Homer’s Oddity: A Human Capital Chip

Posted on January 7, 2014 by RussCoff

The Simpson’s clip below illustrates how human capital can be co-specialized with other assets to create an advantage. The Intel chip, once paired with Homer, becomes a strategic asset in the pastry sciences. In this way, human capital becomes industry and firm-specific and can be a source of competitive advantage especially if rivals have no substitutes. This is also related to Lazear’s skill weights model where unique combinations of general human capital form highly idiosyncratic knowledge bases. Could Homer be a source of advantage for Dunkin Donuts? Who would reap the gains?

Contributed by Russ Coff

BIC Pens “For Her”

Posted on January 3, 2014 by RussCoff

This is an actual product. However, customers have thought it rather odd to market a pen specifically for women. This has led to an array of hilarious product reviews. Here is an article about the reviews (try not to fall off your chair while reading). It is an interesting case of differentiation and segmentation gone awry — definitely worthy of class discussion. Below is a segment that Ellen Degeneres did on the product (including her proposed commercial). In the end, I’m guessing that the publicity has led to some unanticipated sales…

Contributed by Phil Bromiley

Zappo’s Zaps Mgrs: A whole holacracy

Posted on January 2, 2014 by RussCoff

Zappos is moving to a holacracy whereby managers and job titles go by the wayside (see this CNET article among others). This is a real kick in the head to bureaucracy and hierarchy. How does this organizational design mesh with their strategy of customer service and innovation? Another nice example is Valve — see the Valve post on this site. These examples can seed a discussion of strategy, structure, and organizational design as well as a critical analysis of many practices taught in business schools. Such radical forms can be very hard to design and implement. One problem that Foss explores in a recent Organization Science paper is incentives, motivation, and the tendency of managers to meddle in tasks that they say they have delegated. Here is an entertaining Zappo’s commercial to ease into the topic (though one of the many Dilbert videos would be quite compatible as well).

Contributed by Russ Coff

Task Force on Bad Decision Processes

Posted on December 24, 2013 by RussCoff

My university (along with many others) has a “committee on Committees.” It’s as if Scott Adams designed the process himself. How often do firms have poor or haphazard processes but expect consistent superior outcomes from them? Along these lines, David Croson reminded me about the Ig Nobel Prize winning government Report on Reports. This Dilbert video seems like a decent starting point for a discussion of strategy process…

Contributed b Russ Coff

ONN Tips for Female Executives

Posted on December 10, 2013 by RussCoff

Of course, the ONN video below is silly. However, the satire may open the door to serious questions about women in management. In a recent SMJ article, Dezso and Ross found a significant positive effect of having women on the top management team. Why, then, don’t we see more?

Similarly, here is a Pantene ad that highlights how labels for men and women tend to differ in the workplace. Continue reading →

Letterman Sends Fruit to GE Board

Posted on December 5, 2013 by RussCoff

When GE acquired NBC, there was much doubt that they could create value with the highly unrelated acquisition. This very funny video of Letterman delivering a fruit basket to GE headquarters illustrates the cultural differences (see especially the GE handshake ;-). However, business segment data reveal that NBC’s operating margin was doubled and revenue was up 60% after GE’s ownership. Did they actually make money? Maybe. It took them 10 years to accomplish this (and everything tanked the 1st 5 years) — a time factor that may reduce the value created by as much as $3 billion depending on their initial assumptions. This can be used to demonstrate hard numbers behind the acquisition integration process (spreadsheet available on request).

Contributed by Russ Coff

Human Capital Dilemmas

Posted on December 2, 2013 by RussCoff

As a strategic asset, human capital poses critical challenges because it can often be hard to trace productivity to individuals (causal ambiguity or social complexity). This makes it hard to reward and motivate key people. Or, in this case, allows slackers to get away without working. One of my papers (Coff, 1997) addresses these management dilemmas directly.

Contributed by Russ Coff

Budget Failure…

Posted on December 2, 2013 by RussCoff

Budgeting is often a political process where firms fail to make strategic choices and underfund all projects instead of picking the ones that deserve funding and giving them what is needed. This short Dilbert video gets at that squarely.

