The reason this blog is super late is because of a silly test called the LSAT. A silly test which completely took over my life for the past week. Its kind of shameful to say, but I will now honestly admit that I did NOT read the case last week. Sorry Dr. Tuggle! I don't really remember doing anything the last week except eat, sleep, cram LSAT, and, after burning out doing so, doing absolutely nothing.
Having said that, I found that I did not connect to this case as much as the previous ones. Perhaps it is because I do not(yet?) invest, and so I only had a basic understanding of what the investing world entails. Then again, the last time I went to Las Vegas I cared nothing for gambling, but buffets appeal to all, dont they? All I know about investing, I hear from my dad who casually invests online...somewhere. He's bought a couple hundred stocks here, a couple hundred there. I'm not really sure he knows that much more than me, except reading more news than me, actually!
Schwab's smartest move in creating staying power for the company is probably the fact that it knew what it wanted to be, and constantly(except for the period of mismanagement), stuck to achieving its goal. It was good of Schwab to not expand too far, and attempt to be everything and excel at everything. The adage that no one is perfect seems like, after these weeks, something very applicable to companies too. For Wynn Resorts, this is not true, because there are few equivalent competitors in the gambling and high end resort world, but for someone like Schwab who is in an industry with many other firms, differentiation is everything. It is best there to know your niche and stick with it. Schwab did this very well.
Aside from its consistency in striving to become the best in its niche, Schwab was also smart in fostering the change towards completely online trading. This company definitely decided its "what and who's needs will be satisfied, and how to satisfy them".
Beyond Schwab, I was surprised to hear in the lecture that Sony is currently a sad case(shows how much I've come out of my LSAT cave this year?...). Our family does not purchase Sony music players or tvs, but we do have a Sony VAIO laptop, and a Sony PS2(sadly no budget for PS3). I find the functions and price on both reasonable, and would purchase another VAIO laptop in the future after this one goes to computer heaven. Maybe I just dont know innovative? Or I'll be jumping on the Macbook bandwagon...
Well, you've gotten a lot out of the Schwab case anyway (but you would have gotten more if you'd have read it and analyzed it!).
ReplyDeleteI am a personal fan of Sony, and I hope that Howard Stringer can bring them back as a major player--it's just that I'm skeptical...