For the record

November  2, 2007.

Dear Readers,

This blog will be resting on its laurels for the forseeable future as I re-enter the corporate world to take up an exciting assignment.

Thank you so much for your comments and advice, good humour and best-practice.  Keep it up!

 

Pete Jeans

Sydney (Australia)

Email Pete Jeans

Security…protecting your customers, staff, cash and assets

Recent media imagery of the APEC Conference in Sydney re-raised the issue of security and stuck it firmly on the agenda  for many leaders.

Never before has Australia seen such security rigor…highlighted by the Chasers’  idiotic antics.

But security for one’s  customers, staff, cash and assets is a  very serious issue…and one that should be regularly reviewed.

Prudent safeguards and planning for security breach scenarios makes sense. Business transformation is a holistic process…and one that should cover off all the risks.

The four issues I  first focus on when helping organisations are cash, creditors, customers and staff.

And the question I apply is…are we secure? It focuses the mind.

Maybe we can help you transform your business to higher profits?

Email me for a quick chat around the issues that are currently generating corporate pain.

Pete

 

Pete Jeans CEO SMO Sydney (Australia)

Email Pete Jeans or click on SMO Sydney to learn more about our experience and advantages in building successful businesses

get your customers to pick you

Here’s a link to an article I’ve written  that appears this month in Business Connect magazine….one of Australia’s top 20 business journals….

“get your customers to pick you”   click on the link below

http://www.nswbusinesschamber.com.au/?content=/channels/Building_and_sustaining_business/Sales_and_marketing/Marketing/getcustomerstopickyou.xml

Would appreciate it also if you could forward or mention our blog address to your  colleagues, media friends,  network contacts and readers.

Maybe we can help you transform your business to higher profits?

Email me for a quick chat around the issues that are currently generating corporate pain.

Pete

 

Pete Jeans CEO SMO Sydney (Australia)

Email Pete Jeans or click on SMO Sydney to learn more about our experience and advantages in building successful businesses

…compared to the impacts of climate change, business transformation seems somewhat less important

Late last week  I attended a public lecture at the UNSW in Sydney (Australia) by Dr. Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change  (IPCC)  and a leading commentator in this space  (the IPCC  is sponsored apparently by the UN ).

My guess is that over 1000 people packed into the room to hear what I interpreted as science and common-sense about the likely impacts of climate change.

Impacts will likely include issues around food security, rising sea levels, extreme event frequency, weather intensity, varying yields in crops and so on….depending on where you live on this planet.

Dr. Pachauri proposed that climate change is happening because development ( human-driven) is occuring on an unsustainable basis…driving continuing emmissions of greenhouse gases.

Do I believe him? Probably.

What can business do about climate change? Probably play  an integrated and supportive role together with individual government initiatives to  reduce carbon emmissions.

But the compelling issue that emerged from his comments was that the global community has just a few short years to get our act together.  Now that…was  a WOW factor I didn’t expect.

Pete

 

Pete Jeans CEO SMO Sydney (Australia)

Email Pete Jeans or click on SMO Sydney to learn more about our experience and advantages in building successful businesses

5000 plus views and growing

I’m just delighted to report that we have hit our first milestone with more than 5000  leaders around the world having read this blog.

It’s taken about 20 months…and has vindicated our research and beliefs that we’re adding value…so thank you very much…and please keep reading and emailing.

We’re not a big player…but we’re in the very top few serious blogs on business transformation ( according to blog tracker Technorati ).

That means we’re relevant.

Maybe we can help you transform your business to higher profits?  Email me for a quick chat around the issues that are currently generating corporate pain.

Pete

 

Pete Jeans CEO SMO Sydney (Australia)

Email Pete Jeans or click on SMO Sydney to learn more about our experience and advantages in building successful businesses

What happens next at the top of your game?

You’re  at the top of your business game. Market shares are significant across the prime segments  and defence mechanisms are working well.

EBIT is growing nicely ( thanks to  rising prices and tight cost control ). Competitors don’t seem to be developing value propositions as fast as you are. Staff capability is good and your loyalty programmes are keeping them on-side.

Your Board is keen to continue the success.

What’s next? More domestic penetration…or is it time for the great leap offshore?

The only thing that’s lacking is that your senior team is not feeding you enough quality business proposals  for growth.

Is it time to get a fresh face to  lead the examination for new opportunities?

Probably.

At the top of your game, I think the challenge is to re-double your focus. I’d be asking customers what they need. More  profitable revenue streams from existing clients make sense first.

Maybe we can help?

Pete

 

Pete Jeans CEO            SMO Sydney (Australia)

Email Pete Jeans or click on SMO Sydney to learn more about our experience and advantages in building successful businesses

How can you operate successfully in a fragmented market?

I’m often asked this question. And for the record, my thoughts are not to be construed as specific advice…but general commentary.

