A Personal View on "Coke vs. Pepsi" Talk at FEA

Daily Jottings

25 April 2009

Saturday

I’m in Sargodha now. I reached here yesterday night. We would not have got delayed on our plans, if I had left the college at time, and not have spent time on tea with my senior friends. We came back to their hostel (whereas I live in my home in Lahore), after attending a talk-cum-presentation on “Coke vs. Pepsi”, at least that was the topic chosen earlier; but later (during the presentation) we found out that since one student was absent of the two, the presentation will focus sharply on Coca Cola, so to say a partisan view of the latter, whereas a comparison between the two, however, will be carried out. The moderator of the talk praised generously the tenacity of the one presenting team member, who despite being singled-out, carried on and presented almost a 1-hr discussion, not to mention again, singlulary.

The primary concern of the presentation, however, was two-fold, with varying degree of focus. The first being, in terms of order of presentation, to present a brief history of the firm as start-up; its start-up idea; and the evolution of the company till this day, the way we know it now. And, secondly, first in importance though, the “marketing strategy” of the firm through-out its career that spans over more than a century.

Presentation was structured accurately, unidirectional, even though the presenter was to present from two different perspectives – i.e. its start-up story and its marketing strategy through-out its career – the two perspectives seem to be now integrated, thus we enjoyed it. And, because the two perspectives found a common focal point, since they’re well merged, the audience didn’t feel tattered between the two.

The only thing I am critical of the presentation/talk, irrelevant of its content, was its being called a talk, although it may never have been claimed to be, but at F.E.A. we only talk about “talks”. This was not a talk in the strict sense of the word. Nay, only the flavour of it was missing. If only it was more open, natural and playful the way a talk is, it would have been a talk, not to emphasize whether a talk is superior to a presentation.

Why We Only Talk about Startups at FEA?

The purpose of F.E.A., as has been sufficiently told, is to study and discuss multinational and local start-up firms and corporations. Although we have discussed mostly established firms, nonetheless we narrowed down our focus to their initial days. But, it would be better that we study and discuss non-established firms and enterprises alone. The reason for it shall partially be explained in the following lines.

Having said enough about our aim, that we study and discuss start-up businesses and dislike going into the later (and more glorious) periods of the established firms and industries (firms don't produce, whereas industries do), the question arises, as we've been questioned as to why we narrow down our focus on the start-up days of the firm?

If I am allowed to write in more detail, I'd only mention one point in favor of the criticism against FEA's paradigm just mentioned. An entrepreneur's genius doesn't lie merely in his successful launch of the venture. Much more difficult challenges are to be faced after the successful launch. Growth, the point I want to raise, is such a big issue and challenge to be dealt with. Growth means not just profit - but a whole series of new challenges and problems before the entrepreneur.
The genius of successful entrepreneurs like Micheal Dell, Steve Jobs, Bill gates, Richard Branson (Virgin group), Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines), who "actively guided their ventures successfully through the years of growth", lies in their adaptive capacity to deal with change, and change is always 'actively' resisted than embraced. Starting up is only a part of the picture.

Our answer in defense to the paradigm we're following is, for the sake of clarity and much more:

1. Learn how to write on the clean slate first, then talk about dealing with change and growth. The biggest advantage of starting a business to the entrepreneur is that he has this clean slate before him on which he can draw and design the organizational structure the way he likes and thinks to be fit. By knowing the art of starting up will give that practical knowledge of how to write and design, in the first place.

2. Learn the essentials first. This includes, to name the two most essential elements of a business enterprise, 'business model' and 'business strategy'. No matter how much growth your firm may have, these two things are only immutable.

3. Keep things simple, don't exhaust them. Learning about change management and growth is no doubt a fundamental aspect of doing business, only baby steps will lead you to think of these things. Keeping things simple will make you more practical and give you more clarity where to start from and where to head.


I believe there are much, much more advantages in gaining expertise about start-ups at this stage than I can imagine. Please give us your feedback and share your insights.

15 Questions You Need to Ask about Apple Inc.

Here are those 15 questions regarding Apple Inc. (as a start-up) that we (Billal Naeem, Osama Hafeez and I) tried to address and answer in our talk on Apple. Your insights and ideas are most welcome.

1. What was the underlying vision(s) in the minds of Apple's founders that led to its birth and further sustenance?

2. How did they implemented their naive ideas, and how did they manage their initial but crucial days?

3. From where did the funding of such IT firm come; and how did Apple finance its business venture?

4. How did Apple gain a competitive edge/advantage in its early days over its direct rivals, such as IBM?

5. What were the factors that made Apple so popular among its targeted market which resulted in 334 million of dollars a sale revenue in only a few years?

6. Is Apple a game changing player; or does it just play the game it find?

7. What are Blue Oceans? It is said that blue oceans of business universe are such areas where the growth potential, value-creation, and profits are unprecedented. Did Apple created any such blue oceans? (Due to time shortage we couldn't shed some light on this part, it has been explained in the previous post.)

8. Cutting from your past to invent what's new is a trap many managers often fail to see and become a victim of. Did Apple ever fall into this trap?

9. In order to create a win-win situation for yourself and your competitors, you've to embrace your worst enemies: Did Apple recognize the possibility of such a win-win strategy?

10. Apple has a name in spending on R&D. Has R&D helped Apple grow? Did Apple resort to R&D in most crucial times like of downturns?

11. Focus is critical for effective leadership. How does Steve jobs provide focus in Apple?

12. Apple's success is not completely based on leadership, of course there has to come a lot of contribution from the bottom. What is the main criteria by which Steve Jobs hire people?

13. How do Steve Jobs co-ordinate, or in other words how does he ensure that the organization stays on its vision?

14. Why do we love Macs?

15. What is the organizational culture in Apple?

Please give us your feedback.