As you can see, we've undergone some big changes here at the SBA Network, and have updated our websites (as you can probably tell). Our Executive Director, Mark Deo, also has some exciting news. His book The Rules of Attraction is being published by Morgan James Publishing. That's the company behind the Guerrilla Marketing series of books by Jay Conrad Levinson.  To read more about this book and find out about how you can get a pre-release copy, head on over to: http://www.markdeo.com/2008/12/rules-of-attraction.asp

Labels: attraction marketing, book, mark deo, marketing, rules of attraction

With all the problems facing the transportation industry, most airlines are struggling to get passengers in seats. Some reasons are out of their control, but two airlines continually show that passengers will fly, and will choose a brand they like when given the choice. Jet Blue and Southwest have consistently attracted a loyal following of passengers, not just because they tend to be less expensive than major airlines (look at the struggles of Ted and ATA to see that price isn't everything when it comes to air travel.) Southwest and Jet Blue have service that is considered head and shoulders above the competition, and that makes the difference. They both have had major PR problems in the past year, yet they have engendered such good will with passengers that they have flown through these rocky times with little turbulence. To see a detailed discussion on why Jet Blue and Southwest are doing so well, see this article.

Labels: airlines, customer service, jet blue, price, southwest

As the media touts the failing economy more and more vociferously, business owners seem to be pulling in their horns more and more. This means lay-offs, staff cuts and belt-tightening. That translates into owners and managers getting more involved in the day-to-day operations. Often times the result of this is that leaders take their eye off the big picture in favor of micro-managing the details. My conclusion is that the results of this action can be much more devastating than any so-called economic slow-down. We spend end up spending so much time working IN our business that we fail to work ON the business and cause our own personal economic crisis. Peter Drucker said that on the average one hour spent planning is worth 5 hours of execution. Are you spending enough time planning? Do you need to take a step back and look at the big picture and identify some contingencies? Read my recent article on No Time to Plan.

Labels: economy, planning

I want to make everyone aware of an upcoming radio show with one of the most interesting business authors I have spoken with in a while. His name is James Hemerling and his book is called GLOBALITY: Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything. Hemerling states that the old global business model (centralized, top-down, process-driven, with influence running from West to East) will recede, perhaps vanish. It is inadequate for a world in which every global company will be forced to compete: in every market, with everyone, from everywhere, all the time, for resources and market share. Unlike developed-market leaders, emerging-market challengers have evolved new management and governance structures that are ideally suited to this new competitive landscape. And it has enabled them to undercut, outthink, outwork, out-innovate, and generally outfox some of the biggest, most powerful names in global industry. What are these upstart challengers doing? And how are they winning?

Imagine companies that:
-Innovate at the rate of one new product development every 12 hours.
-Give up the notion of "headquarters" in a drive toward global expansion.
-Do away with titles and committees in an effort to improve staff development.
-Expand into 50 countries by satisfying global demand that no one else could see - at the lowest, cheapest end of the market.
-Hire thousands of people to staff assembly lines, instead of automating, to be more efficient, flexible, and profitable.
-Achieve such high efficiency that they can give away 60% of their services and still make a profit.
-Retrain workers by the tens of thousands to build a world-class capability, in less than a decade.

Listen to my interview with Hemerling at 4pm Pacific on July 11, 2008.

Labels: global business, innovation

Have you seen the news? It must be KILLING the media-moguls to be reporting something positive. I'll bet they're getting physically ill just hearing about it themselves. Instead of seeing our first quarter of negative growth which would be sign of an impending recession, what do we see? POSITIVE GROWTH!! That's right, the Commerce Department today (Wednesday April 30, 2008) reported that gross domestic product or GDP expanded at a 0.6 percent annual rate in the first quarter, matching the fourth quarter's advance and handily topping a forecast for 0.2 percent growth in an advance poll of economists by Reuters. Not only that but personal consumption expenditures rose at a 2.2 percent rate after increasing 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter. This indicates that people are still buying stuff and are confident about the economy. Awe too bad predictors of doom, the economy isn't collapsing. My plea to entrepreneurs, who literally DRIVE this economy - STOP watching the news, STOP reading the paper, STOP exposing yourself to all the negative propaganda. START educating yourself, START believing in a promising outcome, and CONTINUE taking constructive action. This will have a positive impact on your personal economy and the entire economic structure.

Labels: economic growth, economy, optimistic outcome, recession