General Motors is planning to have a working prototype of their all-electric car, called Volt, already by the end of 2007. Additionally they are aiming to start producing the model by 2010. Looks like a challenging goal, but some top managers are confirming this strategy.
Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman of GM, commented: “Competitors who write this [...]

Considering all the buzz that the iPhone generated we can assume that it will disrupt the mobile phone industry and make Apple hit the jackpot again, can’t we? Well, I would not be so secure about that. While I admire Steve Jobs’ initiative to invade a challenging business such as the mobile phone one, I think that Apple’s strategy has some flaws, and below I will outline each of them…

The InformationWeek website has an extensive article covering 5 disruptive technologies that will (according to the article) make its entrance into mainstream applications in 2007.

In emerging and innovative markets, however, a completely different managerial mindset is required. Competing in those markets, contrary to what most people believe, is not about having a superior technology.

Male, 22 years old, dark haired. If I turn on the television or the radio, which combined account for the vast majority of ad spending, sooner or later I will come across the advertising of a disposable tampon, a denture adhesive and a shampoo for curly red hair.

Have you ever been annoyed by the subscription cards that fall out of magazines? I guess most people have, they not only interrupt the reading experience but also force you to make an extra run to the trash bin. Incredibly, though, such cards still generate around 12% of magazine’s new subscriptions, no wonder editors stick them wherever they can.

I do agree with the author to a certain extent, mainly with the idea that under some circumstances only companies are able to develop radical innovations. But that has to do with the fact that consumers often times are not able to articulate their needs, and they are not necessarily aware of what one could possibly do with current technologies.

There is a lot of buzz going on around “crowdsourcing” lately, a term coined by the Wired journalist Jeff Howe is his article “The Rise of the Crowdsourcing”. The first time I googled (lower case g because it is already recognized as a verb by the Webster dictionary) “crowdsourcing” it generated around 200.000 results, and that was only a couple of weeks after Howe’s article!