grapevine

This is a subject to which I may well return, as I’m intrigued by this new evolution to strategic and growth initiatives.  In markets heading towards commoditisation, wrapping more value into or around the product/service you provide is a must.  Yet finding ways to do this are fiendishly

Learned something illuminating the other day, doing some work for one of my customers that sell to the oil industry. I enjoyed a long telephone conversation with a chap called Ceri, a PhD in geology no less. What I learned, is that in the multi-million dollar science that is guestimating

On 18 June 07, reports emerged that Britain’s highest paid civil servant quit his £290k a year post trying to implement the world’s largest non-military IT project.  The incredible price tag of £12bn is meant to bring modernisation to the UK’s useless “free” health service.  I read

I just came across this story, used by ‘consultants’ to justify their prices, when such rates are seen as exorbitant by buyers and much coughing and spluttering ensues. You can dress this up in all sorts of ways to suit your trade, but in essence it goes something like this:

I travelled by train for a couple of hours the other day, and took with me one of those wildly expensive and often turgid Harvard Business Reviews.  They also tend to be off-puttingly expensive for little return, so I was half-expecting to lose out on the deal. A couple of

Sitting in a prospect reception earlier I thumbed through a broadsheet business section.  It’s always struck me as strange that the “Qualities” do not leverage their journalism more.  Articles in these sections are pretty much one of three types:  fresh company news, economic comment/analysis, or general business-life advice.