by Kenneth Rudich

The Wikipedia defines a transaction as an agreement, communication, or movement carried out between separate entities or objects. 

As suggested by this broad-sweeping characterization, the term transaction can be applied to many different types of environments, and it can serve a whole variety of purposes.  Transactions can occur in business environments, in databases, in a library, and in almost any other operation you can name. 

In fact, the average person probably conducts more transactions in a day than they realize.

dissecting the transaction channel

In business, a transaction refers to the functions or operations involved in an exchange of goods, services, or money. 

These transactions are often ripe for implementing productivity improvements because they typically involve an explicit cause and effect relationship, which makes them both predictable and measurable.

Take, for instance, the activities and operations that occur when a student applies for college admissions:

1. the application is distributed or made available to the prospective student
2. it is filled out and submitted
3. the receipt of the application is recorded
4. it is evaluated internally
5. the results of the evaluations are recorded to update the application status
6. a letter is sent out to the student

In this sequentially ordered progression, there is a beginning and an end with a group of operations sandwiched in between.  The manner in which the operations unfold as the application moves through the process is known as a workflow or transaction channel, and one pass through that channel (one application processed) may be treated as one unit of work.

Once a unit of work has been isolated, the productivity of the channel can be gauged by evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of it.

Effectiveness is judged in terms of quality or defect-free reliability within a unit of work.  Defect-free reliability is of singular importance to a transaction.  For a unit of work to be effective all the participating operations should either succeed, or fail and recover together. 

An effective unit of work eliminates the need for re-work and, more significantly, avoids creating a disturbance in the quest to achieve user satisfaction.

Consider, for instance, a cash withdrawal from a bank’s ATM machine.  Several transactions occur during this event.  For the withdrawal to be effective, a personal identification number must be entered and accepted, the appropriate amount of cash must be dispensed, certain records must be updated, and perhaps a receipt must be printed.  An error would increase the cost of the event due to the extra work for recovery, and it can make the customer unhappy too.  

Efficiency acknowledges the benefits of saved time, energy and/or money.  It often is measured by how many transactions — or units of work — can be completed within a given unit of time.

Efficiency enhancements are usually derived from weeding out inefficiencies within an existing process, or altogether replacing less efficient processes with more efficient ones. 

For example, if the unit of work does not absolutely require human intervention, automating it can relieve people from doing the task.  This can often speed up the process for greater effciency, and it can reduce the cost of doing it on a per unit basis.

In addition, individuals freed up by automation then become available for other tasks that require higher order intelligence, thereby making better use of their time. 

Robert Maginn Jr., a specialist in enterprise software, expresses it this way: “Saving time, specifically in tasks that do not directly affect quality of service, such as data entry, can free up staff to spend more time engaging in activities that do affect quality of service.”  This concept is largely responsible for the change in workforce needs that was discussed in an earlier post to this blog. 

automating and re-engineering business processes

Some observers suggest that opportunities for making transaction channel improvements are as endless as time.  Harvard business professor Michael E. Porter asserts, “Today, continued operational improvements is a given.” 

The motivation to spearhead these improvements is usually grounded in a desire to reap one or more benefits, including, but not limited to, greater effectiveness, tighter cost control, reduced overhead, better leveraging of scale economies, lower coordination costs, enhanced service, more efficient use of time, better information management, or a dedication to the learning curve for improving processes.  In short, it can considerably lower the cost of the transaction while increasing the output.

This does not mean, however, that maximum productivity – the lowest transaction costs possible with the highest degree of effectiveness possible – is always the optimal goal.  Apart from being an elusive target, maximum productivity can be an impractical pursuit, because attaining it can either be cost prohibitive or subject to diminishing returns. 

Conventional wisdom suggests that a balance be sought between costs, levels of service, effectiveness, and efficiency.  This means that priorities must be set.  Economists refer to these trade-offs as transaction cost economics.

the impact on perception of value

Dana Mason, a Director of Strategic Technology Consulting Practices, says all organizations should be aware of at least one key implication that comes with modernizing its transaction channels. 

“Although business fundamentals still exist and apply,” she claims, “companies that choose to change their business to utilize new technologies should be prepared for the fact that they will be judged and measured under a whole new set of rules.”

Among the new rules, she says, is the expectation for “immediate fulfillment.”  

by Kenneth Rudich

Unless you’ve been away on Mars or Venus for an extended stay, it would be hard – if not impossible – to disregard just how much business and marketing communications has changed in the last fifteen years.

By changed, I mostly mean technological change.  Not so much theoretical.  Because in reality, while technology has changed, the primary objective to be achieved really hasn’t. 

If you look at introductory textbooks in the field of communications over the past 40 years, you’re likely to make a small-but-nonetheless-remarkable discovery.  The basic communications model used in these textbooks has pretty much remained the same over the course of time.  Small variations aside, it shows a sender, a receiver, and a feedback loop.  In other words, it heavily leans toward promoting interaction.

Now look at the internet and its related technologies, especially social networking.  Notice anything? Can you see that, arguably, they don’t change what we want to do as much as they change how it can be accomplished, and the extent to which it can be accomplished?

Then what, after all, do we ideally want to accomplish?

Let’s briefly look at the advice of experts on this subject.

human communications without technology

Over the years experts in the field of communications have typically taken the basic communications model described above and used it as a springboard for elaboration.  As a result, our depth of understanding about human communications has slowly grown.  Let’s take a quick peek at what has been accumulated up to this point.  

Burgoon and his colleagues define communication as the art of effective interactive conveyance.  It is a process that allows the source of the communication and the receiver of the communication to have an impact on each other (Burgoon, Hunsaker and Dawson, 1994). 

Simply put, the objective, when artfully done, is to create a two-way connection — that is, “supplying mutual needs and offsetting mutual lacks so as to achieve a shared perception” (Losee, 1999).  Perception is the process of making sense out of the experience (Haney, 1967).   

But just because an exchange occurs, there is no guarantee it will result in a shared perception.   What experts call “noise” can enter into the communication process and interfere with the effectiveness of it.  The noise can be physical, semantic, or internal:

• Physical noise is an audible noise between the sender and the receiver.  It is easy to identify because the source of the noise is generally recognizable.  It could be a loud radio in the background or another person talking at the same time.
• Semantic noise refers to a conflict between the sender and the receiver in misunderstanding the meaning of words.  This noise is harder to identify because it is subject to the variability of individual human perception.  For example, what qualifies as value creation to one person (or organization) can be entirely different from the perception of another person (or organization).  Thus, value creation can mean different things to different people.  
• Internal noise is the psychological drama of the interactive communicators.  This is possibly the hardest noise to identify because it requires knowledge and understanding that may not be possible.  One participant may not be able to understand the inside of the mind of the other participant.  Others may be simply unable to connect at any level (Ershler, 2000-2001).

In the real world, communication untouched by noise is rare, which makes it prone to being imperfect or what Losee calls “noise modified” (Losee, 1999). 

Successful communication hinges on minimizing the perceptual gaps these various kinds of noise can create, and to instead build understanding and empathy so as to cultivate a shared perception.  “When we eliminate the internal or semantic static in the communication,” says Ershler, “we are best understood.”      

contemporary marketing communications

So what are we trying to achieve with modern day marketing communications tools and techniques?  In a nutshell, the same thing we’ve always been trying to accomplish: minimize noise and maximize connection through effective interactions.  Another common term for this, especially in social media circles, is engagement.

Does the availability of the new tools and techniques necessarily make this task any easier? 

The answer is yes…and no.

Yes, the capacity for large-scale interaction has been vastly improved, or at least greatly expanded. 

But the one constant that hasn’t changed is the potential for noise.  If you don’t handle the noise well, then the new tools will likely be of little help.  In fact, they can do more harm than good. 

Just ask BP, or Apple, or the USDA, or actor Mel Gibson. 

by Kenneth Rudich (author’s note: This post is part of MSM’s commitment to the Promote a Social Good Campaign.)

While encouragement to get people to start exercising is generally given with the best of intent, those at the receiving end should first be prepared to exercise caution before they exercise anything else.  There are a few things to consider in advance and it all begins with one basic question.

Are you ready for physical exercise?  Well…maybe and maybe not.

According to the experts, you should evaluate your medical readiness prior to participating in physical activity. This means checking for possible risks in terms of medical complications.

Factors that should give you pause before launching into an exercise regimen on your own include:

• family disease history
• smoking
• high blood pressure
• high blood sugar
• high blood fat levels
• low HDL
• obesity
• inactivity

Some of the signs and symptoms to watch for when it comes to these risk factors are:

• chest, neck or jaw pain
• shortness of breath in mild exercise
• dizziness or fainting
• labored breathing
• fast or irregular heartbeat
• heart murmur
• fatigue in normal activity

Based on where you stand relative to these factors, you could be at high risk, moderate risk, or low risk for medical complications.  Here are some guidelines for each risk category:

1. high risk: one or more signs or symptoms; known cardiovascular, pulmonary, or metabolic disease
2. moderate risk: men 45 and over, no known disease; women 55 and over, no known disease; two or more risk factors
3. low risk: men less than 45 and women less than 55 with no signs or symptoms and no more than one risk factor

do your own self-screening for readiness

Now that you know what’s involved in terms of potential medical risk, you can do a self-screening to determine whether you’re ready or not.  One widely used tool for self-screening is called the PAR-Q, which stands for Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire.  It consists of 7 basic questions.  Your answers to the questions, along with a few other factors, can help guide your decision-making.  I’ll refer you to a site for the PAR-Q at the end of this post.

interpreting your readiness based on the PAR-Q

1. If you are an apparently healthy young adult and answer “no” to all the questions, you basically get a green light for moderate or vigorous activity.
2. If you are an apparently healthy older adult (over 40) and answer “no” to all the questions, you get a favorable nod for moderate activity.  But for rigorous activity, it is recommended that you undergo what is known as a Clinical Exercise Test.  The Exercise Test involves a series of routines that measure your body’s response to significantly increased physical activity, in an environment that makes it safe and informative for you.
3. Those with a known disease are encouraged to get a medical exam and undergo a Clinical Exercise Test.

now are you ready for physical activity?

Let’s say everything is good to go up to this point.  Does that mean you’ve completely answered the question about readiness? 

Well…not exactly.  There are a few other things that yet need to be considered, and I’ll cover those in the next installment for the Fitness and Wellness category under the Social Good Campaign.

Until then, keep doing what you can to promote the social good, whatever it entails.

Best Regards,
Ken

P.S. Here’s a site for the PAR-Q.    

by Kenneth Rudich

A distribution channel is the primary delivery path the product or service travels from the producer to the intended receiver. 

The delivery path itself is divisible into three fundamental elements: the production end, the throughput process, and the receiver end.  How well these three get integrated – that is, the degree to which they work in sympathy with one another – can make all the difference in the world for delivering value fulfillment.

What do I mean by working in sympathy?  Take for instance a food server at a restaurant.  Some might characterize the server as part of the product or service, and they of course would be right in making that assertion. 

At the same time, one could also say the server is responsible for the throughput process between the production end and the receiver end.  If a diner requests something special during the food preparation process, then the server must convey that information to the cook prior to preparation, and also make sure the cook carried it out before delivering the plate to the table. 

A mishap anywhere along that path can tarnish the customer experience.  Say, for instance, the food was prepared as normal despite the special request, and then it was delivered to the customer like that.  In this case, it would be a distribution channel flaw that resulted in a product/service problem.  And that, in a nutshell, is why the three elements of the distribution channel must be designed to work in sympathy with one another.

An even more vivid example of this can be shown with technology.  Think of a television show.  There’s the production process, any of several throughput processes, and any of several viewing options.  The throughput could be local broadcast tv, cable, satellite, or internet.  In this case, the throughput is independent of the production end and the receiving end, but all three must work in sympathy with one another for any given distribution channel to work properly.

distribution channels as competitive strategy 

The distribution channels can also play a prominent role in the competitive strategy realm. 

A recent post about the competition in the video rental industry between big name providers like Blockbuster, Redbox and Netflix illustrates the difference a distribution channel strategy can make within the context of the value chain. 

Each started out with distinctly different distribution channel strategies.  Blockbuster was first out of the gate, followed by Netflix and then Redbox.

Netflix and Redbox each chose distribution channel strategies that were designed to differentiate their value propositions from what already existed.  No two designs among the three looked exactly alike, and that mix among them ignited a competitive fervor that is currently unfolding.

multi-channel distribution strategies

Another important point to recognize is that a business may have more than one distribution channel operating at the same time.  Each dissimilar pathway indicates the presence of another separate channel.

For instance, what if the above restaurant also offered home delivery?  Would that not require another set of distribution channel design considerations?

The video rental industry also provides a relevant example.  Blockbuster, who started off by solely relying on a bricks-and-mortar store model for distribution, is not only in process of adopting the distribution channels used by Netflix and Redbox, but also possibly abandoning their original strategy due to the comparatively high costs (and non-competitive nature) of it. 

Redbox, in the mean time, is looking to embrace some facsimile of the Netflix internet strategy. 

If all three eventually end up perfecting the same distribution channel strategies, it could very well negate the differential advantage any of them might have once gotten from their distribution channel strategy. 

This example illustrates how a distribution channel strategy can be used to either gain a strategic advantage or diffuse one.

distribution channel design

A distribution channel can be just as important to the overall customer experience as any other part of the value chain.  In future posts, we’ll look at some design considerations and concerns in greater detail. 

market opportunity scan case study

by Kenneth Rudich

With a steady churn of breakthrough innovations constantly affecting product life-cycles, it has made the market opportunity scan as important as ever.  Any number of examples could be used to illustrate this point.  Few, however, are likely to show it in more vivid detail than the video rental industry over the past 25 years.

You may recall the MOS primarily concentrates on the market analysis and external forces parts of the value chain.  The objective is to retrieve relevant information that may affect the outlook of your business, for better or worse.  It aims to support the strategic learning cycle, to gain a leg-up for deploying effective strategies and tactics along the value chain – whether as a countermeasure to a threat, or to take advantage of a new opportunity.

The video rental industry has seen its fair share of measures and countermeasures.  What follows is an abbreviated version of that story.

the value chain story for video rentals

In 1985, newly launched Blockbuster, Inc. identified a market opportunity for customers wanting to rent their choice of movie titles on videotape.  Its value chain included a wide dispersion of company-owned stores as the means for distribution.  Customers would come to the physical location, make their selection, take the videos home, watch them, and then return them to the store. 

By 2004, it had over 8,900 stores and had grown into a $900 million company.  It was regarded as the industry leader for nearly two decades.

But now, in 2010, Blockbuster, Inc. is contemplating Chapter 11 to eliminate debt.  Its woes are such that a recent finance article suggested it may become one of ten disappearing brands in 2011.  Though others contend that that is unlikely to happen, the article does point out that one of its chief rivals, Movie Gallery, the parent company of Hollywood Video, announced in February 2010 it would be closing its 2415 stores and liquidating all assets.  Movie Gallery was using the same kind of value chain model as Blockbuster.

so what happened?

Three key dynamics, all of which were visible within the realm of the market opportunity scan, can be held up as having had a hand in Blockbuster’s reversal of fortune.  They insinuated themselves on the marketplace almost simultaneously.

The first notable one of them was the technology factor – namely, the growth of the internet and also video on-demand for satellite and cable. 

The second was the foresight of competitors who saw an opportunity to re-design the Blockbuster value chain and create new forms of perceived value, particularly as it pertained to the distribution and transaction channels.  Netflix combined the internet with traditional mail for their transaction and distribution channels, and Redbox later came along and put vending kiosks in pharmacies, fast food restaurants, grocery stores and convenience stores.  Neither built their own stores.  Both also improved upon the transactions component by lowering the rental price.  

The third dynamic – and possibly the most painful in retrospect – was Blockbuster’s inability to adequately appreciate the first two.  There was an undeniable lapse within the context of its own market opportunity scan.   

Blockbuster was a latecomer to the Internet compared to Netflix and Amazon.  It also could have employed vending kiosks ahead of Redbox, which passed Blockbuster in 2007 in number of U.S. locations.  Unfortunately for Blockbuster, it was so thoroughly entrenched in its bricks-and-mortar model that it forfeited the opportunity to seize whatever first-entry advantage it might have gotten by branching out into new channels sooner.  It failed to heed the external forces and the market analysis of the MOS.   

The company lost $65 million last quarter.  Its revenue continues to rapidly decline with Netflix and Redbox chipping away at it, not to mention the losses also suffered due to cable and satellite video on-demand.  Despite that, many industry analysts believe it still has a chance at remaining viable as a company, but only with distribution channels consisting of DVD’s via mail, vending kiosks, and internet delivery.  Convenience (consider the social lifestyle factor under external forces) and low price is the new success formula, and that’s not something the bricks-and-mortar model can do nearly as well.  Blockbuster is down to about 6000 stores and is continuing to close them. 

much of the story still remains to be written

The composition of the value chain for the video rental business has been forever changed from its original formula, and it’s still evolving.  Every one of the current players needs to stay atop of what’s going on via the Market Opportunity Scan.  And they need to keep an open mind for converting that information into sound strategy and tactics all along their value chains.            

by Kenneth Rudich

In today’s marketplace, every business is feeling the pressure of having to remain agile, keep pace, and make the right moves at the right time.  For many, their survival depends on it, and they often have a small margin for error.

A big part of staying on top of this challenge rests with the ability to effectively scan the market and retrieve information about it that is both timely and relevant to their business.  Such information should provide a foundation for making informed decisions about what to do next.

the market opportunity scan

This is where the Market Opportunity Scan enters the picture.  It encourages an organized approach for regularly assessing the market outlook of the business.   

One aspect is to make sure the information is relevant, which requires a determination of what qualifies as desirable in terms of quality and scope.  The scan should be business-specific, and it should be comprehensive enough to give people a good complement of what they need without trespassing into information overload. 

Regular assessment speaks to the concern for timeliness.  This means it should be replicable in design, and that it should be routinely monitored.   

In the final analysis, the objective is to support the Strategic Learning Cycle of the business as was discussed in an earlier post.  

the basic elements of a market opportunity scan

The market opportunity scan encompasses those parts of the value chain that are highlighted in yellow up above.  These areas exert the most influence on what can or should be done across the value chain as a whole.

It concentrates on achieving three broad objectives:

1. Analyze the composition of the customer base for your business 
2. Recognize the impact of the external forces on your business 
3. Reconcile the implications of both as they converge on your value chain

For now, I’ll give a brief overview of the activities involved within each of these objectives.  Later posts will discuss them in greater detail.

As you read this content, bear in mind that part of the overall goal is to help you establish a business framework for developing timely strategies and tactics.  As always, the focus is on creating a value chain that will deliver value fulfillment. 

analyzing the customer base

The customer base consists of the current and potential customers for your business.   There are two vantage points from which to survey the customer base for identifying applicable opportunities:

1. Start with existing internal competencies and find related opportunities in the market
2. Find a need in the market and develop the internal competencies to fill it

Future posts will examine some different tools and techniques for analyzing the customer base from both of these perspectives.   

analyzing the impact of the external forces

The external forces are typically beyond your control but exert an influence on your business nonetheless.  The challenge is to navigate the external forces in a way that minimizes the harm when they’re working against you, and maximizes the good when they’re working for you.

