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The Business War College expands in a time of contraction and retreat
Dedham, MA
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The Business War College expands in a time of contraction and retreat
• Does constantly telling your customers that paying more, or less for your company's products make them worth it?
• Is selling premium brands and value claims of "better, faster, longer lasting" still relevant to price conscious consumers?
• How does pushing a broad range of goods and products into stores still touch consumers in the real life the same way it touches retailers who are trying to sell their own products and a saving pennies?
• Do price wars at retail lead to mindful share and volume growth for stronger competitors eager to focus their unique strengths against a competitors' stubborn high commodity costs and lower sales volume weaknesses?
• Will increases in private label force price-cuts in national brands at retail giants and create the battleground for price wars between manufacturers and retailers?
Boston/New York, February 25, 2009: The Newlin Taraschi Partnership announced the launch of a new business process to help brands and portfolios survive and thrive in a challenging marketspace. A unique two month process, The Business War College was developed to respond to today's demanding business environment.
"Our experience is dealing with the top Consumer Product Companies show that they are suffering from staggering irrelevance and inordinate fixation on growth strategies that have shaped "best practices" for the better part of the last ten years, "said Bob Taraschi, partner. "Research tells us that this problem is costing large, multi-national, multi-geographic and multi-product line companies hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue per quarter"
"The problem is only getting worse as manufacturers, retailers, suppliers and customers are in a state of unprecedented change and disruption. We believe that it is critical to the survival of many companies to make frequent, fast and flexible course corrections from which you can make money and survive by focusing on your unique strengths against your competitors' and the markets' most vulnerable weaknesses. In our view, if you are not prepared to bring powerful, just-in-time intelligence to bear to solve your businesses most pressing issues in the next six months, you are at risk of losing at least five or more points of your market share," he continued.
Without some consensus about how serious these business, product, market, distribution, and competitive, as well as consumer problem are, and what the plan of attack should be, the autopsy of many companies will read, lack of preparation.
The Business War College is fast, flexible and immediately functional. It is designed to enable companies to quickly assess their objectives in the emerging light of today's reality. Together with talented faculty and the best business minds, the program brings the most relevant expertise in solving serious brand, portfolio and business issues in a finite amount of time. The goal is to provide laser focus to evaluate multiple strategies and tactical alternatives with a single purpose, thereby enabling precisely targeted moves that are at once competitively insulatable and immediately and tangibly effective.
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About Kate Newlin Partner, Analyst
Kate is the former president of Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve. An extraordinarily gifted revealer of unmet consumer desires and predictor of the consumer's willingness to pay for what they want, Kate has worked with scores of companies, including: Intel, Games by Apollo, Kitchen Aid, Galoob Electronic Toys, Sharp Electronics, Hasbro, P&G, Kraft, Campbell's Soup, Quaker, Pepsi-Cola, Reckett-Benkeiser, S.C. Johnson, and Heinz — to unearth the power of the underleveraged selling proposition.
Kate is the author of Shopportunity! (Harper-Collins, September 2006), a consumer manifesto for reigniting the thrill of the hunt. Her forthcoming book (Passion Brands, 2009) investigates brands that have forged remarkable consumer partnerships and deconstructs the process through which that level of engagement can be formed.
About Bob Taraschi, Partner, Session Design and Facilitation
Bob is a recognized industry leader in research and branding. For 20 years, Bob has worked with more than 60% of the Fortune 500. His deep professional experience has helped companies establish and strategically extend brands through brand building, positioning and re-positioning efforts, as well as new product and marketing strategy development. He is a board member of the Boston Center of the AK Rice Institute, author of Milestone Ideas, and he has been awarded many international creativity awards, including a Gold Medal from the Pan American Film Festival, the Clio and the One Show. His client experience includes Apple Computer, Kraft Foods, Unisys, the American Red Cross, Dole, Hasbro, Church & Dwight, Honeywell, Heinz, Kitchen Aid, School Specialty and Discovery Networks.
