August 8, 2014 · 11:36 am

Baked Oatmeal

Foodie Friday and our topic today is oatmeal.

Oatmealraisins2

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I know – not the best thing for breakfast on a hot summer morning but I know plenty of people who start the day with a steaming bowl of grain no matter what the weather so I’m pressing on.  I was reading one of the many food blogs I scan regularly and it made a great point.  The piece is called Why You Should Stop Boiling Your Oatmeal and Start Baking It.  I’ll admit I’m one of those lazy slobs who throws my oatmeal of choice (Irish Oats, thank you) into the microwave.  The Mrs. boils hers almost every morning – obviously she is a lot more patient than her husband.  Baking never entered either of our minds.  Maybe it should have:

With baked oatmeal, all you have to do is toss it all in a baking dish and slide it into the oven. In about 30 minutes, you’ve got a dish of steaming, tender oats. To enrich it, I use milk instead of water, and just one egg lightens the texture. It’s the perfect stress-free hot breakfast to serve to guests. Why? There’s no à la minute cooking: the oven does all the work.

There is a business point in here too.  In many cases it’s not what we’re doing that’s an issue but how we’re doing it.  People tend to believe their memories instead of facts.  When a business does things in a certain way, that’s a memory.  The facts we might gather if we stepped back and assessed the situation with an open mind might tell us that the process is inefficient or unproductive.  It’s not the what – we need to accomplish the task – but maybe there is a better way to do so.

We need to think about baking the oatmeal in our business lives by asking if there is a better, more efficient, more profitable way to go about it on a regular basis.  Maybe over breakfast?

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , ,

August 7, 2014 · 1:09 pm

What Price Ethics?

So here is an interesting question for you.  I was reading the results of a study conducted by the good folks from Trade Extensions that concerned how consumers view ethics and sustainability and how they affect purchasing decisions.  When you ask people how important it is that companies behave ethically and with an eye towards sustainability, four out of five consumers regard it as important.  That would suggest that doing the right thing (whatever that may be) is a critical factor in purchasing, right?

Not so much:

When asked to rank the three most important attributes when shopping, the most important factor is price – 40% of consumers ranked this number one.  The second most important factor is value for money – 30% ranked this number one. And the third most important factor is quality –  16% ranked this number one.  Choosing an ethical company or brand when shopping is the most important factor and ranked number one for 2% of UK and US consumers.

Hmm.  So is that a license for a company to do whatever they want as long as prices are low?  Given some of the voices speaking out against Walmart, for example, over things such as foreign product sourcing, treatment of product suppliers, environmental practices, etc., apparently not.  Like most things in business, it’s not quite that black and white.  The research shows a desire from consumers to buy ethically but ultimately price, value and quality are the deciding factors.

Other studies have shown similar results.  One from Accenture found that sales and competitive pricing (61%) are by far the most critical factors in getting consumers to make a purchase. Superior products (36%) and customer experience (35%) are also key, according to respondents, followed closely by customer loyalty programs (31%) and relevant promotions (26%). Ad campaigns and celebrity endorsements trailed by a significant margin, presumably as they’re more influential in driving awareness than completed purchases.

So back to ethical behavior.  Can any company afford to ignore it?  I suspect it’s very possible to do good while doing well and to enhance the quality of consumer’s lives in an honorable way.  Maybe it’s not much of a selling point because so few companies have that focus?  What is your take?

Leave a comment

Filed under Consulting, Reality checks, Thinking Aloud

Tagged as , , ,

August 6, 2014 · 1:15 pm

Experts? Hardly.

You may be following the saga of Foursquare as it tries to find a business model that works.

Foursquare Logo

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The bloom of collecting badges has clearly worn off and almost every app has some sort of check-in feature to let your friends know where you are. Now Foursquare seems to be moving in a direction that will let them compete with Yelp (which has a good business model) and are splitting off the check-in part of the service into another app (Swarm).
Maybe you got the same email I did the other day which talked about their new feature called “Expertise”:

In the new Foursquare, we want to reward people who share their expertise, helping other people to great experiences. When you leave great tips, you make progress. And, the more people like or save them, the faster you’ll earn expertise.

It goes on to say that all of the tips you post thereafter will show they were posted by an expert.  On behalf of people who actually DO have some expertise on a few things, may I call BS?  I’ll even go further: I’m offended.

I’m offended because any moron with the price of dinner and a mobile device can write a review which may be complete blather and very inaccurate. I have no problem there.  But if they do so 10 or more times, does that really make them an expert or just a blithering idiot?  How is anyone to recognize the real experts?

I’m offended  because Foursquare is doing something that I find offensive among a number of content companies.  They are using the very same audience they sell to marketers to make their product.  The reward to the consumer for doing so?  An ego trip:

Once you’ve earned an expertise, we both mark your tips as coming from an expert (so the world knows), and make sure more people see them because they’re high quality. And, when you’re looking for great things to do when you’re at a place, you can see which ones come from experts.

How about something more tangible – a gift card, a weekly sweepstakes, anything that reflects the value of the contribution?  Foursquare seems to believe the famous Woody Allen quote that showing up is 80% of success.  If you show up at a place and write about it, you’re a success – an EXPERT!  My take?  Hardly.  Yours?

1 Comment

Filed under Consulting, digital media, Huh?, Thinking Aloud

Tagged as , , ,