Four Seasons Hotel Nile Plaza

Founded in 1960, Four Seasons now is one of the hotels known for its excellent hospitality. According to the article, Egypt hotel ranked No.1 in the Middle East, Four Seasons Hotel Nile Plaza has been ranked number one in Egypt and the Middle East by Travel & Leisure readers in the Travel & Leisure top 500. “Travel & Leisure is one of the world’s leading travel magazines.” The judge was according to a number of criteria such as service, attention to detail, food and décor.
Currently with 70 hotels in 31 countries, the Four Seasons Hotel is at the top of the hotel market, as well as the wealthiest. In addition it is an AAA five diamond hotel chain, one of the only in the world, according to Wikipedia. The success of this business obviously came from an excellent management and resources.

• Physical Capital: headquarters in Toronoto, Ontario, Canada; these locations will give the company good chance to oversee its 70 hotels. In addition to the 70 hotels, the Four Seasons has a residential program called the Residence Club; allows people to purchase timeshare villas that are part of the Four Seasons resorts.
• Human Capital: Four Seasons employees are motivated, well trained to perform their jobs terrifically. According to Four Seasons, “It is this culture that sets us apart from our competitors.”
• Organizational Capital: the culture in Four Seasons is informal; every employee is treated in the same way, from housekeeper to senior manager.

Four Seasons aim is to create superior design hotels and support them with great service to position the world’s leader in luxury hotels. The hotels don’t only focus on the comfort room, but even on the little details such as the beauty of the flowers. Four Seasons focuses on their employees because they know "productive and content employees are essential to the service culture that ensures our guests are happy and want to return,” Four Seasons.

Disney to make TV shows available free on Web

Welcome to the new advertisement era! Companies are searching for ways to advertise their products and Walt Disney has came-up with a new concept to gain revenues and benefit other industries. Walt Disney, the major entertainment company, is divided into four major business segments: parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products and media networks. Walt Disney is planning to use their television episodes as a source to gain advertising revenue, according to Reuters: Disney to make TV shows available free on Web: report. Its media network unit is centered on ABC network, American Broadcasting Company. It also owns a group of networking including: The Disney Channel, Toon Disney, the ESPN group, and SOAPnet. (www.disney.go.com)

Episodes of the ABC TV such as “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost” will be available for free on the internet. The episodes will contain commercial breaks that views will not be able to skip. Advertisements will include firms such as Ford Motor, Procter & gamble and Unilever.

Walt Disney-Business Concept Innovation
Core Strategy:

• Mission: “… to be one of the world's leading producers and providers of entertainment and information”
• Basis of Differentiation: alike TiVo which allows consumers to fast-forward through ads, Disney is assuring companies that their advertisements will be seen by the episodes viewers.

Strategic Resources:

• Core competencies: Walt Disney is known for its entertainment services
• Strategic Assets: the episodes shown on ABC television is known by everyone, and therefore customers are already available

Customer Interface:

• Fulfillment and Support: by making the episodes available for free online they will definitely fulfill viewers’ needs.

Planning to use their well known episodes as a source for advertisement revenues was an excellent decision which came along with using the right media “Internet”. Moreover, this plan will also will increase their business-to-business relationships. The plan will basically start a new adverting era, advertising using television episodes on the Internet.

Amazon: Grid Storage Web Service

According to the article, Amazon: Grid Storage Web Service, Amazon has lunched a simple storage service called S3, which stand for “simple storage service”, though this time the service is not offered to consumers, its basically introduced to small to medium enterprises. This service offers a highly scalable, reliable, and low-latency data storage infrastructure at a very low cost.
What differentiate Amazon’s S3 from Google’s GDrive is that Amazon is targeting companies instead of consumers. GDrive offer storage space for people with GMail. Therefore, it can be seen that Amazon’s market can be seen as broad, as the article mentions, “move over Google Drive, Amazon just stole you thunder …”
Amazon’s mission is innovation; to take in new markets and new products and service categories and help shape and changing industry. It seems that Amazon is following its mission, since it always provides innovative services. And now it opened a new market that can help small-medium companies to freely innovate without taking infrastructure into account, something that haven’t been possible before. Amazon can be seen different from its other rivals. Amazon has a good core competency; since its one of the best e-commerce firms. “Amazon’s sophisticated and scalable data storage infrastructure has been beyond the reach of developers.”
Amazon’s strategic asset relies on having offices in many different countries to deal with Amazon’s international business, such as in UK, Washington, France and Germany. Moreover, their strategic asset also is their wide knowledge in e-commerce and good reputation. For example, e-bay is known for its auction, Barnes & Noble is known for their books; however, Amazon is known for much more such as for its books, auction, etc. Amazon.com core process hasn’t been limited ever. Amazon started selling books, however, expanded its businesses by introducing products such as CDs, videos, DVDs and games. Amazon continuously added new lines of business including toys, software, consumer electronics, and online auctions. Further, it thought also beyond retail, now it offers data storage for small-medium firms.
Customer Interface: Amazon provides the shopper good experience and knowledgeable staff. Also, good information about the company is provided on its web-site. And their relationship with their customers its’ based on trust.
It can be seen that Amazon.com has a good Business concept innovation. And with S3 Amazon opens a new market that can give the company extra benefit.

