Jul 22, 2010 | Branding, Communication, Innovation, Marketing, Social Media
It will be fascinating to watch how Apple, the masters of digital marketing, handle the latest hiccup with the antenna problems on the iPhone4.
Apple has now stumbled twice in a short time, the first was the furore over the wages paid to employees at Foxconn, one of their major suppliers factories in China, leading to an unusually high suicide level, and now the dodgy antenna story, furiously being stirred by Apples grateful competitors.
The speed that such problems emerge and are all over the user communities has outstripped the response times of even the most sensitive and paranoid of businesses, and now it appears that Apple is going in to defiant mode by using Steve Jobs to front the problem and say, in effect, “all smart phones suffer from the same problem, we are no worse than the others.”
Apple has grown in an extraordinary way for the last decade, tapping in to the mindset of the early adopters to become apostles for their brand and products, and by being consistently first out there with a product that delivers a highly differentiated proposition. The Apple brand is now a very tall poppy indeed, and attracts attention, so they had better be careful that the legions of fans who have fed the myth do not turn around and bite it, because their hero shows themselves to be fallible, and therefore not worthy of being their hero, in fact, it becomes a source of satirical comment that speeds the process of brand erosion.
Such loyalty scorned can turn nasty very quickly.
Jul 21, 2010 | Category, Customers, Sales
So much choice in everything we do, isn’t that great?
Maybe not.
There is so much choice in most things that now we are running the risk of paralysis, procrastination, and often, we just walk away.
Barry Schwartz, a psychologist and terrific communicator puts the hypothesis that in western societies, less choice would make us happier, a view somewhat at odds with the conventional wisdom that greater choice is one of the great benefits of economic and social development.
Consider what is happening in supermarkets. Retailers are setting out to drive category growth, suppliers are fighting each other for a share of the existing, and the growth, usually by line extensions, and each wonder why all the activity leads to the same sized cake being cut up a bit differently but at great cost to all parties.
Perhaps the array of choice is causing the potential growth to turn around and walk out the door, confused and uncertain?
Jul 20, 2010 | Leadership
People stress over money, how much they have, how hard it is to make it, what others make, how much the house is worth, how much the share portfolio has tanked, and so on.
The reality is that money is just a scorecard, an entirely one dimensional method of comparing one of the many forms of wealth across individuals and institutions.
What of the other forms of “wealth”?
Friendship, good health, respect, time to follow a passion, reciprocated love, intelligent conversation, access to great books, the list goes on.
Pre-occupation with the one dimensional scoring mechanism is counter to the way humans evolved, where community, mutual assistance, and sharing were the driving forces. Our wealth of money seems to have eroded our wealth in all other respects, for all but the lucky few, or is it just the few who recognise the dilemma and work on it?.
Perhaps coincidentally, great leaders, those who appeal to our emotions, who inspire us, open our minds, and persuade by their actions, appear to have little use for money beyond satisfying the basic needs of life.
Jul 19, 2010 | Customers, Operations
In Australia, the major chains are seeking ways to expand their scope of activities, and staying within the Trade Practices Act is increasingly difficult given the dominance of the “big two”, and now the “rest” have further consolidated with the take-over of Franklins by Metcash.
Logistics costs in Australia are very high, given the centralisation of manufacturing, and the long distances, so the initiative of Wal-Mart in the US, and Wal-mart owned ASDA in the UK is significant to the planning of Australian manufacturers.
It is only a matter of time before Australian supermarket executives start looking harder for competitive advantage by going back through the logistic chain in an effort to reduce their costs, and enhance their competitive position. Woolworths have been very successful so far, and the further success of Wal-mart in going back down the supply chain will only prompt them again.
Jul 18, 2010 | Demand chains, OE, Operations
Two differing approaches to management improvement you may think?
Not so.
Both require extensive:
* Collaboration,
* Transparency,
* Robust processes,
* A set of values imbued through an individual organisation, and group of organisations in a demand chain,
* Respect for the capability of operator level employees to make contributions to improvement, innovation, and a,
* Safe, sustainable and productive workplace.
So how can they be so misunderstood by so many supposedly informed and perceptive commentators?
The Wall Street Journal recently published an article that stated in part “Companies like Apple and Nissan are seeing the drawbacks of lean manufacturing methods, which call for carrying little inventory but make supply snags tougher to offset”.
This statement, a highlight of the article, demonstrates profound lack of understanding of lean manufacturing and the role that customer demand plays in creating a “demand chain” that works to satisfy that demand by removing waste of all types, something most sensible customers would baulk at paying for if they knew, and had the choice.
The businesses cited, several to my surprise, have clearly not absorbed the huge difference between responding to a forecast, and gearing their operations to respond to the drivers of demand with continuously improving capability, innovative solutions to problems, and a vision that engages for the long term, rather than focussing on the latest periods financials.
