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Top 6 – February 2009

By Tim J. Smith, PhD February 1, 2009

Ah February, Augustus and Julius liked it so much they took some for themselves. Možná ne. “Wisdom is knowing which action to…

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Top 6 – January 2009

By Tim J. Smith, PhD January 6, 2009

A Black Eyed Pea for Each Day of the Year … Trickle down economics may be doubtful, but trickle down empathy isn’t.…

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Special Guest Author Angela Hribar, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer of GlobalSpec, Inc.

By Tim J. Smith, PhD January 4, 2009

For many companies, 2008 has been a challenging year. The new realities of our current market and economy have impacted many sectors, and even more expect to feel the effects in 2009. This makes it even more important than ever to plan smarter, more effective ways to market to industrial and technical buyers in the year ahead. Based on research into market trends, here are strategic recommendations to achieve marketing success in 2009. All of these recommendations have something in common: better decision making when it comes to marketing choices.

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Six Months Later Pilgrim’s Pride Still Has Pricing Problems – What Went Wrong?

By Tim J. Smith, PhD January 4, 2009

Pilgrim’s Pride rose from humble beginnings as a feed store to become the world’s leading chicken supplier. Yet, 2008 proved to be a year of stumbles, eventually leading to bankruptcy filings and the ousting of CEO J. Clinton Rivers. Business press cites a rise in the cost of chicken feed and oil and the lack of a concurrent increase in price, however many other companies went through similar fluctuations in input costs without the same disastrous results. So, what went wrong with pricing at Pilgrim’s Pride? To answer this question, we will examine Pilgrim’s Pride pricing at the industry level, market level, and transaction level.

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Empathy – The Missing Element in Relationship Marketing

By James T. Berger January 3, 2009

In this winter of our discontent, where survival seems to be what everybody’s trying to do, it seems remarkable that for lack of empathy – people and companies are jeopardizing valuable relationships. One wonders if it’s simply lack of feeling, plain stupidity or incredible arrogance.

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OPEC Loss is Grocers’ Gain: Precima National Survey Shows Grocery Store Is Most Likely Place for Americans to Spend Savings from the Pump

By Tim J. Smith, PhD January 3, 2009

Groceries are the top item on which U.S. consumers are spending their savings from lower gas prices, ahead of putting the money in savings, holiday gift buying and paying off credit cards, according to the results of nationwide research from retail analytics firm Precima.

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Wiglaffs

By J.D. Gershbein January 3, 2009
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Learning from Berkshire Hathaway Part 2

By Tim J. Smith, PhD December 2, 2008

The Marketer’s Eye™ looks at mortgages, railroads and Carnival Another in a series of white papers for M&A Professionals In this white…

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Introducing: Wiglaffs

By J.D. Gershbein December 2, 2008

A business professionals comic strip.

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Musings from a Marketer On the Economic Crisis

By James T. Berger December 1, 2008

While I never lived through the Great Depression, I studied it.  If you are looking for parallels between then and now, there…

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