The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey believes the way we see the world is entirely based on our own perceptions.

 PREFACE

"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" was first published in 1989. It is a business and self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey. Covey suggests an approach to being effective in attaining goals by aligning oneself to what he calls "true north" principles based on a character ethic that he presents as universal and timeless. It is written on Covey's belief that the way we see the world is entirely based on our own perceptions. To change a given situation, we must change ourselves, and to change ourselves, we must be able to change our perceptions(Hussain, 2022).

PERCEPTIONS

I reckon the most important point that most people fail to achieve is that Covey believes the way we see the world is entirely based on our own perceptions. For instance, if we are able to change ourselves such as how we see the world, we would feel and act differently in the same situation. However, it is not easy for most of us, especially, when we are experiencing failure, distress, and disappointment. The concept of success is also a complex one. For me, owning an excellent business is a success. For many people, financial freedom is their success. For humans, dinosaurs are monsters. For dinosaurs, we are also monsters. 

THE HABITS

According to Covey, Habits 1(Be Proactive), 2(Begin with the End in Mind), and 3(Put First Things First) are focused on self-management and moving from dependence to independence(Hussain, 2022). It makes sense logically since leaders should not be a person who is highly dependent on others. Habits 4(Think Win-Win), 5(Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood), and 6(Synergize) are focused on developing teamwork, collaboration, and communication skills, and moving from independence to interdependence(Hussain, 2022). Those skills are critical because leaders have to lead their followers by sharing the same value and vision. They have to communicate with their teams and collaborate with the people they lead.

KEYSTONE HABITS

I believe that before we are able to lead others, we should keep growing ourselves. After we become a leader, success is to help others succeed. Since habit 7(Sharpen the Saw) is focused on continuous growth and improvement and embodies all the other habits, I think it works like the keystone habits such as making your bed, stopping smoking, eating healthier, and doing exercise, eventually, these keystone habits will create a structure that helps other habits to flourish.

SMART Technique

Stephen Covey’s Habit 2 suggests that, in everything we do, we should begin with the end in mind(Hussain, 2022). I believe that if we do something with a clear destination, it is able to keep us focusing in the right direction and avoid distractions. I reckon that it can be adopted with the SMART Technique(Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) to get the best result. For example, suppose you get up in the morning and write down all the tasks you want to accomplish using the SMART Technique. You would be able to focus on the goal and also have a clear destination which is also the goal in mind. Writing down your tasks is one of the keystone habits and related to Covey’s Habit 2.

Covey’s Habit 2

According to Covey’s Habit 2, we can use our imagination to develop a vision of what we want to become and use our conscience to decide what values will guide us. Then, I tried to understand it. I believe the core of this concept is to set a mission or vision statement for yourself. While most people work hard to achieve victories and higher income, whom of them actually have a clear goal in their life? Although we all think money is important to everyone, most of us may not have a clear path to go. For example, if I would like to run my own business, I must have a clear road map and set the required steps such as learning required skills, having enough savings, and making a business plan. As a result, all these three steps will keep you in the right direction of your path. It is also critical for businesses to keep on track with their mission and vision. However, before individuals or organizations try to set goals, we must be able to identify our core values. For example, suppose that I want to lose weight, my core values might be being healthy, in a good shape, or being able to do some specific exercises. In addition to the core value, identifying the center of the value is required. It is the major reason why the value exists and fundamentally affects us.

REFECT MY MYSELF

When I tried to identify my center of my life, I felt it is difficult to pick only one center. I reckon I am at least three or more centered. My feelings of security are based on the way your spouse treats me, founded on fulfilling family expectations, and also determined by my net worth and my assets. I think my spouse and family memebers let me feel that I am loved. Net worth and assets let me feel I have the ability to live well in the society and is able to help others. I have many different roles in my life, a lover, a family member, a classmate, a coworker, daddy of my puppy, a friend, and an investor, etc. 

Finally, I would like to share a book review that I think is worth reading. The book is "The Power of Habits: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business " by Duhigg Charles. In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg explained why habits exist and how they can be changed. Duhigg also presents a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential such as the key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. 

References

Hussain, A. (2022, April 11). 7 habits of highly effective people [summary & takeaways]. HubSpot Blog. Retrieved June 24, 2022, from https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/habits-of-highly-effective-people-summary 

Task-oriented or People-oriented ?

 After I took the Least Preferred Coworker Scale by Fiedler, I found myself as a task-oriented leader. Then, I was on my journal to understand what it means, why I am a task-oriented leader, and the pros cons that come with it.

