Ranked by tourists. Customer Relations

Incredible facts

Lately there has been a lot of talk on the Internet about the so-called attractiveness scale.

So, let's try to figure out what the attractiveness scale is, according to men. It is quite logical that it applies to a greater extent to the female sex.

Attractiveness scale

Someone may object and say that there are no specific criteria for beauty, some like blondes, others like brunettes, some are crazy about women with curves, while others prefer slender and fit ladies.

In general, assessing female beauty is not an easy task; objectivity is important here.

But what if, for example, a girl with perfect facial features has a very unfortunate figure? On what scale then should we evaluate it?

This is a little reminiscent of the situation with jury evaluations in figure skating, when judges have to evaluate the technical part of the skating and the artistry of the skater.

However, this is what an approximate interpretation of that 10-point attractiveness scale looks like:

Score 1-2-3:

Scary

These are, indeed, unfortunate women who are unlucky with their external appearance. As a rule, they have an ugly face and a figure that is far from ideal. Such girls are characterized by excess weight, acne, thin hair and bad teeth.

Sometimes there is nothing you can do about it (genetics, diseases, something else is to blame); but more often than not, a woman can become more beautiful (diet/sports/proper care, giving up bad habits).

If a woman is not beautiful in appearance, it is very important that she has a good character. An ugly woman with a rich inner world can also attract the opposite sex.

A wonderful personality is sometimes much more important than external data. It is in this case that such women have a happy personal life and get married very successfully.

How beautiful you are

Score 4:

Simpleton

According to men, a woman whose external characteristics are a B cannot be called beautiful or cute, but she also cannot be called ugly.

It is rather a simple appearance without any outstanding features. However, if such a girl is well educated, well-read, smart and interesting, she may well become a conqueror of men’s hearts.

Rating 5:

Average

Most likely, such a girl can hardly be called a beauty or even pretty. But if she takes proper care of herself and knows how to present herself, then such a girl can quite pass for an attractive person.

Score 6:

Not a beauty

These, as a rule, are not the first beauties, but again, with proper self-care, they can be called cute.

A pleasant character is a significant plus for such women. They can easily attract the opposite sex, despite the lack of regular facial features and a luxurious figure.

Beauty scale

Score 7:

Sweet, pretty

Such girls under certain circumstances can look beautiful or even hot; we can say that these are women whose bodies men rate as an eight, and their faces as a 5-6.

In films, such girls, as a rule, are girlfriends of the main characters. At the beginning of the film, they wear glasses and look like typical nerds.

However, once they take off their glasses, change their hairstyle and use the right makeup, and... voila! A sweet girl turns into a luxurious princess or a hot thing.

Score 8:

Really beautiful

Those who are rated an eight are truly beautiful girls. They attract the gaze of others, you want to look at them, they are pleasant to look at.

Examples include the following celebrities: Anne Hathaway, Kate Middleton, Sandra Bullock. In other words, these are women who, in addition to regular facial features and a good figure, also have that very zest that captivates men so much.

In fact, most Hollywood and domestic stars can be given an eight. They are good enough to be in demand, but not so beautiful that they would be given a nine or even a ten.

Score 9:

One of the most beautiful women in the world

That's when a woman can be called dazzlingly beautiful. Her beauty always comes first. Character, what she does - all this becomes secondary when a woman is beautiful like a goddess.

Most often, the epithet sexual is used in the description of such women. As an example, we can cite the following celebrities: Sofia Vergara, Halle Berry, Kim Kardashian, Monica Bellucci Victoria's Secret models with their luxurious figures and angelic faces.

Score 10:

The most beautiful woman in the world

And finally, a woman who excites men’s minds can get a top ten. In fact, such a woman may not exist in nature at all. And what this mythical ideal lady looks like is unlikely to be answered by any man.

She's just perfect, period!

She is perfect: from her luxurious hair to her toes and toes.

And, of course, it is worth noting that such a scale of attractiveness is a very relative thing. After all, someone might say that Kim Kardashian is disgusting and ugly. And some will call models walking skeletons or hangers.

Please note that for most women the ranking is not static. A woman can improve her appearance, thereby raising herself in this ranking.

