What is a Strategy?
What is a Strategy?
Michael Porter is the author of 18 books and numerous articles including Competitive Strategy, Competitive Advantage, Competitive Advantage of Nations, and On Competition. A six-time winner of the McKinsey Award for the best Harvard Business Review article of the year, Professor Porter is the most cited author in business and economics. Read More »
Review of Strategy Definitions
Amazingly, the debate seems to rage on as to what a business strategy is. Effective strategies are the key to our ability to succeed. Let’s end the debate and look at what the best minds on the topic say. Continue Reading
Strategy Development Best Practices and Innovations
Get access to invaluable business research links and best practices and “how to” articles on competitive intelligence, innovation, strategic analysis, strategy design and strategy tools. Continue Reading
Strategy Management Models
The right strategic management model can play a critical role in helping you to optimize your efforts. Review the different strategic management models to help you determine the pros and cons of each, and to help you determine what model works best for you in your given situation. Continue Reading
Disruptive Innovation in Higher Education
Higher education may be ripe for “disruptive innovation.” We all look up to and model after Harvard. Its reputation is stellar. However, the total cost to produce one graduate is staggering. In 2010, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sponsored a study carried out by McKinsey & Company. The objective was simple: to determine how to produce more highly qualified graduates at lower costs. Continue Reading
The Predictioneer’s Game
Bruce writes that “accurate predication relies on science, not artistry—and certainly not the sleight of hand. It is a reflection of the power of logic and evidence, and testimony to the progress being made in demystifying the world of human thought and decision.” The author claims to have a 90% accuracy rate with his model. Continue Reading
Wisdom of Crowds
Gathering information and making decisions is at the crux of good business. Leaving to the few elite may be wrong wrong-headed. In the book The Wisdom of Crowds James Surowiecki finds that non-experts are collectively smarter than individual experts or even small groups of experts... Continue Reading
Built to Love
Examples of products that people love include Apple iPods, Navistar’s LoneStar truck, Webkinz stuffed animals and KitchenAid Toasters and waffle makers. These products meet the functional needs of the customers and they elicit a positive emotion... Continue Reading
The Starfish and the Spider
Throughout history, societies were organized around hierarchies. There were always those that wanted to rule and conquer. Hierarchies were used to control and carry out orders. Will this pattern continue? There is a trend toward decentralization, empowerment and contribution...Continue Reading
How the Mighty Fall – Review
Jim Collins’ research project uncovered five step-wise stages of the decline of formerly mighty companies. These stages are like a staged disease. It is generally hard to detect the disease while it is in its early stages, but that is when it is most curable... Continue Reading
Strategic Speed – Review
Only 30 percent of strategic initiatives are successfully executed. If we can’t have confidence in our ability to strategize, plan and execute, what do we have? What’s going on? And how can you accelerate execution in your company? Three seasoned executives and consultants conducted major research to understand the problem and to find answers... Continue Reading
Competitive Advantage – Review
This seminal work is a vital resource. Companies achieve a competitive advantage based on cost leadership, differentiation, or focus... Continue Reading
The Discipline of Market Leaders – Review
The Disciple of Market Leaders provides compelling insights into various strategies and business models. It focuses on market leaders (e.g., Nike, Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Harley Davidson, Intel) and identifies keys to their success... Continue Reading
Blue Ocean Strategy
W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
Companies have long engaged in head-to-head competition in search of sustained, profitable growth. They have fought for competitive advantage, battled over market share, and struggled for differentiation. Yet in today’s overcrowded industries, competing head-on results in nothing but a bloody “red ocean” of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool. In a book that challenges everything you thought you knew about the requirements for strategic success, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne contend that while most companies compete within such red oceans, this strategy is increasingly unlikely to create profitable growth in the future. Read More »
Five Competitive Forces
Michael Porter provided a model that identifies the most powerful driving forces within industries. To learn more - Read More »
Built to Love Products
Jonathan Cagan and Peter Boatwright conducted research on top products. They have consulting with winning product companies. They have published “Built to Love” a book outlining steps to creating a process that can significantly help in creating winning products. Read More »
Steve Jobs – Find Your Passion
Strategic Speed
Only 30 percent of strategic initiatives are successfully executed. If we can’t have confidence in our ability to strategize, plan and execute, what do we have? What’s going on? And how can you accelerate execution in your company. Read More »
The Execution Premium
Few organizations have organized systems in place to effectively manage the execution of strategy. Many organizations look to the budget to track performance, and don’t conduct strategy reviews. Read More »
What is the HedgeHog Concept?
Key to developing a compelling and motivating objectives and strategy is what Jim Collins calls the “Hedgehog Concept.”
“Jim Collins is a student and teacher of enduring great companies – how they grow, how they attain superior performance, and how good companies can become great companies. Jim’s book, GOOD TO GREAT: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … And Others Don’t, attained long-running positions on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Business Week best seller lists, has sold 3 million hardcover copies since publication and has been translated into 35 languages, including such languages as Latvian, Mongolian and Vietnamese.” (Jim.Collins.com)
What is a Strategy?
Highlights by David Willden