Task-oriented leadership often means doing their best to get the job done. This approach tends to emphasize completing tasks required to meet organizational goals. However, I think the task-oriented style is much more like a manager that focus on tasks needed to achieve goals. One of the significant defects is that task-oriented leadership is more likely to lack attention to the well-being of team members and tend to be deficiency in many situations that require proper leadership to keep employees satisfied with their work.

I believe the manager’s job is to plan, organize and coordinate. The leader’s job is to inspire and motivate, even though leaders sometimes tend to be both. In the past, I always came out with structure, plans, and schedules for getting things done. I wrote down a to-do list, prioritizing achievement, and sticking to rigid schedules. However, I think it is considered as autocratic and oftentimes, lead to motivation problems. I reckon that most talented people do not want to be lead by authoritarian, especially when a company highly rely on talented employees such as Google, Apple, Tesla, 3M, or Honeywell. For example, Google.org, the philanthropic arm of search giant Google that offers funding, innovation and technical expertise to underserved communities, announced on Monday that it will invest $14 million in the nonprofit Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator. Together, their goal is to help people of color, under-represented groups, people from rural areas and those without high school and college degrees attain credentials that will offer entry into the workforce with good, well-paying jobs. 

After all, a company is formed by a group of people. The past success is not a ganretee to future success. The ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, or technology, or competition, or products. The ability to get and keep enough of the right people is considered to be the most important part of an organization to survive in the long term. Therefore, I have to learn more about how to replace my task-oriented leadership by an more more effective one.

References

Kelly, J. (2022, May 12). Google's $14 million investment into goodwill empowers underserved people to gain access to well-paying jobs. Forbes. Retrieved June 21, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2022/05/11/googles-14-million-investment-into-goodwill-empowers-underserved-people-to-gain-access-to-well-paying-jobs/?sh=76f26f0460bf 

What is task-oriented leadership? - st. thomas online. STU. (2022, June 16). Retrieved June 21, 2022, from https://online.stu.edu/degrees/education/what-is-task-oriented-leadership/ 

Suggested Lessons We Can Learn from WikiLeaks Events

 WikiLeaks is an international non-profit organization that publishes news leaks and classified information provided by anonymous sources. Founded by Julian Assange, the group has been responsible for disseminating hundreds of thousands of formerly classified files. The Australian-born Assange is a computer programmer and activist who set up WikiLeaks in 2006. In 2010, Wikileaks published a video from a US military helicopter showing the killing of civilians in Baghdad, Iraq. Reuters photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and his assistant Saeed Chmagh were both killed in the attack. 

This isn't the first time Wikileaks is in the news due to its release of classified files. In the past, Wikileaks even released many sensitive government files. However, it also provides an opportunity to reconsider how these kinds of data should be handled and the lessons we can learn from these events.

A business generates a lot of internal documents from the inane emails to complex, secret business processes that provide us a competitive advantage. For example, the hospitals where you get medical help, store your personal information and medical records so they are able to give you better treatment. However, that data can also be used to threaten you if it is leaked or stolen.

In 2022, this year, MCG Health reported a data breach after discovering an unauthorized party obtained certain personal information about affected individuals that matched data stored on MCG’s systems, including the names, the social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, emails, dates of birth, and even genders. In response, MCG secured its systems and enlisted the help of cybersecurity professionals to investigate the incident. MCG Health also reviewed the affected files to determine what information was compromised and to whom it belonged. 

Among these cases, I reckon that these events have taught us several lessons and we can learn a lot from them. I listed my suggested five lessons in sequence and priority from the most important to the less important that I as a leader would want to learn from. The sequence is from prevention, minimizing the risks, to how it is supposed to be handled after the leak or breach.

i. Keep The Door Locked

A locked door keeping an honest man honest. Many impulsive actions are for petty reasons which the criminal then regrets after the fact. Locking your door saves a person from doing something they would most likely regret later. Knowing the door is locked or everyone is armed causes most people to think twice about their actions. As the IT technology help companies operate smoothly with efficiency, those sensitive data is also like tasty meat to great white sharks. Companies must make enough effort to secure their systems and the data.

ii. Understand and Lead Your Staff Effectively

Even though you have locked the door, there are still many tactful ways to unlock the door or break it. Therefore, not each of your staff should have the authority to handle all the sensitive information. In addition, business owners and executives must ally the same goal with their employees or subordinates.

