By addressing social issues with sustainable business models, business leaders have the potential to provide scalable solutions MICHAEL PORTER makes an astute observation – the world is full of social problems. From environmental degradation and disease to unemployment and inequality, solving social problems has traditionally been the domain of NGOs, the government and philanthropists. Meanwhile, […]
Author: Tom Spencer
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6 Ways to Overcome Loss Aversion
Loss aversion can lead people to favour the status quo, and so clever marketing is sometimes needed to convince people to buy new products LOSS AVERSION can lead people to favour the status quo. How so? Well, when a consumer considers replacing a good, the presence of loss aversion can lead her to experience more pain […]
“Everything is relative in this world, where change alone endures” (Leon Trotsky) IF you were offered the chance to win or lose $100 on the basis of a coin flip, would you take the bet? If you are like most people, you would probably decline the wager. Even though the gamble offers an even chance […]
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Loss Aversion
Loss aversion is a widespread behavioural trait which causes people to experience the suffering from a loss much more deeply than the joy from a commensurate gain Background Everyone knows that people don’t like to lose things. People are reluctant to give their old clothes to Vinnies, to leave dysfunctional relationships, or to throw away […]
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Tim Minchin’s Nine Life Lessons
“It’s an incredibly exciting thing, this one meaningless life of yours” (Tim Minchin) “TIM Minchin is a genius, pure and simple. He is to musical comedy what Charles Darwin was to evolution” (Tim Arthur, CEO of TimeOut Magazine). We tend to agree. For those of you unfamiliar with Tim’s work, you can check out some […]
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Product/Market Expansion Matrix
A framework to help executives, senior managers and marketers devise strategies for future growth 1. Background THE Ansoff Matrix (referred to by some commentators as the Product/Market Expansion Grid) was developed by a Russian-American mathematician named Igor Ansoff, and first explained in his 1957 Harvard Business Review article entitled Strategies for Diversification. 2. Benefits of […]
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How to Thrive in Hard Times
Invest for the future, reduce your debts, and insure your income TODAY’S economy is vastly different compared with our parents’ generation, and even those of us in ‘stable’ jobs should be prepared for increasingly rapid technological change and a continued downturn. The competitive landscape can change at any time and in ways that you may […]
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What is Social Customer Service?
Social Customer Service allows customers to ask questions, and have them answered by a staff member or another customer AT THE CORE of every successful business are a few key ingredients, and customer service is one of them. Customer service can be used to delight customers, boost customer retention and generate positive word of mouth. For […]
Look mum, no hands! Mercedes-Benz S500 Intelligent Drive has driven itself 125km through Germany without driver intervention MERCEDES-BENZ has demonstrated its capabilities with self-driving technology and provided a glimpse of the future by successfully driving its prototype S-Class from Mannheim to Pforzheim without driver intervention. Mercedes has successfully tested autonomous vehicles before. For example, in 1995 […]
Boards of public companies, responding to investor demands, often pressure management to meet short term earnings estimates DOMINIC Barton, global MD at McKinsey, talks with Tom Keene about how corporate boards of publicly listed companies tend to be too short term focused. Barton explains that corporate boards, responding to investor demands, often pressure management to […]
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We Think Therefore We Are
If you can imagine it, then it can become a reality ADAM Spencer (no relation) gives a wonderful speech about the beauty of mathematics, the search for the largest prime number, and the age in which we now live – the age of machine aided human discovery. As Adam poetically states, “numbers are the musical notes […]
“We’ve put charities in a box for far too long, let’s set them free.” ~ Nat Ware, CEO of 180 Degrees Consulting IN an informative and timely TED Talk, Nat Ware explains how society’s traditional notions of ‘charity’ often constrain the ability of charities to have a meaningful social impact. Below we highlight three beliefs about […]
When adversity strikes, branding gives you resilience This guest post is by Ryan Currie. Ryan is a product manager at BizShark.com with 5 years experience in online marketing and product development. He is on the cutting edge of developments in emerging technologies and open source projects. IN BUSINESS, branding is crucially important. If your business doesn’t have a […]
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World Collapse Explained in 3 Minutes
Bailouts: a band-aid solution for continuing sovereign debt crises BAILOUTS were the band-aid solution prescribed for the Greek sovereign debt crisis. And every indication suggests that Greece will require another band-aid early next year. In this context, Clarke and Dawe raise an interesting and often carefully overlooked question. Where does the money come from to bail out basket […]
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Change is Constant
Change is a process IN the industrial age, change was seen as an event which could be managed: launch a new product, introduce a new feature, enter a new market. But this was never true. As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus rightly pointed out: “Change is Constant”. In the information age, change is now happening so quickly that […]
THE YEAR is 2050. Imagine waking up in a world where you feel positive and motivated about going to work, knowing that your work provides value to customers in a way that is sustainable and responsible. Your employer operates with the express aim of benefiting members of the community and reinvests all profits to further its […]
Fear, Laziness, and Pessimism YOU are capable of producing great work. But are you? It is possible that you merely producing the minimum required of you. You may even have a list of sensible sounding reasons why now is not the right time to take bold action to achieve success: you’re too old, you’re too young, […]
