My Nano Niche, Chris’s Long Tail
I recently wrote about nano niches. I’ve just read Chris Anderson’s article, "The Long Tail" in Wired. We’re talking about the same concept, though I think that I came up with a cooler name. His …
I.T. and Business Strategy
Interesting discussion of conflicts between IT and business strategists by Christopher Koch at http://blogs.cio.com/node/310. It’s kind of geeky, so be warned. However, there was an excellent comment made by Robin Harris (StorageMojo.com): "IT isn’t the …
Resource on China
If China is part of your business thinking, check out China Law Blog. Not entirely devoted to law.Nice understanding that 1) we need simplification to help us understand things, but2) China is a large, complex …
Nano Niches
How small can a niche be? Amazon.com has announced a new Print-on-Demand (POD) service which will run off a single copy of a book. A customer clicks to purchase the book on Amazon, then Amazon’s …
Shopping at Nordstrom & Costco
"Knowledge at Wharton" has a great interview with Michael J. Silverstein, author of Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the New Consumer. Silverstein sees people spending more money on some favorite luxury goods, but they …
Outsourced Manufacturing, Insourced Investing
There’s a neat discussion about the capital inflows into the U.S. and the loss of manufacturing jobs. It’s in Slate, written by Dan Gross. Key point: if Chinese have lower labor costs, and we are …
Free Lunch
What is the biggest business challenge you face right now? Don’t limit yourself to economic issues, and please don’t mention any names (as in, "I’m thinking about firing Joe.") Hit the "Comments" link directly below …
Business Trends
What are the most significant trends affecting business today? McKinsey Quarterly has an interesting article summarizing survey results. Key takeaways: Business is changing rapidly, due to product innovation, easier communication, cheap capital Competition is increasing …
Can Customer Service Be a Profit Center?
Two modern business truths: 1) providing customer service costs money2) in a world with many automated transactions, businesses are desperate to actually talk to their customers, but we customers hang up when companies call, even …
Hiring Will Get Tougher
The employment report should heighten the attention of business leaders on hiring challenges. First, look at the tightening labor market: Our 4.7 percent national unemployment rate is a far cry from a few years ago. …
Peak Oil Again
After posting the comments on peak oil theory yesterday, I ran across two good articles on the topic. "Peak Oil Panic" by Ronald Bailey in Reason Magazine’s May 2006 issue is an excellent summary of …
Peak Oil? Make Sense?
Oil production will peak some day? Probably. But a peak that’s 100 years out is not too relevant to today’s decisions. If oil production peaks due to falling demand, as would happen with development of …