How are industries disrupted? We have already identified the three most common causes: technology, business practices, and law. But if we want to do a good job anticipating disruption, we need to know exactly what kinds of changes are likely to lead to disruption. As a general rule, disruption occurs because customer behavior changes radically […]
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By M. Dana Baldwin, Senior Consultant Strategic Planning Expert Have you ever had the situation in your company in which employees who seemed to have good skills, knowledge and capabilities simply were not performing anywhere near their potential? What happened to them? Were they kept in their current position for a long period of time? […]
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by Denise Harrison, Executive Vice President & COO Strategic Planning Expert In 1996 Apple lost $816 million, but in 1997 they launched an initiative that was to transform how people bought, sold and listened to music. There was no clear path for how this would happen, no easy technology solutions – just a lot of […]
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by M. Dana Baldwin, Senior Consultant Strategic Planning Expert What is your leadership style? It may be very difficult to put such an all-encompassing subject into a few words, but let’s have a go at it. What are the factors that determine your leadership style? One of the first likely will be your vision: Where […]
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By Robert W. Bradford, President/CEO As a rule, people don’t like to change. People do change, however, and this happens for three basic reasons: Changing behavior can eliminate a major source of pain An example of this is the mass migration of airline ticket purchases to the internet in the 1980s and 1990s. Two sources of […]
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By Robert W. Bradford, President/CEO To determine your strategic planning horizon, you need to have some sense of how clearly you can see the future environment in which your organization will be operating. There are three critical elements to consider here: 1. How much information is available in our environment? 2. How quickly does the […]
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By M. Dana Baldwin, Senior Consultant Strategic Planning Expert Providing superior value through a formal strategic planning process to determine what your targeted customers want is a key to success. Good strategic planning not only identifies the targeted customer wants, but also permits a company to select their targeted customers (their niche) from the spectrum of […]
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By Denise Harrison, Executive Vice President & COO Strategic Planning Expert Customer Concentration and Market Segment Analysis Customer concentration is a key characteristic to consider when thinking about market segmentation, it is important to understand the number of potential customers but also what percentage of your business is made up of your top 3-5 customers. […]
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By Denise Harrison, EVP Coca Cola, known for its marketing prowess, does not always get it right. Yes, everyone knows about the Coke Classic/New Coke mistake, but what about its entry into the health conscious and environmental space? What Went Right Growth goals are often met by identifying new market trends and emerging market segments […]
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By M. Dana Baldwin, Senior Consultant When the economy goes through the tough times it has recently, a number of things start to change both inside and outside your company. First, review your strategic plan, to account for the changing business conditions. As a part of this, you look around to see what can be […]
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Some of the most successful companies in the world experienced huge growth as the result of a game changing innovation. A few, like the Sony Walkman or the Apple iPod, were products, but others, such as Wal-Mart’s distribution system and Google’s search/advertising link, were fundamental shifts in business practice that redefined markets far outside of […]
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By Denise Harrison, Executive Vice President and COO Recently I worked with a company that had several missteps in executing their strategy – what went wrong? This team has an excellent execution record; however, even with a history of past successes the team stumbled. It was time to take a deep dive to see what […]
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