Huawei is the mainland China based Forbes listed firm which earns more revenue from outside its domestic market. There are certain key characteristics which have been cited for Huawei’s astounding success. It has a customer centric attitude with a focus on delivering localized solutions. Huawei has ensured employee group remains motivated and they in turn go to extremes to attain success. The thinking is long term and strategic goals are given utmost importance rather than short term gains or losses. The decision making on operational issues is gradual and quick fire policy changes are exception rather than norm.

The digital age is often associated with being a movement veering away from human contact. However, the head of SEO at a prominent web hosting firm disagrees. He feels for SEO it is crucial to talk to product owners and formulate plans to enable higher product visibility. Executing ditto what the client wants yet cannot do oneself is the greatest challenge of digital marketing. Communication steps must involve face to face chats, telephonic conversations, emails and media like Skype. Results have shown that when firms try to inspire others, results are much better than those which resort to manipulation. Age old values of being helpful and developing relationships still hold true.

In the world of incentives, debate rages on whether they must be provided on profits or revenues. There are cases when the former must hold precedence. Incentives must be provided on profits in cases where profitability is a strategy level objective. The same also holds true when it is controlled by the people executing the actual sales. Profits must also be the incentive factor when gross margin can be measured at regional scale. There may be cases where company does not want to share profitability data with sales people. In such cases, incentives must not be based on profits. In case salespeople influence price, then profits must be used as yardstick to measure incentives. The most crucial factor however is whether the target is to increase sales of high value goods. Then, profits must certainly be the deciding parameter.

While innovation may not be an innovative concept, it is taking on a new avatar. The present one seeks to displace current markets and value chains by newer systems. 3 firms have successfully implemented their own model while displacing earlier ones. They are – Uber, Xiaomi and The Lending Club. Uber has transformed the taxi service industry so much that demand for traditional ones has reduced by two thirds. They do not have full time cab drivers, instead use private drivers who are crowd sourced through mobile and internet apps. The Lending Club emerged from the ashes of the Recession when public trust on banks was at an all-time low. Their model cut out the bankers as middle men while facilitating lenders and borrowers alike. Xiaomi is the newest of the lot and in only 3 years has outstripped many traditional big players. They are now diversifying into digital tracking devices and online video content.  

For any business to succeed, system and process are essential. These two words are often used interchangeably yet significant differences separate them. Process is a series of steps used to seal a particular assignment. System on the other hand is the sum total of all these disparate parts. To describe practically, we can take the case of developing a social media marketing plan. The first step involves an analysis. This is followed by brainstorming. Then there is the system design. We cannot proceed further without testing. Finally the plan is implemented. This entire step by step methodology is the process, but the combination and resultant of these stages gives us the comprehensive system. 

Banks often give the impression of being remorseless institutions bound by complicated set of systems. However, some leading banks and financial institutions have innovated their processes which go long way in breaking this stereotype.This list of BFSI includes Standard Bank, Capital One, Citibank, Visa, Commonwealth Bank, Chase, BBVA and Wells Fargo. While specific developments range from one to another, the idea behind them all is to develop specific innovation areas at major office(s). These innovation labs are typically designed to be playful with bright colours. Also they often include real time data analysis centres, demarcations for brainstorming to occur, product testing with customers who provide instant feedback, work with digital ecosystem, seed new ideas and research emerging technology. A breed of professionals termed as creative experts are implementing these ideas. A somewhat detached-from-corporate setting works in these.        

In the earlier days of digital marketing, firms would often consider getting substantial number of likes as success. Now the focus has shifted to companies wanting those likes to materialize as genuine leads. As per research, there are number of techniques to achieve so. Firstly, the brand must be built using the concept of story-telling. Customers must then be encouraged to write genuine yet positive testimonials. Similarly case studies may be built by the firm and circulated. The audience must be engaged constantly with events and offers, but these must be strictly for limited time only. Finally, the potential customers must never be pushed too hard with online promotion. Instead soft conversion methods must be applied.