Sprint is in a cost cutting and restructuring stage. The company is seeking to dump $2.5 billion in expenses and lay-off employees. They are in a craze to right size their sinking ship and seek to redevelop themselves on a sleeker model. There are a few lessons any business should consider before getting into this situation.
Sprints decline was apparent from years ago when other companies like T-Mobile offered no-contract services that attracted consumers. Sprint stayed with older contract models and were unyielding to disgruntled customers.
They no longer led the market and didn't offer exciting new products. Their products were the same as everyone else and did not differentiate their brand. The failed to scour the market for new innovations to refresh themselves.
They failed to diversify fast enough into other services when the cell phone business became saturated. Offering other related services might have opened up new revenue streams. They could have used their powerful position to corner a related market.
Their structure became huge, expensive, uninnovative, and lacked efficiency. Their structure became bureaucratic and they failed to seek a less centralized model that limited liabilities.
They didn't see the need for change fast enough. Sprint was having problems for some time but executives didn't see the need for change. It is a problem of poor leadership and poor culture.
Sprint will take a big hit and will need to rethink their business if they hope to survive. Their cost structure is mammoth and their cash is burning quickly. Soon they may be digging into their assets and selling off sections of their business. Without rethinking their business model and market approach they will limp along as a weaker version of the once powerful giant.
Friday, October 2, 2015
4 Things Every Student Should Consider When Picking a Field of Study
Far too many students just pick a degree and stick with it until they graduate not realizing whether or not they will be successful in those careers. Sometimes they pick degrees for the right reason while at other times they could be picking those degrees based upon faulty information and social influence. There are 4 things every entering college student should consider when picking their degree.
1.) What Jobs Are In Demand: Looking at the job market can help students understand what fields snatch up graduates and how much they pay them. Having a solid understanding of the market is helpful in making sound financial decisions.
2.) Where the Student's Skills Lay: Students should look back at their natural interests and skill sets beyond their social networks. Finding careers that fit with their natural self will likely serve them most of their lives.
3.) Careers with Options: Sometimes one particular job drys up but there is possibilities of going into related fields. Students should consider the different avenues they can take in their careers from their chosen field of study.
4.) Education and Career: Considering the level of education needed to enter a field is important for selecting the right career. Sometimes a certificate from a local community college while at other times a minimum requirement is an advanced degree.
1.) What Jobs Are In Demand: Looking at the job market can help students understand what fields snatch up graduates and how much they pay them. Having a solid understanding of the market is helpful in making sound financial decisions.
2.) Where the Student's Skills Lay: Students should look back at their natural interests and skill sets beyond their social networks. Finding careers that fit with their natural self will likely serve them most of their lives.
3.) Careers with Options: Sometimes one particular job drys up but there is possibilities of going into related fields. Students should consider the different avenues they can take in their careers from their chosen field of study.
4.) Education and Career: Considering the level of education needed to enter a field is important for selecting the right career. Sometimes a certificate from a local community college while at other times a minimum requirement is an advanced degree.
Using Permissionless Innovation to Advance Business
Permissionless innovation is the idea that people can innovate and develop without seeking prior permission. Companies can set rules, standards and platforms that speed up innovative development ( Chesbrough & Van Alstyne, 2015).
When people feel free to innovate in an environment that encourages ingenuity they may find a wider range of growth. For example, one employee might bring forward an idea that limits trash and another might develop an add on to an existing product that raise its value.
In a permissionless environment management doesn't control all innovation but does create incentives to solve certain high priority problems. The culture and environment is such that ideas flow among members quickly and there is emphasis on practical utility. Over time such cultures begin to flourish through faster market response, more efficient operations and total organization adaptations.
Chesbrough, H. &; Van Alstyne, M. (2015) Permissionless Innovation. Communications of the ACM., 58 (8)
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Emergency Plans and Protecting Our Colleges-Shooting at Umpqua Community College
A 20-year old man starts shooting on campus at Umpqua Community College leading to up to 13 deaths and many others injured. The wholesale taking out of one's problems on society seems to be a growing trend. It sparks the need to create better emergency plans and adjusting campus design when new buildings are upgraded or added.
