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November 30, 2005
Japan on the brink?
Am here in Japan with our good friend, Takeru Ohe, discussing the prospects for Japanese business. It seems although the stock market is up, savings rates are still very low.
Change, however seems to be in the wind. Companies that never before used M&A or restructuring are starting to use those tools effectively. Some companies that haven't restructured quickly enough (Sanyo and Pioneer come to mind) are starting to lose out to those that are willing to change, such as Matsushita (parent company of Panasonic brands).
Posted by Rita at 02:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 10, 2005
Candidates for change - attribute map
Using the attribute map to re-segment an offering can be incredibly powerful. Candidates for this treatment right now?
- mobile phones that are too small and fiddly for elderly people and children to use
- shavers that have gotten so evolved that some men will decide not to upgrade - the 'enough already' effect
- Just too much money flowing into business class flying, which is almost sure to attract competition (see earlier post on this)
- foodies breaking into exotic foreign and organic domestic, leaving some supermarkets stuck in the middle and a whole lot of opportunity for Wal-Mart
When you start to think about it, most products and services that have been around for a while leave opportunities unexplored
Posted by Rita at 04:26 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
More on Bill Gates' books
MarketBusters was part of the theme for many of Bill Gates' conferences this year - "New Pathways to Growth". Have a look at the rest of this web site, which contains and authors' blog, downloadable cases and a lot of other MarketBusting news! We're also always interested in your stories, so send them along.
Posted by Rita at 04:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 09, 2005
Innovation Conversation
Joyce Wycoff http://thinksmart.typepad.com/headsup_on_organizational/ notes that the conversation on innovation has changed to make it more business as usual. We couldn't agree more - and would add that we are in fact beginning to decode some of the practices that make innovation more routine.
For starters, 'discovery driven' rather than conventional approaches to planning help reduce uncertainty and get out of failing projects.
Secondly, knowing that you need to try a lot of things to get a winner eases the pain and stigma of project discontinuance.
Third, companies are starting to get a lot more systematic about how they look for opportunities. So here's to a fellow innovation junkie!
Visit Joyce's web site - it's full of good ideas.
Posted by Rita at 04:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 08, 2005
Fridge Pack consumption chain play
Our colleague, Mark Whitten from Microsoft (who looks after xbox accessories) told us about a great move to improve the consumption chain for soda drinkers.
Seems that Alcoa (yes, the aluminum people) were brainstorming about how they could get their customers to buy more aluminum. They enhanced their ruminations by following consumers around as they shopped and consumed soda.
They noticed an unusual pattern of behavior - when consumers bought soda, they seldom put the whole pack in the fridge. Instead, they would put just a few cans in the fridge. They also didn't utilize the space in back of the cans very effectively. A Eureka moment ensued, during which the Alcoa folks innovated a cardboard "fridge pack" that would encourage people to put the entire case of soda in the fridge, then to drink more soda, and ultimately to cause Coke and its competitors to buy more cans to put that soda in.
For more on the story, check out this web site:
http://www.pointforward.com/articles/news_items_fridgeAP.html
Today, the fridge pack has become something of a dominant design - at least in my local supermarket!
Posted by Rita at 03:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Presentation and communication tips for executives
In response to a reporter's question about how to make more effective presentations, I offered the following perspective on cardinal sins. These form the basis of a short session I teach in at Columbia Executive Education.
Cardinal sin #1: Present it the way you thought of it. We have all been there. A presentation that starts off with
Hi, my name is Bob, and I’d like to introduce my team of Sue, Vivek and Carrie. About 6 months ago, we were kind of.. well, asked to look into market opportunities in the regional area, and we spent some time to figure out. Anyway, you get the idea. Boring, boring boring. Far better to start off with framing the issue in your terms, as in Hi, Im Bob and I am here to explain why web-based services could be the answer to growth we have been looking for.
Cardinal sin #2: Death by PowerPoint. I know, its trendy to have flash presentations, but honestly, dancing baloneys are not equivalent to clear communication. A CEO of my acquaintance was so into PowerPoints that a recent presentation took up over eight megabytes! It didnt help make his message any more clear –in fact, last February he was fired. Get the message clear, straight and interesting and you don’t need to worry about all the gizmos and gadgets.
Cardinal sin #3: Inconsistent terminology. Frequently occurs when a team has put the presentation together. So a feature in section one becomes a benefit in section 2 and is a talking point in section 3. Confusing.
Cardinal sin #4: Fail to target to the audience. This is a big one, and a mistake that I see many executives make, even though they should know better. So they will give a technical talk to an amateur audience, or a simple show and tell to a sophisticated one. Know who the listeners are, and target appropriately.
Cardinal sin #5: Lack of energy and conviction. Who wants to listen to someone who clearly isn’t even interested in what they are saying?
Cardinal sin #6: Reporting the data, not interpreting it. If you’re going to use numbers, tell us why we should care. What does a 3% increase in market share mean? What does a rise in working capital mean? If you can’t translate the raw data into something meaningful for your listeners, they will tune you out.
A hugely important part of effective executive communication is authentic story-telling. At Columbia Business School, we spend a ton of time teaching executives how to more effectively tell their stories. In fact, we build the development of a leadership statement into many of our executive education courses. A leadership statement answers three pivotal questions:
1. What do I stand for as a leader
2. How does this connect to what the organization is doing?
3. What does this mean for you, the listener?
I’m going to be leading a group through this exercise in December. Such an experience can be quite emotional, and that positive emotion flows back into the presentation.
We also bring in actors to help executives learn to make not just a factual, but an emotional and symbolic connection to their listeners.
Posted by Rita at 02:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Silent day in Bali
I learned this from a participant in a Columbia Executive Education program (Creating Breakthrough Strategy. He runs a luxury hotel there (the Hotel Padma Bali). He told our group about a tradition in Bali that I had never heard of. To ward off evil spirits, the entire island goes completely silent for one day a year -- apparently the Evil Ones are then fooled into thinking it is uninhabited and leave the residents alone. So no TV, phones, driving, nothing. Although it's tough on ordinary people, apparently it's great for the hotel business. After all, says my colleague, "where are they going to go?".
Posted by Rita at 02:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 05, 2005
Bad news early warnings business academics
I ran across a posting actually recruiting candidates into a school's Ph.D. program in Management. This is very bad news for the field - I remember when I first joined, there were about 5 jobs for every graduating Ph.D. student. Today, not so great, and it is clearly showing up in the pipeline. Consider it an early warning of a shrinking field. Wonder what the second order effects will be?
Posted by Rita at 12:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
