"Se o BES tivesse tido uma injeção de capital de cinco mil milhões de euros, hoje estaria são como um pero."Bem visto por Joaquim Aguiar:
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Pedro Santos Guerreiro, Expresso, 15 de Julho de 2017
"Nos assuntos da ética e da moral, não pode haver absolvição e perdão sem que tenha havido confissão e arrependimento. A confissão é necessária para que se fique a saber qual foi o processo que conduziu à falta, à culpa ou ao crime. O arrependimento é o complemento da confissão, é o reconhecimento de que o que se fez não tinha justificação.Trechos retirados de "Para além de bem e mal"
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Uma injecção (mesmo de capital) não resolve uma doença terminal. Onde ninguém confessa nem se arrepende não se muda de vida e o que ressuscitar será igual ao que morreu. O que aconteceu no BES (e na CGD) é o mesmo que aconteceu na política e na economia. E não poderia deixar de ser assim. Os erros de estratégia na função política geraram os erros de avaliação (ou de ocultação) do risco na função financeira, e a cumplicidade interessada dos políticos foi premiada com a colaboração empenhada dos banqueiros.
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Se o BES tivesse tido uma injecção de capital (e até teve), estaria hoje ainda mais doente do que já estava, porque ninguém confessou ou se arrependeu. E se há sempre um paquete que leva a mala com as notas, o que tem de se procurar é quem é o dono do dinheiro que vai na mala. É ele quem comanda, para bem ou para mal, a dinâmica da política e da economia."
"NichesTrecho retirado de "How Startups Can Compete and Succeed Beyond Price"
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Is there a particular unserved industry segment that is not currently being served by the existing offerings? If so, how can you connect with them on a real, meaningful and even emotional level?
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In the end, success rarely comes from price battles for new entrants. Instead, look closely at your industry and target market, identify their pain points and decide how you can add value.
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If you can do that, customer will come regardless of price."
"“You know who should have invented Airbnb? Marriott Hotels,” says Black, starting a strange metaphor. “But they didn’t, because they’re so far up their own ass in the micro of running hotels that they could never, ever see outside of where they are. So, change instead comes from some eggheads down in Silicon Valley.”Trecho retirado de "Disruption Never Comes From Within"
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“Disruption never comes from within. Every disruption is caused from the outside because everybody on the inside buys into the bullshit.”
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Disruption happens when an outsider doesn’t follow the same practices, develops new ones, and competes differently; changing the game in their favor."
"Está a dizer que estamos pior que em 2008? Sim. Se analisarmos um gráfico de crescimento da dívida americana a partir dos anos 80 parece os Alpes! A atitude paternalista do Governo e da Reserva Federal perante as várias crises levou os gestores e investidores do sector financeiro a acreditar que os decisores políticos e os reguladores da actividade bancária adoptariam idêntica orientação em futuras situações, levando-os a reforçar a componente de risco, emitindo dívida cujo produto aplicavam em investimentos especulativos nos mercados de capitais. Esta orientação não mais parou levando a um aumento em exponencial do endividamento do sector financeiro, às sucessivas bolhas especulativas com as consequências que agora se conhecem.Trechos retirados de "Hugo O'Neill: "Esta bolha é pior do que 2008. E pode rebentar hoje""
Acresce que o peso dos depósitos nos balanços dos bancos dos EUA decresceu muito, o que aumenta consideravelmente o risco.
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A bolha vai rebentar? Quando? Não se sabe. Tanto pode ser amanhã ou em breve. Há mil razões para isto estoirar: a crise no Qatar com o Médio Oriente, a volatilidade das relações externas de Trump, o descrédito em relação à politica económica de Trump, por exemplo. É uma bolha gigante que envolve uma sobrevalorização do mercado de acções americano. O índice S&P500 apresenta neste momento um rácio (CAPE) de 30 vezes, ou seja, o valor do índice é cerca de 30 vezes o resultado médio por acção ajustado pela inflação, o que corresponde a um desvio de cerca de 80% acima da média. Quando rebentar, será tanto para as empresas boas como para as más. Só se safa quem esteja em activos que possa mobilizar de forma independente."
