Quiz results

Consider the transition from closed to open innovation models and in particular the latest embodiment of open innovation, that is, platforms (such as Wikipedia, Innocentive or Uber), value is being increasingly created by resources that are not owned by the focal company. In platforms, all the value is created by external resources.​
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_innovation#Closed_versus_open_innovation

“Weighted average cost of Capital (WACC) is the Rate of return required by the providers of funds (Shareholders and creditors) to finance the company's Investment projects. Weighted average cost of Capital is the overall cost of financing of a company. According to the Theory of markets in equilibrium, and provided there are no tax distortions, this cost is independent of the Capital structure of the company; hence, Optimal capital structure does not exist. Weighted average cost of Capital can be also called Cost of capital.” Corporate Finance, Vernimmen 2014 Edition, Chapters 30,32 and 33

It’s tempting to believe that every brand must be vastly different and that every opportunity to push the boundaries should be taken if the brand is to win. But is there a case for normality that we’re missing here? Should, as Jay Bauer has suggested, brands stop trying to be amazing and just get on with being useful?

Brands looking to improve their offering should first look to improve how and when the product is used and how else and where else it could be used. Easily. Quick win changes that may seem mundane, even unnecessary, to your brand’s technical and product people can add up to important improvements for consumers.

We tend to think of mundane as an alternative to amazing, but as Paul Allen reminds us, they are actually a continuum, “At some stage in the life cycle of every great invention or innovation it will become an expectation…Truly significant innovations even after a short time will appear to be invisible”. Amazing, in other words, is relative, time-bound and subjective. Useful works because it’s shippable, immediate and practical. Building on something that people know and feel comfortable with is also easier and faster than asking them to learn or accept something new. Buyers know what to do with improvements. The groundbreaking is less predictable. It might fly or stall or fail – which is a lot to bet the brand on. To me, there’s no one formula for success. My key take-out from Bauer’s point is that brands must above all else remain grounded: focused on what their customers want and not absorbed in their own cleverness. That same discipline should apply to brand strategy. The secret to brand success lies in perceiving when to change and how much to change.

As Scott Berkun has so astutely observed, “The idea of an innovation portfolio, where a range of risk is assumed across multiple ideas, is more honest.” His thought suggests to me that rather than framing useful and amazing as options, brands should look to pursue a range of improvements simultaneously. The majority of those improvements should be useful and based on customer feedback. Some should be amazing. They may or may not eventuate. And the rest? Quite possibly the rest should be meaningful – more than useful, relevant, interesting but less than completely-out-there. By Mark Di Somma  --  Learn more

According to its creator Joseph S. Nye Jr., a Harvard Academic, Soft Power can be defined as a means of generating a foreign public opinion in line with the same outcome you desire through understanding and fine tuning your messages based on how the audience hears your messages and interprets it. Soft Power Marketing is a medium of, well supplemented through physical trade of complimentary tangible assets. Shashi Tharoor @ TED India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_power

It is the first stage of the Lencioni Pyramid (The 5 main dysfunctions of a team) Other stages are: Lack of constructive conflict , Lack of commitment , Avoidance of accountability, Inattention to results. http://flpbs.fmhi.usf.edu/pdfs/Five%20Dysfunctions%20of%20a%20Team.pdf