Institutional freedom and Economic dependancy

Reuters and New York Times reported that Chinese officials made remarks that “awarding the peace prize to a Chinese dissident would affect relations between Oslo and Beijing.” The question is now how much of its economic dependency does Norway award over institutional freedom to speak freely and open while Trond Giske (Norway Minister of Trade and Industry) said on a tour to China “Our economic relations are becoming more important as China has an increasingly central role in the world economy“. (Press release 21.05.2010)

Does BP’s new Safety Division makes any difference?

Most American’s and other people around world have followed the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year and saw how BP was unable to provide technology and procedures to deal with problem on an immediate scale. Information we saw were a mix of fabricated news in insurance that  the oil spill will not cause a larger harm the cost environment nor the chemicals that are used in breaking up the spill.

Opportunity cost of export supplier diversity, free trade and the WTO

Looking at the current dispute between China and Japan over a vessel that violated boarders and a detention of a Chinese trawler captain shows how political and economic power will influence relationship with China and countries that oppose to rights they see violated.

Strategic Windows (Abell 1978)

Title:	Strategic Windows
Status:	Have read
Author:	Derek F Abell+
Source:	Journal of Marketing, (July) 21-6.
Keyword:	Strategic Planning+
Citation:	Abell 1978+
	Derek F Abell, (1978) “Strategic Windows“, Journal of Marketing, (July) 21-6. BibTeX, Scholar, [UUID]

In his article “Strategic Windows” (Abell 1978), Derek Abell tries to explain that only a company that is flexible enough and search for an answer to the constant change in its environment, can develop an organizational dynamism that will allow to uncover opportunities and open a so-called strategic window’.

He recognized that those strategic windows are only limited periods during which the “fit” between … a market … and particular competencies … are at a optimum.^{[Abell 1978]:21} Those windows are the result of market evolutions where new contestants are challenging the current market structure (industry structure) and normally emerging from the outside rather than from the actual competitive environment.

He identifies four major factors that are responsible for a changing market environment:

• such as emerging of a new market space with new primary demand,
• new technology that creates an obsolete status for the current technologies used,
• usage patterns of products shift market definition and
• channel and distribution changes.

In terms of new demand opportunities, product innovators are in disadvantage to participate in full on growth opportunities while followers “leapfrog” changes and jump ahead. Combined with a to narrow defined market focus that will hinder adaptability for technologies that are developed outside their industry and result in a disadvantage in terms of knowledge and competencies.

With those arguments Abell goes along with Levitt’s Marketing Myopia[Levitt, 1960], where a too narrow defined business scope can not cope with a rapid evolving environment and do not appropriately react due to existing commitments and an inability to anticipate changes. Strategic fit and portfolio analysis are supporting concepts of Abell’s argumentation and instruments that underline the dynamic principle of market space with non static product cycles where it just happen that windows (opportunities) are opening and closing.

Reference

^{[Abell 1978] ^} Derek F Abell, (1978). “Strategic Windows“, Journal of Marketing, (July) 21-6. . ^{3}

^{[Levitt 1960]} Theodore Levitt, (1960). “Marketing Myopia“, Harvard Business Review; Jul/Aug60, Vol. 38 Issue 4, p45-56, 12p. ^{4}

Rediscovering Market Segmentation (Yankelovich 2006)

Yankelovich and Meer in their article Rediscovering Market Segmentation, critically evaluating the current status in how market segmentation is used and their conclusion is less positive as that market segmentation still lacking proper execution in terms of finding consumers attitudes on why they buy a product.  Both citing reasons for failure such as the focus on describing segments instead of describing buying attitudes in connection with product features, the less emphasis on consumer attitudes to predict buying behaviour and a to strong focus on technical details that lures decision away from why consumer’s buy or do not buy a product.

Psychology in Market Research (Ernest Dichter 1947)

Title:	Psychology in Market Research
Status:	Have read
Author:	Ernest Dichter
Source:	Harvard Business Review; Summer47, Vol. 25 Issue 4, p432-443, 12p
Keyword:	Motivation+, Marketing Research+, Mass Media+, Consumer Behaviour+, Psychology+
Citation:	Dichter 1947+
	Ernest Dichter, (1947) “Psychology in Market Research“, Harvard Business Review; Summer47, Vol. 25 Issue 4, p432-443, 12p BibTeX

Ernest Dichter and his “Psychology in Market Research” article from 1947, introduced  psychology as discipline into marketing research where he ask a fundamental question that of what is a “customer’s inner needs” where in 1947 rationalized answer’s based on surveys and statistics were common tools to help companies to improve sales techniques.

