tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76382910403797188632023-11-16T07:22:18.431+01:00Life After IEDCEven an MBA can do ITEven an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-71278391013028483272013-06-16T02:17:00.002+02:002014-06-27T19:21:39.657+02:00The biggest acquisition in the region<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Big news broke out in the
business world of the region. Two days ago biggest company in Croatia, Agrokor,
<a href="http://wire.seenews.com/news/croatias-agrokor-signs-deal-to-buy-53-1-stake-in-retailer-mercator-359576"><span style="color: blue;">signed
the deal</span></a> to buy majority stake in his main regional competitor, Slovenian
Mercator. The new company will have more than 60.000 employees and around 7
billion euros of revenues which will bring them in the group of 10 biggest
companies in the Eastern Europe. Technically, the deal is not finished since
there are still some conditions to be met but it is hard to believe that
something will now stop the owner of the Agrokor group - Mr. Todorić, from finally
realizing his dream. As it is often the case, operational restructuring and
merging of the two companies will take some time, but analyst believe that the
joint company will be better positioned to fight against global competitors
that are growing their presence in the region, and that the owners of the
Agrokor manage to take advantage of the new synergies and benefits coming from
the much bigger volume of trade.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But this deal is not only
interesting from the business perspective, but also from the political
perspective. As said, Agrokor is the biggest company in Croatia, and Mercator
is the second biggest in Slovenia, and as usual such inter-country deals brings
some politics on the scene additionally fueled by the media coverage that is
not always following business logic. Agrokor has tried for several years to buy
Mercator, and he would probably succeed in it if the Slovenian politicians
didn't stop the takeover. But this time, they couldn't prolong the sales of
their problematic company which is for several years in crisis.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is a good start to look
at the ownership structure, to better understand the background. So, who is the
owner of Agrokor? The answer is simple, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivica_Todoric"><span style="color: blue;">Ivica Todorić</span></a> and his
family through Agrokor have more than 50% share in all of the subsidiary
companies. Ivica Todorić is the richest person in Croatian and region, and is
frequently marked as a Tycoon by the local media. Word tycoon is here being
used for someone who has amassed enormous wealth during the transition from
Communism to market economy.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And who is the owner of
Mercator? The answer is not that simple, since the ownership structure till
this takeover was complex. Mercator is, like Agrokor, a joint-stock company,
but stocks of the company are held by the banks, other Slovenian companies,
investor funds and individuals, with no one being the major holder.
Nevertheless, the Slovenian Government had influential role in the ownership
through its controlled companies which had stocks of Mercator or had stocks of
companies that had stocks in Mercator. Such position allowed Government to
prolong the sales of the one of the most important national companies for some
time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The reason for such
different ownership structure in two countries could be found more than twenty
years ago. With the fall of communism, new democratic government in Eastern
Europe took different paths towards transition to market economy. The path of
Croatian government was to sell a majority of the formerly state-owned
companies to private hands, usually to individuals and families with good connections
to the ruling party. Basically, the old communist directors of the state enterprises
were removed from their positions, bringing the new owners onto their positions.
This has resulted in some famous fiascos, because some of the new owners
haven't been capable of managing the large enterprises. But, some were more successful,
one of them being Mr. Todorić who already had experience in the private
business, and who has without doubt showed big talent at managing his large
business.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In Slovenia the
transformation was different. Instead of giving socialist enterprises to the
few families, the government privatized companies by redistributing shares of
the companies to the former workers and managers. This move kept majority of
the former directors in their positions, but also increased the influence of
the politics in the economy, since the companies and management boards were
interconnected with one another, with many important national companies, like
banks, insurance, telecom operator, Oil Company, etc. still held by the government.
Nevertheless, such system worked very well till, with Slovenia being praised as
one of the most successful transition economies and as the country that should
play the role of the bridge between Western and South-Eastern Europe.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But, the current financial
crisis also hit Slovenia. The construction companies were first to go down,
with almost all the Slovenian construction sector going bankrupt. Secondly,
with poor handling of the crisis by the Slovenian Government, a lot of formerly
successful companies went into the problems, one of them being Mercator.
Recently the government had made a decision to sell its biggest companies to
the foreign investors. Several years ago takeover of the Slovenian company by its
south neighbors would be surprising news, but Mercator's takeover was just the
last in the series of similar events. On top of that, in Croatia the crisis in
no less severe, with the standard of living going down and unemployment going
up, but it seems that some of the companies have found the way to strengthen its
position in the anticipation of the coming accession to the EU market.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So, this takeover
underlines the crisis in which the Slovenian economy (and society) is now. From
the Croatian perspective, it is questionable how this takeover will benefit
average citizen since the biggest Croatian retailer will now have dominant
position on the market. From the business side, it remains to be seen how this
acquisition will turn out. I personally have some reserves, knowing the
difference in business culture, relationship to suppliers, business model and
management style between two companies.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
</div>
</div>
Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-17007132294677474302012-02-12T21:38:00.000+01:002012-02-12T21:38:44.307+01:00Bring Your Own Device - Part II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDp4HI447nMK-4Qza9mLSX6yH9VqD3Un58UhWAqInLH9ZwAh3AVbAPDCdTpz9Rh-B-D17QM6BogSisQ2R2kmh2-F-y6sMmYjGQ4keCiF0g4PMvXgibqyEtttbv0dO2oPRaWlSPu_UKQI4/s1600/LaptopClassroom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDp4HI447nMK-4Qza9mLSX6yH9VqD3Un58UhWAqInLH9ZwAh3AVbAPDCdTpz9Rh-B-D17QM6BogSisQ2R2kmh2-F-y6sMmYjGQ4keCiF0g4PMvXgibqyEtttbv0dO2oPRaWlSPu_UKQI4/s1600/LaptopClassroom.jpg" /></a>Last month I blogged about a new trend in the business practices in the West - a trend to allow, or even request, their employees to bring their own mobile devices to work (laptop, smartphone, etc.) It didn't pass long before I encountered this novel approach, although in little different manifestation, in practice.</div><br />
