Can firms challenge critical mass in multi-sided platform markets?

I came across this nicely written piece about platform markets – “From Netscape to eHarmony: The High Risks and Big Rewards of Platform Markets” on http://strategy-business.com Technology eco-systems are common in markets with multi-sided business models – For e.g the smartphone app-store connecting developers & phone-users, online-marketplace & storefronts connecting buyers & sellers. The article introduces the […]

The 50th entry – a collated list …

It has been a while since I have started this blog. It has been enriching being more disciplined in creating original content (while curating some). Looking back over these 49 blog post entries, I thought it might be a good time to take a pause – and collate in the 50th entry some of the original […]

Smart e-Governance – An entry strategy for Smart Cities

There is a lot of discussion and hype around Smart Cities. Analysts use different criteria to define Smart Cities as an aggregation of different types of services. While the obvious Smart Players exist, several companies also aspire to grab a big chunk of this pie. With this mind, they are all busy charting out plans […]

Helping the cities, service providers assist smart city adoption

A report on Forrester by Jennifer Belissent indicates that local governments are increasingly investing in technology – with the intent of sustainably transforming various City functions and reaching the eventual objective of  building Smart Cities. Here’s a glimpse of the report through a blog by Ms. Belissent. Cities, don’t go it alone. Service providers accelerate smart city projects. (via Forrester […]

Intel acquires gesture-recognition & tracking company Omek Interactive

Intel’s acquisition of Omek means you might never have to touch a PC again — via The Verge Intel acquires gesture-recognition and tracking company Omek Interactive for $40million. Its a battle for critical mass – as per this article Intel’s interest in Omek is to benefit from a platform which already supports a wide range […]

mPOS: Addressing new customer segments! A case of blue-ocean strategy!

In an attempt to better understand and apply the blue-ocean strategy, I decided to test the framework on a rapidly evolving market – the payment’s industry. The solutions in the payments industry can be broadly classified into categories: those addressing emerging economies and those addressing developed economies. It naturally follows that the value propositions of the payments […]

Product Manager: The messenger of the market!

I came across this presentation on the Pragmatic Marketing website about a year back and thought of sharing this on the blog here. The author, Steve Johnson, presents an extremely interesting articulation of the Product Management role in technology companies – “A product manager is a messenger of the market”. [slideshare id=410091&doc=strategicroleproductmanagement-1210935984951958-8] He also presents interesting insights […]

Nokia buys back Siemens’ stake in NSN

Via Wall Street Journal Online & Businessweek Bloomberg: With Nokia Siemens Networks having returned to profitability in Q1 2013, Nokia bets on the telecom network business – will pay €1.7B to buy back Siemen’s 50% stake in the JV. Nokia will finance this purchase with a combination of external bank financing (€1.2B) and a secured loan from […]

P&G: A case for Strategic Innovation

This blog entry by Ken Favaro on strategy+business shares an insight into how P&G has done well not only in product innovation in the past, but has also demonstrated the ability to innovate in its business functions. The article puts forth the need for more strategic innovation – or business model innovation, if I may dare to […]

Tale of the two ‘V’s – Vodafone & Verizon

An interesting in-depth view of what Vodafone can do with the 45% stake in it’s American counterpart – Verizon. (The complete article is at Lex in-depth: Vodafone via the Financial Times Buying back this stake from Vodafone, Verizon will be better able to bear the fruits of profitability. Also, cashing out will bring in a cheque […]