Business Strategy Archives - Page 11 of 22

14 Dec 2009

Economic Recovery Planning: Issues for Contractors

Business Strategy Economy

I was quoted extensively in an article for Construction Dimensions, the magazine for the wall and ceiling industry. This article applies my thinking about business planning for the recovery to the construction industry.

11 Dec 2009

Two Approaches to Employee Productivity

Business Strategy

This week I read about two very distinct approaches to employee productivity. First, from an article in the Wall Street Journal: The office cubicle is shrinking, along with workers' sense of privacy. Many employers are …

23 Nov 2009

Hacking in the Public Interest: 5 Ways to Protect Yourself Early

Business Strategy

OK, you may not think that the capture and public posting of thousands of climate change emails and datasets constitutes "hacking in the public interest." (More on that story in the New York Times.) But …

21 Nov 2009

Selling a Business on a Note: 9 Tips for Success

Business Strategy

One of my favorite boat supply online stores has closed, and the story is worth repeating to all business owners. The founder of this company sold the business and took a note as partial payment. …

18 Nov 2009

Six Tips for Business Planning in an Economic Recovery

Business Strategy Economy

Rich D'Amaro, Chairman and CEO of Tatum LLC has offered "Six Tips for Business Leaders to Consider as We Emerge from Recession." I especially like his first suggestion: Identify and Maintain Your Strengths, and Your …

12 Nov 2009

Tight Inventories Limiting Sales

Business Strategy Economy

Business have trimmed inventories significantly–and that's starting to bite them in the sale. Here's the raw data: There was good reason to cut inventories: sales were falling. This is a recession practice I recommend in …

22 Oct 2009

Profiting from the Recovery: an Interview

Business Strategy Economy

I was interviewed by the Optimistic Bear about profiting from the recovery. He has other interviews on the page covering economics, investments, and start-ups.

16 Oct 2009

Technical Debt: Not Just for Startups

Business Strategy

"Technical debt" does NOT mean, "Technically, we're in debt." Technical debt is what happens when a business puts up an application that isn't perfect, then has to clean up bugs and scale issues in the …

28 Sep 2009

The Economics of Technology and Labor: Time to Rethink Your IT Program

Business Strategy Economy

I was sitting with a consulting client evaluating their readiness for the economic recovery, using my basic economic consulting process. The client mentioned that he had considered a project to automate one of their manual …

25 Sep 2009

Checklist for Business Planning in an Economic Recovery

Business Strategy Economy

A reporter needed a sidebar, so I created this checklist for business planning in an economic recovery: · Sales people—are they making all the calls they can? · Do you have the inventory needed to …

9 Sep 2009

Selling in the Recession

Business Strategy

My recent post about changing business challenges as the business cycle turns prompted the sales consultant extraordinaire, Kathy Maixner, to send me the questions that sales people should be asking today. My favorite: What is …

8 Sep 2009

Unlocking the Potential of Your Frontline Managers

Business Strategy

This is a little outside my specialty, but this article from the McKinsey Quarterly strikes me as the most important reading of the day for executives with widely dispersed operations, such as retail, banking, and …