As someone who regularly goes to IT classrooms and education, I was accustomed to the typical setup of an IT classroom: a bunch of PCs arranged in rows and connected to a local network and to a classroom server, usually located in the backroom. But, recently i received an invitation to the classroom in which an organizer has specified that each attendee has to bring his own laptop!<br />
<br />
And when you think about it, it makes a perfect sense. As I mentioned in my last blog, today majority of IT professional has their own laptop or at least can bring their official mobile device. Secondly, with advent of Cloud Computing you don't need to have dedicated Education server - you can simply lease one from several Cloud Computing providers and connect students' laptops to it through internet. And thirdly, you don't have to waste time with configuring user computers and reinstalling the PC image each time you have another group of students.<br />
<br />
This setup is especially attractive to smaller companies that don't have dedicated classrooms and staff for conducting education. After all, the main reason why someone will choose particular education is quality of an instructor, not an exclusivity of facility. Therefore, with such dynamic setup, smaller IT companies can harness the knowledge of their experienced workers who don't work full-time as an instructors, but without spending unnecessary amount of money in maintaining their own IT Classroom.Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-43979287890465299332012-01-15T23:17:00.001+01:002012-01-15T23:19:15.135+01:00Brig Your Own DeviceFor someone living in the "backyard" of Europe, it's always useful to follow news from across the ocean in anticipation of the trends that will, with usual delay of a few years, hit the coast of my region too.<br />
<br />
One of those trends is "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bring_your_own_device">Bring Your Own Device</a>" policy that more and more companies in the west start to implement in their networks. To put it shortly, bring your own device is not some fancy way of inviting you to a party, but a model in which employer doesn't necesarily provide any more corporate laptops, smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices to their employees, but instead permits to their future or present employees to bring their own device to work.<br />
<br />
IT workers are <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/debate/great-debate-bring-your-own-device/6313019">divided along this issue</a>. I will not going deep into the issues of security, compliance, manageability, etc. that frequently pop up in this debate. Let me consider this issue from a practical viewpoint.<br />
<br />
It's nothing unusual that businesses are always trying to find a way to lower their costs, especially in these times. And BYOD policy undoubtedly goes into that direction - it is clear that it shifts cost of buying new personal harware from company to the employee. Of course, you have to take into account the cost of maintaining tdhat devices, security and so on, but today when majority of mobile workers carry their official laptops to their home, I'm sure that those costs would not be higher than usual. Therefore, the BYOD policy is beneficial to the organization. It would be unwise to announce it radically: "From now on you must bring your own device to work", but gradually it can lower the cost of IT by letting employees to use personal devices in corporate environment.<br />
<br />
What about employees? I think there is not much to do but to be prepared to work in new circumstances. Looking at the positive side, you will be free to choose your own device you will work on and you might use one device for private and business purpose. But freedom comes with a price, you will have to pay for it, which is nuisance if you are looking for a job - employer can, and why not, ask you to bring your own device to work, similarly as he asks you to bring your own clothes or your own car to the work. Giving present circumstances, I would bet that most job seekers would accept those conditions.<br />
<br />
So, BYOD is an attractive proposal to the businesses, especially to the IT companies or IT departments. Although I didn't heard of any company in the region that is using this policy, I bet we will not need to wait for too long to see first signs of it.Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-30156864526501109682011-12-17T11:36:00.000+01:002011-12-17T11:36:35.926+01:00Stuck behing the CRM cloudAs I have already wrote on this blog, CRM in the cloud is all the rage now. All important software vendors in a CRM industry are offering their cloud solution, and some of them depend only on the SaaS business model.<br />
<br />
Microsoft is of course one of them, with their flagship product "Dynamics CRM 2011" being offered in the "on premise" and "online" model. But, few people know that Microsoft has another product that has characteristics of a CRM application, namely the <a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/CH010371336.aspx">Business Contact Manager for Office 2010</a>. It is not cloud based, far from that, it is offered as an add-on for Outlook 2010 and cannot be bought separately, only as a part of volume licensing for Office.<br />
<br />
Although it's more of a contact manager application that enables small businesses to move all of their contacts in personal Outlook folders to one location, it has more advanced features that could classify it as a CRM application - opportunity management, marketing management and basic project management. It even has an offline capability, a feature that is lacking even in some professional CRM applications.<br />
On another hand, BCM has many limitations: it's bound to Outlook and cannot be used separately, it can be obtained only through an Office volume licensing (although, Microsoft has recently <a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/download-business-contact-manager-for-outlook-2010-FX102232644.aspx">relaxed this requirement</a>) and it has only limited customization capabilities.<br />
<br />
In spite of all of this, I found BCM to be very interesting to small businesses that are already using Microsoft Office. It seamlessly integrates with Outlook, offering well known environment to the user and it works very well as a contact management application without overwhelming user with features he basically doesn't need.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, the future of BCM seems to be questionable at best. Microsoft is obviously not paying much attention to further development of this product, which can best be seen if you visit <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/bcm/">official BCM blog</a>, that hasn't been updated for more than one year. I would not be surprised if Microsoft doesn't continue to offer BCM with his next version of Office. It has already done similar thing few years ago when he discontinued the Office Accounting - a basic accounting package which was offered in almost the same model as BCM. Microsoft is obviously using such add-on products to boost the sales of Office, but as long as they don't endanger their other products. In the case of BCM, it is in some sense the competitor of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, so it would be logical, and desirable from Microsoft's point of view, that current users of BCM gradually move to Microsoft's <a href="http://crm.dynamics.com/">online Dynamics CRM</a>. <br />
