By Robert W. Bradford, President and CEO This article was previously published in Compass Points in July 2008 Simplified Strategic Planning was originally designed to be a process used at the business unit level. While it is an excellent approach for optimizing the long-term success of a business, I’m often asked how to adapt the process […]
Continue readingM Dana Baldwin, Senior Consultant Do you know what your customers really value? What are they willing to pay for that you can bring to the market place? What is important to them that you can provide? Does this give you an advantage in the environment in which you work? Can you use this advantage to […]
Continue readingBy Denise A. Harrison, Senior Consultant Previously published in Compass Points July 2006 Many readers are confronted with 800 pound gorillas in their market place – how should they compete? Should they follow the leader or devise a strategy that capitalizes on their unique capabilities? Choose the Road Less Traveled Many readers fondly remember Piedmont […]
Continue readingBy Thomas E. Ambler, Senior Consultant Reprinted from Compass Points January 2008 Balancing internal and external forces that fight one another and create tension is at the very heart of strategic management. One of the most familiar and least pleasurable duties of a CEO is the role of “herding cats” in an effort to bring […]
Continue readingBy Denise Harrison, Senior Consultant GE is spinning off its Major Appliance division, highlighting the importance of making choices in strategic planning. In this case, Jeff Immelt, GE’s CEO, is making the choice to focus on the higher margin energy, power, aviation, and health care businesses. This decision exemplifies the purpose of strategic planning: Identify […]
Continue readingM Dana Baldwin, Senior Consultant How many people does it take to develop a good, actionable strategy for your company? The most straightforward answer is: it depends. It depends on how big and how complex your organization is. It depends on how entrenched people are in silos. It depends on how good your internal communications […]
Continue readingAll organizations that are successful over long periods of time are learning organizations. This requires that the management team learns from its experience. It’s worthwhile, periodically, to take some time to reflect on both your successes and your failures, because each has something to teach you about what works and what doesn’t work. The most […]
Continue readingBy Denise Harrison, Senior Consultant First published in Course and Direction in March 2008 1. As CEO, are you tired of acting as a referee caused by turf battles between businesses or functional areas? Developing a strategic plan allows team members to develop a shared base of knowledge which allows the team to come […]
Continue readingThese two words go together sickeningly often. Every buzz-word spouting bozo tends to refer to themselves as “inspiring strategic innovation” or “working on innovation strategy”. But these words have very specific meanings, and, when it comes to strategy, there is innovation that will be strategic, and innovation that will not be. To begin with, innovation […]
Continue readingBy M. Dana Baldwin, Senior Consultant This article was previously published in Compass Points in November 2007 Most companies advertise their loyalty to their customers, but how many really are as loyal as they profess to be? What specific actions have they committed to which will build true customer loyalty? How is customer loyalty really measured? Where […]
Continue readingBy Denise Harrison In their well-researched book, entitled The Price Advantage the authors (Baker, Marn, and Zawada) use the following statistics to highlight the importance of pricing: Operating Profit Improvement Per 1% Improvement in: A 1% increase in price achieves an 11% improvement in operating profit. This statistic should make us take some time […]
Continue readingby Denise Harrison Reprinted from October 2006 During the course of strategic planning your company will look at threats — outside forces that can severely impact your company’s success. Often the analysis of threats includes looking at how you mitigate them by: Preventing the threat from happening Reducing exposure to the threat Assuring early detection […]
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