Think Outside The Box: Break Down

 

The phrase, ‘think outside the box’ has become commonplace.

The box represents the imaginary limitations or parameters for a situation. These “Dimensions of Value” are leverage points that create value to the customer.  Think of the box as having three or six sides. Each side is a value point to the consumer.

For any particular product or service there is a standard that represents the current market. As that market gains new entrants, there will be an increase in competition and a decrease in operating margins. An organization is challenged to increase innovation.

Innovation is or may be achieved via moving one of the walls of the box. Consumers change over time. What is optimal for consumers today, is suboptimal for customers tomorrow.

Organizations must challenge themselves with innovation that increases consumer value as well as returns to the firm. This must be done even if it destroys the old business. The organization is better off destroying itself via innovation than to be destroyed by an outside force with no alternatives available.

The Monarch Butterfly [Picture]

Saw this while out earlier today.

Apple iTunes Drops AOL Screen Names?

 

Logged into iTunes this evening to sync the iPod and this dialog box appeared. Have never seen anything like this before.

Did Apple just drop AOL screen names?

What Economic News?

Want to know what economic data is being released soon? What are the important ones to know? Is there a consensus forecast?

The answer to these questions and more can be found on the Bloomberg Economic Calendar page.

FERNDALE WORDPRESS MEETUP

About once a month there is a WordPress Meetup in Ferndale Michigan. Usually the meetings are at AJ’s Music Cafe [a coffee shop].

There was a good turnout at today’s event. There were probably about eight of us in total. It was cool that a few new people came out to see what was going on.

Aside from conversation about WordPress, we discussed Chris Brogan and his book Trust Agents as well as the domain registration site Joker. Another item mentioned was Moo cards, a distinct business card. They make an impact was the consensus.

A private Friendfeed group has been created for this group. If you are part of the group and would like access to the group request and invite.

THE CISCO SUCCESS PLAYBOOK

Below are the four elements to creating success as stated in the Wall Street Journal article: Silicon Valley Survivor

• “Be realistic”
• “Assess your situation”
• “Get ready for the upturn”
• “Get closer to your customers”

For the full details on each, visit the full article on the WSJ website.

Here are three unwritten rules to add to the four above.

• “Watch the stock market.”
• “Always have more cash, not less.”
• “Be aggressive.”

Again, these are from the article linked above. It is one thing to talk about these rules and quite another to have such strong execution on them. Cisco has successfully acquired several billion dollar businesses and not missed a beat in doing so. They have been a nimble M&A machine.

THE AT&T IPHONE SUBSIDY

An article in the Wall Street Journal, AT&T Gets Another iPhone Boost, includes some interesting information about AT&T and the Apple iPhone.

In the most recent quarter AT&T activated 2.4 million iPhone units. Assuming that each of these units is a sale and part of the total subsidy number leads to the following.

AT&T estimated that subsidy payments to Apple for the iPhone were $720 million in the quarter. Some basic math, $720 divided by 2.4 million, reveals that each handset is subsidized approximately $300.

 

How would you analyze this data?

Have you seen similar of different numbers?

TWITTER FOR BUSINESS: 101 STYLE

Earlier this week at #tweetea, a tweetup event in Royal Oak, MI, we had a discussion about Twitter. The discussion included some thoughts on how so many people sign up and just do not see what all the hoopla is about. A big part of the conversation revolved around there not being a guide on how to use the service. It is not real clear and generally takes a few weeks to get a hang of it. Most new users are not willing to put in such efforts and thereby abandon the service.

What Twitter Did

Twitter recently released Twitter 101 - A Special Guide. The guide is geared for business and included best practices and case studies. This is the kind of progress that will be welcomed by new users.

Extra Credit Reading

The New York Times: Mom-and-Pop Operators Turn to Social Media

Questions

• Do you use Twitter?
• What value do you get or give with it?

A few years back it was new for a business to have a website. Then it was having an email address. The new thing is to have  a Twitter account.

TWITTER TOOLS [Current 7.23.2009]

 

Twitter

Current top sites used to enhance the use of Twitter are as follows.

is.gd – URL shortener. Link is for main site. Get the bookmarklet to be most effective.

TweepSearch – A search tool for the bio section of a Twitter user.

Twellow – The directory of Twitter

Tweet Stats – Data about a Twitter account.

Twitter Search – Used to find tweets that include terms or that are from certain geographic locations.

 

What tools are you using?

THREE BUSINESS NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INFORMATION PODCASTS TO CONSIDER

 

• Bloomberg “ON THE ECONOMY” Tom Keene Taps the Best Minds in Economics

 

• Marketing Over Coffee

 

• The  Wall Street Journal this Morning

 

These are really good. Great for listening during a daily commute. Each of the above podcasts is about thirty minutes in length.  If you are interested in learning more about business and the economy these are some good podcasts to start with.