what we are capable of achieving.

Article link: http://changingminds.org/explanations/needs/maslow.htm

Brand management and changing minds

Brand management is all about managing brands and changing people’s minds about a particular brand. But what exactly is a brand? A brand is a promise and brand management is all about creating, making and delivering the promise.

Creating the promise
Creating a promise starts with defining your brand. What do you want your brand to stand for and how different is your brand compared to other brands in the industry? A good brand promise should empathize with consumers and connect with them. It should understand their minds and be capable of changing their minds. For instance, Volvo was successful in changing people’s minds about cars. People saw Volvo as a safe car which would get them to their destination without any problem as opposed to Mercedes which was all about the dynamics of the cars and precision engineering.

Making the promise
Once you have created the promise, it is important to position it in the minds of consumers. Your promise should have the power of association so that consumers can instantly relate to it whenever your brand is mentioned. A lot of marketing and advertising efforts go into creating this unique position for your brand in the minds of consumers.

Delivering the promise
Consistently delivering on the promise involves managing people and processes. People should be motivated to interact with consumers and deliver goods. Processes should be updated and reliable to meet production needs and consumer demands.

Article link: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/brand_management/brand_management_is.htm

Market Segmentation

Professor Miranda spoke about market segmentation. I came across this article on market segmentation and the bases on which consumer and industrial markets are segmented.

What is market segmentation?
According to the article, market segmentation is the dividing of the market into homogeneous clusters. This process helps companies tailor their marketing mix depending on the cluster they are targeting. A market can be segmented on different bases and consumer markets are segmented differently from industrial markets.

Segmenting Consumer Markets
Consumer markets can be segmented on the following bases:

1) Geographic - This segmentation is based on variables such as region, climate and population density.
2) Demographic - This segmentation is based on variables such as age, occupation and income.
3) Psychographic - This segmentation is based on variables such as values, attitudes and lifestyles.
4) Behavioural - This segmentation is based on variables such as usage rate and benefits sought.

Segmenting Industrial Markets
Industrial markets can be segmented on the following bases:

1) Geographic - This segmentation is based on variables such as customer concentration and growth rate.
2) Customer type - This segmentation is based on factors such as organization size and industry.
3) Buyer behaviour - This segmentation is based on factors such as loyalty to suppliers and usage patterns.

Article link: http://www.quickmba.com/marketing/market-segmentation/

Organizational culture and changing minds

Culture is a system of shared assumptions, values and beliefs that tells people how to act. Understanding culture is critical to changing minds in a peer group or an organization. There are 3 levels of organizational culture:

1) Assumptions - At the core are assumptions or things people take for granted.
2) Values - At the next level are values or shared standards which unite people and drive them towards a common goal.
3) Artifacts - At the surface are artifacts or visible aspects of organizational culture.

For instance, if the organization works on the assumption that ‘happy’ employees are essential for driving the company towards accomplishing its objectives, then the assumptions will translate into values such as transparency and empowerment. The artifacts could include ‘flat’ hierarchy and an office layout bereft of cabins and name plates.

Organizational culture can play an important role in increasing performance of employees leading to higher revenues and strong client relationships. A strong organizational culture can also be a source of competitive advantage for organizations.

Article link: http://www.web-books.com/eLibrary/NC/B0/B58/050MB58.html

Critical Thinking

One of the sessions in Management Communication was on critical thinking and Professor Borromeo had stressed that we all need to become critical thinkers. As I was trying to get some more information on critical thinking, I came across this wonderful website run by the Foundation for Critical Thinking. I am going to share some of the points raised in one of the articles.

The article mentions that thinking comes naturally to us. However, a lot of our thinking is coloured by our biases and prejudices. And yet, as the adage goes ‘we are what we think’. Therefore, it becomes extremely important that we achieve excellence in thought since thoughts determine actions.

So what is critical thinking? According to the article, critical thinking is a mode of thinking where the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and intellectualizes them. A good critical thinker:

1) Asks important questions and formulates them clearly
2) Collects and analyzes information relevant to the question and comes to well reasoned conclusions
3) Thinks with an open mind about alternative trains of thought, recognizing and assessing their assumptions and implications
4) Communicates effectively with others in finding solutions to complex problems

Article link: http://www.criticalthinking.org/page.cfm?CategoryID=51
Site link: http://www.criticalthinking.org/

Some taglines are forever

From Just Do It to We Try Harder, taglines define in one line or a few words the guiding philosophy of a business. The following is a list of the 10 most influential taglines since 1948.

