Archive for the 'General' Category

Love Thine "Enemy"! It’s Good Business!

Posted December 12, 2006 * Comments(2)

Tom Peters on Love Thine “Enemy”! It’s Good Business!


Quote:

Oddly enough, I’ve run into two situations in the last 24 hours where someone wanted to restrict the activities of a competitor relative to seminars I was giving or products I was developing. It’s a position that I adamantly oppose on both moral and commercial grounds.

At the top of my business priority list, I want my overall market to grow by leaps and bounds. My market share will go down (It was about 100% after In Search of Excellence, when I was more or less the only public “management guru”), but my revenue will soar—the “bigger pie” axiom.

In short, I want my competitors to thrive. And I welcome their presence at my events. I go so far (see our “Cool Friends” interviews, for example) as to enhance their careers!

Does all this suggest an altruistic streak? Perhaps, but I actually think mostly not. I think that when one badmouths one’s competitors or tries to limit their activities, the “word gets around” And one develops a reputation as prickly and egocentric—and, well, as a selfish jerk.

More important, my only effective long term defense (think Apple) is to do better and different work—and earn and retain the custom of those who would engage me.

In the original glory days of IBM, one of the legendary Thomas Watson’s Golden Rules was “Thou shalt never badmouth a competitor” In fact, to violate this rule was a no-debate firing offense. As IBM struggled in the eighties, the rule slipped into disuse, and the company’s reputation suffered as a result. Back to my basic premise, IBM’s real problem was the loss of product distinction.

I come down hard on Mr Watson’s side. It is my goal—selfishly, actually—to be a highly regarded member of my professional community. Speaking crudely, I think that is an incredibly strong and sustainable competitive advantage. And, yes, I bloody well do want to win more than my fair share of business.

Your opinion?

Is there a first mover advantage?

Posted March 7, 2006 * Comments(0)

…the market often belongs to the first person who brings you the right story on the right day. get the story here>>

AJ

Who calls the shots?

Posted January 30, 2006 * Comments(0)

Theodore Levitt had once said “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!”

A powerful statement that underlines the importance of paying attention to the ‘utility value’ of a product. Everyone in the business of running a business need to have this quote stuck on the mirror they see daily. This would help to focus on their customers.

No one could have said it better than Mahatma Gandhi, “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider to our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so.“. You can find this quote framed here in the pages of AdventNet.

And here we have Seth Godin asking us to make evangelist out of our customers.

Now we know who calls the shots!

2005 Global 500

Posted December 11, 2005 * Comments(0)

The 2005 Global 500 companies list :

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/global500/fulllist/0,24394,1,00.html

You know what :?: Most of the companies in this list are brick-and-mortar companies :idea:

Information Overload …

Posted October 14, 2005 * Comments(0)

…you must be suffering from CONTINUOUS PARTIAL ATTENTION .

I came across this term a few weekends back, when i was skimming the colorful (the reason i read it :win :) Economic Times - Corporate Dossier.

This term was coined by a former executive of Microsoft, Ms. Linda Stone and refers to the behaviour many have adapted to cope with an increasing amount of information (now you know the reason for the title for this post 8) ) and ever-growing number of tasks generated by increasing technology use.

With continuous partial attention we keep the top level item in focus and scan the periphery in case something more important emerges. Continuous partial attention is motivated by a desire not to miss opportunities. We want to ensure our place as a live node on the network, we feel alive when we’re connected. To be busy and to be connected is to be alive.

We’ve been working to maximize opportunities and contacts in our life. So much social networking, so little time. Speed, agility, and connectivity at top of mind. Marketers humming that tune for two decades now.

Now we’re over-stimulated, over-wound, unfulfilled.

People who fall in this high-risk category are :

CEO’s, CFO’s , Analysts :wink: , you and me and ofcourse people who keep switching between television soaps which means your family and my family :P

Now that i have got the fear factor into your psyche, you will be asking for more , so voila follow the link

Dear Mr Dell

Posted August 18, 2005 * Comments(0)

Dear Mr Dell is simply great, its about the importance of customer support, power of blogs and the need to ship quality products.Go read it.


Quote:
Jeff Jarvis says:

But you didn’t just lose three PC sales and me as a customer.

Today, when you lose a customer, you don’t lose just that customer, you risk losing that customer’s friends. And thanks to the internet and blogs and consumer rate-and-review services, your customers have lots and lots of friends all around the world.

_________________

Thanks & Regards

Aj

"What Business Can Learn from Open Source" - Paul

Posted August 9, 2005 * Comments(1)

” What Business Can Learn from Open Source “ is a beautiful article from Paul Graham, this article has been founded on the comparison between Open Source and Blogging and moves on to talk about how its literally changing the corporate ‘boardroom-culture’.

If you are inspired, then the logical next step would be, How to “Build your business with open source”. Go figure it out.

Disclose or Hide or Responsibly Disclose?

Posted July 28, 2005 * Comments(0)

This with reference to two security news item that i came across more or less at the same time frame.

1. Cisco, ISS file suit against rogue researcher


Quote:
“We don’t want them to further discuss it,” said Cisco spokesman John Noh. “This is about protecting our intellectual property.” ISS’s spokesperson confirmed the company was also listed as a plaintiff on the court document.


Quote:
“I feel I had to do what’s right for the country and the national infrastructure,” independant security researcher Michael Lynn said. “It has been confirmed that bad people are working on this (compromising IOS). The right thing to do here is to make sure that everyone knows that it’s vulnerable.”

2. ZERO DAY INITIATIVE - by 3COM & Tipping Point


Quote:
The Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), founded by 3Com and TippingPoint, a division of 3Com, represents a best-of-breed model for rewarding security researchers for responsibly disclosing discovered vulnerabilities. The program’s goal is threefold:

1. reward independent security research

2. promote and ensure the responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities

3. provide 3Com’s TippingPoint division customers with the world’s best security protection

If you :

DISCLOSE about a vulnerability, even before a fix is available, then we knowingly expose all our networks to attacks .

HIDE about a vulnerability from the general public we are putting them at great risk to surprise attacks.

RESPONSIBLY DISCLOSE (confidentially) about a vulnerability first to the vendor , give them a time-frame to fix the vulnerability beyond which it is disclosed to the world.

So what do you think is the right action - Disclose or Hide or Responsibly Disclose or :?:

–

regards

AJ

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