<br />
It remains to be seen what will happen - will BCM continue to exist, or it is living his last days. Until then, BCM is living in some kind of Limbo, stuck behind the CRM cloud.Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-72206062444505778452011-05-25T17:17:00.006+02:002011-05-25T17:22:23.683+02:00Dynamics CRM and Skype<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRHhrVn4p86xSsZ0ns1XDb4y-9iTCWP8hnPtVMcbDKo_VU21Vkk9V56OoH4rQ-YSq21fvqdd4dctHvSt-rzMXD8E9Go6chHFSb2-Pt3m2qLzSlhLQ2JZle0bDRcrn5uVVNFSugPMkkEnc/s1600/CRMplusSkype.png"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 74px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610673196282206354" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRHhrVn4p86xSsZ0ns1XDb4y-9iTCWP8hnPtVMcbDKo_VU21Vkk9V56OoH4rQ-YSq21fvqdd4dctHvSt-rzMXD8E9Go6chHFSb2-Pt3m2qLzSlhLQ2JZle0bDRcrn5uVVNFSugPMkkEnc/s320/CRMplusSkype.png" /></a><br /><br /><div>The Microsoft's purchase of Skype at outrageous purchase price of 8.5$ billion is already the old news. There were many speculations at what is the Microsoft's plan with his new acquisition, is it ingenious move not recognized at the moment, like Microsoft's investment in the Facebook, or is it yet another blunder by the software giant. But, by now the dust has settled down, and as always the time will tell was it the good idea or not.<br /><br />But, of course, Microsoft for sure has in plan to integrate Skype with his other products. He already has software for conferencing, phone calls and collaboration - Microsoft Lync, but through Skype they will be able to reach much larger customer base and to strengthen their position in the mobile market. After all, telephone and data networks are already integrated, and why not to have the same communication software on your mobile phone, fixed phone and personal computer?<br /><br />One interesting integration is integration with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM. There have already been <a href="http://www.crmsoftwareblog.com/2011/05/what-the-skype-purchase-could-mean-to-microsoft-crm/">comments on that issue</a>, and I think that such integration will give addition strength to the CRM offering, but not much. It would be cool for Skype and CRM users to automatically call a contact from their CRM windows, or to automatically record a time and duration of the skype call, but such integration already do exist, although through third-party tools, and is not expensive. Call centers are important users of phone integration, but such establishments use IP telephony and specialized software for the calling, and usually it can also be well integrated to the CRM. Therefore, out of the box integration with Skype would be nice feature, but not crucial. </div>Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-9706043262529408032011-05-06T12:07:00.017+02:002011-05-06T14:55:14.216+02:00Comparing Apples and OrangesOur marketing professor at <a href="http://www.iedc.si/home.aspx">MBA studies </a>used to say: "You can always find a market where you are a leader, if you define market accordingly". A similar wit could be applied to comparing one product to another: "You can always find that your product is better than competitor's if you define criteria accordingly".<br /><br />The idea for this post came after encountering some sort of "comparison war" between two global players in the CRM market: Salesforce and Microsoft. Microsoft has made a strong entry in the hosted CRM market by launching the <a href="http://crm.dynamics.com/">online CRM 2011</a>, which has obviously provoked the <a href="http://www.salesforce.com/">salesforce.com</a>, by now the global leader in that segment, to respond with typical chart aimed to present to general public the advantages of Salesforce vs Microsoft. This chart was published at the beginning of the year, and since then it was changed, so firstly I will post the original chart:<br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTIe4Nn0g8gXvHuY1o9DQF-UF2B36t-utODqTz2gu-LnHtWtUIFZlEZU2glpy35YXnZMJZc-bwNKk3SWH-34x-mXVqinX_CXRKF6ZRl2rXfrhQyCE4K4GEYSP5xOV6VWSop10g_i3pjCI/s1600/Salesforce-Microsoft+pic1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 268px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5603551069946793522" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTIe4Nn0g8gXvHuY1o9DQF-UF2B36t-utODqTz2gu-LnHtWtUIFZlEZU2glpy35YXnZMJZc-bwNKk3SWH-34x-mXVqinX_CXRKF6ZRl2rXfrhQyCE4K4GEYSP5xOV6VWSop10g_i3pjCI/s320/Salesforce-Microsoft+pic1.jpg" /></a> </p>This chart has of-coruse caused a response from Microsoft, primarily from Microsoft parners and bloggers. They have presented evidence that this chart is misleading and plain wrong. The most erudite was a <a href="http://blog.sonomapartners.com/2011/03/microsoft-dynamics-crm-2011-and-salesforcecom-showdown.html">blog from Sonoma partners</a>, one of the leading Microsoft CRM's partners, in which they have analyzed and refuted each of the seven claims that Salesforce has presented.<br /><br />Now comes the interesting part. Salesforce has since then changed it's original chart and now, at the time of writing it looks like this one:<br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ8Q0em9_5CaRhy-SYt1t6hyphenhyphenfPKNOR1BEtMyyKPoJwpXFTwoS0wqvVm3AFXyYhSQUDp300k-8iU8ELYg22ClKqFQjTjOmpIGthNRDV3q19OcbtcXrA_PeOd8explzQwFOQ4kbze3VNIZQ/s1600/Salesforce-Microsoft+pic2.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 273px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5603550975562500018" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ8Q0em9_5CaRhy-SYt1t6hyphenhyphenfPKNOR1BEtMyyKPoJwpXFTwoS0wqvVm3AFXyYhSQUDp300k-8iU8ELYg22ClKqFQjTjOmpIGthNRDV3q19OcbtcXrA_PeOd8explzQwFOQ4kbze3VNIZQ/s320/Salesforce-Microsoft+pic2.jpg" /></a><br />You can also look <a href="http://www.salesforce.com/salesforceadvantage/">at the link </a>where the graph was published, but I'm posting the graphic, so not to lose the original chart if the Salesforce choose to tweak it once more.</p> <p>Now, not knowing anything about Salesforce or Microsoft, you can notice that Salesforce has changed a criteria a little bit, and most interestingly, they are now more generous, as before they were better on all 7 points, and now they are better on 6 points, with Outlook integration being listed as a feature which both products support.<br /><br />Curiously enough, the criteria they have chosen to eliminate in the first chart, "any email app", to be acknowledged as equally supported on the second chart, "Outlook integration", is the one on which they had the best chance of claiming their advantage. It is truth that Microsoft's CRM works great with their most popular mail client - Outlook, but it is also truth that it doesn't have out-of -the-box integration with other mail clients, like Lotus Notes or Gmail, where Salesforce supports all three clients. The customer who doesn't use Outlook as their mail client has to pay for the third party add-on like <a href="http://www.linkpoint360.com/default.aspx">LinkPoint360</a> to have the integration. Now, I'm using all three mail clients and in my opinion the Outlook is clearly the best, and globally it's the most popular client. But, of course, not everyone will share my opinion, and in many situations the change of mail client is not feasible.