Millions of consumers intent on grabbing holiday deals by way of mail-in rebates are likely to see fewer checks this year and more plastic designed to lure them back into the store, retail experts say.

The switch from paper rebate checks to plastic rebate cards isn't new, but the captive marketing it provides to retailers and manufacturers is growing, especially in a down economy, according to those who track the industry.

Industry estimates put the amount of rebates paid in plastic at $4.2 billion in 2008, up by more than 50 percent from the year before, a number that is expected to grow even more this year.

Instead of a rebate check, the prepaid rebate cards are branded either with a store name, known as a closed-loop card, or a major credit card logo, such as Visa or MasterCard, known as open-loop cards.

The only way to redeem the funds is to buy something, though a few rebates allow you to get cash at an ATM.

“The future of rebate cards is tremendous, not just for the captive marketing where consumers come back into the store for purchases, but the ability to track and manage that data,” said Brian Riley, research director for bank cards at TowerGroup, a research firm that tracks consumer credit card spending.

As many as 60 percent of consumers eligible for a rebate never bother with the paperwork or online process. Much of these unclaimed funds remain as a stream of pure profit for manufacturers and retailers.

The move to plastic makes rebates even more attractive for businesses. A rebate check costs about $1.85 to produce for a manufacturer, while a plastic rebate costs about 6 cents, Riley said. “That alone is worth millions to retailers and manufacturers,” he said.

The plastic cards, though they encourage spending, can also cause consumers to leave money on the table. If consumers don't use the entire amount, leaving perhaps a few dollars or cents as a balance, it is nearly impossible to use the remainder, consumer advocate Edgar Dworsky said.

“It's not like a store gift card where you can easily check a balance,” said Dworsky, who runs the Web site ConsumerWorld.org . “It's the gift that keeps taking. I see no redeeming value in these cards.”

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/oct/25/cards-supplant-mail-rebate-checks/?success&dsq=21006425#comment-21006425

    
 

The best networkers know how to reciprocate. Open up your Rolodex and connect those you know, and others will do the same for you

By Dan Schawbel

In August, Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that approximately 80% of human resources executives rate networking as the best way to get a job right now.

This should come as no surprise. People conduct job interviews—job boards don't. Job boards list positions either already taken or nonexistent. A job board doesn't build trust with a hiring manager, whereas your business contact personally recommending you for a position carries a lot of weight. The sooner you start networking, the more dividends it will pay later in life, as executives almost always get jobs through who they know.

If you're introverted, then a social network like Facebook, with its 300 million user population, is an anxiety pacifier and a place where you can start a conversation online and then talk offline later when you feel comfortable. Social networking allows you to connect with more people in less time, around a shared interest like sports, politics, or the stock market. You have the choice whether you want to start your own network or become a participant, or both.

Using social networks and blogs for networking is about reciprocation. You need to promote other people who work at companies you're targeting and business leaders you respect. "Promote what that person does well to your network through a newsletter, a link back to their Web sites on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, or feature them as an expert on your blog," says Lewis Howes, author of LinkedWorking and owner of sportsnetworker.com. Shining the spotlight on someone else will build rapport and position you as a value provider. The end result is an addition to your network that will more than likely reciprocate down the road.
Background Checks

Of course, you have to be careful. Conduct a background check before attending a networking event or reaching out to people online. This doesn't mean going to the CIA or your neighborhood police station. You can use search engines, social networks, and private information shared between friends to find out exactly whom and what you're getting involved with.

In addition to finding information that allows you to filter out any dubious prospective contacts, you'll discover useful information about the people you do decide to contact. "Jot down three things that you learned about them doing the preliminary research, and then when you connect with them, ask them about their story," explains Scott Bradley, a social media strategist and founder of Rapid Results Marketing Group. It'll show that you care.

Indeed, you don't need an immediate personal agenda when social networking. Connect other like-minded people you believe will mutually benefit from one another. For example, if you know that one of your friends is working on a project that another one of your contacts has experience with, why not send an e-mail introducing both? Although you may not feel any immediate career boost, you'll be viewed as someone they both can go to as a resource.

"When you connect others, you become their center of influence," says Lewis. This method of networking becomes easier as your database grows, but the result is that more people will come to you in search of help, and you'll be able to make those introductions. In return, people will make introductions for you and open up their Rolodexes.
Hunt Down Contacts

Unless you're a celebrity or are extremely visible online, people aren't going to race to your doorstep looking to work with you and be part of your network. Instead you have to pursue relationships like you're hunting prey. Even when you have contacts, they won't always be an asset to you unless you cultivate them by actively engaging them and by figuring out ways to support their own goals.

It's the small things that count. Commenting on a contact's Facebook status or sending a holiday card can have a larger impact than you would imagine "Relationships are like muscles—the more you work them, the stronger they become," says Keith Ferrazzi, author of New York Times best-seller Who's Got Your Back.

