Curiosidade do dia

"Numa união de Estados que é voluntária, onde os normativos que regulam o seu funcionamento são decididos conjuntamente, não existe aplicação de sanções. Não pode ser sanção o que corresponde a uma regra que foi livremente aceite como procedimento para corrigir desequilíbrios. Na União Europeia, não há castigos, há correcção dos desequilíbrios. Quem não aceitar as regras que aprovou terá de abandonar, libertando-se dos constrangimentos e renunciando aos benefícios."

Trechos retirados de "Constrangimentos e benefícios"

Um exemplo a seguir com atenção

Ao longo dos anos tenho usado o exemplo do jornalismo como um mau exemplo da reacção a uma disrupção clássica em que alguém vem servir os overserved. Recordar:

• Como não reagir a uma disrupção (Dezembro de 2012)
• Disrupção nas universidades? (Novembro de 2013)
• Sonho? Tomo a nuvem por Juno? Ou será o jornalismo do Estranhistão? (Novembro de 2013)
• Perceber a disrupção em curso (Abril de 2014)

O truque é concentrar a atenção nos underserved. Melhorar a qualidade e diferenciação do jornal/publicação, aumentar preço e confiar no efeito assimétrico na curva do isolucro:

Assim, considero muito interessante este exemplo "Prevention Magazine Will Become Ad-Free":

"going ad-free would reduce Prevention’s operating expenses by more than 50 percent. [Moi ici: Começa bem!]
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“If we were going to continue with advertising, I could never see a future where we would be profitable.”
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By going ad-free, Ms. Rodale said, Prevention will reduce its operating expenses by more than 50 percent. The savings will come in part because the magazine will no longer have to maintain a certain circulation level — a number very important to advertisers — which can result in magazines doing things like printing many copies of issues and offering steep discounts or giving them away free. Prevention has also cut its print sales staff.
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Of course, Prevention, which has a circulation of about 1.5 million, will also be giving up print ad revenue of roughly $12 million a year. But as part of the new business model, it is doubling its subscription price, from $24 to $48. It has already increased the cost of a single copy by a dollar, to $4.99.
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the new editor in chief, emphasized the editorial freedom that the magazine would have without ads. She said she planned to “bring in controversial stories” on topics such as medical errors, toxic cosmetics and the anti-aging industry."

Um exemplo a seguir com atenção. Será que fará reflectir alguém no meio jornalístico português?

Autópsias para aprender

Cada vez mais trabalhamos em projectos.
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Por isso, faz cada vez mais sentido pensar em "post-mortem":

"Get more out of post-mortems. Many people dislike project post-mortems. They’d rather talk about what went right than what went wrong. And after investing extensive time on the project, they’d like to move on. Structure your post-mortems to stimulate discussion. Example:
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Pixar asks post-mortem participants to list the top five things they’d do again and the top five they wouldn’t do. The positive-negative balance makes it a safer environment to explore every aspect of the project. Participants also bring in lots of performance data—including metrics such as how often something had to be reworked. Data further stimulate discussion and challenge assumptions based on subjective impressions.
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Because we’re a creative organization, people tend to assume that much of what we do can’t be measured or analyzed. That’s wrong. Most of our processes involve activities and deliverables that can be quantified. We keep track of the rates at which things happen, how often something has to be reworked, whether a piece of work was completely finished or not when it was sent to another department, and so on. Data can show things in a neutral way, which can stimulate discussion and challenge assumptions arising from personal impressions."

Trechos retirados de "How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity"

Puf! Não há magia!

Na segunda-feira, aproveitei o feriado do 13 de Junho em Estarreja e fui passar o dia no Porto passeando com a minha mulher.
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A meio da manhã resolvemos entrar numa das imensas leitarias que abriram na baixa da cidade para tomar um chá e trincar algo.
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Uma desilusão.
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Quando se entra numa leitaria, entra-se pela expectativa da experiência. E quando falamos de experiência:

"with experiences, customers pay for the time they spend with a company, rather than for the activites the company delivers"

Se os clientes pagam pelo tempo, o preço não tem nada a ver com os custos.