"It’s no mystery why the data used by economists and other social scientists so rarely throws up incontestable answers: it is human data. Unlike people, subatomic particles don’t lie on opinion surveys or change their minds about things. Mindful of that difference, at his own presidential address to the American Economic Association nearly a half-century ago, another Nobel laureate, Wassily Leontief, struck a modest tone. He reminded his audience that the data used by economists differed greatly from that used by physicists or biologists. For the latter, he cautioned, “the magnitude of most parameters is practically constant”, whereas the observations in economics were constantly changing.Trechos retirados de "How economics became a religion"
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Leontief wanted economists to spend more time getting to know their data, and less time in mathematical modelling. However, as he ruefully admitted, the trend was already going in the opposite direction. Today, the economist who wanders into a village to get a deeper sense of what the data reveals is a rare creature.[Moi ici: Por isso é que este anónimo da província bate nas suas previsões os Sarumans mediáticos fechados nas suas torres de marfim com os seus modelos matemáticos desenvolvidos para a realidade de há 15/20 anos]
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ideas in economics can go in and out of fashion. The progress of science is generally linear. As new research confirms or replaces existing theories, one generation builds upon the next. Economics, however, moves in cycles. A given doctrine can rise, fall and then later rise again.[Moi ici: Estratégias que resultam num dado período tornam-se tóxicas num período seguinte para renascerem mais tarde. Um dos meus receios actuais, que muitas PME optem por voltar ao preço como o principal factor competitivo, por causa do reshoring massivo.]
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Noting that pure theory was making economics more remote from day-to-day reality, he said the problem lay in “the palpable inadequacy of the scientific means” of using mathematical approaches to address mundane concerns. So much time went into model-construction that the assumptions on which the models were based became an afterthought.
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Leontief thought that economics departments were increasingly hiring and promoting young economists who wanted to build pure models with little empirical relevance. Even when they did empirical analysis, Leontief said economists seldom took any interest in the meaning or value of their data."
"We designed it as a tool. So the fit and finish does not need to be as good as in a passenger car,"Se calhar a indústria precisa de algo mais específico e focado e menos "kitado".
"Ask most sales reps the reason they lost their last sale and they will most likely say; “price, the competition undercut me to win the business”. Price is easy to blame and sometimes it really is the culprit, but, more often than not, it is not the problem. In fact, our research has shown that salespeople blame price far more frequently for a buying decision than buyers do. So, if price isn’t the problem, what is?"
"Your customers care a whole lot more about themselves than they care about your products or your messages. That’s why your marketing and sales communications shouldn’t focus on your products. They should focus on your customers.Como não recordar:
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Every person you come in contact with greets you with a rich personal narrative going on in their mind, not a blank slate. If you want to get their attention and have them value the encounter, you need to enter their personal story, not force them into your story."
"Come and win with us" vs "Let us win with you"Trechos retirados de "It’s not about Michael Jordan. It’s about you."
"Internal Factors• Results of internal audits and self-assessments.Trechos retirados de "How Organizational Context and Risk-Based Thinking Influence a Quality Management System", publicado por The Journal for Quality & Participation em Abril de 2017.
• Analysis of quality cost data.
• Analysis of technology trend information.
• Competitive analysis.
• Results of customer reviews, audits,
complaints and feedback.
• Actual versus intended internal values
and culture.
• Organizational performance.
• Best practices of the organization and
comparisons with industry benchmarks.
• Employee satisfaction data analysis.
External Issues• Economic environment and trends.
• International trade conditions.
• Competitive products and services.
• Opportunities and conditions related
to outsourcing.
• Technology trends.
• Raw material availability and prices.
• Potential changes in statutes
and regulations.
• Benchmarks of best-in-class performers in and outside of the current marketplace."
"As Steve Jobs said: you have to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. Jobs understood that when you try to reverse-engineer the need statement from the product, it's too easy to lose touch with reality.Trechos retirados de "Why You Need to Follow the Steve Jobs Method and 'Work Backwards'"
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Dedicating one or two sentences to the problem statement is often a false economy. For startups, the need is all that really matters. It's the foundation of your entire business. It's how you position your product. It's the 'why'. And it can trigger powerful human emotions like empathy and disgust on command.
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Every need is contextual. It's felt by a particular person at a particular time in pursuit of a particular end-goal. It has a functional side e.g. 'I need to make this picture looks beautiful' and an emotional side e.g. 'I need attention from my friend'. And needs find a way of getting themselves met... with your product or without it.
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Target audience: Who are your target customers? For B2B startups, who actually uses your product?
General problem: What's a problem that every target customer can agree with? e.g. not enough time or money
Key activity: What are customers doing while they use your product? e.g. booking flights or collecting receipts.
