The huge cost that never shows up in the accounts.
Opportunity cost. The mistakes you make of Commission are the ones by which performance is judged. They show up in a profit and loss and balance sheets of businesses. However, when you pass up a golden opportunity that turns out to be a winner, that 'cost of potential...
Is Institutional memory the critical component of future success?
Today, September 1, 2024, is the 85th anniversary of the German invasion of Poland in 1939. There are very few people left alive who were old enough at the time to remember that critical date that drove the world into an orgy of destruction, death, and depravity. Over...
Where is tomorrows competitive advantage hiding?
Identifying, building, defending and leveraging competitive advantage has been, and will remain, the foundation of successful marketing. It is also the essence of strategy: making choices with incomplete information that serve to shape the future to your...
The critical unasked question that can kill a ‘5-why’ analysis.
‘Five Why’s’ is a commonly used tool, widely seen as one that when used well gives you answers to challenging operational problems. Mostly it will, but what happens when the answer lies hidden outside the consideration of the effort to identify the...
Social media platforms are not to blame.
Throughout history, humans have existed in small groups, tribes, and clans. We have worked together for the common good of the small tribe, and often, perhaps most often, been at odds with the tribe across the river. British anthropologist Robin Dunbar...
‘Nest’ your strategy for best results
George Patton is reputed to have said ‘A good strategy today is far better than a perfect one tomorrow.’ This is absolutely correct. However, any strategy is only as good as its deployment. This is always best when it is clearly understood, consistently...
Where is the AI business model hiding?
AI is the newest, shiniest thing we have seen since, well, perhaps ever, at least in the speed with which it has overtaken consciousness. ChatGPT was released to the 'wild' in November 2022. In commercial terms, yesterday. In that time, it has overtaken...
Is ‘Lifetime Customer Value’ a nonsense KPI?
There is lots of talk, often sales-hype from digital urgers, about Lifetime Customer Value. When applied correctly, it is a vital measure, but when you look closely, it often means lifetime customer revenue. Revenue is of little commercial value in the...
11 ways to maximise the sale price of your business
2024 is very challenging for SME's. It is proving to be a time of an unusually high rate of SME mortality. This is driven by the problems that emerged with the Corona virus, followed by a period of historically low cost of capital, then a burst of inflation now...
Synthetic Data: A Game Changer for Small Business.
AI promises a multitude of productivity benefits for all enterprises. For the thousands of SMEs competing with much larger rivals, AI offers the potential for easily accessible, reliable, and credible data on an unprecedented scale. One such opportunity...