gmtPLUS09 | live from Seoul

Yes I’m a bit biased but I can say the Winter 2005 issue of strategy+business is worth checking out. This is the first issue that I’ve taken the time to read (currently read half) mainly because of the good reads.

For example, The Next Concorde article. You’ve seen it before where someone finds the market conditions to be so inviting that they enter the green fields or any field for that matter. But what market research fails to deliver are the unexpected social/environmental/political/economical changes that make a significant dent on consumer/industry needs, acceptable price points and features, etc.  Of course no one can predict anything, especially with the short-sighted market research. Also,  the author fails to mention the advantages of scenario planning. So the original concept of the Concorde was a win-win situation, consumers at the time were willing to pay for shorter and longer flights. By the time it was launched by British Airways and Air France in 1976, the world was a much different place - the ’70’s oil crisis that sent oil prices soaring and the unchallenged, environmental concerns about the noise pollution which limited its routes. The high cost of flying in a cramped interior was not what the consumer wanted, they wanted comfortable and cheap a stark difference from the original consumer needs.

Why did the British and French governments do nothing to answer the rising concerns of the product. Why did they continue with the project when problems were very apparent?

There was a study about people who are deeply engaged in a project and find it difficult to appraise its progress realistically. The University of Paris-Dauphine researchers discovered that it is relatively difficult for managers to discontinue large-scale initiatives despite the obvious flaws. They filter out the bad news and vow that they would soon turn into a thriving operation. I can see this being a rational explanation behind to some of the disasterous yet completed projects like Boston’s  The Big Dig and Denver airport’s rabid baggage system that misbehaves by chewing up or misdelivering passengers’ belongings.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 21st, 2005 at 3:38 pm and is filed under Scenarios. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.