BLOG OF ADAM HARTUNG
Locked-in Educators
Today is "Take your children to work day." As all of us know, there is much more to life than what's taught in school, and having children visit the workplace to obtain a sense of what goes on after school is a valuable learning experience....
RE: Dancing Elephants
I wrote recently that IBM looked like an elephant that could continue to dance (taking off on the title of Lou Gerstner's book about his days at IBM.) Shortly after that, IBM announced quarterly earnings and its stock accelerated a 2005 decline. A fair...
Merge to Grow – Really!
Far too often we see companies merge in an effort to save an old Success Formula. The goal of the acquistion is to Defend & Extend an outdated business model by bringing together two less than stellar competitors. Because this is so common, it's easy...
Can the Elephant Still Dance?
Louis Gerstner's best selling book on IBM was "Who says elephant's can't dance." Now his successor looks to be a pretty good elephant trainer himself. IBM has loaded itself up with more White Space projects. This behemoth is fast moving out of...
The HP Way
Hewlett Packard has been having a tough time the last 5 years. As reported in Business Week, most analysts realized in 2004 that HP had stalled. The HP printer business was the only unit making money, and growth was weak as resources were being poured into...
Retirement in the age of Creative Destruction
Those of you familiar with The Phoenix Principle are familiar with our statistical review demonstrating the high failure rates of companies. Company longevity is far shorter than most of us realize. One significant impact of this phenomenon affects all of...
Can Sony Sing?
Today John Dvorak claimed that Sony can no longer innovate. Looking at recent history, he looks right. But I'd say he's kneeling over the gravestone a bit early. Yes, Sony somehow missed the whole MP3 phenomenon and let Apple steal what should have...
Drive for Success at GM
GM is having a tough time. Last week, the stock (already beat up) dropped nearly 20% on news of weak sales and lower profit expectations. You have to go back more than 10 years (see chart) to find a time the company's market value was this low. So, what...
Can You Co-Create?
C.K. Prahalad is a colleague of Adam's. His most recent book The Future of Competition is going to be highlighted March 30, 2005 at a University of Michigan symposium on experience co-creation. The university is launching its co-creation center. Good luck to Professor...
Adam Hartung in BusinessWeek
On February 11, 2005 BusinessWeek printed an article by the President of an ad agency specializing in small-budget clients. The article said that a survey of 400 companies indicated growth stalls were caused by external factors, but that overcoming these stalls...
KMart, Sears, or Chapter 11?
Does anyone think KMart + Sears = a better company? It doesn't look that way. Most experts say the company is worth nothing more than it's inventory value plus the real estate. Too bad, for both companies started as tremendous innovators in American...
BLockbuster does it again
This is just too good. I just read on Business 2.0 blog that Blockbuster is trying to buy Hollywood Video, a rival chain of video rental stores. OK, this is CLASSIC Defend & Extend Management. They must be thinking that if they can just get big enough, they will...
Didn’t They See It Coming?
I have noticed a common behavior among companies in the Swamp and Whirlpool stages of the lifecycle. They never seem to plan ahead for unexpected things to happen. It is as if they make an annual plan and there are no contingencies for marketplace challenges and...
How Your Business Is Like A Praying Mantis
The Praying Mantis is a remarkable example of evolutionary adaptation. I saw one today and marveled at how well it had adapted to prey on unsuspecting insects. It was solid brown, looked like a stick and has lethal forearms and claws. It is easy to understand how it...
Quote: He who joyfully marches in rank…
He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice. —Albert Einstein
The Power of Openness
While reading Seth Godin's blog today, I was struck by his point about the power of videotape to shape behavior. He was commenting on the shabby way that he was treated while trying to buy a lobster and he wondered: So, the two questions are, "Do you think the owner...
Women Business Builders
Kirsten Osolind, a delightfully witty and thought-provoking marketing whiz, pointed out in a recent blog that women were not nearly as likely to embrace the "built-to-flip" mentality as men. The Phoenix Principle is based on an assumption that the owners/managers of a...
Starbuck’s Big Experiment
Starbuck’s has been breaking the rules ever since it was brewed up in the mind of founder Howard Schultz, and it looks like they are doing so again. Many of Starbuck’s innovations have been product-related breakthroughs such as Frappuccino and adding Music CD’s to the...
Do the same, or disrupt?
We all know our business goal is to create above-average results. Yet, much of what we're trained to do in business is sure not to achieve these results. In the August 24 issue of FORTUNE you'll find the following analysis of modern marketing...
Lock-In and High School Football
There are signs of lock-in all around us, and also signs of leaders that overcome lock-in to create a new success formula for the betterment of their organization. At a recent high school playoff football game the half ended with one team down 21 to 0. The down team...
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