MGT322 – Spring 2013

Strategic Alliances Between Video Game Developers and Media Firms

Posted on by spr1332bhalan

Strategic Alliances between Video Game Developers and Media Firms

By: Brett Halan

So basically the situation at hand is that media companies like Disney are starting to develop their own video games rather than export the development. The skill to develop and program games was once extremely rare and difficult to learn. Today it is being taught by more and more universities, and the skill is more widespread. Companies like Disney and PIXAR have a strategic alliance to create games like Toy Story and many others. They still do have an alliance, but Disney is experimenting by creating their own methods to creating games. Other media companies are following their lead as well.

These companies originally make a film that is later turned into a video game. Toy Story is an example of this process. The problem is that as of lately the video games that are extracted from original movies are not successful whatsoever. Disney and the others had to ask themselves why?  They concluded that the quality of the games is terrible. The video game developing companies spend much of their effort working on original pieces of work like Halo or Call of Duty that attract the largest consumer base. They spend little time on these movies turned video games because they are historically weak sellers. The quote “quality is subjective, and perception is reality” pertains directly to this situation. The only real person who can claim that one game has more quality over the other are the end consumers. The media companies and the developing firms are essentially making the same mistake over and over again, and they need to accept change.

To fix the lack of quality going into the games there are a few alternatives. The most popular is that the media firms are buying smaller video game development companies. They are expanding in a way to give them a higher amount of control over the end product. As we saw in class during the ball passing game, when you have control over the process and design the end result is improved. Another alternative could include simply end making video games based off movies.     

Overall, the consumers of the big box office movies seem to really enjoy the movies, so why are the video games not popular? Media firms blame the video game developers for not putting maximum effort into the games. There are a few questions we should consider. The first is how do the media firms go forward with improving the transcendent definition of quality of these games? The second question is how are the video game developers going to stay in business with their strategically aligned partners?

Even though the information for this post is from 2008 the information is still relevant for today. I imagine we will see less and less video games based off of movies in the meantime. Further down the road I imagine some movies will have a more advanced feature where you can control the action similar to a video game. Today they have alternative endings to movies, but I think that is just the beginning of interaction with the audience.    

Sources from:

M. Marr and N Wingfield (2008). “Big Media companies want back in the game.” The Wall Street Journal, February 19, 2008.

C. Salter (2002). “Playing to Win.” Fast Company. December. Pg. 80.

C. Edward (2008). “Morphing Video Games into Movies.” BloombergBusinessWeek. March 19, 2008. http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-03-19/morphing-video-games-into-movies

 

Playboy Plans to Open Club in India

Posted on by spr1332mmadrid

(FILES) In this photograph taken on July 23, 2012, Indian Bollywood film actress Sherlyn Chopra poses during a press event for the first Indian woman ...

AFP – Getty Images file

(FILES) In this photograph taken on July 23, 2012, Indian Bollywood film actress Sherlyn Chopra poses during a press event for the first Indian woman to pose nude for ‘Playboy’ magazine in Mumbai. Plans to open India’s first Playboy club in coastal Goa state have hit a stumbling block.

 

Playboy, the magazine, has many connotations associated with it. By and large it has been a streamlining magazine brand for over 50 years and continues to grow. Due to the companies progressive popularity Playboy opened Playboy clubs, which feature female waitresses in black satin bodices, bow ties, cuffs, and bunny ears. While the clubs promote a healthy, classy atmosphere, they have increasingly been growing around the world. In fact, Playboy has been in talks to open a new club in India, off the coast of Goa. The club would be the first in India and would feature the waitresses in a dress more adapted to the Indian culture.

 

However, talks have been halted after the local politicians have vetoed the license to allow Playboy to move in and set up the club. Local authorities have been on record as saying that if the government does in fact approve the license, they are also in “support for prostitution in the area”, and that, “Playboy promotes vulgarity”. Many local residents and lawmakers have even been as serious as threating to go on a hunger strike if the club opened up in Goa. The promoters for the Playboy brand in India have said they need to rework the contract and “technical glitches” before anything can be finalized. Additionally, they have said they plan on opening other Playboy clubs in different cities around India, and that they will continue to try to push for the club in Goa.

