Week 3

Hello everyone! I hope all of my readers in the U.S. (maybe 1 or 2 - mom and dad, hopefully!) had a great 4^th of July and still have all of their fingers. I was somewhat surprised to see that a lot of the people in South Africa actually knew about the 4^th and came by my desk to wish me a happy independence day.  For the most part, people in South Africa are very familiar with everything that goes on in the rest of the World. A lot of this information comes from keeping up with the news but I would say even more comes from all of the Hollywood movies that make it this way.

Last week I sat down with Roger, the MD of Sheet Street, to discuss my project and to make sure that I was in line with what they were expecting. Luckily, it appears that we are both on the same page and I got the go ahead to move forward with the project. In the remaining time I have at Sheet Street I will analyze the company’s recent success by studying the changes in their strategy from year to year, talking to employees, and surveying consumers. Hopefully, by the end of the project I will be able to identify what has caused Sheet Street’s success and ensure that the management team will be able to carry this forward into future strategies. I will look at areas such as industry forces, product, price, placement, promotions, people, and corporate policies and structures. One thing I know for sure is the corporate staff at Sheet Street has created a very unique culture which makes everyone feel that they have ownership in the company, all the way down to the store employees. This makes for a very fun and productive environment to work in.

On Thursday, Justin, Jason and I took off around 1 o’clock to head for Cape Town to meet with Mr. Price Group’s Executive Chairman, Alastair McArthur, tour stores, and to do a little sightseeing. We arrived Thursday night and headed to our hotel which was right on the beach.

That night we took it pretty easy and went to a place called Caveau for dinner.  Justin and I ordered the fillet (said “fill it” in SA). It was nothing short of amazing. After dinner we drove to a region of Cape Town called Long Street (Not too different from Dickson St. in Fayetteville) where we went to a place called Mr. Pickwicks. They are known for their milkshakes, but Jason decided to try their 2 for 1 cocktails (though he didn’t even know what was in it).

Friday morning we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel and then made our way to Mt. Nelson Hotel to have tea with the Alastair McArthur, the Executive Chairman of Mr. Price Group. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. Alastair and Steve G., HR director, were both great to talk with. Their experiences over the years have given them a ton of stories and knowledge about the retail market and to listen to them was very inspiring. The pictures below are of the Hotel we met at and of the group.

After lunch we headed straight for Table Mountain. There was some concern that the weather would cause the cable cars to shut down, but luckily we were able to make it there just in time to get a great view of the city. About 20 minutes after we arrived the clouds moved in. Even though it seemed that we could only see 20 yards in front of us it was really cool to see this look of the mountain. To finish our trip we had a hot chocolate and sent off post cards from the top of the mountain.

After coming down from the mountain we stopped by the University of Cape Town, where Justin went to school. The campus sits at the base of the mountain is really beautiful.  UCT is one of the best schools in South Africa and it was really neat to take a walk around campus.

We then met up with some of Justin’s family for dinner. Like always, they were great hosts and made us feel extremely comfortable.  I really enjoy speaking with his family because I always seem to leave with a lot more knowledge than when I arrived. It's always cool to get someone else’s perspective and I have learned a lot about SA’s culture simply through listening to their stories. The night's festivities included watching a tennis match, listening to Reece and Luke play guitar, losing to them on the Wii, and eating lots of Butler’s pizza. Check out the picture of Jason’s Wii character, it looks just like him doesn’t it? The video is of Jason and Justin boxing. Even though it appears Jason is doing more work (punching the air), Justin easily knocks him out.

Thanks, again, to the Bodill family for opening up their home and being so nice to us. It was a pleasure to spend the evening with you!

The next morning we woke up and headed to the bay to catch a ferry to Robben Island. For those of you who don’t know, for centuries Robben Island was used as a place to keep prisoners. Most recently it was used as a jail for political prisoners in South Africa, including Nelson Mandela.  Nelson spent 27 years as a political prisoner for really no reason at all besides speaking out against the government. One amazing part about his story is that after spending almost 3 decades with only 100 sq feet of personal space, his cell, he became President and gained control over all of South Africa. Furthermore, instead of retaliating against the people that put him in prison, he decided to forgive and unite the country. The story is truly amazing. Our tour was led by an ex-prisoner who was released in 1990.

Saturday afternoon was spent touring local Mr. Price and Sheet Street stores and driving around to other tourist destinations in Cape Town. We finished off Saturday evening by going out to eat with Justin’s family at a place called Five Flies. The atmosphere, meal, and especially the company were really good.  Sunday we awoke early and headed out to do some final sightseeing. Overall, the trip to Cape Town went really well. It has certainly climbed near the top of my list of favorite cities.