This can be done by maintaining a weight that is close to ideal for her body type/proportions, dressing well, and choosing the right hair and makeup.

MINISTERIAL ASSESSMENT

In the annual rating of Russian regions for tourism development, compiled by the Ministry of Culture, the regions of the Far Eastern Federal District occupy very modest positions. At the end of 2017, only Primorsky Krai showed a good result, taking 23rd place and falling into the group “Regions with relatively high rates of tourism development.” In the Khabarovsk Territory, the indicators of development of the tourism industry by experts from the Ministry of Culture are assessed as average - 47th place. Next to it in 49th place is the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The same group of regions with average indicators includes the Sakhalin Region (54th place), the Amur Region (62nd place), the Kamchatka Territory (63rd place), and the Magadan Region (74th place). The outsiders were the Jewish Autonomous Region (83rd place) and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug - it took the last 85th place in the ranking.

Among all the regions of the Far East, Primorsky Krai is the most attractive region for both domestic and foreign tourists. According to the regional border department of the FSB of Russia, 518 thousand foreign citizens visited Primorye in 2017, which is 12 percent more than in 2016. Among them, the leading positions are occupied by citizens of the People's Republic of China. 421 thousand people came to the region from this country. According to Nikolai Lipatin, Candidate of Economic Sciences, such interest of the Chinese in the Primorsky Territory is caused, among other things, by the opportunity to play in a casino.

– The formation of the Primorye gambling zone near Vladivostok in 2009 was the right decision. The powerful growth of the Chinese economy has led to an increase in the welfare of the population, and now the Chinese are ready to spend the yuan they earn on tourist trips, and given the love of the Chinese people for gambling, the opening of the Tigre de Cristal casino in Muravyinaya Bay in 2015 could not have come at a better time, says Lipatin.

Director of the Primorsky Territory Tourist Information Center Daria Guseva says that the main visitors to the gambling zone from China are residents of the southern provinces.

– Wealthy tourists come to Primorye from southern China and play in casinos. They are happy to book tours related to river rafting, fishing and travel in the taiga. They make up a smaller part of the total flow of tourists from China. The majority of guests from the Middle Kingdom are residents of the northern provinces who come to Vladivostok for 3-4 days to do shopping, try Russian cuisine and purchase various dietary supplements from marine flora and fauna, says Daria Guseva.

Vladivostok is the main tourist attraction in the Primorsky Territory. The efforts made by the federal authorities to reconstruct it for the APEC summit in 2012 yielded very good results. In 2015, National Geographic magazine included it in the top ten most beautiful sea cities in the world, and Forbes included it in the top ten best Russian cities for a vacation.

In addition to the capital of Primorye, tourists are attracted by the Safari Park, the Land of the Leopard National Park, the Dragon Park, Mount Pidan, Petrov Island, Triozerye Bay and many other places that the Primorsky Territory is so rich in.

EASTERN RING OF RUSSIA

In 2014, Rostourism launched the tourism brand “Eastern Ring of Russia”. Its goal is to unite attractions and events of interest to tourists from 12 regions of the Far East and Transbaikalia. It is expected that as a result of the project implementation, tourism and recreational clusters and supporting infrastructure will be formed.

Each of the subjects of this route presents its own unique tourist sites and attractions: for example, in Yakutia - these are the Lena Pillars, in the Amur Region - the Vostochny Cosmodrome, in Kamchatka - the Valley of Geysers. In addition, the project involves linking tours to various events typical for each season. So, when traveling along the Eastern Ring of Russia in winter, you can visit the national cuisine festival “Buuzin Bayar” in Buryatia, watch the ice sculpture competition “Ice Fantasy” in Khabarovsk, and take part in the traditional sled dog race “Beringia” in Kamchatka. According to the authors of the project, interregional routes should become the engine of industry development within each region.

However, the formation of this unified tourist route is proceeding slowly. Only in 2016 was an agreement on interaction between the parties to implement the project between the Russian Ministry of Culture, Rostourism and interested regions. In May 2018, at the fourth Pacific Tourism Forum, representatives of the constituent entities of the Eastern Ring of Russia noted that thanks to subsidized tickets and effective promotion, interest in the route had grown. However, its full potential is still far from being realized.

According to Daria Guseva, the Eastern Ring of Russia is now of particular interest to Europeans. They are the ones who are happy to purchase tours along this route, and its presentation in Australia has attracted tourists from this country.

ADVANTAGES AND CHALLENGES

Each of the regions of the Far Eastern Federal District has its own unique historical and cultural sites that are very attractive to tourists. However, providing an acceptable level of service and decent infrastructure to the Far Eastern regions is not easy. In addition, high transport costs have an impact.

“The development of domestic tourism is greatly hampered by high prices for air tickets,” says Nikolai Lipatin, Candidate of Economic Sciences. – The Far East and Siberia are poorly populated, and therefore cannot provide a massive tourist flow within themselves. It is necessary to attract people from the densely populated European part of Russia, but it is cheaper for them to fly to Europe.

According to the chairman of the public council for tourism under the governor of the Primorsky Territory, Olga Gurevich, a common problem for all Far Eastern regions is a poorly developed tourism infrastructure.

“The quality of the tourist product is strongly influenced by such factors as: bad roads, insufficient number of information signs and displays, low level of service,” says Gurevich. – In addition, there is a big problem with personnel. Unfortunately, we have not yet introduced a system for certifying guides, and therefore sometimes we come across people who conduct excursions with absolutely no knowledge of the subject. Of course, each region has its own specifics, but as the tourism industry develops, each of them will face similar problems. For example, Primorye attracts tourists primarily because of its sea coast. Most popular beaches and recreation areas are located in small settlements, the infrastructure of which is simply not designed for a large number of people. During the high tourist season, there are four or even five times more tourists than local residents in these coastal villages and their surroundings. Naturally, the medical services and police of these settlements are simply not able to cope with such a flow. It’s getting to the point where there aren’t enough basic products in the surrounding stores,” says Olga Gurevich.

In her opinion, the problem is that during high seasons prices in the Far East do not correspond to quality. The cost of services turns out to be too high.

– Few people are thinking about extending the tourist season. Most industry players are trying to get more money here and now,” Gurevich notes.

Another serious issue that affects not only the tourism industry, but also other areas of the Far East, is the low population density of the territories.

“No development is possible without people,” says sociologist Maxim Namdakov, “and the tourism sector is directly tied to the indigenous population. It is these people who supply the industries that provide tourism with personnel. Unfortunately, the Far East, Transbaikalia, and Siberia are losing population. Of course, this process occurs differently in each subject, but this is the general trend. Moreover, internal migration can also affect tourism. People from small settlements are moving to larger ones, and this, in turn, “exposes” tourist attractions located in the outback. The infrastructure suffers from this. The modern mass tourist loves not only beauty, but also comfort. Therefore, it is unlikely that he will go to admire waterfalls and lakes without being able to relax after a walk with all the amenities. And only the population that permanently lives near the sights can provide them,” the sociologist notes.

The Far East has enormous resources for the development of both domestic and inbound tourism, and state support measures, which are presented within the framework of the federal law “On the Free Port of Vladivostok,” provide ample opportunities for the development of tourism in the Far Eastern Federal District, says Associate Professor of the Department of Service and Tourism at the School Economics and Management FEFU Irina Barashok.

– If we take into account the remoteness of the Far Eastern region from the central regions of the country, the first thing I would like to note is the lack of information about the Far East. Recently, a forum of tour operators “Pacific Breeze” was held in the Primorsky Territory, and its participants noted that there is very little information on the Far East or it is “on duty”. Therefore, it is necessary to organize fam-tours for Russian and foreign tour operators as often as possible, so that they learn more about the Far Eastern Federal District and can independently evaluate the region’s tourism resources. To increase information content about the region, the tourism industry, if possible, participate in the “Tour Business” workshop, write more about the region to journalists, posting articles in electronic publications, for example, RATA-news, says the expert.

To enhance tourist flows, it is important to develop transport services, increase the number of regular flights within Russia and internationally, and to solve the problem of quality service in the tourism market, pay attention to training personnel for the tourism industry, namely the acquisition of practical professional skills. One of the ways to solve this problem is the introduction of WorldSkills standards into the educational process.