Primary goal: What's the end-goal of performing this activity? e.g. travel abroad or prepare a VAT return.
Niche: Which sub-group of potential customers is most like to be an early-adopter?
Primary functional problem: What's the hardest part about doing the activity today?
Negative outcomes and emotions: What happens if the activity goes wrong? For B2B startups, what is the negative business impact?
Substitutes: What's the next-best-option or workaround?
Most common complaints: Why do customers hate these substitutes?
Key trend: What will make this problem worse in the future?
Quantifiable impact: How can you measure the impact of solving the problem?
Positive outcomes and emotions: What good things happen as a result? For B2B startups, what is the positive business impact?
Number of potential customers: How many people can you target?"
"It is still surprising how many people, from engineers to managers to quality professionals to technicians, possess limited understanding of product and process (manufacturing) limits.Claro que isto também dá para alguma batota.
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These limits, applied to numerical measurements of key product quality characteristics, often drive behavior and actions as well as frustration for users and decision-makers. Operations can become dysfunctional when this lack of understanding produces further tightening of limits.
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The differences between specification limits and control limits have been widely discussed since Walter Shewhart of Western Electric invented the process control chart in the mid-1920s. However, these differences seem to be poorly understood at all levels at many organizations and even among some quality professionals.
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Let’s define specification limits. The general definition is limits within which a product would be expected to perform its stated and intended function for customer use. Specification limits, therefore, are related to product design. They should be set in the product design phase and effectively fixed for manufacture.
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It might be surprising that some but not all organizations recognize this definition of specification limits. In one such organization the practice was to apply specification limits to averages of process results, thereby failing to acknowledge the application of specification limits to individual product units. Imagine the surprise when the new quality manager asked for the latest Cpk results and noticed Cpk values less than one!"
"A diversified company has two levels of strategy: business unit (or competitive) strategy and corporate (or companywide) strategy. Competitive strategy concerns how to create competitive advantage in each of the businesses in which a company competes. Corporate strategy concerns two different questions: what businesses the corporation should be in and how the corporate office should manage the array of business units."
"Imagine que alguém lhe dizia ter deixado de pagar uma factura só porque a escondeu na gaveta. É isto que os vários governos fazem quando se esforçam para convencer Bruxelas a omitir certas despesas no limite máximo do déficeTrechos retirados "O fim do fantasma fiscal"
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Todo o dinheiro que o Estado gasta é nosso, e vem cá buscá-lo, de uma maneira ou de outra. Compromissos internacionais, classificações administrativas e artifícios contabilísticos pouco ou nada alteram a real situação financeira. Aí funciona a velha e impiedosa lógica do merceeiro. Qualquer despesa, com qualquer estatuto, vai acabar por sair do bolso dos contribuintes, de uma das miríades de formas que as Finanças inventam para os espremer. Quando não pagam, a consequente dívida significa apenas adiamento para altura mais inconveniente.
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Na verdade, o Pacto Orçamental é o grande aliado dos sacrificados contribuintes portugueses. Apesar de sempre violado e esquecido, constitui o único travão efectivo para uma classe política viciada em despesa pública. Ultimamente, dois outros aliados têm sido preciosos: a Unidade Técnica de Apoio Orçamental do Parlamento e o Conselho das Finanças Públicas, que reduziram muito as habituais aldrabices fiscais.
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Cada vez que ouvir um político a bramar contra Bruxelas ou a criticar as entidades reguladoras, tem de compreender que é ao seu bolso que ele se dirige. Nós, contribuintes, deveríamos estar muito agradecidos pelas imposições de Bruxelas. Sem elas a nossa situação ainda seria muito pior, como vemos na história do triste século XIX."
"Les semences de blés modernes ont été conçues pour répondre aux exigences nouvelles des boulangers qui souhaitent, aujourd’hui, travailler une pâte dont la levée est plus rapide. « Ils offrent ainsi à leurs clientèles des pains aux apparences trompeuses, car excessivement gonflés et dont la mie blanche et souple n’apporte plus les éléments nutritifs souhaités, analyse Didier Findinier."Como encontro aqui "Les paysans-boulangers cultivent les graines de résistance" uma espécie de Mongo e das suas tribos:
"Les pieds dans la terre et les mains dans le pétrin, ils vont à contre-courant de l’industrialisation de la boulangerie et de la culture du blé. Paysans boulangers, ce sont des passionnés qui courent du four au moulin et sillonnent champs et marchés. "Le métier de paysan boulanger, c’est aller du grain au pain", explique Charles Poilly, installé dans le Lot-et-Garonne. "C’est élaborer le goût de ton pain dès le semis, comme les vignerons qui façonnent leur vin par le travail de la vigne."...
