Entrepreneurialism, to me, is the miracle of creating value out of nothing, a business from a blank sheet of paper, a product from a daydream, careers out of thin air. It’s creativity, combined with courage and a vision. It has a short memory for pain, and a long one for the thrill of seeing ideas become reality. And entrepreneurialism isn’t always where you expect to find it.
The miracle fabric of entrepreneurship
Posted in Politics and Business, The People
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The Iran anti-nuclear deal is a no-brainer
Okay, so I haven’t read the full agreement, but I’m having a hard time seeing what we lose by ratifying the treaty negotiated with Iran. We get information, reductions in enrichment capacity and open examination of formerly hidden facilities. We get a commitment which can be verified, that Iran will not pursue a nuclear weapon during the term of the contract. But most importantly, Iran re-enters the global marketplace, which will cause trade in both directions to dramatically increase.
Posted in Strategy and the Big Picture
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Is the price really right?
“Dear Stan,
Our company is a relative newcomer to our industry, although the founders are the same people who created the industry thirty odd years ago. The founders decided to re-enter the market with a competitive offering based on superior service and advanced design. Over the last six years, progress has been difficult, but steady. In today’s economy, customers are looking for both performance differentiation and price reductions. It’s my view, as a director of this company, that we have an opportunity to take market share because our product out-performs the competition and we can afford to reduce prices to a point that I don’t believe our competition can match. Our executive in charge of sales doesn’t want to lower prices, however. His reasons are anecdotal and not evidenced. He is not paid on a commission structure. He has significant equity in the company, and we have a profit-based incentive plan.
“I am baffled by the sales executive’s insistence on not using the pricing elasticity in our margins to win more business from an entrenched competitor. What’s going on?
Signed,
D. Lemma”
Posted in Strategy and the Big Picture
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Astronomical capitalism
As a ten year old, I dreamed of going into space, to the moon. Maybe other places outside the immediate neighborhood. The science fiction books I read encouraged me that such adventures were possible within my lifetime. And until 1981, that continued to be what I was working for. Then reality set in: married, one child born and another on the way, no manned space program going on, and my career path was firmly in the opposite direction.
Posted in The People
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