“It is possible to increase the average length of stay in the region and motivate tourists to make repeated trips by diversifying tourist routes and expanding the network of interregional routes within the framework of the Eastern Ring of Russia project. To develop a new tourist route, you need to know the consumer of tourism services and understand what he wants to see. Therefore, the use of a marketing approach in the activities of travel agencies should become mandatory,” says the expert. According to Irina Barashok, it is also necessary to develop unique events that could arouse interest among tourists. “The development of event tourism requires a new approach to its organization - coordination of numerous co-executors and co-organizers. In addition, without financial, organizational, and information support from the executive branch, it is not possible to create an effective tourist event,” she sums up.

When deciding to acquire a company, the acquiring company evaluates not only information about tangible assets, but also many other factors.

A feature of the current competition in the IT sector is the shift of emphasis to the sphere of accumulation of intangible assets and the establishment of stable long-term contacts with clients. Often, when assessing the value of a company, intangible assets are also called intellectual capital. The term usually implies accumulated useful knowledge. This definition assumes that it is the presence of intellectual capital that can cause a discrepancy between the value of a company's assets reflected in the financial statements and its real market value. In recent decades, the share of intellectual capital in the total market value of firms has been growing.

Today, the method of assessing intellectual capital using so-called strategic maps is becoming increasingly popular. Initially, strategic maps (SC) were developed within the framework of a balanced scorecard (BSS) for the strategic management of a company. The BSC uses cause-and-effect relationships between strategic goals, reflecting their parameters and factors for obtaining planned results. The system is based on four components: financial, customer, internal business processes and personnel training and development. Their goals and objectives are reflected by financial and non-financial indicators. The latter can be considered the number of buyers, market share for any product, the number of certified specialists, etc.

CS are intended to align a company's short-term goals with its long-term strategy within these four main areas of activity. SK characterize a company in the process of development - yesterday (financial aspect), today (aspect of customer relations and aspect of organizing internal business processes) and tomorrow (aspect of training and development). In addition to organizing control over the achievement of established indicators, the dynamics of indicators that are important for the implementation of the company’s strategy also play an important role. One of the key points is the choice of IC indicators to assess the company's position in the market. Typically, 15-20 indicators for each component are used for this.

A very important factor is the dynamics of the company's development. Therefore, in order to assess the attractiveness of a company for an investor, one should compare the main indicators characterizing tangible and intangible assets over the past two to three years. One of the most convenient tools for such comparison is the SK. The dynamics of changes in their indicators indicate whether the company is developing in the right direction.

Financial aspect

An example of an insurance system for the financial component is given in Table 1.

Positions 7 and 8 are among the most important for an investor. Cash flow characterizes the receipt of funds into the company's current accounts for the year, and the dynamics of its changes should not differ significantly from the dynamics of sales volume. Otherwise, you should pay attention to whether all sales growth will be offset by excessive growth in accounts receivable or other assets.

This indicator is equally important for all groups of IT companies: system integrators, offshore programming firms, distributors. At the same time, the first two groups, due to the specifics of the business - contract supplies - can relatively easily improve this indicator. It is necessary to speed up payments from customers for supplies and work performed, and increase the share of advance payments. For distributors, cash flow is determined by the amount of accounts receivable, and, as a rule, significant changes (improvements) are much more difficult to achieve here.

Return on equity and assets: the distributor can improve these indicators primarily by increasing net profit, which is not at all easy, or by reducing the size of equity and assets. If system integrators and programming firms have insignificant assets, then the distributor's assets are formed primarily by cash balances in bank accounts and warehouse inventories. Fewer assets mean better profitability. Therefore, the simplest recommendation may be to make all obligatory payments by the time of the quarterly report, which will achieve a reduction in account balances. To reduce the size of assets, you should also reduce inventories towards the end of the quarter.