iii. Evaluating The Risks and Benefits of Holding These Data

As mentioned above, holding the critical or necessary information provides businesses competitive advantages. That's why they desire to know more about their customers. However, since there are no truly secure systems, what are the risks if the data is breached? Trust is hard to build but easy to lose. Many popular brands build their reputation not only on preferences but also mostly on trust. Therefore, if the information is highly sensitive and very likely to destroy your credibility, you must have a strong plan to handle them.

iv. Diversify The Risks

As long as there are no truly secure systems, businesses must segment the data to diversify the risks when they leak. For example, when a doctor is only permitted to the records of their patients, sensitive data of other patients will be affected if the doctor leaks out the data. Create segmented systems and only provide data on a need-to-know basis to your employees rather than providing a gold mining opportunity for all.

v. Learn How to Handle an Embarrassing Data Breach

As always, bad things happen all the time. Just like the reason why Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was arrested at Ecuador's London embassy, where he had been granted asylum since 2012, Wikileaks has published hundreds of thousands of documents leaked by former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. Many of the government officials did not handle this data release very well and said some things which just embarrassed them. Instead of just trying to cover or telling more lies, bringing in a professional response team who has handled these types of situations would be much more appropriate. For example, in response, MCG secured its systems and enlisted the help of cybersecurity professionals to investigate the incident. MCG Health also reviewed the affected files to determine what information was compromised and to whom it belonged. The MCG was attempting to rebuild its credibility.

One More Thing & Thinking Box

The 2018 Google data breach was also a major data privacy scandal in which the Google+ API exposed the private data of over five million users, although it was fixed immediately, exposing the private data of approximately 500,000 Google+ users to the public. In August 2019, Google declared a shutdown of Google+ due to low use and technological challenges. Do you think it is a good way to handle it? Why? Let's discuss it.

References

BBC. (2019, April 12). Wikileaks: Document dumps that shook the world. BBC News. Retrieved June 17, 2022, from https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47907890 

Reis, J. (n.d.). 5 lessons businesses can learn from Wikileaks. Learnthat. http://learnthat.com/5-lessons-every-manager-should-learn-from-wikileaks/

Why the Division of Labor Increases Production ?

  The formal study of economics began when Adam Smith published his famous book The Wealth of Nations in 1776. 

Smith introduces the division of labor, which means that the way a good or service is produced is divided into a number of tasks that are performed by different workers, instead of all the tasks being done by the same person. 

A restaurant also divides up the task of serving meals into a range of jobs like top chef, sous chefs, less-skilled kitchen help, servers to wait on the tables, a greeter at the door, janitors to clean up, and a business manager to handle paychecks and bills.

When the tasks involved with producing a good or service are divided, workers can produce a greater quantity of output. 

Why the Division of Labor Increases Production ?

i. Specialization in a particular small job allows workers to focus on the parts of the production process where they have comparative advantages. People have different skills, talents, and interests, so they will be better at some jobs than at others. The particular advantages may be based on educational choices, which are in turn shaped by interests and talents. 

ii. Workers who specialize in certain tasks often learn to produce more quickly with higher quality and often know their jobs well enough to suggest innovative ways to do their work faster and better. 

iii. Economies of scale. The average cost of producing each individual unit declines. If a factory produces more cars in the same period of time, the average cost of production per car will be lower. 

Why business owners have to manage diversity effectively?

Diversity means the similarities and differences that people do have based on their gender, backgrounds, cultures, ages, sexual orientations, religion, education, functions, tenure, etc. (Bauer & Erdogan, 2009). It is about uniqueness; how different people view the world. It is also about recognizing, respecting, and valuing differences based on where people are from, their ethnicity, gender, age, race, religion, disability, and sexual orientation.

Managing diversity effectively is beneficial to the company because it impacts both the stockholders and the stakeholders. They are impacted through profits gained, company performance, employee satisfaction, and community support. The following are the benefits of managing diversity effectively. On decisions that lead to higher profits, effective management of diversity brings in higher creativity in decision making, due to having a conducive environment that allows diverse opinions, perspectives, and experiences. With a diverse team, more options and possibilities can be considered, hence making creative and quality decisions. Making quality decisions due to diversity have a direct impact on a company’s performance and achievements of goals. Secondly, on customers, effective management of diversity enhances better customer service. This is because there will be a good understanding of customer needs as well as a good understanding of customer behaviors. Having a diverse workforce helps a company to produce products or provide services that can be well received and consumed by diverse customers. This also helps in ensuring customers are well served despite their difference in the way they look, talk, walk, or their gender, age, and what they believe in. 

