Arla Foods to pay its 2018 profit to Europe's drought-hit farmers | Business The dairy company Arla Foods is planning to pay its entire 2018 profit to farmers who are struggling financially due to the drought that has affected Europe over the summer. The firm – a co-operative owned by more than 11,200 farmers in the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands – said it expected the windfall to be worth up to £278m. The Arla chairman, Jan Toft Nørgaard, said: “As a farmer-owned dairy company, we care deeply about the livelihood of our farmers and we recognise that this summer’s drought in Europe has been extraordinary. “We are proposing that extraordinary measures be taken in this situation and the board is satisfied with the positive development of the company’s balance sheet, which makes this proposal possible.” The Denmark-based co-operative, which can trace its roots back to one formed in Sweden in 1881, owns brands such as Lurpak and Anchor and has UK sites in Devon, Leeds and Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
innovation strategy Starting an Innovation Program? A Strategic Approach to Create Success February 4, 2015 | By: Anthony Ferrier | In: Strategies Many innovation leaders tend to be tactically driven, but their corporate leadership is looking for more strategic planning and analysis. This tension often contributes to high turnover in innovation management roles, based on a misalignment around leadership’s expectations. In this article Anthony Ferrier suggests perspectives and actions that should be considered part of your innovation strategy plan. Five Ways to Make Your Innovation Culture Smell Better December 17, 2014 | By: Braden Kelley | In: Organization & Culture When it comes to fostering continuous innovation, most organizational cultures stink at it.
KLM social media strategy - Part 1 Part 1 : Early Efforts and the Ash Cloud KLM has been active in social media since late 2009. Ever since, people have been asking us about our social media strategy. Back in the summer of 2009, a small group of department representatives gathered each week to discuss the rise of social networks and how they related to KLM. The Ash Cloud We started off small. When the Icelandic volcano erupted in April 2010, much of Europe’s air space was covered by a vast ash cloud, and the authorities decided to shut down air traffic. On the third day of the closure, KLM started performing a number of successful test flights to demonstrate that it was safe to fly. From the ash cloud we learned that, as a company, we could tackle a crisis situation effectively using social media. Jochem van Drimmelen Online Reputation Manager Part 2 : The Social Media HubPart 3 : CampaignsPart 4 : Roadmap and Strategy
3.7.6 Amazon - Virtual aide Alexa shouts above rivals Image copyright Getty Images Virtual assistants are everywhere at CES this year - but one speaks louder than the rest. Amazon's Alexa has popped up in a bewildering list of devices including fridges, cars and robots. Manufacturers are clearly interested in making their appliances voice-operable, and many see Alexa as a great way to do this. But having Alexa also allows the appliances to gain capabilities, such as streaming music and turning smart lights on and off. How did Alexa come out on top and how will it benefit Amazon? The firm was quick to notice the potential of voice control following the rise of smartphone apps that could interact with appliances, answers tech analyst Dinesh Kithany at IHS Technology. "Alexa's rivals haven't been promoted quite as well," he told the BBC, though he noted companies adopting the assistant must think of genuinely useful ways to integrate it into their products. Image copyright Amazon Image copyright AFP Image copyright Nvidia Image copyright Microsoft
The Innovation Strategy Big Companies Should Pursue The inability of established firms to come up with breakthrough innovations is a truism today. It wasn’t always so. Joseph Schumpeter, the 20th century economist known for heralding the role of innovation in the evolution of society, argued that established firms were best positioned to innovate because of the resources available to them. Edith Penrose, one of the most prominent management thinkers of the 20th century, agreed. It was the modern combination of internet and venture capital that changed people’s minds, by opening up a new source of breakthrough innovation: high-growth startup companies. As the idea took hold that innovation comes from the “startup nation,” many established companies ceded the ground, deciding to focus on execution and efficiency instead. Is it possible that large established companies could excel in both parts of the innovation challenge – not only driving the industry change to take advantage of new solutions, but also serving as hotbeds to create them?
Inbound Marketing with Owned, Earned and Paid Media [Infographic] Apply your inbound marketing with owned, earned and paid media model presented in this infographic by Smartinsights and see how it works. Owned Media: This is what you’ve got, from your website, blog and social networks that you control such as Facebook Page, Twitter account, Pinterest, Google+ and more. Paid Media: The positive publicity you can get from paid advertising. Earned Media: The positive publicity you’ve earned from your promotional efforts other than advertising, it can be from search engine, other blogs of industry influencers, portals or via social networks of your fan. In reality, earned media works pretty good to increase your exposure. Keep updated with latest cool infographics in B2B marketing and technology services/products by subscribing to our RSS feed: More Cool Infographics>> Embed This Image On Your Site (copy code below): Like What You See? Like this: Like Loading...