"to availability of commodities, cost of goods, and quality of service, businesses now [Moi ici: Os gestores] must add authenticity of experience as something to be managed.
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No longer content just with available, affordable, and excellent offerings, both consumers and business-to-business customers now purchase offerings based on how well those purchases conform to their own self-image. What they buy must reflect who they are and who they aspire to be in relation to how they perceive the world - with lightning-quick judgments of "real" or "fake" hanging in the balance.
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for to compete with such experiences, authenticity must become the primary source of differentiation for commodities as well as commoditized goods and services. ... To succeed, managers across most all industries must add to their expertise in supply-chain management, cost containment, and quality enhancement an understanding of what their customers consider real and fake—or at least which elements influence such consumer perceptions—about their company's offerings.
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understand that there is no such thing as an inauthentic experience—because experiences happen inside of us; they are our internal reaction to the events unfolding around us. How we react to what happens at a particular venue depends on who we are, what we've experienced before, how we feel at the time, who accompanies us, and so on. No two people ever experience anything alike. This intrinsic characteristic of experiences makes them inherently personal.
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Therefore, we remain free to judge our experiences with any economic offering as authentic or not. Businesses that offer them therefore can, whether intentionally or by happenstance, gain the perception of authenticity. The best word to describe this process is, once again, render. Businesses can render their inauthentic offerings as authentic. Doing so requires embracing this essential paradox: all human enterprise is ontologically fake—that is, in its very being it is inauthentic—and yet, output from that enterprise can be phenomenologically real—that is, it is perceived as authentic by the individuals who buy it."

E a experiência gerou um sentimento de fake-fake

Um espaço a tentar transmitir autenticidade, através da individualidade rústica, através da decoração. No entanto, o disco fica riscado quando:

• a oferta de chás resume-se às saquetas de marcas comerciais que vêm para a mesa para escolha do cliente, e que este pode comprar num Pingo Doce;
• a pastelaria é igual à das pastelarias mais recônditas deste país, sem um exemplar para amostra de algo feito na casa, de algo único, de algo específico;
• para cúmulo o bule e as chávenas trazem o logotipo da Sical e são de um branco imaculado.

Puf! Não há magia!

Trechos retirados de "Authenticity" de James Gilmore e Joseph Pine.

Portanto, cheira-me a futurologia da treta (parte II)

Parte I.
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Textos deste tipo "Why AI will break capitalism." cheiram-me a um novo estilo de marxismo. Volto a sublinhar a crença ingénua destes artigos na inteligência como o factor fundamental nos negócios, na economia. TRETA!!! E treta da grande:

"Putting aside the ethics for a second, AI is essentially a new form of inter-species slavery. Instead of relying on our fellow species, we’re creating automated, non-human slaves. AI are just cattle versions of intelligence (once is created/bred for meat, the other for intelligence).
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Rather than capital now being a source of ownership and minor wealth generation, it can now be a source of exponential wealth creation — simply because AI continuously evolves and builds upon itself. It’s unique because it isn’t a static capital item.
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AI isn’t just a static piece of IP. It’s capable of building entirely new monopolies, businesses and ‘things’ all by itself.
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What’s more likely is that when we create AI that is break point for capitalism. Any variable to success can be bought and sold, and that means for those who have wealth, they can buy success instead of creating it. It’s a shift in the ‘fairness’ of capitalism, and the reward for someone putting in effort. When capital can beat humans on thinking, it’s hard to create a marketplace that doesn’t resemble feudalism (albeit minus the harsh living conditions)."

Recordo o insucesso dos 4 prémio Nobel referidos na parte I.
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Até parece que a evolução na Terra criou uma espécie de Vulcanos. Duh!
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Por que é que não somos todos Spocks? Porque não basta a lógica e o QI para ter sucesso neste mundo, também é preciso experimentar e ter sorte.