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The Coin Flip
Flip a coin. Make a decision HAVE you ever had two options, and found it difficult to choose between them? You may have applied for MBA programs and received offers from Oxford and Cambridge. You may have been offered a new job from a competing firm. Or, you may have been trying to decide what to […]
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Kyle Bass: The End is Nigh for Japan
“I would like to live in a world where it’s all rainbows and unicorns, and we could make Krugman the President … And then reality sets in” ~ Kyle Bass KYLE BASS founded and runs Hayman Capital Management, a Dallas-based hedge fund. He is a successful investor who is well known for predicting and profiting […]
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Strategic Fail
Fail fast. Your success depends on it BACK in high school, you teachers probably trained you in ‘exam technique’. For example, your maths teacher probably gave your class exam-prep advice which sounded something like this: “do the easy questions first, skip anything you don’t understand and come back to it at the end of the […]
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Don’t Be Seduced
By sweet sounding lies RISK taking is important. Entrepreneurs are in the business of taking risks in the pursuit of profit and are the engine room of the capitalist market economy. Risk taking makes sense where the likely consequences of action have been well considered and are deemed acceptable. The quote above though states that “we only regret the […]
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Learning From Your Mistakes
Are you? THE scientific method is a formal way of investigating the world by testing your guess about a certain situation, correcting your mistakes, and thereby improving your understanding of the world. If something doesn’t work out for you, do you get angry? Or do you ask yourself, “what went wrong in this experiment?” Learn, grow […]
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The Tortoise and the Hare
Stable growth is often more important than fast money SINGAPORE is on the rise as a wealth management hub with funds under management growing by 22% in 2012 compared with around 5% for Western Europe as a whole. The disparity in growth rates is large, and the FT has attempted to narrate a story that fast […]
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Balancing the Scale
Scale improves productivity but also increases bureaucracy Scale can help a company to produce more output at lower average costs. However, production at scale also leads to unhelpful bureaucracy. As production rises, more employees are needed and executives implement more rules to keep things under control. Increasing production tends to lead to higher cash flows, and managers […]
List of Global Strategy Firms for 2013 BELOW is a hand-picked list of leading Global Strategy Firms. The litmus test we used to decide whether a firm is truly “global” was whether it has an office in Sydney. A fair litmus test? Maybe not, but seeing as Sydney is at the other end of the earth you […]
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Warding Off Ghosts
Hint: this post has nothing to do with ghosts HAVE you ever seen a ghost? Or been told a ghost story by someone who claims to have seen one? I recently had a conversation with a friend who explained to me that his apartment is inhabited by an unfriendly ghost. How do you ward off a […]
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Resource for Aspiring Consultants
A nice resource to help you break into the industry IF you are interested in breaking into the management consulting industry, you might want to take a look at this super helpful resource on Quora, click here. If you don’t have an account with Quora then you will need to sign up as a new […]
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Some People Will Get it
And Some Won’t FOR those of you who missed it, we made a small typo on the previous post. Instead of writing “weigh your options” we wrote “way your options”. Kind of embarrassing … especially given the painstaking hours that we spend trying to make each post perfect. Thankfully, many of you were good enough […]
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3 Steps to Eliminate Worry
Identify the source, weigh your options, and take action DO you suffer from worry? Worry is an obstacle which can prevent otherwise talented students and business people from setting and achieving goals; even ones that should be well within their reach. Do you ever twiddle your thumbs for five minutes (or an hour) before making a […]
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Salutation to the Dawn
Today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness Look to this day! For it is life, the very life of life. In its brief course Lie all the verities and realities or your existence: The bliss of growth The glory of action The splendor of achievement. For yesterday is but a dream And […]
List of Australian Strategy Firms for 2013 BELOW is a hand-picked list of leading Australian strategy firms. This list will be of interest to you if: you’re a student who wants to work for a leading strategy firm, or your company, non-profit or government agency is looking for quality strategy advice. The firms are: Nous Group Pacific […]
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3 Steps for Greater Focus
Accept what you have, visualise what you want, and orient yourself in the right direction DO you ever feel like ‘success’ eludes you? Like you should be achieving more? Like you’re not making progress with your studies, career, or business? There are 3 steps you can use to achieve greater focus: Acceptance: understand where you are […]
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Brick Walls
Giving you a chance to show how badly you really want it ARE you experiencing unexpected difficulties? Has your progress stalled? Have you hit a wall? You may feel irritated, angry and frustrated, but be thankful. Brick walls are there for a reason. They are there to stop your competition, to challenge and test you, […]
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How Great Leaders Inspire Action
People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it Why do you get out of bed in the morning? Why do you do what you do every day? Why should we care? What drives you?
