May Jobs Report: What can college students do?

The May jobs report is devastating. It's estimated that over half the graduating class of 2012 will not have jobs. Yes the economy is slow, it's slowing in emerging markets as well besides Europe that seems very bad. However, those US  students who are entering college in the fall need to consider the following things:Continue reading “May Jobs Report: What can college students do?”

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 ?”

Why Encyclopedia Britannica took twenty years to go digital- the sales force angle

Finally, Encyclopedia Britannica has gone digital (Reuters 2012) And it took 20 years for the 200 year old organization to do so.Above is a 1988 TV commercial and you can see the PC in evidence.  PC makers were already giving free Grolier Encyclopedia discs alongwith the IBM PC’s that came with Windows DOS. But BritannicaContinue reading “Why Encyclopedia Britannica took twenty years to go digital- the sales force angle”

Marketing is about segmenting and diversity is about *not* segmenting

Marketing is all about segmenting so that you have viable “buckets” of customers for whom you can develop product or service offerings, get a reasonable price as you communicate your offering and deliver it without excessive cost. “Stereotyping” is thus at the heart of conventional marketing and it is “stereotyping” that is at the core of diversity issues in organizations.

What is the most important attribute in GE Jack Welch’s 4E and 1P?

Previous posts on GE Jack Welch’s 4E’s and 1P on the StratoServe blog are very popular. Sort of leads you to think about which of the four E’s and one P really matter? But first a quick recap, although they appear in earlier posts. We’ll talk about 3E’s and the the one P first andContinue reading “What is the most important attribute in GE Jack Welch’s 4E and 1P?”

IBM-CMO Study 2011: Big Data,Social Media,multiple channels and changing demographics

The IBM-CMO Study of 2011 is a pretty large scale study of 1700 CMO (Chief Marketing Officers) in 19 industries and 64 countries. Here are four headlines of the study that re-iterate some of this blog's earlier posts: 1. There is a deluge of data– strikingly 90% of all data in the world was generatedContinue reading “IBM-CMO Study 2011: Big Data,Social Media,multiple channels and changing demographics”

Doctor private practices are caught up in $1 Trillion health insurance B2B negotiations

Call it the mother of all high value B2B negotiations– estimated at $1 Trillion  and 40% of total health-care spending in the US. This from research by Robin Lee of NYU who made a great presentation of  his work at Yale  School of Management, last month. When you hear of doctors going broke with privateContinue reading “Doctor private practices are caught up in $1 Trillion health insurance B2B negotiations”

As the economy turns around in 2012: re-training opportunities in the healthcare value chain

As 2011 winds down there is positive news in the quarterly jobless numbers,in real estate and the stock market. 2012 should be better than the last four years of the recession. OK it may not be boom time but there does appear to be the right signals for at least modestly better economic times aheadContinue reading “As the economy turns around in 2012: re-training opportunities in the healthcare value chain”

College Text Book Rentals: Chegg is like Netflix for the supply chain- but a social cause marketer at the front end

Ask any US college student and they’ll tell you how expensive college books are. To come up with a working textbook rental model for this $10 billion segment of the book market is just brilliant for Chegg.com. At the back end Chegg.com has a Netflix type model for logistics. It even has former Netflix Chief Operating Officer Tom Dillon to manage the logistics and distribution (as of January 4, 2011) .

What bloggers,speakers and writers can learn from Andy Rooney

Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes CBS passed away on Friday, Nov 4, 2011 at 92.

[ Note: This post is from November 6, 2011. It was updated on March 25, 2021 with a video to get a sense of the iconic broadcaster Andy Rooney why may not have seen him on Television]

Affectionately called America’s “grouch-in-chief” and a “curmudgeon” Andy had a lot of contribution to the success of CBS 60 minutes over the years with his signature ending piece on “a few minutes with Andy Rooney”. He was able to put an interesting spin to almost anything from why you have cotton in medicine bottles to his famous essay on doors. Here is what bloggers,speakers and writers can learn from Andy Rooney: