Is Facebooks ‘moat’ the best ever built?
Building a moat seems an odd metaphor in a strategy and marketing post. Some explanation of moats may help. My personal definition of marketing has been 'The identification, development, protection and leveraging of competitive advantage'. Not a...
What have Facebook and Marjory Stoneman Douglas got in common?
Beyond the usual menu of war and pestilence in the Middle East, and which celebrity is bonking which, that usually dominate the headlines, two very significant items have emerged over the last short period. The reaction of students at the Marjory Stoneman...
6 customer service clichés deconstructed.
It seems that every time I pony up for another insurance bill, I get one of those customer satisfaction surveys emailed within 24 hours, asking a few inane questions about my 'experience' and the level of service I received. There is no room to say it was...
Is your mentor asking you these 8 key questions?
Successful people can always point to one, or a few people who over the years have contributed to their success. A great mentor does not tell you what to do, or how to do it, rather they examine motivations, objectives and options to help you determine...
What do Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Smith have in common?
It seems on the surface little, but when you look at it more closely, a lot. Both are (or were) leaders, who found themselves in that place through performance, and the promise of more to come. Both are young, and you cannot put an old head on young...
Am I (as accused) just a cranky old curmudgeon?
SME network meetings can be very useful, and sometimes amusing, as well as being a considerable consumer of time and patience. They often seem to be infested with 'life coaches' and various brands of 'personal coach'. Coaching plays a crucial role in all...
What retailers can learn from the Game of Thrones
The 'Game of Thrones' series is an unlikely metaphor for Australian FMCG retail. There are however commonalities. Intrigue, politics, intense competition, vendettas, invasion by 'wildlings,' dumb decisions motivated by ego, desperate defence of the status...
The formula for trust, and how to lose it.
Building trust is a process, long term, incremental, and very fragile. Trust given has always been earned, it is never just 'given'. Sometimes trust applies to institutions. We expect anyone holding office in an institution to act in particular ways that...
Cambridge Analytica and Facebook stretch the boundaries of digital privacy.. Further…Again
The Channel 4 expose of Cambridge Analytica last week has started a firestorm of commentary. Rightly so, but is it not ironic that the tools CA used to swing the US presidential election are now being used against them after the tactics were revealed?...
Why Wesfarmers is taking Coles through the checkout
It is no great surprise to me that Wesfarmers are spinning off the Coles supermarket business, and associated liquor and variety businesses. It also makes sense that they are keeping Officeworks and Bunnings, both stunningly successful businesses in...