1. Got milk? (1993) -California Milk Processor Board
2. Don’t leave home without it. (1975) -American Express
3. Just do it. (1988) -Nike
4. Where’s the beef? (1984) - Wendy’s
5. You’re in good hands with Allstate. (1956) - Allstate Insurance
6. Think different. (1998) - Apple Computer
7. We try harder. (1962) - Avis
8. Tastes great, less filling. (1974) - Miller Lite
9. Melts in your mouth, not in your hands. (1954) - M&M Candies
10. Takes a licking and keeps on ticking. (1956) - Timex

For the complete list, check out: http://www.taglineguru.com/survey05.html .

Operating and finance leases

A lease is an agreement between the owner of the asset (the lessor) and the party wishing to use the asset (the lessee). There are 2 kinds of leases: operating and capital. The 2 leases are very different from each other and have different accounting treatments. Let us see how operating leases are recorded in the books of the lessee.

A company that gets into an operating lease does not record the asset and the corresponding debt in its balance sheet. The lessee records the lease expense in the income statement and under cash flow from operating activities section in the cash flow statement.

If a company enters into a capital lease, it records the asset (lease asset) and the corresponding debt (lease liability) in its balance sheet. Depreciation and interest expenses are recorded in the income statement. In the cash flow statement, the interest expense is treated as a cash flow from operating activities while amortization of the lease obligation is recorded under cash flows from financing activities.

Effect on financial ratios
Firms with operating leases report higher profitability (depreciation expense is not charged), interest coverage (interest expense is lower) and return on assets (the asset is not recorded while the income generated from using the asset is recorded) than firms with capital leases. However, capital leases allow companies to report higher operating cash flows since only the interest expense is treated as an operating cash flow.

Advertising and changing minds

In simple words, advertising is storytelling. Advertising tells stories about new products or something new about a product. Marketers resort to advertising to convert products (something made in a factory) to brands (thoughts in people’s heads). Advertising, if used effectively, can change people's perceptions about brands. The following are some of the greatest TV ads of all time.

Link: http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/greatest/tv_ads/results.html

Market research and tapping minds

Whether your company is in the service industry or the product industry, it is imperative to know your customers as much as possible so that you can take informed decisions and reduce the margin of risk. In order to take informed decisions, you need sound data. And market research helps you getting that data.

Market research is the method of gathering and analyzing data about your customers. This data enables you to take informed decisions. Market research can help in creating and launching a new product, adding new features to an existing product, creating advertising for your product or service and expanding into new markets.

Types of market research
There are 2 types of market research:
1) Primary research - Primary research involves collecting first hand data about the buying behaviour, preferences, attitudes, usage rates and opinions of current or prospective users through in-depth interviews, surveys, focus groups and field research.

2) Secondary research – Secondary research helps you gather information from journals, industry reports, magazines, newspapers and the internet.

How does market research help?
Market research helps you find the following information about your market and customers:
1) Trends in your industry
2) Size of your target market
3) Factors influencing buying behaviour
4) Demand for your product or service
5) Product or service usage

You can then analyze the information to come up with a focused business plan, create communication strategies, determine prices and take other steps beneficial to your company.

Article link: http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing/market-research/1286-1.html

The Art of Listening

Listening is truly an art. Just as you expect the other person to listen to you when you speak, it is important to recognize that the other person expects you to listen when he or she talks. It is important to not only listen but also be an ‘active’ listener. An article in changingminds.org talks about active listening and how active listening can build relationships between the speaker and the listener.

According to the article, the following are some techniques that can be used to suggest that you are actively listening:

1) Words and actions: You can encourage the person who is speaking though your encouraging words and gestures. Saying ‘yes’ or ‘right’ when the person is speaking suggests that you agree with the person and are encouraging him or her to carry on speaking. Nodding and raising your eyebrows in anticipation also help in conveying the message that you are paying attention.

2) Complete listening: The article quotes Rogers and Farson (1979) in describing active listening as ‘an important way to bring about changes in people’. According to Rogers and Farson, there are 3 aspects to complete listening:

a) Be a ‘content’ listener and an ‘emotional’ listener.
b) Understand the emotions of the speaker and empathize with him or her.
c) Actively observe verbal and non-verbal cues.

3) Paraphrasing: When you summarize what the speaker has said in a few words of your own, you give the impression that you were ‘actively’ listening.

Site link: http://www.changingminds.org/
Article link: http://changingminds.org/techniques/listening/active_listening.htm