The answer depends on clarifying what the enquirer means by “fragmented” ( you’d be surprised at the differing views ); and secondly, undertaking a thorough market mapping analysis to confirm where the strategic opportunities exist.

If the market sector is fragmented ( many product application segments…most relatively low in volume ); your strategy and business model will take on one shape.

If customers in preferred markets are many, relatively small and geographically unconcentrated, “fragmentation” takes on another meaning and implication for strategy development.

My opinion is operating successfully in any market depends on great strategy to get and keep increased numbers of profitable customers… and great leadership to maintain the growth momentum and operational effectiveness.

If your market structure ( fragmented or not ) is an impediment, look for or develop a route-to-market that gives you leverage…and protect it vigorously from competitive undermining.

At the end of the day, customers buy benefits…so I’d make really really sure that your product and service solutions are best-of-breed….and the customer base knows it.

cheers!

Pete

 

Pete Jeans CEO SMO Sydney

Email Pete Jeans or click on SMO Sydney to learn more about our experience and advantages in re-building underperforming businesses

Consultants…or doers…is it horses for courses?

Consultants are brought in for a variety of reasons…

Track record,  sector specialisation,  analysis,  Board’s  discomfort with management resources…

But how many fulfil the critical role of implementation?

A  new strategy that makes sense requires continuity through the execution phases.

My view is that external advisors need to offer doer teams that mentor management’s imperatives.

It is horses for courses…but those that have walked the course before…will know how to overcome the challenges ahead.

Who wants to come  an unexpected second or third after you’ve paid the entry fee?

cheers!

Pete

 

Pete Jeans CEO SMO Sydney

Email Pete Jeans or click on SMO Sydney to learn more about our experience and advantages in re-building underperforming businesses

We’re going green…but do the colour differences matter?

Corporates are  rapidly embracing the csr, marketing and pr benefits of greening up their businesses.

But authoritative  green commentators and the media are calling for some standardisation in the carbon debate.

Is it possible that benchmarks for industry sectors could be useful…or is it a pipedream…given the diversity of operations.

One might argue that any incremental gain in C02 reduction is a step forward. It makes sense…as long as governments put incentives in place to raise the price of carbon generation to reduce supply long term.

Marketers have known for a long long time that the environment is the biggest issue we’re facing. And, consumers know it too.

Does it matter that there are different shades of corporate greening…or should we all just get on with it?

If you can’t measure it, how can you manage it?  I’m all for measurement.

We owe it to our kids.

cheers!

Pete

 

Pete Jeans CEO SMO Sydney

Email Pete Jeans or click on SMO Sydney to learn more about our experience and advantages in building successful businesses

What’s the average Australian family look like?

I’ve been using the ABS for years. What people may not know is that they have fantastic resources to do customised research on industry sector info that you need.

In their recently released 2006 Census data, their media fact sheets painted a picture of the average Australian family…which makes interesting reading. Here it is below…

Census paints a picture of the average Australian family

• The 2006 Census showed that the most common family type in Australia was a couple with children. Just over 45% of all families, or 2.4 million families, fell into this group. The Australian Capital Territory and Victoria had the highest proportions of families in this group.

• Of all couple families with children, most were young families with children under 15 years (69%, or 1.6 million couple families). These families might also have included dependent students (aged 15–24 years) and non-dependent children still living with their parents.

• Couples families with children under 15 were the most common family type in every state and territory. The Northern Territory had the highest proportion, with 80% of all couple families with children falling into this group.

• The average number of children living in couple families with children under 15 was 2.16 children. Of the almost 4 million children living in Australia at the time of the 2006 Census, three-quarters (almost 3 million) were living in a couple family and almost all of these (2.7 million) were with both their natural or adoptive parents.

• Nine out of 10 couple families with young children lived in a separate house with an average of 4 bedrooms. Most of these families were paying off a mortgage – almost two-thirds across Australia. The exception was in the Northern Territory where 43% of young families were renting their home.

• The median monthly mortgage repayment for young families in a separate house was $1400. The lowest monthly repayments for young families were in Tasmania ($975 per month) and the highest in New South Wales ($1665 per month). The highest level of outright home ownership by young families in separate houses was in Victoria (18%).

• The 2006 Census also showed that couple families with young children have 2 cars on average.

• Exactly 83% of couple families with young children have some type of Internet connection at home. The lowest rates of connection were in the Northern Territory (66%) and the highest in the Australian Capital Territory (90%). In all states, broadband is the most common connection type. The highest use of broadband was in the Australian Capital Territory (69% of young families).

NB: The figures in this fact sheet exclude overseas visitors. Where an answer to a question has not been provided (i.e. not stated) these occurrences form a separate category in the data and therefore some percentages do not total to 100%.

Source: ABS 2006 Census.

 cheers!

Pete

 

Pete Jeans CEO SMO Sydney

Email Pete Jeans or click on SMO Sydney to learn more about our experience and advantages in building successful businesses