Reference no: EM133338310
Case Study: Last Friday (15/2) I met Pak David Marsudi, president director of the D'Cost restaurant chain. This one person is extraordinarily eccentric. He, for example, refers to himself as a stupid warrior (the name of D'Cost's company is PT. Stupid Warrior). Why? Because, according to him, being an entrepreneur must constantly feel stupid. "Because we feel stupid, then we have to keep learning. If we are already smart, we stop studying," he said.
When I was about to meet Mr. David, I happened to pass by the reception desk with the D'Cost Academy logo as the background, the training center for the restaurant chain's motto: "Five Star Quality, Five Foot Prices". What bothers me is D'Cost Academy's tickling tagline, "Stupid Guys Keep Learning"; fools always learn. In essence, the tagline wants to say, all D'Cost employees are stupid, and therefore will always learn. "We are stupid warriors," he said.
What really makes me salute Mr. David is his shady business principles. This is how the business philosophy sounds: "Just concentrate on what you can give, don't worry about what you will get". In essence, D'Cost has to give, give, and give. The more you give, the more you will get in the end. The more you give, the more you get!!!
Mr. David gave the parable of the pendulum: "When you throw it, in the end the pendulum will definitely come back." I then casually replied, "But the problem is, when will the pendulum return sir?" IA agilely replied, "maybe right away, maybe a month later, maybe a year later, maybe years later. It doesn't matter, it's all that God arranges. We humans don't have to bother thinking about it," he answered lightly.
The principle of giving is what underlies why Mr. David chose restaurants as his line of business. "Because the restaurant accommodates a lot of employees," he said. If the D'Cost business is successful, the more employees are accommodated, the more blessings will be given to employees. Because of that, Mr. David has a spirit that D'Cost must become a "distributor of fortune" for employees and anyone who does business with D'Cost. Wow how beautiful.
liberate
The blessings that D'Cost gave, said Mr. David, were not only given to employees and business partners. What is especially true for consumers. What's that? Mr. David said that D'Cost's business model is actually simple, namely: making foods that were previously out of reach of the common people, now affordable. "My dream is to make the common people able to eat star-rated hotel food but at a price that their pockets can afford," said Mr. David regarding the philosophy behind the tagline "Five Star Quality, Five Foot Prices."
For example seafood. So far, we know seafood as an expensive dish, but now D'Cost has made it cheap so that it is affordable for common people. Pak David is also currently starting a Japanese sushi restaurant which will open soon. The principle is the same, if so far sushi dishes are expensive and only available in star hotels, now it has to be cheap and affordable for the common people. "Later we will make Italian restaurants, American restaurants, European restaurants at common people's prices," he added.
So the principle of giving here is translated as liberating the common people who want to taste and enjoy expensive food, hotel food, or foreign food, which so far their pockets cannot reach.
There is another crazy business concept of Mr. David that made me think around. That is the argumentation of Mr. David who calls himself a "stupid entrepreneur". He said that, now the market is filled with "smart consumers" and "smart entrepreneurs". The characteristic of a smart consumer is that he asks for high quality but at the lowest possible price. Meanwhile, the characteristic of smart entrepreneurs is that IA provides high quality but at many times higher prices. "If consumers and entrepreneurs are both smart, then this will not meet," explained Mr. David.
Because of that, Mr. David positioned himself as a "stupid entrepreneur". What are the characteristics of a stupid entrepreneur? That is when he gives the highest possible quality, but charges the lowest possible price (yup, this is called "going bankrupt" hehehe). "I can confirm that smart consumers prefer stupid entrepreneurs to smart entrepreneurs. That's why I chose to be a stupid businessman," joked Mr. David.
Logically, the business model taken by Mr. David does not make sense at first glance. How can provide high quality, but low prices? But this is precisely the beauty of Mr. David's business principles. The point is if the intention is sincere to provide the best for consumers, then God will provide the best for us. The pendulum that was thrown will definitely come back in time. This is the beauty of the principle of giving. Its the power of giving.
To give an idea of how Mr. David's principle of giving is implemented, let's take a look at D'Cost's quirky and counter-current promotional programs (yup, paradox). Take for example the "Age Discount" program. This program provides discounts to consumers according to the age stated on the KTP. If you are 30 years old then you get a 30% discount. If you are 80 years old you get an 80% discount. So what if you are 104 years old? "You even get cash back, after eating you get money," said Mr. David.
An example of another crazy program is the "New Pregnant Pay" program. This program gives couples the opportunity to celebrate their wedding at D'Cost free of charge for 300 seats plus aisle decorations. Pay when? Pay after the wife is pregnant. This is how the ad reads: "Wedding Party Now Pregnant Just Paid.. (Not Pregnant, Free)". There is also a "Money and Prayer" program where consumers pay for food at D'Cost with "Half Money, Half Prayer". The condition is that the consumer must pray for someone else on a piece of paper, this prayer is used to pay half the price of the food ordered. Kwkwkwkwkw!!!
Just like me, you readers must be wondering: "Consumers aged 104 years eating at D'Cost don't pay and instead get money, won't that make them bankrupt?" Or, "A couple holds a free reception at D'Cost but after they get pregnant they disappear without paying, doesn't that bankrupt them?" This is once again the beauty of the spirit of giving. Perhaps there are indeed many couples who do not return to D'Cost when their wife is pregnant, but for Mr. David that was not a problem. "From these unique programs we get sympathy from consumers and this can trigger word-of-mouth promotions whose value can be in the billions of rupiah," said Mr. David agile, "just don't worry," it's all God's arrangement.
Now even Pak David is preparing his bakery outlet with the D Stupid Baker brand. What's interesting is the tagline which reads: "5 Star Quality, Stupid Price". What is more interesting is the name of the company that houses D'Stupid Baker, namely PT Bocuan Gapapa. Want to know what that means? Bocuan It's okay to mean "no profit it's okay" the important thing is to give... kwkwkkwkwkwkk.
Following my experience chatting with Mr. David, maybe you are now starting to open your heart wide. Perhaps you are beginning to agree with me that, after reading this column, we must all be fools. A fool with a warrior's heart. Fools armed with the spirit of giving. Once again: Its the power of giving.
Questions:
- From the cases above, has D'Cost Restaurant conducted a strategy evaluation? Give your critical review based on reference sources both supporting (PRO) and not supporting your comments (CONS).
- Can D'Cost Restaurant be said to have implemented the concept of "Misfit" (Hamel and Prahalad)?
- Can D'Cost Restaurant be categorized as a company that promotes the principle of spirituality? Give reasons based on reference sources