Wharton: Strategy Implementation, MGMT-782.  MBA Course.

The Wharton School

Insider Talk about Reasons for Failure of HP Tablet running WebOS

An article in the NYTimes takes us behind the scenes of HP’s abrupt exit from the tablet market. Palm did not have the organizational capabilities to introduce a tablet into the market. The article suggests that the WebOS operating was fundamentally to flowed to compete successfully with the iPad even when the full organizational resources of HP were thrown behind it. Read article in the NYTimes.

Stanford is beaten in NYC project

Stanford had no experience with building a campus in NYC and bowed out the competition to build new campus in NYC because the strength of the Cornell, which had already a lot of experience building in the city. Read full story in NY Times

Understanding Introverts

I discovered a very useful article describing introverts. All managers, especially if they are extroverts can benefit from getting a deeper understanding of introverts.

Caring for Your Introvert: The habits and needs of a little-understood group.
Do you know someone who needs hours alone every day? Who loves quiet conversations about feelings or ideas, and can give a dynamite presentation to a big audience, but seems awkward in groups and maladroit at small talk? Who has to be dragged to parties and then needs the rest of the day to recuperate? Who growls or scowls or grunts or winces when accosted with pleasantries by people who are just trying to be nice? If so, do you tell this person he is “too serious,” or ask if he is okay? Regard him as aloof, arrogant, rude? Redouble your efforts to draw him out? If you answered yes to these questions, chances are that you have an introvert on your hands—and that you aren’t caring for him properly. Read more in the Atlantic.

Regional Institutions, Ownership Transformation, and Migration of Industrial Leadership in China.

Economic & Organizational Change

An overview of Jack Welsh’s career (43 min)

Why do a few companies succeed for a long time and most don’t

The economist published two useful articles on corporate longevity. The first article examines why IBM, despite a few crisis, has been able to reinvent itself and celebrate it 100s anniversary in 2011. It contrasts the firm to DELL, Microsoft and others. IBM @ 100

The second uses the context of the failure of outside CEOs HP to questions whether outsiders know enough to run a complex high-tech company. The Trouble with Outside CEO Appointments.

American CEO tries to explain bankruptcy restructuring to public

CEO Video Announcement

Economist’s commentary behind the reasons of Chapter 11 filing.

Flat World Knowledge Provides Textbooks for Free

Do you need to learn a new subject but you want to do it on your own and not pay for it. Flat World Knowledge publishes free textbooks if you simply want to read them online and not print them. I found it useful to look up a textbook on project management. For a full category of free textbooks, go to flatworldknowledge.com.

A Conversation with Malcom Gladwell

Peter Capelli recently interviewed Malcolm Gladwell for Knowledge@Wharton. Gladwell talks about the relationship of what he does to academic research and makes this interesting observation.

The sad fact about being a writer is that in a good year, you have five good ideas. It is not like it is every day; it is more like every two months. But you do become alert to that theme. When you are writing a book, you are assembling little bits of evidence and then figuring out which ones are relevant and which ones are secondary.

Read full conversation here.

John Sculley insightful interview about the mistakes he made at Apple and about Steve Jobs

I have almost finished reading Walter Isaacson revealing new Steve Jobs biography. But a long interview with John Sculley in 2010 provides additional details that allow us to understand the history of Apple and personal computers much better. Sculley fired Steve Jobs and in this candid interview says that it would have been better if Jobs had been made CEO in 1985.  Read the full interview here.

Fundamental Objective for Founder of HTC is making unique products rather than margin

Chou [CEO of HTC] said he cares more about making unique products than making good profit margins. He listens and acts quickly. Often, when Beats co-founder and music producer Jimmy Iovine calls with an idea, Chou will have sent off an e-mail about it before the conversation is over, Iovine said. Chou said he tests the music himself. A $300 million controlling stake in Beats Electronics LLC, the headphones maker backed by rapper Dr. Dre, was part of a strategy to lure music enthusiasts with a marketing plan that included bringing singer Lady Gaga to an Oct. 6 audio party in London to release the HTC Sensation XL, its first handset featuring Beats audio technology and headphones.

Source: Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Reinventing Post Offices in a Digital World

The American Postal Service is facing bankruptcy with $9 billion dollar negative cash flow. One way to come up with a new business model is to see what happens in other parts of the world. It turns out that European postal services have already spent to past 20 years trying to reinvent themselves, as detailed in this article in the NY Times.