After reading Martin Lindstrom's Buyology, I think brands still matter amidst the omnipresence of private labels. The reason is that these labels are parasite brands. Most of their "brand equity" is derived from the host brands. For instance, I use Head and Shoulders because my scalp is dry. I know that both Walmart and Target sell their own private labels and the packages look really close to Head and Shoulders'. If P&G discontinues Head and Shoulders, those private labels will not survive for long. Customers might switch to the private labels for a brief period of time, but the retention rate will erode fast because the brand assoications are weak. Other major brands will sweep into the void and snatch the customers away. When the host brands die, the parasite brands will wither away.

I'm back online

I've moved to South Florida and reunited with my wife....Yeahhhhh...The move was not a lot of work since the only things that I have were clothes, books and binders. South Florida's climate is so balmy in December. We spent the Christmas together at home since we don't know anyone in the area....(We need to go out to make some new friends). New Year's Eve was the same...staying at home watching movies and TV....how boring...I know...Hopefully, the coming year will be more eventful..

H&M and Walmart threw away unsold clothes...........destroyed

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/h-m-and-wal-mart-destroy-and-trash-unsold-goods-562909/


H&M and Walmart were caught slashing up unsold clothes and throwing them away in garbage bags. I don't understand why they did something so stupid, especially not long ago we lambasted corporate executives for taking excessive bonuses. They could have resold them to Ross or Marshalls. I'm sure lots of disadvantaged families and individuals would have benefited from free clothes. It's hard to belive that a cost conscious company like Walmart wasted such a good revenue stream. The worst case is they could donate the clothes to Goodwill or Salvation Army or give them to their hourly employees who make pittance.

End Of Semester Blue

Everyone is wrapping up their projects and papers for this semester. I am done. The only thing I need to do is the 360 ESCIU survey for the Exit Lead class which is zero credit hour. I've talked to my OB professor and requested that it be postponed until Spring. I would like to get quality feedback from my classmate so I 'm in no rush to get it done.

Half of the semester is gone!!!

I have been on hiatus for more than a month. The reason is simple. The school is in full throttle and half of the semester has already finished. The work load is OK, not too much. But still I need to stay up in order to stay on top. The good thing is I can see the end of the tunnel. Only two months left. On the other hand, that means I need to start looking for a job in earnest. The market is a little better than last year, but it's still slow. Some fellow students who went to job fairs this month told me that the companies were recruiting more graduate candidates. That's good to hear. I hope the Florida job market is recovering at the same pace or more. I have found a couple of interesting jobs. One is a program manager with a technology services firm based in Franklin, TN. The other is a brand manager. I have already applied to the program manager job and am waiting for their reply.

Rent a Husband?

Any husband out of work? Not a bad idea in the current recession. Hire a husband to mow your lawn, do handy work, and paint your house.

The 2nd year has started!!!

Yesterday was the first day of school. I ran into many classmates. Everyone looked exhausted after the summer long internship. I had Finance II and sat in for International Finance. The hours are from 6pm to 10pm for these two classes. I like International Finance which covers the history of the formation of post WWII global finance system. It sucks that the class is from 8pm to 10pm. And the next day I have class from 10am til 8pm.