Today the class visited Credit Suisse Bank in Raleigh, North Carolina.

What is their mission?

The mission of Credit Suisse is “to leverage geographic diversity and new sources of talent to create a cost effective global business support center that provides both operational and technological resiliency”. Credit Suisse is a massive bank that is trying to deliver the best possible financial situations to their customers. They are focused on wealth management, shared services, private banking and investment banking. Their mission is to encourage young talent, enhance their expansion strategy, and better corporate culture. They are one of the leading investment banking and wealth management firms in the world and their devotion to their mission is a primary reason.

Who are their customers?

Credit Suisse is mainly in the investment banking industry, meaning most of its customers are large businesses and corporations instead of wealthy individuals. The main customers are corporations, governments, and institutional investors. They do deal with these wealthy individuals in their private banking sector, but they must have a high net worth value of assets over five million dollars. As a global bank, Credit Suisse works with many large businesses spread across fifty different countries.

What do their customers value?

The customers of Credit Suisse values the companies ability to manage wealth. They are one of the highest regarded banks in the world with a very established reputation. The customers value top quality service and assistance and appreciate the great level of respect received when dealing with Credit Suisse. The bank has received many awards such as the top bank in Switzerland. The customers value the high yield and return ratios along with the companies dedication to service and developing more leadership. Credit Suisse is always looking for young talent with enthusiasm to interact with customers and keep them happy.

What are their results?

The results of Credit Suisse are very impressive. They have been in business for about 150 years and are operating in 50 countries around the world. The bank has over $1.2 billion AUM and has over 40 thousand employees. There results are impressive and continuing to grow. They have been very consistent with their success, even coming out of the 2008 recession on its feet. They are high ranking as leaders in private, corporate and institutional banking. Their most profitable region is the Americas, and private banking is rising in other parts of the world. The bank as 530 offices spread across the world, 38 of the offices being in Switzerland alone. The company has had great results since its founding in 1856 and hopes to continue on this path of success.

What is their plan?

The main plan for Credit Suisse is to expand and grow their customer base. They are in the process of planning to build new buildings around the world to increase their global footprint. They want to continue gaining new young talent by recruiting employees straight out of college. They want to remain number one and think the best plan to do this is by having buildings in the right places for optimal results. Revenue increase is their main priority and the locations of their services is very important to that success. Their goal is to improve their already great reputation and keep their customer base satisfied. They plan to continue to deliver tailor-made and best in class financial solutions to all companies in need and promote their own company in the future.

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Today our class visited Credit Suisse Bank. The company was founded in 1856 in Switzerland. It currently has 530 offices and 22 booking centers located in 50 countries. Credit Suisse banks has about 46,400 employees, and sixty percent of these are outside of Switzerland. Credit Suisse Bank’s goal is to be the leading bank for private, corporate, and institutional clients. Credit Suisse bank practices private banking and investment banking. It also offers shared services, which features aspects of both types of banking. The building we visited was the Raleigh Center for Excellence, one of five Centers for Excellence located around the globe. The Raleigh Center for Excellence opened in 2005. It currently has 1300 staff members.

The mission of the Credit Suisse Raleigh Center for Excellence is to leverage geographic diversity and new sources of talent to create a cost effective global business support center that provides both operational and technological resiliency.  The Center for Excellence also provides a platform to deliver increased capacity, capabilities and efficiencies, enabling the firm to better position itself for further business expansion. The customers of Credit Suisse vary, depending on the type of banking preference. Private banking and wealth management is used mostly by elite, high-class individuals. The Investment banking sector is used more by businesses. It offers a a broad spectrum of equities, fixed income, and investment banking advisory products and services. I believe that the majority of Credit Suisse customers value the same thing: security. After the recession in 2008, it has been harder for people to truly trust others with their money. Credit Suisse offers secure banking, and people feel like they can trust the company. This results in profit for the company. If people continue to invest, Credit Suisse will continue succeeding. Credit Suisse was awarded numerous awards in 2012. Some of these include Best Private Bank Globally, as well as numerous Best Investment/Private Bank awards in several different countries and regions. I was extremely impressed with the Raleigh facility, as well as the facts and figures I heard, and I see no sign of Credit Suisse slowing down in the future. Credit Suisse was surprisingly the first company we’ve been to that talked extensively about employment opportunities. Our speaker told us about a couple of internships that were offered each year, as well as the rolling application for full time employment. Several of the employees that I talked to said that they went through the internship out of college, and they said it was a great experience. I am too young to work there now, but perhaps as I get older I could look into employment at Credit Suisse.

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Credit Suisse was founded in 1865 with their headquarters located in Zurich, Switzerland. Credit Suisse is a a private banking,  wealth management and investment banking company. Credit Suisse has over 530 offices and 22 booking centers that are located in over 50 countries. All of these offices employee a total of 46,400 individuals.

What is their mission?

Credit Suisse’s mission is to provide companies, institutional clients and high net-worth private clients worldwide with advisory services, comprehensive solutions, and excellent products. They are willing to assist the customers to their best ability and make working with them a pleasant experience.

Who is their customer?

Credit Suisse’s customers vary from institutional investors, corporations and governments. The majority of their clients fall under the category of having a “high net worth”. Credit Suisse today has 2 million private clients and more than 1 million corporate companies.

What do their customers value?

Customers of Credit Suisse value the reliability and reputation that Credit Suisse has. Credit Suisse is a very well known banking company with very trustworthy people behind it. The employees at Credit Suisse are very knowledgeable about their job and provide the best services and products to their customers.

What are their results?

Credit Suisse continues to maintain a consistent revenue over the years. They are a well known banking company with millions of clients because of the services they provide.

What is their plan?

Credit Suisse wants to continue to have a global impact and be a reliable source to those individuals who need their services. They plan to keep up their reputation and satisfy their customers.

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Today, our class visited Credit Suisse, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Credit Suisse was founded in 1856 with its headquarters located in Zurich, Switzerland. Credit Suisse has over 530 offices in over 50 different countries and is continuing to expand.

Credit Suisse’s mission is to deliver tailor-made and best in class financial solutions to their client. The center of excellence that we visited today has a mission to provide leverage for geographic diversity and find new sources of talent to create a cost effective global business support center that provides both operational and technological resiliency. The Chief Executive Officer of the company, Bradley Dougan is continuing to stand by this mission and is consistently helping the business acquire new customers.

Credit Suisse has a wide range of customers depending on the branch that they fall under. Private banking mostly deals with high-wealth executives that tend to have more than 5 million dollars available to invest. Investment banking mostly deals with institutions and corporations, who are in need of investment guidance of the fund that they control. Credit Suisse steps in this role and helps make the decisions of where and how they should invest their money.

Credit Suisse has a massive global reach with success in almost every region of the world, which, the customer’s value greatly. Because Credit Suisse has access to every corner of the global market, they have a much higher success rate in making money than most other investment bankers.

Credit Suisse’s results are very successful and are continuing to expand. With over 1.2 billion dollars of assets last year, Credit Suisse has proved itself to be extremely consistent with their success. Being around since 1856, it is truly amazing that Credit Suisse has been able to stay above their competitors year after year. Also, Credit Suisse has found most of its success in the Americas but their international branches are continuing to grow.

Credit Suisse has a plan to continue to expand and acquire more clients. There are some plans for Credit Suisse to build new facilities in different areas to increase their global footprint and remain at the top. After the economic collapse in 2008, Credit Suisse has fought back valiantly and is growing exponentially with help from the rising economic trends.

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In todays class visit we ventured an hour away to Credit Suisse, the leading bank for private, corporate, and institutional clients, in Raleigh, North Carolina. The company was founded in 1856 in Zurich, Switzerland and has expanded globally in more than fifty different countries. Today, they have reached to Asia/Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and of course the Americas, employing over 46,400 employees in over 530 officies and 22 booking centers. We visited the Raleigh CoE, which was newly opened in 2005, employing 1300 men and women who focus on functions like operations, information technology, finance, and shared functions at the firm.

The mission of Credit Suisse is to leverage geographic diversity and new sources of talent to create a cost effective global business support center that provides both operational and technological resiliency. Through trading and execution, prime brokerage and capital raising, global securities sales, and advisory services, they are able to fulfill the customer’s needs for assistance.

The customers of Credit Suisse are corporations, governments, and institutional investors, including hedge funds and private individuals. These customers value the professional assistance by Credit Suisse banking and the best in class financial solutions they offer. They also value their global presence throughout the world, which inevitably will help corporations and investors who are located internationally get the same services abroad. Lastly, they value the employee’s intelligence, availability, and services they provide.

The results of Credit Suisse are very clear. They are continuing to grow and expand globally and are one of the most popular private banks in the world. Credit Suisse achieved the award for the best private bank globally, as well as best private bank in Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, along with many other places like Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Italy. They have also been attractive as a sponsor, especially in Switzerland, where they are the main sponsor for football, golf, and equestrian sport.

Credit Suisse’s plans, as well as most other companies, is to continue their success as a globally dominant company. They want to continue to be the best private bank in the entire world. They plan to continue to deliver tailor-made and best in class financial solutions to all companies in assistance, as well as further increasing market share in Switzerland across client segments. Credit Suisse is always trying to better develop their brand and show how their services could be of great help to any businesses.

