HSBC offers interest free overdrafts to students, but it planned to start charging them when they leave university.   It seems, according to this BBC online report, that HSBC has changed its mind following student protests, prominently communicated on Facebook, and including some responses organised by the National Union of Students. I’m not sure free [...]

business · customers · HSBC · leadership · people · service · values

On August 24th, Apple reported that their “iTunes U” facility had passed the 300 million download mark.   This content is all free, and includes, according to Apple, material from Harvard, MIT, Oxford, and Cambridge. To be honest, I have picked up quite a few podcasts from iTunes, but none explicitly from iTunes U. I [...]

Apple · community · creativity · customers · innovation · inspiration · leadership · values

One of my favourite Harvard Business Review Articles of all time suggests that there are basically three strategies for corporate success:  operational excellence, customer intimacy, and product leadership. The attached piece from GigaOm argues that Apple has been very good at the customer intimacy part of the triangle.  I agree.  Sometimes it’s hard to think [...]

Apple · business · culture · customers · excellence · innovation · leadership · people · service · values

An article in the NY Times by columnist Joe Nocera says that the most important reason Mark Hurd was fired as Hewlett-Packard’s CEO was that both the board and employees had lost confidence in him. The article paints Hurd as a cost-cutter focused on short-term earnings who had undermined the culture and the strategic future [...]

culture · excellence · Hewlett-Packard · innovation · leadership · people · profit · values

On August 9, a flight attendant on JetBlue Airways, Steven Slater, asked a passenger to remain seated until their flight had arrived at the gate.   The passenger insisted on retrieving luggage, defying Slater’s requests and swearing at him; Slater, approaching the passenger, was struck in the head by the descending luggage.   Slater asked [...]

community · culture · customers · leadership · respect · service · values

What would happen if the top teams of the world’s leading companies were challenged to do a better job of living their values at work?  Are top teams’ passion and authenticity about their personal values a competitive advantage in the 21st century marketplace? According to an article in Fast Company, Microsoft’s top team received this [...]

business · community · culture · excellence · leadership · Microsoft · people · profit · value · values

A piece in last week’s Economist profiles the challenges for Microsoft and for Intel as the technology landscape unfolds.  Once locked in the effective “Wintel” partnership that linked Microsoft’s Windows and Intel’s processors to dominate the PC market, both giants are worried by the rise of Apple and Google, and the vast growth in the [...]

Apple · business · Cisco · customers · excellence · global · Google · Intel · leadership · Microsoft

Acer continues its rapid growth: according to this Business Week report, year on year sales increased 26% in the most recent quarter, with profits up 54%.  Earnings exceeded analyst estimates, and were heavily driven by growth in Asian sales. The Taiwanese company is tracking toward becoming the world’s largest PC maker.  H-P still leads, but [...]

Acer · Asia · customers · emerging markets · excellence · global · Hewlett-Packard · leadership · profit · value

Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd has resigned following an internal investigation that touched on sexual harassment issues.  This news will shake up management and leadership at H-P at a time when it is seeing challenges to its competitive position, particularly from Asian technology firms. As reported by Dow Jones MarketWatch, the company concluded that its formal [...]

culture · ethics · Hewlett-Packard · leadership · values

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries reported record earnings and profits in the most recent quarter.   Revenues were up 88%, presumably reflecting acquisitions, and net profits were up 32%.   This suggests the new businesses may not have quite the margins of the old, but after-tax margins overall are still almost 8%, and the growth rates [...]

business · growth · India · leadership · profit · Reliance · value