My MBA students and I had a bit of discussion last night about research and development activities in the country, and why we do not have an “R&D culture” here. Is it because we’re a developing country?
Well, yes, the fact that we’re a developing country does count as a factor. We simply do not have […]

Many business owners believe that the best way to get things done is by becoming enfants terribles who can scare and intimidate their employees into doing what they have to do.
After all, isn’t that what Steve Jobs (Apple) and Ken Lay (Enron… before they crashed) and a host of other CEOs of successful firms do? […]

Here’s a quick anecdote to espouse the virtue of patience when trying to reposition one’s products.
Believe it or not, cigarette brand Marlboro (no, we don’t encourage smoking; this is strictly for the sake of example) was once a lady’s cigarette. It’s claim to fame was a red filter.
But in an effort to expand its market, […]

There’s a consumer beverage that is slowly gaining a following across the globe. But there’s just one big catch: it’s a product would normally be considered as unfit for human consumption.
The product is Kombucha tea. It is now a a $34 million industry, according to the Wall Street Journal. Add to that a currently strong […]

One of the saddest images I recall ever seeing in a business context happened in a retail store. The owner of the business was berating his sales personnel because traffic was pretty low at the store. So the sales clerks were hanging their heads in shame as they were being castigated thusly.
Now that would probably […]

If you’re on top of your business, then sooner or later you will have to figure out what’s happening in the world around you. After all, fresh information is typically the way to identify opportunities that can be availed of.
In large organizations, this is what’s called environmental scanning, and it typically involves having the corporate […]

Next time you think that that nice person you just met is being a pushover, think again. He may be slyer than you think.
Turns out that being nice is actually a strategy. For individuals, it is a survival strategy: by being nice, a nice person accumulates less enemies and even ends up with a larger […]

Small companies, especially micro ones, are characterized by having owners who tend to do everything themselves. Hands on, details-oriented, action-oriented — these are the marks of a good business CEO.
But as the company grows, things have to change by necessity. The most obvious change is that as demand for the company’s product increases, the need […]

A credit line is a ready source of financing, made available by a bank, that allows you to draw funds up to the limit of your line at any time and in an instant. The line is typically available for your use for a year, after which you can then apply for a renewal.
So what […]

If you believe that the customer should always come first, you may want to think again.
Which is more important: the Customer or the Organization?
If you ask this to the typical MBA-graduate manager, the answer would most likely be “The Customer.” It sounds like a right answer. After all, isn’t the corporate mantra typically “the customer […]