 

Furthermore, it should be noted that Playboy is trying to actively ensure that the dresses in the club do not offend Indian culture and that the club was intended to be a café where women could have “special privileges”. Those privileges were not revealed however. All of this coming in a time when India is pushing for a more restrictive atmosphere towards women. Even though many people are advocating towards creating a healthier environment aimed at the attitudes of women. A daunting challenge ahead for Playboy, one that seems very hard to overcome. Subsequently, the question then becomes whether or not Playboy chose to bite off more than they could chew. Sure, entertaining the idea of creating something people in India have not been introduced to seems legit. Nonetheless, Playboy stands in between a crossroads not only dealing with cultural norms, but with political agendas aimed in a different direction than what a Playboy club seemingly offers to customers.

 

Essentially it comes down to how upper management will control the club and ensure that boundaries are not overstepped. It is entirely possible for Playboy to succeed in those uncharted waters, but it will be based on how well the company with deal with the challenges ahead. Already steps are being made in the right direction by management and it can absolutely be successful in a touristy beach destination. In saying that, should Playboy aim at opening the club in an environment whose attitudes and views toward women are completely different than western culture? Did management make a poor choice in authorizing the go ahead for a club in India? Why not just open a club in a place where none of this would be an issue?  

 

 

 

 

 

 Source:

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/bunnies-playboy-kind-get-cold-reception-indian-state-1B9518660

Will HTC survive?

Posted on by spr1332umoroz

HTC has been a leading competitor in the smartphone market for years. Recently, their revenues plummeted by 98% compared to last year. HTC claims this is due to the high competition from the market, especially Apple and Samsung. With the decline in revenues, it is only natural that their stock prices fell as well. HTC is struggling to keep up with Apple’s iphones and Samsung’s Galaxy models. HTC was supposed to release the HTC One smartphone in March, but they dropped the ball on that plan due to no revenues coming in and still having their fixed costs. In an attempt to hang on in the market, they recently announced a collaboration with Facebook for the feature of Facebook Home.

In class we had discussions that just because prices of stocks went down, does not necessarily mean that the quality of their product went down. The problem with the smartphone, and technology, in that matter, is that everything is fast-moving and changes are always taking place quickly. I have an HTC Thunderbolt smartphone, and there were extremely high hopes for it. It was a great phone until software started getting updated, such as different apps, but HTC Thunderbolt did not come out with a new update for the phone. Apple has a software update very often. Samsung has come out with the Galaxy and Galaxy 2 during the time that loyal HTC customers have been waiting for the update.

Part of the reason for HTC’s struggle is because they cannot keep up with the quick pace of change. That is one of the main complaints of customers.  This is why benchmarking is crucial. HTC does not need to come up with a new update every week, but they should try to improve their products so that they could keep up with app updates. I waited two years for my update. Before I received it, basic apps such as GMAIL, were not running properly on my phone because the app was no longer compatible with my phone’s software. My phone was essentially outdated. What did I decide to do? I am switching over to Apple and getting an iphone. Many customers have lost faith in HTC because they are taking their time with launching new products and updates.

A decline in revenues means that HTC’s products are not selling. In even a simpler way of putting it, customers are not interested. HTC is in big trouble if more customers start moving away from them and looking into Samsung or Apple products. HTC’s collaboration with Facebook is also up in the air because Facebook Home has not been fully tested out with customers. Currently, it will be an optional feature for your phone, but whether customers will want it is unknown. Before making this a permanent feature on the market, Facebook and HTC should run surveys to see if customers are even interested in something like this.

Do you think that HTC will survive in this constantly changing market? Is the collaboration with Facebook a good idea or a desperate measure to stay competitive in the market?

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/04/08/for-htc-its-still-a-tough-road/

 

Will Mercedes’ CLA Live Up to Standards?

Posted on by spr1332tmckenna
Image taken From www.gulf4cars.com

In mid to late April Mercedes-Benz’s new midsized sedan, the CLA, hit markets in Europe and will be in the U.S. in September.  While Mercedes currently has a wide array of possible sedans to choose from, the CLA is different.  Normally when one hears Mercedes, he or she automatically thinks of an expensive luxury car.  It is no secret that a car made by Mercedes- Benz can be expensive.  However, Mercedes hopes to break this schema with the CLA.  (Padgett)

The CLA, as mentioned, is a sedan that features an inline 4-cylinder, 208 horsepower engine, a plush leather interior, and a wide array of technology options.  At this point in the description, most probably think, “This sounds like every other Mercedes”.   Truthfully, it does; but the CLA is unlike most Mercedes in one category- price.  Mercedes claims that the average price of the CLA will be right around $30,000 USD.  Providing that this is true, this price would make the CLA the most affordable Mercedes on the market, followed by the C-Class.  (Padgett)

