MGMT 500 Sec 1 Midterm – Part one

Focus: no matter how small or big a business, each business needs to create a
focus strategy that focuses on serving a specific market segment, which can be
defined by geography, customer type, or a branch of a product line. (Zwilling)
Once a market segment has been selected the company can pursue a focus strategy
through either product differentiation or low cost. Once the strategy is established,
businesses can focus on researching and satisfying a certain group of market needs
and because of focusing on a small group, businesses are able to grasp changing
needs and changes more quickly in response to that demand change.

Ex: one business that I have known and followed for years since they started called
“Luxy Hair”, which specilize in hair extensions, follows the focus strategy. Unlike
other hair extension brands that have multiple lengths, weights and colors, “Luxy
Hair” focused on a limited range of products that successfully satisfy the majority
of the market when they launched in 2010. During that time, there’s many small
business utilize Google Adwords and Facebook Ads, “Luxy Hair” stood out to be
the only one focus solely on Youtube as their marketing channel.
My goal is to operate my own beauty lounge and I will utilize the focus strategy to
create a business that is unique, also providing oustanding services and products.
At startup, new entrepreneurs often fall into bigger the quantity, the better,
meaning the more services and products you sell, the better. Instead, shift focus
onto the idea of smaller quantity, higher quality, that would yield higher price and
higher profit. I can clearly see this throughout our BSG game, for the past year, we
keep our retail price above average, meaning higher price (incl. free shipping) but
better quality and limited models.

Simplicity: As a company expands, it may acquire complications that divert

attention away from its primary operations. Businesses can benefit from a healthier
and more efficient approach to growth by striving for simplicity. (Vessella)
Simply said, this may be accomplished by being focused on particular goals and
eliminating extraneous activities that take attention away from those goals. It is
important to understand what hurdles are impeding the business's progress in order
to promote simplicity. Then identify basic process or technology that will solve the
hurdles and help businesses achieve their goals.
Ex: Quora has been known as a forum to ask and answer questions. They build an
excellent service for asking and answering specialized questions, as well as a
platform for sharing one's knowledge and experiences.
For my future startup, i will keep my product, service simple to avoid creating
complexity. Choose a business strategy that will be my core competence that I can
excel at, and outsource or partner on the other departments to keep the business
process simple.

Clarity: focussed on the work for which you want your business to be known for.
It can start with picking the right name for your business, the right market segment,
the right products, the right materials. Also, there’s clarity in communication.
Clarity leverages internal and external resources, enabling employee to act, create,
and provide solutions that support the company’s vision and goals.
To operate my future business smoothly, it is important that I organize every
business communication – from an internal note to marketing materials to a
business proposal – so it conveys that message clearly and accurately. Control the
appearance and substance of the company communications by adopting regulations
and protocols that assure the highest standards. For example, create a
communication system so that all departments can communicate real-time
conversation to address the problem in the timely manner.

Consistency: When I have clarity on my brand, consistency is how I keep that

clarity and help my audience understand exactly what I do and what my brand
stand for. The more I repeat the same consistent language and design, the more
clarity I will generate in the minds of my audience since they will immediately
understand what my brand is about.
For my future busines, consistency means acting in ways that are consistent with
my brand values, mission, vision. Everything I create should be in line with those
principles.

Democratization (of products or services): Product democratization occurs when

a product is derived from premium products/services that is more cost effective
(cheaper), differentiated by either quality or functionality, and makes the product
more accessible to a wider market without affecting the luxury/premium source
product. An example that i can think of the American Express card, Tesla different
models at different price range thats more affordable to a wider consumer market.
For my future business, i can utilize democratization in my lounge, to provide
access to more luxury, high end cosmetic products that fit everyone’s pocket. My
clients will recived personalized make-up and skin care products that they can try
on with the assistance from our professional beauty consultants, from both high
end and budget-friendly products with one price for all the consumers.
Non-consumers: consumers that dont buy the product/services. They do not
currently utilize an existing product or service, but would if they could.
Nonconsumers are unable to obtain the goods for a variety of reasons, including a
lack of funds, time, or required expertise. StraighterLine is one of the example, it
targets o overserved learners in highly innovative ways, by offering l ow-price,
online higher education courses that are equivalent to general courses required for
a bachelor's degree.
For my future business, I plan to advertise my lounge not only to women who
loves high quality makeup and skincare products, but also to teenagers and men
who’s interest in cosmetics.

Overserved/underserved: Consumers who are overserved are individuals who

utilize an existing product but would gladly pay less for something simpler,
cheaper, or more convenient. Look into customer base to find overserved
consumers, from there, businesses can create innovations to meet the needs of
overserved customers by providing them adequate functionality in return for lower
prices. Examples can include discount airlines, discount retailers.
Consumers who are underserved are individuals that have poor credit scores, as
well as low-to-moderate or fluctuating income. Ex: walmart was created to offer
inexpensive shopping and department store experiences to rural communities that
have previously been overlooked by major brands and franchisees
For my future business, I plan to create services with different price range based on
funtionality and consumer’s choice. For beginner with a budget, I can reccomend
them service that includes 50% high end products and 50% budget friendly
products and a complimentary consultation with our professional. For clients that
want to splurge, I will reccomend the newest also the best sellers products that
mostly high-end and some budget friendly products, also include a private station
with drinks and snacks.

