The Prodigy - Firestarter

I just love it, so here I share it...

The trouble with growth

OK, so Wal-Mart has a problem. They are number 1 world-wide and now growth has stalled. So they are surprised? A family company grows out of Arkansas with a strategy: target the majors with better prices, keep prices low with a streamlined, minimalist approach to stocking, put stores in lower-cost, less predictable locations and market as a family company with a modern approach to retailing. It worked. Great. They can grow revenues and profits at first simply by opening new stores. They hurt the incumbents, they keep growing their niche until it becomes the lion's share. They then move off-shore, where they find some more growth but also more competition, and competition with different cultures and values that are harder to match.

It simply gets harder to grow the business when you are already huge in your chosen field and number 1 world wide. But the corporate capitalist culture and mantra is to constantly strive to be number 1 or 2 in each market and to sustain growth, or be overtaken by someone else and lose value. Examples abound of companies like IBM who have grown to dominate, grew complacent, lost ground, shifted focus, regained growth. But how does Wal-Mart do that? Do they refresh and re-brand? Diversify out of retailing? Take on products that they don't handle now? Take on markets that they aren't winning in countries that don't currently have a Wal-Mart equivalent? Swallow the opposition with strategic acquisitions?

Or maybe do a mix of these things. The likelihood though is that someone or something is coming sideways at Wal-Mart and will blindside them with a new approach or new technology; or perhaps another sort of threat will emerge that undermines their business model. Something like global warming and the end of cheap fuel...

BNet.com has a discussion how to fix Wal-Mart here.

It's simple

It's simple - build on the rock and not upon the sand. Erosion wasn't just invented yesterday, despite scare-pieces like this one. If you build on a sand spit, a beachfront or on a cliff edge and are surprised when erosion occurs then I'm afraid you have not thought things through very well. Now you could blame the people who sold you the land. Or you could blame the local government body that allowed you to build on the land you bought. Or you could just blame yourself for making a bad decision.

Given the rising tide of global warming this is just going to happen more and more. If you are in a low-lying area close to cliffs or beaches, take a hint: move now. We may as a community decide to resume land or shore-up some subsidence for a while but eventually it will just get too expensive and you'll be hung out to dry. So cut your losses and quit before it's too late!

Lego Millenium Falcon Stop Motion

38 hours of Lego fun... hmmm. Well, it certainly takes persistence and dedication, a plan and... time.

Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant

A musical masterpiece, at least to these almost 50 year old ears... anyone remember when Punk was real?