Mercedes plans to use this relatively low price point to target younger drivers between the ages of 25 and 45.  The theory is: if younger people are able to afford a Mercedes now, then they will continue to be loyal to the brand as they progress on the salary scale.  While this may be a good idea in theory, it may not work in the long run. (Padgett)

There is a reason that Mercedes charges a lot for their cars.  The reason is because they are quality automobiles.  I make that claim based solely on fact, not opinion.  Having said that, if the CLA is a quality product like other Mercedes, how can it be so much cheaper?  I know as well as everyone else that there are generally large markups on cars.  However, I am not sure that a mark up would make the next cheapest Mercedes about $15,000 more expensive, even after haggling has taken place.

There are a few possible reasons for the CLA’s price.  The first possibility is that Mercedes strongly believes that the CLA will help them retain younger customers.  This would ultimately ensure profit in the future, which could offset the price of the CLA.  Another reason, dare I go there, Mercedes may have taken shortcuts.  There is a large possibility that the CLA will not be as reliable or perform as well as a higher end model.  But, with the way the company defends the quality and desirability of the CLA one cannot know for sure.

If this were the case, why would someone buy the CLA?  As much as I want to believe that consumers make buying decisions based solely on product quality, I know this is not always true.  Truthfully, Mercedes will get many young drivers to purchase the CLA just because it is an affordable Mercedes.  However, will they remain loyal to a product that might be lacking the quality that is expected?

Padgett, Marty. Mercedes-Benz CLA. 4 April 2013. 21 April 2013 <http://www.thecarconnection.com/cars/mercedes-benz_cla>.

Apple – Samsung = What Kind of Quality?

Posted on by f1223nlopez

After hearing this news about a month ago, I decided to post it and get others responses to it.

It seems although they are in a bitter legal battle with each company suing each other, Apple is still doing business with the Korean company Samsung, but for how long? The relationship started because the companies that previously provided the displays for the iPads, weren’t meeting with quality standards and were dropped. These companies included LG and Sharp Inc. Now it seems that because the legal battles that are happening, Samsung will also be dropped. It seems that the new company to step in and win over Apple’s iPad Mini, is Innolux. Innolux already provides Apple with the displays for the big iPad, and iPod Touch, so the change should be easy.

For those of us who have iPhone, we all noticed how the maps changed when Apple and Google parted ways. A lot of us found out that we were driving or walking into the middle of an ocean when we would look for destinations, or the maps wouldn’t fully load correctly, of course now its fixed after a couple of updates. So will another debacle like this happen when they part ways with Samsung? As consumers, we hate it when the quality of a good product continues to decline and there are a lot of Apple consumers who are very happy with the components that Samsung provides to these devices. Not only are they providing the display panels, but they also manufacture the chips for the Apple devices.

The major question that will be looming is will the quality of Apple products start to decline? It’s been said that Apple is dropping Samsung because of the costs that are now being demanded, so will looking for lower costs, lower the quality? I find it natural that Apple would want to drop Samsung because of their legal battles. Why would they want to help and contribute to their competitors? Samsung is stepping up in the technology industry and is becoming a big competitor to Apple and it’s in their best interest to part ways before the blueprints to their best selling devices are found out.

As news of “The Next Big Thing,” the Samsung Galaxy S4 has come out, will it make a splash big enough to make some new converts? I’ve heard some of the new features on the phone and I find them a little bit weird. The biggest one is the ability to wave your hand to switch screens. Just picture yourself waving your hand at your phone and think about how you will look. I’m not knocking it all, I just find it funny. Each phone is targeting different customers, but are always pinned each other for top spot.

Let me know what you guys think about the new move and if it will or will not effect the quality of Apple products. Feel free to chime in on the new S4 as well.