Moreover, to employees, effective management of diversity produces a more satisfied workforce. This is because employees usually tend to feel good and become loyal to the company if they feel they are being well and fairly treated. Companies with effectively managed diversity usually have a very low employee turnover rate, with happy and satisfied employees who can work to ensure they help a company to perform well and achieve the goals. Effective management of diversity has a very positive outcome on stock prices. It has been proven that investors use the diversity information to judge how well the company is performing. This usually leads to a company having high stock prices as a reward for embracing and promoting diversity. Additionally, in terms of litigation expenses, due to having satisfied employees, the company won’t have to spend money and resources trying to defend themselves and the image of the business in litigation cases. This is because there will be no complaints or little complaints filed against the company. Lawsuits are usually expensive, including attorney fees and settlement costs, which may reach millions of dollars.

Managing diversity effectively and Understanding differences is important because it impacts both the shareholders and the stakeholders of the business. Regardless of gender, race, age, or background, people should communicate well with others they work with to achieve business goals. Managing diversity effectively benefits from diversity because the company will achieve higher creativity, better customer service, higher job satisfaction, higher stock prices, and lower litigation expenses.

References

Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2009). Organizational Behavior. New York: Flat World Knowledge, Inc.

Victorian Government. (2019, July 30). What do we mean by diversity and inclusion? Retrieved from Victorian Government: https://www.vic.gov.au/dpc-diversity-and-inclusion-strategy-2019-2021/what-do-we-mean-diversity-and-inclusion

How the attractors are used?

How the attractors are used?

Attractors 

An attractor is simply a Web site with the potential to attract and interact with a relatively large number of visitors in a target stakeholder group. The strategic perspective regulates how a company perceives and solves various essential and prevalent issues affecting the firm. There are various types of attractors namely: the entertainment park, the archive, exclusive sponsorship, the town hall, the club, the gift shop, the freeway intersection or portal and the customer service center. 

The archive

This is the type of attractor that provides its visitors with the opportunities to discover the historical aspect of the company’s activities. This type of attractor provides universal access to interesting information to its visitors and also enables them to explore the past, much like museums or maybe even more like the more recently created and provided entertainment with educational elements. This type of attractor are built on well-established features of a company which are very hard to imitate, and often impossible to replicate. 

Examples of The Archives

Ford’s historical library of rare photos and a comprehensive story of the Ford Motor Company.

The Town Hall

This type of attractor creates a platform where people can assembly and interact virtually in public forums. This type of attractor can have traffic potential when the figure is of national importance. It provides potentially higher level of interactivity, participation and can be more engaging than sponsorship. Some of the weaknesses of this type of attractor are the continuing problem of advising the potential audience of who is appearing and problem of finding a continual string of drawing card guests.

Examples of The Town Hall

CMP Publications Inc., a publisher of IT magazines (e.g., Information week), hosts a Cyber forum, where an IT guru posts statements on a topic (e.g., Windows 2000) and response to issues raised by readers (Watson, R.T., Berthon, P., Pitt, L. F. & Zinkham, G. M.  2008).

Exclusive Sponsorship

In this type of attractor, an organization is exclusively sponsored for an event of public interest, and uses its Web site to extend its audience reach. This type of attractor enhances the image of the corporation through the provision of timely, exclusive, and valuable information. Sponsorship attractors have broad traffic potential and can attract many visitors in short periods, e.g., the World Cup. 

Examples of Exclusive Sponsorship

Coca-Cola gives details of Coke-sponsored concerts and sporting events

In conclusion, an attractor is simply a Web site with the potential to attract and interact with a relatively large number of visitors in a target stakeholder group. The strategic perspective regulates how a company perceives and solves various essential and prevalent issues affecting the firm. 

References

Watson, R.T., Berthon, P., Pitt, L. F. & Zinkham, G. M.  (2008).  Electronic Commerce: The Strategic Perspective.  Global Text Project. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Richard, T. (nd). Web strategy: Attracting and retaining visitors. Retrieved from https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/electroniccommerce/chapter/web-strategy-attracting-and- retaining-visitors/

 

Business Strategy and Policy | The Schools of Strategy

Strategic planning can be thought of as an organized business model that grows along with demand and supply. It is a broad topic that includes management setting goals, analyzing the competitive market, analyzing internal organization and evaluating stratagems for the purpose of improvement, progression and the maximization of the resources available. While all attempt to reach a strategic goal, there needs to a deliberate choice amongst them if the company wishes to optimize their efforts. 

