Final Customer Purchasing from the Product Producer

Use Steps: Use steps include all the customer's value added activities or the consumption of the product itself. These steps include all the costs the customer incurs in employing the product in its intended use.

C.
Experience: Enhance the experience the customer has with the product

3. Increase the customer's sense of security with the product

A.
Warnings and advice

No.	SIC	Year	Note
1	0	2003	Any brand especially those that are struggling can benefit from identifying what made it special and successful in the first place. Corporate brands have richer and more relevant roots than product brands. L.L. Bean has the New England hunting and fishing background that has evolved into an outdoor/casual living lifestyle brand. The HP Garage, the Wells Fargo Stagecoach, GE tracing itself back to Thomas Edison days, Nike's earliest advances in track shoes, and the Honda engine development going back to the 1940s and 1950s all help define these brands today and add value, especially when they are re-interpreted in a contemporary light.
2	0	2003	People of organizations provide the basis for the corporation brand image. If they appear engaged, interested in customers, empowered, responsive, and competent, the corporate brand will tend to engender greater respect, liking, and loyalty. What is involved is not what is done but the attitude and culture that drives those actions. Avon, Four Season and Home Depot have distinct personalities that help define the corporate brand. Microsoft, Virgin, and Dell have individuals that represent and speak for the people of the corporation.
3	0	2003	To make a corporate brand identity emerge the brand will start with an image but will want to move that image toward the brand identity. A brand identity needs to be developed and priorities must be set for all this to happen. The identity and position of the corporate brand need to be actively managed. For some firms, the corporate brand building activities are not linked to short-term sales nor do they have a natural budget source from an active business unit. To establish responsibility for the corporate brand, providing resources to make sure that the brand can fulfill its assigned roles and create a portfolio that includes coordinating the brand with those that are using the brand in its various roles will help the company.
4	0	2003	Corporate brands have no value proposition. They are simply large, stable firms that can be trusted to deliver adequate products and services but with no point of distinction. A strong corporate brand is one that will provide a value proposition that will help differentiate and support a customer relationship. Corporate brands work best when they deliver a functional benefit. The benefit is based on its strategy. Dell generated explicit benefits that include customization and access to the latest technology. UPS focused on service and systems, providing value to anyone that needs improvement or outsourcing as part of its logistics. The functional benefit can also be based on a corporate brand's values. Nordstrom's concern for its customer provides a benefit to shoppers who can be assured of a good experience. A firm with a reputation for high product quality provides an assurance against unpleasant customer experiences.
5	0	2003	Perceived quality requires a commitment to quality by the organization which has been shown to influence ROI and stock return. Perceived quality is even more difficult to achieve than perceived innovation. Delivering actual quality is not enough. Perceptions need to be managed which means that quality cues such as thickness of the catsup, the dress of the airline cabin attendants, or the appearance of a bank statement need to be understood and actively managed.
6	3695	2000	Competitors in the flash memory market want a piece of the market. In the end it will come down to which competitor gets its product accepted as the industry standard. The key to becoming the standard is recruiting major electronics manufacturers, software developers and content providers to adopt your approach.
7	3711	2003	Though buying decisions once emphasized quality defined as minimizing the number of defects in a car, consumers are now focusing more on maximizing the appeal of a handful of core product attributes, for example, whether the car is fun to drive, well designed, or stylish. This shift is due in part to Detroit's very success in bringing the product defect rates of new cars to levels so low that a defect-free vehicle is now largely taken for granted.
8	3711	2004	Originally, Ford tried to boost profits and slash costs by using the platforms in luxury cars that were used in Ford's lower-end models which damaged the exclusive images of the brands as customers were unwilling to pay more for a brand that shared a foundation with a more humble car. This policy has been replaced and Ford executives manage to cut costs by using standard Ford parts when possible, installing the same navigation and sound systems across the luxury brands and pooling individual resources for logistics, information technology, engine development and back-office expenses. Each undercarriage will be built exclusively for the brand but each will derive as many vehicles as possible from the platform.
9	3711	2002	The latest trend in the auto industry of pursuing sales in the booming entry-level luxury car market risks cheapening the reputations of high-end luxury icons such as Jaguar, who recently launched a lower-priced car for the first time ever, priced at $30,000-$44,000.
10	5812	1997	In pizza hut survey, 78% of Americans rated quality as one of their top two concerns when dining out.
11	7900	2003	The five top labels have come up with new strategies: suing some perpetrators to scare the rest off, flooding music servers with bogus files, making teens feel guilty for hurting artists, and providing consumers with legal alternatives online.

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