 

http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/156712/apple-said-to-drop-samsung-turn-to-innolux-for-ipad-mini-displays

http://www.neowin.net/news/apple-may-abandon-samsung-for-retina-ipad-mini-displays

 

 

Why Microsoft isn’t so hot to enter the Smart Phone market

Posted on by spr1332tlawrence

 

Article Breakdown

Stated in the article, “Rather than creating a premium device to rival Apple and Samsung in the developed world, Microsoft plans to rely on partners to mine emerging markets with budget smartphones.” Microsoft’s CEO stated that the company as a whole wants to stray away from being strictly a software company to a entity that will focus on devices and services more this the mind set of it yielding more market share. Alternatively, it seems Microsoft is afraid to enter an extremely profitable and competitive market. This market is the smartphone market. Numerous companies have tried to take a piece of this plentiful pie but failed miserably. Microsoft will only take this risk  if it’s partners jump off the cliff first. “Microsoft recognizes that the cost of creating a premium handset to compete at the high-end of the smartphone market against Apple’s iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S3 is an enormously expensive and risky proposition.” Moreover, the company feels that investing in a market like this isn’t the best use of the company’s resources so instead Microsoft looks to gain this lost ground in, equally as risky, emerging markets. In markets like these they will be focuses on partners like Nokia to establish this.

Some make think that Microsoft surface may have stumbled but the company intends to build devices when its numerous partners aren’t trying to produce gadgets that resonate with the consumers. Markets like that smartphone market in the U.S are extremely developed markets. Some may think this is a perfect chance for Microsoft to take a dive in but the task of displacing Apple and Google with a Microsoft-made product is near impossible. The game with competing with Google and Apple is one Microsoft just doesn’t want to play.

My Opinion

I thought Microsoft’s plan was an extremely thought out and strategic one. Microsoft will be under the radar in the technology game for just a little bit but then will capitalize on the right technology or gadget at the right time. Competing with companies like Google or Apple is near impossible in an already established market. The only way to win this innovation battle is let them win this “fight” and focus on the “war” or the next mind blowing thing. With Microsoft taking all the focus off this market they can truly succeed in a new market and get there before Google and Apple. At the end of the day, it started with Microsoft. Lastly, I feel the quality of Microsoft’s products are on the line if the company attempts to come out with a smart phone because customers are extremely picky about products like these

Questions to consider

1. Is Microsoft making the right choice by taking a safe route and losing market share?

2. How much market share could Microsoft actually capture come Apple and Google?

3. Are there any emerging markets that Microsoft has missed or do you know of any they could capitalize on in the future?

4. How is Microsoft managing its quality?

February 2013 Smart Phone Market Share

Google’s Android: 51.7%

Apple’s iOS: 38.9%

Windows: 3.2%

 

Sources

news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57579980-75/why-microsoft-wont-make-an-iphone-rival/

 

 

 

EA Says Good-Bye to Several Popular Facebook Games

Posted on by spr1332shuang

On April 15th, Electronic Arts (EA) has announced that they will be retiring several of their most popular social Facebook games: The Sims Social, SimCity Social, and Pet Society. EA stated that the reason is that,

“After millions of people initially logged in to play these games, the number of players and amount of activity has fallen off. For people who have seen other recent shutdowns of social games, perhaps this is not surprising.”

These three games will officially go offline in approximately 2 months, on June 14, 2013.

An issue that follows the closure of these games involves the in-game currency for these games. Facebook games are free-to-play, but many games (“freemium” games) like EA’s allow users to purchase in-game currency with real currency to buy certain features in the game that are not free. So while EA is fine with retiring the games, many dedicated players are not happy with the fact that they spent real money on the game, and will no longer be able to access the game and the items they purchased once it goes down. EA’s response is as follows:

“Players are encouraged to spend their remaining balance of SimCash in The Sims Social before the game is retired on June 14th. As of that date, any remaining SimCash left in the game will be invalid.”

This does not really solve the problem. Players cannot do anything about it and refunds will not be provided.

These announcements have all came after EA had recently been voted for and crowned as the Worst Company in America for two consecutive years, as well as the chaotic launch of their newest game, SimCity 5. EA’s closure of these games continues to shed light on the issue of consumers not “owning” a product that they purchased, most notably intangible products such as online-only games.

As an ex-player of some of EA’s Facebook games, I think that the reason why people gradually stopped playing their games is because they failed to meet the consumer’s requirements. They were great games at the start, but as they started becoming more aggressive with the new content and the push to purchase in-game items, the games started going downhill. Many of the players, as well as myself, did not like it. Even though the community had expressed their feelings about these decisions, EA failed to address the problems. Just as our class failed to consider the consumer group’s requirements in the paper airplane activity, EA failed to meet their players’ requirements and expectations for their games.

