Monster Products announced late today that it has created a one-of-a-kind “crown jewel” headphone based on its Diamond Tears model as redesigned by Korean artist and jewelry designer Sally Sohn for the exclusive Harrods of London department store. The new headphones feature 5.56 carats of black diamonds and plenty of 18k gold…oh, and it comes with a hefty price tag of £20,000. That’s $30,000 in good old U.S. greenbacks.
Management
Owners, CEOs, Presidents: How Often Do You Travel with Your Sales Team?
Often, when a company contacts The Stratecon Group (our marketing company, and owner of www.strata-GEE.com), to ask for advice on “business development issues” (i.e. they are in trouble and running out of ideas), the first question we ask of the owner/CEO/president is: “How Often Do You Travel with Your Sales Team?” The answer to this question is critical to our assessment of the situation. Understand, there’s no right or wrong answer…but the answer will be incredibly illuminating as to several critical elements of their management of the enterprise.
And what do you think the most common answer we receive is?… [Read more…] about Owners, CEOs, Presidents: How Often Do You Travel with Your Sales Team?
Are You Using These Best ‘Tough Economy’ Marketing Practices of Top-Performing SMBs?
How are top-performing small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) adjusting their marketing for the current sluggish economic climate? Act-On Software, a marketing automation software company, commissioned Forrester Consulting to find out by probing hundreds of SMBs in an effort to learn more about their marketing practices – especially in regards to tactics employed in response to the recent economic morass within which we all find ourselves. A few months ago, Forrester and Act-On released excerpts from the research titled Driving SMB Revenue in a Tough Economy – excerpts that revealed several interesting insights into the differences between the marketing practices of top-performing companies as contrasted to overall results…or those of bottom-performing companies.
There are some interesting insights from what they discovered… [Read more…] about Are You Using These Best ‘Tough Economy’ Marketing Practices of Top-Performing SMBs?
Founder Schulze Considering Abandoning Deal for Best Buy
Former Best Buy Chairman
Multiple news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and Reuters News Service, are reporting that Best Buy founder Richard M. “Dick” Schulze is considering abandoning his bid to take the company private. Schulze had informed the Board of Directors in August 2012 that he intended to purchase all outstanding shares of stock to take the company private. After months of study and planning, Schulze is said to be ready to scuttle the plan.
Why, after so much effort, is Schulze considering dropping his bid?…See what we discovered… [Read more…] about Founder Schulze Considering Abandoning Deal for Best Buy
Pioneer Announces Q3 & 9-Month Losses; Cuts FY2013 Forecast from Profit to Loss
In what is turning out to be a very rough earnings season in Japan, Pioneer Corp. announced yesterday its results for the third quarter and nine-month periods of fiscal year 2013 which ends March 31, 2013. Both Q3 and the 9-month periods showed losses, with the YTD loses increasing substantially to ¥9.8 billion ($105 million) down from a loss of ¥6.6 billion. As a result of this, the company has cut its FY2013 forecast from a profit of a ¥1 billion ($11 million) to a loss of ¥4 billion ($42.8 million)…a surprising ¥5 billion change of fortune.
Due to the company’s deteriorating business, the Board of Directors has ordered a significant restructuring including salary and bonus cuts for executives and employees. The company has also said it will cut jobs.
Why has Pioneer’s business shifted so dramatically? See more details below… [Read more…] about Pioneer Announces Q3 & 9-Month Losses; Cuts FY2013 Forecast from Profit to Loss
Bob Brown Joins Thiel as Interim COO and Board Member
Industry veteran Bob Brown, known to many from his long tenure as President at Lenbrook America, has joined Thiel Audio as a member of their board of directors. Brown will also, effective immediately, begin serving as the company’s interim Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Thiel, as we recently reported, is in the middle of an exciting revival as the result of its recent purchase by a consortium of Tennessee investors led by current CEO Bill Thomas.
See more on this interesting new development for Thiel… [Read more…] about Bob Brown Joins Thiel as Interim COO and Board Member
Ex-DDG Director Kaplan Joins with Brown & Yando to Form Consulting Business
We reported two weeks ago that David Kaplan, Director of the Digital Delivery Group (DDG) for the last seven and a half years, had left the organization. At that time, Kaplan gave no indication of his plans other than to let us know that something was in the works. Now we know that Kaplan has joined with industry notables Ed Brown and Fred Yando to become part of Sales Performance Management (SPM) – a consulting company formed by Brown three years ago.
See more about this newly invigorated group and the services they offer… [Read more…] about Ex-DDG Director Kaplan Joins with Brown & Yando to Form Consulting Business
Two More Directors Leave Best Buy
Best Buy Company, Inc. announced this past Monday that two of its directors had resigned, including one that had served in the role of chief executive in the past. These departures come seven months after the departure of company founder Richard Schulze who is now working to make a bid for the struggling retailer.
With these departures, Best Buy’s board now has four vacancies… [Read more…] about Two More Directors Leave Best Buy
Was Tech Represented on the List of the World’s Best CEO’s?
Recently, we told you about the worst CEO of 2012 (former Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn). Turnabout is fair play, and now Harvard Business Review offers a list of the 100 Best CEOs in the World as a very effective counter-point.
But were technology companies represented on this list? Can we claim some of the best CEOs in the world? Read on and see…
See the top CEOs in the world below…
[Read more…] about Was Tech Represented on the List of the World’s Best CEO’s?
DDG Scrambles to Rebuild in Wake of Member Defections
The world of national distributor groups often resembles the ever-shifting sands of the desert – members change, vendors change, and its relative market position often changes. So it is a radically changed world in which the Digital Delivery Group (DDG) finds itself in the wake of last week’s announcement of the formation of a new national distributor group – Catalyst AV – an announcement that prominently featured the names of four DDG distributors who apparently defected to the new competitor.
