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Archives for September 2019

#M4BW Amazon Commits to 100% renewable energy, 100,000 electric vans to fight climate change

September 30, 2019 by Joe Cannon Leave a Comment

Our focus on Marketing for a Better World (#M4BW) continues with a look at a recent announcement by Amazon. Amazon promises to “meet the terms of the Paris climate agreement 10 years ahead of schedule.” Its recent announcement comes after some pressure from employees (Amazon Employees for Climate Justice).

This article provides an opportunity to discuss how creating shared value might actually create value. You could ask your students why Amazon is doing this? Is it good for shareholders? Why or why not? The answer is not clear, but students may not recognize that actions like this might make it easier for Amazon to recruit top talent. Many young people are concerned about the environment and want to work someplace that is doing something about it. This might also enhance Amazon’s brand and reputation among consumers. Finally, it may lower operating costs — as the initial cost of an electric van may be offset by lower operating costs (electric vehicles typically cost less to operate as compared to gas-power vehicles).

This issue might be discussed — with different emphasis — in Chapter 3 (Amazon is featured in our chapter-opening case), Chapter 11 (logistics), Chapter 12 (retailing) or in Bonus Chapter 2 (Marketing’s Link with Other Functional Areas — including human resource management).

Filed Under: #M4BW, Chapter 03, Chapter 11, Chapter 12

From green ketchup to Colgate lasagna: Companies’ biggest product failures

September 26, 2019 by Joe Cannon Leave a Comment

It is always fun to show students product failures. Especially like those shown here. I think intuition alone would tell most of us that these were not such good ideas. But it is good for students to see that even big companies, with lots of money and smart people, can make mistakes.

You might want to add a few of these images to your coverage of product (Chapter 8) or new product development (Chapter 9). Colgate Lasagna (really?) could be used with the growth opportunity matrix in Chapter 2 as an example of why diversification is so risky. Or the Bic Her (pens designed for women) might be an example of segmentation and targeting gone too far.

Filed Under: Chapter 02, Chapter 04, Chapter 08, Chapter 09

#M4BW Japanese companies use technology to create value for an aging population

September 23, 2019 by Joe Cannon Leave a Comment

Japan is concerned about how it will care for its elderly—especially those with dementia. The Japanese population is aging quicker than most of the world. Already, a quarter of the Japanese population is 65 or older (compared to just 15 percent of Americans). By 2025, Japan predicts a shortfall of almost 400,000 senior caregivers. Some companies are developing different intelligent agents to help fill the void.

Robots are particularly popular. Sony’s robotic pet dog Aibo, and SoftBank’s Paro, a robotic baby seal, have been shown to elicit emotional responses and yield benefits similar to live animal therapy (without all the owner responsibility). SoftBank Robotics’ humanoid companion “Pepper” recognizes faces and human emotions and asks and answers questions; seniors enjoy chatting with Pepper, which also monitors patients’ mental health for doctors and family members. Advances like these can provide health care at lower costs and make for better experiences for an aging world.

For some more background you can have your students read “Japan Lays Groundwork for Boom in Robot Carers,” The Guardian, February 5, 2018 and “Toyota, SoftBank Join Forces to Build Self-Driving Cars That Deliver Meals, Health Care,” Wall Street Journal, October 4, 2018 (subscription may be required).

This describes a demographic trend (part of context and the external market environment in Chapter 3). It might also tie into a discussion of market segmentation (Chapter 4) or product (Chapter 8).

Filed Under: #M4BW, Chapter 03, Chapter 04, Chapter 08, Demographics, External market environment

Millennials are boosting some industries…

September 12, 2019 by Joe Cannon Leave a Comment

As we point out in Chapter 3, marketing context, including the broader cultural and social environment can bring about threats or opportunities. As Millennials (those born between 1978 and 1994) have more discretionary income, they are being blamed for killing a number of different industries including cereal, department stores, beer, golf, and more (see list here). So this generation is definitely a threat to those industries.

On the other hand, Millennials buying behavior has boosted other industries, see “Coffee, travel, and skincare are among 12 industries millennials are boosting,” Fast Company, September 9, 2019. These examples can be used when you discuss SWOT (Chapter 2), the cultural and social environment (Chapter 3) or segmentation (Chapter 4).

Filed Under: Chapter 02, Chapter 03, Chapter 04

Can marketing help make the world a better place? #M4BW

September 9, 2019 by Joe Cannon Leave a Comment

Marketing gets a lot of criticism. Those of us who teach marketing know that good marketing can contribute to a better world. Meeting customers’ needs and wants can help people. That “bright side” of marketing motivates a forthcoming special issue of the Journal of Marketing, which, in its call for papers, notes: “Marketing has the power to improve lives, sustain livelihoods, strengthen societies, and benefit the world at large. At the same time, marketing can have a dark side—it has the power to hurt consumers, employees, communities, markets, institutions, and the environment that surrounds us.” Often our students come into our marketing classes thinking about the “dark side.”

Inspired by the Journal of Marketing call for papers, a wide range of reading, and my own optimism about what marketing (and more generally business) can do, I am today starting the first of a series of posts that will be tagged #M4BW (Marketing for a Better World). These posts will highlight brands and businesses that have used marketing to create profits–and made the world a better place. To give you a background, I direct you to a TED Talk by Michael Porter (below). I have shared this with my students to stimulate a discussion about how marketing might contribute to a better world. It provides a nice supplement to our Chapter 1 coverage of value, triple bottom line, ethics, and social responsibility.

Filed Under: #M4BW, Chapter 01

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