The 5 strategic dimensions of price
Setting prices is one of the most challenging, but often sidelined management decisions. Given that price has more impact on the bottom line than any other single factor, it is crazy that it is so often left until the last moment, or to a superficial...
What is the most universal and useful management tool of all?
Easy question. '5 whys'. 5 Whys was first articulated by Toyota's architect of the TPS, Taiichi Ohno in the 50's, but it was not new. Anyone who has had children has been on the receiving end of a form of the '5 whys' from about two and a half years old,...
How do you solve a critical problem?
Define the problem first! Dealing with problems effectively requires that you first define the problem. This sounds pretty obvious, so obvious in fact that many do not think about it, they just persist with workarounds that address the symptoms, without...
A marketers rant about ‘content porn’
Content has become a marketing buzzword delivering a tsunami of crap into our inboxes, cluttering up our phones, and potentially delivering all sorts of nasty surprises if we open them. Content started as a great idea, suddenly we could communicate...
Jack is back!!
Tesco in the UK is in the launch phase of a discount chain, 'Jacks' as a competitive response to the inroads of German discounters Aldi and Lidl. I can only assume Coles and Woolies management are watching with interest, as they have yet to find a...
How much should I spend on that winning that tender?
That is a common question, which requires some rephrasing to be answered with anything other than 'It depends' ‘How much should I invest to increase my chances of winning that tender’ is a better question. Would you spend 20k to have a 50/50 chance...
Content quality trumps quantity, every time!
Marketers have always created 'Content' as a means to raise awareness, motivate an action, build a brand. It is what they do in an effort to hook into the behavioural patterns of their customers in order to build a relationship and generate revenue. Human...
A simple measure of innovation
Innovation is a challenging term to define. One man’s innovation is another's line extension. About the only thing that is clear is that innovation is not R&D, the creation of original knowledge. Innovation is the process that takes that...
Customer value conforms to the laws of Thermodynamics
Theoretical Physicists disagree on a lot, but one thing they do agree on is that matter is constant, it does not disappear, it can undergo changes of form, and become something different, but is not destroyed. Value is like matter, it does not disappear,...
The online advertising fantasy revealed
The web gives us huge value, piles of stuff we want that we think we need, for free. Or is it? The web is fuelled by advertising. Pure and simple. The 'free ' stuff we get is really in exchange for our eyeballs, not because there is some benevolent...