My preference is to divide the analysis of the external forces into two categories because each can be substantially influential in its own right, and it makes more intuitive sense to me if they are organized in this manner.  The two categories are:

1. All the external forces minus your competition
2. Your competition by itself

reconciling the value chain implications

Fashioning a value chain that factors in the results of the market opportunity scan involves the ability to transform raw information into knowledge – or more specifically, into applied knowledge.  With that knowledge in hand, you might then decide to:

1. launch new value chain initiatives
2. modify old ones
3. leave some current value chain initiatives alone
4. stop doing some current value chain activities

More often than not, the real challenge will lie in pinpointing which actions to take and where, particularly when you have to establish priorities in the face of budget constraints.  As authors David Kaplan and Robert Norton point out in The Balanced Scorecard, “The essence of strategy is not just choosing what to do; it also requires choosing what not to do.”   

by Kenneth Rudich

The realities of a quirky economy and a cluttered marketplace have made it smarter than ever for small businesses to form strategic alliances. 

Such arrangements can produce the benefits of a portfolio effect.  The rationale is similar to the one used for creating a stock portfolio; only in this case you’re gaining access to desirable resources through a series of collaborations with others.  Those resources may be in the form of expertise or knowledge; physical assets; technological assets; financial assets; or something else.   

To be as effective as possible, a business must first understand the basic characteristics of a sound strategic alliance.  There are several matters to consider when answering this question, but probably none more important than three in particular.  They are synergy, vitality, and an agreed upon set of ground rules.

the synergy of a strategic business alliance

Synergy is defined as the joining together of distinct business interests for mutual advantage.  It’s a carefully thought out plan that aims to achieve a complementary union.  The ideal outcome is to have the whole become stronger than the sum of the parts.  In other words, the goals and objectives of the alliance should enhance the interests of all the participants in a way that could not otherwise be individually achieved without it.

Another view of synergy suggests that each participant gains added value along their value chain as a result of entering into the alliance.  For instance, a joint promotion (possibly a joint social media marketing effort) among several small complementary businesses could increase the pool of potential customers for all of them.  Or possibly expand the reach of the promotion for all of them while reducing individual costs for implementation.

the vitality of a strategic business alliance 

Another factor to consider for a strategic alliance revolves around its potential vitality.  This is the strength and scope of how much value it adds to your value chain.  Strength and scope are two different considerations.

Strength is based on whether your investment in the alliance currently produces or has the potential to produce enough of a yield to make it worthwhile for you.  It is, after all, an investment of sorts, and it will be competing against other potential investments you could make in lieu of it. 

It does not mean the contributions from or benefits to the members of the alliance must be equal across the board.  It’s conceivable you could be getting less from the alliance than one or more of its other members, but yet enough of a yield to still make it worthwhile for you to remain in the alliance.

Scope evaluates whether the alliance is being tapped to full advantage.  To what extent are all the possible joint interests being served within the context of the alliance?  For instance, can a joint promotion be combined with joint distribution or joint production to further expand the benefits of the alliance?

the agreed upon ground rules  

The ground rules should represent a meeting of the participants’ minds.  Matters like who will share what, how those investments can be expected to complement one another, what it will take to keep the alliance operational, or what determines whether it should be dissolved, must be fleshed out. 

In addition to a shared set of interests, it should also consider a shared set of values to help bind the participants together. 

forging strategic alliances is smart strategy

Forging strategic alliances may well represent one of the better options available for small businesses looking to stay afloat amid the ebb and flow of today’s rapidly changing business environment.

logo for M-S-M

by Kenneth Rudich

This post will likely be of only average length.  And yet, ironically, the story behind it may well have consumed more of my time and energy than any other I’ve written to date.

I’ve been trying for some while now to come up with a logo for Marketing Strategy Management.  I’m especially keen on having one that neatly captures what I want it to convey.  I’ve been quite particular about that point (to an extent that surprises even me), and it has made the process of putting together a singularly effective image more like a journey than a task.

At present, I have a collection of probably thirty different logos to choose from.  Almost all of them have merit, and perhaps any one of them would have been perfectly suitable if I had simply remained rational while making a decision.  In retrospect, it might have been a better use of my time if I had.

Instead, I decided to go for something that felt right from a visceral standpoint.  You know, something based on a gut feeling or a strong instinct.  Something that made me stand up and shout, “This is it!”

And that’s why it has ended up taking so long.   

what’s a business or marketing logo?

In plain business terms, a logo is an intangible asset.  If you think about it, the phrase “intangible asset” is a peculiar combination of words.  It might even be construed as an oxymoron.

Intangible means not readily discernible to the mind.  You can’t physically pick it up, turn it over in your hands, smell it, or taste it.  It’s what’s called impalpable.

An asset, on the other hand, seems rather to imply the exact opposite.  If you were to seek a personal loan, for example, you’d likely be asked for some kind of material collateral to back it up.  Something like a car, a house, or a yacht.  I mean, can you imagine asking a lender, “How about my logo?  Would you be willing to accept it for collateral?”

So what is an intangible asset?  You take the word “rational,” combine it with “real,” maybe add in “statistically proven,” and you throw every single bit of whatever sense they seem to make straight out the window.  Objectivity doesn’t stand up well when something is entirely based on subjective opinion.

An intangible asset is a visceral thing.  It’s the emotion, gut feeling or instinct people attach to it, as long as it puts that intangible thing in a positive light.  Without the positive light part, it doesn’t qualify as an asset per se.

what’s the marketing value of a new logo?

A newly unveiled logo is unlikely to be immediately seen as an asset.  It has to be invested with value before it can be regarded as such.  That requires time, and the ability to endow it with an appreciable amount of personal appeal.  Until that happens, it can hardly assume the status of an intangible asset.

But even though it’s not an asset straight out of the box, it still serves a meaningful purpose.  After all, it represents the future of the enterprise – the hope, the vision, and the aspiration for it.  It makes a statement that says, “I dream of the day when this logo will become everything an intangible asset can possibly be.”

And that is the reason it has taken so long to decide on a logo.  I wanted one that could move me to make it everything it could possibly be.  The one up above does that for me.  It is, at least in my mind, consistent with everything I’d written in the About M-S-M page, only it expresses it in a visual form. 

What do you think?  Does it seem to do the job for you?

two types of fitness

by Kenneth Rudich

According to Dr. Charles Corbin, emeritus professor of exercise and wellness, there are two types of fitness to consider when embarking on an exercise and wellness program.

One is Skill-related Fitness, and the other is Health-related Fitness.

skill-related fitness

Skill-related fitness refers to an individual’s performance capacity within the context of doing something that requires a physical skill.  An example would be throwing and catching a ball.  It’s not the skill itself, but the performance of the skill.

The performance of such activity involves motor skills.  A motor skill is a learned sequence of movements that typically involves some combination of agility, balance, coordination, speed, power, or reaction time.  Optimum performance stems from doing the sequence of movements as efficiently and effectively as possible. 

In essence, everyone relies on having some degree of skill-related fitness for daily living.  Consider the hand-eye coordination, for example, needed to play catch with a ball, write with a keyboard, or drive a car. 

These motor skills can be developed and changed with practice, at least to a certain point.  For instance, parents help their children to learn motor-related skills ranging from simple activities like manipulating small objects such as paint brushes or crayons to more complex activities like tumbling, climbing, running and jumping.  The rapid development of these skills is especially noticeable in toddlers.

The amount of skill-related fitness will vary from person to person.  This has a lot to do with genetics.  Some people are genetically gifted with exceptional motor skills, like professional athletes, dancers, high-rise construction workers, and fighter pilots.  Others are less lucky.  Imagine, for instance, how unbearable it would be to watch an uncoordinated construction worker trying to cross an I-beam while working 100 stories above the ground.

health-related fitness

To a certain extent, health-related fitness may be the more important of the two types of fitness for the average person – though I don’t want to inadvertently suggest either type is unimportant to anyone at any age. 

Health-related fitness by itself is not synonymous with wellness (wellness is more all-inclusive and will be dealt with in another post), but it is vital to achieving wellness.  It contributes by helping to prevent disease and improve the quality of life.

Health-related fitness is something you can change through physical activity, healthy living, and diet.  The key is to focus on specific aspirations for enhancing each one of them. 

physical activity

Physical activity contributes to health-related fitness by developing attributes like cardiovascular (aerobic) fitness, muscular endurance, muscular strength, flexibility, and proper body composition.  Whether you have good or poor skill-related fitness doesn’t matter.  You can still obtain the benefits of health-related fitness through physical activity. 

You may recall from an earlier post that the opposite of such activity is a sedentary – too little physical movement – lifestyle, which can put a person at risk of being vulnerable to various forms of disease.  Physical activity assists to ward off the potential problems of a sedentary existence.  Be forewarned that it necessitates some personal discipline on your part, like stepping away from the computer, getting off the couch, and breaking a sweat on a regular basis.

For example, cardiovascular fitness involves aerobic exercise, which means getting your heart rate up for a period of time through perhaps jogging, bicycling or skating. 

Muscular strength and muscular endurance may be improved or obtained through weightlifting.  These two different forms of fitness represent one reason why it is important to be an informed fitness consumer.  Though it’s true both involve some kind of resistance training, like weightlifting, the exercise routine will not be the same for both.  You’ll need one routine to achieve one, and another routine to achieve the other. 

When pursuing health-related fitness, it is important to understand that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for everyone.  This is yet another reason to become an informed consumer.  What may be an appropriate exercise routine for one person may not be right for another.  What is an achievable body composition for one person may be impossible for another to have. 

Everyone must cater to their own individualistic – and realistic – needs and capabilities. 

healthy living

Healthy living is another pivotal component of health-related fitness.  This can include the way you live, and where you live. 

Few better examples currently exist than the circumstances surrounding the BP Oil spill off the U.S. Gulf coast.  The stress and strain on the economy has produced an unhealthy anguish for the people who live there.  This ongoing emotional roller coaster ride can take a terrible toll on the human condition, both physically and mentally. 

In addition, there are grave concerns about the environmental damage, and whether it will be safe for people to live there anymore.

Healthy living also includes taking care of yourself in other ways, things like safe sex, not smoking, and not drinking alcohol to excess.

diet

Finally, diet is central to health-related fitness. 

Given the media’s recent attention to the dangers of eating the wrong kind of foods; and to issues like epidemic obesity, it seems this has already been well-covered and really doesn’t require further elaboration just now – other than perhaps to say, a healthy diet can go a long way to achieving and sustaining health-related fitness.  

fitness and wellness

We can’t control everything in life.  But we can take the reins on some aspects of it, and we can assume responsibility for ourselves when it comes to those things.

In future posts, I’ll delve into further detail about the things we can do to promote health and wellness for ourselves and for others.  I’m banking on the idea that people will be more inclined to grab the reins once they become better informed about the what, when, where, why, and how of handling them.  

And I’m hopeful it will ultimately lead to a greater social good. 

Watch for next week’s installment to the Social Good Campaign.  If you would like to author a post for the campaign, let me know.  I’d love to have your contribution.

Best Regards,
Ken

marketing promotion investment

by Kenneth Rudich

With the economy slumping, many businesses have been forced to trim costs wherever they can.  Under the circumstances, this is a natural and prudent course of action. 

But it is not necessarily a good idea to do it straight across the board.  In fact, it may be counterproductive in at least one area, possibly even deadly.

In every recession of the last thirty years I’ve heard the same piece of advice consistently given out by those with a knack for survival.  It goes something like this: in the face of an economic downturn, you should try to maintain or even increase your marketing promotion investment.  After all, it’s the one area of your business that offers a reason to keep hope alive in the midst of a fragile economy.

internet marketing now more than ever

Those who believed this was true in the past may have more reason than ever to believe in it now.

One of the things that makes this recession unique – apart from the magnitude of it – is the degree to which the internet has grown as a cost-effective mechanism for marketing and promotion.  

The timing has never been better to get involved with internet marketing if you haven’t already, or to consider broadening your initiative if you already have.  The reach of it, combined with an estimated 400 million daily searches, presents an untold potential for those willing to give it a try.

Part of what makes the timing so good is the element of novelty it continues to hold.  Despite the gains it has made, internet marketing is still in its infancy.  The ramifications of this can work to your advantage.

First, the idea of what constitutes best practices is constantly evolving as the tools and techniques get better and better.  This makes it hard for any business to become so thoroughly entrenched as to be entirely safe.  By keeping the playing field fluid and flowing, the internet consistently provides an equal opportunity for all.  Any business can suddenly soar based off its internet marketing success.  Many already have (think Zappos, Amazon, Google, Facebook and others who seemingly came out of nowhere), and many more undoubtedly will. 

Second, while the cost of internet marketing is comparatively low when paired against traditional options, it may be even lower yet while in the throes of a recession. 

Businesses that offer internet marketing services are prone to the consequences of a turbulent economy like anyone else.  They too are concerned with keeping themselves afloat.  It’s a competitive field, and it’s become something of a buyer’s market. 

That may suck for them but it’s good for you.  For instance, SEO providers typically offer different package deals to enhance their appeal across businesses of varying sizes.  One of the more interesting package deals I’ve seen of late, however, is called “No Results, No Pay.”  In other words, the client only pays if he or she gets measurable results.  It completely eliminates the upfront risk normally associated with this kind of investment.  Now how often do you come across a deal like that?

Package deals like this reflect the sobering reality of a flagging economy.  It’s a scenario straight out of Herb Cohen’s best-selling book, “You can Negotiate Anything.”  In this case, you probably can negotiate anything.  That tidbit of knowledge alone should cause the negotiator in you to stir with restless ambition.

If you still have no plans to invest in internet marketing, or see no reason to consider expanding on what you’re currently doing to extract more benefits out of it, then I suggest you shutter the windows and lock the doors.  Because, truth be told, you probably already have but just don’t know it yet.                      

fitness and wellness consumer

by Kenneth Rudich

The last Fitness and Wellness post urged people to learn about the concepts of fitness and wellness for themselves, rather than rely on others to give them adequate support and advice.  

The rationale for advocating this approach rests with the hope that, as an informed consumer, you’ll be better equipped to determine what is right for you; and that healthy living habits will grow to become second nature in your daily routine, almost like breathing or sleeping.  Not only will you be taking responsibility for, and control of, your own fitness and wellness, but you’ll enjoy the sense of confidence that comes with it.

For this reason, a legitimate fitness expert, one who is earnest about what he or she is doing, will typically establish this as a goal for their clients (or students) right from the outset.  They’ll formulate a strategy that takes a person from starting off as dependent on them to becoming independently self-reliant.  If your source for expertise should fail to outline such a progression early on in your acquaintance, then perhaps it’s a good idea to shop for a replacement. 

from dependence to independence 

According to Dr. Charles Corbin, an emeritus professor of health and wellness, the journey from dependence to independence consists of six steps.

Step 1: Dependent behavior.  For many fitness consumers, the first step – and perhaps the most difficult – is to commit to getting started.  This means finding a reliable resource(s) for guidance and information.  Beware of quacks or charlatans looking to make easy money by selling gimmicks built on bad ideas or empty promises.  Always do your homework, including background checks to make sure they are legitimate.  Are they certified in the field?  What kind of certification do they possess – does it come from a legitimate source?  Do they belong to any professional associations or organizations that help to affirm the quality and currentness of what they offer?  What kind of experience do they have, and is it consistent with assisting you to become an informed consumer?

Step 2: Working toward an initial state of health and wellness.  New fitness consumers seldom start from a place of already well-established health and wellness.  Most will need to pursue it, and they will require proper guidance to get there.  But this goal alone, even after having reached it, is still not the be-all-end-all for achieving the broader aim of becoming an informed consumer.  Dr. Corbin characterizes this stage as “temporary health and wellness” because clients have yet to fully digest the knowledge, skills and habits for independently managing their own program.  Without that, they are at risk of stumbling backward.

Step 3: Self-assessment. Consumers must be able to gauge where they’re at; and whether or how they are progressing across time.  Learning to assess all the various aspects of health and wellness, particularly as it pertains to you as an individual, is critical to gaining eventual independence.  Self-assessment aids with the detection of what is working, what isn’t working, and where adjustments may be needed.

Step 4: Self-management. Self-assessment is good, but it must be coupled with self-management.  Self-management allows consumers to plan their own program according to their needs as they currently exist, to keep their goals realistic, to monitor their own behaviors, to make adjustments, and also maintain the required discipline that gives them staying power.

Step 5: Problem solving. This is where the consumer’s knowledge and skills have been sharpened enough to recognize and overcome the barriers that may be inhibiting their ability to reach step six.  It also means they’ve been endowed with the knowledge to evaluate what others are saying or promoting to determine if it’s right for them or, even more generally, if it’s consistent with the known concepts of health and wellness.  

Step 6: Lifelong Healthy Living.  This is where all the previous steps come together.  The acquired knowledge, skills and habits drive you to remain active as an independent and self-reliant fitness and wellness consumer.  It has essentially become second nature to you.

it’s never too late to become a fitness and wellness consumer

Taking the reins for managing your own fitness and wellness throughout life may well be one of the more empowering gifts you can ever give to yourself, as well as to the people you care about and who care about you.  It can foster quality of  life for years to come.         

by Kenneth Rudich

This brief video module defines and explains the concept of value from a business and marketing standpoint.  Please take a moment to let me know if you like it, or if you have any suggestions for future modules.

In addition to outlining the learning objectives below, I’ve also supplied the transcript of the audio portion.

This module covers the following learning objectives:

• Learn the different ways of referring to value
• Discover two ways of defining value
• Recognize the four perceived benefits of value
• Become acquainted with the three motives associated with the costs of value
• Become agile with combining the benefits and costs of value
• Learn to achieve value fulfillment

transcript for marketing value module

Welcome to a Marketing Strategy Management mini module on…

The Concept of Value

Sometimes also referred to as creating value

Or value creation

a business’s value proposition

Customer value

Or just plain value

Simply defined…Value makes someone feel like they got a good deal at a good price.

But we can look at it from a more analytical perspective too.

In this case, we can define value as the perceived benefits relative to the price or cost.

And then, we can delve more deeply into this definition by further dissecting it. The question to ask is: What are the customer’s motives?

Let’s start with the perceived benefits.

Are they looking for social benefits, like a night out at the club or maybe a social networking website?

Is there a functional motive?  For example, a vacuum cleaner serves a functional purpose.

Are there physiological motives?  Like something related to food, water, sleep, or breathing.  Think, for example, of medicine that helps an asthmatic to breathe or a sleep aid for someone having trouble with it.

Lastly, are there psychological motives?  Like the thrill of a roller coaster ride.

At some point, the perceived benefits get weighed against the costs. 

For example, is the customer willing to buy it?

And is the customer able to buy it?

These two go hand in hand. A customer may be willing but not able…or vice versa.

And lastly, when relevant, is the customer authorized to buy it?

When all these elements are laid out together like this, you now have the basic ingredients for creating value.  Whether or not you actually create value is determined by how they’re assembled, and for whom.

The thing to bear in mind is that satisfying motives, not just needs, is at the heart of creating value.

For instance, a financially strapped individual may want the prestige of a luxury car but will settle for an economy car instead.  In this case, the functional need, combined with a lower cost, clearly outweighs his psychological motive for prestige. 

Others, on other hand, may be willing and able to buy the luxury car. 

If able is not a concern, then the decision hinges more on perceived benefits.

If the price or cost exceeds the perceived benefits, where one or more motives are either under-served or not served, then value does not exist.

If the perceived benefits equal or outweigh the costs, then value exists.

When you get it all mixed together just right, it leads to value fulfillment.

And that produces happy customers.

This has been a mini module on the concept of value.

For more on this and related subjects, visit Marketing-strategy-management.com

a big picture perspective for marketing strategy

by Kenneth Rudich

The above graphic captures the big picture perspective as it pertains to a value chain approach for marketing strategy excellence. 

As the illustration shows, an organization’s assets – its people, facilities, technologies and processes – are deployed as judiciously as possible across the entire value chain.  The aim is to create a certain set of outputs, which in turn lead to a certain set of outcomes.

