Pink Boats and Sisonke Stars

Our case study on Sunday afternoon featured the cool Scandinavian clothing and shoe retailers called “Moods of Norway”. It was a well picked topic for the hour. The company exuded fun and used a variety of novel branding initiatives like buying a boat and painting it pink. They would then sail around the Norwegian coastline popping champagne at every opportunity to spread enthusiasm for their brand. It worked. They have become an iconic brand in their home country and even supply the Norwegian police outfits.

Dawn Nathan-Jones the CEO of Europcar South Africa highlighted the green thread that runs through her company. Europcars “moments of truth” span an estimated 700 touch points with customers. Another dimension of Europcar was how they have created an internalisation program called Sisonke – a Zulu phrase meaning “we are together.” This is a customer centric company that actively looks for new market segmenting opportunities.

Our final session of Analytical Tools and Techniques (aka Statistics) showed that we have come a long way in our understanding of this enigma.

Sometimes one has to be cruel to be kind. Wee-hour assignments forcing us to practice our new techniques immersed us in the material. We came out the other side better for it.

Exams and assignments are now the buzzwords.  

See you at GIBS.

Definitions

Statistics – it is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma

Regression Analysis – study of how far an MBA student can regress in statistics

CHAID dendrogram – a highly visual and cascading decision tree. (The CHAID technique was developed in South Africa by Gordon V. Kass)

Sisonke Stars – Europcar staff

p-value - is the probability of obtaining a test statistic at least as extreme as the one that was actually observed, assuming that the null hypothesis is true

t-statistic – about 45% of the Blue group MBA 2011/2012 drink tea

Grandmas’ Waffle – dough-based cake or MBA students’ unprepared reply

http://www.gibs.co.za/

A Tsunami of Symbols

On Sunday evening when all was said and done there were a number of MBA students that felt as if they had been pummelled by a Tsunami.

When the going gets tough the tough go shopping. So we went shopping on Saturday.

Our task set by Nicola Kleyn was to ascertain the validity of the statement: “World class service in Jozi – myth or reality?”

Our group chose Cramers Coffee on Main Street in Jozi. We were delighted with the results. The resident Barista called Lekunutu said: “I pour my heart out in every cup.”

And he did.

On top of my smooth, creamy and flavourful latte was the shape of a heart.

Lekunutu defined the Cramer experience as “to be frozen in time, to be transported to a safe oasis.”

Cramers Coffee was a wonderful experience shaped with superlative, world class service that exceeded expectations.

Down the road on the way to the Carlton Centre we found another coffee shop. It was chalk and cheese. Coffee is coffee – right?

No it isn’t.

Our coffee maker was not well versed in the art of coffee making. The experience was average. It felt unnatural, replicated, mass produced and un-special – in a word, forgettable.

Back in the classroom things were not as clear cut. The symbols of the Mean, Mode and Median were clashing with the Product, Price, Place and Promotion over four days of rigorous learning.

The collateral damage is still to be defined. However, the devastation was apparent.

Definitions:

Throw the baby out with the bathwater – what SAB did with the Lion brand

Monster – the Afrikaans word for sample. May be used interchangeably in Afrikaans or English

Hypothesis testing – to be defined

Marketing – in the process of being defined

Normal Distribution – an abnormal invention that defies meaning

Mean – an invention that obeys normal logic

StatTool - a swear word for 20% of the class who couldn’t install it on their laptops

See you at GIBS