Competition to be the best: competition is very important to business because

when a market is competitive, firms have more motivation to decrease their prices,
enhance the quality of their products and services, and give customers with more
alternatives. That is, firms will need to innovate in order to differentiate and
outperform the competition. Firms compete to be the first to bring a new or
innovative technology to market. Consumers gain from new and improved
products, and innovation also drives economic growth and raises living standards.
This can drastically affect the poor, since now they can afford more even when the
income do not increase, their living situation could be improved.
For my future business, i can utilize competition to introduce a way to try on
makeup without the hassle of small sample, large price tag. I want to create a more
sustainable makeup and skin care products. Everyone want to know what they put
on their skin and body, my goal is to educate new consumers who may be unaware
with the benefits of environmentally friendly products. This can be done through
the use of visual clues, like as infographics, to emphasize the advantages of my
products.

Abandonment Plan: plan to abandon a stretgy before the strategy is ever

launched. Strategies should only be implemented indefinitely if they are effective
and the feedback is consistent with what was intended. When a strategy doesn’t
work, business should consider to abandon plan and pivot to start a new strategy.
This plan inclused steps for abandoning a strategy, this will help fight the
temptation to continue invest in a strategy that has not been successful and no
possibility of success within time and budget constraints. The business can decide
to terminate a plan because resources have been withdrawn, or new leadership
comes with new priorities and no longer see the current strategy as fitting within
the new management.
In my last job, my managers gave me a list to cold call, the company has been
using the systems for years and dont see any problems with it. After a few weeks
cold calling but doesnt yield any success, i suggest the company to abandon the old
cold-calling system because there seems to be no progress and the funding is very
costly. The manager was first denied my suggestions, but after some employees
complain about the same problems, the company decided to terminate their long-
time system and invest in a more advanced cold-calling system.

Convergence: is used to describe the joining of disparate components to produce a

cohesive, united whole, to achieve a set of purpose. Every department and
employee inside the organization collaborates to achieve the same goals.
Furthermore, the convergent business is constantly focused on value. Value may
take various forms, including economic and financial value, sustainability,
ecological value, social impact, and so on. It is highly efficient and competitively
oriented as it pursues its strategic goals to fulfill its vision and mission.
Transparency is another fundamental element of Convergence. Transparency of
purpose and strategy is critical to clarifying value; convergence enables us to
clearly answer the question, "What does value mean to our business?"
Ex: Microsoft, which is primarily a computer software firm, has chosen the other
path by creating an ecommerce platform through Azure. Personalized marketing
solutions and scalable ecommerce web apps are available on the platform.
For my future business, i will utilize the convergence of food and cosmetics, just as
consumers want natural foods, they want natural beauty products. That mean a
market for plant-based health and beauty care products. Activated charcoal is being
used as a functional beauty ingredient, can be found indetox drink. It’s also used in
toothpastes, face masks and skin creams
Zwilling, M. (2014, December 22). 6 ways that lack of focus can kill your business. Forbes.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/martinzwilling/2014/12/16/6-ways-that-lack-of-focus-can-
kill-your-business/?sh=5dffb8c11a21.

Vessella, V. (n.d.). Simplicity in business: To be simple is to be focused. Repsly.

https://www.repsly.com/blog/field-team-management/simplicity-in-business-to-be-simple-
is-to-be-focused.

Product commoditization or democratization. Dair Design & Consulting. (n.d.).

https://dairdc.com/blog/product-commodization-or-democratization.

Abandonment Strategy. wiki.c2.com. (n.d.). https://wiki.c2.com/?AbandonmentStrategy.

Price, R. (2018, May 29). Higher education is leaving students behind-disruptive innovators can
help them succeed. Christensen Institute. https://www.christenseninstitute.org/blog/higher-
education-is-leaving-students-behind/.

A diagnostic for disruptive innovation. HBS Working Knowledge. (2004, August 9).
https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/a-diagnostic-for-disruptive-innovation.

Linder, P. (2017, June 7). Business opportunities grow from under-, un- and over-served jobs to
be done. Tweeter Linder. https://tweeterlinder.com/2017/02/06/business-opportunities-
grow-from-under-un-and-over-served-jobs-to-be-done/.

How Competition Works. (n.d.). https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/games/off-

site/youarehere/pages/pdf/FTC-Competition_How-Comp-Works.pdf

When to abandon a strategy. Foxwood Associates. (n.d.).

https://www.foxwoodassociates.com/2019/05/01/when-to-abandon-a-strategy/.

Industry convergence - the food-based cosmetics trend. Careersinfood.com. (n.d.).

https://www.careersinfood.com/industry-convergence--the-foodbased-cosmetics-trend-
article-158.htm.