This is the anatomy of how a for-profit enterprise essentially tries to operate.  A not-for-profit, on the other hand, is likely to differ in the sense that it might have “donors” and/or “donations” instead of “profits” as outcomes.

the parts of big picture business strategy  

Several earlier posts have already looked at and addressed several parts of this big picture perspective. 

The value chain was introduced in “A Value Chain Approach for Marketing Strategy Excellence.”

Joint-use was fleshed out in one post, and re-use was the topic of another.

Value fulfillment was covered in yet another post.  It is worth noting that responsiveness is related to value fulfillment because fulfillment is derived from being responsive to customer needs, wants and desires as they apply to the process of creating value. 

Additionally, there was a recent post to outline the concept of the strategic learning cycle for effectively managing a strategy over time.  It pointed out that strategy is fluid and emergent, and it requires constant attention. The strategic learning cycle is a disciplined process for maintaining an agile strategy, one that consistently produces the desired outputs and outcomes.   A similarly related post revealed the difference between top-down and bottom-up business strategy development, and how the two can be geared to work in a complementary manner.  

All in all, numerous marketing strategy management concepts have already been touched upon, and now we are able to fit them together in the context of the big picture perspective as shown above.

a focus on the value chain for marketing

The time has come to focus more closely and rigorously on the value chain for marketing. 

Although you wouldn’t know it by the way it has been squeezed into the above graphic, it actually is the centerpiece of the big picture perspective.  It takes the inputs and translates them into the outputs that produce the outcomes. 

In other words, what occurs in the space between the inputs and the outputs is the most critical aspect of all.  And that, of course, is precisely where the value chain sits.  It determines how the inputs get knitted together, and whether the outputs are sufficient to realize the sought after outcomes. 

In upcoming posts, we truly will be digging into the nitty-gritty of a value chain approach to marketing.

fitness as a social good

by Kenneth Rudich

Fitness speaks to the body’s ability to function efficiently and effectively.

why push fitness?

Remaining fit helps to increase the quality and years of a healthy life in three significant ways.

First, it aids with promoting individual fitness – where the ness is a state of being, the product of being fit.  It results in your body functioning efficiently and effectively.  Anybody at any age has the potential for achieving or improving fitness (but always check with your doctor before starting a fitness program).

The second significant contribution is to reduce the risk for disease.   A sedentary lifestyle – one in which there is too little movement – can make an individual prone to unhealthy conditions like diabetes, osteoporosis, obesity, back problems, and premature aging.  It also invites the advent of cardiovascular disease such as heart attacks, clogged arteries, and strokes. 

Third, a substantial absence of fitness within any sizable population can cause larger social ills in the form of decreased productivity, higher workplace absenteeism, skyrocketing healthcare costs, and rising insurance rates.  This not only hurts the community as a whole, but it also affects the individuals within it.  Furthermore, let’s be honest: asking a government to help contain the cost of healthcare when the citizens themselves are doing little about it is more than just a little hypocritical.

These are just a few of the reasons for advocating the pursuit of fitness among individuals, groups and society at-large.  I’ll bet you can think of at least a handful more.

advocating fitness 

By advocate, I mean promoting two characteristics in particular.

The first is knowledge about fitness – in other words, for you to become an educated fitness, health and wellness consumer.  This entails matters like knowing the types of activities that are recommended and/or ill-advised, the various aspects of a sound fitness program, and possessing the skill to assess and manage your own fitness rather than remain wholly dependent on someone else always telling you what to do. 

The second is to adopt a healthy lifestyle for now and into the future.  This suggests that you personally embrace a healthy lifestyle and hold yourself accountable for sustaining it.  This last part is the reason for suggesting the first form of advocacy above.

i’m not an expert, and I won’t try to play one either

As part of the social good campaign, I will re-visit this subject often in the weeks ahead. 

The bulk of the information I provide will be based on nearly twenty years of collaborating with Dr. Charles Corbin, a now emeritus professor of Exercise and Wellness from a major university in the United States.  He is the content expert.  I merely worked with him over the years to package the content for distance and online learning.  Google his name if you want to go to the source of this information about fitness and wellness – and a quite renowned source, I might add – especially if you want to enlighten your understanding of how to incorporate more of both into your life.

Meanwhile, I will try to be a faithful conduit for advocating and promoting the pursuit of health and wellness; and I will never pretend to be anything more than just that and that alone.

My definition of success for this endeavor is to whet your appetite to learn more, to want to become an educated consumer and, most importantly, to nudge you toward adopting a healthy lifestyle if you haven’t already. 

Perhaps you’ll even find yourself advocating it to others, like family and friends.

a strategic learning cycle for business

by Kenneth Rudich
 
The generic value chain for marketing provides a tool for conceptualizing the value-creating activities within a marketing strategy, for mapping them, linking them, and tracking them over time.

The notion that everything ought to be tracked over time alludes to the idea that strategy and tactics – their development and implementation – are by definition fluid and emergent.  They require ongoing attention and critical analysis.  In short, they must be managed in order to keep the business goals and objectives attuned with the opportunities in the market.

the strategic learning cycle

The discipline behind an effectively managed value chain strategy is built around a concept known as the strategic learning cycle. 

As the name suggests, it is a repetitive process for analyzing strategy across time:

• The Past – where you’ve been
• The Present – where you are
• The Future – where you should be going and how to get there        

The discipline of it stems from the analytical framework that it follows.  That framework includes:

• Identification and/or Adaptation of Strategy and/or Tactics: establishing or adjusting strategy or tactics to reach the next desired level of performance from both an output and outcome perspective;
• Planning and Process Mapping:  developing or adjusting processes to effectively carry out the strategy and tactics;
• Application or Implementation: actual performance of the processes;
• Output/Outcome Measurement and Assessment: critically evaluating actual results against strategic goals and tactical objectives. 

Each pass through the strategic learning cycle theoretically adds to the accumulation of insights and knowledge for evaluating the effectiveness of  the value chain strategy and tactics – that is, what works or is working; what doesn’t work or isn’t working; and what changes should be made to either the strategy or the tactics.

The ideal scenario is to have each successive pass function like a virtuous cycle of decision-making improvement. 

responsiveness, joint-use and re-use within the value chain

The purpose of the strategic learning cycle is to maintain the integrity of the value chain along three specific dimensions.  They are responsiveness, joint-use, and re-use.

Responsiveness deals with the actions taken in light of the external forces and the role of creating value.  The objective of this outside-in perspective is to determine what the business should do with each component of the value chain in order to deliver value fulfillment.  In “The Balanced Scorecard,” authors Kaplan and Norton encourage careful thought when pondering this matter.  They say, “The essence of strategy is not just choosing what to do; it also requires choosing what not to do.”  The strategic learning cycle assists with being selective about the choices made, and with understanding why some were made and others were not.
 