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How to Use Envy to Build Success
There will always be greener pastures. Accept what you have, and build from there YOU may have found yourself envying the position of others. In a former life, I worked as a finance lawyer and often dealt with investment bankers. They worked about the same hours as I did, their job seemed much less challenging […]
INTRODUCING Ashley. We have chosen the talented Ashley Sherman to be an Editor of the Consulting Blog for 2013/14. Ashley was previously a Staff Writer for the NYU International Business Journal. An accomplished Business & Political Economy student at NYU Stern, Ashley brings passion, keen intellect, and a unique perspective to the Consulting Blog. Currently […]
It’s not the load that breaks you down; it’s the way you carry it This guest post is from Naked Business Consulting, a firm based in Melbourne. They specialise in capital raising, international expansion and strategic planning. IT’S NO SECRET that a lot of startups begin life with a single employee – the proprietor. If […]
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Focus on Happiness: Achieve Sucess
Seize the happiness advantage SHAWN ACHOR explains, in a fascinating and amusing TED Talk about the happy secret to better work, that being more positive in the present is shown to improve performance. Happiness releases dopamine, a chemical which stimulates the learning centres in the brain and enables you to operate with more intelligence, creativity, and […]
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Better Is Not Better
Different is Better
Lack of a sustainable ‘business engine’ is a Social Enterprise’s Kryptonite IT’S a charity … It’s a for-profit … No, it’s a social enterprise! Social enterprise is on the rise (the number of social enterprises in Australia has grown by 37% in the last 5 years). Just like a regular business, but with one key difference; a […]
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MECE Framework
MECE stands for “mutually exclusive” and “collectively exhaustive” 1. Background MECE stands for “mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive” and is one of the hallmarks of problem solving at McKinsey (The McKinsey Way by Ethan M. Rasiel). 2. Benefit of the MECE framework You can use the MECE framework to help you think clearly about a business problem. […]
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Dick Smith: The Power of Viral Marketing
Happy Australia Day to Dick Smith, a true blue Aussie legend TODAY is Australia Day, a day to spend time with the family, stand around the barbecue, and go for a swim at the local pool or nearest beach. However, while most Australian’s are doing what Australian’s do best, one Aussie veteran is promoting a new […]
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Know Your Outcome
https://www.youtube.com/v/5tknowAM50Y Burn all other bridges
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How to Achieve Your Audacious Goals
Hint: taking audacious action is not the answer THERE are many things worth having. What do you want? You may want to work for McKinsey, start your own firm, or fly to the moon. Be specific. What exactly is your audacious goal? If nothing comes to mind, then don’t worry. The reason that most people have […]
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Believe In Yourself
It ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward YOU have what it takes to be successful, but unless you believe in yourself, you’re not going to have the life you want, or the life that you know you deserve. Keep fighting. Don’t let anybody […]
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3 Lessons from Steve Jobs
Believe that the dots will connect down the road, love what you do, and remember that you are going to die STEVE JOBS was one of the world’s great visionaries, entrepreneurs and businessmen. On October 5th 2011, he departed. People knew that he was sick, but nobody expected him to leave so soon. I remember […]
This guest post is by a PhD student in philosophy from the Australian National University. THE FUTURE presents a paradox: no one can predict it but we are told to plan for it anyway. It is a tricky problem for individuals wanting to make provision for their retirement and for the vicissitudes of their health […]
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Under Promise and Over Deliver
Keep expectations low, and exceed them
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The First 100 Days as a CEO
The approach a new CEO takes during their first 100 days can determine whether they succeed or fail FIRST impressions count! The approach that a new CEO takes during their first 100 days can largely determine whether they succeed or fail. But how to get it right? In an article in the second issue of the SVA […]
MODELOFF is a fun, innovative and professional competition for students and young professionals to develop and test their financial modeling skills against their friends, colleagues and top modelers from around the world. With $25,000 cash from S&P Capital IQ for the overall ModelOff Champion and more than $65,000 of prizes in total from Microsoft and […]