BLOG OF ADAM HARTUNG
Why Google Plus is a Big Minus for Investors
Google rolled out its newest social media product this week. Unfortuntately for Google investors, this is not a good thing. Internet usage is changing. Dramatically. Once the web was the world's largest library, and simultaneously the world's biggest...
Precipice of success, or failure? – Don’t buy Cisco
Will Cisco be like Apple and go on to continued greatness? Or will it be more like Sun Microsystems? The answer isn't clear yet, but the negatives are looking a lot clearer than the positives. Cisco grew like the internet - because it supplied a lot of the...
Why Dell Won’t Grow – SELL DELL
Dell is a dog. From $25/share a decade ago the company rose to around $40/share around 2005, only to collapse. The stock now trades around $15, rising from recent lows of about $10. The company's value is only $30B, only half revenues of $61B,...
Why Apple is worth more than Wal-Mart – it’s about the future, not the past
Apple's market value has struggled in 2011. When I ask people why, the overwhelming top 3 responses are: How can a company nearly bankrupt 10 years ago become the second most valuable company on the equity market? Apple has had a long run, isn't it about to end?...
Identifying the Good, Bad and Ugly – From Apple, Netflix to Google, Cisco and RIM, Microsoft
Were you ever told "pretty is as pretty does?" This homily means "don't just look at the surface, it's the underlying qualities that matter." When I read analyst reviews of companies I'm often struck by how fascinated they are with the surface, and how...
Status Quo Police – Innovation Killers
Nobody admits to being the innovation killer in a company. But we know they exist. Some these folks "dinosaurs that won't change." Others blame "the nay-saying 'Dr. No' middle managers." But when you meet these people, they won't admit to being...
Avoid Value Traps – Sell Dell and Hewlett Packard
In "Screening Large Cap Value Stocks" 24x7WallSt.com tries making the investment case for Dell. And backhandedly, for Hewlett Packard. The argument is as simple as both companies were once growing, but growth slowed and now they are more mature companies...
Let Sears Go! No Subsidies, and Sell the Stock. Invest in Groupon
Sears is threatening to move its headquarters out of the Chicago area. It's been in Chicago since the 1880s. Now the company Chairman is threatening to move its headquarters to another state, in order to find lower operating costs and lower taxes. ...
Not All Earnings are Equal – Revenue Growth Matters! (Sell Microsoft)
For the first time in 20 years, Apple's quarterly profit exceeded Microsoft's (see BusinessWeek.com "Microsoft's Net Falls Below Apple As iPad Eats Into Sales.) Thus, on the face of things, the companies should be roughly equally valued. But they aren't. This week...
Hey I.T. – Give users iPads!!
CIO Magazine today published my latest article for IT professionals "Why You Should Stop Worrying and Let End Users Have iPads." (note: free site registration may be required to read the full article) The editors at CIO agreed with me that a big change is happening in...
Why Amazon out-grows Wal-Mart – Overcoming Bias
Summary: Everyone discriminates in hiring - just some is considered bad, and some considered good Only "good discrimination" inevitably leads to homogeneity and "group think" leaving the business vulbnerable to market shifts Efforts to defend & extend the...
Sell Research In Motion Now
Research in Motion pioneered the smartphone business. While Motorola, Samsung and others thought the answer to market growth was making ever cheaper mobile phones, RIM figured out that corporations wanted to put phones in employee hands, control usage cost,...
Hyperdigitization: A Shift Toward Virtual
Today's Guest Blog is provided by Mike Meikle. He offers some great insight to the declining value of manufacturing as producitivity continues to skyrocket, pushing all of us toward understanding and competing in markets where greater value lies in digital...
Apple is Simply Better Managed than Microsoft
Most folks know that Apple is now worth more than Microsoft. Although few realize the huge difference. After years of dominating as the premier "PC" company, Microsoft is now worth only about 2/3 the value of Apple - $224B versus $310B this week (or, said...
Leading Google – Larry Page Needs More White Space
Summary: Google is locking-in on what it made successful But as technologies, and markets, change Google could be at risk of not keeping up Internal processes are limiting Google's ability to adapt quickly Google needs to be better at creating and launching new...
How to Manage Lock-in, including applying social media marketing, Video on Facebook
Here's a link to a very short video (1-2 minutes) posted on Facebook today about Lock-in. Hope you enjoy! Please provide feedback and comments! Adam Hartung on Lock-in - Why we do it, and how to be better by managing it! Includes a discussion about...
Hey Pfizer, learn a lesson from Google about how to grow!
Summary: Too many leaders spend too much effort minimizing uncertainty Stock buybacks reflect fear of uncertainty, but are a losing investment Good performing organizations invest in new markets, products and services Success comes from not only investing, but in...
America’s Wrong-Headed Jobs and Innovation Policies – why we don’t create enough Amazon.com’s
It is unlikely anyone in business or government thinks productivity is a bad thing. Productive students get their homework done faster, and learn more in the available time. Productive musicians make more recordings, and tend to learn more over their...
Electric Utilities Need to Plan Like Google – Lessons from Japan
Summary: The Japanese nuclear crisis is the result of historical industry decisions to build very large facilities and transmit power to distant locations - a strategy at risk of "force majure" activities U.S. electric utilities are locked-in to identical approaches...
Finding the Money – Be Smarter, like IBM
You gotta love the revenue growth in companies like Apple and Google. From 2000 to 2010 Apple revenues jumped from $8B to $65B. Google grew from nothing to $29B. But for some organizations, amidst market shifts, simply maintaining revenues is an...
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