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Week 9 DiscussionCOLLAPSE The Four P's and Your Learning from the Tio case  This week Austin talked about what he learned from the stories of previous product launches that came from other cultures, such as hummus and Greek yogurt. In preparation for this week's Discussion, think about the Tio Gazpacho story that you have been following throughout this course and what lessons you have learned from it.  Also, before writing your post this week, review The Four P's of Marketing document in your Assignment 3 Resources. It defines the Four P's as: (1) Product or Service, (2) Place, (3) Price, and (4) Promotion. Use the questions in the document to help you define the Four P's for the product or service in your Business Plan.  For your initial post, answer the following questions:   Briefly describe and define the Four P's of your Marketing Plan. What is the most important lesson that you learned from the Tio case study?  tio Gazpacho: Taking on PepsiCo This week Austin talks about a risk that is always in the back of his mind: the threat the PepsiCo could enter the U.S. market with their existing Spanish product, Avalle, a soup similar to the Tio brand. PepsiCo is the largest producer of gazpacho soup in the world and has dominated the Spanish market for about 15 years. Austin doesn't know why PepsiCo hasn't brought their product to the U.S. already, but he knows that Tio's success has opened up a new market for drinkable soups that other companies could enter at any time. He thinks it is really important for him to make a splash with Tio to dominate the U.S. market early, before some powerful competitor like PepsiCo enters the same space. Post your initial response by Wednesday, midnight of your time zone, and reply to at least 2 of your classmates' initial posts by Sunday, midnight of your time zone. ​ 1st person to respond to   1 day agoMalgorzata Perotin RE: Week 9 DiscussionCOLLAPSE Dear Dr. A. and Class, Briefly describe and define the Four P's of your Marketing Plan. Product Diamond Effect group coaching program helps service-based women solopreneurs sign clients consistently and generate predictable and growing income. Women start their service-based businesses because they want to do what they are passionate about, which becomes the service delivered (Castrillon, 1). Those skills allow them to serve their clients but are not the ones that enable them to run a successful business. That's where the Diamond Effect coaching program comes in. The program teaches them how to confidently run a profitable business through online video training, weekly individualized coaching sessions, and the Dream-Plan-Do journal. Its core focuses on three pillars: Emotional intelligence such as self-awareness, confidence, effective communication, and decision-making skills (Goleman, 2). Hard business skills such as marketing and sales, online content creation and copywriting, basics of branding and finance. Along with ith coaching, this knowledge helps them create a simple business strategy and plan that the clients can easily understand and implement consistently. High-performance, i.e., effective time management and good habits, creates harmony between business and personal life (Covey,3).  Place The diamond Effect coaching program will be delivered and mostly marketed online through main social media channels where women entrepreneurs gather Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Online presence and delivery allow me to reach an international audience and create flexibility for the clients and my business in many areas: delivery and learning, scaling, convenience.  Price Market research has shown me that there are many coaching propositions that clients pay for nowadays: one-on-one coaching, small and larger group coaching programs, and fully automated, video-based online programs without coaching support. The prices range widely from $100 to $25,000 and more depending on the program delivery model, quality, the support provided, length, etc. The Diamond Effect coaching program is priced at $5,000. I have found it a competitive price on the market for the value proposition the program offers. It has already been validated with a couple of Beta testing clients. Promotion The program promotion will happen through a few channels, most of them being online. The primary social media are Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, with LinkedIn and Clubhouse being added in January 2022. On Facebook outside of my business account, I have created a community for women entrepreneurs (Facebook, 4) that has become an effective platform to promote the program and sales events such as webinars and workshops. One of the new digital channels I have added this year is the Diamond Effect podcast, which is a long-term strategy for establishing expertise, building an audience, and promoting the coaching program (Perotin, 5). As the sales expand and income is generated, I will also promote the program via paid online advertising, for example, Google Ads, Facebook, and Instagram ads. Outside of social media and digital space, other channels that I will use to promote my service are networking events and partnerships. I am part of a few networking groups that meet online and when allowed