Well I am so glad google chrome has come out as an app. Now I can blog from where ever i want :)
Monday, July 30, 2012
Monday, May 9, 2011
data, the tech is moving on why aren't we?
from this you can guess i am a huge fan of database appliances, i used a netezza box for a year and it was fantastic. i have to be honest though, when i was told that it was 100 times faster i felt throwing the sales guy out the door, glad i didn't as he was right. it did raise a bigger issue for me, why are data people so focused on their own technology and defend it to the death? i was one of these.
however i think this defence makes data people make all the wrong decisions. data infrastructure is becoming more and more flexible and the idea that your total structure will stay the same for the next 10 years is for me dead. i think the structure will evolve, especially data that is primarily used for analysis after all it is just a table or as i often tell the it guys "its just a csv file at heart"
the question for me is why are we as data analysts not at all flexible around our data tech yet require infinite flexibility when using the data? surely this has to change, but maybe its just me ;) i do after all only have two readers.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
when will twitter become dangerous to business?
today i had my first real experience of how twitter can have very negative affect on a business when a single customer with a following has a bad experience. the question for me is when will this stop businesses from taking risks because if one person has a problem the world hears about it?
how will one persons view point affect a business simply because thousands trust that person and getting your view to your followers is easier that complaining about the problem to the company at fault and lets be honest a whole lot less fun. there has to be great joy from seeing your reader stats and seeing how many people agreed with you.
personally i don't think this is going to be good for society, it is just too spiral out of control.
anyway tell me how you feel about the topic. i now blog from my blackberry....... my tech status just went up a notch
Monday, December 20, 2010
Retail, an asset allocation problem
I have been working in retail for almost two years now and have been learning a whole deal about how a good retailer is run. When you think of retail there are many components that make it great but at the core is one simple concept, what return can you get from your inventory investment and how do you maximise it?
There are two metrics that play a huge role in answering this question:
1) Gross profit Margin
2) Inventory turn
These two combined produce a version of return on inventory investment with the equation being [Gross profit] / [Average inventory investment through the year]. The way I have simplified it into an investment problem is by asking the following questions:
1) How much can I make off each investment? (GP)
2) How often can I make investments in the year? (Inventory turn)
Obviously this ignores any funding of the inventory but that is more of a financing decision than the raw economics inherent in each retailer. If the base numbers work then any gearing you can achieve is pure upside.
By driving either 1 or 2 you can significantly improve return on inventory. Another way to think about it is if you have a target Return on Inventory then you can set your strategy to either maximise GP% or inventory turn, example a petrol retailer has very small margins and are most likely fixed so if you were to Target a return of lets say 30% in the year and the margin was 2% then you would need to turn the inventory over 15 times. If you currently only turn it at 12 times a year then you know where to concentrate.
That's an example of a one product retailer, for a multiple product, multiple brand retailer the problem gets more complicated. If we had say three brands x, y and z the CEO would need to decide how much capital to dedicate to each brand to maximise return by either maintaining inventory or trying to grow inventory that has a superior return. At the next level each brand executive would need to allocate their pots of money to products to maximise the return of the brand. In essence these two people in the retailer are making the same decisions as an investor of funds would make, which funds do I allocate my money too and how much. Then at the fund level the fund manager asks what are the best allocation % to what stocks to maximise return.
The question for me is what good practices and techniques can a retailer use that the investment industry currently uses?
Next I will follow the concept but break it down for South African retailers that are publicly traded to get a feel for how differently each retailers economics are.
Hope you have a good 2011
There are two metrics that play a huge role in answering this question:
1) Gross profit Margin
2) Inventory turn
These two combined produce a version of return on inventory investment with the equation being [Gross profit] / [Average inventory investment through the year]. The way I have simplified it into an investment problem is by asking the following questions:
1) How much can I make off each investment? (GP)
2) How often can I make investments in the year? (Inventory turn)
Obviously this ignores any funding of the inventory but that is more of a financing decision than the raw economics inherent in each retailer. If the base numbers work then any gearing you can achieve is pure upside.
By driving either 1 or 2 you can significantly improve return on inventory. Another way to think about it is if you have a target Return on Inventory then you can set your strategy to either maximise GP% or inventory turn, example a petrol retailer has very small margins and are most likely fixed so if you were to Target a return of lets say 30% in the year and the margin was 2% then you would need to turn the inventory over 15 times. If you currently only turn it at 12 times a year then you know where to concentrate.
That's an example of a one product retailer, for a multiple product, multiple brand retailer the problem gets more complicated. If we had say three brands x, y and z the CEO would need to decide how much capital to dedicate to each brand to maximise return by either maintaining inventory or trying to grow inventory that has a superior return. At the next level each brand executive would need to allocate their pots of money to products to maximise the return of the brand. In essence these two people in the retailer are making the same decisions as an investor of funds would make, which funds do I allocate my money too and how much. Then at the fund level the fund manager asks what are the best allocation % to what stocks to maximise return.