"Avec 40 hectares cultivés en bio, impossible de me contenter de produire du blé, je ne pourrais pas en vivre. Par contre, en étant paysan et boulanger, je sors un salaire confortable tous les mois." Et à l’autre bout de la chaîne, les consommateurs plébiscitent. "Les gens aiment savoir que le blé produit à côté de chez eux est celui qui les nourrit", note Charles Poilly.
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Signe de cet engouement, une nouvelle formation, intitulée "Paysans du grain au pain", vient d’ouvrir dans le Tarn. Un cursus qui met notamment l’accent sur la culture d’anciennes variétés de blé. Variétés de populations, de pays ou semences paysannes… autant de termes pour désigner des plantes délaissées depuis près de cinquante ans par l’agriculture conventionnelle, car pas adaptées au système agricole intensif. Des semences remises au goût du jour par une poignée d’irréductibles rêveurs, paysans et chercheurs.
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Rue Saint-Front, à Périgueux, une vitrine attire les regards gourmands. Petites miches dorées, gros campagnards ou ficelles parsemées de lin et de sésame. Derrière son comptoir, Laurent Cattoire fabrique tous ses pains à la main, à partir de farines de blés paysans. Une évidence d’après lui. "Avec les variétés commerciales, le pain est standard, sans saveur particulière, on ne peut pas mettre toute notre personnalité", explique-t-il. "Par contre, une farine de blés anciens, ça sent les champs, et ça a du goût."[Moi ici: Como isto me faz lembrar uma formação numa empresa de vinhos esta semana em que o tema Mateus Rosé veio à baila]
Petit rouge du Morvan, touselle, pétanielle noire. Ces blés aux noms, aux formes et aux couleurs variés confèrent au pain des saveurs complexes et subtiles. Autre intérêt, le gluten qu’ils comportent est moins modifié et plus digeste que celui des variétés commerciales. "Beaucoup de personnes intolérantes au gluten peuvent manger des céréales anciennes", constate Laurent Cattoire."
mesmo sendo escasso o dinheiro, a política é fazer escolhas, usar numas coisas ou em outras. Se as prioridades são os eleitores da FP ...— Carlos P da Cruz (@ccz1) June 18, 2017
"Companies often maintain a list of the main risks that managers believe they face, which they report as their “risk register” in annual reports. These include discrete operational events, such as major industrial accidents, cyberattacks, or employee malfeasance. If they take the next step to quantify those risks, many simply turn to that list and model them, often for the first time, onto their financial outlook. That’s a good start, as it gives managers some insight into how sensitive the company’s financial health is to changes around individual risks, which many companies don’t do. But measuring individual risks discretely does little to illuminate a more complex landscape of interrelated risks that often move together in the real world. That requires the further step of coherently clustering risks together into scenarios.Trechos retirados de "Stress testing for nonfinancial companies"
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Scenarios are more appropriate because they help managers consider the effects of a variety of severe but plausible scenarios without being farfetched. They can also accommodate interaction effects among sensitivities.
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We frequently encounter companies willing to model broader, everyday market variables, such as GDP or inflation, or more specific variables, such as the rate of formation of new companies. But we seldom find companies willing to model more extreme variables (see sidebar, “Stress testing for an energy utility company”) or one-off events, such as a cyberattack or a natural disaster. The data to measure the effects of the former are fairly easy to come by, some argue, while reliable data on the latter are not. Others believe that their employees would sufficiently rally together to counter such events."
"Look at the primary economic distinctions between services and experiences. First, services are intangible—having little or no materiality (as tangible goods do)—while experiences are memorable. If you do not create a memory, then you have not offered a distinctive experience. And while being “nice” is, well, nice, it’s rarely memorable. Instead of just being nice, design your interactions to be so engaging that customers cannot help but remember them—and tell others about them.Trechos retirados daqui.
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Second, services are outwardly customized—done for an individual person (or company)—while experiences are inherently personal. If you do not reach inside of people and engage their hearts and/or minds, then you have not offered a distinctive experience. Engineering your processes to be “easy” actually tends to get in the way of making them personal, so instead always take into account the actual, living, breathing person in front of you, even if treating him or her individually gets in the way of greater efficiency.