“The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation.”

Gente que acredita que a Sandy vence o MacGyver. Gente que não percebe que com a concorrência imperfeita e sem marxianismo a estória é outra:

"MacGyver: Well, old Sandy sure has a mind of her own, doesn't she?
Jill: Yes, but she thinks like me. So I should be able to think it through and find her pattern, logically and rationally.
MacGyver: Without the emotion, right?
Jill: That's what gives her the edge. People and emotion can't get in her way.
MacGyver: Well, I say we trust our instincts—go with our gut. You can't program that. That's our edge."

Gente que acredita num mundo pré-determinado e que só está à espera de suficiente capacidade computacional para poder ser dominado. Ingenuidade perigosa.
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Prefiro acreditar na arte, na ingenuidade e na sorte.
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Prefiro acreditar em Mongo sem exércitos puros, racionais e uniformizados. Prefiro acreditar em tribos, em individualidade, em DIY, em p2p.

Curiosidade do dia

A tal campanha em curso para culpabilizar o exterior pelos problemas que estão em germinação, como refiro aqui, hoje materializa-se em "Quebra na Autoeuropa pressiona produção automóvel em Portugal":

"Nos primeiros cinco meses do ano foram produzidos menos de 65 mil automóveis em Portugal, o que representa uma queda de quase 10% face ao período homólogo do ano passado."

Dados do INE só tenho os dos últimos 4 meses, e o que vejo?

• Exportações de automóveis, tractores e outros veículos terrestres
• 2015 - 1878 milhões de euros
• 2016 - 1836 milhões de euros

Ou seja, em 2016 exportámos 98% do valor de 2015.

Get a life!

"Ryanair has come under attack for deciding to close its base near Oslo - a move that is expected to result in the loss of 1,000 jobs - after Norway introduced a new tax on air passengers.
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The Norwegian prime minister has accused the Irish budget airline of attempting to "dictate" policy, after the carrier announced it will scrap its base at Oslo Rygge airport - 66 kilometres from the Norwegian capital - in October and axe 16 routes, meaning its traffic in the country will fall by 50pc."

Uma empresa não concorda com a decisão de um governo legítimo. Legitimamente decide abandonar esse país!
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Não faz greve, não queima pneus, não exige subsídios, não faz chantagem, simplesmente fecha a operação e sai. Deixando a oportunidade para outra empresa servir a Noruega.
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E agora é que passa por mau da fita?
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Devo ser eu que, como anónimo da província, não consigo ver o filme.
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Trecho retirado de "Ryanair attacked over Oslo base closure"

Lc: 9,5

"empresas pequenas cheias de ganas de experimentar" (parte II)

O texto da parte I fez-me recuar a "O que é isto senão Mongo?" e ao texto "In Technology, Small Fish (Almost Always) Eat Big Fish":

"When you start looking at the world through this lens — that when small meets large, small almost always wins — you see it everywhere, across all tech sectors. It's so prevalent, in fact, that I consider it an industry law, in this case, “Leslie’s Law.” More examples to follow, but first, let’s take a closer look at how this plays out..When a sleek, small player enters the market, it does so by creating a low-friction, high-fit product that is sold at a low price to a large market. These new products are sold to a portion of the market that cannot access the larger products due to the cost of entry (in dollars and complexity) and the cost of ownership. The larger company may not even notice that the new company has entered the market because there are no mano-a-mano customer confrontations..This leaves the smaller company free to expand upward into the market. Its leading-edge customers whose needs are expanding, and its own interest in expanding its market upward, spurs it on to increase the features and functionality of its products. From the perspective of the large incumbent companies, this upward migration is imperceptible. They aren't worried, so they don't pay attention to it. But it’s happening..Inevitably, by the time the threat becomes compelling, it’s too late. The small company has taken root, developing the advantages of a lower-cost structure with a simpler, lower-friction product. A new ecosystem has already sprung up around its core offerings. It’s here to stay, and its inroads into the incumbent’s territory can’t be stopped."