</p> <p>But, of course, such comparisons are almost never intended to be as accurate as possible. Their main aim is to persuade the potential buyer to choose our solution. And one can well imagine the reasoning of a Salesforce's employee who was responsible for re-crafting the chart: "what is more convincing, seeing a chart on which we are better from competitor in every single aspect, or seeing a chart in which we are better in every single aspect except in one in which we generously give the credit to the competitor? No one is going to believe that we are better in everything, so, to make things more realistic let us concede that just somewhere Microsoft is on equal terms with us." </p> <p>I don't want to say that Salesforce is deceitful company, Microsoft also has his own fair shares of marketing bluffs and such misleading comparisons are typical in Software industry. Both products have there own strengths and weaknesses, and the buyer has to go much deeper into each product to rightly decide which one is better for him. But, Salesforce's marketing department could have certainly done a better job of promoting advantages of their product to the competitor's.</p>Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-30751295674994490932011-04-25T00:48:00.005+02:002011-04-25T01:22:30.525+02:00I have finished my second marathon!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg2GWyckv0jNsT9HBBFrBtOtHoBO_KpmM9itFrdb3OBqGqNW8R-CWLVItifzmbmv0RB3F3Vw59DmtbUjbh2XpuzFoDi1WZOvTVNwV3bfe0e5r0AnpJQgAE5Yn-4iByziJ6KFxZFkX62FM/s1600/BeckiMaraton.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599286521695049874" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg2GWyckv0jNsT9HBBFrBtOtHoBO_KpmM9itFrdb3OBqGqNW8R-CWLVItifzmbmv0RB3F3Vw59DmtbUjbh2XpuzFoDi1WZOvTVNwV3bfe0e5r0AnpJQgAE5Yn-4iByziJ6KFxZFkX62FM/s320/BeckiMaraton.JPG" /></a> This time in Vienna! After my <a href="http://www.vinkomalada.com/2008/10/even-mba-can-run-marathon.html">first marathon two and a half years ago</a>, and a period of reduced level of physical activity, I decided to prepare for my second marathon. Since this time the marathon was held in the spring, I had to excercise during the winter, which proved to be more difficult due to the weather conditions. Nevertheless, I finished it, without any injuries or exhaustion, but I cannot be happy with my <a href="http://www.vienna-marathon.com/?marathon=true&nummer=4612&runner=true&wantResult=2011">race netto time of 4:23:48</a>, which is mediocre at best, even by amateur standards. I promised to myself that the next time I will again run the marathon under the 4 hours!<br /><br />Apart from that, the <a href="http://www.vienna-marathon.com/">Vienna marathon </a>is one fine example of excellently organized sport event. Even with more than 30.000 participants, there were no delays in any part of the event, from registering and issuing race numbers, to the delivering of medals and refreshments. Adding to that the nicely designed course that goes by most of the landmarks of Vienna, and rarely repeats itself, you get the Marathon that is worth taking part in.Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-70890791769550905142011-04-21T23:49:00.006+02:002011-04-22T00:20:49.291+02:00What do customers want from a relationship?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFCtNp2yL8vNVhTGuW2bDamGLZ_WbWS3xlsiVCrc_w3WDA2AEDWxnACm2pIqZv9ciFm1J8uJplP2u52yPHowS0hDEwXTxxeHk1v1hqFd_jmJkX9Z-bkd393ItezbQmwOHqEGZfbpLtDXs/s1600/CustomerBusinessPerceptiongap.png"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 360px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 205px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598158531469790274" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFCtNp2yL8vNVhTGuW2bDamGLZ_WbWS3xlsiVCrc_w3WDA2AEDWxnACm2pIqZv9ciFm1J8uJplP2u52yPHowS0hDEwXTxxeHk1v1hqFd_jmJkX9Z-bkd393ItezbQmwOHqEGZfbpLtDXs/s320/CustomerBusinessPerceptiongap.png" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div>In the last yar or so, having some kind of a presence on social networking sites like facebook become almost mandatory for businesses of all sizes. Remember when 15 years ago, the people stopped asking do you have an e-mail, but instead asked what is you e-mail address? Or,"What is your web page?" instead of "Do you have a web page?" Similarly, the questions like "Can I add you as a friend" are more and more common in comparison to the questions like "Are you a member of Facebook?".</div><br /><br /><div>In such a situation, it quite natural for businesses to join the crowd and start interacting with customers on Social networks, with the probable aim of establishing their presence, building the their brands, building the loyalty, getting new dcustomers and, of course, indirectly increasing their sales.</div><br /><br /><div>Nevertheless, things are not easy as they look on the firs sight. Merely establishing your presence on Social sites is far from enough as customers don't really behave according to our expectations. Fof all of you looking for a way to benefit from Social networking sites, I highly recommend reading the recently published <a href="http://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/en/gbe03391usen/GBE03391USEN.PDF">IBM study on Social CRM</a>! The most interesting part is the big gap in perception of the sutomer-business relationship between two groups. But, the other findings are also very interesting.</div>Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-18103352642092100052011-01-18T00:51:00.003+01:002011-01-18T00:57:53.989+01:00New Kids on the Block<span xmlns=""> <p>In the last few years CRM market has moved closer to maturity stage. There are now basically 3-4 global vendors that are offering full-blown CRM solutions and that have developed strong community around their products: SAP, Oracle, Microsoft and Salesforce. Of course, there are lots of other strong players, for example SugarCRM or ZOHO, but majority of them have tried to position themselves in some vertical niche, for example offering customized CRM solutions to finance or telecommunications industry. There are also a lot of players that have jumped on SaaS and Cloud bandwagon and are now offering CRM solution as part of the greater suit of "cloud" applications.<br /></p><p>Nevertheless, one may also find companies who have found profitable regional niches. This is especially true in this part of the world where there are lots of small countries and small markets that are not interesting to large vendors at the moment, at least not as much as bigger and more developed markets such as USA. Recently I have stumbled across on one such company – <a href="http://www.intera.si/en">Intera</a> , and their CRM offering – <a href="http://www.intera.si/intrix_crm_tool">Intrix CRM</a>. Intera is currently operating in Slovenia, and is basically offering a SaaS solution that has basic CRM functionalities like contact and account management, tracking of activities, reporting, scheduling of tasks and appointments, managing opportunities, importing data and so on. As almost all SaaS vendors it operates on a simple principle – customer pays fixed fee per user per month and gets web-based application that he can use on any computer that is connected to internet and has web browser. Advantages of such offering are well know: customers don't have to invest in software or infrastructure at the beginning and can easily scale the usage of the application based on their needs. Saas model is especially interesting to smaller companies who don't have big budget or dedicated IT staff.<br /></p><p>Intrix CRM is cute solution with fancy design, but, from the functional standpoint it lags a lot behind big vendors like Salesforce or Microsoft. I will just mention that quote management is completely missing, that integration with Outlook is shaky at best and that possibility of customizations by customer or third party is highly reduced, but as some kind of entry-level CRM solution for small companies it works well enough. And of course, they have found the market niche that is currently too small to be noticed on "radars" of big guys. They know their home market very well, and through some clever marketing they have attained a lot of small companies. As such, they are currently offering one more example of how one small company can successfully find a profitable part of the market that is currently dominated by big players.</p></span>Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-82962688121835532132010-12-21T23:09:00.004+01:002010-12-21T23:16:22.419+01:00Meeting of the IEDC Alumni Club in Croatia<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNZBUXVFAUIzYFyUWX7dKU6h2KlxqK5axbg6EJz_qRyou-r7wP4vIad8JrJRqc-nGKGfg3IrdJjNICSEpqjce023Z2SPxVMWTWa773Y1jmvQrPrYb3zRdln7NLWabRcROV2RLXpT9QBzo/s1600/IEDClogo-alumni.png"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 117px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 199px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553261669337161730" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNZBUXVFAUIzYFyUWX7dKU6h2KlxqK5axbg6EJz_qRyou-r7wP4vIad8JrJRqc-nGKGfg3IrdJjNICSEpqjce023Z2SPxVMWTWa773Y1jmvQrPrYb3zRdln7NLWabRcROV2RLXpT9QBzo/s320/IEDClogo-alumni.png" /></a> <span xmlns="">There were some good news from the alumni network – they are alive! It's not good news in itself, but taking into account the current crisis and a dismal fact that majority of former students of business schools in region don't stay in touch after graduation, the fact that Croatian Alumni Club organizes regular activities and meetings is a great thing. Unfortunately, this was the first formal occasion after graduation in 2008. that I attended, and it was good opportunity to meet some of my old colleagues and to make acquaintance with some new ones.<br /><div><br /><p>One of the interesting activities organized by the Croatian Club is sailing, held each year in May, on the beautiful Adriatic coast. I haven't been able to participate in the last two years, but for sure one day I will find enough free time to experience life on the boat. The second activity is Case Study competition, organized for the potential students of the school. And recently, <a href="http://www.iedc-alumni.hr/">the web page</a> of the club has been opened.<br /></p><br /><p>I hope the club will continue to function successfully and of course, I will give my contribution to it. The reputation of the school is measured, among other things, by the strength of its alumni network.<br /></p><br /><p>See you at the next event!</p></span></div>Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-61045159402377655382010-05-31T21:38:00.004+02:002010-05-31T22:45:18.435+02:00Send and Pray<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpECqnZ3tCOJpzvUQ-gYJ0c_e9R3NlJgwP3KAJ8SwL-9MXF1GiRRy54nWOVIfuc8kNXhiUZxYVeyseQv5U2b-B7_pvEGPSPfsns0F2i9sE2plCSjxoIy-3T4fUqAAAX1oclIFTTgmUDzQ/s1600/e-mail.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 225px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 159px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477536248691084354" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpECqnZ3tCOJpzvUQ-gYJ0c_e9R3NlJgwP3KAJ8SwL-9MXF1GiRRy54nWOVIfuc8kNXhiUZxYVeyseQv5U2b-B7_pvEGPSPfsns0F2i9sE2plCSjxoIy-3T4fUqAAAX1oclIFTTgmUDzQ/s320/e-mail.jpg" /></a> The ongoing crisis has obviously changed some behaviors and habits of the people and businesses in this part of Europe. Companies have almost ubiquitously cut costs, cut budgets and cut headcount. As usual, one of the first budgets to be cut was marketing budget, but of course, it was not completely canceled. Every company needs sales and marketing, and some sort of sales-generating activities has to be done. Since money is a scarce resource these days, marketing departments have turned to the cheaper methods of promotion and advertising, one of them being the notorious e-mail marketing.<br /><br />I'm not talking here about spam, I'm talking about those nicely crafted e-mails sent to you by existing businesses offering you great product at fantastic price. And, don't get me wrong, I don't complain about practice of using e-mail as a marketing channel, I'm using it also! And it's good to be proactive in the time of crisis. But, unfortunately, the vast majority of those mails are very un-sophisticated.<br /><br />First of all, it seems to me that majority of Croatian companies never heard of the concept of "opting-out" or "opting-in". Not only that in many cases I was put on someone's newsletter list, although I never gave my e-mail address, but sometime I don't even have option to unsubscribe, or if I have it it's made very inconvenient. For example, my favorite is mailing list from one company that asks me to send them back blank mail if I want to unsubscribe (BTW: it never worked)!<br /><br />Secondly, very few of them have been personalized. It seems to me that Croatian companies are not even able to learn my name, although it's easily recognizable from my mail-address. And not only that, the content of mail is obviously the same for all the recipients, although majority of their offering usually doesn't interest me. And some staff that really interests me are buried somewhere inside their clunky mail.<br /><br />And finally, I'm not completely sure about this, but based on my technical insight and feedbacks from the market, it seems that very few of them are using any kind of Marketing Service Provider, or that they track results of their e-mail campaigns in any effective way. For example, important questions like "What is click-through rate of our mails", "what is read rate?" or "how many mails are forwarded?" evidently stay unanswered for many of well-meaning initiators of mailing campaigns.<br /><br />And its pity, because measuring e-mail marketing results doesn't need to be expensive or time-consuming. It can be easy as using some type of web analytics engine and smartly designing your mail, or more sophisticated like using functionalities of your CRM solution (and you have one, don't you?)<br /><br />Unfortunately, without way of measuring success (or failure) of e-mail marketing campaigns, most of those mailing efforts will be like sending to whoever you can, and praying that someone will respond to your mail someday.Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-40555287457016566982010-01-31T00:04:00.005+01:002010-01-31T01:37:05.783+01:00More about parallels between chess and life<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqhWRg4ZP76NaHgHI0xViFRUwItj_mxSYoHrPix9hTjBR-J-5RG4itIkpOTUY9OklZNLawmRfhQRx2usnm7RtAIjvpQgifBjBHAU97qtj_1q39xjoBn6zn0tAXI7h6cNSI4AeFOttxuqI/s1600-h/chess.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 271px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432673919562765266" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqhWRg4ZP76NaHgHI0xViFRUwItj_mxSYoHrPix9hTjBR-J-5RG4itIkpOTUY9OklZNLawmRfhQRx2usnm7RtAIjvpQgifBjBHAU97qtj_1q39xjoBn6zn0tAXI7h6cNSI4AeFOttxuqI/s320/chess.jpg" /></a> To my pleasant surprise I found that some people are actually reading my blog! So, in this post I will continue the topic touched in the last post, similarities and differences between chess and life (or chess and business, in that matter). Last time I was a little bit lame, I only scratched the surface of this topic, so now I will elaborate a little bit on this issue.<br /><br />For me, as a chessplayer, it's always intriguing when I find some expert from some other field who uses chess analogy to illustrate his point. Good example is field of strategic management, in which words and concepts such as "strategy", "tactics", "resources", "planning" are abundant, and yet those same terminology is central to chess theory, especially concepts of strategy and planning. One nice little anecdote from chess world, I found many times in business litterature is story about renowned grandmaster who "<em>played an exibition match against a New York amateur - and lost. The champion was renowned for his chessboard strategy . his ability to plan a dozen or more moves ahead as a game developed. At the post-match press conference the amateur was asked how many moves ahead he had planned in defeating the master. 'Only one,' he replied. 'The right one.</em>'" And, many times the companies who were planning a lot in advance were beaten by those who saw only one move in advance - the right one.<br /><br />Puting strategic management aside, the other discipline that uses chess as an interesting field of investigation is decision making. I have read several researches in this field that have used chess players in experiments regarding decision making process, making correlations and conclusions about decision making in time-pressure situations. It's quite logical, since in chess you have limited amount of time to make a lot of decision during one average game.<br /><br />Psychologysts also took interest in chess, and vice versa. Nothing to surprise us, since it's one important aspect of the game, a lot was written about importance of talent in chess, cognitive process of thinking, personality of chess players and so on. And, I cannot resist to tell another joke about one famous grandmaster (not the same one as in the previous example) who "<em>was playing a simul in the Mental institution in New York. He made pretty good result but some tall guy was playing absolutely brilliant and has demolished the Grandmaster. At the parting Grandmaster congratulated to the winner once again and this one said: 'Mister Evans. For one it's not indispensable to be crazy so he could play good, but it really helps alot.</em>'"<br />And I can continue list with computer science, game theory, even philosophy etc...<br /><br />Nevertheless, one should not go too far in drawing parallels between chess and live. One very important dimension is the social one. Chess is a zero-sum game, you win or lose, or you can share a point with your opponent, but you can take the whole point or share it, you cannot make it bigger and than distribute id. There is little space for cooperation, making consensus, making coallitions or lobbying, and this is one of the fundamental building blocks of social space. Chess is good in illustrating competitive situations when you are trying to outsmart your opponent, but sometimes you don't know who is your oppononent, and sometime you don't need to outsmart him, and most of the time it's more important who are your friends.<br /><br />And, with those thoughts I will conclude this post. This was not intended to be chess-blog, but I'm glad that I have captured attention of some internet-dwellers, I hope you will follow me in the posts that will come.Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-29370378695691519062009-12-31T20:14:00.009+01:002009-12-31T21:05:24.511+01:00Even an MBA can become a chess master<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj42pOupF6LBccoy8opKpkc1Jouw13JPkSOl5jXzLqKS4VxzXfA0r9HchJIPYKNEN5wYsrH1hLM1pNFsd8D2vwJOYLhufgYI9v7FoSEoZrw4OJPWVn8AC07h1BZA5ZmVEycvpq49gBzezw/s1600-h/Sah-pobjednik.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421482810453236530" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj42pOupF6LBccoy8opKpkc1Jouw13JPkSOl5jXzLqKS4VxzXfA0r9HchJIPYKNEN5wYsrH1hLM1pNFsd8D2vwJOYLhufgYI9v7FoSEoZrw4OJPWVn8AC07h1BZA5ZmVEycvpq49gBzezw/s320/Sah-pobjednik.JPG" /></a> Yes, in this time of recession and crisis, I have realized the often-used adage "crisis is opportunity" and took the opportunity to accomplish my old ambitions by attaining a title of FIDE master in Chess. And this is the result of my victory in the strong chess tournament held in Zagreb last month and of my successful leadership of the local chess team "HRT Zagreb" named after the Croatian National Television. The picture above is taken at the closing ceremony of the tournament, while I was receiving cup and money prize. This easily describes a smile on my face :-)<br /><br />For those of you more interested in chess, you can find final ranking in the torunament I won <a href="http://chess-results.com/tnr26928.aspx?art=1&rd=9&lan=1&m=-1&wi=1000">on this page</a> and final standings of the team competition I won with my team on <a href="http://www.crochess.com/lige_09/centar/4aliga.shtm">on this page</a>. Also, description of chess titles could be found <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE_titles">on this page</a>.<br /><br />It's not easy to achieve this level in chess, or to be first in the torunament, that's reason I'm bragging about it. Chess requires from you to put a lof of effort in playing and studying of the game to achieve a success, but after all it's still a game and no one guarantees that you will outplay your opponent and won a game, no matter how knowledgeable you are. You need a lot of knowledge, but also a lof of skill and the iron determination to achieve a success in it. Those characteristics compelled many people to draw parallels between chess and life, or between chess and business. Good examples could be famous world champion Garry Kasparov who wrote a book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Life-Imitates-Chess-Boardroom/dp/B001OMHVEQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262288369&sr=1-3">"How Life Imitates Chess"</a>, and good Grandmaster Lars Bo Hansen who wrote a book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Chess-Strategy-Lars-Hansen/dp/1904600263/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262288688&sr=1-1">"Foundations of Chess Strategy"</a>.<br /><br />I encourage the people who don't play chess to read Kasparov's book, it has many interesting points and you don't need to know how to play chess to read it. And those with chess and business background, like me, could find interesting ideas on the subject in Hansen's book.Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-69703771034804501082009-02-02T19:09:00.005+01:002009-02-02T19:54:57.916+01:00Even an MBA can do IT<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NcoDV0dhWPA&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NcoDV0dhWPA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />The above title is a little game of words taken from the famous FedEx ad shown at the beginning of this post. Since I have recently finished my MBA studies, and I'm working in the IT field for more than 5 years, I would like through this blog to overcome the gap between these two interconnected fields: Business and Information Technology.<br /><br />The ad is basically reinforcing the common prejudice among technical people that managers (especially those with MBA title) are just a bunch of mediocre guys in fancy suits who are only competent in talking and making life tougher for the people who do the real work. On the other hand, the reality is that MBA is now on the height of its popularity, and more and more people with technical and engineering background are graduating from MBA studies and filling the ranks of managers and consultants.<br /><br />The world is never black-and-white, and there are few businesspeople that are incompetent and arrogant as the guy in the above ad, as there are really few IT persons that are experts only in IT and dysfunctional in any other aspect of life - which is other misconception commonly held among businesspersons (and technical people too!) In modern world spheres of business and IT are so interconnected that good understanding between these two "worlds" is crucial for the progress of the many aspects of society. So, in the next few posts I will try to explain a difference in perception between these two groups of people that is causing a lot of misunderstanding in the work.Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-68168923130835450402008-12-21T23:33:00.007+01:002009-02-02T19:09:30.553+01:00CRM in the real world!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTyP2rEUiokPuU7OrvKoyKky27d-stGdsPENDN8N_PX21fYZbhrOdBTKfotmKccvNnuhFvWJjKcHxT0BeD4VrvywbvQQMKz4YrVKfg9z8KVeQg4Mh2wZDg41QlnS3Z9vMzq9I6ffouuc/s1600-h/DynamicsCRM.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 290px; height: 127px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTyP2rEUiokPuU7OrvKoyKky27d-stGdsPENDN8N_PX21fYZbhrOdBTKfotmKccvNnuhFvWJjKcHxT0BeD4VrvywbvQQMKz4YrVKfg9z8KVeQg4Mh2wZDg41QlnS3Z9vMzq9I6ffouuc/s320/DynamicsCRM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282391939683370418" /></a><br />A lot has been said and written about CRM in the last ten years, but unfortunately CRM projects in the south-east Europe are still hard to see, and even those that are formally started are still in the phase of planning. Therefore, it is great pleasure to see a CRM project that has delivered on its promises, and is successfully implemented. One such project is implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 in the IEDC - Bled School of Management, the project that was finished just recently. Since I graduated from the same school one week ago, I got good insight into the status of the project.<br /><br />Main motivation for the introducing the sophisticated CRM system was rigidity and static orientation of the old CRM software. It's better to call old software Contact management software, since it was basically big database of contacts, with lot of fields added to contact card that had a purpose to describe different interactions between school and clients. For example, apart from MBA courses, school organizes a lot of seminars and other events. To track attendance of these different types of seminars, contact card of the participant had a special field in which was written in what seminars and classes a student has participated. Since it was not uncommon for one person to attend several types of programs, and each program has its own code, this field soon became an unintelligible string of characters. Of course, computer could still decipher this string, but it was hard to assemble meaningful reports and sensitivity to errors was high.<br /><br />School felt a need for modern, process-oriented, CRM software. Since the old software was hard to change and initial idea to use the CRM functionality of existing Navision implementation didn't hold off, choice fell on the newest version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM family - CRM 4.0. The project, during which CRM was installed on server and 36 client computers, was 10 month long, out of it 4 months went on planning and remaining 6 months on the actual implementation. It's interesting to note that project was based more on the "insourcing" than on the "outsorcing", meaning that majority of tasks were done by internal staff rather than external consultants, who were used usually only for migration of data. Customizations were avoided as much as was possible, using advantage of the already existing CRM functionalities and processes.<br /><br />But, although transition was successfully done and old software is now defunct, there is still a lot to do in the field of change management. Change in the software needs some time to be fully accepted by the people who use it, and this is especially true for the long-time users of the old program. Nevertheless, a lot of improvements have been seen, from faster executing of everyday tasks like printing labels, to better introspection of different ways of interactions with customers. Being myself a customer of this school, I hope that new software will help school to further develop and nourish relationship with its former, present and future students.Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-9917054688747950762008-11-24T17:39:00.009+01:002008-11-24T23:14:38.973+01:00Traditional Businesses in a Changing World<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7A-hopkSLWeh44kDbRZrkcH3-7FRctXZJeS91hk4o2kDdoxKI0lByHM6gC1XYi0_B-F_gVXzjLCuDW3mLd4m6pcTPUbxB4UGMOYMy58xopUdpXPIC0OqikMFHnFMfuNZt5EuvR8E-fVo/s1600-h/MIBSchool.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7A-hopkSLWeh44kDbRZrkcH3-7FRctXZJeS91hk4o2kDdoxKI0lByHM6gC1XYi0_B-F_gVXzjLCuDW3mLd4m6pcTPUbxB4UGMOYMy58xopUdpXPIC0OqikMFHnFMfuNZt5EuvR8E-fVo/s320/MIBSchool.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272324998366088626" /></a><br />Coming from the Information Technology field, where changes are happening at the speed of light and where new paradigms are introduced almost annually, back in my mind I always had prejudice that, so called, traditional businesses are businesses that are waiting to be thrown into oblivion by some technologically more advanced product or new breakthrough in the field. While, this definitely has happened and may happen to some "traditional" businesses, many of them seem to thrive and even effectively use innovation in their production, for the benefit of all of us. A short trip to Trieste and Slovenian coast last weekend gave me some interesting examples of how "traditional" businesses can prove to be very vibrant and innovative.<br /><br />First "station" on the trip was visit to the MIB School of management where our MBA group from Bled was guest of the faculty. During our visit we were present at the interesting lecture by Professor Stefano Pilotto: The Italian Economic System and the World Challenge. The main issue of the lecture was role of the Italy and its economy in the world that is changing rapidly. Without going much deeper in this complex issue, I can say that my impression is that Italian response is like this 20-years old MBA school that attracts students from all parts of the world in a beautiful 19th century palace that you can see on a picture above: integrating modern approaches and methods with a rich historical and cultural heritage.<br /><br />After the visit to the school, we went to visit the company that is an example of a typical successful Italian business: Illycaffe S.p.A. Illycaffe, like most Italian companies, is family owned, has long tradition and is competing on the world market by focusing on what they are doing the best: producing premium brand of the coffee. On the IEDC we were using Illycaffe as example of a company that has integrated through value chain, from production of coffee beans through distribution and consumption of coffee, but I wasn't aware of how big and modern this enterprise is. I mean, how difficult this business can be? Process of making coffee is centuries old: you take coffee beans, roast them, grind them, boil them and you have a beverage that is so popular in western world! But, during visit to the factory, I saw that there are innovations happening in each stages of this process, in fact so many of them that two coffee universities (!?) have been established by Illy in Trieste and Sao Paolo! And classroom of the university in the Trieste, based on what I have seen, is technologically more advanced than any of the classrooms of IT companies that are specialized in technology education!