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Third, services are delivered on demand—when the customer says this is what he wants—while experiences are revealed over a duration. If you do not let your experience unfold dramatically over the course of your interactions in a way that goes beyond the routine, then you have not offered a distinctive experience. Striving to be “convenient” drains the interaction of all drama, so instead stage the sequence of your interactions in a way that embraces dramatic structure, rising to a climax and then bringing your customers back down again in a personal and memorable way. That’s why services are delivered while experiences are staged."
"the easier it gets for your company to acquire customers, the harder it gets to retain them.
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you have to provide more than “just” a product to stand out to your target market.
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the easier it is for potential customers to switch to you from another product, the easier it is for your customers to leave your product for competitors’ products.
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Even though it’s easier for you to serve more customers, not all of them are customers that you can build a business around."
"Nos primeiros cinco meses de 2017, as exportações e as importações de bens cresceram, em termos nominais, 13,1% e 16,3%"A primeira reacção, ao olhar para estes números, é de receio de aumento do consumismo que se traduz em importações:
"se a retoma económica continuar em 2018 – e tudo aponta para isso – é provável que o país regresse, nesse ano, aos défices da balança de bens e serviços.Isto era o que eu pensava intuitivamente antes de olhar para os números. E o que é que eu aprendi quando olhei para os números?
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Com efeito, estando ainda muito do rendimento dos portugueses “congelado” ou a aumentar a taxas nominais muito baixas, basta uma pequena aceleração da economia portuguesa para fazer disparar o défice da balança de bens."
"Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of Total SA, says demand will peak at some point in the 2040s, which is why the French energy giant he runs has been investing in solar power. Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, has said the zenith could arrive a lot sooner, in the next 15 years or so, if electric cars became really popular. “The energy transition is unstoppable,” Van Beurden told the St. Petersburg forum in early June. “In the most aggressive scenario, you can see oil already peaking in late 2020s or early 2030s.” In the time scale of the oil industry, where multibillion-dollar projects often take a decade or longer to come to fruition, that’s as close as it gets to saying “the day after tomorrow.”Como é que isto vai influenciar o contexto em que se movimenta a sua empresa?
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If such forecasts prove right, oil prices are likely to remain low for a lot longer."
"To compete and be successful, smaller retailers need to focus on the in-store experience, says Reynolds. That could include anything from personal shopping, to free gift wrap, to classes, demonstrations, or other experiences customers would appreciate.Trecho retirado de "What Small Retailers Can Learn From Amazon Prime Day"
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Since Amazon competes solely on commoditized products, another potential differentiator smaller retailers can mine is stocking more unusual or hard-to-find products, says Reynolds, such as handmade or one-of-a-kind goods."
"According to Moser, a strong U.S. dollar, beyond slowing down reshoring, has become a “major problem” for the national economy."
"Why Reshoring Makes Sense for America:O reshoring não cresce ou diminui por causa dos interesses de um país. O reshoring cresce ou diminui porque é bom para os intervenientes numa interacção económica.
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Reshoring is the fastest and most efficient way to strengthen
the U.S. economy because it:
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Helps balance the trade and budget deficits
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Reduces unemployment by creating productive jobs
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Reduces income inequality
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Motivates skilled workforce recruitment by demonstrating that
manufacturing is a growth career
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Helps maintain the broad industrial capability required
for national defense"
"Why Reshore?.Trecho retirado de "The Case for Reshoring"
The top reasons that companies reshore include:
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Lead time
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Higher product quality and consistency
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Rising offshore wages
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Skilled workforce
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Freight costs
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Image of being Made in the USA
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Lower inventory levels, better turns
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Better responsiveness to changing customer demands
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Minimal intellectual property and regulatory compliance risks
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Improved innovation and product differentiation
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Local tax incentives"
"El ecommerce gana importancia en el sector textil. En 2016, las ventas de moda en el canal online representaron un 4% de la facturación del sector en España, es decir, cuatro de cada cien euros gastados en moda durante ese año correspondieron a Internet.Trechos retirados de "Informe de la moda online en España"
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El peso de este canal prácticamente se ha triplicado en los últimos cuatro años, desde el 1,4% que representaba en 2012.
