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Monthly Archives: January 2011
Business purpose revisited
I’ve written a bit over time about the value of a unifying business purpose, the way it can unify and motivate the stakeholders of an enterprise, often beyond the boundaries of just employees. It is all easy to say, but … Continue reading
Easy decision matrix.
A couple of years ago working with the CEO of a family company as it struggled for commercial sustainability in an increasingly hostile environment, we came up with a 3 part package by which to judge all the competing priorities … Continue reading
Posted in Management, Strategy
Tagged Management, managing yourself, performance assessment, Strategy
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Lean & Six sigma sustain each other.
Lean is at its core a management system, a holistic way of looking at the way an enterprise manages itself through a culture tuned to improvement, group and personal responsability, while six sigma is a quantitative process of managing in … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Collaboration, Customers, Lean, OE, Operations
Tagged change management, collaboration, lean, Operations, performance assessment
1 Comment
Management and power
Being in a position of senior management offers the opportunity for the exercise of power, and as we know, power corrupts. But why should it be so, and how can we protect ourselves, and our colleagues from the adverse impacts … Continue reading
Australia Day reconsidered.
Amidst all the public utterances on Australia Day by elected representatives keen to be seen for a moment on the tele, in print, or lauded in the blogosphere, calling for a wiser, more compassionate, considerate, and outward thinking Australia, ….. … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Personal Rant, Strategy
Tagged Change, change management, climate change, Leadership, performance assessment, Personal Rant
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Successful on-line communities require a promise
Linux started with a promise, one that formed the basis of what has become a major player in the server operating system market, with a current share somewhere around 45%. Linus Torvalds back in 1991 posted the following message on … Continue reading
Posted in Collaboration, Communication, Social Media
Tagged collaboration, communication, customer, Social Media
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Lean operations undermine “offshoring?”.
Some time ago I mused that perhaps the worm was slowing if not turning, in relation to local manufacturing, rather than buying in from China as the default option. The crisis in the US, far worse than anything in this … Continue reading
Posted in Demand chains, Management, OE, Operations, Strategy
Tagged Change, demand chain, lean, Management, Strategy, Value chain
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Creativity and Innovation.
Often these two terms are used interchangeably, as synonyms, but that are not. Creativity is a part of the process of innovation, an integral and key part, but nevertheless, just a part. It is, as Sir Ken Robinson so memorably … Continue reading
Marketing & Demand Chain Transparency
The retailer Patagonia has as a part of its corporate values a reverence for the environment, it is a core part of their corporate values, and highly relevant to their target market. They wear their hearts on their electronic sleeves … Continue reading
Posted in Customers, Demand chains, Marketing, Social Media
Tagged climate change, collaboration, communication, customer, demand chain, Marketing, retailer, Social Media, Value chain
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Search Engine Optimisation paradox
There are lots of people flogging various digitally sophisticated SEO techniques, and they appear to be making a living. However, it seems to me that after all this time most key words worth having, have been taken, registered, and everyone … Continue reading
Posted in Branding, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy
Tagged Branding, communication, Marketing, performance assessment, Social Media
1 Comment
Social media coming of age
Social media to many “50 something’s” who run most of our large businesses, is just code for wasting time that should be spent productively, but the reality is that social media is rapidly evolving into a potent business tool in several … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Marketing, Social Media
Tagged Change, collaboration, communication, Innovation, Marketing, Social Media
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Drivers of Innovation
Pixar is amongst the great “innovation factories” of recent decades, along with PARC, 3M, Apple, and a very few others. Part of what makes Pixar so effective is a question answered in this McKinsey interview with Brad Bird, the director … Continue reading
Posted in Collaboration, Innovation, Leadership, Marketing, Strategy
Tagged collaboration, customer, Innovation, Leadership, Strategy
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Banks miss the boat?
If I were managing a business in financial services, I would be asking myself if I had missed the second wave of the “net-boat” that is rapidly becoming a force in financial services. Banks and other financial institutions have reduced … Continue reading
Posted in Customers, Innovation, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy
Tagged customer, Innovation, Marketing, performance assessment, retailer, Social Media, Strategy
1 Comment
Know what you do not know
A great irony amongst the many I see, is that the skills required to produce a right answer are exactly the skills you need to recognise what a right answer looks like. Put another way, our incompetence in a field … Continue reading
Posted in Management, Uncategorized
Tagged communication, Management, performance assessment, Personal Rant
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Collaboration tools
Ideo is an ideas factory, its stock in trade is ideas and the resulting products, that others commercialise. As such, it has been a lab or case study in how to innovate as they have grown. As a small business, … Continue reading
Posted in Innovation, Leadership, Social Media
Tagged collaboration, Innovation, Leadership, Social Media
2 Comments
Customers as your sales force
Word of mouth advertising has always been the best sort, people put great store in recommendations from those they trust. The extension of this recently has been what I call “word of mouse” advertising, enabled by the networking capabilities of … Continue reading
Posted in Customers, Marketing, Sales
Tagged communication, Marketing, Sales, Social Media
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Green business initiatives of 2010.
The “green revolution” may be denied by many, failing in the Parliament, and not engaging consumers as their utilities bills increase, but it is happening around us anyway. The world is greening, despite the best efforts of many to avoid … Continue reading
What goes ’round comes ’round
Australian manufacturing has been decimated over the last few decades, and whilst there is no single reason for this impact, the determination of the major retailers to use the opening of global sourcing options to reduce their costs and compete … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Customers, Personal Rant, Sales, Small business
Tagged category management, Change, customer, demand chain, lean, Marketing, Personal Rant, retailer, Sales, supply chain
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Intellectual Capital and the crowd.
The Microsoft business model has resisted all efforts to introduce open innovation practices into its markets, and many would argue, has stunted its growth and innovative potential as a result. How rapidly things can change, even when you resist from … Continue reading
Posted in Collaboration, Innovation, Marketing, Social Media
Tagged collaboration, customer, Innovation, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy
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Performance appraisal time…. Already?.
New year usually signals it is time for one of the most misused management tools to be pulled out of the box again, the dreaded performance appraisal. Done well, a system to manage the performance of employees, and their managers … Continue reading
Posted in Management
Tagged change management, communication, Leadership, managing yourself, performance assessment
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