Management Blog

Free Voice over IP service Skype grows 115,000 new users per day

The free peer-to peer voice-over-Internet (VOIP) service Skype is experiencing exponential growth. Skype reports that it has over 2.8 million US users, and 30.6 million worldwide and that users are joining the service at an astonishing rate of 155,000 a day.

The program lets people talk to each over the Internet using just their computers and a headset, a microphone or a conventional phone.

Check it out at www.skype.com

Source Ethan Todras-Whitehall – “Internet Phone Service Creating Chatty Network” - The New York Times - 24 March 2005

Queensland inventor giant microwave turns used tyres into oil for a profit

Queensland inventor John Dobozy has spent the 30 years developing an economic method to recycle used tyres. Debozy has built a special giant microwave that heats the rubber under vacuum, and turns it into activated carbon and 3 litres of oil, per each passenger tyre.

In an ABC interview he said, “From a passenger size tyre we will make $3 profit, which compares well with other technologies which only make 40 cents per tyre.

Source: “Inventor cracks used tyre problem” - ABC Online - 22 March 2005

MIT’s Senge describes the core competencies of skilled learning organisations

Acclaimed business author of the The Fifth Discipline and more recently co-author of The Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, Peter Senge says:

“The model of learning most people use was instilled in the classroom years ago and is all about getting right or wrong answers.”

He describes three core competencies of skilled learning organisations as follows:

“Aspiration. People really want to learn, rather than doing it only when a crisis requires it. Complexity. Leaders understand systems and can deal with complexity. Conversation. There is team learning, and people need good listening skills for it to work.”

Source: “'Being informed is not enough,' says the MIT lecturer” - Computerworld - 8 March 2005

Powerful project management insight: how we discount time

A recent study has found that people generally overestimate the time they will have to complete a task in the future. But when it comes to money, we are good at realizing that if we can't afford something today, we shouldn't commit to spending the money in a month.

Marketing professors Dr. John Lynch of Duke and Dr. Gal Zauberman of the University of North Carolina say that this makes it easier for people to volunteer for time-consuming tasks if they are told they do not have to do it right away.

Even though they know, rationally, that an hour today is just as long as an hour a month from today, and even though there is no reason to believe that they will have any more spare time next month, time discounting makes taking on the new task easier.

Source: “Too little time to finish tasks? You're typical” – INDYSTAR.com

Smart State Policy gets a major investment boost

The Beattie Government has just announced a $473-million investment boost to its Smart State Policy. Premier Peter Beattie committed $200 million for improving the facilities and skills available to Queensland scientists, and to support leading-edge research projects.

"This is the most important investment in Queensland’s future the state’s ever had," he said.

An amount of $127 million is also targeted to foster excellence in science, maths, technology and creative arts, and for improving computer technology in schools, including laptop computers for teachers.

The Smart State funding also targets business, with $51.5 million for water conservation, $20 million for mining and $7.3 million for the ethanol industry.

Source: ‘Policy to nurture research work’ – The Courier-Mail – 19 April 2005

Tryvertising: A new trend in product placement

Trendwatching.com has spotted a new type of product placement that they have named ‘TRYVERTISING’.

According to the website, ‘Companies now integrate their goods and services into daily life in a relevant way, so that consumers can make up their minds based on their experience, not your messages.’

Proctor & Gamble has launched a massive tryvertising project where, in just two years, they have signed up a sample/coupon-dispersing network of over 280,000 American teenagers. These networked teenagers ‘actively promote new products to their peers, and may be asked to place coupons and product samples in living rooms, schools and any other relevant location’, the site reports.

Source: Trendwatching.com

NT SME business on a roll

Northern Territory small and medium sized enterprise business confidence is pushing ahead of national trends.

NT Treasurer Syd Stirling said the business index lifted 2 points to a six-year high in February.

“Sales are 28 per cent stronger than this time last year, profitability's also up 24 per cent, well up from what was a minus 5 per cent recorded at the same time last year, so it's very good for small to medium sized business," he said.

Source: “NT business confidence on the rise” – ABC Nws Online – 22 February 2005

De Bono emphasises that innovation is something that needed to be contrived

World famous creative thinker and author Edward de Bono told an audience in Dublin,

“Creativity and innovation were critical to any company’s success, not just in terms of product development but also in other areas such as dealing with vendors and strengthening the relationship between a company and its key employees.”

But he said that innovation isn’t something that just happens. It has to be worked at. “It requires intent and persistent effort, as well as use of effective, proven tools.”

Source: Brian Skelly – “The Friday Interview: Dr Edward de Bono, author and consultant” – siliconrepublic.com – 3 March 2005

Involve consumer in branding

Professor Venkat Ramaswamy of the University of Michigan Business School, and co-author of the book The Future of Competition: Co-Creating Unique Value with Customers says that firms must begin to involve consumers in the creation of brands.

“There has been a "mind-boggling" rise in consumer-to-consumer communication even as corporates' own understanding of value creation has blurred,” said Prof Ramaswamy.

“The Internet, along with other communication channels such as SMS and blogs, has meant that customer experiences are shared more rapidly and widely, in a "word-of-mouth" overdrive. Companies can engage consumers in a two-way interaction and deliver the experience that they want”

He uses Apple and its iTunes music buying sharing portal to illustrate the point.

“With its iPod, consumers can 'carry' their favourite songs with them. In addition, Apple has opened retail stores. So, the focus is on individual value and experience, he said, with the choice of doing business entirely with the consumer,” he said. 

Source: “Involve consumers in creating brands” - The Hindu Business Line - 18 Feb 2005

Retailer opportunity to exploit time perception to delight customers

US self-service tracking consultancy company IHL has just reported that for the last five years in a row the top source of customer dissatisfaction is the amount of time spent waiting in a queue. 

At the same time NCR research has found that new self-service device customers take longer to checkout than when using human cashier services. But because they are actively engaged in processing the transaction, rather that waiting in line, they perceive it takes less time.

These findings present retailers with creative opportunities to delight customers with engagement when they are waiting in line for service.

Source: Maron Mauel – “Face it, we are becoming a self-service kind of society” - InSideBayArea.com - 13 Feb 2005