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| Living Group 52: The best living group in the universe! |
Today, we had our batch picture, yes all 160 of us dressed in our finest business outfits, arranged neatly at the stairs of the Baker Library. Serendipitously the sun made a rare cameo, making it a truly fine spring morning after days of dark grey clouds and cold chilly days.
The photo above is my living group and our Finance Professor Marc Bertoneche. Our professor is a truly amazing man. His sense of humor and timing is impeccable. He has made Finance such an alluring and interesting subject that it has become my batch's favorite course. I suppose if all of us could go back in time and reinvent ourselves, we would have all immersed ourselves in the world of Finance. Thank you Prof. Bertoneche, your fine French humor has made Finance reachable and fun. Personally, if there is anything that I can take home, it's that Finance and Sales & Marketing, are one and the same, they are just different business languages. (I actually spent an evening surfing Philippine universities on a Masters of Finance course.)
Back To School
The workload has amped up this week and we are faced with even more case studies to read and discuss among our living groups. But thus far, it has been a great ride with much to learn for those who seek knowledge.
Leadership & Corporate Accountability
- Any company's business strategy must be underpinned by an equal balance of growth, profitability and control
- There are 4 levers of control, all of which play an important role in supporting business strategy - belief systems, interactive control systems, boundary systems and diagnostic control
- Depending on the business life cycle, each lever plays different roles
- Channel functions play an important role in demand generation, demand fulfillment and service
- Channel members can change but channel functions always remain
- Cost, coverage and control of the channel are always at an interplay (conflict) and changes due to a firm's or industry's evolution, from direct, indirect or hybrid
- Never underestimate channel resistance to transformation, it can be fierce, but is necessary in order for a firm to achieve growth or efficiency; the trick is managing it - if a firm does not manage it, a competitor will one day manage it and pull the business away
- It is crucial to manage product / service availability otherwise a "bullwhip" effect will happen
- "Bullwhips" are driven by price variations, rationing games, demand signal processing, order batching and behavioral
- But it can be overcome through the visibility of information, alignment of inventory ordering, incentives and at time by simple trust & confidence among the players
- Leadership roles and challenges will need to adjust to the gaps between Goals and Values with Information and Knowledge
- Leaders must avoid group think, always surround yourself with people who speak their minds and not with people who echo what you want to hear (think: Bay of Pigs and Space Shuttle disasters)
- Conflicts are inevitable and it is the leader's role to move it from a relationship conflict to a task conflict
Living Group Dinner
The following night, our living group decided to chill and have dinner at one of Harvard Square's watering hole. The food was excellent! I particularly enjoyed their oysters and though I didn't try it their steak was mouth-watering.
As usual, I need to go - another round of cases await!
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| Chilling and enjoying our dinner |
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| The majestic Baker Library at night |
