Flip (32 page)

Get off the side lines and into the ring. Throw some mud at the wall and see what sticks. No one really knows the answers. Not today, and certainly not tomorrow. But this is no excuse not to throw your hat in the ring. Play a hand or two in the card game of the new world of business and see how you fare. Or in closing, consider these words of a flipstar from days gone by:

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt
'Citizenship in a Republic'
23 April 1910

Or put more simply:

GET UP OFF YOUR BUTT
AND DO SOMETHING!!!

Thanks firstly to my wife Sharon, for not killing me when I wake up in the middle of the night to write down a new idea and most of all for being a great mum to our two beautiful kids as I traipse around the world from hotel room to hotel room.

Secondly, to Dom Thurbon in my office. Dude, you're a flipstar no doubt. This book would not have been written without your help. And to Hilary Hinzmann in New York, this book would be nothing more than ordinary if it had not been for your wisdom, prose and basically keeping it real.

Also to my agent Mary Cunnane who persevered for literally eighteen months as
Flip
was, well, flipped again and again and again.We made it.

To Tim Whiting and the team at Random House, thanks for having the vision to see this was a book the market needed. It may have been a little ahead of its time when you first saw it, but now the world is ready. Thanks for your support and for the guidance and for trusting me back then.

Finally, to all of my clients. Without you, why write the book? Thanks for your support and I look forward to hanging out some more in the future.

Chapter 1. The Four Forces of Change

1. Ghemawat, Pankaj, 'The Myth of Globalisation',
Australian Financial Review,
'Review' section, 16 March 2007

2. The
Time
magazine article from which I sourced this information is no longer available online, but the main findings of the original report it references, produced by technology research firm IDC, are summarised by the Pakistan Software Export Board in its March 2007 online bulletin, available at:
www.pseb.org.pk/bulletin/mar07/Bullet_details_march07.htm#test2

3. Pew Research Center, 'Luxury or Necessity? Things We Can't Live Without: The List Has Grown in the Last Decade', 14 December 2006, available at: pewresearch.org/pubs/323/luxury-or-necessity

Chapter 2. Fast, Good, Cheap – Pick 3

1. Ferdows, Kasra, Lewis, Michael A. and Machuca, Jose A. D., 'Rapid Fire Fulfillment',
Harvard Business Review,
vol. 82, no. 11, November 2004

2. Capon, Noel,
The Marketing Mavens,
Crown Business, New York, 2007, pp 177–79

3.Hansell, Saul, 'EBay Profit Rises 52 per cent',
The New York Times,
19 April 2007

Chapter 3. Superficial is Anything But

1. Barbaro,Michael, 'Home Depot to Display an Environmental Label',
The New York Times,
17 April 2007

2. L'Oréal 2005 Sustainable Development Report, available at:
www.loreal.com/_en/_ww/group_new/pdf/LOREAL_RDD_GB.pdf

3. Howard Schultz's original memo can be viewed online at: starbucksgossip.typepad.com/_/2007/02/starbucks_chair_2.html

4. Vrabel, Jeff, 'McCartney To Anchor New Starbucks Label',
www.billboard.com
, 21 March 2007, available at:
www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003561098

5. Chon, Gina, 'A Way Cool Strategy: Toyota's Scion Plans To Sell Fewer Cars',
The Wall Street Journal,
10 November 2006

Chapter 4. Business is Personal

1. Stein, Ben, 'The Hard Rain That's Falling on Capitalism',
The New York Times,
28 January 2007

2. Yankelovich Partners, 'A Crisis of Confidence: Rebuilding the Bonds of Trust', 2004, available at:
www.compad.com.au/cms/prinfluences/workstation/upFiles/955316.State_of_Consumer_Trust_Report_-_Final_for_Distribution.pdf

3. 'Building Trust at Home in a Global World',
Australian Financial Review,
19 March 2007

4. 'Neo Job-Meeting: l'événement recrutement sur Second Life', 19–21 June 2007, available at:
www.neojobmeeting.com

5. Finextra Research, 'First Direct Hails Text Banking Milestone', 11 February 2005, available at:
www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=13225

6. Australian Interactive Media Association, 'Campaign Success for Mission Impossible 3 and Expansion of Hypertag Solution into New Zealand for AURA and Adshel', available at:
www.aimia.com.au/i-cms?page=2263

7. Flynn, Laurie J., 'IBM to Introduce Workers' Networking Software',
The New York Times,
22 January 2007

8. Levine,Meredith, 'Tell the Doctor All Your Problems, But Keep it to Less Than a Minute',
The New York Times,
1 June 2004

Chapter 5. There is No Wisdom in Crowds

1. Kim,W. C., and Mauborgne, R.,
Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant,
Harvard Business School Press, 2005, pp. 7–8

