Last Thursday, Mark Shirkness, General Manager of Distribution Services at GE Appliances, came to speak to the 2nd year MBA students. Fortunately, due to extra seating, I was also able to attend. He spoke about several things, but a couple things really stuck with me.
He talked about brands, and how when people think of brands, we all usually feel something different. But when most people think about GE, there are generally only good thoughts from seeing that GE logo on appliances or particular commercials and generally, people just feel good. I know I definitely agreed with that statement. That brand equity is such a powerful thing, and is very valuable.
Mark later went on to talk about some of the difficulties GE Appliances has had. Of course, it was affected by the economy as most companies were, but very recently, the popularity of the new Samsung and LG appliances caught GE Appliances off guard, and there is some serious catching up to do. Mostly, they understood how personal the relationship is between the appliances and the user, and LG and Samsung understood that. So, as always, you have to understand the customer, and make sure what you do adds value in the eyes of the customer.
