Emerging Management Paradigms, Spring 11

A few reports have been published on social software for business. Some indicate that social software improve business results a lot. I am skeptical. I am not sure the methodology is good. See for yourself.

I have uploaded the other reports for March 4 session.

Deloitte on results metrics.

Here is another article on doing well and good. Good ex of Pepsi. Good idea for a paper. Can even interview the person in the article.

This morning NPR reported on a California company, Solar City, that now has a leasing program for solar panels. This program focuses on our class taxonomy’s so-called “sweet spot,” providing a good value right away to light-green customers. NPR reports that electric bills plus leasing costs are lower than what customers used to pay for just their electric bills. But like most of the other programs that we studied in this segment, Solar City still can’t make this program profitable for the customer without subsidies. Currently the program only offers the leasing program in areas that have tax breaks and governmental rebates – NY, NJ, PA, CA, MA. The goal is for “economies of scale to eventually kick in and make solar panels affordable without the incentives.” This example seems pretty analogous to our in-class example of municipal subsidies for ZipCar.

The question remains: are economies of scale enough to make these companies profitable without governmental help?

Here is a very interesting article from the CEO of McKinsey. How companies should be run in the long-term for multiple stakeholders, ie creating value not just for shareholders but also for others. Morten
http://hbr.org/2011/03/capitalism-for-the-long-term/ar/1

here is an interesting post on the need for face to face vs. virtual meetings. The author seems to think that FTF is vital in the beginning but then one can move to a mix.

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/02/why_face_to_face_meetings_make.html

Here is an interesting blog by Andrew Winston (he is a very good source for sustainability issues, and co-wrote a great book, Green to Gold).
He talks about how some companies are trying to get their customers to use less of their products, and hence save costs and resources. Xerox is shifting from a “buy a printer” to a service model, and Waste Management is shifting from “tons per landfill” as profit metric to recycling of waste which creates energy.
Morten

http://blogs.hbr.org/winston/2011/02/ask-customers-to-use-less-of-y.html

A post on how businesses cannot continue to steal from the future in favor of short term rewards; warning about the rebellion to come against the bankruptcy-of-meaning propogated by business today.
http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2011/02/egypts_revolution_is_coming_to.html

Welcome to the Heart Attack Grill! A hamburger joint in Chandler, Arizona, with unashamedly high-calorie menu items and even more controversial names. Founded in 2005 by “Dr.” Jon Basso, the intent was to serve people food that they would eat when they “cheat” on their diets without having to feel guilty about their indulgence. What’s more, if you’re over 350 pounds in weight, you eat free!

Their menu features names such as: Single bypass burgers, double bypass burgers, triple bypass burgers, hold your breath, quadruple bypass burgers with an increasing number of patties in each kind of burger. If this weren’t enough, all the burgers are loaded with lard and so are their specialty melt in mouth flatliner fries. They also have special no-filter cigarettes meant especially to kill you while you drink yourself to obesity with their Jolt cola. Pretty waitresses dressed as nurses ask for your “prescription” when they take your order and you are encouraged to not have to move a finger so that you retain all the calories you just consumed. But wait, if you have to walk back to the parking lot, you will burn *at least* a few calories, right? Think, they haven’t given this thought? Of course they have, which is why you will be escorted in wheel-chair all the way till your car!

Watch the obese male in a promotional video on their website which says it all! I personally think I’ll start “living” in the gym if I see anymore of that fat person on the video. What a scary concept!

http://www.heartattackgrill.com/

It seems that the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is not exactly excited about Jamie Oliver’s plans to do a second season of Food Revolution there. Apparently there are rumors that even though the food may have been great in Huntington, VA, it wasn’t so great for their bottom line. School food in LAUSD must stay within a budget of 77 cents per serving. Full article:

http://www.economist.com/node/18070539?story_id=18070539

Nice video about “The Story of Stuff” taking a value chain perspective on how products are designed and manufactured to get consumed and disposed as fast as possible to pave the way for new consumption.

http://www.storyofstuff.com/