The question for me is what good practices and techniques can a retailer use that the investment industry currently uses?
Next I will follow the concept but break it down for South African retailers that are publicly traded to get a feel for how differently each retailers economics are.
Hope you have a good 2011
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Audio book list for September
I spend over an hour in traffic everyday so I try and listen to as many audio books as I can. I figure I might as well use the time wisely. Here are two books I love and have listened to more than once:
Tha Black Swan by Nassim Taleb, this book keeps me in check and reminds me that my brain is far from perfect at getting to right conclusions when looking at data. I suggest if you work with making decisions from data, interested in investing or work with other people that make decisions from data that this book is a must read.
The Art of Profitability by Adrian Slywotzky, I will concede that this book is written in a very different style but I couldn't put it down (pull the plugs out my ears in this case) I finally got the idea behind the term business model. The book forces you to think in terms or where and how does the profit in the business come from and how do I grow it. I find myself standing in the pizza store try to figure out how they make their money and what the opportunities would be to increase the profit. So if you like trying to understand business and how the cogs turn then this is a must listen.
Hope you enjoy these as much as I did
Tha Black Swan by Nassim Taleb, this book keeps me in check and reminds me that my brain is far from perfect at getting to right conclusions when looking at data. I suggest if you work with making decisions from data, interested in investing or work with other people that make decisions from data that this book is a must read.
The Art of Profitability by Adrian Slywotzky, I will concede that this book is written in a very different style but I couldn't put it down (pull the plugs out my ears in this case) I finally got the idea behind the term business model. The book forces you to think in terms or where and how does the profit in the business come from and how do I grow it. I find myself standing in the pizza store try to figure out how they make their money and what the opportunities would be to increase the profit. So if you like trying to understand business and how the cogs turn then this is a must listen.
Hope you enjoy these as much as I did
The Matrix .......structure
Well the all powerful Google Analytics says we have had 12 people read this blog in the last couple of weeks, the fact that the average time on the site is close to zero must be a data glitch right ;)
Anyway in conversation with one of my company's executive we got to discussing matrix structures. Now I have a history with matrix structures....I don't like them. I know they can be extremely powerful and efficient but i have found they are very hard to manage and often take up so much energy to manage people the right way to get anything done that I don't know if its worth it. But there is more to it, I believe that it removes responsibility to things like a budget and leaves some players with skin in the game and others with none.
That said I can see how "commodity" and skills you require infrequently can be matrixed but I don't understand how you matrix entire departments.
So to our 12 readers, what are your experiences?
Happy spring day
Anyway in conversation with one of my company's executive we got to discussing matrix structures. Now I have a history with matrix structures....I don't like them. I know they can be extremely powerful and efficient but i have found they are very hard to manage and often take up so much energy to manage people the right way to get anything done that I don't know if its worth it. But there is more to it, I believe that it removes responsibility to things like a budget and leaves some players with skin in the game and others with none.
That said I can see how "commodity" and skills you require infrequently can be matrixed but I don't understand how you matrix entire departments.
So to our 12 readers, what are your experiences?
Happy spring day
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Debate.....why isn't there more
This post has been brewing in my head for a while and is very close to the core of who I am. Simply I believe that a couple of bright people thrashing out an idea is the best way to get to a great solution. This is pretty old hat but not for all, corporate culture really dictates whether this happens or not.
The past two jobs I have had I have had two very different environments, one where debate was EXPECTED and another where it is not. Here are my findings:
1) Debate does create better solutions
2) It helps train junior people faster as they ask more questions
3) It helps avoid mistakes, if the CEO is making a bad call many people will challenge the call
4) Good people are attracted to companies where bright people interact and debate business issues
5) It makes works interesting
6) Employees feel like they are in control of the companies future
This all sounds really good, but many senior people react very negatively to debate and whenever their ideas are challenged, so how would you react if a guy two days on the job said he thought you were making a mistake? Will you listen or will human nature kick in?
The past two jobs I have had I have had two very different environments, one where debate was EXPECTED and another where it is not. Here are my findings:
1) Debate does create better solutions
2) It helps train junior people faster as they ask more questions
3) It helps avoid mistakes, if the CEO is making a bad call many people will challenge the call
4) Good people are attracted to companies where bright people interact and debate business issues
5) It makes works interesting
6) Employees feel like they are in control of the companies future
This all sounds really good, but many senior people react very negatively to debate and whenever their ideas are challenged, so how would you react if a guy two days on the job said he thought you were making a mistake? Will you listen or will human nature kick in?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)