Return on equity is calculated as net income divided by equity, where equity is the difference between a firm's total assets and its liabilities. In addition to the “own” capital of the company’s shareholders, the calculations also take into account retained earnings of the current and previous periods. And if distribution companies' profits are more or less evenly distributed over time, then integrator and programming companies with long-term projects often receive most of their annual profits with one payment at the end of the year. And here it is important to carry out formal actions to distribute profits before the end of the current period, directing them to pay bonuses, training, purchase equipment, etc. Otherwise, a large amount of retained profits will end up in own funds and reduce the profitability rate.
It should also be noted that the value of assets is used to assess the value of a company, so such actions must be approached with caution.

Customer Relations

This SK (Table 2) includes the most important indicators of intangible assets. For example, a customer base may be a separate sales product. The share of sales to the ten largest customers characterizes the stability of relationships, the company’s independence from one or several largest customers, and sales diversification.

The indicators shown in the table cannot be quickly and easily improved on the eve of the sale of the company or at the end of the quarter. The number of buyers can grow significantly only in an unstructured market or in a young company. If an integrator or distributor, as a rule, already has a customer base, then for a company engaged in offshore programming, the growth of this indicator should be significant. It should be noted that the number 10 itself is very arbitrary and is used when there is a sufficiently large number of clients. The 20/80 indicator is often used, which characterizes the sales volume attributable to 20% of the largest customers. It is believed that the more evenly sales are distributed among customers, the more stable the customer base. If the increase in the number of buyers plays a big role in the business of primarily young companies, then the increase in market share is important for large firms.

Perhaps the most important thing is that the insurance company clearly demonstrates the dynamics and growth of indicators over the past two to three years. For distributors, the most significant indicator is the growth of market share for the most important products. For companies working with end users - integrators and programmers - the most significant are the growth of new clients and sales to one client.

Business Process Aspect

Table 3 shows an example of a map describing the company's business processes. Business processes are the most specific feature of each company, and they are difficult to comprehensively consider in one article or even book.

Let us dwell on some general provisions. For a distribution company, the main indicator of the efficiency of its business processes is warehouse turnover, which includes the time for delivery of goods. Turnover is compared with the duration of the vendor's credit line (in days), and if the turnover is less than the line, then it is usually concluded that the business in this company is generally well organized. Well, if the turnover together with the average receivables exceeds the vendor’s credit line, which allows minimizing external borrowings, then it is considered that the business in this company is generally well organized.

For integrator and programming firms, important indicators are the duration and labor intensity of projects, which characterize the sustainability and scale of the company’s work.

Development aspect

An example of the SC development aspect (see Table 4) contains nine indicators. The most important for the distributor are investments in the development of new markets, both geographical and product, showing the process of business diversification. It is important that diversification leads to synergy, the unification of various branches of business into a single information and financial space, where different divisions positively influence each other and from the addition of their assets, the total asset of the company is greater than a simple arithmetic sum.

For integrators and programming firms, naturally, the most important indicators are investments in training and certification of employees. An attractive indicator is the cost of research and development that large players can afford. The dynamics of development costs should be correlated with the dynamics of the company's sales growth.

The attractiveness of a company as an integral indicator and the main motive for its purchase cannot be significantly increased in a short time of pre-sale preparation. Only some financial indicators can be quickly improved, but the remaining 15-20 positions in each of the four insurance companies require targeted work both within the company and on the market. Recent publications and the practice of mergers and acquisitions show that the IC is a convenient means of formalizing the process of assessing attractiveness.

Table 1. Insurance company: financial component

Attractiveness market is characterized by a set of indicators (indicators, metrics) by which the company makes a decision about operating in this market. In this case, the sales market is considered to be both the entire market within product-geographical boundaries and each segment of this market.

Assessing attractiveness is necessary when choosing a market/segment that the company intends to develop. At the same time, a comparative analysis of several potentially interesting sales markets is carried out, from which the most attractive one is selected. The main problem of assessing attractiveness is the choice of indicators, both in name and in quantity. Currently, there is no single approach that allows one to reliably and objectively select the most suitable market for a given company. Therefore, in each specific case, attractiveness indicators are selected taking into account the following initial data:

