The genetic code of organisations.
Large organisations tend to have what is usually called their own "culture" but when you look deeper, there is a more basic form of "sameness" amongst organisations in a field, particularly those in a public field, Government departments, churches, non profits and...
“Pre mortem” beats learning
Completing an AAR, (After Action Review) is now widely practiced, effectively a commercial post mortem after any major commercial activity. Completing an AAR has been standard practice for a long time after a capital expenditure, generally called something else, but...
New verb: To “Rupert”
Rupert Murdoch's refusal to accept any responsibility for the behavior of his staff in tapping phones to get stories, was grand farce. Did he pay the pie-chucker? When compared with the actions of the MD of Arnott's some years ago when there was a poisoning scare and...
An unseemly rush to the trough.
Irrespective of your views on climate change, the carbon tax, global warming, and the need for change, the sight of all the spivs and carpetbaggers mixed amongst the crowd setting out to get their noses into the new troughs created by the Federal Governments clean...
One tiny word to alter the carbon debate.
It seems to me that the carbon "debate" currently taking place fails on the most basic level of dealing with any of the facts. It is simply a political poop throwing contest, where the only success factor in either of the protagonists minds is the level of noise they...
Politicians God Complex and the carbon tax.
We all understand the "God Complex" the situation where someone proclaims their universal truth about a complex problem. My solution is the right one, no argument!. Problem is that complex problems are really, well, complex, hard to understand, and there is rarely a...
Explicit and tacit knowledge in the national accounts
I was struck last month by the blizzard of numbers and alternative views presented as a part of the release of the national accounts. The economy was down, but the floods in QLD and Vic had largely caused the problem and was it short term only, consumer spending was...
Socialising branding
Procter & Gamble is a huge branded consumer business, but seems to be able to maintain the agility and innovation capability of an SME. Supermarket retailers have to be nervous when they display a determination to build a direct business model for their brands,...
Branding evolution
There is a new boy on the block to match Colgate, P&G, and other international brand owners, but one who does not play fair, one who controls access to consumers, removing their options of choice. Tesco. A retailer with the clout of Tesco that comes from its...
Brands as patterns
Brands are not uniform things, they are an amalgam of all sorts of contributing factors, patterns of attraction, that together make up an experience. People recognise and relate to brands in a very personal way, and in the age of net communication, the opportunity to...