There is no perfect emergency response plan but having one can go a long way in saving lives. It may not stop an action from starting but certainly can limit the damage such actions have by responding quickly to emerging threats.
A solid emergency plan should create quick communication that lets people know where the event is occurring and how to respond. Communication can include cell phones, PA announcements, media interaction, law enforcement, and line of site coordination that keeps an eye on the attacker.
Locking doors and keeping people away from open spaces and windows may help protect people from getting in the line of fire. More importantly a locked door may offer a few moments of respite needed to prepare or evaluate as the attacker finds a way to deal with or around the obstacle.
Ensuring necessary medical equipment and law enforcement staging areas are available for quick set up and use. Making it easy for public officials to get in and out of the area to set up their operations is helpful.
Having someone who can remotely connect with university records to identify the attacker can help search out motives, contact information, connect family, and uncover evidence. Coordination of information with law enforcement can speed reaction times.
Arming campus security can help ensure there is someone who can quickly react if needed. There is a balance between protection and not turning schools into military compounds. Sometimes only another armed individual can remove the threat.
Reviewing and updating plans based on emerging threats and trends. Learning from other schools and events helps to keep plans fresh and up-to-date. Sharing those plans with faculty helps when students look for knowledgeable authority figures when chaos occurs.
Redesigning new buildings and considering emergency in existing building design would help create natural barriers that reduce the reach of the gunman's attack. A shrub, half wall, dead bolt, fence,or change in outlay could slow an attacker and save lives.
Drilling and practicing the plan can help faculty lock doors, help students, remove threats, open communication channels and stay calm. Each faculty should have certain actions to take to minimize exposure.
We all hope such incidents don't happen in the future but we can never be too sure. Some people solve their problems through violence and schools must be prepared for this inevitable fact of modern life. Having solid emergency plans in place can make a big difference. Helping people understand those plans and their responsibilities during such situations is helpful in limiting damage.
There is no perfect emergency response plan but having one can go a long way in saving lives. It may not stop an action from starting but certainly can limit the damage such actions have by responding quickly to emerging threats.
A solid emergency plan should create quick communication that lets people know where the event is occurring and how to respond. Communication can include cell phones, PA announcements, media interaction, law enforcement, and line of site coordination that keeps an eye on the attacker.
Locking doors and keeping people away from open spaces and windows may help protect people from getting in the line of fire. More importantly a locked door may offer a few moments of respite needed to prepare or evaluate as the attacker finds a way to deal with or around the obstacle.
Ensuring necessary medical equipment and law enforcement staging areas are available for quick set up and use. Making it easy for public officials to get in and out of the area to set up their operations is helpful.
Having someone who can remotely connect with university records to identify the attacker can help search out motives, contact information, connect family, and uncover evidence. Coordination of information with law enforcement can speed reaction times.
Arming campus security can help ensure there is someone who can quickly react if needed. There is a balance between protection and not turning schools into military compounds. Sometimes only another armed individual can remove the threat.
Reviewing and updating plans based on emerging threats and trends. Learning from other schools and events helps to keep plans fresh and up-to-date. Sharing those plans with faculty helps when students look for knowledgeable authority figures when chaos occurs.
Redesigning new buildings and considering emergency in existing building design would help create natural barriers that reduce the reach of the gunman's attack. A shrub, half wall, dead bolt, fence,or change in outlay could slow an attacker and save lives.
Drilling and practicing the plan can help faculty lock doors, help students, remove threats, open communication channels and stay calm. Each faculty should have certain actions to take to minimize exposure.
We all hope such incidents don't happen in the future but we can never be too sure. Some people solve their problems through violence and schools must be prepared for this inevitable fact of modern life. Having solid emergency plans in place can make a big difference. Helping people understand those plans and their responsibilities during such situations is helpful in limiting damage.