2. 'BMW 750hL: The Ultimate Clean Machine', available at:
www.bmwworld.com/models/750hl.htm

3. Totilo, Stephen, 'No Ruler Required For Xbox 360's Cost-Effective "Geometry": Trial Version of Game Has Been Downloaded More Than 200,000 Times', MTV.com, 12 January 2006, available at:
www.mtv.com/news/articles/1520696/20060112/index.jhtml?headlines=true
Bramwell, Tom, 'Reshaping the Past', Eurogamer, 2 February 2006, available at:
www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=62715
Kushner, David, 'The Infinite Arcade',
Wired,
issue 14.08, August 2006, available at:
www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.08/nintendo.html

4. 'Success of Nintendo's Wii Hinges on Games, Not Hardware', FOXNews, 12 October 2006, available at:
www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,220299,00.html

5. Treaster, Joseph B, 'One-Stop Car Insurance Service, Body Work Included',
The New York Times,
26 May 2007

Chapter 6. To Get Control, Give It Up

1. Rebello, Kathy, 'Inside Microsoft (Part 2): The Untold Story of How the Internet Forced Bill Gates to Reverse Course',
BusinessWeek,
15 July 1996, available at:
www.businessweek.com/1996/29/b34842.htm

2. 'Intellectual Piracy in China',
News Hour with Jim Lehrer,
13 October 2005, available at:
www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec05/china_10-13.html

3. Bloomberg News, 'Piracy in China of Music, Software Draws Ire of U.S.',
The Seattle Times,
10 April 2007

4. Pillar, Charles, 'How Piracy Opens Doors for Windows',
Los Angeles Times,
9 April 2006

5. Anastasi, M.A., 'Sony Exec:We Will Beat Napster', New Yorkers For Fair Use, 17 August 2000, available at: http://
www.nyfairuse.org/sony.xhtml

6. Dubber, Andrew, 'The Real Reason Koopa is Important', New Music Strategies, 27 February 2007, available at: newmusicstrategies.com/2007/02/27/the-real-story-ofkoopa

7. Goldstein, Patrick, 'Hollywood is Seeing Fans Pull a Power Play',
Los Angeles Times,
23 January 2007

8. For more information on Cory Doctorow's work, see his website:
www.craphound.com

9. Hunt, Tara, 'Chevy Tahoe's First Mistake', HorsePigCow (blog), 3 April 2006, available at:
www.horsepigcow.com/2006/04/chevy-tahoes-first-mistake.html

10. Ochman, B.L., 'Won't It Be Funny When Chevy Tahoe Sends Cease & Desist Letters to Bloggers!', whatsnextblog.com, April 2006, available at:
www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2006/04/post_49.asp

11. Peper, Ed 'Now That We've Got Your Attention', GM FastLane Blog, 6 April 2006, available at: fastlane.gmblogs.com/archives/2006/04/now_that_weve_g_1.html

12. Godin, Seth, 'Web4', Seth Godin's Blog, 19 January 2007, available at: sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/01/web4.html

13. 'All Profit in the Wiki Workplace',
Australian Financial Review,
29 March 2007, p. 57

Chapter 7. Action Precedes Clarity

1. Reiss, Spencer, 'His Space',
Wired,
issue 14.07, July 2006, available at:
www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/murdoch.html

2. Gilovich, T., and Medvec, V. H., 'The Experience of Regret:What,When, and Why',
Psychological Review,
vol. 102, 1995, pp. 379–395

3. Gray, David: 'Wanted: Chief Ignorance Officer',
Harvard Business Review,
November 2003, pp. 22–24

4. Bain & Co., 'Change or Die',
Fast Company Magazine,
May 2005, p. 60

AAMI

ABN Amro

AC Nielsen

accountability in business

bottom-up accountability

lateral accountability

top-down accountability

Across Asia on the Cheap
(Wheeler)

'Action Precedes Clarity'

adapting to changing conditions

Adidas

Advertising Research Journal

AECOM

aesthetics, importance of

Age, The

Air New Zealand

Airport Express
see
Mercedes-Benz

Alcoa

Allard, J.

Allis, Janine

Allstate

Alstom

Amazon.com

American Airlines

American Idol

American Self-Help Group Clearinghouse

American Way
(in-flight magazine)

Amoco Corporation

Andreevski, Toni

ANZ Bank

AOL

Apple

Apple Inc.

digital rights

Intel partnership

iPhone

iPod

iTunes

risk taker

Apprentice, The

Arctic Monkeys, The

Areva

Ark Financial

Armstrong, Lance

wristband movement

Arsenal

Aspirational Inside

Aspirational Outside

Asus

AT&T Labs

Atari

Australian Building Greenhouse Rating (ABGR)

Australian Defence Force

Australian Financial Review

Australian Idol

automobile industry (US)

Backus, Dale

Baidu.com

Bain & Co.

