Working Smarter Vs. Working Harder?: How Companies Gain Consumer Attention

Jarrod Dickerson

Mr. Jordan        

IS 255

31 October 2011

Working Smarter vs. Working Harder?: How Companies Gain Consumer Attention

        Work smarter, not harder. In this research paper I will answer what it means to work smarter and not harder, I will also give many examples of some Fortune 500 companies and how they get consumers attention, be it good or bad. I will answer what does it mean to work smarter and not harder? Do small companies use this theory? How do they gain consumers attention and what is this process? Many of these questions and more will be answered. I will explore and inform of the business world.

These business practices may lead to many outcomes. Like out sourcing or new technology innovations, faster production and transportations methods of products. I believe  most Fortune 500 companies developed a process to work smarter and not harder to gain consumers attention. I chose this topic because I find it fascinating to know how big businesses’ work. My major is Business of Information systems and I’d like to one day become an information technician or CIO of a beaming business. I would also like to inform my reading of these many top companies and how to work smarter. “Smarter working is for people to take a hard look periodically at how they spend their time and purge tasks that are no longer necessary. At the same time, they have to be willing to adapt to changing work demands.” (The Associated Press)

What is working harder? First I would like to cover the method of working harder and what does it mean, before I go over what is working smarter. Most Americans I know want to be number one in every aspect even education. Yet we rank really low, based on what I hear. If we compare ourselves to the Europeans or Japanese, they are ahead. “It is nice to have financial success but not necessary.’ “Entrepreneurship is in American DNA and that grows the nation. Europeans work less and therefore we can spend more time with our families and friends, cook and have dinner at home. This is the basis for less stress and healthier lives.’” Says Liz Strauss of successful blog. This is true because working harder is being up all hours working 40 plus hours in the business world trying to accomplish something. Be it making more money or presenting a portfolio to your collogues in the business office. I believe we love entrepreneurship and we need to spend more time away from work, but it’s our greed that compels us.

There is a problem with the concept of “work hard = more results” and sometimes it does not always work. “Much more important than working hard is knowing how to find the right thing to work on. Paying attention to what is going on in the world. Seeing patterns. Seeing things as they are rather than how you want them to be. Being able to read what people want. Putting yourself in the right place where information is flowing freely and interesting new juxtapositions can be seen. But you can save yourself a lot of time by working on the right thing. Working hard, even, if that's what you like to do.” (caterina.net). Working harder is not the answer. Sources say in a 30-year job career, you’ll be working so hard you won’t have any time left for your friends, family, or to do anything fun. But if you work much smarter you’ll think of a task to complete and it will get done with no effort on your part… (Herrick, Scot) It may not be the hours. It may not be working harder or smarter mentally; but how you work. How you work should be smarter like figuring out how to be more efficient on how to get things done faster is smarter.

Consumers get frustrated when organizations keep doing the same things and the strategies may not be working as good as they had in the past. For some reason we think if we work harder and more hours that we can make it work. Sometimes we need to change course and try something else.

 “It’s part common sense, part human nature to press on towards a break through. If we are not producing at work, we just work harder, longer hours. If our organization is not growing, we work the same plan harder. It seldom seems to occur to us that ‘more’ or ‘harder’ might not be the answer. Sometimes the only thing that works is ‘different.’” –Maurilio Amorim, CEO of the A Group. There are many examples of working harder and working smarter. Currently G.E., Fannie Mae, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Wal-Mart are the top Fortune 500 Companies. Here’s a brief explanation on how Wal-Mart competes. Well CEO Michael Duke is restocking shelves with lower-priced products dropped by his predecessor, Lee Scott. He's also jumping on the anti-obesity bandwagon. Thousands of packaged food items are being reconfigured to cut their salt and sugar content.

        Most companies outsource their customer service departments to overseas contact centers, why? because this is away those companies save more money or cost. By doing so they permit their products to become “cost-friendly”. All these companies worked hard at first but then had to work smarter to gain the edge and compete for consumers’ attention. In order to do so companies created and implemented the latest technology. Here are some examples; RFID to scan products, NFC for consumers to wirelessly and easily pay for products, latest cell phones, and cars with more miles per the gallon. Products consumers want: quality and reliability, protection of safety and health, compatibility between products, consistency in the delivery of services, choice of goods and services, transparency in product information fair competition, lower prices for consumers suitability of products for vulnerable populations (children, the elderly)

and environmental protection, says the ISO, resources for consumers. Now the final question, How to gain consumers attention; and how do companies do it?

If we look at the giant company Google we can understand how they became the Lead Company of the World. “All ways Put Consumers First” says Google CEO Eric Schmidt. There for consumer warfare and also invest in mobile products. They work smart because they have tons of self-owned products and even buy out there competition and always seem to know what consumers demand and need. Schmidt says “We live in a different world and the open Internet is the biggest playing field” They invest in developers and different platforms to keep ahead. Google with a market share of 70 percent of the Internet searches and having the largest mobile OS in the world can make you wonder how they do it and aren’t they a monopoly? On September 21 2011 Google went before a hearing of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Antitrust and Consumer Rights. The ruling was Google could become an evil monopoly because it’s a fact they Manipulate and preference they’re own search result says Senator Mike Lee. The Committee asks, “Do all your rankings reflect an unbiased answer?” Google’s CEO answers with “I believe so” “This hinder market share, induces monopoly power” says the subcommittee on Antitrust. Google is the primary way American search for News and Information says the Committee. Scott Cleland says Google is bias by putting their products on the first results link. Eric rebuts by stating, “why not it’s only fair, it’s our product and we invest in it.” Is this the smart way of getting the consumers attention? Is Internet the Platform and Google is the GPS? Google and all other Fortune 500 companies are giants for a reason; it took hard work and a little consumer input to produce what we like and demand. From the Apple Ipad and Iphone to Hybrid cars to the latest sportswear and etc are the many ways to gain consumer attention to consumers and hard workers to become “more efficient” or what I like to call “work smarter”. These companies like to display their products to billboards, ads in newspapers, emails, and on the internet with many discounts too; that way is a huge way companies gain the consumers attention with the latest greatest.