Don't be intrusive or aggressive, however. Respect people's time demands, and don't go overboard trying to impress them. People are looking for genuine conversations, not self-promotional spiels. Instead of bragging about your accomplishments, listen to what they have to say first and make them want to hear about what you have to offer.

"A guy in my office connected with a well-known actress over Twitter because both their kids had a really bad flu at the same time," says Ferrazzi.

It's the best-connected people who are the most productive at work and have the most-helpful mentors. Start today by contacting at least one individual you've never dealt with and asking that person if she or he needs help. The response you get will surprise you.

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/oct2009/ca20091013_609903.htm

 

Ivanka Trump on Building a Brand

Whatever it is you're looking to do or make or sell, you build your business on the assumption that you can do it better, smarter, and more efficiently than the competition. Otherwise, what's the point?

The more I thought back on my mother's experiences (in shopping for jewelry) in high-end stores, the more I recognized an opportunity for a luxury jewelry line created for modern women based on their lifestyle needs and tastes, women who weren't waiting around for their husbands or fathers to buy them a fine piece of jewelry as a gift. I had in mind a customer with a sense of flair and fashion that perhaps wasn't being reflected in the designs of some of the more traditional, high-end jewelers; women who wanted to invest in fresher, more vibrant heirloom chic pieces. And above all, women who were perhaps looking for guidance from their more fashion-forward daughters on what to wear—as opposed to looking to their mothers.

As I kicked things around with Moshe Lax, a diamond vendor who's now my partner in the Ivanka Trump Jewelry Collection, I realized there was a void in the marketplace waiting to be filled, so we struck a partnership deal and set about filling it. Moshe already had a location on Madison Avenue, so our first move was to close his family-owned store and redesign the whole space from top to bottom. The first order of business was retrofitting the space and creating a signature style, identity, and logo for our emerging brand.

Along the way, I made some mental notes on what we'd need to do as we introduced our collection, and I share them here for the way they apply to the launch of any new business, product, or service:

Do a comprehensive trademark search. This is an obvious first step, but you'd be surprised how many startups hit a wall when it turns out someone else already owns their brand name. In our dot-com age, this means you'll have to secure the accompanying domain name as well.

Develop a powerful identifier. Your look and logo are incredibly important. These days, your Web site design is also a part of that "look" (check out ivankatrumpcollection.com), along with your packaging and collateral materials. Spend some time on these, because they'll be the image that goes home with your customers, whether or not they make a purchase or sign on to your service. Be memorable.

Do not confuse supply with demand. Another basic: Just because you have an item in plenty doesn't necessarily mean a lot of people will want to buy it. Identify the demand for your product first, and then dive in. Luxury condos offer a great case in point. Developers will pitch a site as ideal simply because other developers are building similar projects on the abutting properties. But we're not talking Field of Dreams here. "If you build it, they will come" might be a powerful message in a tearjerker baseball movie, but an overdeveloped resort area can be a huge negative.

Identify the void in your market, and position your brand so that you uniquely fill it. If you mean to provide a product or service that's currently unavailable at your planned price point, be sure to know your competition at the high and low ends. There might be a reason why no one is trafficking in that unclaimed middle. If not, find it, and fill it.

Create a strong and consistent identity. Whatever you want your image to be, establish it early and stay true to your identity. Without an established reputation, you don't have a brand, so take pains to keep on point and on message. Otherwise, you'll miss your target. For example, Trump is synonymous with luxury, glamour, and elegance. Every project we undertake reinforces that reputation. To deviate from these principles would undermine our brand's values.

Define your market. Figure out who your target customer is, even if it's not obvious at the outset. The better you know your customers and their needs, the more easily you can sell to them.

Make sure your team understands your mission, your vision, and your objectives. You'd be surprised how many salespeople I meet who don't understand their own product or share their boss's vision. At our hotels, we have a two-day acclimation program to thoroughly explain to our new hires who we are and what the Trump hotel collection stands for. Get your team on board, or you'll have a team of free agents moving to their own agendas.

Focus on customer service. In a competitive market, every business is a service business. The customer is always, always, always right. Even when he or she is wrong. Be sure to put a system into place that gives your customer a voice—and, just as important, be sure to listen to it. The CEO of Orient-Express Hotels (OEH) randomly connects to three rooms across the portfolio each day, introducing himself and asking guests how they're enjoying their stays. Do the math: three calls, 365 days a year … that's a lot of feedback.

Foster brand loyalty at every opportunity. One of the indicators of our success on the real estate front is that we have many condominium owners who buy units in more than one Trump building. We nurture these relationships and make sure our repeat buyers know that we value their business by giving them a first look at some of our properties in presales, supporting their philanthropic initiatives, or perhaps even offering them accommodations in one of our hotel properties.

Hold off spending whenever possible. You need to spend money to make money. This is especially true when launching your new brand, but if you're not careful you'll find that the majority of your expenditures will have minimal impact on your success. Do your research first before spending heavily in any one area. Look closely at your product design, your target segments, and your marketing strategy—then allocate your money to where it will do the most good.