in person, where I can expand and build my network of relationships and promote my offer. Thanks to the win-win partnerships with networking communities and other organizations, such as BACD (6), I have an opportunity to offer value to their members by leading training or workshops, and in return, gain the ability to promote my services. Last by not least, in the long-term, another promotional strategy could be a PR strategy for exposure in traditional media as a contributing expert, for example. What is the most important lesson that you learned from the Tio case study? I think the most important lesson I have learned from Tio's case study is two-fold. On the one hand, as a business owner, you need to clearly understand your clients, the value your product/ service offers, and the brand you want to create. You need to believe in all that and have the resilience to put it out in and promote it in the market. At the same time, you need to be flexible enough to be open to change and innovation so you can respond quickly and strategically to what you learn in the process (Welch, 7). The learning can come in many ways: market research, the results you create with the offer, partners you work with, competition. For example, Tio started with the idea of being more of a drink, and as they observed the market and learned, they moved to meal substitute positioning, which changed how they promoted the products. It also started producing its products as organic, but with the partnership of General Mills and realizing the cost of production, it moved away from this strategy. Knowing and observing your competition and preparing for risks coming from that also is part of being proactive, flexible, and willing to change (JWI 575, 8). Thank you, Maggie References: Caroline Castrillon. 2019. Why More Women Are Turning To Entrepreneurship. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2019/02/04/why-more-women-are-turning-to-entrepreneurship/?sh=2ddc6e8c542a Daniel Goleman. 2000. Leadership That Gets Results. Harvard Business Review. Stephen R. Covey. 1989. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Simon & Schuster. Facebook groups - Women Entrepreneurs with Passion 4 Life. https://www.facebook.com/groups/BusinesswomenWithPassion4Life/ Maggie Perotin. Diamond Effect Podcast. https://www.buzzsprout.com/1816207/episodes www.bacd.ca Jack and Suzy Welch. 2005. Winning. Harper Collins. JWI 575. Week 1-9. Tio Gazpacho case study. Retrieved from: https://blackboard.strayer.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/ 2nd person to respond to  Kirk Hanson RE: Week 9 DiscussionCOLLAPSE Greetings. Briefly describe and define the Four P's of your Marketing Plan. Product of service: NUsurface XX branded as the industry-only patient-specific medial meniscus replacement patient device capable of delivering pain medication to arthritic knees while slowing the arthritic process.  Place: Patients obtain NUsurface XX only through their orthopedic surgeon as a medical treatment for debilitating knee pain. surface XX is an additional product category designed for the small percentage of patients whose anatomical variances are not compatible with surface. surface XX will be added to the social media patient education outlets and global websites. Price: The ASP is not calculated for NUsurface XX; however, the anticipation will be a double-digit percentage more expensive than surface due to the added value of patient-specific and mediation delivery. Pricing is a complex topic because the price must be acceptable within the surgical coding procedural reimbursement value. Promotion: NUsurface XX promotion via trade shows, articular cartilage restoration specialty meetings, radio promotions, and center of excellence programs for specific surgeon clinics, which includes visiting surgeon programs, sales rep training programs. surface and surface XX monopolize the market, and neither product has been FDA cleared. The need for these products becomes urgent by the day.  What is the most important lesson that you learned from the Tio case study?  The product placement strategy as a competitive advantage in the Gazpacho industry directs how Tio messages its brand.  Tio took a deep dive into the other product categories investigating how they fared in the competitive landscape. Tio evaluated Hawaii Ottawa Gazpacho's placement and assessed why PepsiCo had not expanded their product offering when Hawaii Ottawa was considered the most underplayed product in PepsiCo's portfolio. Competitive landscape assessment in the market segment is a strategical technique underplayed in the positioning of a brand. The prominent players have the resources to purchase shelf space and increase barriers to market entrance. It is these maneuvers that I find exciting to counter and invade without extensive company knowledge. Tio brought up the Galanti Greek Yogurt example, how they could position themselves against the saturated yogurt sector. Value, taste, or other customer-centric concerns were met; basically, Galanti did their research and listened to the customer. I believe the failure to listen is one Achilles heel to large companies; others include complacency, ego, and revenue over service. If a small company listens to the customer, the company will hear screams of customer complaints. Companies I feel have a hero complex, where the company exists as the hero, versus creating a culture, strategy as the customer hero, and work backward to the company.  