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Así, un 18,8% de la población española compró alguna prenda (de vestir, calzado, accesorios u hogar) por comercio electrónico en 2016, frente al 7% en 2012. En promedio realizaron 2,8 compras online, adquiriendo 5,3 artículos y desembolsando 107,4 euros anuales por individuo."
"Tras adaptarse a la deslocalización industrial y sobrevivir a la última crisis financiera y de consumo, el textil encara ahora un cambio de paradigma productivo, que vuelve a poner en jaque su continuidad. Si la tercera revolución consistió en la automatización de los procesos para la producción en masa y en serie, la cuarta consiste en digitalizarlos y gestionar los datos para ganar eficiencia y rapidez, y mejorar la rentabilidad, con series cortas y personalizadas.
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Esta transformación implica replantear de nuevo el modelo productivo de la industria textil y vuelve a redefinir las redes de aprovisionamiento, acercándolas de nuevo. [Moi ici: Outra vez o ranger das placas tectónicas e as oportunidades e ameaças] Esta nueva industria pone en riesgo modelos productivos tradicionales así como los cientos de miles de puestos de trabajo no cualificado, aunque abre el abanico a nuevos perfiles profesionales más técnicos y más creativos. El cambio ha empezado y no hay marcha atrás. Los expertos coinciden: no se puede dar la espalda a la tecnología.
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El futuro
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Ahora, la industria de la moda es capaz de colocar en el mercado un diseño en veinte días con normalidad; con proveedores en proximidad, puede forzar las entregas a diez días. Con la digitalización, ¿por qué no en 24 horas? Y con impresoras 3D, desde la misma tienda, ¿por qué no en quince minutos? Los expertos consultados coinciden en que llegará, sólo falta ver cuándo."[Moi ici: Esta aceleração não se compadece com distância nem com complexidade... aquele "poner en jaque al textil" faz pensar em: será que os gigantes vão sobreviver?]
Many startups are by fake entrepreneurs... pic.twitter.com/NXIvBldVhM— NassimNicholasTaleb (@nntaleb) July 9, 2017
"Só posso dizer uma coisa: no mundo de startups, falhanço é uma norma e não uma excecão.Precisamente por isto é que me faz espécie que o Estado ande a fazer de VC e a apostar dinheiro público nesta roleta.
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Empreendedores, e as empresas empreendedoras, especialmente as mais inovadoras, não têm medo do risco. Isto também quer dizer que elas têm uma grande possibilidade de falhar."
"‘The conventional utility model is dying,’ Innogy chief says
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More than half of industry executives fear a ‘death spiral’"
"Os tempos actuais são de interrogação sobre o que veio pôr em causa a ordem do mundo que conhecíamos desde meados do século XX, mas também são de interrogação sobre o que somos, porque tudo o que está a acontecer resulta de decisões livres tomadas nas sociedades modernas desenvolvidas e enquadradas em sistemas políticos que, com maior ou menor rigor, respeitam os procedimentos democráticos. E, em última análise, são os mesmos que produzem a crise que terão de ter a arte para resolverem a crise que produziram. Antes de se poder praticar a arte de resolver a crise é preciso ensaiar a arte de interpretar o que está a produzir a crise."Trecho retirado de "A crise como arte"
"But a community, no matter how purpose built, is not enough to create change. To create a community of action, you need urgency, purpose and the belief in what’s possible. Without those ingredients, it’s just a community of interest. To get people to act is a whole different story. This is where narratives come in."
"The organization shall monitor customers’ perceptions of the degree to which their needs and expectations have been fulfilled. ..."Este texto de Seth Godin "Does it help?":
"Does it help?.Na sexta-feira passada tive dificuldade em vender esta abordagem durante uma acção de formação. Só depois encontrei uma razão aparente, para além da minha incompetência: os formandos trabalham numa empresa que tem um daqueles produtos que, por causa da regulamentação, da autenticidade e da tradição não pode ser modificado, como as colchas de linho da artesã de Bragança.
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Isn't this the essence of design thinking?
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How about that meeting you're going to, that website you're updating, that question you're about to ask?
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What's it for?
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Does it help?
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If it doesn't help, or you don't know what it's for, perhaps it's time to revisit your choice."
"If you follow the state of retail at all, you know things aren't looking good for brick and mortar. At a glance, all signs point to an ongoing retailpocalypse..
Estimates suggest that 15-30 percent of shopping malls will close in the coming years. This isn't a surprise, since foot traffic dropped 50 percent from 2010 to 2013. CNN Money reports that a record 8,600-plus stores are estimated to close in the U.S. this year.