Contributed by Russ Coff

PowerPoint Poisoning

Posted on December 1, 2013 by RussCoff

“I fit it all on one slide. I had to use all of the white space but I think it was worth it to get it all on one page. It’s actually only one bullet point” This goes nicely with the “Death by PowerPoint” video posted earlier.

Contributed by Russ Coff

Heroic Assumptions…

Posted on December 1, 2013 by RussCoff

Often strategy is geared toward upside scenarios that may not be particularly realistic. This can be ok when using tools like real options (e.g., the strategy is part of a portfolio of options). However, one would have to make a case that at least some of the options might be in the money…

Contributed by Russ Coff

Outliers and Competitive Advantage

Posted on December 1, 2013 by RussCoff

Competitive advantage is often driven by outliers. However, betting on outliers can be risky business. This video illustrates that average performers might be better over the long haul unless you are able to really identify who the outliers are (and it is not based on luck). Denrell and Fang have a nice paper on how trying to pick extreme outliers will mean that you are wrong most of the time.

Contributed by Russ Coff

Impossible Goals…

Posted on December 1, 2013 by RussCoff

This gets at diagnosing problems when failing to achieve goals. Which is the problem, “the impossible goal, the il-advised goal or the one you never told me about?” Nice discussion starter…

Contributed by Russ Coff

Betray Your Ignorance

Posted on December 1, 2013 by RussCoff

Causal ambiguity can be hard to explain in class. This Dilbert video might offer a starting point. Here, the report is so technical that no one reads it and the summary slide is so complex that no one understands it.

Contributed by Russ Coff

Time to Reorganize…

Posted on December 1, 2013 by RussCoff

Another great Dilbert cartoon turned to video. Often strategy takes the shape of continual reorganizations. If you find this to be of use, you might check out Nickerson and Zenger’s article on being efficiently fickle. This explores how organizations may oscillate between discrete choices (such as centralization/decentralization, make/buy, hiring, etc.) because the “optimum” middle point is unstable.

Contributed by Russ Coff

How Long Will Your Part Take?

Posted on December 1, 2013 by RussCoff

We often spend ample time on strategy formulation but less time on execution. This clip drives home how a vision can be obvious and useless and how implementation is often central.

Contributed by Russ Coff

Strategy: We Don’t Do That

Posted on December 1, 2013 by RussCoff

Here is a classic Dilbert cartoon put in video form. In a few words, it drives home the point that an important part of strategy formulation is defining what the firm won’t do.

Contributed by Russ Coff

Oh No, He’ll be an Engineer!

Posted on December 1, 2013 by RussCoff

This short Dilbert clip identifies the emergence of “the Knack” a capability to understand, create and fix all mechanical and electronic objects. While it is silly, it also illustrates that exceptional capabilities also come with issues of fit. The firm that is able to provide a unique home for such misfits might enjoy a competitive advantage (I’m sure you can think of a few examples).

Then, there is this clip with Wally which shows what it is like when such engineers are valuable and rare – they can enjoy tremendous bargaining power…

Continue reading →

Crabby Teamwork

Posted on November 24, 2013 by RussCoff

Here is another demonstration of the power of teamwork and organization to defeat a bigger foe. The message is simple but how many firms can really coordinate effectively? This can be used to focus on coordination of any type (alliances, etc.)

Contributed by Russ Coff

Can you plan like a Chipmunk?

Posted on November 19, 2013 by RussCoff

Ok, another silly one from ONN. On the other hand, there is a robust literature on cognitive bias and economic short-termism (see this AMR by Laverty). Chipmunks plan for a whole season ahead — not bad actually. As such, this might be a good lead in for a discussion on bias in strategic decision-making.

Contributed by Russ Coff

Son of the CEO Promoted

Posted on November 19, 2013 by RussCoff

Here is another ONN report about the “hard work” required for the son of a CEO to secure a promotion to CEO. Silly? Of course. However, there may be a serious discussion of succession in family businesses in there somewhere (e.g., See this Schultze et al. Org Science article).

Contributed by Russ Coff

Carpenter Strategy Toolbox

Category Archives: Humor

Homer’s Oddity: A Human Capital Chip

BIC Pens “For Her”

Contributed by Phil Bromiley

Zappo’s Zaps Mgrs: A whole holacracy

Task Force on Bad Decision Processes

ONN Tips for Female Executives

Of course, the ONN video below is silly. However, the satire may open the door to serious questions about women in management. In a recent SMJ article, Dezso and Ross found a significant positive effect of having women on the top management team. Why, then, don’t we see more?

