The-Abstract-Company's Blog

Case study: Media or Madness?

theabstractcompany — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:32:08 +0000

M e d i a

So many people, particularly celebrities. Have become hooked on to this idea of ‘reality television shows’. No wonder there has been some confusions as to what is considered to be real and what isn’t.. The obvious examples -‘Big Brother’, ‘The Apprentice’ and not to forget, ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ (yeah right). It seems, media has gone reality mad!

Playing with the concept of reality on TV has become the new pastime, but for how long?

The news concerning whether governments are creating a surveillance society, I think is an understatement. Rather it is society creating a surveillance government!

Politics and the media seem to have been the best of friends or have been pulling the same stunt superman does when disguising himself as Clark Kent, for some time. For example, looking as Barbra Kruger’s work, we can see how she mixes politics with media and it works exceedingly’.

This psychoanalysis has created questions such a, is surveillance in the name of public safety, or scopophillia? I brash question this may be, but one must wonder with so much fans of TV shows such as Big Brother whether this would include some of Britain’s government?

It seems everything the government puts their hands on, turns to dust—or tax payers money. Not to mention the poor speaker, Michael Martin, stepping down for becoming too speechless with governments madness also known as bureaucracy!

I guess the harsh reality of political muse has gotten everyone making things up—yes, I’m referring to the MP’s expenses or the lack of it.

It’s time we all acknowledge the truth and realise that although the media can sometimes seem to mimic reality very well and can often be very entertaining, media and reality is a dangerous formula.

P.E.S.T or S.W.O.T

theabstractcompany — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:52:23 +0000

The environment of businesses are constantly changing and therefore, so should a companies business plan. Although, in practice this tends to vary depending on the status of the business.

Profit companies tend to focus more on the financial forecasts and whether there is potential competitors (PEST) while not-for-profit companies often get caught up on focusing on the other end of the spectrum, beginning with the mission and internal (SWOT) objectives.

The internal environment is often ignored by profit companies as there lively hood depends upon extrinsic values such as financial investments. Not that not-for-profit companies don’t require invertors also, but the priorities of the daily activities to attain product excellence, often distracts many managers within charity organisations.

Both the internal and external scope of a business and industry is essential in developing a rounded picture of where a business currently is in the short term and broader context.

As a result of organisations not taking full account of both the internal and external environment, managers are often not fully prepared to adapt and employ the right tactics, strategies and objectives necessary to overcome organisational changes as this often requires some financial acumen as well as organisational strength and support.

Case study: To agree or disagree? That is the question

theabstractcompany — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:28:57 +0000

Creating a strategic marketing plan is one of the essential tools needed for the success of achieving longevity within any organisation’s existence.

Many Board of Trustee’s and Art Manager’s within non-for-profit organisations still hold on to the myth that creating a marketing plan is mainly for profit organisations and is not a first priority within many arts organisations, as their mission is not based on extrinsic values such as profit, but intrinsic values such as product excellence.

As a result, many board members within the arts fail to efficiently manage and resource non-for-profit organisations well. While art organisations must meet their mission of excellence, must also acknowledge the reality and importance of developing an efficient and productive plan to produce a mission of stability and success. Therefore, can the myth and war of applications and tools employed by profit organisations finally be accepted and settled within non-for-profit organisations?

GETTING STARTED

The importance of building a business mission is often misunderstood by many board members . This may be due to the complexities of the day to day distractions and overwhelming demands of short term intrinsic activities such as product or programme excellence or the pressures of daily goals and deadlines needed to be met – producing short term success.

However, defining the organisation’s mission is the foundation and the starting point of ensuring the success of any framework implemented by top management within an organisation. A clear mission also prevents the whole organisation from getting too tied up in the short comings of delivering short term excellence and focusing on the broader objectives.

ANALYSING

An efficient framework strategy is meaningless without a company objective and an objective without a strategy is a wish (or dream).

Therefore, since goals or objectives and strategies interlink, it is essential to carry out an internal and external environmental analysis after creating a mission to determine the objectives before deciding a strategic framework that would be effective enough to create meaningful results shown in Fig 1.

STRATEGISING

Having an effective but inefficient approach to planning for example, is known as ‘survival’. This means that although attaining short term goals can be effective for a while, can become ineffective and inefficient once various organisational changes occur that are not within management’s control, creating a ‘slow death’ and ultimately yielding unproductive results in the long term shown in Fig 2.

Has the culture web weaved within organisations become tangled ?

theabstractcompany — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:18:03 +0000

It is amazing how many managers consider their organisation culture. I have discovered while talking to managers within different fields, none mention their organisational culture or even consider that the lack of it should be acknowledged as a concern. On the other hand, mogul companies such as Microsoft and Google for instance, culture is an asset and competitive tool, bragged about throughout the whole organisation.

Culture war

Reading an article in the Guardian newspaper, (4 May 2005—Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/may/04/worlddispatch.gay rights) entitled ‘Controversial Business’, highlighted the issue concerning business organisational culture and politics. Microsoft and Google both position themselves as culturally diverse organisations ethnically, academically, and politically. One of the challenged issues that had arisen within Microsoft has been about the sexual orientation of its employees. David Teather, [Guardian website 2005] who wrote an article explaining how US companies supporting anti-discriminatory legislation are under pressure from the religious right within America and Microsoft’s management team found themselves getting caught in the crosshair of a America’s ‘cultural war’. This issue is much greater than Microsoft or any organisation for that matter, as this issue derives from the fact that America is dealing with a greater ‘political issues’ of same sex marriages being illegal within many states of America.

Therefore companies such as Microsoft, although has a strong culture and believes in diversity, are constantly being challenged with employee retention because of the set values top leaders and managers must employ that are necessary to compliment the organisation’s success, vision and mission while not breaking the law.

Competency and capacity

Where ever there’s culture, there is politics and those who work in the arts or matters of culture are no longer just artists or culturally sensitive, but ‘politicians’ and therefore require the acumen of political issues or will weave a wrangling

web.

FOR MORE INFO EMAIL

WILLIAMSABSTRACT@AOL.COM

The Abstract Company

For more Abstract Company peripherals check out!

http://www.comboutique.com/customclothing

ADVERTISE HERE

FOR MORE INFO EMAIL

WILLIAMSABSTRACT@AOL.COM

You don’t have to be making the big cream to be a ‘cash cow’

theabstractcompany — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:00:28 +0000

The inspiration for this article came from a conversation I had with my fiancé who had noticed that a local Costa café which had been around for a long time didn’t seem to attract him to going in as the new local established Star Bucks. I also found this to be true as I would pass the Costa coffee shop with out an ounce of curiosity as to what they sold, but on several occasions I would pop into the local Star Bucks and even find people sitting outside even in the rain! What was this diaspora effect concerning Costa coffee stores?

My research took me to the fact that anywhere a Starbucks coffee shop pops up, so is the economy. Could this mean Costa are not doing there homework? To make things more interesting, another Costa coffee shop popped up a few yards down the road which I also almost missed too. Maybe it’s the branding? Or could it be the Boston matrix market segmentation? Star Bucks being a ‘star’ not only reflects in the mogul’s name, but creates a charismatic appeal about it. Whether businesses are within the market segmentation of a ‘dog’, ‘question mark’, ‘star’ or cash cow—suggests being a leader is much more than, what sounds like an nature reserves, assuming that the idea that you will have been in the market long enough to have learned how to be profitable, and will be enjoying scale economies that give you an advantage based on market shares and reserves. Both Costa and Starbucks hold similar market share and market growth. Being an attractive business requires influencing others whom they have no direct connection to lure them in, as well as maintaining others whom there is connection but often little influence. Responding to a trend can sometimes be considered to be old fashioned, such as going for a cup a coffee. However holding on to past values / norms / missions can eliminate cliché of just because market growth is used as a measure of a market’s attractiveness , doesn’t always signal to potential customers.

Aliens or Artists?

theabstractcompany — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:32:30 +0000

Why isn’t everyone an artist? I often pondered this. Life would be so much easier if everyone knew about the arts. But instead everyone is focused on which MP bought what with tax payers money and which celebrity broke up or got ‘knocked ‘up? As I managed to get through all that so called news, I found a small, ‘wud a missed it if ya blinked’, article in the Metro (15 May issue) about British leaders who badly managed and poorly resourced charities because of not having the proper training and evaluation. I quote “ Volunteer board members lack proper training and evaluation, which is potentially damaging”, a think-tank (policy institute) warned. Obviously, leading the arts is not a profession everyone supports. Belinda Vernon however, argued, “charities deserved the best people with the best skills” and that a trustee was as critical to a charities success as a director was to a private business. Although it would be terribly boring if everyone only spoke of not-for- profit ‘troubles’, would make my day-to-day dealing with the so called ’stars’ and ‘cash cows’ within the market a lot easier if they knew what trustees within the arts dealt with in their day to day activities. Not to mention the small ‘p’ (whisper) politics and the big ‘P ’ - Public Liability Insurance! While the cash cows and ‘stars’ are focused on their marketing mixes (four p’s) or anything that beginning with p including perfections and pigs, all but one vital critical factor which coincidentally was missing from this humble sized article—people. The day-to-day most difficult job as trustees or art leaders of having to deal with people tasks requires only the brave and true. From a behavioural science sense, arts manager would be considered as ‘mind readers’. Knowing the reaction of individuals to your suggestions is not to be taken lightly. It is then important that we have an understanding of the people around us and know – how of how to manage and influence them when aiming for the best possible results and outcomes of our colleagues, our projects and organisation. I guess being able to read minds isn’t a bad gift and if it means being alienated from the special ’p’ called The Press , I’d rather pass it by. Anon.

Hello world!

theabstractcompany — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:19:59 +0000

Welcome to WordPress.com.!

This is the place where you can find the latest news on all sorts of Art and Business gossip/news… what ever you want to call it!

This blog is a place where students and teachers within the creative and culture sector of all experience levels can come and voice there views and opinions on the latest issues concerning their industry.

_______________________________________________

The Abstract Company – Arts Management company offering aesthetical quality while being in control

A network for art and business

Hello and welcome to the network for the global perspective of arts management. Now it is more than ever before a useful online resource for those in the cultural and creative sector. It is dedicated to academics, students, policy makers, researchers, regional and national authorities, business people, and journalists. You are invited to subscribe our free Arts Management Newsletter, published each month and also available as PDF with the latest trends for art managers. Don’t hesitate to give your feedback. We are always interested in winning correspondents and guest authors. Both our newsletter and this online portal are available for free.

To support our network and promote your own products or services, you can place an advertisement in our newsletter at this website.