The planning school of strategy is highly objective, highly structured, and inflexible. Strategies result from a controlled, conscious process of formal planning, deconstructed into deliberate steps, each outlined by checklists and checkpoints. Execution of this strategy is ensured through deliberate controlled mechanisms, such as balanced scorecards, to keep track of individual processes. This strategy has more of a focus on stability and structure, as scenario planning is frequently used as a means of accounting for the unpredictability of future events within the plans. Microsoft is a company with a stable foothold in the operating system market that go through multitudes of plans and countless revisions to perfect their products.

The positioning school focuses more so on the strategic element rather than planning aspect for strategic decision-making. The processes and end results are more identifiable and generic within the competitive marketplace. For instance, the strategy formation process is selected based on analytical calculations of competitors, suppliers, customers, substitutes and new entrants. A restaurant must establish prices for their foods that cover costs and allows them to turn a profit. However, they must be mindful, as they have competitors within the area that offers more for less.

Resource-based school of strategy revolves around the concept of competitive advantage, but unlike its two predecessors, it’s more so focused on internal factors rather than the market. The sustainability of competitive advantage is based on to which the extent of their resources can be management, their uniqueness and their availability. Resources such as cash, equipment and vehicles are valuable, but an organization’s competitors can readily acquire them. Instead, a resource is strategic to the extent that it is valuable, rare, difficult to imitate, and non-substitutable. WestJet’s culture provides the firm with uniquely strong employee relations in an industry where strikes, layoffs, and poor morale are common. Their ‘culture’ is a resource that is hard to replicate, which provides them with an effective strategy for staying within the marketplace.

References

Edwards, J. (2022). Mastering Strategic Management. Retrieved from https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/strategicmanagement/

Hattangady, V. (2019). Evaluating Mintzberg’s 10 Schools of Thoughts for Strategy Formulation. Retrieved from https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/evaluating-mintzbergs-10-schools-of-thoughts-for-strategy-formulation/1609541/

Ritson, N. (2013). Strategic Management. Retrieved from https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/1567123/mod_book/chapter/331954/BUS4403StratMgt.pdf

Out-Nyarko, D. & Sarbah, A. (2014). An Overview of the Design School of Strategic Management. Retrieved from https://www.scirp.org/html/11-1530092_48145.htm

Basic Finance | Money

Basic Finance | Money

Essentially, money certainly facilitates trade by making it easier to buy and sell goods compared to barter. Yes, it is true. But there are a lot more abstract concepts we need to know. We all think that we already know enough about money. Really ? Let’s find out.

Money serve as three major functions, Medium of Exchange, Unit of account, and Store of Value.

i. Medium of Exchange 

Without money, you would have to find something that the seller desired and that could take a long time or likely to be forever….. By serving as a means or medium of exchange, money fulfilling this mutual or double coincidence of wants. 

ii. Unit of account 

Be the medium of exchange is not enough. There are more questions remain unanswered such as How is that worth? How much money I should pay? How many units I will get? How to set up the prices tags? In a barter world, the number of prices equals the number of pairs of goods. However, barter is not an effective way to trade. Money provides a measurement to measure goods and services.

iii. Store of Value

Money also works as a store of value and as a standard of deferred compensation. For example, if your medium of exchange is egg, you better keeping them safe and fresh. 

Finally, I have a question for you.

Do you think NFTs, Bitcoins, or Gold bars also meet the three requirements of money?

Do you trust them as a payment method and the way you get paid for your hard works?

POLC model, and PDCA, Strategy and tactic, Business Strategy and policy

After the impressive eight weeks of learning, I think the first thing that came to my mind is that normally I thought strategies are like solving puzzles. You think and you come out with a solution. That's all. However, I was wrong. Business Strategy is a continuous clear set of plans, actions, and goals that outlines how a business will compete in a particular market, or markets, with a product or number of products or services. Moreover, it is also associated with the demand and supply model and also the POLC model(Plan, Organizing, Leading, and Controlling). In addition, there is a concept that I was confused about before. Strategy and tactic. A strategy refers to an organization’s long-term goals and how it plans to reach them and it shows the path to achieve the defined vision. A tactic refers to the specific actions taken to reach the set goals in line with the strategy. 

