Why Starbuck’s Failed in Australia

When Starbucks entered the Australian market in 2000, it was one of the biggest coffee chains globally, opening one new store every day somewhere in the world, notes Patterson. Its success in the US, which had not previously enjoyed a strong coffee-drinking culture, had given the brand great confidence to enter other markets including Japan (1996) and China (1998). The company now has more than 15,000 stores in 44 territories. But in mid 2008, Starbucks’ management announced that it would close 61 of its 84 Australian stores. The closures took place swiftly – within one month. Losses were enormous, including 685 jobs and A$143 million. Just 23 Australian stores were left operating in prime locations. What went so wrong?

Read the full analysis by Profeessors Paul Patternson and Marc Uncles in Knowledge @ The Australian School of Business.

Short Introduction to the Strategic Management Year of the AGSM MBA (Executive) by Peter Murmann

Short Introduction to Strategic Management 1 by Peter Moran

Short Introduction to Strategic Management 2 by Rose Trevelyan

Short Introduction to Strategic Management 3 by Shayne Gary

Short Introduction to Strategic Management 4 by Peter Murmann

James Yuille Strategies for Networking

Don’t front up at a neworking function expecting to make a sale. “Networking is an opportunity to meet people in a neutral environment, to form relationship and to built trust. People who are too anxious about making a dollar will only ostracise themselves from the rest of the group.” Other tips include: be open-minded, don’t be pushy, be a good listener and think to long-term. [...] “I have known someone [though networking] for 12 year and only last year did that relationship come up with business.”

From: BRW, September 2—8, 2010, p. 38

Peter Murmann: These tips can be applied not only to win business but also to advance one’s career.

Lehman Brothers’ did not Walk to Talk of its Mission Statement

BRW reports:  “Lehman Brothers’ mission statement nodded in all the right directions. It told employees and investors that

We are one firm, defined by our unwavering commitment to our clients, our shareholders, and each other. Our mission is to build unrivalled partnerships with, and value for, our clients, through knowledge, creativity, and dedication of our people, leading to superior returns to our shareholders.

However, the investment bank did exactly the opposite, gorging on low-quality mortgages and nearly felling the global financial system. Rather than ‘set and forget’,  [mission statements] should be part of a conversation between staff and management.”

(BRW August 26-October 6, 2010, p. 78)

Dramatic Challenge to Barnes & Nobles Business Model

This one of the most vivid examples of challenges to the existing business model of a firm. The Wall Street Journal reports:

After nearly 17 years of consistent growth, Barnes & Noble is stumbling. Revenue fell 3% to $5.12 billion for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2009, while earnings dropped about 45% to $76 million.

When it launched the iPad last month, Apple championed a new approach to e-book pricing. Earlier this year, most large publishers agreed to establish a so-called agency model, where the publisher receives 70% of the digital price while e-book sellers act as agents and receive 30%. While some best sellers remain at $9.99, many major authors are priced at $12.99 or $14.99.

More...

Google’s New Search Homepage: Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Data as well as Intuitions

Excellent Overview of the Philosophy of Social Sciences

Daniel Little’s article for the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Philosophy provides an excellent overview of the key issues in the philosophy of social sciences. You can read it here.

Logical Incrementalism in Product Development

This little exerpt from the NY Times explains well the concept of logical incrementalism in management.

Mr. Schmidt didn’t stop there. He acknowledged that “Google might not get it right the first time,” and said that Apple probably wouldn’t either, briefly alluding to some better features coming with the second generation of the iPad. But he said both companies would have “the next two to three years to figure it out.”

The Power of Infinity

Steven Strogatz explains beautifully how the concept of inifinity first tripped up philosophers but then provided them with a powerful tool to calculate things that could not be calculated without taking things to inifity. I wish I had had as good a math teacher as Strogatz. The lesson here is also that Strogatz does not provide a solution to Zeno’s paradox but that he shows that even without fully removing the puzzles around infinity one can use the concept to get more knowledge in other areas.
Read his column Take It to the Limit.

Apple with only 7% of Sales account today for 35% of Industry Profits

According to a Business Insider article, the banking giant has aggregated numbers from the top ten PC makers in the world and determined that, while Apple only commands 7 percent of overall revenues in the PC market, its products account for 35 percent of the operating profits. See Full Article.

Blackboard Course Website

For all information and resources regarding the course, UNSW students should log into the Blackboard Course Website.