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The retailpocalypse isn't necessarily a clear indicator of the state of retail at-large. What's happening isn't gloom and doom, but rather, a powerful change in this space. It's a real opportunity for smart retail leaders who can recognize and capitalize on one of the single most important shifts in the market in years."
"Sears Holdings continued its steady drip of store closures Friday with the announcement that it would close 35 more Kmart locations and eight Sears stores.
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J.C. Penney has said it will shutter 138 locations, roughly 14% of its stores, and give buyouts to 6,000 employees. Macy’s plans to shut 68 stores. Radio Shack, which has sought bankruptcy protection twice in two years, has closed more than 1,000 locations since Memorial Day weekend. And one-time mall favorites Bebe, The Limited, and Wet Seal have closed or are in the process of shuttering all of their storefronts."
"So the key to survival has less to do with mindless debates about “digital vs. brick and mortar” than it does about putting customers at the center and building out operations that can service them effectively.
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That’s how you get disrupted. You become a square-peg business in a round-hole world. Clearly, this is what most retailers are facing today. They act as if they are still operating in an environment where the function of a physical store is to drive transactions, rather than to provide an immersive physical experience, build personal relationships and upsell.
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The good news is that the opportunities are endless. Apparel retailers can become style guides. Toy stores can become playrooms. Electronic retailers can demo the newest gadgets and help even the most tech averse customers adopt technology that will enrich their lives. The best part is that these strategies can also reduce inventory and rental costs while at the same time expand reach to smaller urban locations and pop up shops."
"They are sharp retailers operating in a tough, competitive environment. They have used customer service as a strategy to build customer loyalty, as their competitors have. But in addition, they have gracefully moved into the digital age, exploiting data and technology to create a better customer experience.
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Create killer experiences that resonate with customers, especially customers who like to take advantage of technology"
"Currently produced in Hong Kong, the aluminium flight boxes are soon to be produced in a new unit on Okehampton’s Exeter Road industrial estate. Initially the facility will house the firm’s European distribution, but will grow to house assembly operations.E mais outro sintoma em "Aprire begins reshoring process with new bespoke carbon manufacturing facility":
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A final driver in Buxum’s move is the macro-economic environment which has seen the cost of Asian manufacturing steadily increasing, to the point where assembly and a proportion of component-sourcing is increasingly viable in the UK and Europe.
China, where most of the Buxum components are currently sourced from, is no longer considered a low cost destination, says Morris, nor does it want to be as China’s government transitions the economy from one of export-driven manufacturing to one of domestic service and consumption."
"Aprire Bicycles is in the process of kitting out a new manufacturing facility in Cheam, Surrey, where it will offer bespoke carbon manufacturing."Já pensaram a sério no impacte que este regresso pode ter na paisagem económica a que nos habituámos nos últimos 15 anos?
"How can Trump’s supporters stick with him when his proposals hurt them the most?Trecho retirado de "The media fundamentally misunderstands conservatives on health care"
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What they fail to grasp is that Trump’s supporters, by and large, are more dedicated to the principle of freedom from government mandates than they are worried about the loss of government subsidies or programs that social activists in Washington think they need.
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Until Democrats can figure that out, their efforts to pry Trump’s supporters away from him — on health care or any other subject — will continue to be an endless source of frustration."
"China is the number one textile and clothing exporter to the world, producing more than 43.1per cent of global demand. As per the 13th five-year plan of Chinese Government for the year 2016 to 2020 period, China strategically is moving towards more value adding tech intensive products. The plan is to maintain traditional market share and to grow more on the high value adding product range. But real market data shows that the country is losing its export market drastically from 2015 in almost all product sectors in the textiles and clothing arena.Trecho retirado de "IS CHINA LOSING ITS TEXTILE TOUCH?"
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In 2014, Chinese global apparel export was the highest ever and afterwards in two years, it has lost 14.79 per cent of its exports."
"Emi-G made sports socks. Color: white. Styles: crew and athletic. "Knit them, put a toe in them, and out the door in 300-pound cases," [Moi ici: Quantidade, eficiência, margens apertadas] says Terry. For 12 years, Russell Athletic was the company's only customer.Um dos meus relatos preferidos no mundo do calçado é o da empresa portuguesa que deixou de ser competitiva a produzir sapatos que se vendem a 20€ e agora tem sucesso a produzir sapatos que se vendem a 230€.
