Business Lessons from the Aviation World

In the aviation world, safety is given a lot of attention—and rightfully so. Redundancy and checklists are everywhere and there is very strict regulation where everything is codified. As importantly, there are aviation-related organizations whose main focus is on learning from past mistakes. The business world could certainly learn a thing or two from the aviation industry.

This episode is based on a corresponding blog post.

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Getting the pricing right is harder than it seems

Setting pricing seems easy. You understand the value you provide to your users and how much they are willing to pay. Armed with that information, you set the price. But if you sell in more than one country or through partners, you very quickly add a whole new level of complexity that makes the whole exercise, well, fun.

This podcast episode is based on a corresponding blog post.

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Santa, Inc. – The amazing business model of a reindeer pilot

When the success of your organization depends on global delivery within a window of just 24 hours, it’s imperative for your logistics and delivery systems to be flawless. Add to that a strict focus on delighting the customers using processes that rely heavily on outsourcing and you can see just what a challenge it would be. Wait a minute! There’s also that whole “deliver significant shareholder value and growth, year after year” thing. Daunting? Yes. But not for Santa, Inc. How does the company do it?

That’s what I look at in this podcast episode, using one of the great tools available to understand products, businesses, and other opportunities: the Business Model Canvas. A while back, I played around an applied the BMC to a holiday-season centric subject.

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