8/7/2019 Proximity or Something More
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ASHIK ABDULLAH ABS-BANGALORE- 13-03-11
Vaibhav Anand watched the discussion from the last row. In the
front row sat Kunal andVidhur. There were many more in the room
including Sriram, Vishal and Vijeyta.
The environment seems very heated up. To know what was going on
would be difficult totell. But a closer look at the proceedings and
one will discovers that discussion was on thedecreasing sales of
Mothers Pizza and increasing market share of Food club. The
discussionstarted as part of the case study that they were to write
for MRDM module.
And just when the Vidhur said angrily, Arre baba ! This is
nothing but an advantage of proximity, the place part in service
marketing and nothing else Vaibhav decided he wouldneed that coffee
which his doctor had said, Only if it will kill you to not have
it.
For Vaibhav it was not just the proximity that mattered, there
was something more. With his2 years of experience in sales he was
sure proximity is not the only factor that rides thebusiness there
is something more, but he was not able to figure it out. So he
decided to talk with the owners of both the eateries located at
stones throw away from each other andcatering to the gastronomic
needs of Alliance students.
MOTHERS PIZZA
Mothers pizza owner when asked about the Food club and
competition had some interesting
comments to make, something that Vaibhav never learned in his
marketing classes.
Conventional wisdom in most companies is that the competition is
the enemy But manytake this too far. Vaibhav listened to him keenly
nodding occasionally.
It felt like he was waiting to talk to someone from the morning,
Vaibhav was also happy, ashe believed may be this long lecture can
teach him more than what he learned so far in a 3credit service
marketing class.
In the early days I purely demonized competitors. They were
stupid, evil and about to suffer a crushing death. They never did.
Instead, every time we launched new features they seemedto launch
similar features 2 weeks later like in the case of parcel service
and home delivery atzero cost. They must have been working on them
at the exact same time. I also learned thatwe had way more in
common with each other than I had thought.
Vaibhav was excited to know about this concept, but when he
pointed out to decreasing salesand market share, Mothers pizza
owner was quick to counter the argument and pointing tothe almost
fully occupied eating space, said Do you still think our sales are
declining?? Theycan copy our features but not our taste nor gain
the loyalty that we have enjoyed over theyears from our valued
kings- the customers.
Proximity or something more??Now that you have an MBA, you will
never be as successful as me !
- Larry Ellison, co-founder and CEO, Oracle Corporation
8/7/2019 Proximity or Something More
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ASHIK ABDULLAH ABS-BANGALORE- 13-03-11
Vaibhav wanted to ask much more but the counter was getting
busy, so he ordered a PEPSIdrank the same and moved out, amazed at
the wealth of the knowledge that lies outside thefour walls of the
classroom and also much more confused on what's that something that
helpsyou get the market share.
F OOD CLUB
Vaibhav moved straight to the cashier counter of Food club, the
owner was there.With a sweet smile and utmost courtesy he asked
what you want -sir??Your success mantra Vaibhav always knew how to
start the conversation. The owner was
little surprised, but then Vaibhav struck the chord and
explained him about the case study andthe search for that SOMETHING
!!
Like the Mothers owner he too had some interesting things to
share. Vaibhav wondered whythey are so excited to talk about their
success mantra. Anyways its good for me, he told in hismind and
pulled a chaired and sat near the counter.
We know we got the proximity advantage, but we dont except our
business to be driven bythis alone. We dont take your competitors
for granted; theyre probably much better /stronger than we
think.
When asked about copying the features and supplementary
offerings of Mothers, he justscratched his head little and said
Listen, we have to understand you rarely will haveanything thats
TRULY unique. Victory is often about better execution. They might
say wecopied them, may be they are true but remember we always
delight our customer. We believeand treat them as co-producer and I
believe that even if take away the proximity part away wewill
win.
Its all about customer relation and motivation and the best
internal motivation for us is toalways be paranoid about our
competitor. Im not saying to overly focus on them I dontbelieve
that. We focus on our customers & market, but are paranoid
about the competition.
Vaibhav was all the more confused-Is it the taste of food that
matters or is it the customer relationship? Is it first mover
advantage that matters or is it better execution? Is it
beingparanoid about the competitor or is it something else? It was
then he realised that he need tosubmit the case study the next day.
Stressed, confused, tired, Vaibhav goes for a beer !!
Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the
situation.-Edward R. Murrow
