Business & Finance

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 23 aug 2014

As companies grow in size and become big corporations they tend to loose their appetite for risk taking and the dynamic spirit of game changing entrepreneurship and innovation. And the bigger the company gets the more risk averse it becomes. George Deeb, Managing Partner at Red Rocket Ventures, provides reasons for this phenomenon - Shift in Ownership; Shift in Leadership; Shift in Human Resources; Managing Towards the Middle; Promotion from Within, Feat of Unknown. Moreover his suggestions for big companies include - constantly innovate; build an entrepreneurial culture where risk-taking is encouraged; hire diverse team of smart people who are entrepreneurs at their core. Read on...

The Next Web: Why big companies struggle with innovation
Author: George Deeb

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 08 aug 2014

With access to 21st century communication and sharing technologies, both brands and customers are connected the way they have never been before. Social media and mobile are transforming the way brands interact with customers. But there are certain basics that remain the same. Companies and brands should emphasise on creating and facilitating communities of interest around them and consistently share and propagate their values through both words and action. Moreover to create lasting relationships the need is also to create a platform that facilitates connections among the consumers with each other. Brands can play a leadership role within the community and must share relevant content and experience that the members can relate to. Marketers have to align themselves with the consumers and help strengthen their bonds with each other. This provides members to talk to each other and discuss and share what is valuable to them. Thus resulting in the most powerful form of marketing. Read on...

Fast Company: WHY BUILDING YOUR BRAND IS ALL ABOUT SHARING YOUR VALUES
Author: Dave Hawley

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 05 aug 2014

Uri Neren of Innovation International extensively researched on the best practices that companies implement to succeed at innovation. According to him, 'organizations have to structure themselves to allow innovation to flow through them.' Execution is the key for the innovation to succeed and originator of the idea need to be involved at every stage of the innovation process to make it happen. The top five business practices that resulted from the Neren's research and help make innovation repeatable and reliable are: (1) Belief Systems - Bring everyone at the same page; Specifically define innovation and how it fits organization's mission & goals; Imbibe in the team that innovation can be managed (2) Structure Equals Commitment - Commit to the percentage of growth that the business expects from innovation and stick to it; Obsolete your processes and products & and reward those who help achieve this; Create a set of agreed to metrics & decision process to fund or kill particular products and services; Incorporate CEO ownership & innovation teams should report to CEO or COO (3) Process that Leans on Research - Spend substantial time in the discovery phase, at the front end, understanding the behavior and drivers of your intended audience and the problem thats being solved; Design a really solid consumer research phase as a foundation to better understand the problem (4) Talent Encouraged and Rewarded - Put the right people with the right skills in the right spots with the right team and get out of the way; Assign innovation to the employee scorecard and then recognize and reward it (5) Connected Culture - It matters most that the culture is connected, so that people have access to one another and their ideas, and all the contributing parties are recognized and rewarded. Read on...

Forbes: Innovation Ready - The 5 Traits Innovative Companies Share
Author: Mary Meehan

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 25 jul 2014

The recent survey of 150 US nonprofit foundations and endowments found that more nonprofits are prioritizing the implementation of effective risk management strategies to preserve the longevity of their organizations and missions. Main highlights of the survey are - (46%) Place greater value on positive risk-adjusted returns than on overall portfolio returns when evaluating investment success; (44%) Not confident that sufficient time is being spent in assessing the impact of potential market shocks on the ability to spend/achieve mission; (49%) Lack confidence that the investment committee has identified all key portfolio risks. According to Mary Jane Bobyock, Director of Nonprofit Advisory Team at SEI, '48 percent of nonprofits are currently using or considering the use of an outsourcing provider to help manage the portfolio.' Read on...

MarketWatch: SEI Poll - Nonprofits Focus On Risk Management In 2014
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 24 jul 2014

Innovation has been considered as a critical component of the strategies of most companies and to achieve it they have tried to transform and eliminate activities from their product development process (PDP). Is this is the better approach? Probably not. Bradford Goldense, an expert in product management & development, suggests ways to improve and build innovativeness into the PDP itself - (1) Companies should add innovation activities at appropriate places in their PDP. (2) Companies should emphasize existing activities that spur appreciable innovative thinking. Moreover there are a variety of soft, quantitative and algorithmic tools, that are available in the market to boost innovation. He suggests selection of three tools spanning incremental to breakthrough innovation, reguired to be used at key points in the concept, definition and design phases, chosen by the nature of the product being developed. It is also found that some deterministic tools spur more innovative thinking than others. Research of 200 companies provides insights into which PDP activities out of the total 20, scored the highest innovation benefits. These were - Requirements definition; Product specifications; Technical feasibility analysis. Some other activities that were closely behind were - Concepting/Concept engineering; Voice of the customer; Market definition. Read on...

machine design: Making Product Development More Innovative
Author: Bradford Goldense

