Business & Finance

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 15 sep 2014

In the constantly changing, technology connected and globally competitive business environment, it is imperative for businesses and organizations to create an environment of open communication and transparency, and acquire and effectively manage a knowledgeable and empowered talent pool. Organizations have to incorporate a continuous learning and skill updating mechanism to enhance their competitiveness and profitability. Learning through social networking is one such mechanism that can be utilized to harness more organizational knowledge, nurture and facilitate collaborative communities and finally improve employee performance leading to increased business value. Social network technologies have evolved from 1990s corporate intranets and extranets to now public-facing online networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and many more. Enterprise social networks are currently build on similar technologies in the form of private internal software platforms to engage employees for better collaboration, communication, knowledge sharing and informal learning. According to IDC, the worldwide enterprise social software applications markets' revenue was valued at US$ 1 billion in 2012, and the market revenue is expected to grow to US$ 2.7 billion by 2017. Some of the basic functions of ESN (Enterprise Social Networks) include activity streams, discussion forums, user groups, private messaging, subject matter expert identification, searchable knowledge base, file-sharing, tagging and bookmarking. Organizations can develop ESN platforms in-house or can obtain them from software vendors according to their specific needs and requirements. The benefits of implementing ESN platforms include cost reductions, employee engagement, open collaboration, increased innovation, bridging the gap between formal and informal learning, increased business performance and enhanced competitive advantage. Valerie Goodwin-Adams of Abaxis Inc, a medical device manufacturer, points out, 'In addition to knowledge-sharing, some of the key drivers for implementing ESN technology are also reduced travel expenses and increased sales revenues. The greatest challenge to overcome when implementing an enterprise social networking platform is adoption, then it's training and measurement. I believe that if you cannot measure it in terms of sales, then it's not relevant.' Read on...

Chief Learning Officer: Is Social Networking Good for Learning?
Author: Susan Distasio, Donna Lord

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 14 sep 2014

Entrepreneurship is critical for economic progress. At individual human level, it converts ideas into workable innovations. At organizational level, it is an engine of business growth and survival. At societal level, it balances demand and supply, creates job opportunities and provides innovative solutions to real-world problems. The spirit of entrepreneurship is valued even by big corporations. But how to build an entrepreneurial organization? The answer is provided by Dr. Thomas Chamorro-Premuzic, a business psychology professor at University College London, who suggests four essential steps - (1) Hire Entrepreneurial People (naturally more inquisitive & critical of status quo; highly proactive) (2) Learn How To Manage Them (tolerance to erratic, demanding & moody behaviors; provide new and meaningful projects; avoid engaging them in routine, well-defined, tactical projects) (3) Build Entrepreneurial Teams (look for congruent beliefs & values but complementary skills & styles while selecting members; align them towards clear goal or mission with a strong leadership) (4) Create An Entrepreneurial Culture (mutual trust & understanding between leader & team members; provide support & autonomy; individuals should feel incentivized to take risk, make their own decisions & experiment; assure culture that provides exploration, learning & play). Read on...

Fast Company: 4 UNAVOIDABLE STEPS TO BUILDING AN ENTREPRENEURIAL ORGANIZATION
Author: Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 06 sep 2014

From Henry Ford, to whom manufacturing efficiency was paramount, to Steve Jobs, who valued the working of a product over its looks, design has always been an important component of the products delivered to consumers. During craftsmen era, individuals both designed & created the products. Industrial revolution focused on multiple specialized processes to finish products in large quantity with little room for errors. Autodesk pioneered computer-aided design (CAD) software, to enhance collaboration among highly skilled teams of designers, engineers etc. But today design is becoming critical for product performance and everybody needs to have a basic understanding of design. Autodesk is now promoting design literacy and participating in its democratization process. The gap between design, production and distribution is narrowing with technologies of sharing & collaboration, 3D printing etc and in future it will totally disappear. In the design economy the firms will have to perform in real time and the design will become the product itself. Autodesk predicts the demand for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) professionals will rise to 8.65 million in 2018. It created 'Design the Future' program to fulfill this demand and provides free software to students and curricula & training to educators. Diego Tamburini of Autodesk says, 'design no longer just applies to physical systems, but has permeated to other non-physical areas such as software, services, and the overall "emotional experience" of using a product that also require designers.' Read on...

Forbes: Why Autodesk Is Investing In The Democratization Of Design
Author: Greg Satell

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 31 aug 2014

Presently about 97% of marketers use social media to connect with buyers. But most of them are still trying and experimenting with it to build and develop a personalized, relevant and enjoyable experience for their users. A bad execution of the social media strategy not only affects relationship with the audience but in some cases can cause it to go viral and become a catastrophe. Avoid the following at all cost for effective social media engagement - (1) Being all talk (2) Putting on a one-man show (3) Forgetting to think before you post, share & tweet (4) Thinking all social platforms are created equal (5) Putting your customers on mute (6) Forgetting to be a human (7) Assuming your social strategy works. Read on...

Mashable: 7 Sins of Social Media Marketing
Author: Mike Volpe

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 31 aug 2014

'Internet of Things' (IoT) is revolutionizing the way technology pervades human activities. It is the wireless connectivity of myriad devices that people use in daily life and allows for direct transmission and sharing of information over a network. IoT is enhancing connected living and it will transform the way business is done. The following are the five ways it will improve the marketing ROI - (1) Easy exchange of sales data (2) Smarter CRM: Instantaneous customer analysis (3) Devices that know that they are dying (4) Predictive social media (5) Imagine a 100% click through rate (CTR). Read on...

