In This Issue:
Framing the Landscape of Authenticity
With all the news stories of counterfeit or defective products, consumers crave authenticity. In this excerpt from Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want, authors James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II identify five categories of product authenticity – natural, original, exceptional, referential and influential – and relate them to how people view everything from Tourneau watches to the Hard Rock Café. The authors describe how to communicate authenticity by embracing these genres.
Full story.
Five Ways to Solicit Customer Input
The best way to learn what your customers think is to ask them. While this sounds obvious, many businesses don't ask customers for feedback regularly or consistently. These tips can help you create a sustainable process to track customer needs
Full story.
Exclusive White Paper
Responding Quickly to Changing Markets
Ever-higher customer expectations, shrinking product life cycles, continually-improving
technology and rapidly-emerging business rivals have all accelerated the pace
of change in business. However, small businesses and midsize companies have one
distinct advantage over their larger competitors: agility. With fewer organizational
layers and more flexible processes, smaller businesses can act much more quickly
than the big-gun competition. This white paper provides exclusive tips on outshining
even the biggest companies.
Full story.
Coping With Changing Depreciation Rules
The recently enacted economic stimulus package includes a number of potentially
beneficial depreciation rule changes. Paul Pavich of Red Moon Solutions discusses
the expansion of the Section 179 expensing provision and the re-emergence of "bonus
depreciation" – two incentives that may benefit many businesses.
Full story.
QuickStat: Spyware Takes a Bite Out of SMB Productivity
Spyware infections carry big costs for small and midsize businesses (defined
as companies with between 10 and 200 computer users), according to a recent
survey commissioned by the Computer Technology Industry Association. More than
one in four computer users say their productivity has been diminished by a
spyware infection during the past six months. Of those, more than one-third
reported multiple infections. What's worse: users said they lived with the
problem for more than two days before they sought assistance.
COMING NEXT ISSUE
The self-destructive habits of good companies.
Read the Forrester white paper "Assess Your Enterprise Agility".
