Consumers frequently stereotype nonprofits as warm, generous and caring organizations, but assume their business abilities will be less competent than their for-profit peers’. In contrast, for-profit companies are stereotyped as more competent with a balance sheet, but are not necessarily socially aware. Understanding these views can affect how both groups do business.
John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods Market chain, has loftier goals than getting Americans to eat healthy foods, one of the missions of his grocery empire. He is out to change American business as well, putting it on the path to higher consciousness.
The high price of popcorn at most movie theater concession stands actually benefits moviegoers, say researchers, including the business school’s Wesley Hartmann. It helps hold down the price of the movie ticket.
Marketers often lavish attention on their best customers, but Stanford Graduate School of Business researchers James M. Lattin and V. Srinivasan suggest it may be more cost effective to increase their spending on clients who only occasionally use their products or services.
Rock groups can lose as much as 40% of their potential sales because consumers don’t know enough about them, says the Stanford Business School’s Alan Sorensen. There are lots of crowded markets out there where lack of information skews sales.