Small Is the New Big
The title of this book says it all – Small is the new big! It’s interesting though, being written from the perspective of an American, doing business is an exponentially larger market than New Zealand, and where ’small’ means less than 100 employees. In contrast in ‘the Land of the Long White Cloud’ (New Zealand) ’small’ means you plus the guy that sweeps the floor (or maybe that is you!) But this book is still very relevant.
The market I work in has large and small players. The large ones I refer to are sizes of 20+ staff, big for us, but already I see how bound they are by the confines of big business. Resistant to change (hey they’ve got this far on what they do) they’re stuck selling the same old wares whether they’re relevant or not.
The distinct advantage that’s emerging, and endless examples fill this book, is that the small guys have the ability to enhance their businesses and become remarkable through innovation and offering products and services that would be deemed ‘ridiculous’ by a larger company – until it takes off.
Highly recommended reading for the small business, and to the large company before it’s too late!
For a more traditional review, and to find on Amazon, click here.
Will new Vegemite cheese-off it’s fans?
Jun 16
Vegemite, that black tacky malt extract that, unless you’ve grown up with it, is about as appealing as a plate of snails is to a Kiwi (New Zealander).
The makers of Vegemite, Kraft, have released a new version of the spread, as yet unnamed. So what will this do to the beloved Kiwi and Australian staple?It will be interesting to see, but lets look as past new takes on an existing favourite and see what happened.
As we all know, Coca Cola tried it with ‘New Coke’, when they tried to compete with Pepsi on flavour. They went to the market, asked for feedback and were ‘told’ that three out of four blind taste testers preferred the taste of Pepsi. So they changed the product. What happened? There was such a huge uproar from Coke fans, they had to release the ‘improved’ flavour as New Coke.
Coke have also provided us with other variants on their core product, Vanilla Coke, Cherry Coke and Coke With A Twist (of Lemon), all of which are no longer on the shelves.
I’m not saying there is no market for these off-shoots of a brand classic, I for one loved Cherry Coke and indulged in one, every once in a while as a kid. But though the masses have spoken and said they’d like a “cheesy, buttery” version of their old favourite, will it really be the same. Will it be enough to warrant buying a jar of the new spread? A spread that currently lasts in your pantry for a millennium, consumed a teaspoon a day – as there’s no overzealous toast-smothering with this flavour-packed breakfast staple? Do we now have to take up precious jam-shelf space with another variant?
Time will tell, but in the mean time I’m sure the battle will continue between that and it’s Kiwi-cousin, Marmite. It’ll be interesting to see if they follow suit.