E-Business B2B (Cont)

Procurement


For procurement to occur and organisation can conduct the following:

• A bidding in a system where suppliers compete against each other
• Buy directly from manufacturers. wholesalers or from retailer catalogue
• From private or public auctions
• Buy from an e-intermediary
• Internet buyer's catalogue
• Group purchasing system
• Collaborate with suppliers to share information about sales and inventory

Traditional procurement method v e-procurement methods

traditionally a large portion of a corporate buyer's day was spent on what we refer to as non-value added activities such as correcting mistakes on purchase orders. A lot of time would be spent on searching for suppliers, negotiating with suppliers and signing contracts.

There are numerous benefits associated with e-procurement.  These are:

• If a company is using reverse auctions the purchase price may be lower
• May be able to avail of order discounts
• Able to access quickly supplier information
• On time delivery
• Companies do not necessarily have to have skilled professionals to buy goods from suppliers
• The company can easily reduce the number of suppliers they have contact with
• Human error can be minimised.

Reverse auctions
A reverse auction can take place on the buyer's own website-thus saving the buyer money.  The buyer can request a quote from suppliers.

B2B and Web 2.0 Technology
To date B2B organisations are slow to use Web 2.0 technology.  At present Linkedin seems to be the one social networking site that companies tend to use. Web 2.0 technologies provide a number of opportunties to companies and some of these include the potential to attract new clients, employees and to network with potential suppliers, distributors and retailers. Companies can also use social networking sites such as Facebook to encourage their fans to visit their website.

At this stage we are very much aware of the differences between B2C and B2B and these include, organisational behaviour and marketing activities

Next week we will focus on B2C

Business Administration-organisation part 2

This week we focused on change management and organisational conflict. Before change takes place in an organisation, a firm can undertake surveys. t-groups, team building or grid training to enable employees to understand why change is taking place in the organisation.  The culture of an organisation can play an important part in ensuring that change takes place in the organisation.  Some organisations have a culture that embrace and accept change.Another important factor is the organisational climate-is conflict openly discussed? Are employees treated fairly regardless of their gender, age etc. Are employees needs recognised? For  change to take place it is essential that management are proactive and have the most up to date information and knowledge in regards to the forthcoming change. 

With change conflict may also occur. Conflict may arise for a number of reasons which include:

• Differences of opinion
• Limited resources
• Departmentalisation and specialisation
• Organisation of work activities
• Role conflict
• Organisational structure
• Communications and leadership style
• Inequitable treatment of an individual

There are positive and negative effects of conflict.  The following are some of the positive effects of conflict:

• There is a chance to clear the air
• Individuals negotiation skills can be tested.
• In some cases it can result in better ideas

Negative effects of conflict

• Essential resources may be wasted
• It may promote mistrust in the organisation
• Conflict may lead to high labour turnover in the organisation

How should a company introduce change in the organisation?  The first stage is referred to as Unfreezing-this is where the organisation recognises that there is a need for change in the organisation.  The second stage refers to movement.  This stage involves getting employees to accept changge and to embrace it in the organisation. The last stage is re-freezing which stabilises change.  The company's current policies and procedures will have to be updated to allow for changes made in the organisation. At this stage the effect of the change some be monitored. 

p stabilisation, the assessment of consequences and learning from the process

Market research-Key providers of marketing information

For this session we focused on some of the key providers of marketing information.  Some of the key providers in Ireland are:

• Lansdown
• Neilson
• MRBI

All of the above companies belong to the Organisation of Irish Market Research Companies


 Classification of research studies-studies can be classified into the following two area: Ad hoc or continuous.


Ad hoc research is research carried out on a once off basis.  Whereas continuous research is carried out weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.  Continous research can be broken into:  omnibus, panel or long-term surveys.


Next week we will look at market segmentation

Business Administration-Organising

For this session we focused on the area of organising.  Last week we discussed planning and this is a follow on from this.  Firstly we need to defined what organising actually is.  According to Morley et al (2006) organising is the process of dividing and co-ordinating the tasks to be achieved within an organisation between the various groups, individuals and departments

It is essential that the organisational structure is flexible enough to allow the company to make changes to the structure when they need to.

