WHAT IS IMPORTANT WHEN…?
MANAGING A PROJECT
l ENCOURAGING TEAMWORK
l KEEPING TO SCHEDULE
Key points: Team work, time pressure (keeping to the schedule)
Team work: as explained in the teamwork section
Time pressure:
A well-designed schedule can clarify yourself to the project. You should ensure that you would be running before the schedule rather than after it.
Time is always of essence for a project.
Failure to keep to the schedule will result in/cause late completion.
Late completion will lead to: civil litigation, injured party will become entitled to claim compensation/entitled to sue the breaching company.
When the project is being processed/in the course of carrying out the project, there will be a lot of commercial activities involved. Such as investment banks advance cash; raw material supply, planning permission, sub-contract/outsource. Failure to stick to the schedule will affect above matters.
Competition
WHAT IS IMPORTANT WHEN…?
DEALING WITH COMPETITION
l PRICING POLICIES
l ADVERTISING STRATEGIES
WHAT IS IMORTANT WHEN…?
SETTING PRICES FOR NEW PRODUCTS
l PRODUCTION COSTS
l COMPETIORS’ PRICES
Key points: Pricing; Advertising; Production costs; Competitor’s price; Marketing; a wide range of services and products
Pricing:
(For a consumer): all consumers would like to go for higher quality and less expensive products. It is a common sense.
(For a manager): correct pricing policies can capture a large number of consumers in a short period of time.
For a newly established company: correct pricing policies are particularly important for newly established businesses. The major task for them at the early stage is to draw the public attention and make their company and their brand known to the public. When a new product is put into market, there may be very few people knowing/who know about it…(e.g.Thai curry source)
Competitors’ price:
Once a new product is put into market, it will immediately face the competition from rivals. The price war sometimes can be incredibly fierce and crude.
Competitors’ price will mirror the consumers’ attitude about certain products and the satisfaction about their prices.
If you fixed the price higher than your rivals without higher quality of service, you might soon find yourself in an unfavorable situation.
Correct pricing policies could also defeat some competitors in a short period of time. For example: Safeway, Tesco price war against all small bread manufactures. In this case, Safeway and Tesco fixed their price for 7p per loaf, which is 23p cheaper than their competitors’ offer. As a result of this, in 35 days time, most of their competitors went into liquidation.
Advertising strategies:
The fundamental task for a company is to make its products and itself known to the public. There are many ways to achieve this, advertising is the most important one.
Advertising through different media can cover nearly every corner in the world. The main channels are:
-TV
-Radio
-Internet
-Newspaper
-Bill Board
-Poster
-Magazine
The advantage/point of advertising is not only about propagandizing your company but also competing against/with your rivals. A company, through proper advertisements, can manage to introduce the advantages of their products comparing to their rivals’, and therefore convince the consumers that their products would be the right choice. For instance, Car manufactures can put in their new designs to the ads, e.g. ABS, double airbags to convince the prospective customers that their cars are safer than others.
