Management Quotes

In essence, a business model performs two important functions: It creates value and it captures a portion of that value. The first function requires defining a series of activities (from raw materials through to the final customer) that will yield a new product or service, with value being added throughout the various activities. The second function requires the establishing of a unique resource, asset or position within that series of activities in which the firm enjoys a competitive advantage.
— Henry W. Chesbrough

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Business Plans and Strategy

Conventional wisdom is often long on convention and short on wisdom.
— Warren Buffett

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Wisdom

But relationships that seem causal and permanent in one market era often vanish in the next, taking many “superior investment strategies” down with them. Today’s markets are also annoyingly efficient. The more studies that demonstrate that socially responsible stocks do better than regular stocks, the more investors will rush to buy them (and not just for “the greater good”). The resulting torrent of money flowing into the stocks will drive up their prices, and the higher prices will pave the way for subpar future returns.

…One implication of this argument-invest sustainably, and you’ll make a killing-is just dreaming. Even if the markets do soon “place a much higher value” on responsible companies, this won’t provide superior returns over the long term; rather, it will provide a pleasant short-term bump. Once stock prices have adjusted, the opportunity will evaporate. Investment decisions, moreover, will still be only one factor in changing corporate behavior. Regulatory practices and consumer buying choices will always play the most direct role in persuading companies to behave responsibly.
— Henry Blodget

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Finance and Social Responsibility

As a century of industrialism before the introduction of environmental and labor laws illustrated, the free market does not appropriately “price” the cost of natural resources or pollution. So the idea that responsible investment practices can be used in conjunction with intelligent regulation and consumption to serve the greater good is reasonable. The challenge comes in figuring out how best to do it.
— Henry Blodget

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Economics and Social Responsibility

The first problem with labeling a particular style of investing “socially responsible” is that it suggests that other kinds of investing are not. So it’s no wonder many people find the concept silly or offensive.

At some level, after all, our very economic system is socially problematic. The benefits accrue disproportionately to owners (investors, this means you), who make fortunes off the labor of rank-and-file employees. Luck plays a role, as does timing. Education, connections, and money give some people an edge, and hard work doesn’t always carry the day. The key to increasing profit and wealth is improving productivity, and an owner’s glee at producing the same amount with 50 workers as with 100 is not often shared by those who got canned. If you’re going to invest in any free-market enterprise, you’re going to have to accept that no matter how enlightened your choices, your money will be supporting wealth disparity, inequality, and other arguably unfair conditions that go hand in hand with a successful free-market economy.
— Henry Blodget

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Investing and Social Responsibility

To access the energy of the human spirit, people need to clarify priorities and establish accompanying rituals in three categories: doing what they do best and enjoy most at work; consciously allocating time and energy to the areas of their lives—work, family, health, service to others—they deem most important; and living their core values in their daily behaviors.
— Tony Schwartz and Catherine McCarthy

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Human Resources and Personal Development and Productivity and Time Management and Work

By taking the conditions of supply and demand as given and declaring government intervention the ultimate evil, laissez-faire ideology has effectively banished income or wealth redistribution. I can agree that all attempts at redistribution interfere with the efficiency of the market, but it does not follow that no attempt should be made…Wealth does accumulate in the hands of its owners, and if there is no mechanism for redistribution, the inequities can become intolerable. “Money is like muck, not good except it be spread.” Francis Bacon was a profound economist.
— George Soros

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Economics

We mortals are changeable. Alas, I must say more apt to change our minds when right than wrong. Wrong, we are stubborn indeed. Right, we are prone to vacillate and let opportunity escape.
— George S. Clason

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Opportunity and Personality / Behavior

Luck waits to come to that man who accepts opportunity.
— George S. Clason

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Luck and Opportunity

If you focus on connecting your cause to your audience’s values-rather than telling people to value your cause-and reach people when they are in the best place, time, and state of mind to act, you will get more bang for your [marketing] buck.

My mantra is, “concentrate and inundate” rather than “spray and pray”!
— Katya Andresen

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Marketing and Nonprofit