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Credit Suisse Blog

Credit Suisse is an investment banking company that was founded in Switzerland. Credit Suisse is an global company that stretches across the world in regions from The Americas, South Pacific Asia, Europe, The Middle East, and Africa. Their mission statement is: “leverage geographic diversity and new sources of talent to create a cost effective global business support center that provides operational technology support center. “ I really enjoyed the atmosphere and environment of Credit Suisse they were very friendly and had a similar approach to the hiring process as SAS. They are very interested in finding employees who are the right fit and match the mold of a Suisse employee.  I also really liked how focused they were on team work and how its no longer about individual performance but more about the team effort and team productivity.  The mission statement is unique because they state that they are looking to gain leverage though a geographic diversity that pulls from the smartest people all around the world, I really like this idea and I think it is a great concept for any business in any field should follow.

Credit Suisse has a few branches within their organizations they have a private branch, investment banking branch, and management branch. All these different branches make up the company as a whole and each have individual responsibilities and customers that insure and help the overall success of the organization.  They have customers ranging from normal large business institutions, government institutions, private accounts, and hedge fund management.

Credit Suisse’s employees value two things the most trust and quality. In the banking industry it is not really about product quality because they product is the return they get on the money they are given to invest. The customers are looking to trust the people they give their money to because they need to insure that the money invested grows larger than the initial investment.  The quality comes not from their product but from the people they hire to execute the jobs they are assigned to do with the highest level of professionalism and accuracy.

Credit Suisse is a global company that has ties in all parts of the world. They are always looking to expand and grow further expanding their already large global horizons. They have been a successful company for a long time now and they plan to stay successful while growing their business where appropriate.

The result of their business model and mission statement have only lead to great things. I really enjoyed visiting Credit Suisse and I think it is one of the best places we have been to. They are doing a wonderful job running the company efficiently while providing a new and exciting work environment.

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VF Corporation Blog

I was absent from this trip sadly I never like missing class but I was in bed with strep throat and the common cold. I am very disappointed I missed this site visit because I have an interest in fashion and I would have love to seen some of their business models. I also would have asked questions regarding what they plan to do in the future to create new trends and how they plan to make more durable products. VF corporation’s mission statement is: “we will create the leading jeans and lifestyle company in the N.A. by offering our customers branded product solutions at a compelling value.”  Every company we have visited so far has been preaching the same things in regards to customer satisfaction. To insure that your company is successful you need a stable flow of customers and the way to obtain those customers is to create a product that has VALUE. Without value your product will go nowhere you need to convince your customer that the deal we are giving you is a steal or a bargain.  The customer needs to feel like they are winning at all times if they think that your pair of jeans is a rip off there is no chance that they are going to buy your product. This idea of value has been constant from every organization that we have visited. Without your customer valuing your product it will be impossible to sell it.

The Customers of VF Corporation is large department stores such as Wal-Mart and Target. Within VF they also own brands such as Levi’s and Wrangler so within those branches of the organization there are subsequent and specific smaller market customers for each branch of the company. The customers value the quality of the product and the comfort. In the fashion industry it is very important to have a comfortable product that feels good on the body. This is a unique concept that we have not encountered yet in another organization we have visited.

The plan for VF Corporation is to win the marketplace in all aspects and be highly competitive while doing so.  They are aiming to reach 12.7 billion dollars in 2015 through innovation, expansion of their marketable brands, and global expansion to create a larger profit.  VF corporations are in a very highly competitive environment that is constantly changing every year from their outsourcing, supply chain, demographics, and price fluctuation for their crucial materials.

The result of VF Corporation is that they have created a company where they are ties internationally and are generating a product of a very high and desirable quality. They been around for 15 years and are growing rapidly it is clear that their business process is working very well and they are going to maintain that growth which is supported by their plan for the future. I wish I was able to attend this visit but I have obtained notes from numerous people to write this journal entry.

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Today we visited one of Credit Suisse’s offices in Raleigh.  The office is one of Credit Suisse’s 5 COEs, or Centers of Excellence.  After being founded in 1856, Credit Suisse is composed of two primary divisions or functions: private banking and wealth management. They have 530 offices in 50 countries, filled by approximately 46,000 employees, with 1,200 located in the Raleigh Center of Excellence, which opened in 2005.  Of these employees, approximately 40% are located in the home market (Switzerland), and approximately 24% are located in the Americas.

What is Credit Suisse’s mission?  Throughout the presentation, it was refreshing that no one showed the class a generic or formulaic mission statement or slogan.  From what I inferred from the presentation and conversations, I believe that Credit Suisse’s mission within the financial sector is to foster loyalty among existing clients while expanding its business further (2 COEs opened in India, as well as business in Brazil).  I would add that they have a very strong emphasis on going about their business within all financial regulations, globally and domestically (we spoke about the Basel 3 being a liaison between international trade/financial regulations).