Enquanto a empresa da parte I "ataca" o mercado entrando por cima, aytavés da inovação, apelando ao gosto pelo risco dos underserved visionários de Geoffrey Moore, o texto desta parte II refere-se aos que entram por baixo, servindo os overserved, o exemplo clássico de disrupção de Christensen.

"empresas pequenas cheias de ganas de experimentar"

Eis mais um texto sobre as vantagens competitivas das empresas mais pequenas face aos gigantes, "This Company Makes $50 Million a Year Selling
Sexy Orthotics":

"Profoot owes its existence to unconventional products, and its future depends on relentless innovation. "Dr. Scholl's is now owned by Bayer, which is something like an $80 billion company," explains Feldman. Profoot, by contrast, generates less than $50 million in annual revenue, although it turns a profit every year. "It just wouldn't be a very sensible strategy to go head-to-head with them," [Moi ici: A lição de David perante Golias] says Feldman. "I'm sure our entire company is their pencil budget."
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"But we also have tremendous advantages," says Feldman. "We can move much more quickly and come out with a product before their lawyers have figured out whether they can do this or that."
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Often, Dr. Scholl's may not even want to do this or that. Ideas the giant company deems too small to pursue--"interstitial," as Feldman describes them--look like great opportunities to Profoot. "There are plenty of $5 million or $6 million angles we can occupy,"
...
In effect, Profoot has built a healthy business in a category dominated by a single giant by trying not to compete with it.
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Profoot innovated not just materials but also the look and packaging of products, based on the mail-order catalog industry's obsession with novelty.
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"I think right now we are clearly the best minds in this category," Feldman says. Alluding to Dr. Scholl's being acquired twice in seven years, he adds, "I don't know how much institutional knowledge is left at the leading brand right now."
Overall, Feldman is bullish. "We have no debt, we have never borrowed a dime, we have more product ideas than we know how to process," he says."

Enquanto lia isto pensava na lengalenga que ouvia na televisão quando era miúdo, e que ainda oiço alguns encalhados recitarem:

"As empresas grandes ficam cada vez mais grandes, só a regulação, só a intervenção do Estado impede os monopólios"

A verdade é que sempre existirão empresas pequenas cheias de ganas de inovar, de experimentar, de servir melhor os clientes e, como efeito secundário, derrubam os gigantes, naturalmente.

Emprego e empresas pequenas e jovens

Corroborado o critério que sigo quando escrevo sobre a evolução das exportações.

"No acumulado deste período, [Moi ici: 2007-2014] as empresas com até 49 funcionários foram responsáveis por 63% dos postos detrabalho criados. As grandes empresas – com mais de 250 empregados - criaram 20% do emprego e as companhias de média dimensão criaram 17% dos empregos."

Imagem inicial e trecho retirados de "Quer arranjar emprego? Olhe para as pequenas empresas"

Imagem final retirada daqui.

Curiosidade do dia

• Economistas apontam para défice de 3,1% em Portugal
• Economistas da Bloomberg cortam previsão de crescimento de Portugal para 1,2%

No pasa nada!

A estratégia transforma-nos

Numa apresentação que estou a preparar para dar algumas dicas sobre a metodologia a seguir, para desenvolver as iniciativas estratégicas associadas a um projecto balanced scorecard numa empresa, tento fazer a ênfase na transformação.
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A empresa que somos hoje gera os resultados de hoje de uma forma perfeitamente normal. Se queremos resultados futuros desejados diferentes, temos de transformar a empresa de hoje na empresa do futuro desejado.
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Depois, lembrei-me deste texto recente "Estratégia e iteração" e do exemplo da Southwest Airlines, da IKEA e da Zara.
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Implementar uma estratégia, transforma as empresas e o espaço onde actuam:

