It is through best practices by offering CRM Industry-based templates that is a set of synergistic, preconfigured work products that assists in quicker implementation, lower installation risk and potential ROI. Customer Relationship Management as a management style has been amply used by the Fortune 500 companies since the 1990s along with the concepts of organizational competence, knowledge and learning. In a lot of industries, featured by speedier technological development and cut-throat competition, enhanced knowledge, instead of maker strength and positioning, has been making the difference thereby contributing to long-term success of the company. Even though companies who seclude themselves from the pressures of competitors might enjoy returns that is above average and some sort of exclusive internal potentialities and resources are responsible for enhanced performance. Given a wider difference, knowledge and more particularly, core competencies such as Customer Relationship Management -- CRM remain some of the important internal resources. Viewed from this angle, strategic management needs the development, storage and actual application of selected competencies. New knowledge and expertise are built through powerful blend of available potential into new ideas, products and processes. This creative procedure is aided through sharing competencies among the various units of an organization.

3. Brand Image as a management style in Fortune 500 companies:

Brand Image could be one more management style for Fortune 500 companies helping it to build key value differentiator. In case of General Motors -- GM for instance, its brands have been persistently strengthened, propelled by ingenious, customer-focused marketing. Example can be given of the model Cadillac which enjoys a brand image among its customer fraternity because of its unique design, direction and marketing that genuinely links up with the prospective buyers. To be precise, GM looks for developing exclusively designed, vehicles that are of high quality which surprise its customers and builds an ownership experience which shows and strengthens the image of the brand. Besides, there is a strong and innovative advertisement which supports this approach. All the brands owned by GM are high on the brand image platform including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Holden, Hummer, GMC, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall.

GM and the likes of other Fortune 500 companies are excellent examples of the manner in which these companies strive and make a turnaround when faced with a turgid brand image and a declining market share. The brand image of Buick was suffering damage and GM woke up to the occasion and launched a much awaited crossover Sports Utility Vehicle -- SUV in the opinion of Steve Shannon, Buick cannot just afford to allow those endeavors sizzle as the business have been tough and the company has been gearing for better and it has been a defining moment for the revival of the brand building effort. Although the brand has been performing exceedingly well in the Chinese market, in which GM's sales volume were better, on the home front the company has been struggling. The Enclave crossover SUV which is Buick's most encouraging launch of vehicle in recent years will adore the showrooms with legendary Golf player Tiger Woods starring in the advertisements. Along with Buick, GM is constantly lowering down the brand's number that will very soon consist of just three vehicles such as the LaCrosse Lucerne and the Enclave.

It is interesting to note the extent to which Fortune 500 companies go to increase the breadth of their brand image with a view to differentiate themselves from the clutter. A case in point is the launch of 'Ecoimagination' of General Electric -- GE which has marked a big changeover in the interest of Fortune 500 companies to greener concerns. GE's embarking of the U.S.$150 billion environment friendly business 'ecoimagination' might prove to be the most remarkable endeavor by a MNC to genuinely espouse not just green technology, but also a wholly new, aggressive way of instantly and authentically build green into the brand. GE's small ecoimagination as a brand image enhancement has been very timely.

With the Kyoto becoming international law and the doubts regarding environment take a major part of discussions at G8 and the World Trade Organization summit meeting as well as popular culture in general, companies are being scrutinized for their approach to this matter. Brand Managers across the world could take a cue regarding the manner in which 'ecoimagination' works and the manner in which it varies from other similar exercises. According to Peter O'Toole who has the explanation of 'ecoimagination' as that the company has charted...

Through focusing on the 'ecoimagination' as a brand image enhancement initiative, GE anticipated to have success in the following manner. (i) make the investment double in areas of green research and development through an investment of 1.5 billion USD every year in cleaner technologies and (ii) double the income garnered from products that give major and quantifiable environmental performance advantages to the customers to the extent of 20 million USD by the year 2010 with even more aggressive targets from then onwards.
In marketing, people are interested in the manner in which things are understood, as against things really are from objective plane of perception. The procedure of perception entails understanding sensations and making conclusions which, as a result, are impacted by past experiences and suppositions. While consumers do not have the product before them, they are supposed to depend on memory if they have the product before them, or more particularly, they should depend on the representations or brand image they have of the product in their minds. Consumers, such as people, approach the physical world through their representations of it, and a brand image is one such representation. Brand image is one type of representation. Brand image is an accumulation of impressions, an organized whole than is able to take the shape of gut emotional reaction or a mental flash of identification, which characteristically shows attitudes towards the brand and its perceived benefits.

4. Supply Chain Management as a management style in Fortune 500 companies:

It is for certain that the word management signifies for nearly any type of administration at several levels of business i.e. strategic as well as tactical and different ownership arrangements that are private as also public. It is due to this that there is a distinct meaning for which leadership and management stand out. For some leadership is a function of management which is defined as a process of motivating people such that they will make a meaningful contribution to the group goals of the organization.

It is for these reasons that Supply Chain Management has come to be acknowledged as a distinct management style for the overall development of the company. For generations together, the conventional business model in the automotive industry has been mass production that implied that auto companies would sell whatever they manufactured. However with the proliferation of competition along with growth of customer consciousness and higher demands, that approach was increasingly under pressure. This resulted in higher inventory levels, increased financial incentives, and customer compromise. All these as a result made a dent in the margins of the Original Equipment Manufacturers -- OEMs. Being a Fortune 500 company who has unique coping methods, General Motors -- GM started to deal with these problems straightaway while it started deciding to shift from the conventional model of "pushing" vehicles into the marketplace to a "pull" model in which the market demands would dictate what is going to be produced and sold.

To put it differently, GM was seen changing direction to shift from a 'make and sell' culture to an increasingly 'sense and respond'. However, changing direction has never been easy in case of any big organization. GM possesses U.S.$185 billion in revenues having an intricately woven operational network which encompasses a huge international network of suppliers, extensive production processes, and an expansive sales and distribution network. GM's tryst with SCM began with the pooling the representatives from all geographic areas in which it functions and the appropriate functional spheres and then combined the insight of the team and competitive perspectives. The outcome of this was a distinct vision and plan which were supported by the management at GM. The company has knowledge that a project team will be unable to complete such a demanding task, and therefore it formed an operating organization known as Order-to-Delivery -- OTD to implement the strategy. The OTD strategy unifies the company's customer and manufacturing supplier activities, allowing GM to anticipate the demand of the customer and react efficiently and rapidly in the absence of any pressures. Across the way, OTD has endeavored with the dealers and suppliers to guarantee that they have made changes and have participated as the transformations are executed. GM is even taking complete advantage of its robust functional areas of expertise through the application of OTD to integrate cross-functionally to make ideal its…