by: M Dana Baldwin, Senior Consultant, CSSP, Inc. In these uncertain times, it is very important to do things right, right? Absolutely! But doing things right is only good if you are doing the right things! What are some of the right things to do? Make your company invaluable to your key customers. Your […]
Continue readingOne of the intractable problems of economics is that first-time buyers bring a lot of uncertainty about the value they will receive to a transaction. An excellent example of this is to compare the sale price of new electronic items on eBay with those at an online retailer like Amazon.com – inevitably, the individual sellers […]
Continue readingby M. Dana Baldwin One oft-forgotten practice which should be considered even more important during this turbulent time is communications within your company. As you might consider once you reflect on the situation within your company, people are concerned about their futures, the future of the company and generally how things are going. There are […]
Continue readingOne of the tricky strategic issues for many managers I’ve talked with is “Clearly, there will be a recovery sometime. When should we return to the party?” The answer to this question will vary by industry, but it’s important to keep a few key concepts in mind: Going back to the party before the party […]
Continue readingThese are difficult times for many companies. For some this may be an understatement, for others not so much of one. Stepping back and looking at your business from the outside, are there things you should consider concentrating on and/or doing better to keep those customers you have? Chances are that there are a number […]
Continue readingReading an article about Darwin this weekend, I couldn’t help but think that evolution and business strategy have a lot of interesting parrallels. One that struck me relates to a couple of fascinating stories – the first about the horrible rise of the deer population on a resort-covered island in the Carolinas after hunting was […]
Continue readingby: Robert Bradford, CEO, CSSP, Inc. One of the real upsides of a recession is the cleansing effect it has…I notice a high correlation between poor strategy and disastrous performance in recessions. That isn’t to say that good strategy makes you completely immune to a downturn, but you will weather the storm much better with […]
Continue readingby: Robert Bradford, CEO, CSSP, Inc. Thinking about the current recession, I couldn’t help but think back to recessions I’ve gone through in the past – and how clients succeeded (or didn’t) during those difficult times. Several important concepts come to mind, especially about the importance of maintaining strategic discipline, but the first I’d like […]
Continue readingby: M Dana Baldwin, Senior Consultant, CSSP, Inc. With the slowing of business, lower sales, fewer orders, lower profits, the question arises: What can we cut or postpone so we can make it through these tough times? Too often, the opposite question is not asked: What should we not cut, so we can make […]
Continue readingBy Denise Harrison, Vice President, Center for Simplified Strategic Planning, Inc Banks failing, real estate loans made to people who do not and did not have the means to repay them, institutions using derivatives without fully understanding the risk – what happened? Were executives trying to meet their goals? Did these goals enable them to […]
Continue readingby: Robert Bradford, CEO, CSSP, Inc. Stealing from customers. Some would tell you it’s the secret to profit in today’s economy. If you are only worried about the next quarter, it is. You can always make more money in the short term by delivering a little less than your customers expect. For example, if I […]
Continue readingBy Robert W. Bradford, CEO of the Center for Simplified Strategic Planning, Inc. Once you have identified your reasons for making an acquisition and the specific enhancements you are seeking to your strategic competencies, your first stage of acquisition screening involves creating a list of potential acquisition targets. At this point, we don’t need to […]
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