I met Ruthie yesterday. She came to talk to us in a leadership seminar I'm taking at MIT as part of the MBA/Engineering program I'm in. For those of you who don't know, the program is highly focused on operations management, manufacturing, and supply chains (think GM, Boeing, Caterpillar, Amazon, 3M). So why did an entrepreneurial fashion designer from New York City come to talk to us? Her late father, Don Davis (a former CEO of Stanley Works), had strong ties to our program and actually founded this leadership seminar over 20 years ago, so I figured she just came because of her dad. I really didn't think I would get much out of the session, but I was really surprised at what I learned.
For example, the shoes in the picture: one gets attention of the market, and the other pays the bills. But, they're both pretty much the same pair of shoes. From an operational standpoint she's able to serve both purposes with one product. As well, in industry you have to listen to the market to make sure you provide what they want, but it's also important to stay true to your strategy to avoid becoming just like everyone else and losing ground (Dell could have used this lesson when they were contemplating selling computers at Wal-Mart). And yes, those are spikes - awesome!
3 comments:
Yes, apparently Sun Chips are going back to their original packaging, because while consumers say they want earth friendly materials, they won't sacrifice noise. Millions of dollars down the drain. How sad. Personally, I thought the loud bags were funny and bought the chips anyway.
People walk in those?! Wow. Did you try any on?
Um... no. While they are undoubtedly awesome, I'm pretty sure they're geared toward a more "feminine" consumer than myself.
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