Not without critics, on claims that samples sizes[Ricklefs 1972] where to small as to be useful to draw generalized conclusions. His introduction of the so-called motivational research, asks for the ego-benefits of customers or their “true opinions” [Dichter 1947:434].

Marketing Research as ‘conspicuous demonstration that something is done’ postulated by (Smith 1974).

Title:	Research and pseudo-research in marketing
Status:	Have read
Author:	Stewart A Smith
Source:	Harvard Business Review; Mar/Apr74, Vol. 52 Issue 2, p73-76, 4p
Keyword:	Market Research+
Citation:	Smith 1974+
	Stewart A Smith, (1974) “Research and pseudo-research in marketing“, Harvard Business Review; Mar/Apr74, Vol. 52 Issue 2, p73-76, 4p BibTeX

How does the marketing department use marketing research to drive decision-making and justify investments for research programs, consultants and other capital intensive testing procedures?

In his article from 1974 “Research and Pseudo-research in Marketing“, Smith questioned the eligibility of marketing research. He  saw it not as tool that can influence management decisions in terms of scientific thoroughness and falsification .

He saw marketing research as tool that satisfies only a minor scientific purpose where managers in most cases used the “pseudo-research” to satisfy what he identified as organizational, service promotional or personal factor. These  factors had nothing to do with how marketing research is used to legitimize or influence the decision-making process within the organizations.

The ‘Six Principles of Breakthrough Strategy’, described by Markides (1999)

Title:	Six Principles of Breakthrough Strategy
Status:	Have read
Author:	Constantinos Markides
Source:	Business Strategy Review; Summer99, Vol. 10 Issue 2, p1, 10p, 2 Diagrams, 4 Charts
Keyword:	Strategic Planning+, Business Planning+
Citation:	Markides, 1999+
	Constantinos Markides, (1999) “Six Principles of Breakthrough Strategy“, Business Strategy Review; Summer99, Vol. 10 Issue 2, p1, 10p, 2 Diagrams, 4 Charts BibTeX
DOI:	10.1111/1467-8616.00096

Markides in his article Six Principles of Breakthrough Strategy from 1999, described six general principles on how strategy can be crafted and implemented to achieve something that he called a breakthrough strategy.

In general he defines that in order to be a successful, one need to follow six principles that allows an integrated mosaic of activities and create distinctive mosaic of fits as compared with competitors. The underlining message is that doing something better ensures short-term survival but only doing something different ensures long-term stability and prosperity.

An insight, is the “The strategic control map” really an enduring idea?

Tools for management control and especially for strategic management are a huge  market for consulting companies. The one who can established their “tool” as more sufficient than others can open the cash box. Speaking of a box , while open my  inbox, a notice that Enduring Ideas: The strategic control map from McKinsey & Companies, McKinsey Quarterly catched my eye and I thought I haven’t heard of this “strategic control map” before so I got interest to see if it is really an enduring idea or not.

The first thought was to ask Google but that brought not really a sufficient results in terms of if /if not this tools is really been used by others than McKinsey & Companies itself.  Asking further the Google Scholarly site brings 17 hits where the word is mentioned.

China, the Falling Wheat Production Capacity and its possibility to be an Environmental Threat

Lester R. Brown asks in his book Who Will Feed China? in 1995 and since than the question is still unanswered and becomes more prevalent as industrialization in China is expending and within the need and want for people to participate at the economic success.

Brown uses an example from “…fall of 1994 with a 30 percent increase in wheat prices due to increased demand and declining world stocks…” and draw scenarios as how China will have a much greater impact on the world market due to its import demand.

A study from Xiaoping Wang and Denise L. Mauzerall shows, it is expected that by “2020, assuming no change in agricultural production practices and again using M7 and M12 exposure indices, grain loss due to increased levels of O3 pollution is projected to increase to 2–16% for wheat, rice and corn and 28–35% for soybeans; the associated economic costs are expected to increase by 82%“.