McDonald's to close 25 high street branches

The article, McDonald's to close 25 high street branches, shows that non-market issues can create a very bad imagine. One of the top fast food chains started to suffer, McDonald’s. The article mentioned that McDonald’s is to close 25 of its branches in UK. This problem can be analyzed using the Baron framework.

• Issue: bad image (Super Size Me and gossip has send the message around that McDonald’s food can cause death)
• Interest: the public, and health organizations; WHO (World Health Organization)
• Institution: the media, health organizations, such as WHO (World Health Organization)
• Information: information is available everywhere. And with Super Size Me people get to know more about the issue.

The primary source of this issue arises from the documentary Super Size Me, which showed how McDonald’s can cause death if it was eaten on regular basis. As a result the world’s largest fast food chain turned out to close 25 of its branches in UK! “Denis Hennequin, president of McDonald's Europe, has admitted that the company has been struggling in the UK in the face of a consumer backlash.”
According to some analysts they expect McDonald’s to open several new branches in places that attract higher number of shoppers. I think that McDonald’s won’t be over as some might think. The brand name is really high and people won’t give up soon. And because fast food has become something embedded in our lives it would be difficult to just leave it over. And since all fast foods are almost the same, at least in the fat they carry, McDonald’s consumer won’t switch easily to Burger King for example if the reason was health concerns.
According to Amanda Pierce, a spokeswoman from McDonald’s, McDonald's to close 25 high street branches, "We are continuing to grow the business, but we've been in the UK 31 years and shopping habits have changed. We want the right restaurants in the right place." It seems that McDonald’s won’t give up, and I guess they’ll have more and more attacks. McDonald’s might try to change the whole concept of fast food as they started doing; introducing a whole range of healthy food in the menu didn’t come from nowhere!
It is amazing to see how customers can use their barging power and how it can affect large companies. McDonald’s journey with customers in this issue might never end but will the company be able to catch up every time!!

Mecca Cola rides anti-west wave with cafe chain plan

According to the article, Mecca Café will be lunched to provide an alternative to western outlets in Muslim Countries. The first café will open its doors in Dubai Healthcare City. It can be seen that Mecca Café does not provide a product differentiation; however, it provides a different kind of differentiation. Being owned by a Muslim will create a lot of difference for many Muslim people.
The café face some competition. There are countless competitors, such as Starbucks and many other which have good repetition. Recently in February Central Perk café has been opened in Dubai. Numerous people watch the famous television show, Friends, thus many people would like to visit Central Perk Café, its where Friends gather! Therefore, competition might be a bit hard at start, but it might take off with Mecca Café in many Muslim countries since they started “riding on anti-Western anger over issues like Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan.” And since there aren’t any switching costs for consumers, Mecca Café can gain a competitive advantage in many Muslim countries. It has been seen that the company achieved remarkable sales in several Muslim countries from its Mecca Cola.
It seems that Mecca Café is going through fine strategy and if they keep up with it, advertised more about the company and made the brand well known it can be a substitute for many western cafes. The true advantage of Mecca Café will be again in Muslim countries. Hence, their fair from competition will be set in this boundary. It is not difficult for any other Muslim based firm to enter the mark if they used efficient ways to market their products and service. Mecca started with introducing Mecca Cola which showed a good demand. Later the company took on with introducing Mecca Café. In my opinion the firm should advertise more for its café. With their philosophy off being a Muslim based company, the company can again an excellent advantage, however, the firm did not advertise heavily for it. Being Muslim and living in UAE I personally haven’t hard anything about Mecca Café. If the firm advertised for its café even before opening its doors in Dubai, it will gain a competitive advantage. Being in Dubai and living around thousand of cafes and restaurants makes it hard to notice something new has been opened. A business like Mecca Café should not go around through gossip it should be well advertised!!

