Quick note: When I wrote this, I was thinking of ICT firms that cater to business markets (as opposed to ICT firms that cater to consumer markets).
In my previous entry, I wrote about how information technology can “explode” the value chain such that the value-adding activities of a firm need not be housed under one [...]
It’s unfortunate how the word ‘theory’ has been misused in everyday speech such that it has lost its original meaning. These days ‘theory’ is considered synonymous to ‘impractical’, ‘unrealistic’, and even ‘speculation’. The result of this misunderstanding is significant: Students take important lessons for granted by discounting them as mere theory, preferring, instead, to find [...]
Here is our group’s PowerPoint presentation based on the IBM Global CEO Study conducted last 2006. Some interesting points to consider here:
While innovation in the product/service/market and operational aspects remain fundamental, many CEOs now regard business model innovation as the new frontier. One that will give their organisation an edge over their competitors. In fact, [...]
Spotted on the web:
“All cities with populations of 3,000 or more are required by law to publish and distribute (yawn) drinking water quality reports. Cities hate doing them, and residents throw them away, often without a glance. Bo-ring.
This year, we developed a mid-year calendar (who sends out a calendar in July???) that featured fun photos [...]
Spotted on the web:
Why do people procrastinate? This is an effect psychologists attribute to “hyperbolic time discounting”: the immediate rewards are disproportionally more compelling than the greater delayed costs. In other words, Procrastination itself is the reward.
“In the past, innovation was driven by the military or corporate markets. But now the consumer market, with its vast economies of scale and appetite for novelty, leads the way. Compared with the staid corporate-software industry, using these services is like “receiving technology from an advanced civilisation”, says Mr Sannier.”
“Since the software and the data [...]
“An elegant solution is one in which the optimal outcome is achieved with the minimal expenditure of effort and expense.” [pdf]
This is related to the saying “If a process is painful, you’re probably doing something wrong.”
“Planning is more important than the plan”
One should not treat a business plan, a strategic plan, or whatever plan as the organization’s holy bible because chances are that once it has been printed, it is already obsolete. A change in any of the factors that were considered in making the plan will automatically render it [...]
