Recently Yahoo fired its CEO, Carol Bartz. Although the company’s stock price jumped 6% immediately following the announcement, the problems plaguing Yahoo go beyond the choice of chief executive. The biggest challenge facing Yahoo goes to the core of what the company is and what it wants to be: Yahoo has become irrelevant to their…

Amazon is growing its network of distribution centers to match the growing customer demand for faster shipping and a wider array of products. According to a recent article from All Things D (“Amazon Seeks Greater Fulfillment by Adding Distribution Centers”), Amazon is planning to add 9 distribution centers during 2011, with the possibility of building…

According to a recent article in the Economist (“The winning streak: HBO and the future of pay TV”), HBO (Home Box Office) is facing a complex, ever-changing climate, with more innovative competitors than ever before. Even though HBO is critically acclaimed, wildly popular and highly profitable (104 Emmy nominations in 2011, 28 million subscribers, $4…

I recently saw a TV ad for Quik Trip called “This is How We Roll” that really resonated with me. This is unusual, as I don’t usually eat at convenience stores, and I’m probably not the target market for the ad, but I think this TV spot illustrates some important points about relevant selling that…

According to a recent article in the New York Times (“RIM Suffers as Profit Falls 58.7%,”Sept. 15, 2011), Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the BlackBerry smart phone, recently announced disappointing earnings results. The company’s shares lost 19% of their value, and many Wall Street analysts are saying that the future viability of the company…

According to a recent article in the New York Times (“Walmart to bring back layaway for the holidays,”), Walmart is bringing back their “layaway” payment program, where customers can set aside big purchases at the back of the store and pay for them in advance, over a period of several months. This is a pretty…

I travel a lot. In any given month, I’m on the road for 2 or 3 weeks. As a confirmed road warrior, I’m a longtime Marriott customer, and they’ve always taken good care of me. The other day I was getting ready to go give a talk at a conference in Des Moines, Iowa, and…

There was a great article in the Motley Fool (“Five Companies That Know Why They’re Great,” by Matt Koppenheffer) that mentioned five companies that have done a great job of identifying and capitalizing on their competitive advantages. This article offers several ideal examples of how these high-performing companies have honed in on what truly makes them…

The death of Steve Jobs was one of those singular events in the business world – no matter where you were or what industry you’re in, when you heard the news, it had an effect on you. It made you stop and think, and reflect on how much this person had meant to American (and…

I cannot help but continue to write about Netflix and their business decisions –  maybe that’s because Netflix keeps making extremely dubious decisions. First, Netflix angered its customers with an out-of-nowhere price hike that was clumsily communicated (and resulted in 1 million customers cancelling their subscriptions). Now, Netflix has decided to split itself up into two companies with…