Immortals: Firms of the Digital Era

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Afsun

Probably, when Tim Berners-Lee first succeeded with communicating between HTTP client and server via the Internet he was not thinking that the invention will become so vital in economy, business, trade, communication and many other fields of our lives. When we look at the history of the economics we can see a long path starting from barter trading, which keeps improving, and lastly reaching pure e-commerce, digital trading level. As internet became more effective in business many organizations disappeared in the fight with the competitors who implemented internet seriously in their operations as a major tool. Digital era makes internet implementation indispensable in order to extend a firm’s life cycle.

There are some well-known methods that are used by companies to prolong their firm and product life cycles. Price reduction, selling in new markets, marketing and promotion tools implementation are just a few from a long list. Internet makes all these just easier.

Many companies accomplish a very effective cost minimization task with implementing internet in production, delivery, and communication procedures. What makes a firm competitive is having digital existence besides classic methods. Let’s assume two toy stores selling similar toys and games. Store A sells famous brands in a brick and mortar store only. Store B sells toys from the same brands and offers online shopping for their customers besides a brick and mortar store. And let’s assume that world-wide shipping is available for a reasonable fee. Store A might be successful in a short-term and make profit with some marketing and promotional tools. In a long term Store B will become even stronger and will be able to reduce prices because of the cost-minimization advantage provided by the internet. And this will lead the Store B to a market leadership in the local area and to obtain a piece of the global market pie. Above mentioned and many other similar reasons make the Store B “immortal” in a way.

What makes a firm immortal? Sustainable reduced prices – can be obtained through strict internet implementation through the supply chain. Appearance and selling in new markets – internet is the best tool to use in order to become available in any place around the globe. Quick response to customer demands – internet makes communication tremendously fast and massive. Firms can respond to customer needs by receiving and evaluating feedbacks through internet and improve product/service quality, and increase customer satisfaction. Strong marketing philosophy – internet provides access to an unlimited information “library” for any entity on earth. Firms can build a powerful marketing to become more competitive in the market and extend their existence by gathering necessary information and using it to get sturdier.

My conclusion – in order to become an “immortal firm” in this era digital existence is vital. Every firm that desires to have as many competitive edges as possible should start from the internet. A modern company has to have at least a website that provides information about products, services, and general company profile.

Respect is Due to Everyone

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Afsun

Respect is a very neutral position in the communication line. You do not push the limits, and do not make others push the limits. Treating others with respect supposed to get you respect as a response, because what goes around comes around. Unfortunately, this rule is not always true. Especially in an organizational environment. Some employees might misunderstand or abuse your good intentions.

A firm is a place where communication is very concentrated between people from different cultures, backgrounds, and with various personalities. Every single individual’s personality and culture reflects to the entire organization’s culture which forms a good or bad place to work, a good or bad seller, a good or bad manufacturer, and etc. And I think the most complicated part of the communication network in a company is the manager – employee relationship. There are tons of articles about being a good manager and desired employee, golden rules, top 10 habits, and blah blah. What about respect? How should a manager demonstrate respect in the workplace? My topic is mostly related to a small business environment.

Show dignity and respect, no matter what. Respect is due to everybody, no matter where you are or who you are. Even if someone does not respect you, show your dignity and respond with respect. Because you are your own teacher, don’t let a disrespectful person become a teacher for you.

Demonstrate a balanced relationship. Be very kind, respectful, and generous to your employees. But on the other hand don’t forget about your position and responsibilities. As a manager you are responsible to run your station with the highest possible performance. Command, delegate, control, reward, punish, and “sprinkle” the respect all over it.

Trust but control. I know, sounds self-contradictory. Southwest Airlines founder Herbert D. Kelleher says: “You have to treat your employees like customers”. Which means, trust them, respect them, help them, don’t forget that they are a human in the first place. But I say don’t forget to control them also. Because job needs to be done and without a good control system the job is either not done, or done with a low quality.

Don’t show too much respect. An Azerbaijani poet Nizami says: “Water is beneficial. But when you drink it too much it becomes unhealthy.” Sounds very cool, doesn’t it? If you treat your employees with too much respect it is potentially harmful to the professional relationship between a manager and an employee. Respect your employees, but “stamp it” with a message “from manager”.

As a conclusion I think balanced relationship is stronger, healthier, and will live longer in your personal and professional life.

How to Demonstrate Respect at Work
73 Surefire Tips
Treat Your Employees Like Customers
How to Treat an Employee With Dignity
How to be a good boss
Respect in the Workplace
Top 10 Bad Manager Habits

An industrial engineer is basically a systems integrator – a big-picture thinker.

What should be my first blog post?

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Afsun

Why this topic? Because I found myself googling this question. This is not my very first blog post in my entire life. I used to have several other blogs before. This will be a new start and this time I am eager to keep posting on this very place for a longer time. Now, let’s get back to our topic.

I have read a few posts about “what should a first post be about?” from other bloggers and found out various approaches and answers to this question. I will share my point of view. Following is my small list for “do’s” and “don’t do’s” when you are about to publish your first post.

1) Do NOT copy! It is really easy to find resources online by just googling. Do not copy and paste them in your blog posts, period. Plagiarism is never appreciated, neither by subscribers, nor by the bloggers community. Do not worry about mistakes you will make while posting or weaknesses of your post. Because it is your blog, and you can technically talk about anything you want, however you want.

2) Just do it! No it is not about Nike at all. It is just about you! Blog is all yours. Post about anything you want. Do not waste your time on making deep researches, finding out a very important topic, or spell checks. Just start with a “Hello World!”

3) Make it yours. Post about something that you know, you are familiar with. Do not post about something that you barely know. If you strongly want to talk about something and do not have enough knowledge, at least make a slight research on it. Be creative, be yourself, and do not make it boring.

4) Make it short and simple. Express yourself in the most simplest and shortest way possible. Your subscriber does not want to read a long and boring post. While doing this do not skip being creative and funny. Make it a joy for the reader.