Spain in 2010: Will Unemployment Prolong the Economic Crisis? Because it holds the presidency of the European Union for the first half of this year, Spain is at least nominally responsible for leading the trading bloc out of the current financial crisis. However, the economic situation in Spain is now worse than for many of its fellow members, and the outlook for 2010 is bleak. The country has become “the sick man of Europe” after six or seven consecutive quarters of negative growth and galloping unemployment that is practically double the European average. This, along with a high public deficit, will be among its biggest challenges for the New Year. http://www.wharton.universia.net/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&id=1830&language=english O2ibm Visit this Open Forum |
Price warsExcerptNo company, however well run, is immune from price wars. The threat is real—and universal. No company, however well run, is immune. Even companies with superior overall strategies and exceptional execution can destroy themselves by not managing this make-or-break issue effectively. After all, most price wars start by accident, through some apparently trivial misreading or misjudgment of market conditions. Rare is the price war that is initiated as a deliberate competitive tactic—and rarer still the one that achieves a satisfactory outcome. Recent price wars raise four topics that we want to explore: |
Pricing new productsCompanies habitually charge less than they could for new offerings.How much should you charge for a new product? Charge too much and it won't sell—a problem that can be fixed relatively easily by reducing the price. Charging too little is far more dangerous: a company not only forgoes significant revenues and profits but also fixes the product's market value position at a low level. And as companies have found time and again, once prices hit the market it is difficult, even impossible, to raise them. In our experience, 80 to 90 percent of all poorly chosen prices are too low. Companies consistently undercharge for products despite spending millions or even billions of dollars to develop or acquire them. It is true that businesses and private consumers alike are demanding more for less; the prices of personal computers, for example, have been pushed downward despite their higher processor speeds and additional memory. Global competition, increased pricing transparency, and lower barriers to entry in many of the most attractive industries have contributed to the trend. But these are not the only problems. Many companies want to make a quick grab for market share or return on investment, and with high prices both objectives can be harder to achieve... |
Do you have a long-term pricing strategy? |
Actively pricing products across their life cycle is vitally important, particularly in innovation-intensive industries. Failing to do so may forego potential profits or even destroy value.According to this article, industries can suffer when companies fail to grasp the importance of pricing products or services across the life cycle, particularly in innovation-intensive sectors such as consumer electronics and consumer durables, IT hardware and software, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. That’s especially true today. Companies introduce products more regularly, with life cycles often measured in months, not years. There’s external pressure for low prices from customers expecting more for less and internal pressure from the belief that pricing is a make-or-break factor when products launch. And a company may have a number of related products in the marketplace simultaneously, which complicates their life cycle pricing. Two points are essential to price effectively throughout the life of a product or service.... |
|
| Visit this group |
Journal of Management Excellence: Creating Value Inside:
View...  | |
| Visit the O2 group |
 If you’re looking to benchmark your leadership ability the following self examination by Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth will give you a baseline to build from. While this test is not as detailed as more comprehensive assessments, I have nonetheless found it to be fairly thorough. That said, any self exam is only as good as the honesty of those taking the test. If you check your ego at the door and give a thoughtful, introspective evaluation of your ability, it is likely that you’ll learn something about your leadership abilities or lack thereof. Better yet, for those of you bold enough to place yourself under what might be the harsh scrutiny of others, you can get the benefits of a mini leadeship 360 review by asking your co-workers to rate you as a leader. If you’re game to test your leadership ability read on to take the exam… The examination is broken down into 10 sections, each worth 10 points. If you believe you possess a fully developed competency in a section give yourself 10 points. If you possess no competency whatsoever give yourself 0 points. Grade your examination as follows:
|
| ||
| Visit this group |
