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Artisans Must Balance the Books

Harvard Business Review

The Conversation Blogs The Conversation Artisans Must Balance the Books 8:12 AM Tuesday November 23, 2010 by Ndubuisi Ekekwe | Comments () Email Tweet This Post to Facebook Share on LinkedIn Print The boy was 11 years old when his father took him to live with a kinsman, a businessman with many shops in Lagos, Nigeria.

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Artisans Must Balance the Books

Harvard Business Review

He started very well, but as soon as his cash flow improved, financial burdens from family systems stifled his operations. As more people depended on him, he spent his working capital, and the business failed. Most African artisans do not bank because of the fees associated with operating current accounts.

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Recommended Resources – An Interview with Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi, authors of The Essential Advantage

Strategy Driven

This book helps you identify your firm’s distinctive blend of strategic direction and differentiated capabilities that give you the ‘right to win’ in your chosen markets. Companies today operate in a business environment that encourages incoherence. We call this measure the ‘coherence premium.’

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Are You Growing Too Fast?

Harvard Business Review

Heffington, working with Steve Curnutte, a restructuring advisor, realized that as new orders poured in, it became difficult to establish the true cost of fulfilling them. And, because credit was readily available to cover the growing need for working capital, it was easy to ignore the sizable number of unprofitable and late paying customers.

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Creating Michelin-star Quality for the Masses

Harvard Business Review

Since it's beginning in 2003, Davide Oldani's Ristorante D'O has managed to stay profitable in a sustained fashion. Unlike Ferran Adria's El Bulli in Catalonia, D'O doesn't operate at a loss. Operating such restaurants is expensive. Oldani has created a Michelin restaurant for the masses by working on two fronts.

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Why Preventing Disruption in 2017 Is Harder Than It Was When Christensen Coined the Term

Harvard Business Review

They’ve read Christensen’s book The Innovator’s Dilemma. The answer may be that the innovator’s dilemma is no longer the only paradox at play in innovation management. For managers of industrial-era organizations, the economics of investing in disruptive opportunities were vexing. The Old Dilemma.

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Some of the Most Successful Platforms Are Ones You’ve Never Heard Of

Harvard Business Review

Both associations managed their brands and ran the clearing and settlement systems for banks that issued cards or helped merchants accept cards. These card networks were allowed to charge their members just enough to cover cost and provide working capital. MasterCard IPO’d in 2006, and Visa followed two years later.

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