Decision-making from Karl Marx to YouTube: How to Think About Strategic Dilemmas

In Marx’s day, labor capital controlled the means of production. Today, every consumer has a computer that enables production, distribution, and consumption from anywhere. The basic dilemma — who controls the means of production and who captures its rewards? — endures in a new form. In this talk, Phil Hood will examine how strategic dilemmas are modeled and resolved in society, business and personal life, using examples from his book The Power of the 2 x 2 Matrix: Using 2 x 2 Thinking to Solve Business Problems and Make Better Decisions (Jossey-Bass, 2004). He will introduce a problem hierarchy model and discuss how to apply solution methods that are appropriate to the toughest technology strategy issues today. Be ready for group exercises and tough thinking about current challenges in your own work.

Presenter(s)

Writer, consultant, and publisher Phil Hood specializes in new media and technologies. After a 15-year stint in music publishing, he moved into information technology in the 1990s, working as editorial director of Hypermedia Communications. While there he directed the 250,000-circulation NewMedia, the first magazine focused on the convergence of communications, media, and computing technologies. In the mid-'90s he switched gears, becoming EVP of Research at the Alliance for Converging Technologies, a Toronto-based think tank specializing in custom research for Fortune 500 firms. While there, Phil directed several multimillion-dollar studies into the future of multimedia, online commerce, e-government and online self-organized production. As part of these programs, he developed and delivered planning toolkits to companies around the globe. Today Phil is involved in speaking, writing, and, once again, music publishing, as President of Enter Music Publishing, Inc., and consultant to several music and entertainment web sites.