Market Share At Any Cost

Going after market share with a low price strategy may look attractive in a competitive environment with no clear differentiation between the products. But when price is the only appealing factor, companies stand to  lose value in a spiraling price war.  The lure of market share is more prevalent in consumer products where companies are destroying value and commoditizing their premium brands with price cuts.

The newly appointed CEO, Paul Polman, of embattled Consumer Products maker, Unilever, has this to say about his strategy:

We are not going to have a mentality to grow at the expense of others

He was quoted as saying that he would avoid fighting for market share at any cost, a trap that lead companies to cut prices too steep or chase low-margins products.

Mr.Polman nailed it.

Randy Pausch and Randy Komisar - Trade Money For Time

This weekend I watched the time management lecture by Randy Pausch, (well known for his terminal condition and his book The Last Lecture). I also read a book by Randy Komisar, The Monk and The Riddle. The two Randys talked about exactly the same thing.

Their core concept is the same, simple and profound - worry about the scarcest and non-reprehensible resource. Time and not money. Both goad us to ask ourselves, " if I only had a short time to live, would I want to do what I am doing now. Is what I am doing worth my time? What is the opportunity cost?

While Komisar is more holistic in his approach and asks " if I am doing step-1 because it has to be done so I can get to do step-2, which I love and is really what I want to do for the rest of my life, why? Why not do what I really want to do now? Why wait? Why subscribe to 'deferred life policy'?"

He talks about 'drive' which pushes you to do things you have to do while 'passion' pulls you towards things you would rather be doing.

While Komisar simply asked us to imagine our final days, Pausch literally had only few days to live and died recently.
Pausch gives tools and tactics to operationalize this, with specific and tionable and habit forming TODOs.

Together the two tell us to focus on our passion and how we go about achieving it.

Komisar's book also gives brief insights into how startups and VCs work, how they think about valuation from their perspectives and some funny anecdotes on life in the valley.