-
Categories
- 6-Sigma
- Advertising
- airlines
- Automobile Industry
- brand
- CMO
- communication
- competitive advantage
- consumer electronics
- customer loyalty
- customer satisfaction
- customer service
- Down economy
- first mover advantage
- Focus
- global warming
- growth
- Innovation
- Interviews
- Lean Thinking
- management
- market research
- Marketing
- marketing performance management
- Negotiation
- Pricing
- process management
- product development
- product introduction
- promotion
- recession
- retail
- sales
- Spending time with customers
- strategy
- Super Bowl Ads
- teams
- trade shows
- Uncategorized
- Web-based Marketing
- What
Archives
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
Blogroll
Category Archives: competitive advantage
You only have to worry about a few employees (maybe)
You were probably taught, as we were, that all naturally occurring phenomena are distributed along a “normal” or Bell curve. Take talent, for example. In this case, very untalented people would make up a small percentage of a population (say, … Continue reading
Posted in competitive advantage, management, teams, Uncategorized
Tagged employees, superstars
Leave a comment
One if by land, two if by sea … risk and instability
We love it when Boston Consulting Group agrees with us. For over ten years we have told anyone who would listen that today’s market was no longer a stable reference from which to deduce product/market strategy, and that frenetic change was making it … Continue reading
So you think you care about quality? Here’s an acid test.
My wife uses those fancy, high-end Moleskine planners, and they are very nice products. I was reading the little promotional booklet that came with her new one, and it said something that I’ve seldom seen. Each booklet is individually serial … Continue reading
Don’t forget indirect competitors
We all learn in Marketing 101 that competition can be direct or indirect. Most companies focus almost exclusively on direct competitors until they have to wake up to their indirect competitors … usually late. The beer industry is there now. … Continue reading
Posted in competitive advantage, Marketing
Tagged Beer, competition, indirect competitors, market share, shrinking beer market
Leave a comment
Excellent use of YouTube
Many people think of YouTube as a source for viral videos. But when a video by grandparents they did not even know they were creating while trying to set up a webcam, can get 8 million hits, viral may be in … Continue reading
Does business suck now? Is it your fault?
I recently wrote about how actions have consequences, and that your present business prospects have much to do with your past actions or lack thereof. In short: good times always end, and when they do it gets very hard for … Continue reading
Are you reaping the dismal results that you sowed a couple years earlier?
The story: Labor Day night I placed an online order with L.L. Bean (which went flawlessly). The next morning I woke up and decided to change the size of the item I had ordered. Calling into Bean, the person who … Continue reading
Will we kill innovation?
I live in Greenfield, Massachusetts, which due to poor planning and bone-headed decisions by town government a couple decades or so ago, is a little bit of the rust belt in New England. But it wasn’t always so! In 1912, … Continue reading
Posted in competitive advantage, Innovation
Leave a comment
What management can learn from political primaries
We are in the presidential primary season. This round, only the Republicans are having a serious primary, but there is an important lesson to be drawn from either party’s primary that’s valid for corporate management. During the primaries the base … Continue reading
Niches in stiches
What can customers buy from your company they can’t buy, or at least don’t think they can buy, from anyone else? Most companies can’t answer that question and still want to charge higher prices than their competitors. Scott Morrison, of … Continue reading
Posted in competitive advantage, Pricing, retail, What
Tagged bespoke jeans, customer jeans, Jeans, niche marketing
Leave a comment
