Strategy Bites Back
By: Henry Mintzberg
“Launching Strategy” By: Henry Mintzberg
I liked this article a lot because it used visual examples to display the principles he was talking about. None of the principles are that difficult to understand, but the way Mintzberg portrayed them is exactly like the way I pictured it in my head. The visual pictures did a really good job of expanding on what is assumed in an industry, but then taking it further. I think these concepts are a large part of marketing, so I hope that they are exposed to that discipline.
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“Positioning the Derriere: Toilet Nirvana” By: James Brooke
What an interesting read! Who would have that the ‘toilet industry’ would be so compretitive and have so much to offer Japanese customers? Some of the ideas, like having ambiant sounds playing while you do your business, seemed a little out there to me. But, the idea of the toilet being able to measure the sugar in your body and take other health measurements actually sounds like a good idea. I can see where the strategy comes in. I’m wondering when all this new toilet technology will come to the States!
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“The Soft Underbelly of Hard Data” By: Henry Mintzberg
I knew that being too focused on the data and numbers was dangerous because you didn’t get to see the personal facts and the things that the numbers can’t tell you. But, I never saw the the other negative effects of hard data, like how wrong they can be or how limited the information truly was. This article was insightful because it really did enforce the need for more personalized information, at least in my mind.
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“The Glory of Numbers”
Even though I didn’t really understand some of the quotes ro jokes in this section, I think I understood the main point, which I believe is that numbers can be read and interpreted in many ways. Percentages can be flawed by the person computing the data and can be misrepresented by the person reading them. You can see anything you want when reading numbers, and that’s why having a personal connection is so important to a company. This is the same idea of the article we were reading before- hard data is in fact not as hard as we’d like to think.
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“Reversing the Images of BCG’s Growth/Share Matrix” By: John Seeger
One on the points of this very long article is that before management starts looking at new ‘cash cows’ they should continue to get all that they can get out of the ideas they have going, or as some would say, ‘milk the cow for all it’s worth’.
I thought this article was a little long to be considered a ‘byte’. It was also not nearly as funny or full of wit like the other tidbits we have read. I had a hard time focusing on this article. But, I did enjoy the last sentence. It made the point that it’s more important it’s more important that an investment is going to be more profitable in the future than it has been in the past. I feel like so often we take something that has proved itself financially in the past and assume it will be the same in the future but we ignore all of the factors that may have changed, for example trends or the economy.