The Blog
Long-form essays, field notes, and frameworks from the FIRMSconsulting team — published weekly.
All posts
Published weekly-
The Economics of Innovation and Big Bets
The Economics of Innovation and Big Bets “How do you make these big bets and when? When everyone can see that the economics makes sense, it’s usually too late.” There was a story in The Wall Street Journal about utilities that made a big bet into renewables 15-20 years ago and are starting to see their valuations increase to…
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Are Netflix and Disney+ Really Beating HBO Max and Apple TV?
Are Netflix and Disney+ Really Beating HBO Max and Apple TV? Disney and Netflix have been posting record-breaking numbers in their streaming uptake. They and Amazon Prime are the frontrunners in the streaming wars. The other players—Peacock, HBO Max, Apple TV, CBS, etc.—are not seen as frontrunners, at least not yet. The Financial Times has a couple of articles on…
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Risks and Liabilities: Injuries Are Not the Worst Liabilities in Pro Sports
Risks and Liabilities: Injuries Are Not the Worst Liabilities in Pro Sports In this excerpt from Monday Morning 8 a.m. newsletter, issue #9, we are addressing some liabilities and risks in business. But first, let’s define what is a business risk and what is a liability in business. What Is Business Risk? Business risk is the…
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All Shareholders Are Not Equal
All Shareholders Are Not Equal “In corporate finance, you are taught that a company doesn’t need to diversify because shareholders can always diversify. That’s true, but it also implies that if companies that aren’t diversified have core products that fail, the company fails too.” A story in The Financial Times talks about a press release from Continental Auto Group—a…
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Who are you listening to?
Who are you listening to? The final story is about how one of the main sovereign wealth funds in Abu Dhabi has gone on a significant investment streak despite uncertainty due to COVID-19. It’s a nice piece about the head of the fund and how he’s built his career from the early days when the leader of…
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How Emerson and it’s CEO, David Farr, are responding to COVID-19
How Emerson and it’s CEO, David Farr, are responding to COVID-19 There’s a piece from the Wall Street Journal about how Emerson, a conglomerate, and its CEO, David Farr, has been responding to COVID-19. We often think of strategy as a document we put together. We often think of decision making as the process of putting together a proposal,…
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What Bob Dylan Teaches Us About Digital Strategy
What Bob Dylan Teaches Us About Digital Strategy Bob Dylan has decided to sell the rights to his entire music catalog to a major music label. Let’s look at what Bob Dylan teaches us about digital strategy. A corporation now owns Bob Dylan’s entire life’s work—he no longer owns the underlying property that made him famous in…
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Strategic Consulting Knowledge Management
This is what is required to build intellectual property. It is a critical competitive advantage that most firms/professionals/consultants try to develop yet eventually quit. First Think of the time and cost savings in having the best slides available to your team. Not generic templates that are empty, but detailed study slides tracking a problem from…
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Stories You Tell Yourself About Your Career
Stories You Tell Yourself About Your Career As we go into 2021, a lot is happening in the world. If anything, COVID hasn’t changed the pace of innovation. Competition is not slowing down. We live in a world of enormous change. This is good for your career because there are more opportunities. But it can…
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India & “Digital Strike”: the Underlying Mechanics
India & “Digital Strike”: the Underlying Mechanics Financial Times had a piece about how India has decided that they will no longer allow several Chinese apps to operate within the borders of India. I want to talk about the underlying mechanics of what’s happening here. India is doing this because it wants to achieve something, which they think…