Kathy Mast Consulting

Globalization Demands Innovation

In my last post, I suggested that you watch for "not to miss" upcoming posts. My absence from posting was longer than anticipated, but I want to update you with insights and incredible research from Michael Cox, senior vice president and chief economist for the Dallas Federal Reserve. He was the guest speaker for the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) in Dallas in November. He gave a one- and- a-half hour riveting presentation on globalization based on his Dallas Fed research and knowledge and his personal experiences traveling globally. No one left the room early and, at times, the silence and attentiveness of the large crowd was palpable.

Marketing, Research & Innovation

I hope that all of you are enjoying the holiday season as much as I am. What a great time to share a spirit of worship and thanks, generosity through giving, and anticipation for a new year. The holidays also challenge us as we add new activities into already full schedules. I'm catching up today on writing about several recent noteworthy events.

Innovation in the Best and Worst of Times

Whether you find your business in the best of times or the worst of times, innovation can help you grow your business. In the best of times, innovation investments will help you increase your existing competitive advantage beyond that of your competitors. In the worst of times, innovation and creativity are your best opportunities to achieve stability, produce new products and services, and optimize your investments.

New Tips on Strategy

I've had two invitations in the past few weeks to hear Robert Bloom speak and introduce his new book, written with Dave Conit, The Inside Advantage. Mr Bloom is an entrepreneur and advertising executive who now specializes in helping other companies grow their business. I heard his presentation this week at an SMU breakfast hosted by the Cox School of Business.

Executive Leadership Insights

I've been privileged to attend several meetings hosted by SMU in the past few months that featured outstanding CEO presentations. They've included:

• James Donald, president, chief executive officer and director of Starbucks, co-presenting with David Pace, executive vice president, Partner Resources
• Alan Boeckmann, chairman of the board, chief executive officer of Fluor Corporation, jointly hosted by SMU and Ernst and Young
• Myron (Mike) Ullman, chairman of the board, chief executive officer of J.C. Penney Company, Inc., co-presenting with Mike Theilmann, executive vice president, chief human resources and administration officer

The sessions including the HR executives talked about the importance of HR as a strategic contributor to the business. Starbucks is hiring 400 people per day, according to Mr. Pace, and HR management is core to their global success as a business. Both Startuck's executives spoke of the life changes that Starbucks careers have made for many of their employees. One very notable and commendable commitment made by Starbucks is to offer health care benefits to all employees. That benefit is their largest corporate expense, and they continuously pursue effective ways to enhance the benefit while reducing the cost.

Collaboration and Communication

Have you recently considered how critical the skill of collaboration is to your company? As I thought about the importance of collaboration, I realized how many vendors are, and will continue to be, required to develop and deliver wireless and mobile services over the next five years. Wireless and mobile technology offers your company many opportunities for innovation and gaining market share. However, the technology, protocols, global restrictions, service and customer considerations are highly complex. Staff doesn't need to have all the technical knowledge, but service delivery will be much more achievable if they can...communicate and collaborate.

Suspicion or Empowerment

Take a minute to read today's post at Gartner's blog on Communication Innovations written by Nick Jones, VP Distinguished Analyst: http://blog.gartner.com/blog/comminn.php?itemid=2186. He provides good insights into the downsides of trying to separate business and personal communications through ever increasing amounts of monitoring and security. Having worked in many client offices, I can say that the truly innovative companies are those with an open and empowering environment. They combine good leadership with adequate controls that instill trust and integrity to create and maintain a secure and future focused organization.

Mergers & Acquisitions: Leveraging Hidden Assets to Obtain A Higher ROI

When buying or selling companies, executives often overlook assets and investments that, when properly documented and utilized, can represent greater value, to either buyer or seller, and thus achieve a higher return on investment.

2007 Daylight Savings Time Changes

In case you haven't heard, our time changes to daylight-saving time (DST) earlier than usual this year. The changes result from an energy bill passed by Congress in 2005 to extend daylight-saving time by about a month. So this year, DST will start the second Sunday of March and end on the first Sunday of November.

Wireless and Mobile

"What will be the key mobile and wireless technology trends through 2011? How will the mobile strategies of wireless service providers, device manufacturers and software companies evolve? How will corporations choose and use mobility?" These are just three out of several hundred questions and possible scenarios, accompanied by strategic planning assumptions, presented by Gartner, and large corporate, executives at the Gartner Wireless and Mobile conference this week in Grapevine, TX. I attended the conference to get a look at the current status and future trends in wireless and mobile technology to assist my clients in determining their best investment strategies.