I used to think it was just the company I worked for that had the problems but when I left and started my own agency, I found clients regardless of industry suffer the same problems. Things should be running more smoothly, but they’re not. Department leaders should be collaborating more, but they don’t. Results should […]
Here’s a bleak but likely reality. It appears we’ll all be headed over the coming fiscal cliff regardless of the outcome of the upcoming elections. That means, according to the CBO, a 4% hit on the GDP, lower taxable incomes and higher unemployment. As a result, many including the CBO are predicting a recession in […]
So, when should a senior leader consider changing their business model? Obvious answer: before it’s too late. See Blockbuster, Circuit City, Hostess and scores of others in the past few years. More realistic answer: it depends. The business model is the integrated system of people, process and resources all designed to create and deliver value […]
Most business leaders subscribe to the theory of first mover advantage: being first to market results in competitive advantages in sales and market share (#2 loses 25% of sales to #1), earnings (late to market cuts 5-year profitability by a third) and others. Just ask Samsung how it feels to be #2 behind the iPad […]
The economy and many other factors have taken their toll but take heart, all you in business working so hard to make a go of it. Check out these words from former President Teddy Roosevelt: It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where […]
Everyone (except your spell-check system) is probably aware by now of the astounding explosive growth of Pinterest (they’ve gone from around 600K unique visitors in June of 2011 to over 20M a little more than a year later). But are you there? Your target market probably is. Especially if your target market is higher than […]
Businesses need to grow and when it comes to growth, new products are essential. Campbell Soup is hoping their new product portfolio will help them turn around a sagging soup category. However, as P&G is finding out, it takes more than line extensions or product reformulations. Most consumers don’t want more product features. It takes […]
Michael Porter, the famed professor of strategy at Harvard Business School, says strategy is deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value and that in turn must drive superior economic returns for sustainable competitive advantage (ref.). That’s a mouthful, to be sure, but to see this in action, one […]
Angela Ahrendts, CEO at Burberry, has led the reinvention of their 150-year-old brand through three core business design principles that drive everything. As a result, they are experiencing the rate of revenue and earnings growth you’d expect from an industry leader. Denise Morrison, CEO of Campbell Soup Company essentially wants to do a similar thing […]
Is it possible Bill Lee has it right in his HBR article? Is marketing dead? At least marketing as we have traditionally known it? Well, maybe not dead yet, but it’s certainly being transformed. No more so than at London based Burberry, the luxury goods provider that’s gone from stodgy to spectacular under the leadership […]