A. The horizon for planning the company’s activities in a given market.

B. Type of market (industrial, consumer).

B. Planned scale of market activity.

D. Company size (for example, by turnover).

Formation of a strategic vision of development prospects

market includes, first of all, the identification and assessment of various factors related to its condition, changes in the general economic situation and the emergence of new competitors. Thus, we are talking about assessing the attractiveness of the sales market according to certain indicators, the most important from the point of view of making a decision on the formation of the company's sales system. Based on Ozhegov’s “Explanatory Dictionary,” “attractive is one that attracts, wins over, and is liked.” Hence, attractiveness The sales market is assessed by the company itself, i.e. from this point of view, it is a rather subjective characteristic. The same market environment will be attractive for one company and unattractive for another. A company can evaluate the attractiveness of a sales market positively if its indicators are equal to or exceed some “standard” values ​​​​established by the company itself. For example, P. Doyle defines an attractive market as “a market in which the average company consistently receives income in excess of the cost of capital (i.e., creates value for shareholders).”

When analyzing the attractiveness of the market, one important circumstance must also be kept in mind, namely: the attractiveness can and should be assessed both of the market as a whole (with an undifferentiated marketing strategy) and its segments (with differentiated or concentrated marketing strategies). Therefore, when assessing the attractiveness of the market as a whole, it is necessary to analyze those consumer segments to which the company’s sales efforts are directed.

Factors of attractiveness of the market or its segments can be divided into two groups:

• a) factors that do not change over time (for example, territory) or change so slowly that at some period of time they can be considered constant (natural resources, climatic conditions, etc.);
• b) modifiable factors that are amenable to change over time. Some of them are changing slowly but at a noticeable pace, such as transport, technical, scientific and innovative infrastructure, social, political and environmental conditions, consumer behavior, their income, purchasing habits, etc. Other factors may change quite quickly or abruptly (local legislation, local government policies, competitive environment, seasonality of demand, etc.).

To select the most attractive market, a comparative analysis of several potentially interesting markets or segments is performed. The larger the company, the more attention the macro environment has on it. Despite the fact that various aspects related to the attractiveness of markets, industries and the market environment are generally considered in the works of many researchers (D. Aaker, G.L. Bagiev, D.I. Barkan, I.K. Belyaevsky, J. Wind, T.P. Danko, P. Doyle, J. Day, F. Kotler, J.-J. Lambin, J. O'Shaughnessy, etc.), there is still no unified methodology for their assessment. The problem is that there are too many factors on which the attractiveness of the market depends and this requires the collection of a large amount of information to make an appropriate decision. In table Table 2.6 shows market attractiveness indicators proposed by some researchers.

Market attractiveness indicators

Table 2.6

J. Day approaches the analysis of the factors that determine market attractiveness from the point of view of their impact on profit (Table 2.7).

Factors influencing market attractiveness

Table 2.7

A review of approaches related to assessing the attractiveness of a sales market shows that almost all researchers highlight the following:

such indicators as characteristics of intermediaries, characteristics of competition, entry barriers and risks. In table 2.8 summarizes indicators that are advisable to consider from the point of view of market attractiveness for a supplier of goods or products.

Indicators of market attractiveness

Table 2.8

Highlighted in the table. 2.8 indicators allow you to objectively assess the attractiveness of the sales market. It is worth noting such an important factor as the required amount of investment to develop the market, which in terms of its indicators is attractive for the company. Therefore, before entering a new market, you need to have answers to the following questions:

• How much capital is needed to take the required market share?
• When will the costs be recouped?
• When is it possible to make the first profit?
• who will provide the capital and when will it need to be returned to the borrower?

• Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary: http://www.ozhegov.ru
• Doyle P. Cost-oriented marketing / P. Doyle: Transl. from English -SPb.: Peter, 2001. P. 214.
• Day J. Strategic marketing / J. Day: Transl. from English - M.: EKSMO-Press, 2002. P. 207.

Brands and branding are the hits of the season. Why? Regional markets are beginning to change rapidly. Big business is coming to the province. There is a natural process: small companies are absorbed by large ones. The process is progressive - reducing the number of brands on the market allows you to increase profits due to economies of scale and save consumers time, relieving them of the pain of choice.

Thus, small provincial companies have little choice: either accept absorption or leave the market, or find their own exclusive niche in the market, risking, if successful, attracting the attention of business “sharks”. The consolation in the latter case may be the opportunity to bargain for an exclusive trademark or “brand,” which can be understood as “a promise of consistency between price and quality, consumer and, especially, symbolic properties of a product (service).”