<br /><br />Next day, after a splendid dinner with students of MIB, we went to "Sečovlje", Slovenian Natural Park situated on the southwest border with Croatia, which is still used for salt production. If coffee making was for me traditional business, than salt making is ultra-traditional business. It is hard to imagine more basic product than salt, and the process of production of salt in Sečovlje remained basically the same from 14th century till now! Nevertheless, Sečovlje has managed to survive and to establish itself as a premium producer of several salt products, of which one of them: salt flower, I have bought for use in my kitchen.<br /><br />After this short trip of one and a half of day, we have returned to Bled, where I summed my impressions and prepared myself for the last module and big discussions about International Political Economy this week. But, more about that in later posts.Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-27881276414402285262008-11-08T18:34:00.004+01:002008-11-08T19:29:30.539+01:00If you think you can, or if you think you can't, either way, you're right<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cNZaq-YKCnE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cNZaq-YKCnE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />In these days, when election of Barack Obama for the next president of the USA is the hottest topic in the media around the world, I would like to draw attention to one of his famous speeches, delivered at the beginning of this year when he was still rather unknown outside of the USA. This is not political blog, so I'm not going to analyze his political views or his vision of America, but rather to talk about the way he delivered his speech. Standing in front of large group of people and delivering the speech is so daunting task that very few speakers can do this effectively and leave a strong impression on their audience. Mr. Obama is obviously such a speaker; he uses vivid language, excellent rhetoric and impressive diction. But, above all, what makes his appearance really outstanding, is the passion, devotion and sincerity you can feel while he is conveying his main message: that hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it.<br /><br />So, next time when you are going to settle for just another compromise and to justify to yourself whatever mediocre choice you are going to make, forgetting the dreams you once had, listen to this speech and remember the quote from Henry Ford: "If you think you can, or if you think you can't, either way, you're right"Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-43135424785257360802008-11-02T23:21:00.006+01:002008-11-03T01:24:44.287+01:00Welcome to my first Blog!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggeLYZ2cI28aoa6wP3h1GpCQQdegqQwpxX34GwH1A7ESmEB3Ed13visZM8m-BNx5ah5zMrXhISRyU4KPykMfzGPTz8BGLW1jBUFIYDpT0w9xLJaItGw4mi71_lYlGqw1zlFECeN3Q9oTE/s1600-h/books.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264216112961536130" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 236px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggeLYZ2cI28aoa6wP3h1GpCQQdegqQwpxX34GwH1A7ESmEB3Ed13visZM8m-BNx5ah5zMrXhISRyU4KPykMfzGPTz8BGLW1jBUFIYDpT0w9xLJaItGw4mi71_lYlGqw1zlFECeN3Q9oTE/s320/books.JPG" border="0" /></a>Since this is my first step in the world of blogging, I feel obliged to explain a little bit why I started my own blog.<br /><br />As an IT professional, I was aware of the blogging phenomena since its beginnings. Of course, I was considering joining the movement and starting my own blog several times in the last few years. But, starting a blog is easy, but keeping it interesting, relevant and updated is not that easy and it takes some time. So, only when I was pretty certain that I will commit time and energy to write an interesting blog and to update it, at average, once a week, I opened my personal blog at blogger.<br /><br />Saying this, I would like to emphasize that my blog will be mainly business-oriented, with a few posts, from time to time, from my personal life. As I'm finishing my MBA at IEDC on Bled, and having more than 5 years of experience in the IT (information technology) field, I feel competent to write about one topic that is becoming very popular recently: aligning IT with business. This means that I would address mainly two types of readers: business people who would like to find how to use IT more effectively and IT people who would like to learn how to thrive in the business world. I will not be narrowly focused, I will include several topics of broad interest, but I will also not go too wide, keeping my posts short and focused mainly to business audience with interest, or background, in IT.<br /><br />With your help, I hope I will keep this blog out of becoming just another short blimp in the blogosphere and instead make it a valuable addition to already large "library" of established blogs.Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7638291040379718863.post-68140467621683175762008-10-29T17:18:00.006+01:002008-10-29T18:19:38.613+01:00Even an MBA can run a marathon<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVxNKTYtV_PoL0zqu9lzg2Qk1LkunVlYqtwMrApyAmi8C5SxyfZQZnfh89ZWyxK9hVUcCYgRQW3On6yTPQnDPlY9CX_J0to_LBwwa_B-OWsOE-uNeb3jA7jIZpzbuxCwmTrD2cR00yoNY/s1600-h/prije.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262620162236195234" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 224px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVxNKTYtV_PoL0zqu9lzg2Qk1LkunVlYqtwMrApyAmi8C5SxyfZQZnfh89ZWyxK9hVUcCYgRQW3On6yTPQnDPlY9CX_J0to_LBwwa_B-OWsOE-uNeb3jA7jIZpzbuxCwmTrD2cR00yoNY/s320/prije.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />And not only that, but he can also run his first marathon under the 4 hours!<br /><br />Yes, I have finished my marathon last Sunday in Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia, in much better time than I have expected. After six months of training and preparing for the event, I showed myself at the starting line at 10 AM, on chilly but fresh autumn day, ready to run my first marathon. For those of you who think that preparing for a Marathon is easy task, I have to say that during my preparations I bought 2 pair of shoes, running shirts and shorts, special running watch with pulsmeter (Polar RS200SD), and spent on average 5-6 hours a week running.<br /><br />Marathon was run in two circles around Ljubljana. We were passing through the city center and also through the more rural areas of the city, in some of which we were even looked upon by some local cows. First circle went pretty well for me, I was fresh, had a lot of energy and even achieved my best time in half-marathon. Then, in the second circle, the real race began. I was running without stopping until 34th kilometer, but then, under much fatigue, I started to combine walking and running for the next five kilometers. But, in the last kilometers, I used my last reserves of energy and run for the total time of 4 hours, even passing some runners in the last kilometer. Usually, people run their first marathon between 4 and 5 hours, and I was very proud to be able to run under 4 hours.<br /><br />I have to say special thanks to my girlfriend Ivana, who was great support to my effort, and to few of my IEDC MBA colleagues, especially Aurora and Martin, who came to support me. Also, the public was fantastic, boostering my energy level during much of the path, especially in the last kilometer.<br /><p>At the end I received a medal for my accomplishment, and a massage for my devastated legs.</p>Even an MBA can do IThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04796280001129016627noreply@blogger.com0