Are You The Next Takata?

Oct 23, 2014

The urgent recall of over 5 million passenger cars manufactured in multiple countries is the result of Japanese air bag manufacturer Takata’s catastrophic product failures. …

Competition is a Lot Like New York City

Sep 29, 2014

As I look through my hotel window at the New York traffic, I am reminded that this is indeed the city that never sleeps. The …

Making Your Commodity Stand Out

May 11, 2014

A commodity offering, by definition, means undifferentiated. A consumer has no reason to choose other than the cheapest. But by small changes to materials, processing, …

In Search of the Holy Grail

Dec 22, 2013

The rush to the south, away from labor unions, was followed by the rush to China for its cheap labor. And now that China labor …

Outsourcing Your Customers’ Safety?

Sep 18, 2013

I’ve become accustomed to doing the order entry activities that suppliers used to do. I’ve even become fairly good at it, other than the occasional …

Grow and Deliver

Sep 2, 2013

Seems almost like a movie title, doesn’t it? But really the phrase “grow and deliver” is a statement of what most companies want to do, …

Breaking Brand Promise

Apr 24, 2013

For a recent trip to NYC I stayed at The Pierre Hotel at the SE corner of Central Park. I rarely choose to stay at …

A Change Gonna’ Come

Oct 7, 2012

The economics of the music industry have changed drastically in the past 15 years. Of the several reasons two stand out: digitization, and a large …

My, How Time Flies

Jun 8, 2010

Following 14 years in a wide variety of roles in a wide variety of industries, I entered the worlds of entrepreneurship and consulting 20 years …

Keeping It Real

Nov 3, 2009

Buy low, sell high. Supply and demand. Economics 101 explained those simple, but somehow still poorly understood concepts. The recent (and in many ways still …