The Social Entrepreneur
Social entrepreneurs are simple persons who try to solve social problems through innovative and revolutionary ideas. They are from different social classes and could have different backgrounds. They intend to realise real changes in the society in order to make it better and bring long term solutions.
On one hand I think that social entrepreneur could be a trend which benefits to the whole society. it could be considered as an evolution of the social behaviour and a growth of the social awareness. On the other hand a social entrepreneur represents a shift to corporate responsibility because the working life represents the major part of the daily life. The staff of a company is composed by its members and these members could reflect the society within the company. The corporate responsibility is a hard task which consists in spreading the harmony and ensures the well functioning of the company. The social aspect of the company should is a real challenge for the boss. He should be the social entrepreneur of his company and try to go deeper into the social problems and conflicts within his structure. Well thought solutions with a long term vision could improve the performance of the employees and increase the profits of the business.
Ventes-privees.com
Ventes-privees.com
Ventes-privees.com is an internet site representing a company which organises famous brand sales for its members only. It was founded in 2000 and offers its services in three countries; France, Spain and Germany. The prices are very attractive but it’s not possible to subscribe directly to the site. In order to become a member you have to be sponsored by a friend who sends you an invitation.
The site offers a variety of items; clothing, watches, high tech….and the duration of the sales is very short, they last one or tow days. The sales principles consist in sending an invitation to the members few days before the sale opening.
The members of this site could enjoy the exclusivity of the products provided on it at lower prices. It makes people feel like they belong to a privilege club.
In order to understand the concept better I tried to obtain an invitation and discover the site. I asked many friends and most some of them but not the majority know the site. I finally received an invitation and subscribed.
The site is very nice and well presented but it does not offer many products and brands at the same time. Personally I did not like it so much and I was told that you have to follow the updating of the site until you find something that you like.
The company aims to an international development. It’s present in 2 european countries and wats to reach England and Italy and later on the Us market. For this reason it accepts the offer of an American investor “Summit Partners” who bought 20% of the company’s shares.
The fact that the internet site is not accessible without an invitation could attract more people and especially when it offers very different products of a high quality.
Below links to some articles describing the business and it’s growth and development. Unfortunately only one of them is in English and the others are in French but provide interesting information (especially the last one)
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jan2008/gb20080111_222659.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech
http://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/internet/0,39020774,39370108,00.htm?xtor=RSS-1http://www.journaldunet.com/itws/it-granjon-lecteurs.shtmlAnd here below a link to a business using ventes-privees within its site
http://www.wananow.net/site-de-ventes-privees.htm
THE FREEMIUM BUSINESS MODEL
“Freemium” the new business model
The freemium is a revolutionary business model concept. The association of the words and concepts “free” and “premium” gave birth to the freemium concept which has expanded thanks to the Web 2.0 world. The idea consists in giving away free versions of a product than providing premium versions and add-ons in order to attract some users who could be upgraded to payable premium versions.
Text links to info source:
http://onstartups.com/http://en.wikipedia.orghttp://www.contentmatters.info/content_matters/- Online businesses utilizing “freemium” business model:
http://flickr.com/http://www.skype.com/intl/fr/* Advantages of “freemium” concept:
- Provides services for free and is very useful
- It encourage customers to use the product and test it before paying
- It helps developing social networks
* Disadvantages of “freemium” concept:
- It mostly relies on word to mouth
- It can not ensure high revenues
- The premium services could be less interesting than those provided for free, depending on the consumer’s behaviour
EasyGroup
The famous name of easygroup is associated with the 40-year-old Greek entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Loannou who is the founder of the first easy business; easyjet in 1995. He is the owner of the EasyGroup (
http://www.easy.com/) which was founded in 1998 in order to control the “easy” ventures.
The main objective of the “easy” businesses is to provide services and products at cheaper prices.
After the foundation of easyjet in 1995 which started operating flights between England (Luton) and Scotland, the company flourished and opened many other routes across Europe (more than 200 routes ….)
In few years EasyJet become a brand as result of this prosper business Stelios started to work a brand extension and founded the EasyGroup. In this way we saw the birth of more than ten other “easy” business concepts such as:
- EasyInternetcafé (
http://www.easyinternetcafe.com/) :launched in 1999 and is Europe’s largest chain of internet cafés
- EasyCar (
http://www.easycar.com/) : launched in 2000 and currently operating as an international car rental via the internet in more than 2400 locations in over 60 countries
- EasyValue (
http://www.easyvalue.com/) : launched in 2000 and is an internet shopping comparison site
- EasyMoney (
http://www.easymoney.com/) : launched in 2001 which is a credit card converted later in EasyMoney insurance
- EasyCinema (
http://www.easycinema.com/) : launched in 2003 and was not so successful so closed in 2006
- EasyCinema DVD Rental (
http://dvd.easycinema.com/visitor/home.html) : launched in 2005 as the result of a partnership with LoveFilm; an online dvd rental company.
- EasyHotel (
http://www.easyhotel.com/) : which is a booking engine for the easyhotels and for more than 20000 other holtes worldwide
- EasyPizza (
http://www.easypizza.com/) : launched in 2004 as a delivery-only pizza company
- EasyCruise (
http://www.easycruise.com/) : launched in 2006 and aims the 18-40 age-group and not the traditional retired market only.
As seen, this great brand extension covered many business areas making attainable services at reasonable prices. We can take as example the easycruise which was considered as a luxury product targeting the retired people who are ready to spend money after a long labour life in order to enjoy the rest of their life…With easycruise the aimed customers belong to another age segment; 18-40. Young people have the possibility to enjoy a nice cruise at a cheaper price but of course with fewer facilities….
The first successful easy business was easyjet. Stelios used a magnificent mean to fulfil his target which was reducing costs then offering flights at low prices. He used the yield management which is a very useful tool to maximise profits. The core concept of yield management is to provide the right service to the right customer at the right time for the right price.
It was used for the first time in 1977 buy American airlines to increase its revenue.
Stelios tried to adapt yield management to all his businesses by studying the behaviour of the consumers and using the dynamic pricing to attract more customers to increase his benefits.
It possible to understand way how the yield management is used in order to increase revenues by checking deeper the details of one “easy” concept such as EasyPizza. We will also understand how the business offers pizzas at lower prices and is profitable
The concept consists in a delivery pizza service and this choice was not made randomly. That is meaning that easypizza venues are not situated on high street, hence it saves money by avoiding the high cost of high street rents.
But the main change in this business is the way how the assets are used. Normally the ovens and the delivery vehicles are used few hours the day from 18h to 22h.that means that they are under-utilised.
Another demand has to be created in order to provide pizzas during all the day and not during the evening. And here, the magic tool (the yield management) plays the main role. For example : customers who accept to take their pizza delivery at an off-peak time, 15h or 16h for example, are rewarded with a lower price that customers who take delivery of the same pizza at a peak time. Moreover customers who order their pizza in advance benefit from lower prices than those who want it for an immediate delivery. In addition, customers buying pizza from
http://www.easypizza.com/ are rewarded with lower which is not the case of those who prefer order their pizzas by phone.
By using yield management it’s possible to create demand and increase revenues. At the same time money is saved and making profits opportunities are multiplied, so no money left on the table!!
When we get in the easypizza website the main message we see is “REMEMBER it costs you less when you order online”
If you would like to have the pizza for an immediate delivery you have to enter a valid postal code and if you would like to order it in advance you have to be registered. If you order for the first time you have to register then you will be able to log in and book pizzas in advance. Of course you will save money. Indeed, the delivery service is not free and the prices of the pizzas shown in the menu don’t include the delivery fees which what time order is placed (0£-4£)
