Studying the world of industry can provide powerful lessons for homebuilders on what to do, and what not to do. Obviously a home building company is a very different animal than the giant behemoths of business such as General Motors, IBM, and AT&T. Yet their failures and successes provide insights into the American economy and consumer behavior.

Because builders are often protected from national competition by the fragmentation of the marketplace, they may fail to grasp the lessons that the history of business can provide. That's why we created this program -- so that builders can take the appropriate lessons from industry, and improve their own productivity and profitability. Topics include:

• McDonald’s and super sizing
• WalMart and market innovation
• Volkswagen and updating old ideas
• Federal Express and time based competition
• Hallmark and selling romance
• Avis and competing with the big boys