BLOG OF ADAM HARTUNG
Winning by doing what competitors don’t – CNBC, Fox News, Bloomberg News
Jon Friedman's Media Web Blog got it right today in it's article "How Fox Business and Bloomberg Can Gain Ground." Business news coverage was in the spotlight when Jon Stewart's The Daily Show on Comedy Central started attacking CNBC for...
Are you relevant? – Xerox, United, Airlines
"Xerox chops earnings outlook as sales slide" is the headline on Marketwatch.com. Do you remember when Xerox was considered the most powerful sales company on earth? In the 1970s and into the 1980s corporations marveled at the sales processes...
Failing Industrial Practices – Sara Lee
"Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee." That was the jingle I still remember from my youth. For years we heard this on the TV, as we were coaxed to buy the delictable productss, frozen, refrigerated and fresh, offered by Sara Lee. But today,...
Heading forward, or not – Apple, iPhone, IBM, Sun Microsystems
We hear people say that eventually there will be no PC. Did you ever wonder what "the next thing" will look like that makes the PC obsolete? For most of us, working away day-to-day on our PC, and talking on our mobile phone, we hear the...
Moving to new markets – Seattle Post Intelligencer
Today the Seattle Post Intelligencer printed its last newspaper. "Seattle Paper Shifts Entirely to the Web," reports The New York Times. There was no buyer for the paper, so Hearst Corp. shut down the print edition. In the process...
Dated Dow – Just another victim of market shift
What do you think of when someone says "The Dow"? Most people think of the Dow Jones Industrial Average - a mix of some roughly 30 companies (the number isn't fixed and does change). But very few people know the names on the list, or why...
Scenarios to Prepare for Change – Allstate, JPMC, Sears, AT&T
All businesses hurting in today's economy must significantly change if they want to improve their performance. In the early 1900s the world saw the advent of several new machines ushering in the industrial era. But, the economy was based on...
New Look and Feel – Recharge, Reignite, Regrow – Get America Growing
Those of you who follow my blog should have noticed a new look and feel today! If you receive this missive in your email box via an RSS feed, I encourage you to stop by www.ThePhoenixPrinciple.com to see the new look. As most of you know, I'm quite serious...
Admit shift happened – then invest in the future, not the past
The headlines scream for an answer to when markets will bottom (see Marketwatch.com article from headline "10 signs of a Floor" here) . But for Phoenix Principle investors, that question isn't even material. Who cares what...
Getting stuck is problematic – unemployment rate jumps
"U.S. Unemployment Rate Jumps to 25 Year High" is Crain's headline today (see article here). "Payrolls sink 651,000; jobless rate soars to 8.1%" headlines MarketWatch (see article here). It's the fourth consecutive month job...
Investing or speculating? Making money in a tough marketplace
I've never met anyone who says they speculate in the stock market. My colleagues always say they are investors; people who know what they were doing and savvy about the market. But, reality is that most people speculate. Because they...
Disruptive products for disruptive markets – Apple, Kindle, iPhone
I teach college classes on innovation, as well as speak regularly on the topic. And I am frequenty asked how to determine whether new products are sustaining innovations, or disruptive ones. In 2008, the most common product I was asked about was the...
Where you going to shop? – Not Sears
Sears has been heading for the end of its game for several years. It's in the Whirlpool now, and we can be sure it won't come out. We can go back to when Sears dropped its catalog to see the first sign of putting costs before...
Newspapes and Market Shifts – Part 2 – Your comments
In my last blog I commented about the failure of the newspaper in Denver, and discussed how we'll all have to start relying increasingly on news from additional sources - such as blogs. Then I went on to comment about how easy it is for a business to miss a...
Is your market soft, or has it shifted? – Newspaper failures
The Rocky Mountain News has folded up shop. After 150 years, no more newspaper in Denver, CO. (read article here). This is newsworthy because of the size of Denver, but the trend has been obvious. The newspaper's owner (Scripps) closed the...
Will incremental growth happen? – Panera Bread
Hats off to anybody launching growth projects in this economy. With all the layoffs and other cost cutting, there are far too few companies looking for the opportunities these market shifts are creating. So it's exciting to hear that Panera Bread is...
Sticky Swamps – You just can’t get moving – Kraft
Yesterday Crain's Chicago Business reported that Kraft expects its sales volume to fall 5% this quarter (read article here). Kraft lost market share to competitors in 75% of its businesses! Do you suppose the demand for food is declining? How...
Refusing to evolve leads to failure – Sun Microsystems
In Create Marketplace Disruption I talk about how Sun Microsystems (see chart here) became wedded to a Success Formula which was tied to selling computers. In its early days Sun had to build its own systems, workstations and servers, to make its techology...
Time to get serious about change – GM’s bailout negotiations
GM is in intense negotiations with bondholders, employees (via the union) and the government over its future. At stake is nothing less than the future of America's largest auto company. A company that saw revenue decline more than 40% in January...
Don’t run in front of a truck – Starbucks and McDonalds
The second step in following The Phoenix Principle to achieve superior returns is to study competitors. Better, obsess about them. Why? So you can learn from them and position your products, services and skill sets in a way to be a leader. ...
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