Tag: Strategy

Don’t assume others will understand something easily just because you do

On By LS HIn Business Fundamentals, Human Resource, ValuesLeave a comment

They call it the “curse of knowledge”. When you are working on something, you have its context, background and familiarity. You will tend to assume that the people around you also has the same level of understanding on that matter. And you get frustrated when they don’t. Similarly, they get frustrated with your lack of patience and understanding of their predicament.

I have seen this in tech implementations, organisational changes and different communication attempts. Tech folks design user interfaces which seem simple & intuitive to them, but which users struggle to use. Check out this article that used the design of a covid-19 self-test kit to illustrate the issue. Hopefully, this will help you discern what best to do the next time you are required to communicate a required action or design a system.

Will the business model for Real Estate developers change?

On By LS HIn Business Fundamentals, Economy, InnovationLeave a comment
The business model of real estate developers is a “project-based” business model. They constantly need to find land for development and sell what they have built to yield revenue & profit. This revenue model can be “lumpy” and it is difficult to maintain a consistent yield. As such, many real estate developers have property rental, management & maintenance businesses to provide more consistent revenue & cash flows.
Will we ever see a “printer” business model for real estate developers – where printers are sold at low prices and ink usage provides a more consistent stream of revenue & profits? Perhaps some business model innovation may be helpful here to address the ever rising costs of property in every country.

Insurance company adopting new business model

On By LS HIn Business Fundamentals, Economy, InnovationLeave a comment

Innovation can be inspired by new technology, new business models or both. We are beginning to see the insurance sector adopt a subscription-based business model similar to that of Netflix and other companies. And insurance company Income is launching this via an app. This is certainly good for customers. Hopefully, other insurance companies will follow soon…

More firms set to cut office space…

On By LS HIn Business Fundamentals, EconomyLeave a comment

With work-from-home becoming the norm and companies getting used to having employees operate from home, more companies are set to reduce their office space footprint. This will probably trigger a downward trend for commercial rents and a rising demand for shared office operators like Regus & Wework.

On the other hand, there are worries that office vacancies in New York will hamper recovery.

Shalom Christian Media Goes Online

On By LS HIn Business FundamentalsLeave a comment

We congratulate Shalom Christian Media (SCM) for the successful launch of their Online Bookstore (www.shalomchristianmedia.com) . We are glad to be their implementation consultant in this project.

http://www.shalomchristianmedia.com

It was our honour to partner SCM in this undertaking, streamlining the end-to-end process – procurement, inventory management, last mile logistics, digital marketing, accounting – a transformation from brick & mortar to co-existence of the physical & virtual store. Do check out this digitalisation success!

Omni-channel retailing – the way ahead

On By LS HIn Business Fundamentals, InnovationLeave a comment

Rental & salaries are usually the top two cost items on retailers’ P&L. How can they manage these effectively in the face of the online shopping trend?

Some retailers (like Robinsons) have totally gone online. But is this the best thing to do since there are still customers who prefer to do physical shopping? There are others who have adopted an omni-channel approach – which I think may be the way to go. But it will require careful management of processes so that the experience of the shopper is not compromised.

Take inventory as an example. You need to maintain two separate sets of inventory, yet attempt to optimise it such that either channel can draw on the other. The online customer cannot experience a situation where his order was given to the customer who was at the store physically. Just how ready are retailers to embrace such operations? Check out this article.

SilverBullets completes acquisition of JohnDavids.com

On By LS HIn Business FundamentalsLeave a comment

SilverBullets’ Investment arm has successfully completed the acquisition of John Davids Pte Ltd (www.JohnDavids.com). [15 July 2021].

John Davids Pte Ltd (www.JohnDavids.com) is the exclusive distributor for Apollo Colours (UK) in South-East Asia and Taiwan. Apollo’s inks are used for the printing of security cards (IDs, credit cards, passports, etc) because of their special qualities. Their applications extend to all kinds of printing materials (eg. Metal, glass, vinyl, textile, etc,) and production methods (eg. Screen printing, offset, etc.). They also provide specialty inks eg. For prints that are visible only under ultraviolet lights, rub-off for game cards, etc.

This acquisition of John Davids is part of a diversification strategy for SilverBullets, according to Mr Ho – the Director of SilverBullets Pte Ltd. John Davids is expected to provide a sustainable dividend stream in the years ahead.