Business ecosystems tend to evolve into a dynamic equilibrium where all of the parties divide a growing pie — think Windows/Intel for much of the past few decades. However, when the core business model of one of the players is threatened, look for all of the players in the ecosystem to look for ways to reposition themselves for survival. As an interesting case study, check out this story about the Associated Press, the cooperative-owned news organization.
I was talking to a friend at a holiday party over the weekend. He recently left his company because they wanted to change his compensation plan to pure commission. He had been brought into the company to develop the federal government market for a company which had zero sales to the government. Despite several early…
I've had two recent customer experiences that completely baffle me. First, I had to go jump through hoops to get a tiny service fee refunded from my bank for my personal account. Their service rep quoted policy after policy about why they couldn't refund the fee. Yet when I indicated that I would move my…
Newly identified problems with fasteners will further delay the Boeing 787 Dreamliner program (full story here at WSJ). What does this story tell us about business models and strategic risk?
This week’s post is dedicated to Muriel Summers, Principal of A.B. Combs Leadership Magnet Elementary School in Raleigh, North Carolina. This week, A.B. Combs was named the number one magnet school in the U.S. — an award that they have now won twice. We are blessed that both of our daughters have grown up at A.B….
“We never get any complaints about that.” This notion is one of the most aggravating statements I hear from business leaders. In many cases, customers don’t take the time to complain. Rather than tell you that they didn’t like their experience, they simply leave and do not come back. Hence the term: the non-existent customer…
Question: My service is really based on intangibles. How do I set my fees when I’m not delivering anything tangible? There are several ways during a client conversation to assess the value of intangibles. I’ll cover those down below. But first, there is a fundamental mindset shift you must make. This is critical. Value is…
