Jeanne Liedtka
Strategic thinking is dialectical. In the process of inventing the image of the future, the strategist must mediate the tension between constraint, contingency, and possibility. The underlying emphasis of strategic intent is stretch – to reach explicitly for potentially unattainable goals. At the same time, all elements of the firm’s environment are not shapeable, and those constraints that are real must be acknowledged in designing … [ Read more ]
Content: Quotation | Source: Rotman Magazine | Subject: Strategy
Strategic Programming or Strategic Thinking?
In 1994, Henry Mintzberg’s book, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, was published. In this scathing yet scholarly work, Mintzberg tore into both the theory and practice of strategic planning-in the form it had taken especially during the 1970s. He suggested that this kind of approach could more accurately be labeled “strategic programming,” since it was more about management control than strategy.
Mintzberg put … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Source: ManyWorlds | Subject: Strategy
The Rule of Three and Four
A stable competitive market never has more than three significant competitors, the largest of which has no more than four times the market share of the smallest.
Content: Article | Author: Bruce D. Henderson | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subjects: Economics, Strategy
How Industries Evolve
Business strategy will not be effective unless it takes into account the current state of an industry as well as how that state is changing. Professor Anita McGahan of the Boston University School of Management argues that industries follow one of four evolutionary trajectories: progressive, creative, intermediating, and radical. If companies are to profit from strategic moves and investments in innovation, they must follow the … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Source: ManyWorlds | Subject: Strategy
The relationship between the basis of competition and optimal organizational scope
An Examination of the “Sustainable Competitive Advantage” Concept:
Significant progress has been made over the years with respect to construct definition, operationalization, and measurement of concepts in the marketing strategy field. However, there is still a lack of research that maps how a particular strategy can influence performance by providing firms with a Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA). This paper traces the origins of the SCA concept and links it to other concepts in … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Nicole P. Hoffman | Source: Academy of Marketing Science | Subject: Strategy
Anatomy of the Cash Cow
The first objective of corporate strategy is protection of the cash generators. In almost every company a few products and market sectors are the principal source of net cash generated.
Content: Article | Author: Bruce D. Henderson | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subjects: Finance, Strategy
A Framework for Strategy
What is the secret to creating real competitive advantage? Michael Tanner’s analysis, which reflects the approach of the Chasm Group popularized by Geoffrey Moore, goes beyond Michael Porter’s foundational work. Whereas Porter’s framework brought competitive forces into focus, it assumed relatively fixed industry boundaries. Tanner’s approach has the advantage of enhancing a company’s view across multiple, differing competitive situations while connecting these strategic positioning issues … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Michael K. Tanner | Sources: Adexta, The Chasm Group | Subject: Strategy
First Mover Advantage
This article considers the sources of first-mover advantage, how often first-movers win, how this advantage relates to other factors such as learning and innovation, and why the first-mover advantage must-if it is to work at all-be only a small part of a more sophisticated strategy.
Content: Article | Source: ManyWorlds | Subject: Strategy
4 Types of Alliances
Fast Second: How Smart Companies Bypass Radical Innovation to Enter and Dominate New Markets
If your organization aspires to create or conquer the new markets of the twenty-first century, Fast Second offers concrete advice on how to go about achieving this. Internationally acclaimed strategy experts Constantinos Markides and Paul Geroski explore:
– How radical innovation creates new-to-the-world markets
– What the structural characteristics of early markets are and the implications for prospective new entrants
– How … [ Read more ]
Content: Book | Authors: Constantinos C. Markides, Paul A. Geroski | Subjects: Innovation, Strategy
The Roots of Competitive Advantage
How “Star” Power Impacts the Complex World of Competitive Advantage
When Phil Jackson announced his return to coaching the Los Angeles Lakers in June, the basketball team’s prospects went up considerably. But does his skill as a coach guarantee The Lakers a competitive advantage as the season begins? Such factors as talent and timing, contends Russ Coff, a professor of organization and management at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, challenge the long held belief that … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Source: Knowledge@Emory | Subject: Strategy
Why Good Companies Fail
It’s not just weak organisations that spiral into decline and fail. Managerial arrogance and inflexibility can bring even great companies to their knees.
Content: Article | Authors: Jagdish Sheth, Rajendra Sisodia | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Strategy, Trends / Analysis
Killer Strategies That Make Shareholders Rich
Here are five ways organizations can radically rethink their strategy.
Editor’s Note: I found the first half of this article of little value, but the five ways to radically rethink their missions in the second half is good stuff.
Content: Article | Author: Gary Hamel | Source: FORTUNE | Subject: Strategy
Competitive Strategy
Coopetition Strategy: A New Kind of Interfirm Dynamics for Value Creation
The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, by proposing a first definition of coopetiton, it aims to move away from the mere recognition of the oversimplified conventional conception to a deeper understanding of the nature of coopetition. By suggesting that coopetition is a matter of “incomplete interest (and goal) congruence” concerning firms’ interdependence, we stress that coopetition does not simply emerge from coupling competition … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Giovanna Padula, Giovanni Battista Dagnino | Source: EURAM | Subject: Strategy
Managing Cultural Differences In Alliances
The five most cited reasons for alliance failure are each the direct consequence of cultural mismatch. This is not to suggest that cultural differences doom a prospective alliance. Strategic alliances, after all, are formed to unite culturally different partners in pursuit of a common objective. Successful alliance leaders manage the relationship in the context of the partner’s cultural differences, finding ways to create value from … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Pablo C. Biggs | Source: Strategic Triangle | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Strategy
Sumantra Ghoshal
At what rate should a company grow? I think this is a very important issue for senior management. When you talk about sustainable development, it does not apply only to society and the planet. Issues of sustainable development apply to a company’s growth. I think that many of the management practices that have evolved over the last two-and-a-half decades have had little regard for concepts … [ Read more ]
Content: Quotation | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Management, Strategy