A company's goal for revenue starts small and gains momentum. The momentum allows the company to grow internally with the increasing sales to keep the customer hero engaged and resist making illogical policies that benefit the company versus satisfying the customer. Assessing the competitive playing field, listening and hearing the customers' needs, addressing the needs, solving the customers' internal issues, and creating a brand where people always feel the company is the customers' advocate will drive loyalty and sustainably to the brand. Kirk References 1. JWI575 Week 9 lecture notes 2. G. Kawaski. The Art of The Start. Penguin Publishing 3.  D. Breznitz & M. Murphree. 2016. What the U.S. Should Be Doing To Protect Intellectual Property. Havard Business Review. © Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. JWI 575 RTC – Week 9 Lecture Notes (1188) Page 1 of 5 JWI 575 New Business Ventures and Entrepreneurship Week Nine Lecture Notes © Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. JWI 575 RTC – Week 9 Lecture Notes (1188) Page 2 of 5 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY What it Means Intellectual property – also known as IP – is a key concept for protecting your competitive advantage and delivering value to your customers. How can you prevent others, including your competitors, from stealing your innovative idea and developing their own product or service based on the concept? Initially, like most inventors, you may protect your idea by keeping it secret. You only share the details of your idea with trusted friends and family members. However, once you start developing a prototype that uses the idea in a product or service, it can become very difficult to continue keeping your idea hidden. If you do well in the marketplace and start making money, your competitors will be looking for the concept behind your success. Your idea is not a tangible item, but it is nonetheless an intellectual asset or item of property that belongs to you, and the law recognizes it as such. There are several ways to record and legally protect your idea, including trademarks, copyright protection, and patents. These are all legal protections that enable you to sue for infringement if another company attempts to use your idea for profit. We examine how the different forms of protection work and consider the pros and cons of each approach. This lecture also includes a table that provides you with a quick reference for the four major types of intellectual property. Why it Matters • Innovators must learn to see their ideas as intellectual assets that constitute property • If new ideas are not well protected, competitors will take advantage of their availability • Valuable ideas should be protected by one or more types of intellectual property protection “A startup should unequivocally own or unequivocally have licensed its intellectual property.” Guy Kawasaki © Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. JWI 575 RTC – Week 9 Lecture Notes (1188) Page 3 of 5 THE BASICS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY If you have a way of delivering value, and would-be competitors learn about it, what is to stop them from using your idea and taking your customers away? In some cases, you might offer good service, which anyone can try to copy. But in other cases, you have an innovative and original idea and this can be protected. Four Types of Intellectual Property Protectable ways of operating are referred to as intellectual property. The four most common types of intellectual property are trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights, and patents. To protect your innovation, it is recommended that you safeguard your idea with one or more types of intellectual property protection, before you start marketing the new product or service. Trade Secrets Inventors have an instinctual desire to keep their new ideas secret. To market their inventions securely, they should ideally apply for trademark, copyright, or patent protection. However, these protections include some cost and an approval process. So the inventor may simply opt to keep the idea a closely guarded secret. One famous example of a trade secret is the formula for Coca-Cola. Coke could have patented its formula, but its patent would have lasted only 17 years, the limit at that time. After that, the formula would have been public knowledge, available to any competitor. So, instead of filing for a patent, Coke chose to keep the recipe a tightly guarded secret. To this day, Coke still hides the formula, even from its own bottlers and vendors. Trademarks A trademark is a distinctive logo, symbol, name, character, sign, or mark that identifies a product or service marketed by a specific company. Some well-known examples include the name Coco Chanel, the swoosh symbol on Nike shoes, and the talking gecko character used in Geico’s advertising and marketing. Copyrights Copyright is granted for written, spoken, or performed words or music. It does not protect a specific invention, but rather a specific expression of an idea. Every book is copyrighted, for