A New Message from Nokia

“New business models are more than replacement for what already is. Instead, they open up entirely new possibilities”, according to Hamel. This time Nokia did seek for new opportunities with its new model 770, according to the article, A new message from Nokia. 770 a pocket-size computer is used differently than any other Nokia product. Basically it’s not a phone! Nokia is planning to enter a new market, but could it succeed!
The first question that might come into mind is whether this new model, 770, is valuable. Yes, the 770 can be seen as valuable because it’s “the first pocket-size Net browser”, according to, new message from Nokia. “… since the 770 started shipping … eager buyers around the global snatched up every available unit.” Nokia is a head from its competitors and so it’s a value. The 770 can be seen as a competitive advantage because of its rareness. It is rare in a sense that it uses different resources and capabilities then its competitors.
The second question might be whether this value will stay long. Simply technology can be imitated easily, however, competitors might face some disadvantages. The competitive company might face a lack of experience in the area of Internet and hiring consultants might not be cost effective. Moreover, Nokia might think of patenting some of its features which will keep others companies searching longer for a substitute solution, although its quit rare to patent a software. Or the project may turn costly to rivals.
In my point of view, Nokia choose a good way to gain and sustain consumers. In today’s world internet became a necessity, therefore I can’t imagine that a product as 770 can fail. Although when first lunch the article mentioned that 770 was lunch very slowly without any advertisements, “the device has sold mainly over the internet and through a few select retailers, with no advertising or hoopla”. This was reaction that can be explainable. Nokia might felt a fear when it entered video game business and failed. However, Nokia did not give up which can be seen through the lunch of 770. Basically “Nokia is trying to reposition itself as a maker of all manner of communicating electronic devices, not just phones”. In my opinion Nokia just did the right thing when it thought beyond phones. They can have a good competitive advantage in communicating electronic devices since also they have a good repletion. If I were to choose from different mobile phones vendors, I would choose Nokia definitely. I don’t know if it’s in this region or even out side that Nokia has a really good repletion. You look around and you would find Nokia all around!

Retailers must do more to stay on top of competition

“In the new economy, the unit of analysis for innovation is not a product or a technology-it’s a business concept”, according to Hamel. In my opinion this is really what business innovation is all about. Innovation is not innovative products but innovative feel of experience. Any two companies can have same products but to have the same experience is less likely. A very basic example is on campus. In my point of view, having breakfast in Albert Abella is not as having breakfast in Starbucks! The atmosphere is completely different and that what makes me choose Starbucks every time.
Competition in Dubai is raising and taking steps forward became a necessity. Therefore, distinguishing only products from competitors is not the solution now days. As the article, Retailers must do more to stay on top on competition, says “retail outlets need to deliver experience, not just the basic goods…” Hamel mentioned this experience as part of the relationship between the customer and the product. “What feelings do these interactions invoke…” Customer Interface is one of Hamel’s components of Business Innovation Concept. Businesses should figure out innovative ways to display their products rather than focusing on the product it self, it’s all in the business concept. According to the article, Phil McArthur; director of leasing and marketing at Dubai festival city, businesses should find new ways to keep the businesses on top which will reduce barriers of new entry and which in return will reduce competition. Today in Dubai competition is going high and high. You basically can find thousand of restaurants and even thousand of retail stores; however the one with good business concept is the one who reaches the top. According to the article, “…UAE…is now the third most successful country in the world at shopping center marketing”. In my point of view, it might be the third at shopping center marketing but that might not stay long. Dubai is raising, however, customer experience is decreasing. Basically what all you see in Dubai is repetition. Malls here and there and restaurants here and there, and then what; something different? I guess no. What businesses have to focus on now in Dubai is innovative ways to attract customers. Businesses also have to go on with technology. There are lots of supermarkets here and there; however, there isn’t a single online supermarket! The whole concept of businesses has to be changed.
Getting down to the point of Dubai Festival City, something interesting; but a mistake for IKEA! Shutting down the store in city center was a mistake. IKEA in my opinion will lose much of its revenues due to this shift. Having a store in Dubai Festival City is excellent opportunity but they should give a lot. Having a store in a mall like city center Deria attract lot of customers. One of the customers that they lost is me! Driving all the road to the festival city is not worth it because I can all most get the same product that I wont in a competitors store. Having a city as Dubai festival city is something good but stores have to rethink and keep in mind what customers prefer.