When we speak about organising we need to discuss two important elements:

1. The structure configuration
2. Structural operation

Structure configuration- this refers to the shape and size of the organisation.  There are a number of elements that need to be reviewed in relation to the firm's structure configuration.  These are:

• Division of labour-this is the dividing up of job into small tasks and allocating those tasks to particular individuals.
• Spans of control-how many subordinates/employees is a manager responsible for?  If tasks are complex managers tend to be in charge of a small number of employees (narrow spans of control).  If tasks are routine then managers can be responsible for a larger number of employees (large spans of control).
• Hierarchical levels-is your organisation tall(lot of levels) or flat (very few levels)
  Example of a flat structure

Example of a tall structure

• Departmentalisation-an organisation can adopt a number of forms of departmentalisation.  These are:
  (a) Functional departmentalisation
• 
  (b) Product departmentalisation
  
  
  (c) Geographical departmentalisation
  (d) Customer departmentalisation
  (e) Matrix departmentalisation
  (f) Mixed departmentalisation

Structural operation

This focuses on the process and operations of the organisational structure.  The issues that need to be considered are as follows:

1. Formalisation-this is where the firm is ruled by rules and procedures
2. Informal organisation-this often occurs in the canteen, where issues are discussed amongst staff.  There is no structure to this.

Power

Managers are given power within the organisation.  There are four types of power which are:

1. Coercive power-the manager has the ability to use their power to punish employees
2. Reward power-manager has the power to reward certain employees with bonuses, gift vouchers etc
3. Legitimate power-this is the power of the position that the manager takes on when they are appointed manager to a particular position within the company
4. Information power-this is power based on the information that the manager possess

What are the basic considerations in the design of and organsiational structure?

First of all the companh need to ensure that they have clear objectives and that these objectives are clearly communicated and understood by all. Secondly, what is the likely growth of the organisation.  Does the organisation plan to launch new products or enter new markets?  If so is there a set date or time for this to happen?  Thirdly, have task and element functions been identified?  What is the company's unique selling point, what is deemed valuable about the firm's products or services? Fourthly, what are the legal requirements that the firm needs to be aware of?  Lastly, how is work going to be divided out in the organisation?

When designing the organisational structure the organsiation has to decide whether they will adopt a centralised or decentralised approach to decision making.  A centralised approach is where decision making takes place among a few people in the organisation.  It is high possible that these people will be located in the same location.  If the company adopts a decentralised approach then decision making can be taken by a large number of people and in some cases in different branches or locations. 

Market Research-identifying potential sources of data

During this session we focused on identifying the potential sources of data that an organisation may require to enable them to make a decision. 

There are four main types of research designs:

1. Exploratory
2. Descriptive
3. Causal
4. Predictive

Exploratory research-this helps the firm to gather ideas and knowledge relatively quickly.  There are two types of exploratory research:

(a) Literature Survey-this is where the researcher searches through available data

(b) Experience Survey-this is where advice is sought from experts or consultants in the area.

Descriptive Research-a firm may require informaton in regards the characteristics of their customers-e.g. age, income, gender etc.  As part of the research project, the researcher may need to identify potential markets that may provide additional income to the company. The researcher may also require data in relation to the percentage of market share currently held by the company and its competitors. 

Causal Research-companies may conduct causal research to identify the cause and effect of such a relationship.  E.g. does A cause B to happen. 

Predictive Research-companies decide to use predictive research to try and identify the level of future sales for a particular product or service within the company.  Predictive studies can also be used in the test marketing of a particular product or service.

There are some common errors in the market research process.  These can be categorised as:

1. Problem definition errors
2. Informational errors
3. Experimental errors
4. Analysis errors

Problem definition errors-it is essential that the problem is well defined before market research actually begins. 

Informational errors-when a researcher is generating primary data there can be two types of errors.  These include sampling and non-sampling errors.  These will be discussed in detail later in the course.

Experimental errors-these type of errors occur when there is confusion over whether the independent variale caused the observed effect or whether it was due to an external influence and these were not controlled as part of the experiment.