example, as are many images. Patents The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) grants patents in the United States. If you take out a patent, it excludes others from copying your invention for a certain period of time. The invention can be a device, drug, food item, clothing design, and many other things. A patent may be classed as a utility patent or a design patent. A design patent relates to how the item looks, whereas a utility patent relates to how the item works. For example, a design patent would protect a new pattern for a wedding dress, whereas a utility patent would protect a new type of seat belt for cars. The vast majority of patents issued each year are utility patents. Today a patent in the U.S. lasts for 20 years, and the inventor is required to publish the patent. Effectively the government makes a deal that rewards the inventor for his or her idea, but allows the broader community to benefit too. It is as if the government says to each inventor: “Teach the world how to do what you have invented, © Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. JWI 575 RTC – Week 9 Lecture Notes (1188) Page 4 of 5 and in exchange, you will get to enjoy 20 years of excluding others who might use this invention, unless they pay you for the privilege.” The Starbucks Example For a real-life example to illustrate all four types of intellectual property, imagine you are walking down the street and see the familiar green circular logo. You know that you are about to enter a real Starbucks coffee shop. • That logo is trademarked. No other cafe can hang the logo on its storefront and attempt to attract Starbucks customers. You then might sip some coffee prepared in a special machine that Starbucks has designed. • That coffee machine is patented. No other cafe can buy and use that particular coffee machine. You enjoy the relaxing ambiance in the Starbucks cafe. Maybe Starbucks has developed some customer service training for its employees, designed to give their cafes a special feel that is distinct from their competitors. These training materials could be protected in two different ways: • Those training materials might be legally protected by copyright. • If they do not apply for copyright protection, Starbucks may instruct its managers not to share the training materials outside the company. In this case, they are treating their training as a trade secret. A Guide to Intellectual Property The table below provides an overview of the four types of intellectual property, displaying some key information about each type and the protection it offers to innovators. Type of Intellectual Property What is Protected? Competitors May Not: Term of Protection Cost Patent Utility Functional aspects Make, Use, Offer, Sale, or Import 20 years Expensive Design Ornamental features 15 years Moderate Trademark Brand Use Commercially Period varies, limited by use Inexpensive Copyright Works of Authorship Reproduce or Sell Life plus 70 years Inexpensive Trade Secret Information Misappropriate (steal ideas) No legal protection, limited by secrecy Varies © Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. JWI 575 RTC – Week 9 Lecture Notes (1188) Page 5 of 5 GETTING THE MOST OUT OF THIS WEEK’S CLASS As you read the materials and participate in class activities, stay focused on the key learning outcomes for the week: • Understand the value of intellectual property for a new venture The concept of intellectual property is very important for an innovator, and especially so for entrepreneurs striving to build a new business. In today’s fast-moving marketplace, where information can be disseminated widely and quickly via the Internet, it is crucial to recognize that your innovative idea is a form of property that you created and now own. Since your idea has the potential to be a valuable possession, assuming that your business venture becomes profitable, it makes sense to establish protection for the idea at an early stage of business development. • Learn how ideas can be protected using patents, copyright, and trademarks While most people have heard the terms patent, trademark, and copyright, many do not understand how these legal protections actually work. Yet, in the business world, these are key concepts that are used to protect a wide range of ideas and assets. The Starbucks example described above illustrates how many types of intellectual property protection one company can use to protect its innovative ideas. Now that you know how these legal protections work, consider your innovation and the original concept that led to its design. How would you protect your “big idea” in the marketplace? Which type of intellectual property protection would make the most sense for you to use, and why? • Explore and discuss your learning from the Tio Gazpacho case Throughout the course you have been following the story of Austin Allan and his startup company, Tio Gazpacho. This week you have the opportunity to reflect upon your learning from this video-based case and to discuss with your peers some ways in which that learning might help you in your studies or at your workplace. Make the most of this discussion, which goes way beyond this week’s topic of intellectual property to encompass any aspect of the entrepreneur’s journey that resonates with you.