Archive for the ‘Strategy’ Category
Review: Business Model Generation
Knowing the recent developments at Chiefist, a friend recommended I read Business Model Generation, a book sitting idly on my Amazon Wish List for about eight months. With his prompting, I purchased it and read it across the past week.
“A Republic, Madam…If You Can Keep It”
As it usually does, David Brooks’ column caught my attention this week. Examining the nature of democracy, Brooks concludes that the most recent battles over the debt and deficit in Washington will not yield fruitful outcomes absent a reversion to republican (small-r) politics. Brooks expounds upon this by labeling our current democracy the “politics of solipsism.” “The [current] political culture encourages politicians and activists to imagine that the country’s problems would be solved if other people’s interests and values magically disappeared.” Instead, he says, we need a true leadership class, of the kind that existed “as late as the Truman and Eisenhower Administrations,” to balance interests and passions. Read the rest of this entry »
2010 in Review
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how Capitolism did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.
Crunchy numbers
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 3,100 times in 2010. That’s about 7 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 78 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 128 posts.
The busiest day of the year was November 15th with 103 views. The most popular post that day was Review: The Back of the Napkin.
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were conservativewahoo.blogspot.com, online.wsj.com, bgdailynews.com.cinergycom.net, twitter.com, and en.wordpress.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for capitolism, investment biker, toyota public image, courage in business, and lack of courage in leadership.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
Review: The Back of the Napkin November 2010
Review: Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Production of Henry V March 2010
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Review: Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant March 2010
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About Capitolism October 2009
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Review: The Back of the Napkin
Over my past several visits to bookstores and Amazon, I’d found two books of especial interest: The Back of the Napkin, by Dan Roam, and Visual Meetings, by David Sibbet. After reading a few reviews and taking a closer look at them, I decided to read The Back of the Napkin first, and hold off reading Visual Meetings.
Despite spending a good part of my career in consulting and executive education, I struggle with creating compelling visuals to convey key messages. Read the rest of this entry »
Dependence on Government
Emily Maltby writes an article today detailing some of the challenges small companies have in obtaining Federal contracts. The last two paragraphs worry me:
“Mr. Lebolo, however, is shifting his firm’s strategy to primarily focus on government work. “I made a determination to look hard into the federal market because it was the only place with money,” he says.
“He says he’s not frustrated by the relatively small price tag of his first government assignment. Now that the process of landing a contract is behind him, he says there is no going back to commercial construction. He hopes to grow and begin hiring again by the end of this year. “This is a long-term decision,” he says.”
When the government becomes the sole or dominant market for several sectors in the economy, what will happen? Will that prove beneficial to the economy? Will that situation increase or decrease innovation? Will it stimulate creative solutions to business and human problems?
I’ll have more to say about these questions, and this increasing trend of reliance on government for business’s economic well-being. But I don’t think it bodes well for the economy, creativity, innovation or America’s competitiveness in the global marketplace.
Overhead Baggage and Political Intervention
Spirit Air’s decision to charge passengers for using overhead baggage space has created quite a furor. Now, the politicians are getting involved. Two senators want to pass a law barring these fees.
Good grief. While I might not condone Spirit Air’s action, why should politicians be able to interfere with their business? If Spirit is making a big mistake – which I think it is – the market will force them to reconsider. Passengers will choose other airlines, or they will check baggage, which is already subject to fees. Or they maybe they won’t even fly. But Spirit owns the asset, the plane with overhead space. Spirit should be allowed to try to make money in whatever way it deems possible. (Of course, this does not mean Spirit can or should let safety slip to save money). If Spirit thinks it can increase revenue by charging fees for overhead baggage, they should do it.
What’s next for politicians? Barring movie theaters from selling popcorn?
