Archive for 2008
Learning from Berkshire Hathaway Part 1
Acquiring with a marketer’s eye Another in a series of white papers for M&A Professionals Summary: If you have been following along with this white paper series, you know our admiration for Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. The success of Berkshire Hathaway is unquestionable. So you can understand why we chuckled at the flurry of…
Read MoreGrey Markets Get a Shot of Clean Air
Grey markets caused by parallel importing create challenges for companies. For some, parallel importing improves revenues. For many, it is a challenge that can be ignored. Yet for others, parallel importing presents a real pricing challenge. On 16 September 2008, the European Court added a new arrow in the quiver for managing these types of…
Read MoreTop 6 – October 2008
Fall Showers to Financial Storms. Wear boots to traverse the muck! Referrals are low hanging fruit. Harvest well. Price discrimination is good for profits, but exercise with care or either big brother will visit or backwards flows will be created. Parallel importing is an incentive problem. Manage the incentives with both carrots and sticks. Don’t…
Read MoreThe Role of the Customer in Turnarounds: 3 Paths Out of Distress
The world of turnarounds is one of extremes. At one end of the spectrum are the salvage operations where wrecked businesses are beyond saving and have their few remaining assets sold off in hopes of getting creditors a few pennies on the dollar. At the other, less populated end reside true resurrections where businesses are…
Read MoreWhat’s a Brand Worth Anyhow?
NOTE: How do you determine the power and value of a brand? In the following article, I and my associate, Diana Tadzijeva, research a variety of techniques and methods to determine brand values. A two-part article with far more detailed information started in the August issue of “Intellectual Property Today” and is available on-line at…
Read MorePrices in Flux
These are exciting times. Prices are in flux. Many companies are raising prices, some easily, others not so much, and still others find price increases unattainable. How to make sense of all this? Or, more precisely, what should a pricer do? As with every pricing decision, it is a strategic issue as much, if not…
Read MoreTop 6 – September 2008
Summer is over. Step up the pace. Economic situations are changing. Use your strategy to guide your prices. Want pricing power, differentiate yourself and create brand power. In the intellectual property area, damages in trademark infringement litigation have to be tied to some marketing value – and NOT an accounting value. Find More Customers. Sell…
Read MoreMaking a Price Increase Stick
Despite Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s desire to quiet discussions of expected inflation, most executives working within industries dependent on agricultural and energy inputs are facing a dire need to raise prices. Best practices in pricing indicate that the firms that raise prices first and the industries which follow those firms are likely to reap…
Read MoreA New Business Development Primer for Growing Organizations
Obtaining new business is perhaps the most critical concern for growing organizations – especially smaller entrepreneurial firms. Realizing that both time and financial resources are at a premium, the Wiglaf Journal has developed the following 7-step primer to provide a new business development model and implementation plan. Step 1 – Determine the goals and objectives…
Read MoreTop 6 – June 2008
In the Heat of the Night … Plan and Frolic Set your goals, pursue them, measure attainment, imagine new horizons. Some risks are too big and should be avoided, others manageable with expected results, and then there are those you have no choice but to take. There is only so far that productivity improvements can…
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