by Tom Ambler | Oct 31, 2014 | Uncategorized
By Thomas E. Ambler, Senior Consultant This article was previously published in Compass Points September 2007 What stories do you find yourself repeatedly telling people inside and outside your walls to illustrate “who you are” and what values are key to...
by Robert Bradford | Oct 24, 2014 | Strategic Planning
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...
by Dana Baldwin | Oct 17, 2014 | Competitive Strategy
M 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...
by Denise Harrison | Oct 10, 2014 | Strategic Planning
By 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...
by Tom Ambler | Sep 26, 2014 | Strategic Planning, Strategy Implementation
By 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...
by Denise Harrison | Sep 22, 2014 | Strategic Planning
By 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,...
by Dana Baldwin | Sep 8, 2014 | Strategic Planning
M 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...
by Robert Bradford | Aug 29, 2014 | Strategic Thinking
All 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,...
by Denise Harrison | Aug 22, 2014 | Strategic Planning
By 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...
by Robert Bradford | Aug 15, 2014 | Competitive Strategy
These 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...
by Dana Baldwin | Aug 8, 2014 | Strategic Planning, Uncategorized
By 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...
by Denise Harrison | Jul 31, 2014 | Strategic Planning
By 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...
