Creaky Trains Made of Bamboo Still Rule the Rails in Cambodia

Creaky Trains Made of Bamboo Still Rule the Rails in Cambodia

They Carry People, Logs, Booze, Coconuts; Like a Ride on a ‘Bat,’ Says One Mom

JESSE PESTA

Feb. 19, 2014 10:30 p.m. ET

Cambodia’s homemade trains, made by hand of wood and bamboo and known locally as “norrys,” shuttle passengers across the countryside on the remnants of a defunct rail system. WSJ’s Jesse Pesta reports from Battambang, Cambodia. Read more of this post

A Formal Theory of Strategy Eric Van den Steen Harvard Business School – Competition & Strategy Unit December 14, 2013 Harvard Business School Strategy Unit Working Paper No. 14-058 Abstract: What makes a decision strategic? When is strategy most important? This paper studies the structure and value of strategy (in its everyday sense), starting from a (functional) definition of strategy as ‘the smallest set of (core) choices to optimally guide the other choices.’ This definition captures the idea of strategy as the core of a – potentially flexible and adaptive – intended course of action. It coincides with the equilibrium outcome of a ‘strategy formulation game’ where a person can – at a cost – look ahead, investigate, and announce a small set of choices to the rest of the organization. Starting from that definition, the paper studies what makes a decision ‘strategic’ and what makes strategy important, considering commitment, irreversibility, and persistence of a choice; the presence of uncertainty (and the type of uncertainty); the number and strength of interactions and the centrality of a choice; its level and importance; the need for specific capabilities; and competition and dynamics. It shows, for example, that irreversibility does not make a decision more strategic but makes strategy more valuable, that long-range strategies will be more concise, why a choice what not to do can be very strategic, and that a strategy ‘bet’ can be valuable. It shows how strategy creates endogenously a hierarchy among decisions. And it also shows how understanding the structure of strategy may enable a strategist to develop the optimal strategy in a very parsimonious way.

A Formal Theory of Strategy

Eric Van den Steen 

Harvard Business School – Competition & Strategy Unit
December 14, 2013
Harvard Business School Strategy Unit Working Paper No. 14-058

Abstract: 
What makes a decision strategic? When is strategy most important? This paper studies the structure and value of strategy (in its everyday sense), starting from a (functional) definition of strategy as ‘the smallest set of (core) choices to optimally guide the other choices.’ This definition captures the idea of strategy as the core of a – potentially flexible and adaptive – intended course of action. It coincides with the equilibrium outcome of a ‘strategy formulation game’ where a person can – at a cost – look ahead, investigate, and announce a small set of choices to the rest of the organization.
Starting from that definition, the paper studies what makes a decision ‘strategic’ and what makes strategy important, considering commitment, irreversibility, and persistence of a choice; the presence of uncertainty (and the type of uncertainty); the number and strength of interactions and the centrality of a choice; its level and importance; the need for specific capabilities; and competition and dynamics. It shows, for example, that irreversibility does not make a decision more strategic but makes strategy more valuable, that long-range strategies will be more concise, why a choice what not to do can be very strategic, and that a strategy ‘bet’ can be valuable. It shows how strategy creates endogenously a hierarchy among decisions. And it also shows how understanding the structure of strategy may enable a strategist to develop the optimal strategy in a very parsimonious way.

Bringing New Apps to Market: How Five Innovators Outshone the Competition

Bringing New Apps to Market: How Five Innovators Outshone the Competition

Feb 19, 2014

While the public’s desire for specialized applications for their mobile devices continues to grow, questions of scale and long-term viability remain.

To that end, the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Technology Transfer initiated AppitUP, a contest for Penn-related individuals and teams to create innovative applications, with the opportunity to have software development firms help them get those apps out on the market. Read more of this post

Think Your Product Is Too Boring for Word of Mouth Marketing? Think Again

Think Your Product Is Too Boring for Word of Mouth Marketing? Think Again

Feb 17, 2014

Word of mouth has become the Holy Grail for today’s marketers. Word-of-mouth marketing, also called word-of-mouth advertising or WOM, is 10 times more effective than traditional advertising, according to Jonah Berger, a Wharton marketing professor. “A great deal of research has demonstrated that word of mouth affects choice, diffusion [the process by which a group of people adopts a product] and sales,” writes Berger. Read more of this post

Lessons From Inside The $800 Million Girl Scout Cookie Selling Empire

LESSONS FROM INSIDE THE $800 MILLION GIRL SCOUT COOKIE SELLING EMPIRE

IT’S NOT ALL CAMPFIRE SONGS AND GOOD DEEDS. GIRL SCOUT COOKIE SALES ARE BIG BUSINESS, TO THE TUNE OF NEARLY $800 MILLION LAST YEAR. HERE ARE THE BUSINESS SKILLS THE FUTURE LEADERS ARE BUILDING.

BY LINDSAY LAVINE

They are everywhere this time of year, and for most people they are an irresistible product they always come back to: Girl Scout cookies.

For 97 years, Girl Scouts across America have participated in the cookie sales program, which has raised nearly $800 million each of the last two years. Read more of this post

What Lego has in common with Apple; The blockbuster box office results for The Lego Movie underscore the Danish construction-toy company’s success. And it shares a key quality with Apple — one that more companies should emulate.

What Lego has in common with Apple

February 18, 2014: 12:32 PM ET

The blockbuster box office results for The Lego Movie underscore the Danish construction-toy company’s success. And it shares a key quality with Apple — one that more companies should emulate. Read more of this post

The Right Way to Answer “What’s Your Greatest Weakness?”

The Right Way to Answer “What’s Your Greatest Weakness?”

by David Reese  |   11:00 AM January 17, 2014

Thomas Jefferson once said that “honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom”. Though truth-telling abounds in grade school platitudes, it seems scarcer the older we get. But this decline in honesty — let’s call it dishonesty — isn’t necessarily innate. Dishonesty can be taught. In my experience, I’ve noticed that, of all culprits, college career centers are exceptional traffickers of such miseducation. In the process, they’re hurting their brightest students’ chances of making it in the world of startups by convincing them to give dishonest answers to tough interview questions. Read more of this post

How to keep the ‘family’ in the family business; Fewer than 15% of family owned companies will still be held by the same family beyond the third generation. Here are some tips that might help your family survive the transition

How to keep the ‘family’ in the family business

Drew Hasselback | February 18, 2014 7:00 AM ET
I have written about prepping for business succession in the past. Other FP Entrepreneur columnists have addressed the topic, too.

Those columns discussed succession in general. But what about succession in a family business? Less than 15% of family owned companies will still be held by the same family beyond the third generation, according to one study. The family dynamic amplifies some of the emotional issues that arise in succession talks, and it erodes some of the caution that might otherwise be present in situations where business owners aren’t related. Read more of this post

Working cheek by jowl with your family can be fraught with difficulty. Now there is a growing body of evidence to show that the family business environment can also be a big enabler of addiction problems in the heirs to the business

KICKING THE HABIT

ARTICLE | 18 FEBRUARY, 2014 12:53 PM | BY TESS DE LA MARE

There is no such thing as a stereotypical addict. Extreme wealth and an unhealthy penchant for narcotics have long been bedfellows, as proved by the slew of celebrities that check into rehab each year, but then again, addiction and poverty aren’t strangers either. It is almost impossible to run a line of best fit through the characteristics and backgrounds of addicts. But all that said, there is worrying evidence to show the rate of drug or alcohol dependency in family businesses is much higher than in their non-family counterparts. Read more of this post