In his book "OBD: Obsessive Branding Disorder," Lucas Conley asserts that branding has gotten out of hand. At it’s worst it is deceptive, he writes, and it diverts companies away from real product improvement to focus on superficial details. "Branding offers the satisfaction of a sense of change without the hard work," Conley writes.
The Chinese don’t do things halfway, as anyone who’s visited Beijing in the run-up to the Olympics can attest. So when China’s economic planners decided recently to begin shifting the foundations of the Chinese economy from manufacturing to services, you might expect the country would embrace the shift with similar single-minded enthusiasm. And on the surface, it has. But as Chinese government policymakers and businesspeople are learning, decreeing a service sector into existence doesn’t necessarily make it so. China’s move from manufacturing to services was the topic of a panel discussion at the Fifth Annual Shanghai National Accounting Institute-Arizona State University Executive Forum.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Americans began doing all of the things they had always wanted to do, including, apparently, a whole lot of shopping. Professor of Marketing Naomi Mandel explains how “mortality salience” — the awareness that one will die — can impact the way we eat, drink and shop.
China is no stranger to revolution, so it’s hardly surprising that the country’s business leaders and academics are talking about an approaching service revolution that will transform the manufacturing behemoth into a leading global services provider. "The future of China is services," said Gary Bridge, senior vice president of Cisco Systems, to a packed and enthusiastic Shanghai audience at the recent inaugural "Creating Value Through Service" symposium organized by the Center of Service Marketing and Management at Fudan University and the W. P. Carey School’s Center for Services Leadership.
User communities, usually associated with technology products, help customers connect with each other and the brand. User communities are not just for computer products, however. An exceptional example of developing and sustaining an active, dynamic user community is Harley-Davidson Motorcycles. Harley Executive Ron Hutchinson outlined the motorcycle company’s user community and its role in entering the China market at the recent "Creating Value through Service" symposium in Shanghai. The event was organized by the W. P. Carey School’s Center for Services Leadership and the Center of Service Marketing and Management at Fudan University.
While most companies agree on the importance of a loyal customer base, it remains an elusive goal. Many companies that track customer satisfaction quickly become frustrated and sometimes abandon loyalty efforts, according to Dr. Larry Crosby, Chief Loyalty Architect at global research and consultancy Synovate. "I’m happy to say there is a new loyalty management concept in town and that’s the notion of the customer experience," said Crosby at the recent "Creating Value Through Service" symposium in Shanghai. The event was organized by the W. P. Carey School’s Center for Services Leadership and the Center of Service Marketing and Management at Fudan University.
