Using Marketing Practices of Small and Medium Businesses to Prepare Students in Marketing Programs

Preparing students to obtain their first jobs in marketing requires a lot of planning and implementation. Research has found that providing students marketing related projects for small and medium size enterprises is a form of experiential learning that helps develop entreprenuership and employability (O'Leary, 2017).

Projects can be hypothetical or real in nature. The company can be an invention of the student for illustration of core principles or it can be a business they find on the market and can research.

It is also possible to have them partner with actual small and medium businesses that would be willing to look at what the student covers. A small store from their neighborhood or someone who owns a business in their family.

The goal is to let them see how marketing operates in the real market to prepare them to take on their first jobs. The more familiar the student becomes with actual marketing practices and how marketing principles apply they greater their knowledge integration.

O'Leary, S. (2017). Developing entrepreneurial and employability attributes through marketing projects with SMEs. Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, 19 (1).

Intelligence and Personality Can Overcome Family Difficulties in Life Success

We have heard a lot about parental influence and success of students not only through college but also in life. What they found was that intelligence and personality are a big factor in a person's success and can overcome much, but not all, of parental influence. Review of 81,000 students found that personality and intelligence predicted educational attainment, annual income and occupational prestige 11 years later beyond parental influence (Damian, et. al. 2015).

Those with high intelligence and the right kind of personality find themselves making more money and in more prestigious occupations 11 years later.

While personality is a big factor, intelligence played a much larger role in success.

What what does this tell us?

If someone is highly intelligent, has the right personality and has a solid background from their parents they are much more likely to succeed than those that don't. However, on the flip side if one has high intelligence they can overcome a negative parental legacy.

Damian, R. et. al. (2015). Can personality traits and intelligence compensate for background disadvantage?: Predicting status attainment in... Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109 (3).

Three Points for Developing Your Small Business Strategy

Small businesses sometimes finds it difficult to develop a strategy that will work for them. There are three principles that can help a small company compete. Developing your strategy in a way that is simplistic, participative, and adaptive can keep your business moving forward (Verreynee & Meyer, 2010).

Simplistic: Keep your strategies simple. There is no point in trying to create great complex strategies that don't work well. Simple strategies are rewarded in the market because they focus on what they do best.

Participative: Involve your employees as much as possible in the strategy making process. It will help to ensure that you are increasing your knowledge base and considering the various needs of internal stakeholders. It also has the benefit of improve "buy in" and knowledge of strategy changes.

Adaptive: As the market changes you will need to be adaptive. Small businesses has the advantage of being nimble and changing quickly. Therefore, use this as part of your strategy development. Stay flexible and fill market needs.

Verreynne, M & Meyer, D. (2010). Small business strategy and industry life cycle. Small Business Economics, 35 (4).

Brand Strategies for Social Media Marketing

Using social media is highly important for improving sales. It is one of the main methods businesses interact with their customers. A review of marketing managers found that there were five methods of encouraging greater interaction with customers and raising awareness of their products (Tsiomonis & Dimitriadis, 2014).

-Prize Competitions
-Announcing New Products
-Interaction with Customers.
-Advice and Useful Information.
-Effectively Handling Customer Issues.

Social media is becoming more powerful but is someone limited. Most mobile media refers back to a webpage hosted somewhere else. However, it does create a channel to interact with customers and provide announcements. The key here is "engagement". Make sure you are actively engaged with subscribers and visitors.

Tsimonis, G. & Dimitriadis, S. (2014). Brand strategies in social media. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 32 (3).

Speed Versus Resistance in Cardio Workouts

It can be hard to go to the gym and work at speeds that will get your heart rate up into the fat burning zone. That doesn't mean you are at a loss if your not trying to go at full speed. Increasing the resistance on your cardio equipment will push your body without forcing you to go at maximum speed.

Improve your cardio load by lowering speed and increasing resistance.

Extra resistance will improve your muscle mass much like a sprinter.

The load on your cardiovascular system and heart rate is heavier which means you burn more fat.

With resistance you don't need to workout as long to receive the same benefits.

How to Use Systems Thinking in Creating Business Strategy

Markets are complex. As you move into a global world you will find this complexity increasing. Supply chains, marketing, legal regulations, production, supplies, personnel and finance seem to be overwhelming consideration. Developing appropriate strategies within all of these processes is daunting. Using systems thinking we can gain a better grasp of this complexity and improve corporate performance (Rajagopal, 2012).

First lets discuss what systems thinking is. It is an ability to think of how the parts mesh within the whole and how it interacts with larger systems.

With systems thinking you can see an entire system interrelating with other parts and how that impacts the success of the whole organization.

As you create strategies you will need to understand how all of these parts work together to create success in the organization as it competes in the market.

Many times it is beneficial to include key personnel in the strategy creation process that understand these individual chains. It is up to the executive team to connect them together in a way in which you can see how the entire organization works.

One of the best ways to do this is to map the entire system through first understanding how they create and sell the final produce. Further grasping how the functioning of one system and changes in its parts impacts the whole will help you find places that need adjustment.

You will also want to compare your businesses systems approach to the systems of other companies to see where your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats occur. If your system has advantages they should be included in your strategy to maintain competitive positions.

Rajagopal (2012). Role of Systems Thinking in Developing Marketing Strategy: Some Conceptual Insights. Journal of transnational management, 17 (4).

The Role of Algorithms in Hiring Decisions

Hiring decisions can be touch and often our personal whims and desires make their way into these decisions. If a person looks like us and is someone we think we can be a friend with we are much more likely to hire them. This is where more objectionable methods may be helpful in the hiring process.

An algorithm is a method of using a formula or calculation to determine qualifying candidates. Hiring managers don't need to base the the final decision on these algorithms but could use them to create their final candidate lists.

They don't necessarily need to be complete. It could be as simple as putting together a wish list of skills, attributes and characteristics and using them to weight or rank each candidate.

One then uses these rankings to find their final candidates. The hiring manager then selects that which makes the most sense for their team and department.

A word of caution is necessary, it is better to have someone else conduct the algorithm so that there is some outside influence on the hiring decision.

It isn't possible to find the perfect candidate every time. However, it is possible to improve upon the right hire by allowing more objectionable evaluations into the process. Even with algorithms companies should still consider their "gut" in some of the decision making.