May 8, 2009 | Marketing, Uncategorized
In a recent blog I mused about the business model of the newspaper industry, wondering if it could survive , given the inroads of the web. It is also reasonable to ask if the e-paper can survive without the paper version.
How hard wired is the behavior that leads to people relating to the paper version, and is there a mid point like Amazons Kindle?
The brands that the e-papers are seeking to leverage are all the result of the old version, none have so far made anything of a dent in the task of building a newspaper brand in cyberspace.
I think this tells us something about the manner in which humans like to relate to brands, preferable if they are physical in some way, the impact of a tactile experience with a product imprints the brand better than an “e-experience” alone
May 6, 2009 | Demand chains
The uneven distribution of power in a supply chain is the norm. To move beyond simple supply to a value chain, or further to a demand chain, the decision making power needs to be distributed more evenly through the chain via collaborative mechanisms.
The ultimate collaborative mechanism is transparency of information, which puts decision making at the point where it adds most value to the operator at that point in the chain, as well as maximising the value to the whole chain, particularly to the end consumer. It removes the pricing power that accumulates with information at points of arbitrage in a chain.
May 6, 2009 | Demand chains
Two weeks ago, on coming to an agreement with a new client, sealed with a handshake, I indicated I would send him a letter that outlined our agreement. Pretty standard practice in my industry, but his response surprised me.
He asked ” do we need our agreement in writing because you do not trust me, or is it because you do not warrant my trust?”
Recovering from that was interesting, and it remined me that trust, emerging from the behaviour of the parties, is the basis of all successful demand chains.
Contracts codify expected behavior, and specify what is allowed, and what is not. By inference, if it is not stated as being banned, it is OK, and vice versa.
What does that do to the very basis of successful and mutually beneficial relationships: trust?
If you cannot trust someone, having a contract will not change that, it just outlines the basis on which the sanctions will be applied.
May 4, 2009 | Strategy
All of my four kids were elite athletes, petty unusual in one family, particularly as the sports they excelled in were different.
Apart from being naturally very good athletes, and being prepared to work very hard, they have one common trait: They all visualised the “finish line”, and the route to get there.
My daughter, a gymnast would close her eyes, and physically move through the whole routine on the floor, before mounting the apparatus, my youngest a butterfly swimmer, would stand behind the blocks, eyes closed, and get the rhythm of the stroke going, (looked a bit weird) and the other two, in their way would do the same for their sport.
Try the same thing in your business, visualise the end point, think and “feel” your way through the steps, do it again and again, and succeeding becomes the normal state of affairs, rather than something unusual.
May 4, 2009 | Uncategorized
This post follows up on the thoughts posted yesterday. Considering where the responsability for management failure lies, I started thinking about the experience currently being wasted by those unwillingly sitting on the sidelines, for any number of resaons.
Tough times call for tough minded decisions, informed by the wisdom of experience, not just the numbers and economics.
Many of those now fronting organisations are products of the last decade of good times, they have not seen the tough ones, at least from a perspective of having the responsibility to make the decisions.
The experience and wisdom to manage the current difficulties is sitting around wondering what to do in their semi retirement. The batch of baby boomers, born 1946 to 1952 are often underemployed and bored, early retirement, winding down towards retirement (often unwillingly) or having been impacted by the substantial removal of management layers that has occurred in the last 15 years has affected them to a disproportinate degree . Unlike their fathers, they are looking to another 25 years of life, and many are unused to inactivity, and are looking for outlets.
As young adults they were the most active and intellectually inquisitive generation in history, questioning the status quo in ways that shocked their parents, Vietnam, Rock n roll, and feminism to name the three most obvious manifestations of this energy.
What makes you think they are now happy to sit on the verandah and watch the grass grow? Why not seek their wisdom, after all, they have seen a few recessions in their time.
