Posts by: James T. Berger

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America’s Love/Hate Relationship With Smoking

By James T. Berger March 6, 2014

In an intriguing move, CVS, the nation’s No. 2 pharmacy, announced it would stop selling cigarettes as well as all tobacco products at its 7,600 stores across the country. The move will reduce revenues by $2 billion a year…

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Samsung Has Got It Right

By James T. Berger February 5, 2014

After Samsung’s chairman, Lee Kun-hee, created a $288 billion giant that according to the Times is “among the most profitable in the world, he sent a message to his 470,000 employees: “You must do better.” What prompts this unrest?

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The One That Got Away: Nokia and Blackberry Lose a Market

By James T. Berger January 7, 2014

On 1 January 2014, 12 states raised their minimum wages, making 21 states in total that have a minimum wage above the federal rate. What is the effect of this increase in minimum wage rates on pricing?

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McDonald’s Story Shows Why Branding is Crucially Important in Product Development

By James T. Berger December 3, 2013

Ray Kroc was over 50 years old when he developed the McDonald’s fast-food concept and when he died, he was personally worth around a half-billion dollars. But his success might be traced to a crucial decision he made about branding.

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Consumer Market Segmentation 101

By James T. Berger November 4, 2013

Why did market segmentation arise? How did it evolve to today’s Social Media? What are the key properties of well composed market segments? How are segments broadly defined in consumer markets? Read as Jim reviews this important principal of defining market strategies

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IPO Announcement Sets Wall Street A-Twitter

By James T. Berger October 2, 2013

Twitter is going public. Will the IPO properly value the company and reward investors? Will profits flow?

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The Taste of Crow: Facebook’s Incredible Profitability Surge

By James T. Berger September 9, 2013

Like many marketing professionals, I was highly skeptical when Facebook did its Initial Public Offering about a year ago. My feeling was that Facebook had no clear-cut business model that would lead to sustainable profits and earnings. How wrong one can be!

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Strategic Marketing for Entrepreneurs

By James T. Berger August 2, 2013

Future entrepreneurs, there are four essential questions that must be asked and answered: (1) Who is your target market? (2) What are the needs of the target market? (3) What is your distinctive competency is satisfying those needs? (4) How do you intend to communicate that distinctive competency?

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The Challenge of Developing Accurate Sales Forecasts

By James T. Berger July 9, 2013

Probably the most important task of a sales manager is the development of meaningful and accurate sales forecasts. Amazingly, many sales managers simply look at historical numbers and don’t even bother to try to predict the future. Why and how should they?

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‘Shark Tank’ Offers Valuable Insight into Marketing, Entrepreneurship

By James T. Berger May 30, 2013

Many budding entrepreneurs are filled with “ideas.” Of course, ideas are the germ of innovation, but an idea without a plan to make money is useless. I have often told my students, the difference between an idea and a profit-making business is the difference between an amoeba and a human being.

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About The Author

James T. Berger headshot
James T. Berger, Senior Marketing Writer of The Wiglaf Journal, through his Northbrook-based firm, James T. Berger/Market Strategies, offers a broad range of marketing communications, research and strategic planning consulting services. In addition, he provides expert services to intellectual property attorneys in the area of trademark infringement litigation. An adjunct professor of marketing at Roosevelt University, he previously has taught at Northwestern University, DePaul University, University of Illinois at Chicago and The Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan (BA), Northwestern University (MS) and the University of Chicago (MBA). Berger is an often-published free lance business writer who has developed more than 100 published articles in the last eight years. For more information, visit www.jamesberger.net or telephone him at (847) 328-9633.