Business strategy can also be understood as the course of action or set of decisions that assist the entrepreneurs in achieving specific business objectives. It outlines how businesses should be carried out to reach the desired ends. The success of any business is determined by the effectiveness of the strategy it follows. A strategy explains how a company plans to compete in a market and how it intends to grow at a profit. I think business policies and strategies are like the components of a car. How you design it, build it, or what kind of fuel it would consume, depends on what you want it to be. Business Policy offers guidelines for managers to take appropriate decisions. Strategic Management is a means of putting a policy into effect within certain time limits. Business Policy is a general course of action with no defined time limits. 

The idea behind strategic management is that organizations will be better equipped to satisfy the goals and objectives of the owners and managers adopt a clear business philosophy. For many businesses, that philosophy will be to increase their share of the market. Generally, the generic term business policy refers to all of an organization's processes and procedures that range from human resources policies to the company's marketing agenda and its plans for growth and development. 

What I learned that was new to me or things that changed my understanding is that the policies are essentially the strategies put into action. For example, if a strategy calls for an increased market share, the business policies would be constructed to match this strategy. The two terms are so closely intertwined that they are often used interchangeably. I reckon that for a business owner, strategic management is a mindset or philosophy for doing business. Business policies, however, are the specific methods for running the organization on a day-to-day business. 

Personally, I always carry a notepad with me because of the inseparable relationship between a notepad and PDCA

Good product plan to introduce PDCA(Plan, Do execution, Check, Action improvement) into all systems. Notepad is not only a good helper for implementing plans but also a powerful tool to promote circulation. Follow up and check after I made a plan. Simplifying the content can increase the freedom of thinking. The principle of the plan is to record it immediately after any decisions. 

Finally, I would like to share an example. Suppose that you are running a coffee chain like Starbucks or Dutch Bros, and there is a store located near a beautiful landscape with an amazing view that attracts many Instagram users to take photos and share posts or stories. However, this particular store does not earn as much as expected. It costs more money to transport the necessities that it's needed for daily operation. You also have to pay more for hiring baristas to work there. What would you do? Keeping its operation to get the reputation of your brand and earn these free advertisement, or just close it to open another more profitable store? Here is where the strategy comes in. With an organization’s long-term goals, how it plans to reach them, and the path to achieving the defined vision in mind, companies can make better decisions. In this case, we can estimate whether it is worth doing it or not. 

References

What is business strategy and how to devise it in 2022? IMD business school. (n.d.). Retrieved May 29, 2022, from https://www.imd.org/imd-reflections/reflection-page/business-strategy/ 

Strategic Management, by N. Ritson

Corning Incorporated, Growth and Strategy Council

the Telecoms Crash and Corning Incorporated's Growth and Strategy Council

The Telecoms Crash refers to the period of rapid decline in the telecommunications industry during the early 2000s, following the dot-com bubble burst. Many telecommunications companies suffered severe financial losses and were forced to restructure their operations.

Corning Incorporated, a leading manufacturer of glass and ceramics, was one of the companies that was affected by the Telecoms Crash. The company had invested heavily in fiber optics, a key technology for the telecommunications industry, and saw a significant decline in demand for its products as the industry contracted.

In response to the crisis, Corning formed a Growth and Strategy Council to identify new growth opportunities and help the company diversify its product offerings. The council focused on identifying new markets and developing innovative products that could help the company regain its footing. One of the key initiatives that came out of the Growth and Strategy Council was the development of Gorilla Glass, a highly durable and scratch-resistant glass that is used in a wide range of electronic devices, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Gorilla Glass has become a major success story for Corning and has helped the company recover from the setbacks it suffered during the Telecoms Crash.

Overall, the Telecoms Crash was a challenging period for many companies in the telecommunications industry, but it also spurred innovation and forced companies to adapt and diversify their operations. Corning's Growth and Strategy Council played a key role in helping the company navigate the crisis and find new opportunities for growth.

References

Henderson, R. M., & Reavis, C. (2009, April 15). Corning Incorporated: The growth and strategy council. MIT Sloan. Retrieved May 27, 2022, from https://mitsloan.mit.edu/teaching-resources-library/corning-incorporated-growth-and-strategy-council 

Litan, R. E. (2016, July 28). The telecommunications crash: What to do now? Brookings. Retrieved May 27, 2022, from https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-telecommunications-crash-what-to-do-now/ 

Lessons from Howard Marks' New book: "Mastering the market cycle – getting the odds on your side". 25iq. (2018, October 6). Retrieved May 28, 2022, from https://25iq.com/2018/10/06/lessons-from-howard-marks-new-book-mastering-the-market-cycle-getting-the-odds-on-your-side/