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Knowing Your Markets Better

2005/08/14
Text by Jack Zhong

Under China's new economic environment, every industry confronts two kinds of markets: the market as an entity and the market as a supposition (or Market Place and Market Space). Because the Internet is a major factor in most industries, especially banking and insurance, they make themselves know in the Market Place, but also in Market Space.

From the above, three key factors present themselves to us when considering present market configurations: customer values, enterprise competitiveness and building cooperative networks within enterprises.

Enterprise managers must consider customers' needs

Know you customers needs very well
Enterprises should pay much more attention to customer values and to customer service

Generally speaking, enterprises use strong marketing methods to make more money in the short term. Because of a search for quick sales, sales people often over-promise. This can disappoint customers if those sales promises are not fulfilled and result in low customer retention and increased customer-development costs.

Enterprises should develop their own best ways to match customers' interests
Seek profits in the long-term values of customers

Enterprises should avoid old sale systems and should consider the long-term interests and values of their customers. They must ask: How much value can my enterprise can get from a customer in the future?

Under the new economic environment, enterprises should focus more on customer retention, which is just as important as maintaining a share of the market. They should play the role of gardener and cultivate customers, not stalk and overcome them like hunters.

Enhance the competitiveness of enterprises

Core competencies and abilities are the main factors favouring the development of enterprises at this time. Every enterprise should consider how to achieve high operating efficiencies and to develop its own competencies. They should:

Outsource business which can be done better by others.
Learn from the excellent experience of top enterprises. For instance: enterprises can learn about the innovative spirit from 3M, learn how to train service employees from Disney and learn about logistical flows from FedEx (Federal Express Corporation).
Create new competitive advantages constantly. Enterprises can create new values by monitoring and satisfying customers' changing demands and values.
Adapt to these new realities in the operation of enterprises.

For hundreds of years, enterprises have operated by using departmental management, which can help achieve high working efficiency. But departmentalism may also retard communications and result in management problems for enterprises. Compared with traditional departmentalism, the scope of "flow management" is much wider and can advance departmental communication. In general, every instance of flow management often requires more than two departments to succeed.

Enterprises should pay equal attention to the market place and to market space.

Create good cooperative networks

Enterprise should balance profits in every part of their operation: not with customers but also with partners and employees.
Enterprise should share with and reward its partners.
Enterprises should cooperate with their key suppliers and treat them as long-term partners.

In these ways, enterprises can create good, cooperative networks that can enhance an enterprises bottom line.



	Article featured in Business Beijing, August 2005 Publication sponsored by Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Development & Reform Commission of Beijing Municipality, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (Beijing Sub-Council)