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 23 jul 2014

Although most innovation in technology-driven companies is achieved and accomplished by experts in R&D, but marketers at General Electric (GE) have found ways to facilitate and contribute to the innovation mechanism. Beth Comstock, Chief Marketing Officer of GE, explains their method that can be utilized by other marketers who are seeking to create value and drive innovation in their businesses - (1) Go to new places: Be explorers and seek out new places and better the understanding of what people need and require around the world. It can help them give insights for better product development. (2) Shape the market early: Great innovations need to be explained before they are accepted. Marketers can explain, define and communicate effectively and set the stage for the innovation before it hits the market. Mantra at GE is 'Mindshare before Marketshare'. (3) Incubate new businesses and models: To promote ongoing innovation, marketers seek to find ways that have not been thought before. Integrate startup culture into the marketing DNA. It simplifies development and gets products to the market faster. (4) Invite others in: Partnerships are the path to speed and scale. Develop collaborations outside the organization to increase the creative territory. Marketers are generally facilitators for these relationships. Read on...

HBR Blog Network: Innovation Is Marketing's Job, Too
Author: Beth Comstock

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 21 jul 2014

In a fast paced and highly competitive global environment with cultural and diversity challenges, there are needed some exclusive competencies in business leaders to succeed and grow their organizations. A study of 108 senior executives conducted by Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman found 6 behaviors or competencies that differentiated successful global leaders from others - (1) Strategic Perspective (2) Customer Focus and Understanding (3) Ability to Spot the Trends and Connect the Dots (4) Engaged and Committed Teams (5) Willingness to Take Risks (6) Deep Knowledge and Expertise. Read on...

Forbes: The 6 Competencies Global Leaders Need To Succeed
Author: Jack Zenger

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 jun 2014

Although the purpose of advertising and marketing is intended to communicate the message about products and services to the consumer in the best possible and attractive way but the following statistics point in a different direction - Consumers are bombarded with over 5,000 marketing messages a day, up from around 2,000 just a few years ago; Two-Thirds of us are on the "Do Not Call List" to avoid telemarketing; 86% of us skip TV ads; 44% of direct mail is never opened and goes straight to the trash; 90% of emails are never opened and 99.5% of emails receive no clicks; 99.9% or more of banner ads receive no clicks; Recent eye-tracking studies show 18-34 year-old millennials do not look at banners on the web pages they visit. Long time ago advertising guru David Ogilvy suggested marketers to concentrate on the 'content of your advertising, not its form.' And today marketing leaders are advising to pubish content instead of advertising. Businesses that will potentially succeed in future will be the ones that will be able to create emotional connect with consumers and serve their information needs. Companies should publish content and entertain customers through a content strategy that holistically considers audience content and channel needs. Read on...

Forbes: Why Does Most Marketing Stink?
Author: Michael Brenner

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 jun 2014

Businesspeople have skills and expertise that can benefit nonprofits for better operations and governance. On the other hand by joining nonprofits and their boards, business executives not only provide value to themselves but also their employers. According to research by City of London, there are increased skills among volunteer leaders in categories including team building, negotiating, problem solving and financial knowledge. Moreover research by Deloitte shows that among socially engaged employers, 87% of employees had an improved perception of their company and greater loyalty. Nick Hurd, UK Minister for Civil Society, points out that potential trustees should look for opportunities to align board service 'with a social issue they care about.' Read on...

NonProfit Quarterly: The Skills Businesspeople Gain on Nonprofit Boards
Author: Eileen Cunniffe

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 jun 2014

As with any other business, innovative technologies hold a promise to transform the ways agriculture and farming are pursued by bringing better efficiency and economy. According to James Andrews of Farmers Weekly, 'Farming is becoming increasingly technical and high-tech machines allow farmers to be more accurate, decrease wastage and boost productivity and their profits margins, which are increasingly tight these days.' The recent survey of British farmers by Farmers Weekly provides list of top 10 favorite technologies - (1) GPS Steering Systems (36% votes): Guides tractors in straight lines to save seed, fertilizer & fuel; (2) Robot Milking Machines (19% votes): Save farmers time & give cows the freedom to be milked when they want; (3) Smartphones (13% votes): Used by farmers to communicate, check soil depth, register animals etc; (4) Combine Harvester Yield Meters (5% votes): Monitor, display & record grain yield; (5) Cow heat detection devices (5% votes): Increase pregnancy rates; (6) Driverless Tractors (2% votes): Not yet commercially available but could save farmers time; (7) Aerial Drones (2% votes): Used to spot weeds, calculate fertilizer needs and scare pigeons; (8) Electronic Ear Tags (2% votes): Identify domestic livestock; (9) Farm Management Software (2% votes): Used to manage all aspects of a farm; (10) Robot Livestock Feeders (2% votes): Save farms money & consistently feed a herd. Read on...

Mail Online: From robotic milk maids to self-driving tractors and drones that monitor crops - Scientists reveal the future of farming
Author: Sarah Griffiths

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