By Robert W. Bradford Strategic planning is the process of setting an organization’s course to optimize its future results. We define anything that revolves around one of three questions as strategic: What do we do? For whom do we do it? How do we beat or avoid competition for resources? These may seem like simple […]
Continue readingBy Denise Harrison, Executive Vice President & COO “As part of Caterpillar’s strategy the company has identified the mining industry and improved support of its customers as one of Caterpillar’s key imperatives.” (Press release, 11/10/11) What trends did Caterpillar see that made the mining industry attractive? The trends that were identified included: Current and future […]
Continue readingBy M. Dana Baldwin Strategy: the course and direction we want to take the company. Culture: the way things are done in the company, the atmosphere within the company and the sum of the relationships within the company. Not easily defined, nor easily quantified, it is the essence of the heartbeat of a company. What […]
Continue readingBy Christopher Anbari, President / CEO, Result Global “Employee disengagement costs American business $350 billion annually.” Gallup Organization Repeated studies have shown that improving employee engagement enables companies to be more profitable. In this case, Result Global, a leading consulting firm which specializes in solving critical problems for companies with poor employee engagement, was brought […]
Continue readingI spend a lot of time around motivational speakers. These people tend to be very positive, and always talk about how we should transcend our limits. This is a useful way of thinking, but the word “limit” can also mean something very real that should NOT be passed. When you think of the limits your […]
Continue readingBy Christopher Anbari, President & CEO Result Global In 2007, according to Gallup lnc., American businesses incurred $350B in extra costs because all levels of employees were not fully engaged. Have you ever considered how much your company contributes to this phenomenal number? Is the current slow growth environment in any way attributable to lack […]
Continue readingBy Denise Harrison, Executive Vice President & CO For many years Sony dominated the consumer electronics scene: from its ground-breaking Sony Walkman to its Trinitron TVs, Sony innovations in the consumer electronics space were unparalleled. Now Sony is losing money in its consumer electronics business and is having limited bottom-line success in its entertainment business. […]
Continue readingBy M. Dana Baldwin When you meet with your customers and prospects, you want to be perceived as a professional in your field. What does it take to garner this respect? Broadly speaking, you need to be trusted for your knowledge, ethics and quality performance. One of the first things you should be sure of […]
Continue readingOne of the most useful tools for good strategy analysis is systems thinking. Some people think this means you have to treat your business like a computer program, but really it’s simply a way to think through all of the connections that affect your business and how it both operates and competes in the marketplace. […]
Continue readingBy Denise Harrison, Executive Vice President & COO That won’t work! We’ve tried that before! The idea is then rejected without consideration. Yes, sometimes you should learn from history, but what if something has changed and history no longer reflects the potential of this idea? We Tried This Before As president of the research center […]
Continue readingBy M. Dana Baldwin, Senior Consultant Good friends of mine were the fourth and fifth generation of their family in a very successful business. I interviewed one of the fourth generation some years ago about how they went about doing succession planning for their company. These are the “rules” that they had literally written out […]
Continue readingAs you may know from Simplified Strategic Planning, strategy is the course or direction of an enterprise. In business, this revolves around three basic questions: What do we sell? To whom do we sell it? How do we beat – or better yet, avoid – competition? Strategic thinking is a specific approach to thinking that […]
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