Graziadio Business Report Blog

Can’t see the video above? Click here to watch or you can read the transcript.

In this video interview, Kurt K. Motamedi, PhD, Professor of Strategy and Leadership at the Graziadio School of Business and Management, discusses strategy, strategy execution, leadership styles (including neurotic managers and their impact), keeping employees motivated, and the shift away from economic opportunism occurring in the U.S. and worldwide. Continue reading ‘The Art of Strategy During a Recession’

Times are tough. The demand has never been greater for regulatory oversight. Public outcry to punish those who failed us has reached the ears of our leaders and politicians.

The dismissal of GM’s chief by the Obama Administration was a shock and a signal to the automotive sector: This is a time in which risk taking will no longer be tolerated. We must learn to play it safe.

Or not. Continue reading ‘Experimentation, Risk Management, and Breakthrough Performance’

Rick Hesse, DSc

For over 40 years I have taught applied modeling—at eight different universities, engineering and business schools, graduate and undergraduate levels. I have taught using paper and pencil for quick-and-dirty models, calculators, mainframe computers, and now PCs with spreadsheets. Generally, I have four goals for each class, and the fourth is:

Be able to actually identify problems at work and use appropriate statistical spreadsheet models after the course is over.[1]

I wish I had kept better track of the emails and stories from my students about how modeling has affected them over my eleven years here at Pepperdine, but here are a few of their stories:

Continue reading ‘Goal 4: Apply What You Learn’

This is a guest post by Michael Williams, PhD, Assistant Professor of Information Systems

Michael Williams, PhD

If you spend much time on the road away from your office you realize what a challenge it can be to find a reliable Internet connection for your critical tasks. Sporadic and unpredictable availability at hotels, airports, and public areas is a frustrating experience for even an occasional business traveler.

For the past few years the hope for business travelers has rested on Muni Wi-Fi. Muni Wi-Fi is a concept of creating a wireless hot-spot across an entire city. Prominent pioneers in this effort include Philadelphia, Toronto and Paris. (See here for a comprehensive list of municipal wireless networks)

Unfortunately, however, due to technical difficulties, the credit crisis, legal challenges, and a lack of will several cities have stopped adding capacity, or even cancelled these programs entirely (e.g., San Francisco and Philadelphia).

The good news is that several retail outlets have stepped up their Wi-Fi programs and begun to offer free, or nearly free, service to paying customers.

As of this fall, there are still three main types of Wi-Fi offerings from retailers: Continue reading ‘The Future of Free Wi-Fi’

This is the first of a four-piece series devoted to the topic of customer retention. Here, I will talk about retention, what it is, and why it drives successful business operations. The three subsequent blogs will present a conceptual framework for issues, rationale, cost models, and examples for use in developing and maintaining a loyal and profitable customer-base.

Never, never, never take a customer for granted — I mean it!

Throughout the past year, I have written about customer satisfaction and its permutations (customer loyalty, customer partnerships, customer bonding, tracking and measurements and employee loyalty). Now I want to talk about customer retention: the key to profitability and longevity.

The importance of retention becomes evident once you understand clearly the relationship between customer loyalty and profits. Some large companies estimate that as much as 95 percent of their profits derive from long-term customers. Many other companies know that a mere 5 percent decrease in customer defections can boost profits any where from 25 percent to 95 percent.

The decision to cultivate a highly loyal customer base must be integral to all aspects of a company’s business strategy. You must know who your best customers are and what it takes to keep them. Then, you must meet, exceed and anticipate their needs better than the competition and give them reasons to buy more.

Retention depends on what customers actually do, not necessarily on what they say they will do. Continue reading ‘Retaining Customers (Part 1 of 4)’

This is a guest post by Tim Berry, GBR Editorial Review Board member and President of Palo Alto Software

What? You say, reading my title here. Why would I want to? Here’s a question I received in the www.bplans.com Ask the Experts forum today:

My business sells window coverings and recently got taken by a client who decided to forgo paying for the balance due for product that was installed in his home. We often deal in large-value custom orders and need to protect ourselves in the future. What kind of agreement or contract can we use, and were can we find an example of something that will hold up in court? Should we use a lien agreement?

Ok wait. Let’s talk about this. Have you considered the impact on your business of asking all your customers to sign something like that? You’re selling window coverings. You have competition.

You just reminded me of my post last month The Heat, the Kitchen, and Credit Cards. I was mad at a customer who stole from us, and customer service for the credit card helped me out.

The active point in that was about the heat and the kitchen. You’re in business. You’re dealing with customers.

You have to decide whether the occasional bad apple is worth baking all of the apples as they come in.

Here’s a good exercise:

Continue reading ‘How to Protect Your Business From Customers’

This is a guest post by Tim Berry, GBR Editorial Review Board member and President of Palo Alto Software

Ideas are a dime a dozen. Opportunities are much more important. An opportunity is an idea that’s passed the test of planning. It has potential. You can implement it. An opportunity has some of the following elements:

• Industry and market potential: look at market structure, industry structure, growth rate, margins, costs, etc.
• Economics: capital requirements, fixed costs, cash flow, return on investment, risk.
• Competitive advantage: degree of control, barriers to entry, availability of sufficient resources.
• Management team: people who know the industry, the market, the operations, the logistics, the road to market.

The business planning process is about filtering the opportunities—a precious few, requiring focus, and planning—from the ideas.

Continue reading ‘Ideas vs. Opportunities’