Social Media

 Social Media:            

The clock ticks, its 4:30pm on a wet Tuesday evening in Vienna. I just finished discussing with representatives from Mckinsey, and Deutsche bank on how to boost investor confidence and sustain competitive advantage in organisations. I got into a taxi heading for the airport to catch my flight back to London, and started reading the Financial Times online. While in transit I checked into the plane, selected my seat and downloaded an e-boarding pass. I also made changes to dinner reservations in London, and responded to emails that needed quick attention.  

At the airport waiting to board, I posted messages on Twitter, checked Linkedin, and responded to comments on Facebook. I’m sitting on the flight listening to the cabin crew give instructions, and then the message came “Please turn off all personal electronic devices, including laptops and cell phones. Smoking is prohibited for the duration of the flight. Thank you for choosing this airline”. At that moment it seemed like the time stopped, everything stopped moving, no smartphones or tablets, no internet, facebook, pinterest, instagram or twitter, it was a moment of silence, then we took off.

From newspapers and magazines, to TV, and the internet, social media has changed the ways we think, consume, and communicate. Organisations also haven’t been left out, as they seek to take adapt and take advantage of the new social media revolution. Caroline Firstbrook and Robert Wollan of Accenture called social media the “genuine game changer” for business, while Chris Barry et al. of Bain & Company recommends that organisations should put social media to work in order to gain real value, whereas Roxane Divol et al. of Mckinsey teaches organisations on how to harness social media to drive sales, profitability and brand loyalty. Researchers like Prahalad and Ramaswamy, fargo and Lusch, highlights that consumers have become more empowered, and the empowerment would result in value co-creation with organisation, which would help promote competitive advantage. However, others like Zwick, Bonsu and Damordy argue that the consumers are being exploited and have been put to work only for the benefit of organisations.    

Examples of multiple social media platforms 

As the plane landed in London, we all came back to life, switching on our smart phones, receiving updates and message prompts, listening to voice mails and making calls. Then came the questions: Can we truly harness the power of social media? Who are the winners and losers? How do we innovate to ensure survival for the future?

CORPORATE NINJAS

COMPETENCE IN THE INNOVATION ECONOMY 

GM Chief Dan Akerson mentions in a fortune interview, that in managing complex global business environments, his company is required to dance as fast as it can. Choreography experts will tell you that every dance, no matter what style, has something in common. It not only involves flexibility and body movement, but also physics. If the proper physics are not taken into consideration, injuries may occur. Same with Ninjutsu - The skills required of the Ninja.  Ninjutsu is an art that requires movement and precision. Skills, acquired by total training of the warrior in various fighting techniques. This  Ninjutsu type survival environment is what modern managers are faced with today. So, just as the Ninja is expected to possess in addition to knowledge of the martial arts, an understanding of common professions in-case they were expected to take a form of disguise, workers in a more productive economy need to have a mastery of skills and depth of expertise in whatever job they do and at what ever level, says Singapore Finance Minister, Tharman Shanmugaratnam. As a result, there is a growing need for T-shaped competences, possessing deep skills in an area of expertise as well as broad knowledge of horizontal skills such as management, finance and business operations. Managers with these competences will determine the ability of the organisations that they support, and their success in the marketplace.

Institutions are also trying to position themselves to win the war on talent. UK policy makers begun the Modern Workplace consultation that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills published in 2011. As part of this is the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, which managers and business leaders hope will provide them with the framework to create the modern workplace that the economic environment requires. Will employees  become more engaged as a result, and will this help drive UK economic growth? It does not create the right legislative environment, as there have been little support for employees establishing a mutual to ensure they have the management skills to develop successfully says Chartered Management Institute policy and research director Petra Wilson. But there is a mention that if implemented effectively, the modern workplace consultation could transform management attitudes and achieve lasting change to the benefit of employers and employees alike.

There is a contrasting feel in corporate environments where its not a matter of if a strategy will work but when. With decades of experience of the foods business, and an MBA, Indra Nooyi Pepsico CEO could be seen as a T-shaped personality. Since she took the helm of Pepsico six years ago, the company has done pretty well, says Geoff Colvin. But today, she is taking a lot of heat from investors because the environment is rapidly changing, and so has return on capital which has plunged from 22% to 11%. Although, the company is undergoing transformation, there is indication that Nooyi has enabled the company respond to changing trends by investing in emerging markets, and a new R&D lab which is already yielding results. But analysts comment that Nooyi’s strategy lacks precision. Whether this is the case or not, until Pepsico’s transformation shows signs of payoff, Colvin says, Nooyi will endure more doubts from wall street and the press.   

In spite of their best efforts, Havard Business School professor Morten Hansen and colleague Bolko Von Oetinger say that most companies continue to squander their greatest assets – knowledge scattered and embedded within and outside organisations. It seems that as companies continue to take a hit in the current economic climate,  they are becoming aware of this disconnect. Which points to the obvious, there is demand for business leadership with movement and precision of the Ninja. But will this ideal become reality? Only time will tell.