The “New” G.M. Sounds Dangerously Like the Old, Dead Saturn

Adam Hanft — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:20:04 -0400

“The General Motors Corporation today displayed the prototype of a small car intended to someday match similar Japanese cars in cost and match or exceed them in quality.”

So wrote The New York Times on November 4th, 1983. And yesterday, with the withdrawal of Penske as a potential purchaser of Saturn, the “someday” of that distant, gauzy announcement has turned out to be never.

Starbucks Flees From its Brand, Yet Again

Adam Hanft — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:44:28 -0400

Hey you - a 60% owner of General Motors. Are you worried about the innovative dynamism of the post-bankruptcy, government-owned GM? Are you anxious about whether they are truly committed to excellence? Have no fear, kick-back and have a Margarita.

Because this week, the company proudly announced via a press release that they are launching an online suggestion box called

Opinion Exhaustion: Skittles, President Obama, and the Assault of Everyone

Adam Hanft — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:54:16 -0400

Something new is happening on Skittles.com. The company isn't putting its real estate to work as a marketing platform--singing the vast and socially beneficial aspects of Skittles.

Instead, they have turned their homepage over to their Twitter feed. On some days, Skittles turns their homepage over to their Wikipedia entry, and to their Facebook page.

That means that they're willing to live with anything that anybody might have to say about Skittles--laudatory, or lambasting them as evil purveyors of chemical sugar drops.

Why it Took an Entrepreneur to Make America Flip Over the Flip (And Why it Would have Flopped Inside any Big Company)

Adam Hanft — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:03:28 -0400

Wal-Mart has succeeded as a highly-evolved culture of the tangible by creating a dazzlingly efficient logistics operation, shaving cent-splinters off an item, and driving down overhead. This is the whole relentless apparatus that brings us "everyday low prices" and it is made up entirely of business practices you can touch, feel, and measure. And no one is better at it than they are.

Ten Steps to Turn Around Wal-Mart, Part 2

Adam Hanft — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:44:40 -0400

[Editor's note: This column was published in two parts. Click here for Adam Hanft's first five suggestions for Wal-Mart.]

The Death of Corporate Permanence

Adam Hanft — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:44:35 -0400

Is the pandemic of bankruptcies actually changing our national perspective on corporate mortality in some fundamental way? It's an important question to ask, given the frequency of once-iconic brands turning into corporate panhandlers, at the mercy of creditors and the courts.

The New Accountability: Felix Unger Will Stop Paying for Oscar Madison

Adam Hanft — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:06:40 -0400

There was a story in a recent Wall Street Journal about a new technology that lets insurance companies reward safe drivers with “deep discounts.” Progressive and GMAC will be rolling out a digital back seat driver that tracks not just mileage – that’s old news – but how fast you drive, how hard you hit the brakes, and other habits.