Who is Credit Suisse’s customer?  Unlike many of the businesses that we have previously visited, Credit Suisse’s clients are composed of both organizations as well as private individuals.  While there are different divisions that are charged with taking care of corporate accounts or personal/private investments of individuals, we were told that many of their “high net worth” clients are often somewhere in between a personal client and a corporate client, because they are usually somewhat financially invested in their respective organization.   Statistically, Credit Suisse has over 2 million private clients and over 1 million corporate clients currently.  Internationally, the focus changes as well to adapt to different client demographics (US focuses on local market, Switzerland on private banking).

What does the customer value from Credit Suisse’s services?  When I look at my personal “brand equity” or perception of Credit Suisse, even within its own financial sector, I associate it with reliability, consistency, and reputability.   Besides Switzerland being known for its private investments sector, Credit Suisse is perceived, at least among my friends and I, as one of the top wealth management/investment organizations in the world.  Also, I believe that the customers find Credit Suisse attractive as an organization because of their global presence (as previously stated, offices in 50 different countries).

What are their results?  Credit Suisse has been reporting very consistent and solid earnings over the past few years.  They are not growing as fast as many other companies we have visited, but they by far one of the largest and most significant organizations that we have visited already.  They have been headed in a positive trajectory, but the consistency is most likely what the organization values as of right now (it could be different with a smaller firm)

What is their plan?  Going forward, Credit Suisse does not seem to want to change or expand at the same velocity as some of the other places we have visited.  Specifically as a financial service, Credit Suisse has done well to maintain a positive and relatively consistent trajectory, and has not had any issues with financial regulation like other organizations (J.P Morgan cough), and while I am sure they will be expanding in the future, they already have a well-established global presence.

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What is VF’s mission?

The mission of the Jeanswear department at VF is to become the leading Jeanswear and lifestyle apparel company in North America by offering our customers branded product solutions at compelling value. The mission of the company is to target the correct market customer for each of their styles of jeans and produce results that will allow the revenue of the company to increase steadily.

Who is VF”s customer?

The VF customer is a very specific target market. Although the Jeanswear products are sold to various retailers, including mass retailers, western retailers, and department stores, each sale in each style of market attracts a specific type of customer. The Jeanswear customer who shops at Wal-Mart may value a different style of jeans product than the customer who shops at Macys, and also will be willing to spend a different amount of money. The customer is a cowboy, an American citizen, and people who love the great outdoors.

What does the VF customer value?

The VF customer values the authenticity of the wrangler, lee, and other various brands. People buy the VF products so that they can live vicariously through the meaning behind the designs of the products. Men who buy the Wrangler Western line are men who typically work on farms or fully embrace the lifestyle involved with living in the west. These customers value the authenticity of the designs of the products and also the quality that goes into each design.

What are VF’s results?

The company has met much success so far. Having been in business for nearly 115 years, their profits have continued to grow as well as the lines of products that they have acquired. With billions of dollars in income each year, the VF Corporation has pulled in nearly 2.2 billion dollars in revenue from just the Jeanswear department alone.

What is VF’s plan?

The plan for the company is to continue meeting the success it has currently. The way that they run their business has obviously worked for them for all of the years that they have been up and running and they plan to continue to meet that same success. With projections to produce nearly 3 billion dollars in business in the coming years rather than just 2.2 proves that the company has plans to continue expanding and acquiring addition brands.

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Today we were able to visit the VF Corporation in Greensboro, North Carolina. The office we visited was the corporate headquarters for VF Jeanswear that includes the brands of Wrangler and Lee. Most of the presentation focused on the company of VF and used Wrangler as a example. We were able to get a very detailed look as many people gave a presentation. We were able to hear from the CFO, someone from strategy, merchandising, marketing, and chain of supply. It was a look into how major companies functioned. One thing I noticed that it seemed like there was a lot of turnover as out of the seven people who talked, about 5 had less then five years at the company. This turnover means that the company wasn’t doing well. It was a said that it was a 69% increase in the company stock.
The mission of VF Corporation and VF Jeanswear is to provide the right product, at the right price, at the right time for their customers. VF is focused on the profitability of their 36 brands. Part of the mission of VF is to increase the brand awareness and get a following for the brand that will increase the sales. Wrangler and Lees have decent brand recognition but VF still wants to improve the image of the company and the brand. VF’s plan for the future is to create a direct to consumer store. This will help the profitability of the brands and the company. VF has enough brands to create a big store that would be popular. The problem is that it costs too much to run the store so VF is also looking into expanding the online store for their brands and products. The customers of VF are a ton of different demographics. For VF, mainly retail stores and big department stores are the main customers for the brands. The stores value the quality of the product, the ability to make money off the product, and finally the exclusive rights to a product. For example if a certain type of Wrangler jeans is sold at Wal-Mart then a store like Kohl’s or Macy’s wont want to compete with the low prices of Wal-Mart. The retail stores value the ability to be the only ones to sell a brand or product in order to avoid competition.

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