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/oct2009/ca20091013_957704.htm?chan=careers_managing+index+page_top+stories

 

The U.S. Is Outsourcing Away Its Competitive Edge

Today, many people are looking to high technology sectors — like alternative energy — to be the growth engine that revives the U.S. economy and gets it back on track. They're in for a shock. During the boom years, when all seemed well, capabilities that underpin innovation in a wide range of products were continuing to deteriorate.

As my Harvard Business School colleague Willy Shih and I described in "Restoring American Competitiveness," a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, the U.S. has lost or is in the process of losing the ability to manufacture many of the cutting-edge products it invented. These include the batteries that power electric and hybrid cars, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for the next generation of energy-efficient lighting, critical components of solar panels, advanced displays for mobile phones and new consumer electronics products like Amazon's Kindle e-reader, and many of the carbon fiber components for Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner.

The culprit is the outsourcing of development and manufacturing work to specialists abroad. The result: a damaging deterioration in the collective capabilities that serve high tech. This industrial commons includes not just suppliers of advanced materials, production equipment, and components, but also R&D know-how, advanced process development and engineering skills, and manufacturing competencies.

Making matters even worse is something that has been largely ignored: In addition to undermining the ability of the U.S. to manufacture high tech products, the erosion of the industrial commons has seriously damaged the country's ability to invent new ones.

The prevailing view of the past 25 years has been that the U.S. can thrive as a center of innovation and leave the manufacturing of the products it invents and designs to others. Nothing could be further from the truth.

This logic is predicated on utterly false assumptions about the divisibility of R&D and manufacturing and basic competitive dynamics.

In many cases, R&D and manufacturing are tightly intertwined. Unless you know how to manufacture a product, you often cannot design it. And, to understand how to manufacture it, you have to have manufacturing competencies and experience. The notion that you can design a product in the serene world of the R&D laboratory without any knowledge of the rough and tumble world of production is ridiculous.

To innovate, you need great two-way feedback. You need to transfer knowledge from R&D into production, but you also need to move knowledge from production back to R&D. The act of production creates knowledge about the process and the product design.

Follow the HBR Debate

This Topic: Does the U.S. Need a Manufacturing Sector?

Gary P. Pisano: The U.S. is Outsourcing Away Its Competitive Edge

David B. Yoffie: Why the U.S. Tech Sector Doesn't Need Domestic Manufacturing

Robert H. Hayes: Global Outsourcing Is High Tech's Subprime Mortgage Fiasco

Andy Rappaport: Outsourcing Isn't a Problem for Silicon Valley But Is for Detroit

Willy C. Shih: The U.S. Can't Manufacture the Kindle and That's a Problem

Is Short-term Thinking Eroding U.S. High Tech?

Ed Catmull: Pleasing Wall Street is a Poor Excuse for Bad Decisions

David. A. Patterson: Scientists and Engineers on Boards Will Keep Focus on the Long Term

Is Washington the Solution or the Problem?

Stephen R. Hardis: Beware of Gov't Solutions for America's High Tech Industry

David A. Patterson: Restoring DARPA Is the Key to Preserving the U.S. Lead in IT

Deborah L. Wince-Smith: Washington Must Help U.S. Regain the Lead in Manufacturing

Robert H. Hayes: Gov't Should Enlist Foreign Companies' to Rebuild America's Industrial Infrastructure

Yes, there are some instances where R&D and manufacturing are separable. But these are the exceptions. In the vast majority of high tech products (and even some low-tech products like apparel), knowledge about manufacturing helps you design products and get them to market quickly. What this means is that when manufacturing capabilities migrate from a country, design and R&D capabilities eventually follow. That's exactly what's been happening in many high tech industries in the U.S. over the past 20 years.

Now let's turn to a dangerous misconception of competitive dynamics that proponents of outsourcing propagate. Here's what they would have us believe: You focus on R&D and turn over the low-margin commodity manufacturing to contractors in Asia. You make out like a bandit because you have the intellectual property and your contractors have so much competition they cannot afford to charge you more. Markets are great.

Wait a minute. All this assumes your manufacturing partner is content to subsist on your table scraps. But what if they have their eye on the prime rib, too? Well, once they have learned to manufacture your product (and your ability to manufacture has eroded), they are in a much better position to move up the food chain into manufacturing and designing more sophisticated components and subsystems and, eventually, the entire product.

This is exactly what has happened in high tech industry after high tech industry. Unless business executives operating in the U.S. recognize the importance of manufacturing and grow wiser about outsourcing, the industrial commons — and the country's economy — will continue to decline.

Gary P. Pisano
Harry E. Figgie, Jr.
Professor of Business Administration
Harvard Business School

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/hbr/restoring-american-competitiveness/2009/10/the-us-is-outsourcing-away-its.html

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