Forbes: 5 Ways The Internet Of Things Will Make Marketing Smarter
Author: Stuart Leung

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 aug 2014

International Monetary Fund (IMF), with inputs from readers, select global economists and journal editors, recently compiled a list of 25 'Generation Next' economists, below the age of 45, who are influencing and shaping the way one understands global economy. In this list there are four Indian-origin economists - (1) Raj Chetty of Harvard University (Research: Combines empirical evidence & economic theory to help design more effective government policies; Equality of opportunity); (2) Gita Gopinath of Harvard University (Research: International finance & macroeconomics with focus on issues related to international price setting, currency choice & exchange rate pass-through, business cycles & crisis); (3) Parag Pathak of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Research: Market & mechanism design; Labor economics; Education economics & reform); (4) Amit Seru of University of Chicago (Research: Financial intermediation & regulation; Resource allocation & internal organization of firms; Performance evaluation & incentives). Read on...

IBN Live: Four gen-next Indian-origin economists in IMF list of 25
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 aug 2014

'Digital Transformation' is happening in the pharmaceutical industry with 'Internet of Things' getting personalized with wearables, injectables and even plantables. As pharma landscape is going through turbulent times, with fewer chances of blockbuster drugs coming to market and hightened competition with cheaper generic drugs, big pharma is looking for new opportunities beyond the drugs that is termed as 'beyond-the-pill' strategy. According to Joseph Jeminez of Novartis, 'Beyond-the-pill is a logical and inevitable path forward for all. Creating value by embedding products into a holistic offering with the aim to improve patient outcomes and provide tangible competitive advantages.' Companies intend to pursue long-term relationships with patients through holistic offerings like telehealth servies, wellness programs and improved chronic disease management. Big data plays an important role in 'beyond-the-pill' strategy as devices create large amount of information. This information facilitates the higher level of engagement between the pharma companies and individual patients. Joseph Kvedar of Center for Connected Health at Partners Healthcare says, 'The engagement becomes the product. The therapeutic is almost a giveaway or marketing expense. There aren't many better ways to develop a relationship with a patient than through a prescription for a medication to treat a chronic illness.' For success of the strategy companies have to overcome challenges related to patients feeling comfortable with sharing their private medical information, internal organizational changes that require multidisciplinary approach and collaboration, successfully managing increased interactions with customers and achieving improved long-term health outcomes. Read on...

Forbes: Digital Transformation Moves Pharma 'Beyond the Pill'
Author: Jason Bloomberg

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 aug 2014

Dynamics of relationship between employees and their organizations defines the competitive advantage that they can develop to succeed in the marketplace. According to Professor Wayne Brockbank of University of Michigan, the talent paradigm that has gained considerable momentum in the HR field focuses primarily on individual contributions and not on the organizations as a whole. This will affect the impact that HR departments have on organizations - the strategic enablers of organizational performance. He quotes Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations' to emphasize that the importance of organizations is to coordinate labor to make the whole greater than the individual laborer's parts. Moreover he argues that over time major competitors hire almost similar talent but what sets the organizations apart is what they do with the talent that they have acquired and this precisely translates into the competitive advantage. Therefore if HR focuses primarily on talent then its ability to create competitive advantage is limited. Read on...

HBR Blog Network: The Best HR Departments Don't Just Focus on People
Author: Wayne Brockbank

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 aug 2014

Amazon's growth and success has been amazing since its founding by Jeff Bezos. As in any other successful company, employees played an important role in its phenomenal development. Over the years, Jeff Bezos has directed his hiring managers to recruit employees based on three important considerations - (1) Will you admire this person? (Bezos extrapolated that admiration meant this was a person who could be an example to other and who others could learn from); (2) Will this person raise the average level of effectiveness of the group they're entering? (According to Bezos, the goal for new hires is to elevate the company. He insists that the bar has to continuously go up and apathy should diminish and new hire should fight entropy instead of contributing to it); (3) Along what dimensions might this person be a superstar? (Bezos expects new hire to have a distinct skill or interest to contribute to the company's culture and help cultivate a fun and interesting workplace). Read on...

Mashable: 3 Hiring Questions to Steal from Amazon's CEO
Author: Vernon Gunnarson

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 aug 2014

The increase in the number of nonprofits in the past decade, up by 25% to more than 1.5 million in US, is leading to hightened competition among them to attract donors. They are utilizing innovative methods to efficiently market their cause to attract and retain givers. B2B brands are trying to act like B2C for customer engagements. But they can go a little further and try to emulate the nonprofits to nurture and cultivate passionate and loyal customers. Although the passion that exist for a nonprofit cause is hard to be imbibed in for-profit customers but businesses can learn few lessons from them and try to bring their customers closer to the brand. The four lessons that B2Bs can learn from nonprofits are - (1) How to market to donors (Effective use of social media and crowdfunding sites to get the message go viral); (2) How to build and use advocates (Use of brand advocates and trusted referrers); (3) The importance of transparency and public perception (More transparency and accountability leads to trust. Engagement in social causes and social responsibility creates positive perception); (4) The importance of personality and tone in communications (Nonprofits take on personality attributes to their branding & communication channels - trailblazer, cool, bold, innovative, friendly etc). Read on...

MarketingProfs: Four Things About Branding That B2Bs Can Learn From Nonprofits
Author: Rolf Wulfsberg

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