Eddielogic

– Thoughts on Strategy and Management

January 29, 2007
by Oliver
Comments Off on Youtube wants to share revenues?

Youtube wants to share revenues?

In the past we had a brief look at Youtube and the web 2.0 business (see this posts).

But these news are quite amazing. According to GOLEM, a German IT website, Youtube plans to establish a revenue system for “video uploaders”. So far, payment scheme and security issues are not solved. Youtube CEO Chad Hurley confirmed to BBC that his team is working on a revenue-sharing system that would “reward creativity”. Well, this is an interesting statement…but according to other news, Youtube faces some critics from their users. The German newspaper HANDELSBLATT reported that users would complain about uploading their video clips and generating content this way on one hand; but on the other hand that they would not partcipate in revenues, which is generated by ads on those websites.

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January 27, 2007
by orecklies
Comments Off on Hybrid products

Hybrid products

EddieHybrid consumers and their unpredictable behaviour have confused retailers and manufacturers in the last decade.
Obviously companies seemed to have decided to change the rules of the game, to respond to those consumer needs, and to muddle up their offers. Now Sony has decided to adapt this trend. For the new playstation III-game “Grand Tourismo HD” Sony borrowed the main image from the Xbox 360 title “Project Gotham Racing 3”. 🙂

Yes I know that some comments argue that this was a mistake….but I am not quite sure about that. Do you want another example for a hybrid product? Take a nice sparkling wine (Prosecco) and mixed it with something that is not directly related to it, in that case Paris H. and a beverage can. The hybrid product is …Rich Prosecco. How about an Intel CPU in a Mac? Is it still a Mac?

I think a hybrid product is an excellent answer to today’s dynamic markets. Hybrid costumers get hybrid products….I am still waiting for:

  • Pepsi-Coke
  • H2 with a hybrid engine from Honda or Toyota

Have a nice day!

January 25, 2007
by Dagmar
Comments Off on More on analyzing competitors

More on analyzing competitors

To add something not so creative on competitor analysis – here is how I keep track of competitors’ strategic changes and the bigger picture behind. This is not so much about predicting their next strategic move, it is more about getting a feel for what they are actually doing.

I keep a list of the competitors’ major strategic moves. This should not be more than five to seven per year. It is enough to describe the strategic moves very briefly, e.g. acquisition of company xyz or closing of a factory. This is the first column of my chart. In the second column, I list the (supposed) strategic purpose behind each move. The acquisition, for instance, could have several objectives – globalization, acquisition of specific competences, acquisition of market share, diversification etc. Over a timeframe of two to three years, you may see a pattern or bigger picture evolve.

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January 24, 2007
by Oliver
1 Comment

Lost …your domain?

According to information by TECHCHRUNCH the German Google (google.de) seemed to have forgotten to renew the Google domain name. Some comments from the post confirmed the story.
This is amazing…or even unbelievable.

Did you lost your domain name, too?
Do you and / or your company search for a new domain name?
Hence you are looking for a similar name?

I would like to recommend this website, which offers the opportunity to generates names and to find appropriate domains 🙂
 

January 23, 2007
by Oliver
1 Comment

Analysing competitors

OliverIn terms of strategic planning the external analysis step can be very difficult. I see three reasons for that: Basically this analysis can be described as badly structured matter, which does not know a definitive solution. Due to the large amount of data the selection of relevant information remains a problem. To identify chances and threats for the organisation it is requested to analyse both current situation as well as possible developments. Hence the uncertainty of forecasts represents a third reason.

In particular the identification of potential competitors as well as the identification of measure by existing competitors can be hard. Annual reports, websites and analyst reports might be a good idea to start and to explain the past, but how about the future? It is possible to identify invaders to your industry?

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January 21, 2007
by Oliver
Comments Off on Rate of inflation

Rate of inflation

The inflation rate 2006 for countries of the European Monetary Union was calculated for 2,2 %. According to the newspaper FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, January 18, 2007, volume 15, p.9) the inner value of the EURO has declined at 19 % since the start of the third phase of the Monetary Union (01.01.1999).

January 18, 2007
by Oliver
1 Comment

7 rules for turning strategy into performance

OliverStrategic planning and strategy implementation seem to be linked with a lot of problems. Well, I say planning AND implementation, because you can find a large variety of definitions for the term strategic planning. In the academic literature differences can be found in process structure and number of process steps as well as in different starting and ending steps for this process.  Some of these process models define strategic control as the endpoint. Adverse to this some models describe strategy implementation as the endpoint.

However, my current focus is on the paper “Turning Great Strategy into Great Performance” by MANKINS and STEELE. They have developed seven rules that will support the planning process as well as the implementation phase. These rules are:

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January 15, 2007
by Dagmar
1 Comment

Some uncommon economic indicators

DagmarThere are probably more economic indicators around than any single person can make use of. Lots of figures and indices may serve as an early sign for some potential future trends in specific industries or whole economies.
I have some rather uncommon personal favorites. The first two are not so much early indicators but quite reliable signs of what is going on: Continue Reading →

January 10, 2007
by Oliver
Comments Off on High performance organisations

High performance organisations

For all those who are interested in topics like high performance organizations, organizational structure, and organizational culture I would recommend a new scientific paper by Dr. André A. de Waal of the Maastricht School of Management.

The title is “The Characteristics of a High Performance Organisation”. In this paper Waal analyses the “secret of success” of successful organisations. In order to develop recommendations for managers the author analysed 91 different studies. Attributes like “organizational design, structure, processes, technology, leadership, people, and culture, and the external environment” might have an impact on the ability of the organization to achieve a high performance level. The identified attributes may help managers to focus on those measures, which are essential to achieve such a high performance level.