Some good summer reading...

Need some reading material for the cottage this summer, checkout the following reading list.

Analysts urge BCE to focus on the basics...

I couldn't agree more with this Globe and Mail article that highlights the fact that BCE should start to focus there efforts on their bread and butter businesses (i.e. landline, wireless and internet). I'm not sure where they going? Is BCE still playing the "Content is King" play?

I would recommend that they start to focus their efforts on their core revenue generating businesses and also increase efforts in and around customer experience. From what I hear on the street, people are leaving in droves because of very poor customer service. And I'm one of them.

...Lets get back to basics and please do not forget customer experience, as Ma Bell is no longer a monopoly.

What can 1 Red Paperclip buy?

Although this post doesn't really fit my blog, I figure it's disserving... ...really disserving.

Check out what one guy can do with some viral marketing and one red paperclip.

Does Apple really need Geniuses to service iPods?

As I am a long time PC user, I haven't had the pleasure of using Apple's Genius Bar to get my computer problems solved... ...that is until my iPod recently broke.

All though the two times that I have gone into my local Apple Store to use their Genius Bar have been fairly pleasant from a customer experience perspective. The problem with the service is, Apple really doesn't service iPods. They’ll replace the iPod if it is under warranty, but it's not under warranty your pretty much out of luck.

So my question is, why are they offering a service at the "Genius Bar", if all the Geniuses can do is look blankly at the iPod and say, "it probably cheaper to buy a new one".

Things Apple should know… …“Customer Experience” is more than being friendly with customers, it should also include a fulfillment process... ...including post acquisition processes.

AOL's Next Move...


Is Jonathan Miller's (AOL's Chief Executive) plan to cut AOL's 17-year-old Internet access service really going to solve the company's financial problems? I don't think so!

An Intersting GE Microsite...










A very intersting General Electric microsite that seems to have the right stuff for some great 'word-of-mouth' advertizing.

Business Strategies...

I am always amazed at how companies incorporate restructuring or operational effectiveness (i.e. layoffs) as part of their strategy. It is my belief that a strategy's purpose is to ensure that the company has a unique and valuable "position", involving a different set of activities. The success of a strategy depends on doing things well and integration among them. The goal of a business strategy document is to develop a business plan that is not easily copied by the competition.

How to Marry Strategy and Operational Effectiveness:

"...Strategy is creating fit among a company's activities. The success of a strategy depends on doing many things well -- not just a few -- and integrating among them. If there is no fit among activities, there is no distinctive strategy and little sustainability. Management reverts to the simpler task of overseeing independent functions, and operational effectiveness determines a company's relative performance.

Improving operational effectiveness is a necessary part of management, but it is not strategy. In confusing the two, managers have unintentionally backed into a way of thinking about competition that is driving many industries toward competitive convergence, which is in no one's best interest and is not inevitable..."

Michael Porter

If this is true (which I believe it is), why do companies like Nortel always seem to include operational effectiveness as part of their strategy? Are they esentially saying that they do not have a competitive advantage?