Bang & Olufsen

Barnes, John

BC Partners

BCG Strategy Group

Belkin

Bellagio casino hotel

Beomax

Berners-Lee, Tim

'Beyond Wealth' coaching

Big Bertha drivers

Big Brother

BiLo

bizrate.com

Bizarre Creations

BlackBerry

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
(Gladwell)

blogs

Blue Ocean Strategy
(Kim and Mauborgne)

blue oceans (new markets)

Blue Ribbon Sport

Bluetooth

BMW

750hL series

hydrogen fuelling station

hydrogen powered

Bock, Laszlo

Body Shop, The

Boeing

Boost Juice

Booz Allen Hamilton Consulting

Borg, Björn

bottom-up accountability
see
accountability in business

Bowerman, Bill

BP Alternative Energy

BP Amoco

BP (Beyond Petroleum)

BP (British Petroleum)

BP Solar

brand identity

Brand Index UK

Branson, Richard

Brazil

BRIC economies

BRIDGE Methodology

Brin, Sergey

British Airways

Browne, John (BP CEO)

Brunswick Company

Building Code of Australia (BCA)

building good business

relationships

build trust

competence

deliver on promises

good manners

mindset shift

Bulletin, The

Burger King

ethical treatment of animals

Burton, Jake

Burton Snowboards

Business as Unusual
(Roddick)

Business Software Alliance

BusinessWeek

Byrne, Rhonda

cable television provider

Cadbury Schweppes

Cakebread, Stephen

call centres

Callaway Golf

Caltex

CAMBIA (Centre for the Application of Molecular Biology to International Agriculture)

Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

Canada

Capgemini

Capital One

Capitol Records

Capon, Noel

carbon offset trading

Carrefours (France)

Case, Steve

Catco ID

CB Richard Ellis

Chambers, John

'change agent'

Change Begins with Me
(Lee)

Channel

characterisation, in story

Chelsea

Chernin, Peter

Chevy Tahoe

China

piracy problems

Chinese imports

Chinese oil refineries

choice, overabundance of

CIA

CIO magazine

Cirque du Monde

Cirque du Soleil

Cisco Systems

Citi

'Citizenship in a Republic' speech (Roosevelt)

Clinton, Bill

cnet.com

Coles

Shell service station

collaboration with competitors

Columbia Business School

command-and-control model

Commonwealth Bank

Commonwealth Bank Foundation

competitive advantage

compression of distance
see
'compression of space' under forces of change

compression of space
see
forces of change

compression of time
see
forces of change computer games

Concord Music Group

confusion management

Connect and Develop strategy

container shipping

Continental Airlines

control, giving up

coping with competition

corporate environmental responsibilities

corporate social responsibilities

Covey, Stephen R.

CRM (customer relationship management programs)

Csikszentmihalyi,Mihaly

Cuban,Mark

Current Affair, A

customer relationship management programs (CRM)

customised experience

CyberShot

DaimlerChrysler

Dallas Mavericks

Dartmouth University's Tuck School of Business

D'Aveni, Richard

DeHart, Jacob

Dell

Democratizing Innovation
(Hippel)

detail, in story

Detroit Three

Devathasan, Anna

DHL

Dickson, Ian

digital information technology

digital music downloads

free downloads

legitimate downloads

digital video recorders

Foxtel IQ

TiVo (US)

disruptive technology

Ditto Music

Doctorow, Cory

Doom

Doritos

Dove soap

Duke University

Dunlop

DuPont

E3 games convention

EA Games

Earthlink

eBay

history of

purchase of Skype

Eli Lilly

empowering staff

energy efficiency guidelines

emails

EMI

Eminem

emotions in decision making

Engin

Enron

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

Ernst & Young

Estée Lauder

Esurance

Ethical Consumer
magazine

European Molecular Biology Association

EverQuest

Experience Economy: Work is Theatre & Every Business a Stage
(Gilmore & Pine)

Facebook

Fair Labor Association

fashion industry trends

fast broadband

'Fast, Good, Cheap'

Fast Retailing Company

FedEx

feedback loop

Ferrari

Fidelity

Fila

First Direct

First Luggage

Fitness First gym

flat-screen television

flexibility in business plans

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
(Csikszentmihalyi)

Fluevog, John

Food Institute, The (US)

forces of change

increasing complexity

increasing compression of space

increasing compression of time

increasing expectations

increasing transparency and accountability

Ford

technology sharing

form
see
Total Ownership Experience

Forrester Research

Fortune

Fortune
magazine

Four Seasons Hotel

Foxtel

Foxtel IQ

free open-source operating system
see
Linux

Fremantle Media

Froogle

Fuller, Simon

function

G6

Gallup

Gartner

Gates, Bill

Gauthier, Daniel

Gaze, Andrew

GE (General Electric)

