BLOG OF ADAM HARTUNG
Did you feel an economic earthquake – Japanese elections
Did you know that last night the Japanese turned over their government? For 54 years one party has ruled Japan - a very pro-business, conservative party. Then last night the voters threw out the old guys and in a landslide replaced 3/4 of their elected...
Trying new things to grow can be cheap and effective – Motel 6 and rock bands
Brilliant. A word we rarely use in the USA, the British will hear of a good idea and respond "brilliant." When I saw "Motel 6 Offers Free Rooms to 3 Rock Bands" in USAToday I simply thought "brilliant."Do you remember the...
Stuck Defending & Extending is a losing proposition – Minnesota Vikings and Brett Favre
I think it's a lose - lose - lose. "Brett Favre Signs with Vikings" was the ESPN.com headline. I wasn't going to bring this up, but in 2 days I've had 8 requests, so I guess people are more interested in Mr. Favre at the...
Catch the shift and Grow – or die away – Apple vs. Sears
"Sears Axes Ad Budget As Sales Slide" is the latest Crain's article. Revenues have been falling at Sears ever since Mr. Ed Lampert took control of the venerable Chicago retailer. His initial actions were to cut costs in order to prop up...
Preparing for the shift? – Apple, Dell, Microsoft, Google – Smartphones vs. PCs
Smartphones will outsell PC by 2011 according to Silicon Valley Insider: Your first reaction might be "interesting chart, so what's the big deal?" That's the way a lot of people react to news about market shifts. Like the shift is...
Innovate to Grow – Amazon, Apple, Google, Shell
I was struck to learn that most people with a growth plan simply think they will sell more to customers in existing markets. About 2/3 of respondents to a Harvard study. Chart from Harvard Business School PublishingBut we know that not only you, but your...
Fixing Health Care … latest article on Forbes
"Want to stir up controversy? Bring up health care. Everybody has a story to tell--something that went wrong, someone left in the cold, something the government or an insurer failed at. Everybody has an opinion about all the current proposals too. And everybody...
Cry about the change, or do something – MSNBC and EveryBlock
For almost 3 years this blog has discussed how newspapers, and most traditional media, have ignored the changes being created by shifting markets for news readers and advertisers. Unfortunately, not a lot has changed in how newspapers, magazines and traditional...
How the Music Industry Has Changed – Woodstock, Sony, EMI, RCA, Apple
This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, the rock concert that everyone remembers - even though almost none of us were there. Amidst all the tributes this weekend, I was taken by how much the music industry has changed during those 40 years - and...
How do you hide? Sara Lee
"It's Hard to Like Sara Lee" was the Barrons headline this week. And how could you, after the company reported its third straight quarter with sales and earnings below expectation. Check out this quote "Failed expansion has become a...
GM and Why Size No Longer Matters – @ Forbes.com
GM. Those two letters call up a lot of emotion these days. People ask, "What went wrong?" "How could a company that large, that successful, go bankrupt?" The less polite say: "General Motors' leadership is corrupt." "They ignored...
The Risk of Following the Old Approach – GE
I've long been a fan of GE. The only company to be on the Dow Jones Industrial Average for more than 100 years. A company that has transitioned through countless businesses, willing to get into and out of many opportunities in order to find ways to...
Moving Forward vs. Moving Backward – Pepsi vs. P&G
"Pepsi Launches Own Music Label in China" is the BusinessWeek headline. Clearly, the Pepsi staff has some new ideas. Recently Pepsi's Chairperson, Ms. Nooyi, made a trip to China for 10 days. Apparently frustrated, she commented to the Wall...
Update on ereader – Wall Street Journal and iPhone
Today a colleague emailed me an article on Cisco. He used the Wall Street Journal "send this article" function. The email had his name, the article title, the link to the article and then this:"The Wall Street Journal Mobile Reader for...
Why you REALLY need to pay attention – Sony e-reader and Amazon Kindle
"Sony Unveils Pocket Size Electronic Book Reader" is the Los Angeles Times headline. According to Silican Alley Insider the new Apple tablet is a GREAT book reader. Although Steve Jobs thinks book publishers are incredibly screwed up and...
Another troubling indicator – Why Microsoft is looking like GM
A typical headline from last week read "Microsoft, Yahoo to Begin Joint Assault on Google". After a year of negotiating, the behemoth Microsoft finally came up with an accord to get some Yahoo technology in order to be more effective with its search...
Reacting to Downturns – Honda vs. GM
"Honda's New CEO is Also Chief Innovator" is the recent Businessweek headline. Think of the contrast with GM. Both companies have seen their auto sales hurt this year. Although the downdraft at GM is about 130% of that at...
Call to Action – Why we have to change
"Deeper Recession Than We Thought" is the Marketwatch headline. As government data reporters often do, today they revised the economic numbers for 2008. We now know the start to this recession was twice as bad as reported. The 3.9%...
Why Defend & Extend Management Doesn’t Work – Pfizer
"Pfizer reports lower profit, revenue" is the Marketwatch headline. Unhappy news has become the norm for Pfizer shareholders. Since peaking in 2000 at just under $50/share, the stock has gone nowhere but down for the entire decade - going below...
Getting on board market shifts – Amazon, Barnes & Noble
I've blogged before about the decline in book readership. In fact, the number of book stores has dropped some 20% in the last 3 years. It's not that people don't want to be learned. Rather, people no longer prefer to carry around a...
Trackbacks/Pingbacks