

A Beekeeper's Perspective on Risk - zopa
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/06/a_beekeepers_perspective_on_ri.html

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refurb
Am I the only one that thought this article was near worthless?

This article typifies the type of hand-waving that happens in business school
(yes, I have my MBA):

1\. Identify a business problem. 2\. Do a "high-level" analysis to figure out
what went wrong, completely ignoring the small details (which are usually
immensely important) 3\. Come up with brief "lessons" of what not to do in the
future, giving no allowance for unique situations or how the future may look
nothing like the past.

I took one (yes, only ONE) strategy class in b-school that was worth paying
attention to. The prof had developed a single theory on analyzing corporate
strategy. He had spent years researching it, devising case studies that
supported his theory (right down to a minor details). The theory is actually
very useful to analyze future business strategies because it makes you go
through a systematic process to evaluate the opportunities. That has value.
This article does not.

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ac2u
Would you mind sharing information on that strategy?

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refurb
His theory was that innovation strategy was more than just coming up with the
right product, you had to make sure all the pieces were in place in order to
get adoption (customers, suppliers, competitors, etc). His analysis of why the
Newton failed, but the iPad succeed is very well supported. As is his work on
why electronic medical records have failed to be adopted despite the obvious
advantages to the paper system

It's a complex enough of a theory that I can't do it justice in a HN post.

Do a google search for "Ron Adner". I'm sure he has some stuff on the web. He
just published a new book as well.

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jimworm
I suspect that corporate executives would also be a lot more cautious if the
failure of their businesses directly lead to death. It's a worthwhile
perspective to consider, but bee-haviour is definitely not close to a solution
for humanity's problems.