"When you try something new, you learn more about yourself--what you are capable of, what your limits are, what you enjoy, and what mistakes you would rather not repeat. Eat sushi, try skydiving, or strike up a conversation with someone who intimidates you. Whether the outcome is positive or negative, at least you've discovered something about yourself, and that changes how you respond to your environment and circumstances.[Moi ici: Como diz o Samuel Soares, expande-se a zona de conforto]
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When you move, you learn more about the world--what is good, what is tragic, and what needs to be revised, repaired, and restored.
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Take risks, dive in, dig deep, and choose to care about someone or something, and no matter what happens in the end, that growing passion changes you and changes the world."

Até acrescento uma imagem:

Com a legenda: Alea jacta est
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Agora, ao escrever isto, recordo o Eclesiastes e Karl Weick:

"Munidos de todo um arsenal descrito anteriormente, da Missão até às iniciativas estratégicas, colocamos os cintos de segurança e aí vamos nós a caminho do futuro desejado."

E a caminhada leva-nos a ver o mundo de forma diferente e a descobrir possibilidades escondidas ou inatingíveis até então.

Trabalhar para tornar a concorrência imperfeita

"Finally, if purchasers are not indifferent as to which firms to buy their goods, then the perfect competition assumption cannot be postulated to work. In fact, Sraffa also deploys this line of critique since, according to Sraffa, purchasers are actually not indifferent as between different producers – this is “the chief obstacle which hinders the free play of competition” (Sraffa, 1926: 544) – the causes for such absence of indifference are custom, proximity, personal acquaintance, possibility to get credit, reputation of the trade mark and design of the product. From a formal point of view, these different reasons of preferences are reflected in the clientele of each firm being willing, if necessary, to pay a higher price."

E a sua empresa, o que é que ela faz para tornar a concorrência imperfeita?

Trecho retirado de "Alternative Theories of Competition - Challenges to the orthodoxy" editado por Jamee K. Moudud, Cyrus Bina e Patrick L. Mason

Interacção e co-criação de valor

"Contemporary markets are increasingly interconnected, with actors no longer seen as part of linear value chains but existing in networks of service systems where interaction, collaboration and experience sharing take place. In such markets, traditional boundaries between the roles of “customer” and “provider” are losing clarity, highlighted by the emergence of concepts such as prosumers and post-consumers. Customers are not satisfied with the limited role of a buyer, receiver and user of a firm’s offering at the end of the value chain, but proactively engage in crafting the offering according to their personal needs and wants, and seek to also engage other stakeholders (such as other consumers, communities, firms or government organisations) in the service system to contribute their resources towards common aims."

Em sintonia com o ponto 4 e os exemplos de "Tantas lições para quem quer criar uma comunidade"



Trechos retirados de "Customer Engagement Behaviours and Value Co-creation" de Matthew Alexander & Elina Jaakkola

Acerca da banca do futuro (parte II)

Parte I.

"Os bancos têm uma estrutura de custos muito grande. Estão metidos num tsunami e não é por culpa deles. Têm muitas agências bancárias para as necessidades, por exemplo. As fintech são uma ameaça, mas se a Google, a Amazon, o Facebook e a Apple (GAFA) começarem a fazer crédito ao consumo é uma chatice. As gerações mais novas mais depressa pedem um empréstimo ao Google do que a um banco.
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O que podemos esperar da banca portuguesa nos próximos dez anos?A decisão mais rápida é colaborar com as fintech. Não há condições para comprar estas startups. Não fazer nada também não é solução, a tecnologia já demonstrou isso. A banca vai ter de perceber que as fintech têm um ritmo muito acelerado, em que o foco é o cliente."

Claro que o artigo cheira a publicidade encapotada mas é a vida, e não deixa de ser verdade. Os salami slicers esmagam os Bruce Jenner de cada sector.