Analysis errors-this error occurs when the researchers uses improper analytical techniques

There are two major types of marketing information.  These are:

(a) Primary

(b) Secondary

The final part of the session focused on how to control the total market research function.  The firm need to ensure that the following is in place:

1. Research accounts
2. Research audits
3. Research budget

E-Business-One to many: sell side e-marketplaces

During this session we look at the sell side of the B2B e-marketplace.  When we talk about sell-side e-marketplace we are referring to the situation where there is one seller and there are many potential buyers in the marketplace.  A company will sell products and/or services to business customers often via an extranet.  The seller (company) can be a manufacturer selling to a wholesaler, retailer or to an individual business.

The B2B model is quite similar to the B2C model.  However, there are some major  differences. Firstly, most companies tend to separate B2B customers from B2C customers.  In some instances a company will appoint a separate manager over each group of customers to ensure that their needs are met.  B2C clients receive the same catalogue while B2B clients may receive customised catalogues. 

There are three different methods of sell-side-these are:

• Sales from online catalogues
• Selling via distributors and other intermediaries
• Selling via e-auctions

Sales from online catalogues

This is where the company places all their products on an online catalogue.  If the business customer is large enough a separate catalogue is produced.  Companies such as Microsoft use online catalogues to sell their software to their  B2B clients.  Within the online catalogue clients can get quotes for products and order online.  There are a number of limitations to using online catalogues

Sales fom intermediaries

Manufacturers can sell directly to the final client, however they can also use intermediaries.  Most intermediaries sell to a variety of industries, however, some intermediaries specialise in particular industries.  If manufacturers are going to use intermediaries they have to bear in mind that conflict may occur between the distributor and the manufacturer and also between the distributor and the final client/customer. 

Selling via e-auctions

Over last few years e-auctions have increased in popularity.  Manufacturers often use e-auctions to sell unneeded or obsolete items.  Manufacturers often use forward auctions which is similar to E-Bay.  The seller puts a price up on the site and potential buyers make bids on the item.  There a number of benefits of these e-auctions:

1. revenue generation
2. Potential cost savings
3. Acquire members and there is potential to retain them
4. Customer loyalty to the e-auction site

Companies can have the option of auctioning from their own site or using a distributor.  If a company decides to auction from their own site it is essential to employ a person to manage that part of the website. 

Market research-specifying the information needed-Chapter 3

During this session we looked at how to specify the

information that we need in order to make the best

decision for our company.  It is essential that a marketing

manager is able to gain access to all the information

before making a decision.

There are four stages involved in identifying the

information that we need to solve a problem.  These are:

•Step 1: Problem definition 

•Step 2: Approach to the problem

•Step 3: Research design 

•Step 4: Specification of information needed

So what information do we need?

• Demographics
• Psychographics
• Motivators
• Knowledge
• Attitudes
• Past behaviour
• Opinions
• Behavioural intentions

Planning

During this session we focused on one of the most important mangerial functions-the ability to plan for both the short and long term.



So what is planning?  Planning can be defined as  'a statement of action to be undertaken by the organisation aimed at helping it achieve its objectives.  There are three main types of planning:

• Strategic planning is for the long term.  This is where the manager has to be able to plan ahead for at least five years.
• Tactical-this planning normally takes place at middle management level.  Tactical plans are plans for the operation of the company between one and five years.  Tactical plans are based on strategic plans.
• Operational-these are plans for the day to day operations of the company.  These plans are normally developed by supervisors or team leaders in the organisation.  

TYPES OF PLANS



These are seven different types of plans.  These are:

• Mission Statement-this identifies the purpose or scope of the organisation.  Have a look at this youtube clip on mission statements http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZFv82VsLxE
• Objectives-these are specific aims which usually involve specific time frames.
• Strategies-the aims of strategies is to answer the question 'how are we going to get where we want to go'.  In order to do this the company has to be able to identify its own weaknesses and strengths.
• Policies-are general guidelines.  Guidelines provide direction but managers/employees do not have to follow them. 
• Procedures-these are plans that outline how to handle certain situations.  Procedures often include a list of steps that have to be followed in sequence.  For example, a grievance or disciplinary procedure.
• Rules-these are statements that identify what exmployees can or cannot do when they are working in or as part of the organisation.
• Budgets-a budget is a numerial plan that identify where future allocation and utilisation of resources over a particular time period (i.e. six or twelve months).  A budget enable the manager to control the financial resources of the firm.