Geek Squad

Geico

General Motors

Generation X

Generation Y

Generation Y: Thriving and Surviving with Generation Y at Work
(Sheahan)

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved

Ghemawat, Pankaj

Gilbert, Daniel

Gilchrist, Pete

Gilmore, James

Gladwell,Malcolm

GlaxoSmithKline

Global Climate Coalition

Global Ideas Bank

Gmail

GNU

Godfrey, Brett

Godin, Seth

Goldman Sachs

Google

business software market

purchase of YouTube

unique web searches

Google AdWords

Google Apps

Google Earth

Google News

Google Spreadsheets

Graves,Michael

Gray, David

Greenpeace

Gretzky,Wayne

Gucci bag anecdote

H&M (Sweden)

HALO

Harcourts Real Estate

HarleyDavidson Motorcycles

Harried Leisure Class,
The (Linder)

Harrington, Tim

Harris Interactive

Harris,Waldo

Harrison, John

Harvard Business Review

Hayward, Andy

Hear Music
see also
Starbucks

Heart Foundation

Heckler, Steve

Hempel, Ralph

Here It Goes Again
(song and video)

Hewlett Packard (HP)

high net-worth customer

Hippel, Eric von

Home Depot

home loan market

Honda

Acura

Hong Kong

House

HSBC

Huffington, Arianna

Hugo Boss boutique

human rights abuses

hybrid car technology

hydrogen fuelling station

hydrogen powered cars

see also
BMW

hypertag technology

Hyundai

IBISWorld

IBM

IDEO (US design firm)

IGA

IKEA

Illy Coffee

IMD (International Institute for Management Development)

Immelt, Jeffrey

increasing complexity
see also
forces of change

increasing expectations
see also
forces of change

Independent Grocers Australia
see
IGA India

call centres

India's National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM)

Inditex

individual's power in marketplace

ING Direct

InnoCentive

Innovation Design Lab of Samsung (IDS)

InnovationJam

InnovationXChange (IXC)

Institute of Design (Illinois Institute of Technology)

Institute of Environmental Health

Intel

intellectual property, challenges with

internationalisation

'Internet Tidal Wave'memo (Bill Gates)

internet video distribution network

iPod
see
Apple

Irwin, Steve

iTunes
see
Apple

Jackson, Peter

Jackson, Richard

Jaguar

Japan

Jefferson, Richard

Jetstar

Jobs, Steve

Jogging
(pamphlet and book)

Jokamiehen Idol
(People's Idol)

Jones Soda

Joneses, The (real estate agency)

JP Morgan Chase

Jupiter Research

Kearney, Grant

Key
Account Management and Planning
(Capon)

Key Note

K-Mart

Knight, Phil

Kodak

Kodak DCS100

Konica Minolta

Koopa

Laliberté, Guy

Lamborghini

landline phones

language, in story

lateral accountability
see
accountability in business

lead-user product development

LeBron, James

Lee, Kun-Hee

Legion Interactive

legislation

Sarbanes-Oxley Act of (SOX)

Lego

Mindstorms Lego

Mindstorms NXT

Mindstorms Users Panel (MUP)

open-source software development

Lend Lease

Lenovo

LeRoy, Jeff

Levin, Jordan

Levinson,Wendy

Lewis, Peter

Lexus

Linden Lab

Linder, Staffan B.

Linux

Lloyds TSB

Lonely Planet

Lord of the Rings
trilogy

L'Oréal

Lotus Connections software

low net-worth customer

Lundgren, Gilles

luxury car manufacturers

luxury car market

Lydiard, Arthur

McCartney, Paul

McCartney, Stella

McDonald's

McEnroe, John

McGrath, John

McGrath Real Estate

Macartney-Snape, Tim

Macquarie Bank

Macquarie Fund Manager

Madonna

Manchester United

Manpower

market-changing companies

market crowd, differentiation from

market trends, change in

mass personalisation

Maunsell Australia

media, integration with entertainment

medium net-worth customer

Mercedes-Benz

Airport Express

Metropolitan Transit Authority

MGM Grand

Microsoft

competing for market dominance

Xbox

Xbox

Xbox Live Arcade

MIDAS (Mining Data at

Stanford)

Midem

mindset flexibility

Mini Cooper

Minolta D Image EX-1500

Mirage casino hotels

Mission Impossible

MIT Media Lab

Mizrahi, Isaac

mobile phones

Moon, Sheryle

Morgan, Todd

Morita, Akio

mortgage brokers

Mortgage Choice

Motwani, Rajeev

Mp3 players

MSN

Mulally, Alan

multiplayer online games

Murdoch, Rupert

Murray, David

My