Trecho retirado de "Jovens "mais depressa pedem um empréstimo ao Google do que a um banco”"

Curiosidade do dia

Recordar "As exportações e os fragilistas" e "Acerca das exportações dos primeiros 4 meses de 2016".
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Outro razão para dizer mal das exportações é... poder sacar mais dinheiro ao Estado. Por momentos a coisa ia fugindo para a verdade:

"As exportações estão a cair em valor. Em Abril foram 2,5% face ao mesmo mês do ano passado.
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"Não há ainda alarme, mas estamos preocupados e é o tempo certo para intervir", diz Paulo Nunes de Almeida que reconhece que setores tradicionais como os têxteis e vestuário, a cortiça, as madeiras e mobiliário ou o calçado, "continuam a crescer em alguns casos acima da média do ano passado".
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Apesar de um desempenho positivo da maioria dos setores produtores de bens transacionáveis os números do Instituto Nacional de Estatística são claro. As exportações portuguesas estão globalmente a crescer a um ritmo mais lento."

Depois, lá se lembrou da prioridade:

"Os fundos para o apoio às empresas exportadoras no Portugal 2020 têm que ser reforçados", diz o responsável pela maior associação empresarial do país."

Trechos retirados de "AEP: "Esperamos da CGD que seja profissional mas diferente do resto da banca no apoio às empresas""

"just keep it up"

"a dialogue between an English lord and his American visitor:
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“How come you got such a gorgeous lawn?” asks the American.
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“Well, the quality of the soil, is, I dare say, of the utmost importance,” replies the lord.
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“No problem.”
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“Furthermore, one does need the finest quality seed and fertilizers.”
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“Big deal.”
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“Of course, daily watering and weekly mowing are jolly important.”
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“No sweat, just leave it to me.”
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“That’s it.”
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“No kidding?! That’s it?!”
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“Oh absolutely. There is nothing to it, old boy, just keep it up for five centuries.”"

Lembrei-me logo deste diálogo quando vi este tweet:

Este ano estima-se que a Irlanda cresça uns míseros 4.9%. A conjuntura internacional não perdoa.

— MAL (@mlopes) June 7, 2016

E deste senhor que mimetiza bem a postura do americano do trecho "É preciso ser coerente". Nicolau Santos acha que um roadshow montado à última da hora resolve o problema do investimento externo... "Oh absolutely. There is nothing to it, old boy, just keep it up for five centuries"
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O que fez a Irlanda quando a UE tentou obrigá-los a aumentar o IRC? Manteve a coerência e reforçou a sua imagem "just keep it up".
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O que faz o governo português quando precisa de dinheiro?



Trechos retirados de "Stop Comparing Management to Sports"

“We became interested in low-volume manufacturing,”

O futuro já aqui está, embora muito mal distribuído e conhecido.

"“We became interested in low-volume manufacturing,” Venkat said. “What can we make, that could be successful in units of ten?”
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The low-volume idea was to make manufacturing faster and more varied, by dramatically lowering the output level at which a product would pay off. You can think of the analogy in TV programming. When there were only three networks, the only shows that could make it were those that could draw a mass audience. But with cable, and then with online videos and podcasting, much smaller and more specialized audiences were “large enough,” and we went from mass-cult Gidget and Get Smart to the much more varied, niche-sensitive, and more interesting  modern range from Breaking Bad to reality schlock. Another obvious comparison would be the shift from the standardized, bland-ized mega-brewery U.S. beer world of the mid-20th century, to the rapidly diversifying craft-brew renaissance of today.
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What does this mean, in practice? Without going into all the details, essentially the approach is a combination of the well-known, intangible digital tools of the modern era, with some very tangible, less-known-by-the-public maker-era tools that (as I argued before) are transforming production.
That is: the products coming out of this microfactory use cloud-centric digital techniques we’re all aware of including crowdsourcing, online collaboration, crowd-funding, online sales, open-source coding and design. But they also use the new production techniques, from the real world of real hardware, that have become available only in the past few years—and that keep improving thanks to Moore’s Law. These include 3D printers, laser cutters, low-cost but high-sophistication multi-axis machine tools, and a range of other devices. Together these tools allow people in smaller, less formal, much lower-cost workspaces to design, test, refine, and manufacture items that previously would have come required factory production lines—and to find audiences that collaborate in the process of design and, so far, have provided eager markets.
The operation also uses the social and collaborative tools of the era—shared work spaces, partnerships with local schools. The production tools are available for modest cost to local people who want to use them. “It’s like a manufacturing library,” Venkat said, with production equipment open for shared use. “The ‘books’ are available. We’re not going to read them to you, but you can find them here.”
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An explicit goal of FirstBuild, like many of the maker sites we’ve seen around the country, is to become a center for local individuals and groups with ideas for innovative hardware that might sell.
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“We are trying to overcome the selection bias of needing to scale up for big-volume production,” Venkat told me. “We don’t have to design to a spec. We are making in small-batches, low volumes. We can make one, then the next one, then the next one. We want to be open to as many ideas as we can.”"

