HBOS, BP, building brands, e-commerce

HBOS: how important is customer service in the banking sector and how can you offer a profitable one? 
HBOS focuses on customer service to keep customers and t oaquire new customers. Employers have to have knowledge about the products and services they offer in order to provide what customers ask for. In addition they should know how to handle people and their problems. Social skills are crucial . They want to create a competitive advantage by performing a better customer service than their competition. One reason for that is that products and services of banks are pretty similar. Therefore customer service is the most important part of a bank's activities. To distinguish from their direct competition and to remain profitable.

BP: what are the major issues surrounding corporate mergers? 
BP's merger with AMROCO has been very successful as they reached tangible and strategic synergy prices. Now they are able to compete with other top companies of the industry & governments take them more seriously. But most mergers fail, because they can not make the system work. People have to trust and accept each other in order to build up one new company. Different cultures and languages as well as different organisational structures are hardles that can not be neglected. On order to become competitive, reduce costs, learn from each other and be profitable employees need to build one team with a common goal.


building brands: what is a brand and what are the challenges inolved in building a global brand?
A brand is a promise to the customer. There are certain values attached to a brand like quality or ofun. But it is also just a name, what is more important ar ethe services and the people behind that badge to make a successful brand. The brand creates an image that helps people to define what they stand fo. E.g. buying products from the copy shop symbolizes that they value the environment. Building a global brand is challenging as culture and language differs from country to country. Most of the time it is not possible to implement just one marketing strategy to promote your product and brand. It is importnat to consider religio, demographics or the political situation in a country in order to be successful. 

e-commerce: what maeks a successful e-business and what are the advantages for consumers and companies? 
A successful e-business like Amazon or Dell has to build up a smooth network with suppliers, their own logistic people and delivery partners in order to keep their promises, e.g. delivery within 24 hours. They shouls monitor what their customers buy in rder to predict what they might be interested in next time they visit their homepage. an e-business should provide product descriptions and recommendations fromother customers.
Another crucial part is the design of the homepage and the user friendliness as shopping should be as easy as possible. Customers shouldn't get frustrated.  Advantages for the customers are that that they can choose from a massive selection of products and they dont have to leave their homes doing so.
E-businesses on the other hand benefit form less costs as they do not need shops to offer their products.