nickshanagher

There are five things that most people get wrong about what makes great companies succeed. Great companies are not led by risk takers. They do not innovate more than their competitors. They are not quicker to react to change. They don’t change the way they work. And they don’t have more good luck. In Great byChoice , written by Jim Collins and Morten Hansen, the real attributes of success are analysed and presented in a way that will help any business leader think about what she is doing well and where she needs to improve. But first a spoiler alert. If you are a fan of Robert Falcon Scott, this book is not for you. Collins and Hansen use a discussion of the ways that Roald Amundsen and Scott approached their 1911 race to be first to the South Pole to demonstrate how the findings above make the difference between life and death. While the book runs to 304 pages, mostly to back up the authors’ arguments, you can get a great deal out of reading the stories. In just six page...

In a briefing reported by the Financial Times, Walmart suggests it is hitting an inflexion point in its business as shoppers wanted smaller stores closer to their homes. While its model of big out-of-town stores is still successful, Bill Simon, head of the US business, said consumers were reluctant to drive long distances to shop and people were moving back to city centres. He split shopping trips into three types: - large grocery shops often at weekends (falling) - medium-sized purchases (flat) - "immediate access" trips (growth). Competition with small stores was intense as dollar stores had expanded, drug stores were competing for sales and competitors were opening small format stores. What does a Walmart small store look like in the US? - Neighbourhood markets = 38,000 sq ft - Express stores = 15,000 sq ft. Simon stressed that Walmart was not abandoning its business model as a mass market discount retailer.

  The US edition of Setting the Table , Danny Meyer’s inspiring guide to success as an independent restaurateur, has a brilliant blue cover with a single saltshaker. The edition I bought does not and that is the only weakness with this useful guide to setting up your first shop, moving from one to two, from two to four, and from four to infinity. The saltshaker is relevant because it is attached to a brilliant story about leadership from Meyer’s early days in the mid-1980s when he had opened his first restaurant and was developing his business style. Pat Cetta, an experienced restaurateur who informally mentored Meyer asked him to clear a table of everything except a saltshaker. He asked: “Where is the saltshaker now”. “Right where you told me in the centre of the table.” “Are you sure it’s where you want it?” I looked closely. The shaker was actually about a quarter of an inch off centre. “Go ahead put it where you really want it.” I moved it very slightly...

Malcolm Gladwell is famous for his books explaining how the long tail works in e-retailing and that you need to spend 10,000 hours to become an expert in anything. His new book, David and Goliath, is about how we misunderstand the true meaning of advantage and disadvantage. His thesis goes to the heart of a major dilemma facing wholesalers, how to leverage their scale to help independent foodservice and retail businesses beat the multiples. My review: “David came running toward Goliath, powered by courage and faith. Goliath was blind to his approach – and then he was down, too big and slow and blurry-eyed to comprehend the way the tables had been turned. All these years, we’ve been telling these kinds of stories wrong. David and Goliath is about getting them right.” This is how Malcolm Gladwell ends his short, pacey and myth-busting introduction in his latest book. Gladwell is famous for his ability to capture ideas and tell compelling stories that illustrat...

Where do independent retail stores shine? Wholesalers know that their customers do well in troubled, lower income neighbourhoods but they don't tend to share this knowledge widely. Evidence of this is rarely published but some interesting numbers emerge in an FT article on up-market US grocer Whole Foods plans for a store in Englewood, a poor Chicago suburb. City analysts agonise at whether Whole Foods can go down market. But consultant Mari Gallagher shows the potential gap. Of the 87 stores in Englewood that accept food stamps, 85 are "liquor, dollar or convenience stores that specialise in candy and soda." A spokesman for Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel says it is investing $10m in subsidies for this Whole Foods store because some communities "have been ignored by companies that want to expand." There is plenty going on in this story for independent operators in poorer areas to think about: Are you close enough ...

“I have an idea for a new product but I don’t know how to build it,” Josh Kaufman writes on the first page of his book: TheFirst 20 Hours: How to learn anything fast . So do I and so probably do you. So why are we not doing it? “How much free time do you have each day after all your work and family obligations are complete?” asks Kaufman. “Do you feel like you’d need 36 or 48 hours in a day to finally sit down and learn something new?” In 2008 another US author Malcolm Gladwell wrote Outliers in which he argued that you needed 10,000 hours of skills training to become better than other people at something. You may notice that the England football team has just used the 10,000 hours idea as the basis of its skills work with young England footballers. So now you have a new barrier to not learning something new. “Not only do you have to make time for practice…but now you have to put in 10,000 hours.” Kaufman’s book, which will help any business owner looking to grow and develo...