3.7.6 (1) UK is the ‘most internet-based major economy’ The internet contributes to 8.3% of the UK economy, a bigger share than for any of the other G20 major countries, a new study suggests. The "internet economy" was worth £121bn in 2010, more than £2,000 per person, researchers at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said. That made it bigger than the healthcare, construction or education sectors. The UK also carries out far more retail online than any other major economy. Some 13.5% of all purchases were done over the internet in 2010, according to BCG, and this is projected to rise to 23% by 2016. Chocolate v sex The researchers said that the overall UK web economy is particularly fast-growing. They predict it will continue to expand at a rate of 11% per year for the next four years, reaching a total value of £221bn by 2016. That compares with projected growth rates of 5.4% in the US and 6.9% in China. This may be particularly good news for small and medium-sized businesses that focus on the sector.
Innovation Portal 3 Innovative Ways Startups Are Driving Results Over Social Media Some small businesses are getting creative and earning their social media followers' trust -- and their dollars -- by ditching the one-way hard sell that's all too common on Facebook and Twitter. They understand that social-media platforms are fertile ground for potentially lucrative two-way conversations with their target customers. To these companies, there's much more to social marketing than peddling their brand story as bait for hollow likes, re-pins and re-tweets. Here's a look at three such businesses using inventive and effective social-media strategies to boost brand awareness, build relationships with customers and drive sales: 1. Warby Parker's 'Home Try-On' campaign lets customers get feedback from their social-media friends on which glasses they should purchase. Social strategy:Encouraging user-generated content that drives brand awareness. "Don't view social media as just another way to push your marketing messaging," Gilboa advises. 2. 3. Love oysters?
3.7.6 - Technological Change in the Automotive Sector: Software Rules - Not Hardware A fascinating short video here from the FT Business and Automotive team which considers how modern cars have become highly sophisticated pieces of technology - and how further technological change may transform the modern motor. The increasing complexity and technological sophistication of cars is posing some interesting strategic challenges for car makers who face competition from more than just the automotive manufacturers. The modern car is no longer mechanical; it is electronic. Up to a quarter of the cost of building a vehicle is related to software not hardware. Andy Sharman from the FT points out that today's premium cars already contain: A mile of cables100 million lines of codeUp to 70 computer control unitsThe computing power of around 20 advanced PCs So where next for car manufacturers? Sharman points out a key threat to the leading existing car makers.
Articles About Managing Innovation Harvard Business School Browse By: Topic Industry Geography Managing Innovation 74 Results A Methodology for Operationalizing Enterprise Architecture and Evaluating Enterprise IT Flexibility Alan MacCormack, Robert Lagerstrom, and Carliss Y. When dealing with complex information system architectures, changes often propagate in unexpected ways, increasing the costs of adapting the system to future needs. How New BofA Executives Learn its ’Deep Smarts’ Bank of America's stringent onboarding process for new execs ensures they understand role expectations, quickly develop networks, and learn from other leaders what it takes to succeed. Bottlenecks, Modules and Dynamic Architectural Capabilities Carliss Y. Large technical systems made up of many interoperable components are becoming more common every day. Inventing Products is Less Valuable Than Inventing Ideas When companies create new products, they are often also inventing new ideas—and that's where the real value resides. Patent Trolls Kevin J. R.
Social Media Strategy in 11 bullets 3.7.6 Under pressure: campaigns that persuaded companies to change the world | Guardian Sustainable Business Hard-hitting activist campaigns against big corporations have become part of the sustainability landscape. Some change the world. Some change little. Telling the difference between one and the other isn’t easy. Consider this example of a victory that is less than it seemed at the time: when the Breast Cancer Fund accused Revlon of using chemicals linked to cancer in its cosmetics, the company called the charges “false and defamatory”, demanded a retraction and threatened to sue. Instead, last month, Revlon for the first time published an ingredients policy. So what happened? “This was happening,” says Alexandra Gerber, vice president and assistant general counsel. Transparency matters – without it, buyers of shampoo and nail polish can’t make informed choices or avoid potential allergens. Then there are game-changing battles, like the decade-long campaign waged by green groups against Indonesia-based Asia Pulp & Paper. So far, the signs are encouraging. Nike Kimberly Clark Lego
How to Create Your Social Media Strategy When it comes to building a solid social media strategy, there are many things to consider. From goals, to content, branding and audience engagement, it can feel complex. But the good news? Designing a winning strategy doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, I’ve seen businesses succeed with as little as a 3-part strategy written in 300 words or less. And when you look at the keys to their success, it’s simple. Clarity of purposeCommitment to an easy to follow common sense approach While there’s no one-size fits all solution, you can find the same success if you’re armed with the right plan. And as someone who works with marketers, small businesses and entrepreneurs daily, I know the power behind a strategy. It’s one that allows you to act on purpose, flipping the scattershot marketing approach on its head. Not sure where to begin? But more than that – they are each designed to boost your engagement, traffic and sales. 1. In other words, how do you expect it to benefit your business? For example: