Alignement at the MTC

A great example of change and alignment are the shifts taking place at the Missionary Training Center. The MTC is (and has been for quite some time) in the process to completely change the training model which teachers use with missionaries. The MTC definitely went through (and is going through) the different stages change that we learned in the leading change model. This change was necessary to better align the training methods with the purpose of the missionary center. Before this change took place things worked well, but everything wasn't perfectly aligned. Teachers and missionaries clearly new their purpose (to invite others to come...) but the method used in classrooms didn't necessarily help to achieve this. Before, many of the training methods focused on learning language tasks. Grammar was taught and a language was learned similarly to being taught in the school. This was good but didn't really focus on the ultimate purpose. The change was to shift from these tasks and language lessons to more language teaching. Grammar was taught but was directed to learning how to teach something new. All training meetings were directed to this change as well, along with all training materials. I feel like this is a great example of how an organization uses to change to better align itself with its ultimate purpose.

Apple's New Age

The major news of the past few days has been the premature passing of Steve Jobs. I have found this extra interesting considering the case study we did of Apple a week or so ago. It led me to think about what is going to happen to Apple now that Mr. Jobs has died. Last time he wasn't in control it almost led to the demise of the company. However, I found it interesting to see that Apple believes they have done a good job laying a good foundation for the future. It made me think about what Good To Great talks about in having leaders that can build good foundations. I read two articles in the Wall Street Journal, " Apple Fights On Without Muse" and "Apple Game Plan: Avoid Cultural Shock". Both of these articles try to look at the future of this giant company and analysis their future. Some of the things that the company is trying to do to keep the spirit of Jobs in the company is to create an "Apple University", keep the top executives there longer, and give incentives to leaders. Steve Jobs did an excellent job building a culture of growth and expectations. It appears he has taken the necessary steps to allow the company to flourish, however, only time will tell. Stocks fell following the announcment of his death and also a lackluster media showing when many believed the IPhone 5 was coming out. However, it seems they can rebound from this.

Smart move by the airline companies?

Earlier in the week this article about what airlines are doing to increase revenue caught my eye because we had been talking about the airline industry in class. I found it interesting that they were trying to find a profit pool within their struggling industry. The article discusses how airline fees are continuing to go up. These fees include pet fees, extra baggage fees, and rebooking of flights. This has proved profitable to the airline companies but has also led to an outcry by customers. Last night I was at a recruiting event and the people at my people started complaining about these fees. It was interesting to me to see how unhappy people are about this. It is an interesting strategy for an industry that has really been struggling lately, but I feel like it might alienate too many people. I guess we will so though.

http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2011-09-19/Airlines-see-revenue-increase-from-fees/50469608/1

P & G - Focusing their efforts of Hispanic Shoppers

I found an article by Ellen Byron in the Wall Street Journal titled, " Hola: P&G Seeks Latino Shoppers". I found this article to be interesting and have some correlation to the models with have been studying in class. The article discuss P&G current push to shift their strategies in the United States market to attract more Latino shoppers. P&G is tweaking their products, retargeting its marketing, changing its celebrity mix, and using more Spanish on its products. The United States market is the most important for P&G because it represents the most profits. They are shifting a focus to Latino shoppers because Hispanics have accounted for more than half of the population growth in the US. They also tend to have younger and larger families which is important to P&G.

I know this isn't a direct example of "profit pools" but I feel like we can relate it. P&G isn't identifying what part of the industry is most profitable but they are targeting which segment of the market is growing the fastest. With the Latino market only representing 9 % of the market share, P&G envisions this number to grow and sees this market as more profitable than other options. Through doing this P&G is hoping to gain a leg up on the competition.

Also, in another article I found it interesting to see Sears starting to move away from their traditional business strategy and start selling their Kenmore brand in others stores. They are trying to react to lackluster sells in their stores, but this move could lead to even more lose of sells. It will be interesting to see what happens.