Late last year at the Oxford Union we had the opportunity to talk with Tim Ferris, author of the 4-Hour Workweek, about his tips for successful blogging. Tim’s key piece of advice, an echo of every good guidebook we’ve read, is that bloggers who are just starting out should focus on producing “evergreen content”. That […]
Category: Strategy
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Capacity versus Leverage
IN the quest for market dominance, companies often engage in a war for talent. They seek out new recruits with outstanding capacity, the chosen few who are able to demonstrate a track record of success, and an ability to solve new problems quickly and easily. Management consulting firms are the flag bearers in this war. In a clear […]
Are activist investors having a profound effect on American board rooms? McKinsey Director Larry Kanarek says, “I think the answer is absolutely yes.” How should executives respond? ACTIVIST investors are having a profound impact on American board rooms. Faced with this new situation, Larry Kanarek argues that executives should work with activists, rather than against […]
Evans explains that business strategy is premised on assumptions about technology, that those assumptions are changing dramatically, and that this will lead to a different concept of what we mean by business strategy
The illusion of permanence, and the persistence of innovation (Source: Tom Spencer) IN a recent FT article, Chairman of Risk Capital Partners Luke Johnson made some interesting comments about his alma mater, Oxford University: Oxford University, my alma mater, is a classic case of a complacent establishment that is refusing to reinvent itself. It will consequently […]
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Implementing Real Change
Why coming up with the right answer to a business problem often isn’t enough in a large organisation – and what you can do about it “WHY won’t people in this organisation realise that this new approach could make things so much better? Why won’t people implement this idea? This is so frustrating…” Creating meaningful […]
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5 Steps to Creating Great Strategy
Developing excellent strategy consists of just 5 steps HERE are five steps that you can use to formulate great strategy: Diagnose: assess the lay of the land. Understand the company, the competitive environment and the broader economy. What is the company’s business model? Who are the competitors? Who are the customers and suppliers? And, what […]
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Mistaking the Wood for the Trees
The business model is how you get paid, but the business is why you get paid AT first glance, business and charity appear quite different. Many business professors and executives will tell you that business is all about increasing sales, reducing costs, and creating future growth. Charity, on the other hand, is about voluntarily giving […]
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What is Social Customer Service?
Social Customer Service allows customers to ask questions, and have them answered by a staff member or another customer AT THE CORE of every successful business are a few key ingredients, and customer service is one of them. Customer service can be used to delight customers, boost customer retention and generate positive word of mouth. For […]
Boards of public companies, responding to investor demands, often pressure management to meet short term earnings estimates DOMINIC Barton, global MD at McKinsey, talks with Tom Keene about how corporate boards of publicly listed companies tend to be too short term focused. Barton explains that corporate boards, responding to investor demands, often pressure management to […]
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Change is Constant
Change is a process IN the industrial age, change was seen as an event which could be managed: launch a new product, introduce a new feature, enter a new market. But this was never true. As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus rightly pointed out: “Change is Constant”. In the information age, change is now happening so quickly that […]
Disruptive innovations often beat successful incumbents CLAYTON Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Dilemma, is an authority on disruptive innovation, a process by which a product or service initially takes root in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then moves ‘up market’, eventually displacing established competitors. Christensen gave an insightful talk back in 2009 at the ECS National Forum […]
MICHAEL Porter is the thought leader in the field of business strategy. He has single-handedly shaped the way in which the world’s top business leaders think about competitive strategy and success. And his concepts like “competitive advantage”, “value chain” and “five forces” form the bedrock for management thinking about complex business issues. Unfortunately, his frameworks are often bastardised, misused and […]
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The Road Not Taken
Which path are you following? TWO ROADS diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better […]
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Biting Off More Than You Can Chew
12.50pm AUGUST 1st and I was trying to make plans for lunch (priority #1). No problem, I’ll just check my gmail account and use Google Maps to find the address. Gmail, Google Maps, Google.com, Google.com.au and Google.com.hk failed to respond (for at least 20 minutes). There is some chance that there is just a problem […]
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Focus on the customer
If 30% of your people’s effort is focused on internal affairs and you can redirect it so that only 10% of people’s effort is focused internally, then that is a major boost in productivity.
There are six strategic principles which are relevant to any company that wants to be profitable online IN AN article entitled “Strategy and the Internet” published in the March 2001 edition of the Harvard Business Review, Michael Porter outlined six principles that he believes companies need to […]
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Finding and retaining talent
THE ability to find and retain talented employees is vital to sustained business success. Attractive remuneration, stock options plans, medical benefits, and other incentives are attractive enticements for any employee. But what factors are important in attracting, focusing and retaining the most productive and talented workers? Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, in their international bestselling […]
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Business Mutualism
Business Mutualism MUTUALISM, a concept from biology, refers to a relationship between two species or organisms in which both benefit from the association. Following on from the ideas put forward in a recent talk by Robert Full, we can apply this idea to the world of business by considering the idea of “Business Mutualism”. We […]
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Looking beyond the adequate
WHEN posed with a business problem, there is always a temptation to accept the first solution that adequately addresses the problem. However, the “adequate” solution is usually not the only solution, and often not the best one. Adopting the first solution that “works” may get us from A to B and, once we have a […]
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Sun Tzu on dealing with rivals (part 3)
PART 3 of 4 considers the principles developed by Sun Tzu for dealing with business rivals and follows on from part one which looked at qualities of successful leaders, and part two considered the principles for organising your business affairs. I have summarised Sun Tzu’s principles into four simple categories: Qualities of a successful leader; […]
PART 2 considers the principles developed by Sun Tzu on organising your business affairs, and follows on from part one which looked at qualities of successful leaders, I have summarised Sun Tzu’s principles into four simple categories: Qualities of a successful leader; Oranising your business affairs; Dealing with rivals; and Strategies for effective leadership. 2. […]