What do you think of EA’s move to retire these games, and their responses to their consumers’ complaints in regards to the in-game currencies? What do you think about the issue in regards to the payment for and the ownership of intangible products? Furthermore, what does all of this say about the quality of EA’s products and services, as well as EA as a company in general?

Sources

American Airlines and US Airways: together at last

Posted on by spr1331edanos

In today’s travel industry, delays, overbooking  and cancellations have become common place.  Today there are many airline carriers to chose from but only very few have stood the test of time and and maintained their profitability   By Providing better service and less obstacles to swift traveling, companies like United and American Airlines have grown into brand names if you will.  However, when large carriers like American Airlines expand and grow, the quality of their service is potentially at risk.

In March of 2013, congress approved one of the largest mergers in the airline industry’s history.  It agreed to the merger proposition for American Airlines to combine with U.S. airways making it the largest airline carrier in the world with over 6,700 daily flights to 336 destinations and a little over 10,000 employees.   Now the common idea with large mergers such as this, is that quality will suffer as the company become larger.  So by analyzing some potential outcomes of the current picture of American Airlines and what may happen with the pending merger, we can see where things might change.

The amount of miles earned by U.S. airways fliers will not be lost in the merger but will be transferred in a one for one type of exchange into American’s AAdvantage program making it the largest airline miles club in the world with approximately 100 million members.

Another concern fliers have is the difference in in flight products offered.  For example, American Airlines offers meals to fliers on flights less than two hours long, while on U.S. airways the flight must be longer than three and a half hours long before you will receive a meal.  With the merger, American Airlines fliers are quite worried about the amenities they might lose when flying on American.

Flying could also get more expensive, with so many routes under the American flight portfolio, there is a strong possibility for a fare hike on many different routes where there is little to no competition from other airlines.  The main hope for this merger according to executives at American Airlines is to come together and offer more fliers a better experience with seamless travel to more destinations.  It seems with the intended proposed plan that American will actually improve on the delivery of a quality service to a larger group of customers.

In many instances, large mergers such as this often have negative affects on the companies involved and they often lose much of their clientele as the quality of the product or service is diminished   However, in this case it appears that the intended plan would only serve to benefit both groups and their clients, as U.S. Airways customers would see an improvement on departure and arrival times with access to more daily flights, as well as an increase in the quality of the in flight services currently offered on many American flights, and the American airlines customer would see a significant increase in the number of destinations offered along with a much more flexible array of flight times with the increased number of daily flights as well.  It would seem as though this merger would make American Airlines the most competitive and profitable airline in the industry which will be determined for certain when the merger takes place at some point in the projected 3rd quarter of 2013.

 

Works Cited

http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/travel/if-american-airlines-and-us-airways-merge-what-should-fliers-expect.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2013/04/15/new-american-airline-ceo-parker-to-get-15-million-in-merger-pay/

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/court-approves-american-airlines-us-airways-merger-2B9117378

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-keyes/what-the-american-airlines-merger-flyer-miles_b_2688076.html

Nine Retailers with the WORST Customer Service

Posted on by spr1331bcardenas

 

In today’s changing world the product is no longer the most important thing in the shopping process, people are beginning to care more about customer satisfaction, especially in the retail industry. Although its true that customer satisfaction is improving, not all retailers are keeping up with today’s expectations, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

Brick and mortar are still the highest rated retailers; however e-commerce is beginning to excel as well. On the negative side, traditional retailers are the ones that are receiving the most negative assessments.

Although many traditional retailers remain with good or average scores, especially the ones that compete with online shops.

In the latest ACSI study, the average for retail companies was 76.6 of a 100-point scale in 2012. With the exception of Internet retail, which is considered as e-commerce for ACSI. This Industry got an 82 score, and from the nine worst rated retailers from ACSI scores, there was just one online retailer.

But even an “average” score, can be considered bad for business, because customer expectations are very important for a company’s score. However customers are lowering their expectations. They’re not actually looking for better shopping experience in the traditional retailers, and for internet retail is the other way around, customers are expecting more of them.

The businesses that failed to impress customers last year have been having a difficult time for many years. As we learned in class, many companies go under because they failed to understand what the customer really wanted. For example, Safeway has been struggling with customer satisfaction for the past 10 years.

For other companies underperforming is a relatively new obstacle, like the case of Netflix, that outperformed average for four years and in 2009 was rated the top retailers, but in the past two years the Internet video retailer has been considered the worst Internet rated company.

