Expanding Markets: Mathew Miller of OSIsoft

There are four basic growth strategies for firms to increase their revenues. These are penetration, geographic, horizontal, and vertical. Each growth strategy has its own internal characteristic growth rate, beyond which growth is achieved in non-economically efficient manners. Selecting the appropriate growth strategy and growth pressure for a firm requires determining competitive strengths and managing…

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Getting Funded – Synopsis of CSA Explains Funding Sources

A necessary process for every new business is attaining sufficient capitalization for developing their product/service, operations, and market. That need for the oxygen which drives business compelled a bevy of Chicago’s tech community to the sixth in the CSA Explain series, Funding Sources, on Friday, July 19, 2002. Moderated by Dave Dailey, a panel of…

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Sales Management by RJ Calvin Book Synopsis

What questions should a business manager ask in the interview process in selecting a sales person? How should she create the sales force organization? What kind of training should the business manager provide for the sales force? What principals should go into constructing the sales force compensation plan? How does the sales manager motivate, manage,…

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Looking Outside

A danger in all firms is myopia. Companies can focus too long on creating excellence using internal data while the competitive landscape changes and the value proposition becomes obsolete. While academics are encouraged to spend multiple years perfecting the understanding of a subject, businesses can’t afford this luxury. Business must always focus on their value…

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Channel Conflict of Interest

Getting new ideas to market proves a challenge for any enterprise. Determining the correct target, value proposition, and story to tell customers are fundamental issues that must be addressed by all businesses. But channel design represents a particularly daunting task for entrepreneurial firms offering “new to the world” technological products. Rarely can the value offering…

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e-Business Roundtable: Wireless Panel Overview

At the Realities of Wireless in Customer Relationship Management event, hosted by the e-Business Roundtable of the University of Chicago GSB, experts expressed their viewpoints and experiences concerning the application of wireless computing business problems. Representing a broad array of experiences in the field of mobile computing and Customer Relationship Management, Benjamin Hill of Sapient…

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Repositioning Technology: Scott Davis of SmartSynch

A difficulty of fundamental research is that scientists rarely know exactly how a discovery will be manifested in the marketplace, that is, if it ever reaches the market. In business, we make technological advances to fulfill latent market demands. Sometimes however, even business finds technology has to be repositioned. In March of 2002, the 2-way…

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Revenue Generators: Putting it on the Line

It is true that salespeople have a lot of self confidence. As a group, they are willing to place a significant portion of their salary at risk and tie their compensation directly to their performance. Also, many high-tech companies have had a bad year and place the blame on sales. I have heard reports of…

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