In an article that appeared the other day on CNBC, reporter Cadie Thompson mulls over the effects of all these on-demand companies that make their money by connecting people with tasks to be done or… Read more »
Thought Sparks
Lost that Lovin’ Feeling? Target (and other) CEO’s try to get the love back
In my column over at Fortune, I note that a common pattern for companies who get themselves into trouble is that they somehow ‘lose touch’ with their customers. I attribute this in many ways to… Read more »
4 Ways To Improve Unproductive Meetings
In my Experts column at the Wall Street Journal, I describe the kinds of behavior that sap energy, time and general usefulness out of meetings, and suggest four specific remedies. Have a look.
Why the failure of Google Glass Might be a Boon to Google
It’s official. The nerdy glasses with augmented reality and all kinds of image capturing technologies have been pulled from the market. Already, the pundits are dissecting what went wrong. It is indeed a juicy story,… Read more »
Porter and McGrath on the same program at the Dong-A Business forum in Korea
I’m often asked whether there is any debate between Michael E. Porter and myself, since he is so strongly associated with the concept of sustainable competitive advantage. So I was wondering whether it would come… Read more »
We were poor, but we didn’t know it – new transparency at #GPDF14
A topic of discussion at the Global Peter Drucker Forum last week was the effect that widespread digital information has on less well-off people’s views of their own situations. In the past, it was possible… Read more »
Links to International Editions of End of Competitive Advantage
It’s gratifying to see that the ideas in The End of Competitive Advantage are starting to get traction in various parts of the world. Clicking on the links below should take you to the site… Read more »
Pressuring customers for profits can be a loser in the long term
I was recently asked by a reporter whether there are times when a company is too generous to its customers. The company in question was JetBlue, and the issue was whether perhaps it was being… Read more »
Stop expecting applause for just doing your job!
It happened again this morning – after taking my car to get some necessary maintenance, I received a breathlessly enthusiastic email asking whether I had any reason not to be thrillingly ecstatic with the service… Read more »
Whither golf? The iconic old boy’s game facing erosion?
If you spend any amount of time at corporate retreats, offsites and workshops, as I do, golf is ubiquitous. Bonding takes place on the course, the post-game conviviality is shared, and team-building exercises pairing golfers… Read more »
Don’t listen to what your customers say, watch how they behave
I am often asked by companies with whom I work whether focus groups, surveys or customer panels are useful in learning what customers want and more importantly, what they will pay for. Sure, these techniques… Read more »
Colleague Jerry Kim on why Apple may be moving from products to platforms
In my Columbia Business School Executive Education course, Leading Strategic Growth and Change, Jerry Kim shares his research on platform versus product strategies and the pluses and minuses of the two. Rather counterintuitively, he proposed… Read more »