Ao ler "Jeff Bezos thinks we need to build industrial zones in space in order to save Earth" não pude deixar de pensar na possibilidade remota de Bezos ainda pensar no futuro como a "heavy industry" e as "gigantic factories"... o futuro vai ser uma grande salgalhada para as mentes uniformizadas do século XX.
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BTW, este "We don’t have to design to a spec." faz-me crer na importância das marcas pessoais no futuro. E na vantagem tuga da rapidez e do pouco planeamento:

Industrial approach is 1. Plan 2. Action. Post-industrial approach is 1. Experience. 2. Reflection.

— Esko Kilpi (@EskoKilpi) June 12, 2016

Temos é de melhorar a reflexão.
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Trechos retirados de "Why the Maker Movement Matters: Part 2, Agility"

A economia não é um jogo de soma nula

"Although there is nothing wrong with commitment and perseverance, I, however, think sport (much less war) is often an unhelpful analogy. Good management is not like a competitive sport. And managing your company as if it is, can lead your business astray – or at least create a mighty corporate mess.
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A more useful comparison is that of a builder of communities, with investors, suppliers, partners and, most of all, your employees.
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At the end of the day, organizations are collections of people; this means that superior organizations need more effective ways for them to cooperate and work toward a common goal.
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Research backs this up. Several studies have examined the characteristics of resources that, over time, lead to superior performance. The conclusion of this stream of research is that these resources are usually intangible and community based, such as relationships, trust, culture, identity, or knowledge sharing. That is because, ultimately, competitive advantage comes from people, rather than products or patents."

Recordar porque deixei de considerar o David vs Golias mas o David e Golias: "David tem tudo a ganhar em fugir de um confronto directo com Golias"
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Recordar:

• É muito mais do que o confronto de um jogo de soma-nula
• A economia não é um jogo de soma nula
• Não faz sentido, para uma PME, procurar "ser o melhor" (parte IV)
• A economia não tem de ser um jogo de soma-nula

Trechos retirados de "Stop Comparing Management to Sports"

Cuidado com as boas-práticas!

"Best practices are techniques that supposedly are proved to be widely successful, but in reality, they’re easy to copy-and-paste and can be disguised as one-size-fits-all solutions.
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Few management approaches are universally applicable, and attempts to implement a mismatched approach can do more harm than good. 
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Every best practice is a paradox by its nature and makes itself obsolete.
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While it works for some to start with understanding the why (principles) before the how (practices), other times it’s better to start with the how before the why. In other words, it’s not necessarily wrong to implement the practice first and understand the principles after. Oftentimes people and organizations learn best by doing first and understanding what works and what didn’t later, perhaps through a postmortem or a retrospective."

Recordar "Dedicado aos que seguem a Religião do Grande Geómetra" ou "Não existem boas-práticas!!!"

Trechos retirados de "Best Practices Are Killing Your Company"