Joint-use identifies opportunities to prune inefficiencies within the value chain and leverage them to better advantage.  This perspective has more of an inside-out orientation.  You can read more about Joint-use here. 

Re-use centers on strategies for reducing waste.  Analyst Mike Blecher at Gartner Inc., Stamford, Conn., divides re-use into three categories when figuring out what can be re-used: technology or technical components, business components, and application templates.  To be effective across time, re-use requires a systematic approach rather than one done on an ad hoc basis.  That’s why it’s also included in the strategic learning cycle.  You can read more about Re-use here.

different software applications combined

by Kenneth Rudich

Anyone who has ever tackled the task of organizing a cluttered space, such as a closet, probably already has a fundamental grasp of why it’s advantageous to fit the arrangement of the items inside the space rather than toss them in willy-nilly.  A fitted arrangement — when items of different sizes and shapes jointly share a space — creates efficiencies for maximizing the holding capacity of the space, and it provides greater usability.

Joint-use attempts to achieve comparable results for a business (and its systems) in a somewhat similar (though admittedly more complex) fashion. 

a joint-use strategy

Joint-use concentrates on pruning inefficiencies through the consolidation, standardization, automation and streamlining of an organization’s assets, technologies and processes.  The purpose is to avoid unnecessary costs by extracting the biggest bang that can be had for the investment dollar.  It typically offers greater economic efficiencies and/or improved productivity (without compromising quality). 

Similar to re-use (as discussed in an earlier post), joint-use is neither a new nor novel concept, but the ongoing use of it keeps producing new and novel innovations all the time.  In recent years, we have seen a large number of disruptive and/or transformative changes because of it. 

Take the personal computer, for instance, which can perform multiple functions with different software applications all consolidated into one workstation.  It is a prime example of joint-use. 

Not all that long ago, it’s conceivable you would have had a separate workstation for each function.  But through innovative designs – designs that incorporate concepts like economies of scale, economies of scope, modularity, inter-operability, networking, re-use and others – the way these functions are carried out today has been entirely transformed.

And yet despite the long list of innovations we’ve seen of late, one can only imagine how many untapped possibilities are still at-large all across the value chain (and within value systems) for any given business or industry.

The potential to more fully employ joint-use as a key business strategy makes it a powerful tool in value chain analysis.  It involves keeping an eye out for implementing either technical efficiencies or allocative efficiencies. 

technical efficiencies

On the technical side, the emphasis is on practices that concern the management of core technical resources like hardware, software, physical sites, physical facilities, delivery technologies, and even personnel.  The primary objective is to lower incremental costs and make more efficient use of these technical resources.

Here’s a short list of examples that fall into this category:

• Are there opportunities for standardization, such as forms, shells, templates; shared hardware or software standards? 
• Are there opportunities for joint absorption of costs, such as joint or bulk purchasing, or joint maintenance, joint production, or joint distribution (using networks or streamlining with automation, for example)?
• Can the performance of related activities be combined to reduce redundancy or unnecessary duplication of effort, such as with business process design improvements?
• Can space be used to improve efficiency and/or effectiveness, such as shared space for closely related activities?
• Can knowledge archival and sharing technologies help leverage learning curve effects or with the transfer of skills, such as shared databases, standardized training, or real-time process improvement tracking?

allocative efficiencies

Allocative efficiencies occur when there is an optimal distribution of non-technical resources across the value chain.  One common business practice example is to devote greater attention and resources to the best and most profitable customers. 

Here’s a short list of other examples for this category:

• Is it possible to have different customer segments jointly shared by internal units or departments, such as the bundling or cross-selling of products and services (note: up-selling to an already existing customer may be more of a re-use strategy)?
• Can the products of different units or departments be distributed through a common channel or intermediary, such as the same wholesaler or retailer?
• Can product/services be marketed or promoted in similar ways?
• Can a variety of products fall under a common brand name (e.g., Johnson family of products)?
• Can related services/products be promoted together?
• Can support services be combined across products?
• Can there be joint promotional tie-ins?      

joint-use and the value chain

In some cases joint-use may allow an organization to fashion a temporary competitive advantage, until others neutralize that advantage by copying it, thereby turning it into an industry norm. 

Whether it’s to realize a competitive advantage or just stay competitive, identifying new and better ways of leveraging joint-use should be an innate part of the business strategy, and it should be carried out as an ongoing process.    

U.S. education system

by Kenneth Rudich

Famous science fiction writer H.G. Wells once made his own quaint observation about the role of education.  “Human history,” he quipped, “becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.” 

I’ve written before about the soon-to-be widely released documentary “Waiting for Superman,” directed by Davis Guggenheim, who is also known for directing “An Inconvenient Truth.”  Some believe this work will raise awareness about the dilapidated state of the U.S. education system in a manner similar to what “An Inconvenient Truth” did for global warming. 

At the same time, however, it also offers some cause to hold out hope for a rebound and recovery.  And for that reason I don’t mind taking a moment to help market and promote it, of my own free volition. 

grave issues abound in all directions

Admittedly, there is no shortage of issues begging for urgent attention in our contemporary world.  I think most of us, if not all, truly get that.  In fact, it very much seems like this moment in human history, the here and now, is ripe for either untold good or untold bad to happen.  It’s like an inflection point, and we’re awkwardly tottering along with barely a sense of what lies ahead.

Still, we can’t lose sight of the central role education plays in all of this.  It’s a cornerstone piece.  All else is pretty much destined to collapse without it.  Consequently, it must continue to remain right up there with every other thing that also beckons our concern.

the marketing of a marathon

H. G. Wells’ metaphor of a race is better served if it is thought about in terms of a marathon rather than a dash.  It’s one that spans generations, and the legacy each current generation leaves for the one that follows will be the true measure of its greatness…or not. 

So it’s a marathon, but it’s also one that involves the successful handing off of a baton, hopefully.     

The race itself is about trying to eliminate the elements that threaten (or inhibit) our social, economic and environmental well-being, and instead replace them with alternatives that lift us to an ever better place: things that make us more successful, healthy, happy, safe, and secure; things that help us transform our businesses and foster improved trade; things that save us time; and things that contribute to our understanding, appreciation, preservation and enjoyment of the world in which we live. 

Averting catastrophe is certainly part of the goal, but making our lives better is the ultimate prize.  

Now I’m not going to suggest education is a be-all-end-all solution; that it is a guaranteed panacea; or that all other concerns will cease to exist if only we can right the ship. 

But I do agree – verily – with the assessment made by Nicholas Negroponte, Co-founder of MIT’s Media Lab.  He asserts, “If you take any world problem — any issue on the planet, peace, the environment, poverty — the solution to the problem certainly includes education.  And if you have a solution that doesn’t include education, than it’s not a solution at all.”