Nickname: whataretheythinking?

Review: The idea is beautiful! But is it profitable? Remember years ago when one airline removed spoons from the airplane to save money? ....I rest my case

Date reviewed: Jan 25, 2006 2:59 AM

Nickname: Narayan

Review: Good solutions, but many companies today are run by finely-tuned beancounters. One is amazed at the punctuality and service of India's Jet Airways which fine-tunes just the basic few requirements of passengers to get a very high loyalty rate. Punctuality, good food and a good level of whatever service they provide. I have waited in check-in lines in the US while the staff is discussing their vacation plans. I guess in service-based businesses, pay by the hour should be indexed to performance as well.

Date reviewed: Jan 23, 2006 4:58 PM

Nickname: JC

Review: I just cannot agree with your take on the Ikea experience. An Ikea store is far from being my definition of having fun. While I do buy tableware and lamps there, I will never again buy a bed or a sofa. I did that 15 years ago (I loaded them into my car, carried them up up to the 10th floor where I lived, and spent time assembling them). When I moved three years later, I just threw the bed and sofa into the garbage and went to a real bed store for a new bed. I still have that bed now and apart from it being beautiful, my back problems have disappeared.

Date reviewed: Jan 23, 2006 9:45 AM

Nickname: peter-houck

Review: How refreshing. But your story is also an unfortunate commentary on the lack of vision on the part of many "leaders" of major companies. One would think with the maturing of design internationally that it would be a key element in corporate strategy.

Date reviewed: Jan 23, 2006 3:00 AM

Nickname: aringhe

Review: As a frequent Alitalia passenger I can speak with certainty when I say that bankruptcy seems more likely. The positive Italian qualities that Alitalia should embrace and capitalize on are thwarted by its obsessive bureaucracy (also an Italian trait). Actually the "Ikeatalia" concept sounds quite similar to the service Virgin Atlantic currently provides.

Date reviewed: Jan 21, 2006 2:36 AM

Nickname: Ben

Review: I applaud Mr. Zaccai for this motivating and insightful small article. The combined focus on business design innovation, delightful customer experience, collaborative value creation network, and business competitiveness is highly pertinent. The contrast made between Ikea and Alitalia can easily be transposed to contrast many leading and lagging firms. You can be sure that in the next round of our MBA course in New Economy Business Design, we will use the example to foster discussions and to stimulate our online and onsite students in the realization of their field-based business design project. Professor Benoit Montreuil NSERC/Bell/Cisco Research Chair in Business Design Canada Research Chair in Enterprise Engineering CENTOR Network Organization Technology Research Center Faculty of Administration Sciences Université Laval Québec, Canada Benoit.Montreuil@centor.ulaval.ca

Date reviewed: Jan 20, 2006 8:09 PM

Nickname: Biplav

Review: Whatever Zaccai writes is applicable to any industry. The mantra is 'Thinking beyond the traditional realm.' This is something that many companies lack today. There are surveys in our company to measure E-Sat (Employee Satisfaction) and then they work out on some 'traditional' ways to increase E-Sat. Recently we've been shocked that the company has started certain non convential activities. Parties,games,dances ... we are happily shocked. Still a long way to go for all companies who want to estabish away from the common.

Date reviewed: Jan 20, 2006 7:55 PM