Most supply chain managers feel locked in by the the users stated needs. The user might be in manufacturing who is responding to the B2B market and the sales forecast put out by the sales folks. Frequently in many parts of the developed world the supply manager deals directly with marketing as the whole productContinue reading “Innovation in the B2B and supply chain: you are less locked-in than you think”
Author Archives: StratoServe
Pfizer Nutrition acquired by Nestle: Baby food for emerging markets
Nestle has reached an agreement to acquire the Pfizer Nutrition business for $11.85 Billion. A big focus of the merged enterprise will be serving emerging markets in Asia,Latin America and Africa where baby birth rates are not declining as in the developed world. Dual earner families want the best for their infants and the PfizerContinue reading “Pfizer Nutrition acquired by Nestle: Baby food for emerging markets”
Innovation : top management need to get involved in the first three stages
It’s sort of amazing when top management in a variety of industries from high tech aerospace to comparatively low tech outer packaging seem to be disengaged and “hands off” in the first three stages of of innovation (see previous post on the 5 stages). Top leaders start taking interest when the product is in serious development(Stage 4) and many top managers become alert and awake as the product is getting launched(Stage 5). At this time things are too far ahead to change except at high cost. These include airfreight when sea freight might have worked on the supply chain side, customer apathy in the market because concept testing was not done well and there was no time to do product and market testing because top management was so un-involved that the budgets were not approved when the New Product team had put them up.
Why does innovation create jobs?
An earlier post on how innovation create jobs is rather popular. However,people seem to have questions about the “why” in the link of innovation and jobs. Why should creating a new product or service result in new jobs?Where in the process of innovation are these jobs created?
Innovation is always in context of customers,stakeholders and society
If we think of innovation, invariably we think of radical innovations like the iPhone or Facebook. By doing so, individuals succeed in just beating up themselves and their organizations – and for no reason. Consider that after the iPhone or Facebook started taking off entire industries (eg. smartphone for iPhone) and social media (eg. LinkedInContinue reading “Innovation is always in context of customers,stakeholders and society”
Does the DOJ-Apple lawsuit disintermediate publishing and hurt authors?
The DOJ-Apple lawsuit seems fair to consumers who would gain $2-3 for every e-book they allegedly over-paid for. This $2-3 was more than the Amazon's wretched $9.99 price which is supposed to have squeezed the margins of publishers. These publishers are then alleged to have teamed up with Apple and in doing so forced AmazonContinue reading “Does the DOJ-Apple lawsuit disintermediate publishing and hurt authors?”
Happy Easter Egg Roll and Egg Safety
Today the White House Easter Egg Roll turned out to be a fun event by all accounts and sort of encouraged this blog to revisit a popular post on the egg supply chain on a more happier note. For on Easter Monday it is nice to think of new beginnings, of Spring and the questionContinue reading “Happy Easter Egg Roll and Egg Safety”
Interactivity: why the video gaming industry is booming
An earlier popular post on video gaming being three times music and twice the movie industry begs the question why? The answer will be apparent if you try this experiment with millennials i.e. those born between 1981 to 2000. Here is the experiment: Put a bunch of millenials in a room with each in frontContinue reading “Interactivity: why the video gaming industry is booming”
Organizational bases of power: what’s up and what’s down with the Internet ?
"Power" in distribution channels is a fascinating topic and so is the notion of organizational power on which Jeffery Pfeffer had a book out that this blog discussed in an earlier post. But this post is about the six bases of power (see the lower part of the Wikipedia page) that seem to be changingContinue reading “Organizational bases of power: what’s up and what’s down with the Internet ?”
Best Buy to close fifty stores: rethinking the value of face to face advice with the Internet
If you have visited any US Best Buy store you would have noted the quite extraordinary knowledge and talent of their store sales force. So it is a disappointing to learn that Best Buy will be closing 50 stores. Because neither the stores or the sales people can be much better. It's just that theContinue reading “Best Buy to close fifty stores: rethinking the value of face to face advice with the Internet”