Paying for College by Industry Backed Income Share Agreements
Your business needs skilled workers to expand and you know that the problem will become even more dire over the next five years. Your options are limited because colleges are not graduating enough people with those particular skills to fill vacant positions thereby raising the labor costs beyond what would be termed reasonable. Industry backed income share agreements (ISA) to pay for college might be one solution to filling skill gaps while still lowering labor costs.
Milton Friedman discussed the dangers of over reliance on government in education in his 1955 essay The Role of Government in Education. He brought forward the idea that government shouldn't be solely responsible for education and private interests can solve some of their own problems. We see this in decades of ballooning government debt and chronic student loan problems. Problems are getting worse.
That doesn't mean we should simply neglect paying for college or not help college students get a higher degree as an investment in knowledge is also an investment in national interest. However, it does mean the government and employers can come up with better plans, better rates, and more affordable practices. There is room for collaboration of industry stakeholders to resolve long-standing student loan issues.
In those areas of high industry labor demand,the option of either pooling together to create income sharing agreements or doing so on a business-employee basis is possible. The terms of agreement can be set by the actual student loan investor. It could include working for a U.S. based company or staying at an employer for a specified period of time to pay back the loan.
Interest rates are a big detractor for students who want to go to college. Student loan investments can be backed by company (s) that ensure rates stay low by reducing default risk through backing and hedging. Lower interest rates and high job prospects act as an incentive to students who are seeking a career. This in turn encourages labor market adjustments that create a more efficient economy.
Students who want to go into high demand areas could find themselves with lower interest rates and potential jobs upon graduation if industry steps up and offers its own version of a student loan program. The specific details would be in flux as stakeholders debate possibilities. Generally, industry stakeholders can create the terms and invest monies to ensure they are creating qualified individuals.
It is possible that lower default rates based on needed skills and higher pay, job placement, lower interest rates, faster filling of chronically open positions, lessening of government debt, industry influence on colleges, and reduction of long-term labor costs are some of the benefits of a industry backed share agreements. Offering industry alternatives to college financing may put additional pressure on colleges to focus on programs that can be appropriately funded and have higher employment prospects upon graduation.
Milton Friedman discussed the dangers of over reliance on government in education in his 1955 essay The Role of Government in Education. He brought forward the idea that government shouldn't be solely responsible for education and private interests can solve some of their own problems. We see this in decades of ballooning government debt and chronic student loan problems. Problems are getting worse.
That doesn't mean we should simply neglect paying for college or not help college students get a higher degree as an investment in knowledge is also an investment in national interest. However, it does mean the government and employers can come up with better plans, better rates, and more affordable practices. There is room for collaboration of industry stakeholders to resolve long-standing student loan issues.
In those areas of high industry labor demand,the option of either pooling together to create income sharing agreements or doing so on a business-employee basis is possible. The terms of agreement can be set by the actual student loan investor. It could include working for a U.S. based company or staying at an employer for a specified period of time to pay back the loan.
Interest rates are a big detractor for students who want to go to college. Student loan investments can be backed by company (s) that ensure rates stay low by reducing default risk through backing and hedging. Lower interest rates and high job prospects act as an incentive to students who are seeking a career. This in turn encourages labor market adjustments that create a more efficient economy.
Students who want to go into high demand areas could find themselves with lower interest rates and potential jobs upon graduation if industry steps up and offers its own version of a student loan program. The specific details would be in flux as stakeholders debate possibilities. Generally, industry stakeholders can create the terms and invest monies to ensure they are creating qualified individuals.
It is possible that lower default rates based on needed skills and higher pay, job placement, lower interest rates, faster filling of chronically open positions, lessening of government debt, industry influence on colleges, and reduction of long-term labor costs are some of the benefits of a industry backed share agreements. Offering industry alternatives to college financing may put additional pressure on colleges to focus on programs that can be appropriately funded and have higher employment prospects upon graduation.
Supporting Neighborhoods Through Small Business
The perspective from a bike is very different from the vantage point of a car. You can see so many more things and take your time on small things.