Although traditional retailers are struggling to keep customers satisfied, they still have the majority of the sales, but its probable that if Internet retailers continue outperforming in customer satisfaction (compared to traditional retailers) they will gain brick and mortar market share eventually.

 

Nine retailers with worst customer service:

9. Walgreens– Health/ Personal care

• Customer satisfaction score: 76

• 12-month revenue: $70.79 billion

• One-yr. share price change: 22.42%

8. TJX Companies — retail

• Customer satisfaction score: 76

• 12-month revenue: $25.88 billion

• One-yr. share price change: 20.18%

7. Gap — Retail

• Customer satisfaction score: 76

• 12-month revenue: $15.65 billion

• One-yr. share price change: 45.84%

6. Supervalu — supermarkets

• Customer satisfaction score: 76

• 12-month revenue: $34.77 billion

• One-yr. share price change: -35.60%

5. Sears — department Store

• Customer satisfaction score: 75

• 12-month revenue: $39.85 billion

• One-yr. share price change: -34.60%

4. CVS– health/personal care

• Customer satisfaction score: 75

• 12-month revenue: $123.13 billion

• One-yr. share price change: 15.95%

3. Safeway –– supermarkets

• Customer satisfaction score: 75

• 12-month revenue: $44.21 billion

• One-yr. share price change: 13.60%

2. Netflix – e-commerce

• Customer satisfaction score: 75

• 12-month revenue: $3.61 billion

• One-yr. share price change: 70.80%

1. Wal-Mart — department store

• Customer satisfaction score: 71

• 12-month revenue: $469.16 billion

• One-yr. share price change: 22.65%

 

Sources Cited:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/03/16/9-retailers-worst-customer-service/1991519/

http://www.theacsi.org/acsi-results/acsi-results

Former JCP’s CEO summoned back

Posted on by spr1331maviles

Little did Myron Ullman know that he would be summoned back at JC Penney seventeen months after he retired in 2011. Last week, April 8th, Ron Johnson was fired by the board of directors and was replaced by former CEO, Myron Ullman, after the company lost nearly a billion dollars in sales revenue.

While Ron Johnson accomplished several good things, like cutting operation costs and making stores look more attractive and uncluttered, his biggest mistake as CEO was taking away coupons for customers. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, last year sales fell by 25%, which resulted in the company to lose about a billion dollars.

imgres.jpg

“Customers hated ousted CEO Ron Johnson’s move to eliminate sales and coupons in favor of everyday low prices, and Johnson’s backpedaling came too late.” (Bloomberg Businessweek). Though Johnson’s plan to eliminate coupons may have made sense to him, it didn’t make sense to JC Penney customers. Their middle-income customers want coupons and want to feel the satisfaction of saving money. Johnson failed to realize what his customers actually wanted.

This reminds me of our first class activity where each group had to create paper airplanes for their customers and convince their customers that theirs was the best. Each group’s airplane was different and unique in their own individual way. While the groups practiced making their paper airplanes, not once did any of the groups visit the customers to ask them what they were looking for in the paper airplanes. Even though each group tried to answer any questions made by the customer with the “right” answer, in reality they didn’t know what the “right” answer was because they didn’t know what the customer really wanted. They answered questions by assuming that that was what the customer wanted to hear. Just like Ron Johnson didn’t take into account that JC Penney customers want and love coupons and just assumed that customers would be happy with everyday low prices, our groups in class didn’t take into account what their customer wants were and just assumed.

Now that Johnson is gone, it is Myron Ullman’s job to bring up sales to JC Penney. This will be tough for Ullman, as the article states, “Persuading lost customers to return to the fold is a bit like trying to win back a girlfriend: Occasionally is works, more often it ends in heartbreak.”. Ullman will need to research to see what it takes to get JC Penney’s customers back.

Overall, I believe it is going to be hard for Ullman to bring up sales. As a result of the new idea of no coupons that Johnson enforced, I believe that many customers were lost and it will be hard to get them back.

 

Will Ullman be able to bring back JC Penney? What new strategies will he come up with? Will coupons be back at JC Penney?

 

 

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-11/j-dot-c-dot-penney-rehires-myron-ullman-to-clean-up-ron-johnsons-mess#p2

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-10/lessons-from-j-dot-c-dot-penney-dont-mess-with-coupons