The assessment of the brand value of Western companies is carried out, as a rule, on the basis of open financial information. In Russian conditions, sometimes even the owners do not know the true state of affairs in the company. Therefore, methods for assessing brand value, similar to those of such well-known companies as Interbrand, are not fully applicable.

When assessing the strength and risk of a brand, one has to rely more on expert assessments. Despite some vagueness, the statements of a properly formed group of experts have amazing stability and can serve as a completely reliable basis for making management decisions. Although in practice, expert advice is not neglected, in my opinion, they do not attach much importance to the consistency of assessments. However, following advice makes sense if the advisers assess the situation adequately, that is, in a consistent manner. Checking assessments for consistency is carried out using a simple formal procedure within the framework of the so-called method of analysis of hierarchical procedures, which makes it possible to formalize the qualitative ideas of experts about the driving forces and nature of interaction of the market subjects being studied.

Interest in precise methods for processing fuzzy statements is growing. To train an expert system built on the principles of fuzzy inference, the attractiveness of beer brands was analyzed. It is not easy for even a seasoned expert to give preference to any particular brand. According to the research company ACNielsen, before the start of the summer season of 2001, there were about 35 beer items per outlet; by the end of the year, the assortment already included 48 units.

Typically, including the model developed by Interbrand, the value of a trademark is calculated as the net present value of the profits that the brand is expected to generate in the future. We assessed such qualities as “prevalence” and “visibility” of the brand, “rate of sales growth”, “marketing expenses” as factors influencing the future value of the brand.

To “train” the expert system, data from Russian Public Relation Group Ltd for 2001 on the Russian beer market and expert assessments were used. The following brands were ranked according to the degree of investment attractiveness: “Arsenalnoye”, “Baltika”, “Bochkarev”, “Zolotaya Bochka”, “Klinskoye”, “Fat Man”, “Three Bears”, “Old Melnik”, “Ochakovo”. The brands were ranked using a hybrid expert system that makes conclusions based on fuzzy estimates.

The expert system identified Baltika, Ochakovo, and Klinskoe as leaders in the beer market.

The conclusion itself is not very interesting. Much more interesting are the results of pairwise comparison of the significance of factors. It turned out that marketing expenditures have a greater effect with moderate prevalence. When a brand is widely used, marketing costs are ineffective. The greatest interest among experts and consumers of the beer market is caused by, and therefore, in our opinion, potentially the most valuable, “undervalued” and growing brands.

The dependence of success on visibility is more complex: with a small and moderate “prevalence”, with an increase in the “visibility” of a brand, its attractiveness also increases, however, with a further increase in “visibility”, the attractiveness of the brand decreases. Perhaps consumers are starting to get annoyed by excessive intrusiveness.

The result obtained in a formal way is in good agreement with research by ACNielsen, according to which buyers are more loyal to new brands than to repositioned old ones. And, according to brewers, today it is easier to create a brand from scratch than to transfer a familiar brand from segment to segment.

Thus, the “fuzzy” conclusions look quite convincing. Strictly speaking, with the help of an expert system, brands are ranked by usefulness, not by cost. However, “utility” is a fairly significant signal for an investor.

Using such procedures, you can not only assess the strength of a brand, but also solve other marketing problems, as well as rank investment projects and shares according to their investment attractiveness.

The procedure for express assessments of the strategic prospects of a number of large enterprises in the Nizhny Novgorod region, based on “fuzzy logic,” demonstrated the consistency of formalized expert assessments with the intuitive vision of the future by top managers of the enterprise.

It should be noted that regional markets have certain specifics: some segments are represented by one or two companies and any ranking in such segments is meaningless. This is the case in particular with the provincial media market, although undoubtedly a number of publications have a strong reputation that can be considered a brand.

It seems difficult to use even a “fuzzy” expert system to rank politicians by degree of influence. The concept of “influence” of a regional politician is difficult to comprehend. Probably, in this case, such concepts as “charisma”, “controllability”, “predictability” are more suitable, since figures that inspire confidence among the population are attractive to investors.