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Naming conventions
On 16, Jul 2004 | In Uncategorized | By Marcia K
The way that we are externalizing login requires that you follow certain naming conventions. If you’ll recall in our example, there was a public site that was not password protected and a set of private sites that require that an end user login to get access. Upon logging in, the end user is not sent into the Control Panel. Instead, each end user is redirected to the right page for them based on their membership in a particular group. Suppose you have clients each with their own secured area. Your clients are called “Aclient”, “Bclient, and “Cclient.” Here are the naming conventions you must follow in order to get our hacks to work correctly: The …
Outsourcing and Innovation
On 09, Jul 2004 | In Uncategorized | By Marcia K
Can companies outsource the innovation needed to launch, say, a new product? The first step in innovation, idea generation, is clearly ripe for outsourcing, say consultants Alexander Kandybin and Martin Kihn. A company should cast as wide a net as possible for good ideas. But the second step, project selection, cannot be outsourced, they insist. It’s critical to a firm’s strategy and vision, its corporate soul. Step three, development, can certainly be outsourced. Taking an idea from concept to market requires a multifunctional set of technical and managerial skills. Some companies, like Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals division, excel at this; others don’t. If you can find an outside product developer that …
The price advantage isn’t a number, it’s an attitude
On 09, Jul 2004 | In Uncategorized | By Marcia K
In a new book called “The Price Advantage,” three McKinsey & Company consultants say that many companies have no understanding of what it means to establish a “price advantage.” Whereas those companies frequently boast of having a purchasing advantage, or cost advantage, or innovation advantage, or distribution advantage, or service advantage, “they never boast of having a price advantage—which simply means that they know how to price better than their competitors do.” Co-author Michael V. Marn asks: “Why bother to work as hard to innovate if you’re just going to charge the same price for the old product that you’re replacing? Why bother working so hard to be a high-service provider if you’re going to …