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But by the mid-2000s, Fort Payne's hosiery industry--once booming, according to Gina, with more than 120 mills employing roughly half the area's population--had been decimated by a mass exodus to Central America. [Moi ici: Por cá foi por causa da China. No entanto, se falássemos com um Ferreira do Amaral, ou um Vítor Bento, ou um Paes Mamede diriam que foi por causa da adesão ao euro] More than 100 mills had closed, and in 2007, Russell decided to terminate its business with Emi-G. Over the next seven months, the Locklears let go of their entire staff,"
"In 2008, Gina, then 28, was living in Birmingham, working as a real estate agent. Years before, when she was employed at a ski shop, she had observed that specialty ski socks sold for $20 a pair. She'd also recently begun to buy organic--food, cleaning products, personal care--but had trouble finding apparel made from organic cotton.Quando não se pode ser competitivo pelo custo, as empresas têm de fugir desse terreno e procurar fazer como David face a Golias e optar pela concorrência imperfeita.
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Gina pitched her parents what to them seemed like a radical idea: an organic cotton sock brand for the eco-chic set.
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"I didn't understand about organic anything, let alone socks," says Terry. "And I knew it would be very expensive to start a brand." Terry's main sticking point was that organic cotton costs several times as much as standard cotton. Gina spent a year making the business case, pointing to the higher price tag and margin on a premium fashion product. She finally persuaded her parents--who were also out of options--to fund the venture with $100,000 from Emi-G's coffers.
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worked with her parents' plant manager to reconfigure Emi-G's machines to produce small batches of patterned, multicolored socks.
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In 2010, Whole Foods picked up Zkano; then, five years later, Martha Stewart selected Little River Sock Mill--Gina's second line, specifically for specialty boutiques--for an American Made award. Today, Zkano sells primarily online, while Little River has accounts with some 200 retailers.
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With new revenue coming in, Gina's parents were able to slowly rebuild Emi-G by doing smaller, limited runs for clients such as a medical company that sells socks to hospitals. Zkano and Little River now account for roughly half of Emi-G's revenue, which is approaching $3 million."
"For over a century, brands such as Kellogg’s cereal, Campbell’s soup and Aunt Jemima pancake mix filled pantries of American households that wanted safe, affordable and convenient food. They provided companies with reliable revenue growth from grocery shelves, and there was little reason to mess with that formula.
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Today, these giants are struggling with competition that is corroding business from both ends. High-end consumers are shifting toward fresher items with fewer processed ingredients while cost-conscious shoppers are buying inexpensive store brands. [Moi ici: Polarização dos mercados] The makers of staples including Chef Boyardee canned pasta and Hamburger Helper meal kits failed to spot the threat and didn’t innovate in time.
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Anyone searching for macaroni and cheese, a childhood staple, can opt for fancy pasta with organic ingredients or inexpensive store brands such as Kroger Co.’s. Squeezed in the middle are Kraft Heinz Co.’s venerable blue-and-yellow boxes.
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“A lot of what’s crept into big companies is internal focus, bureaucracy, PowerPoint presentations—the antithesis of agility,”
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Many big brands didn’t move fast enough to remove artificial ingredients and haven’t been able to shed the negative perception of processed food, said several food executives and others close to the industry.
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At the same time, they faced low-cost store brands—or “private label” products—from retailers such as Costco Wholesale Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and regional grocers that sell copycat products. National brands, which have huge marketing costs, generally can’t afford to compete on price with the in-house brands of stores, which need little marketing beyond displaying products prominently on their own shelves.
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Big food sellers still dominate in America. The 25 largest food and beverage companies commanded a 63% share of $495 billion in U.S. food and beverage sales in 2016, according to consultancy A.T. Kearney.
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That is down from 66% in 2012, and even seemingly small market-share losses hurt sales and profits. The top 25 companies averaged 2% annual sales growth from 2012 through 2016, compared with 6% for their smaller rivals, according to A.T. Kearney."
"A propósito de Espanha, é revelador que, apesar dos divertidos esforços dos “jornalistas” de cá para os calar, sejam sobretudo os jornais de lá a contar-nos o que o “estrangeiro” vê quando olha para aqui. Vê uma anedota perigosa, um manicómio em auto-gestão, uma experiência do Terceiro Mundo às portas da Europa. E, naturalmente, assusta-se."Trecho retirado de "Uma experiência do Terceiro Mundo"
