Give your stakeholders a raise - increase asset productivity!Written by Frank Williams
You have pushed your cost cutting measures to limit. Competitive pricing still keeps a full-court press on every move you make. You have launched new products, but this initiative barely keeps you in game. Clearly explosive, seemingly easy, growth-rates of 90's have drawn to a close. Finding more ways to drive profit appears daunting. Remember that capitalism requires two things - growth and profits from any business wishing to remain viable. As you enter 21st century, how will your firm cope with financial expectations of your stakeholders? Improving asset productivity may be part of answer. Enhancing stakeholder value is tougher in a growth-restricted economy, however strong management of asset productivity will give most organizations more financial options. When many companies are pulling in their horns, seeking ways to protect profits, and basically trying to survive, finding ways to make idle or under-utilized assets work harder will strengthen company's financial health. Total asset productivity is basically sales divided by average difference between operating assets and operating liabilities during a given period of time expressed as a percentage. Financial people understand this concept well, but somehow it doesn't easily translate into line management - very people responsible for effective use of corporate assets. Global Marketing finds that many companies work hard at portions of asset management such as inventory control, but this is more of a piece-meal approach. Asset management including improvements, timetables and expected results should be a key part of any company's on-going business strategy. Case in point... A mid-size industrial instrumentation company benefited from a new strategy that focused on increasing asset productivity. After a number of years of explosive growth, sluggish economy significantly reduced growth-rate of firm. Profits came under pressure, cost-cutting measures were implemented, but shareholder value continued to decline. Together with senior management, Global Marketing benchmarked present asset productivity. The results yielded a stunner! Barely 40% of company's assets contributed to 100% of profits. Basically, 60% of their assets were idle or significantly under performing. There is a strong reason to pay attention to, and better manage all corporate assets. Improving asset productivity infuses more financial flexibility into any organization. Stakeholder value improves, but many less obvious benefits occur. Can you imagine that an increase in customer service level will result and drive renewed growth-rates? It's all connected.
| | What is Shareware?Written by Dan Housley
What is Shareware?by Dan Housley What is Shareware? Shareware is software that you can try before you buy; shareware is a kind of marketing method for software. Software developers post trial versions of their software on websites. Consumers can then download trial version to their computer and evaluate it. If consumer likes software they can purchase it. Shareware is also called try before you buy. Today almost every big software company including Microsoft, Winzip, and AOL use trial versions or a form of shareware to market their software. Why is shareware better than any other marketing method? Shareware is a good way to market software. It allows consumers to evaluate an application prior to making a purchase decision. They can easily determine if it meets their business or personal needs, which usually results to a satisfied customer. In addition because shareware companies are often small they can provide personalized service that is not found in larger companies. Shareware also allows for instant gratification, there is no need to wait for a shipment. Consumers can download and use software immediately. Freeware vs. Shareware. As you know shareware is a marketing method for software. Freeware is also a way of marketing software. However, freeware is free so developer does not ever request any money. Shareware is free to distribute but cannot be used for an unlimited amount of time, unless developer is paid. Freeware can be used an unlimited amount of time and can be freely distributed; payment is not required. Many developers use freeware to draw attention to their shareware applications. What is software piracy? There are several kinds of software piracy. One kind of software piracy is hacking into software and disabling copy protection. Software pirates then distribute or sell hacked software. The developer does not receive any money for software hacker distributed. This is an infringement on developer's copyright. Another technique used by hackers is to illegally obtain a registered copy of software. Pirates purchase software once and use it on multiple computers. Purchasing software with a stolen credit card is another form of software piracy. Unfortunately there are many kinds of software piracy that has slowed industry's growth. In order for developers to continue to develop software and provide support software needs to be profitable.
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