How they boost income: 05-August-08
Sourav Mitra -
Tuesday, August 05, 2008 10:46 PM
Motorola Inc., which is losing customers to the iPhone and e-mail-equipped handsets from Nokia and Samsung:
1. It will split its money-losing mobile-phone business from its profitable and faster-growing broadband business, which makes cable-television set-top boxes and wireless-networking equipment to increase focus on its mobile-phone business.
2. It has hired a high profile head of the handset unit whose biggest impact will be the level and type of engineering talent he will attract to the company over time.
3. It will hire a team with experience in branding and distribution.
4. It will introduce 34 new devices in the second half of this year.
5. It will try to enhance its engineering culture's connection with the marketplace.
[Click here for story at Bloomberg.com]
[Click here for story at Businessweek.com]
More focus + better talent + more new products + radars entrenched deeper in the marketplace = more scope for income
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Carlsberg A/S, the Nordic region's largest brewer:
1. It has used the strength of its brands to raise prices and while gaining market share
2. It completed its joint bid for Scottish & Newcastle with Heineken NV, taking full control of OAO Baltika Breweries, Russia's largest brewer, and bulking up in west Europe
[Click here for full story at Bloomberg.com]
Strong brands + synergic acquisitions = more income
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Beiersdorf AG, the German maker of Nivea skin creams:
1. It will focus on developing countries to help meet a goal of increasing its world market share to 5.5 percent by 2010.
2. It took control of Chinese company C-BONS last year to help meet a goal of generating more than 30 percent of revenue outside Europe
[Click here for full story at Bloomberg.com]
Focus on emerging markets + acquisitions in emerging markets = scope for higher income growth
(But aren't some German companies leaving China for quality, logistics and cost issues?)
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Tesla Motor, carmaker:
1. It will produce electric vehicles for the masses
2. It will create high demand cars through design and engineering.
3. It will bring design in house. It hired the Director of Design at Mazda's R&D Design Center
[Click here for full story at Businessweek.com]
Great products + great design = more income
(Prof Michael Porter's Product Differentiation Strategy?)
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138 franchisees of Bennigan's, the pub-themed casual dining chain, which filed for bankruptcy choosing to cease operations and liquidate its assets rather than attempt to reorganize:
1. They are still operating and let customers know they were still open after the sudden closure of the corporate restaurants.
2. They kept their supply chain intact
[The ownership of the trademark and franchising system is in question]
[Click here for full story at Businessweek.com]
Retaining customers and vendors = income continuity even if franchiser ceases to exist
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Air France-KLM Group, Europe's largest airline, which achieved a 3.7 percent rise in traffic and a high load factor of 80.3 percent:
1. It will expand (while other airlines are contracting), though at a slower rate. It raised capacity for the October-May season by 2 percent.
2. It is attracting transfer passengers at its two main airports in Paris and Amsterdam.
[Click here for full story at Bloomberg.com]
What can other airlines learn or teach here?