MBO
What is MBO?  MBO is management by objectives.  For MBO to work management set performance standards which employees have to meet.  The employee can set their own goals.  Once this is done, employees can sit down with management to discuss their proposed goals.  Over a period of time goals are reviewed and if they are set too high or too low the goals may be modified by management.  There are a number of advantages and disadvantages to MBO which were discussed in the notes.



Corporate planning process
There are a number of stages involved in the corporate planning process.

1. Define corporate objectives
2. External and internal analysis
3. Revision of corporate objectives
4. The formulation of strategic plans
5. Developing tactical plans
6. Implementation
7. Feedback

Next week we will look at the control function.

A Marketing Blog by Marketing Journal

A Marketing Blog by Marketing Journal

A Marketing Blog by Marketing Journal

A Marketing Blog by Marketing Journal

The secret behind great fighters and successful business owners

The secret behind great fighters and successful business owners

E-Business (Business to Business B2B)

Today we focused on business to business marketing.  It is forecasted that by next year B2B (both online and offline) will be worth approximately €15 trillion.  Presently, online B2B is worth about 10% of that amount. 

There are four  basic B2B transaction types:

1.Sell-side.  One seller to many buyers

2.Buy-side.  One buyer from many sellers

3.Exchanges-many sellers to many buyer

4.Supply chain improvement and collaborative commerce. 

 

There are also four characteristics of B2B and these include:

• Parties to the transaction: buyers, sellers and intermediaries
• Types of transactions
• Types of materials traded
• The direction of the trades

Market research process (cont)

During the last lecture we looked at the remaining stages of the market research process.  We started off by looking at primary and secondary information.  Normally a researcher would start a piece of research by searching for existing information(secondary information).  Once this has been exhausted the next step is to conduct primary research.  The most common ways of obtaining primary research is by way of a questionnaire, indepth interviews, focus groups, observation or experimentation.  All of these will be explored in more detail throughout the course.

Step four focuses on the measurement technique.  This involves focuses on four basic measurement techniques such as:

• questionnaires
• attitude scales
• observation
• depth interviews and projective techniques

Step 5: Select the sample
The researcher needs to identify the people they want to include in a survey, or take part in a focus or indepth interview, or observation or an experiment.  It is essential that the researcher identifies the sample frame (list of population members) and the sampling unit.

Next week we will finish the market research process.

Business Admin-modern theories of management

  This week we looked at four modern theories of management.
These were:

• The systems theory
• Contingency theory
• Total quality managemen
• Organisational Culture

Systems Theory
This theory was developed in the 1950s.  For the first time the external environment was considered in relation to what was happening in the organisation. 

Contingency Theory
Managers can choose from a mixture of theories to help them deal with problems that they are facing in their company.  The theory that they choose will be dependent on the problem facing the company.  This theory also accepts that every organisation is different and each company will deal with their problems in their unique way.

TQM
This is an attempt to prevent mistakes and problems from arising rather than have to find the problem and spend time in correcting the mistake.  It is essential that the company is aware what the customer wants, then they must design a product or service that will meet or exceed customer requirements.  TQM works on the assumption that total quality is the key to competing on a global scale.

Organisational Culture
What is the culture of your organisation?   It is essential that managers understand the culture of the organisation and how it imapcts their staff.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd0kf3wd120

Next week we will look at planning and corporate strategy

The future of E-Commerce

In the last session we covered a number of areas.  These were:

• Pure v Partial e-commerce.  Examples of pure EC are e-books such as those sold on Amazon.com. 

 An example of partial EC is Littlewoods where the consumer can purchase online and the physical product is delivered to the customer. http://www.littlewoodsireland.ie/

• The future of EC-where is EC going?  What should marketers be thinking about in relation to the EC and how it can affect their company in the future.  Consider the PEST and how it relates to EC
• The final part of the session focused on the classification of EC.  EC can be classified as follows:

1. Business to Business(B2B)
2. Business to Consumer(B2C)
3. Business-to-Business-to Consumer (B2B2C)
4. Consumer to Business (C2B)
5. Intrabusiness EC
6. Consumer to Consumer (C2C)
7. E-Learning

We will be focusing more on each of these later on in the course.