“May you live in interesting times”
May 1st, 2011 // 6:20 pm @ Mark Hamilton
This is supposed to be an old Chinese curse, whether it originated in china or not is unclear, but what is important is that it was a curse. “Interesting times” were ones of profound change, and therefore dangerous. We live in “Interesting times” and the latest incarnation of those times, is the change in the […]
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How a lack of strategy impacts staff
May 1st, 2011 // 5:00 pm @ Mark Hamilton
Most employees in most companies spend a great deal of time moaning about the company that they choose to spend 35 hours a week at? And senior managers spend an equal amount of time complaining about the staff they choose to pay many thousands of dollars a month too. Seems odd? Too often the root […]
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Vancouver the California of Canada
April 19th, 2011 // 3:17 pm @ Mark Hamilton
Vancouver is a unique business location, and understanding its character can help you run a successful business in the city. Cities all have unique characteristics, which impact significantly on how friendly they are for running a business in, and also how you should interact with the workforce within each city. Cities are like people, they […]
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Warp Speed Business Change
April 16th, 2011 // 3:59 pm @ Mark Hamilton
The world is in a continual state of change, which is now so fast we have stopped noticing the extraordinary world in which we live. To put it in historical perspective, between the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, until the accession of Queen Victoria to the throne in 1837, very little really changed. Politically […]
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Increasing Profits via Dumping Retailers
April 8th, 2011 // 3:56 pm @ Mark Hamilton
The traditional business model for manufacturers was to make things, advertise them to the public and then sell them to retailers who dealt with the logistics and retailing of these products. Since the end of WW2 we have seem the growth in massive powerful retailing groups. The biggest company on earth, is not a technology […]
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Happy Staff – Is it Important?
April 4th, 2011 // 3:51 pm @ Mark Hamilton
When we talk of improving work environments we tend to think of comfortable chairs, ergonomic desks and possibly a potted plant, as the things we need to improve if we want to get the best from our co-workers. These environmental issues are important; primarily to stop staff being uncomfortable or injured as they work, but […]
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Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
March 28th, 2011 // 3:43 pm @ Mark Hamilton
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Leonardo da Vinci If this is true, and Leonardo was a bright guy, so it probably is, then why do so many people seem intent on making things complicated? Well I have two thoughts on why people do it, one is to make themselves look clever and the second is […]
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The Power of Apple
March 21st, 2011 // 3:39 pm @ Mark Hamilton
Starting a company on April 1st (April Fools Day) might seem like a joke, but 34 years later this company has sales of over $65,000,000,000, and $40,000,000 in cash, plus net profit margin of over 20%, no one could describe Apple’s success as a joke. The world’s largest technology company, a high level of profit, […]
Read More »How to Improve Decision Making in Your Company
March 14th, 2011 // 3:36 pm @ Mark Hamilton
Whatever your company, regardless of the quality of your strategy and business plan, or the resources you have to invest, the success of your business will be driven simply by the quality of decisions made in it, both by the CEO and every person in the company. Developing an environment in which every person is […]
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Business Strategy What is the Point
March 7th, 2011 // 3:30 pm @ Mark Hamilton
Looking strategically into the future and trying to plan can look like a daunting challenge in the fast moving world of business, where every part of business is in constant change, and product life cycles are often counted in months not years. However it is the companies with a clear strategy that are the ones […]
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