There but for the grace…
Here is something that should scare the pants off any thinking Australian. Into the last week of an election campaign notable by the lack of anything notable, apart perhaps from the diligent application to the pork barrel to marginal seats in Queensland, and a...
A retailers nightmare
How do you compare prices in a range of stores when standing in the aisle of your local supermarket? The easy answer now, is "on your iphone". A crowd called Red Laser have an app that scans the code, compares the product/price to others scanned (presumably there is...
Gender equality; how?
There is lots of hand-wringing going on again about gender equality in the executive suite the boardroom, and particularly the political arena. All thinking people recognise the value of ensuring half our population has the opportunity to maximise the return to...
The “Banksters” are back
"Banksters", an emotive term coined by Father Charles Coughlin, a commentator in the early thirties as the practices of bankers and financiers during the boom in the lead up to the Wall Street crash in late 1929. It seems that the Banksters are back in 2010 as the...
Rule of thirds
Sitting around many board and advisory tables over the years, I have observed that those that are successful follow what I have started to call the rule of thirds. Actually, there are four rules, but the first is generic to all meetings: have an agenda, follow it,...
Bringing it home
Perhaps I am dreaming, but there appears to be a "nudge" (not yet a trend) amongst the manufacturing firms I talk to towards a review of the cost/benefit of overseas sourcing of manufactured products. At the end of the spectrum where ownership of IP, and innovation...
Politics is just marketing.
Watching the current federal election campaign from both major parties, it seems they both should go back to marketing 101, and consider what it takes to engage with those to whom you want to sell something. Both to my mind are failing badly to create a brand that...
Our political failure
The accepted "cabinet" processes, where robust, non-personalised debate occurs in camera leading to a conclusion, hopefully based on a combination of qualitative and qualitative data, followed by all members supporting the final determination appears to be gone in...
Information scales
Access to information before anyone else has it is Gold, access at the same time as everybody else is just staying in the game, essential, but it will never be a winning edge. A small advantage at some point, can be built into a substantial advantage quickly as the...
3 ways to market through the cycle
Many businesses are sorely tempted to drastically reduce marketing expenditure during a downturn, it is often the most visible, and usually the least understood item in the P&L. The evidence indicates that you should be keeping spending up. Time and time again we...