Is Your Business Model Obsolescent?
September 2005 By Denny Hatch
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Pity traditional newspapers that are stuck in the 18th century
Sept. 27. 2005: Vol. 1, No. 34
Sony and Microsoft are just the latest two companies to restructure.
Over the past year, many organizations--large and small--have started to revamp their business models. Among them:
However it is newspapers that have had the greatest challenge--taking an 18th century business model and moving it into the 21st century.
How is your business model?
If Howard Stringer, Bill Gates, Kodak and Boeing are undergoing tectonic transitions, could looking for ways to streamline your business be a good move?
Newspaper Upheavals
What triggered this story was a blitz of news on newspapers.
Just this past month The New York Times and its subsidiary, the Boston Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Daily News, the San Jose Mercury and the San Francisco Chronicle announced massive editorial layoffs and buyouts. Close to 1,000 reporters and editors will be pounding the pavements.
Sept. 27. 2005: Vol. 1, No. 34
IN THE NEWS
TOKYO--Sony Corp. Chief Executive Howard Stringer on Thursday called on the ailing electronics and entertainment giant to "be like the Russians defending Moscow against Napoleon" as he unveiled a broad restructuring plan.
-- Alex Pham, Bruce Wallace and Julie Tamaki
"Sony's Restructuring Plan Brings Praise, Skepticism"
Los Angeles Times, Sept. 23, 2005
AdAge.com--The sweeping organizational changes announced by Microsoft Corp. earlier this week mean more than just executive changes and renaming and consolidating divisions. It points to a wholesale shift on the computer giant's business emphasis and brand image -- from software product vendor to software services provider.
--Beth Snyder Bulik
"What Microsoft's Reorganization Means"
AdAge.com, Sept. 22, 2005
Sony and Microsoft are just the latest two companies to restructure.
Over the past year, many organizations--large and small--have started to revamp their business models. Among them:
- Boeing not only has started outsourcing nose, cockpit and fuselage sections for the first time, but actually will be sharing a manufacturing facility with its hated rival, Airbus.
- Kodak has stopped making Super 8mm film and is moving to replace film with digital. In the process it announced 10,000 employees would be cut.
- The Mobil Travel Guide is being completely redesigned and restructured.
- A Boston Market store in Chicago is scrapping its "comfort food" and soft drinks menu, replacing it with healthy organic fare such as grilled vegetables and Perrier. In the words of Chicago Tribune's Mary Ellen Podmolik, "… it's the most ambitious experiment to date by the chain to reinvent itself and take its customer base more upscale."
- Attendance is so poor in Europe's oldest boys' choir at the music school Escolania of Montserrat in Spain, and founded in the 13th century, that it is going to start admitting girls.
However it is newspapers that have had the greatest challenge--taking an 18th century business model and moving it into the 21st century.
How is your business model?
If Howard Stringer, Bill Gates, Kodak and Boeing are undergoing tectonic transitions, could looking for ways to streamline your business be a good move?
Newspaper Upheavals
What triggered this story was a blitz of news on newspapers.
Just this past month The New York Times and its subsidiary, the Boston Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Daily News, the San Jose Mercury and the San Francisco Chronicle announced massive editorial layoffs and buyouts. Close to 1,000 reporters and editors will be pounding the pavements.
Companies Mentioned:
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