• Does constantly telling your customers that paying more, or less for your company's products make them worth it?
• Is selling premium brands and value claims of "better, faster, longer lasting" still relevant to price conscious consumers?
• How does pushing a broad range of goods and products into stores still touch consumers in the real life the same way it touches retailers who are trying to sell their own products and a saving pennies?
• Do price wars at retail lead to mindful share and volume growth for stronger competitors eager to focus their unique strengths against a competitors' stubborn high commodity costs and lower sales volume weaknesses?
• Will increases in private label force price-cuts in national brands at retail giants and create the battleground for price wars between manufacturers and retailers?
Boston/New York, February 25, 2009: The Newlin Taraschi Partnership announced the launch of a new business process to help brands and portfolios survive and thrive in a challenging marketspace. A unique two month process, The Business War College was developed to respond to today's demanding business environment.
"Our experience is dealing with the top Consumer Product Companies show that they are suffering from staggering irrelevance and inordinate fixation on growth strategies that have shaped "best practices" for the better part of the last ten years, "said Bob Taraschi, partner. "Research tells us that this problem is costing large, multi-national, multi-geographic and multi-product line companies hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue per quarter"
"The problem is only getting worse as manufacturers, retailers, suppliers and customers are in a state of unprecedented change and disruption. We believe that it is critical to the survival of many companies to make frequent, fast and flexible course corrections from which you can make money and survive by focusing on your unique strengths against your competitors' and the markets' most vulnerable weaknesses. In our view, if you are not prepared to bring powerful, just-in-time intelligence to bear to solve your businesses most pressing issues in the next six months, you are at risk of losing at least five or more points of your market share," he continued.
Without some consensus about how serious these business, product, market, distribution, and competitive, as well as consumer problem are, and what the plan of attack should be, the autopsy of many companies will read, lack of preparation.
The Business War College is fast, flexible and immediately functional. It is designed to enable companies to quickly assess their objectives in the emerging light of today's reality. Together with talented faculty and the best business minds, the program brings the most relevant expertise in solving serious brand, portfolio and business issues in a finite amount of time. The goal is to provide laser focus to evaluate multiple strategies and tactical alternatives with a single purpose, thereby enabling precisely targeted moves that are at once competitively insulatable and immediately and tangibly effective.
#########
About Kate Newlin Partner, Analyst
Kate is the former president of Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve. An extraordinarily gifted revealer of unmet consumer desires and predictor of the consumer's willingness to pay for what they want, Kate has worked with scores of companies, including: Intel, Games by Apollo, Kitchen Aid, Galoob Electronic Toys, Sharp Electronics, Hasbro, P&G, Kraft, Campbell's Soup, Quaker, Pepsi-Cola, Reckett-Benkeiser, S.C. Johnson, and Heinz — to unearth the power of the underleveraged selling proposition.
Kate is the author of Shopportunity! (Harper-Collins, September 2006), a consumer manifesto for reigniting the thrill of the hunt. Her forthcoming book (Passion Brands, 2009) investigates brands that have forged remarkable consumer partnerships and deconstructs the process through which that level of engagement can be formed.
About Bob Taraschi, Partner, Session Design and Facilitation
Bob is a recognized industry leader in research and branding. For 20 years, Bob has worked with more than 60% of the Fortune 500. His deep professional experience has helped companies establish and strategically extend brands through brand building, positioning and re-positioning efforts, as well as new product and marketing strategy development. He is a board member of the Boston Center of the AK Rice Institute, author of Milestone Ideas, and he has been awarded many international creativity awards, including a Gold Medal from the Pan American Film Festival, the Clio and the One Show. His client experience includes Apple Computer, Kraft Foods, Unisys, the American Red Cross, Dole, Hasbro, Church & Dwight, Honeywell, Heinz, Kitchen Aid, School Specialty and Discovery Networks.
Bob Taraschi
Partner
Milestone Ideas and Newlin-Taraschi Partnership
Dedham, MA
781-467-1200
