Compete on other areas: other areas that cant be copied by competitors

Nation building via learning and being the best in business

Surprising move for Target vs Walmart

                                                    Michael Graves collection

1999

Walmart crushes Target on prices.    They cant compete. They are declared dead   Bob the boss says they compete on other areas

Michael Graves -   design products for Target;  good design for every one.   ($40.00 that looks like $400.00)   then other designer product lines.   Clothing lines.    Luxury line.  Made is aspirational

Today, Target sales is $100 b

How do wealthy protect their wealth through art and paintings

Nation building via learning and being the best in business

So painters get rich if they have painter

1.  The wealthy buys commission the painter

2.   The wealthy pays the painter say P40 m for somethign that could be ugly

3.   Then the wealthy puts the painting at warehouse (a freeport)

4     Then they put up the painting for auction.   

      The purpose is to up the price.   The price goes up to P80M

5.  Then the wealthy person donates the art piece to a museum.

      The museum accepts the donation which is tax free

It is a financial weapon disguised as philanthropy or culture.

The art tax yield/write off

7 Torah laws that propel Jewish wealth for 100 generations

Nation building via learning and being the best in business

Maybe we do not know know or even disdain business principles of the rich like the Chinese or Jews.  But they are so rich.    In US there may be just 2% of total US population but control 30% of the wealth  At Israel, these rich fund the wars vs their neighbors.

They must be doing a lot of great things that MBA and Ivy Leagues do not know or not teaching (When I was teaching MBA, this post asked students to make report on Business and the Bible,   Money is mentioned 300+ times in the Bible.  Surely God wants us all to succeed.

Here are 7 principles mentioned by the author:

1.  Guard your reputation

     Your networth is your reputation.     

     Your reputation is the funnel where cash flow comes in

     Employ honest weight and measurement.  Be honest and truthful

     Be like the Chinese and the Jews who seal the deal with handshake

     Their words are the hardrock foundation of any deal

     Find in your business gaps where you are not keeping your word and correct this ASAP

2.  Do not muzzle your ox

    Share your earnings, your wealth with those contribute to your wealth building.  Chinese and

    Jews practice this.

    We practiced this through incentives and profit sharing.  But succeeding generations are not 

     practice these.

Be square honest and transparent in your deals....build for the long term, not cornering a smart one time deal

Nation building via learning and being the best in business

Be honest and square in your deals.   Not always gaining the upper hand.  No insider trading secret deals.

Be transparent with your customers and suppliers/sellers.  

Build a reputation.  Be transparent  Not a one time deal that favors you.   Be the one to to go because you are fair honest and minds others interest too.  Not yours alone

Think of long term  10- 20 years and even about your own death.    What will people tell you about you as  businessman  20 years down the road and even eulogy at your death.   

This concerns about a ROW issue with one  of the big landowner who let us pass through their properties.   About 3 decades back.    My successors had issue with them and filed cases in the court regarding an alleged mischief and destruction of property by the grantors of the right of way.  I was a signatory to the grant of right of way.

The court called me to testify.  What do I do:  side with my siblings who now run the corporation,  or side with the truth.?   What was the grant of right of way all about?  Did we have exclusive right to the property or did the grantor have equal right to the right of way.

This post sided wth the truth because no one would like to do business with me anymore if I twisted the truth

Principle from Torah in business dealing - Genesis 14 - that you made people rich not the other way around

Nation building via learning and being the best in business

This was the principle that one of the Rotschild, Mayer employed in dealing with his customers as a finance expert.  He gave the best term to one of the  customers a prince:    lower interest rate, flexible repayment terms so that later on he was the go to person when finance was involved.    Lest it not be misunderstood that the customer made him rich, it was the other way around

This post thought that when he was in the finance business it was the goal of the company to make the customer prosperous, not bleed him/her dry.    But to make him grow rich and prosperous so that both of the businesses grow.    And any business.  We solve customers problems.  We make him gain, remove pain.   

You cant maximize.  You   have to make it fair.    If you make money, let others make money too.  It is their right and opportunity to profit from your ideas and the deal you are closing.     Being too greedy makes it hard and leaves a negative feeling at the other end.  Making money flow into the others coffers make it equally easy to let money flow freely end lessly into yours.

If the others are unhappy with the deal or sale, return the money.  Make amends.

If your goal is to gouge your customer you are nothing more than a thief or pirate or a govt tongpats.  Flood control expert...

Genesis:    14 - 18-20

¹⁸ And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High.
¹⁹ And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;
²⁰ and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Wrong system will reward the wrong ones like decreasing customer retention

Nation building via learning and being the best in business

Customer retention is more profitable but the system rewarded speed vs Customer Service.     So the reward system has to be changed.  Employees can be blamed for the wrong behavior because the system rewarded this.   

Continuing business is the goal of every business.   So that has to be encouraged...

Rewarding customer service; overhauling the incentive system