If you're interested in the real deal on al-Qaeda, you MUST check out Peter Taylor's new series. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/4683403.stm
This guy really knows his stuff - he's done series on the Troubles in Northern Ireland before (from all three perspectives - IRA, Loyalists, the brits) plus a previous one on al-Qaeda (see my previous post with a URL for this).
First episode, catchily called Jihad.com, was gripping and made me incredulous that so many jihadis or jihadist sympathisers have been allowed to come to the UK (or even given asylum here) and then allowed to host websites calling for jihad against their hosts and allies! Unreal!
Much as I hate the right-wingers like the Daily Mail I have to agree that it's time say free speech is being abused and lines have to be drawn. Mine would be - give your opinion, but you can't call for violence against anyone, full stop.
U.S.-type First Amendment rights are a right and a privilege, but once they're abused it's time to say you have to use them responsibly or lose their free use.
End of!
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Make-To-Order is spreading
Ok, so this isn't exactly new, but it's spreading to more and more industries.
What made me want to write about this was an article in The Guardian -http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1530503,00.html - about Subway, the sandwich chain. One of the keys to their success versus other fast food chains is make-to-order customisation. Although the burger guys do allow you to say "no this" or that, very few people choose that. And you can't truly order any combo you want. Oh and the fact Subway's stuff is supposedly (haven't tried it myself) very tasty and fresh (which helps them beat the little guy sandwich shops still doing tuna-and-mayo as their most exciting filling.)
Ditto Starbucks - their range of customisable bits seems to me (I could be wrong) bigger than their rivals and definitely better explained - they keep coming out with new leaflets and signs encouraging you to say words like "skinny" and "wet" when ordering (partly at least in the hope you'll add siomething on at extra cost).
But, as we all know, dear blogonauts, MTO ain't new - new cars have been customisable (build-to-order) for some time - BMW and Mercedes have done it 100% for years, partly 'cause it makes sense to build to order - as you know you're gonna sell it - instead of the "churn 'em-out-and-hope-they-sell" of mass car production just to utilise capacity. Now, though, they're all trying to get closer to MTO and reduce capacity to improve profitability.
Ditto computers - Dell's model MTO model has seen a step-change in the industry model because it made sense for the same reason as car MTO does. What they've successfully done is build in other efficiencies around that - web-ordering, platforms, limited range of options which together make up lots of possibilities.
So where's next? Any complacent mature industry where competitive advantage from a breakthrough can be held for some time due to the sluggishness of competitors.
Personally, my logical extension of this for newspapers is the vision of going to your newsagent (or a vending machine at a commuter station) and pressing buttons for which sections you want (or maybe even which bits of a variety of titles) and having them printed off there and then, folded and stapled. You pay only for what you want! Price could be per section.
Wanna browse and enjoy happenstance? Choose the "whole thing" or "randomize" button to get whole papers or bits of each. The whole thing could also be up-to-date by getting constant updates from the web - so your morning paper wouldn't have last night's news - it would have the news as it was when you bought it. That would at least help compete against web news.
Why do this when you can get online news on the go now? Simple - we still buy paper things to hold and read because we like them (parly for convenience - when did your paper last run out of power?) But research shows youngsters now are just as happy online, so maybe the market for this will diminish. It'll also depend on the availability of wireless networks on transport, which are predicted to increase (but we'll see how reliable they prove to be).
So, why is MTO such a big thing? Because it's way more customer-focussed than build-and-hope and being customer-focussed is an essential tool for survival in a world full of Schumpterian competition.
[Here endeth today's marketing lecture! ; O ]
What made me want to write about this was an article in The Guardian -http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1530503,00.html - about Subway, the sandwich chain. One of the keys to their success versus other fast food chains is make-to-order customisation. Although the burger guys do allow you to say "no this" or that, very few people choose that. And you can't truly order any combo you want. Oh and the fact Subway's stuff is supposedly (haven't tried it myself) very tasty and fresh (which helps them beat the little guy sandwich shops still doing tuna-and-mayo as their most exciting filling.)
Ditto Starbucks - their range of customisable bits seems to me (I could be wrong) bigger than their rivals and definitely better explained - they keep coming out with new leaflets and signs encouraging you to say words like "skinny" and "wet" when ordering (partly at least in the hope you'll add siomething on at extra cost).
But, as we all know, dear blogonauts, MTO ain't new - new cars have been customisable (build-to-order) for some time - BMW and Mercedes have done it 100% for years, partly 'cause it makes sense to build to order - as you know you're gonna sell it - instead of the "churn 'em-out-and-hope-they-sell" of mass car production just to utilise capacity. Now, though, they're all trying to get closer to MTO and reduce capacity to improve profitability.
Ditto computers - Dell's model MTO model has seen a step-change in the industry model because it made sense for the same reason as car MTO does. What they've successfully done is build in other efficiencies around that - web-ordering, platforms, limited range of options which together make up lots of possibilities.
So where's next? Any complacent mature industry where competitive advantage from a breakthrough can be held for some time due to the sluggishness of competitors.
Personally, my logical extension of this for newspapers is the vision of going to your newsagent (or a vending machine at a commuter station) and pressing buttons for which sections you want (or maybe even which bits of a variety of titles) and having them printed off there and then, folded and stapled. You pay only for what you want! Price could be per section.
