For Toyota, Too Little, Too Late?
Posted on 24. Feb, 2010 by Jason Chan in Customer Experience, Strategy
After decades of hard work setting the bar for the industry for quality and reliability, Toyota’s recent recall woes with a number of its models have left its revered reputation in tatters. Managing 10 million recalled cars is a costly issue no doubt, and for some corporate cultures, one of the last things you’d ever [...]
Review: Pull: The Power of the Semantic Web to Transform Your Business
Posted on 07. Feb, 2010 by Jason Chan in Strategy
In the business world, there is really no shortage of data. Companies all over the world have tons of it and pay dearly for it. The semantic web helps bring meaning and context to data in a way that makes business — and life — way more efficient and smart. “Pull” is the best example [...]
Piecing Together a Winning Strategy
Posted on 16. Oct, 2009 by Jason Chan in Strategy
If there’s one thing I hear time and time again from clients, it’s that they want a “game changing” experience that takes the market by storm (virally, of course). More often than not, they will point to a competitive product already out there and say, “we want that, but better.” Adding to the challenge, they’ll [...]
Going the Distance: Business Lessons from Endurance Sports
Posted on 04. Oct, 2009 by Jason Chan in Life, Strategy
For many people sports is a way to unwind and take your mind off work. Taking yourself away from work, even for short periods, can give you a breath of fresh thinking and renewed perspective and focus. This is particularly true if you’ve been working on a long, complex problem. Maybe this is why so [...]
Onward and Upward
Posted on 02. Oct, 2009 by Jason Chan in Social Media, Strategy
It’s interesting to see how agencies and corporations alike are rushing to pre-fix everything with the word “social.” It’s like the initial dotcom gold rush, where everyone rushed to make online enabled versions of existing businesses. When the dust settles down, we’ll start to see where the real value creators are. Once the industry becomes [...]
Good, better . . . good enough?
Posted on 16. Sep, 2009 by Jason Chan in Strategy, Technology
Quick! What’s the one computer product category that grew 5000% in sales last year? Nope, it’s not a trick question and no, it’s not the Chumby. It’s none other than the netbook, an ultra-compact, barebones, low-powered notebook computer that usually costs under $500.
It used to be that technological advance meant faster, better quality and [...]
The Strategist’s Dilemma
Posted on 13. Sep, 2009 by Jason Chan in Strategy
In today’s economy, there is no question that companies of all size and shape under pressure to do more with less. Budgets are cut, staff is “rightsized,” and everybody has to do more with less. Processes need to slimmed down and people need to develop new skills to do things more efficiently or with fewer [...]
Share with Care
Posted on 27. Apr, 2009 by Jason Chan in Social Media, Strategy
A recent post on Mashable got me wondering about the effect of diluting proprietary intellectual property when it’s shared through social networks, Twitter and the like. It used to be that quality of original thought determined whether or not you were making a valuable contribution, particularly in academia. This was valued above all else – [...]
What Does Strategy Mean to You?
Posted on 29. Mar, 2009 by Jason Chan in Strategy
If you ask 10 people what strategy means, you’ll probably get 10 completely different answers. And with just cause; it’s one of those nebulous terms that gets thrown around with abandon to the point where the meaning gets diluted. Even in my industry, there is still a lot of variance when it comes to what [...]
Bridging the Gap
Posted on 28. Mar, 2009 by Jason Chan in Customer Experience, Strategy
One of the cool things about technology is how it can help companies get closer with their customers. We saw it with the web and now with the trend towards social engagement, there are no shortages of ways to connect. However, too often we see companies use technology as a barrier or don’t have the [...]