Letterman Sends Fruit to GE Board

Contributed by Russ Coff

Human Capital Dilemmas

Budget Failure…

Budgeting is often a political process where firms fail to make strategic choices and underfund all projects instead of picking the ones that deserve funding and giving them what is needed. This short Dilbert video gets at that squarely.

PowerPoint Poisoning

“I fit it all on one slide. I had to use all of the white space but I think it was worth it to get it all on one page. It’s actually only one bullet point” This goes nicely with the “Death by PowerPoint” video posted earlier.

Heroic Assumptions…

Often strategy is geared toward upside scenarios that may not be particularly realistic. This can be ok when using tools like real options (e.g., the strategy is part of a portfolio of options). However, one would have to make a case that at least some of the options might be in the money…

Outliers and Competitive Advantage

Impossible Goals…

This gets at diagnosing problems when failing to achieve goals. Which is the problem, “the impossible goal, the il-advised goal or the one you never told me about?” Nice discussion starter…

Betray Your Ignorance

Causal ambiguity can be hard to explain in class. This Dilbert video might offer a starting point. Here, the report is so technical that no one reads it and the summary slide is so complex that no one understands it.

Time to Reorganize…

How Long Will Your Part Take?

We often spend ample time on strategy formulation but less time on execution. This clip drives home how a vision can be obvious and useless and how implementation is often central.

Strategy: We Don’t Do That

Here is a classic Dilbert cartoon put in video form. In a few words, it drives home the point that an important part of strategy formulation is defining what the firm won’t do.

Oh No, He’ll be an Engineer!

Crabby Teamwork

Here is another demonstration of the power of teamwork and organization to defeat a bigger foe. The message is simple but how many firms can really coordinate effectively? This can be used to focus on coordination of any type (alliances, etc.)

Can you plan like a Chipmunk?

Son of the CEO Promoted

Here is another ONN report about the “hard work” required for the son of a CEO to secure a promotion to CEO. Silly? Of course. However, there may be a serious discussion of succession in family businesses in there somewhere (e.g., See this Schultze et al. Org Science article).

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Contributed by Phil Bromiley

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Of course, the ONN video below is silly. However, the satire may open the door to serious questions about women in management. In a recent SMJ article, Dezso and Ross found a significant positive effect of having women on the top management team. Why, then, don’t we see more?

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Contributed by Russ Coff

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Budgeting is often a political process where firms fail to make strategic choices and underfund all projects instead of picking the ones that deserve funding and giving them what is needed. This short Dilbert video gets at that squarely.

Share this:

“I fit it all on one slide. I had to use all of the white space but I think it was worth it to get it all on one page. It’s actually only one bullet point” This goes nicely with the “Death by PowerPoint” video posted earlier.

Share this:

Often strategy is geared toward upside scenarios that may not be particularly realistic. This can be ok when using tools like real options (e.g., the strategy is part of a portfolio of options). However, one would have to make a case that at least some of the options might be in the money…

Share this:

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This gets at diagnosing problems when failing to achieve goals. Which is the problem, “the impossible goal, the il-advised goal or the one you never told me about?” Nice discussion starter…

Share this:

Causal ambiguity can be hard to explain in class. This Dilbert video might offer a starting point. Here, the report is so technical that no one reads it and the summary slide is so complex that no one understands it.

Share this:

Share this:

We often spend ample time on strategy formulation but less time on execution. This clip drives home how a vision can be obvious and useless and how implementation is often central.

Share this:

Here is a classic Dilbert cartoon put in video form. In a few words, it drives home the point that an important part of strategy formulation is defining what the firm won’t do.

Share this:

Share this:

Here is another demonstration of the power of teamwork and organization to defeat a bigger foe. The message is simple but how many firms can really coordinate effectively? This can be used to focus on coordination of any type (alliances, etc.)

Share this:

Share this:

Here is another ONN report about the “hard work” required for the son of a CEO to secure a promotion to CEO. Silly? Of course. However, there may be a serious discussion of succession in family businesses in there somewhere (e.g., See this Schultze et al. Org Science article).

Share this: