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  • For Magnolia CEO, Growth Must Be Managed for Company to Remain Successful

    Entrepreneur has a short interview with Steve Abrams , CEO and majority owner of Magnolia Bakery . Magnolia is the New York bake shop chain that many credit with kicking off the cupcake craze that started in Manhattan and spread to other cities over the last few years. Abrams bought Magnolia for $1 million, and, according to Entrepreneur, has built the company up to point where revenues now top $23 million. Abrams seems to want to expand the business, but only on his terms. In addition to the original Magnolia Bakery, there are now 5 others, 4 in New York and 1 in Dubai. Abrams and his family own all of them except the Dubai franchise. In the Entrepreneur interview, Abrams explained why he has taken his time expanded the company footprint: Entrepreneur : Did you have an expansion strategy in mind when you bought the original store in 2006? Abrams : We had expansion plans, but wanted to stay true to our roots as the corner bakery. That's why all our stores in the United States are company owned. No franchising. No partnerships. No license deals. It can't be done by a franchisee. It's too complicated. Entrepreneur : What's so complicated about baking cupcakes? Abrams : The baking isn't complicated. Baking correctly and putting a product out that is correct is complicated, especially at the volumes we do. I could have easily turned [Magnolia] into a hub-and-spoke model, but I would have to dumb down the product and the quality, shorten the menu, and I would not be able to do the amount of specials and the different fun things we do. Read the full article here .

  • Piaggio America's Bingham on Signs of Recovery

    We're on the hunt for signs of economic turnaround for businesses of all sizes. John Bingham , CEO of Piaggio America , is in aviation, so his company's fortunes depend on businesses buying his expensive products. And he sees what he calls "a progression" and a "visibility as to when we will get out of it" ("it" being the low spending times). He also argues that this is a good time for any business to look around at what its competitor's aren't doing--especially in terms of marketing--and take advantage. Here he is speaking with Forbes :

  • Business Lessons from the Dead...the Grateful Dead

    The Grateful Dead as role models for businesses? Seems a bit far-fetched. Until one considers their lasting power and the loyalty they built up among their fans. In a new book, David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan , stress that the Dead understood that their brand did not depend on heavy-handed control, but rather a willingness to evolve and innovate. They write: The Grateful Dead teaches us to show our brand's playfulness and to trust that our customers will recognize our brand even if it looks a little "different." When designing your websites, e-books, whitepapers, and social media profiles, give your design professionals some leeway. Yes, you want them to follow your corporate design standards, but let them deviate from those standards as appropriate. Professional designers know how to exercise their skill and incorporate fresh ideas without deviating completely from your brand. By loosening up your brand, you allow your company to show its personality—and, by extension, its ability to roll with the punches. The book is titled Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn From the Most Iconic Band in History , and Scott and Halligan have provided MarketingProfs with an excerpt. Read it here .

  • Crocs Added to Endangered (Shoe) Species List

    Crocs in Parma by Ze Eduardo at Flick.com Listeners to the classic BBC radio series, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , know the utility of shoes as an economic indicator. The Shoe Event Horizon theory holds, in part, that when people are depressed, they look at their shoes. Prompting them to think, "Hey. New shoes will make me feel better." They then buy new shoes. Of course shoe makers have no incentive to make quality shoes at that point--the quicker shoes wear out, the more people see that they need new shoes. That may provide one explanation for the problems the makers of Crocs are now facing: their shoes are too durable and in a recession people stick with the pair they have. As Ylan Mui writes in the Washington Post , Who needs a second pair of Crocs in a recession, particularly when the first pair is holding up just fine?" Another possible explanation: the company overextended: The company used money from its public stock offering to diversify and acquire new businesses, such as Jibbitz, which makes charms designed to fit Crocs' ventilating holes, and Fury Hockey, which used Croslite to make sports gear. It built manufacturing plants in Mexico and China, operated distribution centers in the Netherlands and Japan, and forged into the global marketplace. More than half of Crocs were sold outside the United States. Whatever the explanation, the company went from profits of $168.2 million in 2007 to losses of $185.1 million last year. So put on one of your five pairs of microbial foam shoes and read Once-Trendy Crocs Could be on their Last Legs here .