Business-to-business (B2B) companies differ from business-to-consumer (B2C) companies in many ways. B2B company products are often more complex and require greater lead times to produce, there are fewer customers, and because of the complexity of the products, the relationship between customers and suppliers are closer and more personal. For many in B2B industries, these differences […]
Read More… from B2B Companies Far Behind on Social Media Strategies
Can organizations of vastly different sizes collaborate effectively? An intriguing case study based on 25 interviews with the actors involved offers a sobering answer: perhaps, but it will be a challenge. The case study concerns a collaborative effort among SMEs in the U.S. to enable and market apprenticeships. The goal of the collaboration, pseudonymously called […]
Read More… from Why Goliaths and Davids Are Poor Network Partners
Many companies develop their relationship marketing strategies based on the assumption that their customers are unerringly cold and calculating, and driven by one question: what kind of a financial deal can you give me? While discounts, for example, can be effective, this is a short-term and hard-to-sustain relationship marketing approach to customer relationship. A team […]
The greatest hurdle for entrepreneurial enterprises, especially in the early stages, is gaining access to the external resources required to launch and maintain the venture. After synthesizing the lessons from their meta-analysis of 76 articles in academic journals across various economic, sociological and psychological disciplines, a team of three researchers from the U.S. and Spain […]
Read More… from Strategies and Tools for Entrepreneurs in Search of Resources
More than a billion people live in poverty around the world, earning less than $2 a day. A billion people may be a huge market in terms of numbers but they don’t have the disposable income that can turn them into traditional customers. However, C.K. Prahalad and other pioneer academics and entrepreneurs recognized the potential […]
Read More… from Business Templates that Succeed in ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ Environments
Entrepreneurs need money to fund their ideas. Many legendary start-ups received their early funding from venture capitalists. However, VC’s are now more interested in contributing to later stage companies rather than take a chance with early stage start-ups that have a much greater chance of failing. Into the breach steps the Internet-based crowdfunding platforms, in […]
Read More… from Crowdfunding Still Attracts Local Investors to Local Ventures
Highlighting the continuing challenge of information systems security, more than 80% of companies around the world have been hacked by cyber-criminals, including more than 80% of companies in the U.S., and more than 85% of companies in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa, according to a worldwide survey of CFOs. The goal in these attacks […]
Read More… from CFO Survey: Most Hit by Hackers Otherwise Optimistic
Given the pace of technological change, universities have difficulty teaching students the applied knowledge they will need in the workplace. The gap between education and real-world knowledge is only exacerbated the longer the employee has been out of college. In knowledge firms, therefore, the onus of maintaining a workforce equipped with the latest knowledge and […]
Read More… from Training Knowledge Workers Pays Off for SMEs
For most consumers, waiting in a long queue is a frustrating experience. There is nothing to be gained from standing in a slow line at the grocery store or waiting endlessly on the phone as a call centre automated voice intones again and again that “your call is important to us.” Most consumers don’t realize, […]
Read More… from The Surprising Benefit of Long Queues for Customers and Business
When looking for contract employees for a project, employers now have direct access to workers from across the world thanks to digital labour contract platforms such as Elance, Freelancer, Guru and oDesk. On these platforms, employers post their jobs or actively look for contractors, while contractors post their profiles, which include résumés as well as […]
Read More… from Navigating the Global Online Contract Labour Market