Wanna browse and enjoy happenstance? Choose the "whole thing" or "randomize" button to get whole papers or bits of each. The whole thing could also be up-to-date by getting constant updates from the web - so your morning paper wouldn't have last night's news - it would have the news as it was when you bought it. That would at least help compete against web news.
Why do this when you can get online news on the go now? Simple - we still buy paper things to hold and read because we like them (parly for convenience - when did your paper last run out of power?) But research shows youngsters now are just as happy online, so maybe the market for this will diminish. It'll also depend on the availability of wireless networks on transport, which are predicted to increase (but we'll see how reliable they prove to be).
So, why is MTO such a big thing? Because it's way more customer-focussed than build-and-hope and being customer-focussed is an essential tool for survival in a world full of Schumpterian competition.
[Here endeth today's marketing lecture! ; O ]
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Corporate governance latest - say hello to Jail Mr Ebbers!
So, large slices of schadenfreude all round as Bernie Ebbers gets used to some very new surroundings http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4680221.stm
Can't say I have one iota of sympathy for the guy - he doesn't deserve any. Anyone who can have enough hubris to think he can get away with what he tried deserves 25 years of clink for taking the p*** with shareholders' money. And all the other C-Suite arrogant types who've been caught out these last few years (think Martha Stewart, Jeff Skilling et al), too.
What do they have in common, apart from being alumni of the Leona Helmsley School of PR (remember her? - "only little people pay taxes"? ) ? Arrogance in spades from lives and careers in which they've probably regularly got away with illegal/immoral stuff and therefore begun to believe that they really are above the law and can do anything they want.
And that's an unhealthy cultural paradigm not unique to these guys. They just happen to be the ones who got caught.
Look at all the Wall St settlements lately - they clearly show they're almost all at it ALL the time! Trouble is they think because they can get away with it most of the time, it's ok. Essentially they have a Spartan code of ethics - it's not what you do, it's getting caught that's punished.
Remedy for all this? More ethics classes in top schools (get them early) and make it compulsory on all MBA courses. Plus high-profile ads on TV reminding financial folks they're being watched - as the ICAC in Hong Kong used to do (their ads featured businessmen being jailed for corruption). They built up real fear among business people which deterred those who could be. Those who will do it regardless will never be deterred. Let Eliot Sptizer and Co. deal with them.
As for Mr Ebbers, well Bernie, we have news for you - the shower soap ain't in a gold dish any longer and you better be careful when you reach down for it cowboy!
Can't say I have one iota of sympathy for the guy - he doesn't deserve any. Anyone who can have enough hubris to think he can get away with what he tried deserves 25 years of clink for taking the p*** with shareholders' money. And all the other C-Suite arrogant types who've been caught out these last few years (think Martha Stewart, Jeff Skilling et al), too.
What do they have in common, apart from being alumni of the Leona Helmsley School of PR (remember her? - "only little people pay taxes"? ) ? Arrogance in spades from lives and careers in which they've probably regularly got away with illegal/immoral stuff and therefore begun to believe that they really are above the law and can do anything they want.
And that's an unhealthy cultural paradigm not unique to these guys. They just happen to be the ones who got caught.
Look at all the Wall St settlements lately - they clearly show they're almost all at it ALL the time! Trouble is they think because they can get away with it most of the time, it's ok. Essentially they have a Spartan code of ethics - it's not what you do, it's getting caught that's punished.
Remedy for all this? More ethics classes in top schools (get them early) and make it compulsory on all MBA courses. Plus high-profile ads on TV reminding financial folks they're being watched - as the ICAC in Hong Kong used to do (their ads featured businessmen being jailed for corruption). They built up real fear among business people which deterred those who could be. Those who will do it regardless will never be deterred. Let Eliot Sptizer and Co. deal with them.
As for Mr Ebbers, well Bernie, we have news for you - the shower soap ain't in a gold dish any longer and you better be careful when you reach down for it cowboy!
Saturday, July 09, 2005
Just adding a photo!
Yes, here indeed is the proud moment from my MBA graduation in May 2004.So any of you out there who don't think you can hold done a tough job and get yourself an MBA at the same time, think again!
It takes a lot of hard work, some money (maybe not as much as you think) and sheer determination. Oh and a few grey cells help, too. But you don't have to be a genius - just use what you were born with.
The Open University Business School makes it possible by having courses designed to be done in 12-15 hours a week - to fit in with your ordinary life. Click the link to find out more! http://www.oubs.open.ac.uk/
[End of advert!]
Monday, July 04, 2005
Where to start?
Hello to the blogosphere!
Well, it's taken me a while to catch on to all this kinda thing, but any opportunity to share intelligent debate with like-minded individuals, whoever and wherever they are, is always welcome!
Whatever you think of what I'm gonna say, be sure it's from the heart (and the head) and not designed to cause offence - at worst to make you reconsider your own assumptions and prejudices. Who knows, it might even improve your life!
Alan
Well, it's taken me a while to catch on to all this kinda thing, but any opportunity to share intelligent debate with like-minded individuals, whoever and wherever they are, is always welcome!
Whatever you think of what I'm gonna say, be sure it's from the heart (and the head) and not designed to cause offence - at worst to make you reconsider your own assumptions and prejudices. Who knows, it might even improve your life!
Alan
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