Independent retailers have tended either to live in fear or in awe of the “Bentonville Behemoth.” Wal-Mart’s purchasing power, logistics, and information technology are indeed formidable. However, the same cannot be said about Wal-Mart’s customer service. According to the most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Wal-Mart received the lowest rating for all supermarkets, with a barely passing grade of 70.

This seminar will detail customer service attitudes toward supermarkets and super centers. The goal is to highlight significant customer service differences that exist between these two formats. These documented differences will become the basis for developing a differential advantage that independent retailers need in this ongoing war with this giant. Specific strategic options will be presented to take advantage of the potential strength of independent retailers in this arena. Such options will be designed to minimize the above-noted strengths of Wal-Mart, while taking advantage of its Achilles’ heel, namely customer service.

Attendees will leave the seminar with unique insights, strategic options, and a renewed sense of confidence that Wal-Mart can be confronted on terms advantageous to independent retailers.

Everyone knows that men and women are different. However, when it comes to food shopping we tend to treat them the same. This seminar will present findings from a recent national research study that highlights significant differences between the sexes when it comes to their perceptions and expectations from their favorite supermarket.

This seminar will highlight these differences (as well as the meaningful similarities) and will present some strategic and tactical opportunities to capitalize on the uniqueness of the sexes in order to provide your supermarket with a differential advantage. Workshop attendees will be invited to participate in the workshop by identifying what they perceive to be the relevant differences. In addition, attendees will be asked to share their ideas and the accompanying results from their attempts to delight the two sexes.

In the daily grind of business, people focus most of their attention on the bottom line.  Everyone is clear in understanding that business is a goal oriented activity.   In fact, even in their early business education, students are told over and over that their jobs will be to maximize return under highly competitive conditions.  Too often, however, people may deviate from organizational values, and moral, legal, and ethical behavior in order to gain a competitive advantage, achieve their business objective, and deliver against their “bottom-line” commitments.  Failure to attend to the legal and moral rules can have devastating consequences for a business.

Recent legislation such as Sarbanes-Oxley may help in compliance with legal rules and may prevent some damaging behavior.  But many problems arise because people have only a weak understanding of the ethical requirements on business.  While most can grasp the explicit legal standards, many are paralyzed when confronted by ethical questions.  Often, they express confusion or skepticism about how to address ethical dilemmas.  There is, however, a long tradition which provides methods for the systematic, consistent and analytic exploration of ethical questions.  That tradition provides needed conceptual tools which allow for greater confidence in addressing ethics and for a greater possibility of reaching consensus in circumstances of conflict.

This seminar will provide senior corporate executives with exposure to those traditional conceptual tools of moral analysis to help make moral deliberation more systematic.  The result of this process will go beyond “mushy moralizing” to enhanced ethical decision-making.

(Team taught with John J. McCall, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy and author of several books on Business Ethics)

The key to new product success is watershed products that break boundaries and redefine categories. Developing such products requires innovation. Innovation is about economic growth, creating wealth, creating consumer value, and driving sales. Innovation is about discovering what is possible; going beyond current category boundaries; the application of imagination, willpower and perseverance. It’s about solving problems that consumers do not yet realize exist.

Companies cannot grow through cost reduction and reengineering alone. Innovation is the key element in providing aggressive top-line growth, and for increasing bottom-line results. This interactive session will highlight the four growth paths to achieving product and service innovation. Attendees will be challenged to identify opportunities for innovation within their organizations. In addition, a framework will be introduced for evaluating and implementing break-through ideas that can lead to commercial development and profitable growth.