I found a small fruit market that matched the price of one of my favorite stores I typically have to drive to after work. No driving, no out of the way effort, or wasted time. It was right there under my nose!
The store is owned by an ethnic immigrant family in a hidden location someone would not suspect to find a niche outlet. A small sign on the main street and a small parking lot behind the building. You would hardly know its there unless you were introduced to it or happened to look in that direction.
Such hidden nuggets are what makes a neighborhood stronger. People who can buy their basic items within a mile or so of their house might soon become familiar with other people if they frequent these businesses on a regular basis.
The advent of the car and supermarket destroyed local stores and business. However, the strongest and most sustainable neighborhoods have the right kind of small businesses dotting their landscape. They are eclectic with small town charm.
Coffee shops, clothing, grocery, cafes, bars, mechanic, movies, and recreational business attract locals and create a sense of community by the people who go there regularly. No need to drive when you can walk of bike just down the street.
Urban planning should consider the aesthetic and strategically placed small business to support neighborhoods, improve housing values, create a sense of community, and reduce crime. That means helping a neighborhood to form a sense of identity by creating social landmarks.
Developing Intellectual Capital for Economic Growth
Intellectual capital is an investment in the future as knowledge that pays dividends across a wide range of economic activities. Intellectual capital is the knowledge of people within an organization or society and provides those entities with competitive value. Nations and businesses improve their competitive positions by foster knowledge workers that can create value generating products and services on the market.
Intellectual capital is an asset capable of yielding profits, a competitive resource, a process and knowledge, and a level of skill (Vlasenko & Vasylenko, 2015). Intellectual capital is based in those skill sets that have the highest values on the international market and therefore can create the most lucrative products. Companies that have more highly knowledgeable employees are generally more successful that those who don't.
The value is dependent on the competitive position and market segmentation the entity seeks to maintain a presence in. The right skills will either need to be fostered from either training, education, or borrowing. Each choice has a cost both at the individual company level and at the national level. Where and how each nation seeks to invest determines it long-term competitiveness.
Companies can provide better training for those skills that have the most benefit. They do have the ability to put people through rigorous programs specific to their company. As a nation we can choose to fix our student loan and access problems to foster more intellectual capital in specific industries. Of course we may also choose to either outsource or provide visas to highly skilled individuals.
I am an advocate of creating home grown intellectual capital and offering visas and eventual citizenship to those who fill the gaps in our own skill sets. This requires government to be a partner with industry, understand industry, and further international economic development. Preparing America for a higher level of performance rests on our ability to get the right people in the right places.That means encouraging people to learn and train on relevant jobs that expand the economic engines.
Vlasenko, T. & Vasylenko, Y. (2015). Theoretical and methodological aspects of defining the intellectual capital. Problems of Economy, 1.
Intellectual capital is an asset capable of yielding profits, a competitive resource, a process and knowledge, and a level of skill (Vlasenko & Vasylenko, 2015). Intellectual capital is based in those skill sets that have the highest values on the international market and therefore can create the most lucrative products. Companies that have more highly knowledgeable employees are generally more successful that those who don't.
The value is dependent on the competitive position and market segmentation the entity seeks to maintain a presence in. The right skills will either need to be fostered from either training, education, or borrowing. Each choice has a cost both at the individual company level and at the national level. Where and how each nation seeks to invest determines it long-term competitiveness.
Companies can provide better training for those skills that have the most benefit. They do have the ability to put people through rigorous programs specific to their company. As a nation we can choose to fix our student loan and access problems to foster more intellectual capital in specific industries. Of course we may also choose to either outsource or provide visas to highly skilled individuals.
I am an advocate of creating home grown intellectual capital and offering visas and eventual citizenship to those who fill the gaps in our own skill sets. This requires government to be a partner with industry, understand industry, and further international economic development. Preparing America for a higher level of performance rests on our ability to get the right people in the right places.That means encouraging people to learn and train on relevant jobs that expand the economic engines.
Vlasenko, T. & Vasylenko, Y. (2015). Theoretical and methodological aspects of defining the intellectual capital. Problems of Economy, 1.
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