Applied Strategic Planning: The Corporate Reality Show
Strategic planning at most companies, if accomplished at all, doesn’t really matter anymore. Certainly, the planning process frequently consumes a tremendous amount of time and energy, and produces reams of data and 3-hole binders; rarely, however, does it drive top management’s decisions or a company’s overall strategy.
Strategising Your Business: A Market-Dominating Primer
Every business needs to set goals. But what comes next? Learn to strategise your business to achieve your goals with less daily effort.
Strategic Planning Tools To Maximise Your Profit Potential
Whole-of-business thinking enables you to increase the profit potential of your business. So, how can you act now to adopt a whole-of-business approach?
Strategies Have A Use-By Date Too!
Just as all marketeers recognise the need to have a balanced portfolio of products at various stages of the product life-cycle, management needs to understand that business strategies are subject to the same stages of introduction, growth, maturity and decline.
Cost-Cutting Is Not The Only Answer
Business owners should not jump to the conclusion that cost-cutting is the answer to survival when sales fall off.
Increase Profits By Losing Your Worst Clients
Great clients are the ones we all know contribute to the bottom line. But what do we do about those who seem like more trouble than they're worth?
How To Create Marketplace Strategies That Actually Gets Results
Research shows very few companies actually know how to create an effective strategic plan AND successfully implement it in the marketplace. Is your company one of them? Follow these strategic planning strategies and you will create a marketplace strategy that actually gets results.
Converting Clients From Time-Based To Value-Based Billing
Consulting businesses are losing money and doing their clients a disservice by using time-based, rather than value-based billing. Value-based fees are important, not just because they generate more wealth for the consultant, but because they are more honest in terms of the client.
Gearing Up Business Performance In A Downturn
It's vital as a business owner to ensure your business is well positioned for any economic change, ensuring it survives and can take advantage of potential opportunities as they arise.
How To Manage In A Downturn
Without previous experience in economically gloomy times, many executives and front-line managers may be slow to recognise and react to business conditions. Once it has been acknowledged that it is necessary to do something about it, the question is raised in how to go about it. Following are some tactical and operational guidelines for managing successfully in a downturn.
Building Supply Chain Partnerships
For effective supply chain management, the management of relationships is critical. The "hard" quantitative measures need to be complemented by an even greater focus on the "soft" relationship ones. Relationships are the glue that holds the supply chain together.
Simplifying Strategy And Execution: Plans Need Systems
Plans without a system for follow-through rarely get executed - people need performance systems. Two of the critical components of a workable people performance system are employees aligned to your purpose and principles, and matching people to roles where there is great clarity of the roles.
Simplifying Strategy And Execution: Strategic Planning Is An Oxymoron
What is essential, is individual performance possibility plans for each person involved in executing strategy.
Changing Strategy In Changing Times
Effective management can take the following steps to maintain positive cashflow and profitability in a slowing economy.
Simplifying Strategy And Execution: Turning Strategic Thinking Into Strategic Insight
There are many people out there that have more information than you can poke the proverbial stick at. They even have a genuine feel for where the world is going and how their business can capitalise on that, yet lack the crucial piece of the puzzle-insight; and therefore a flawed strategy is about to be embraced.
Simplifying Strategy And Execution: Strategic Intuition Precedes Strategic Thinking
The great business leaders I meet have a gut feel, an inner knowing, a sixth sense, about how best to get where they are going within the context of where the world is going.
Simplifying Strategy And Execution: Aligning Possibility, Purpose And Principles
Get crystal clear on where you are going, why you're going there, and what you stand for, don't hire or keep employed anyone who is not congruent and aligned with these, and you will have begun the amazing journey to becoming remarkable in business.
Simplifying Strategy And Execution: All Stakeholders Are Important
Regardless of our products and/or services we are all in the same business; the delivery of the value to all stakeholders that they demand, desire, and feel they deserve.
How To Stay On Course And 'Win In Business'
Every person, business and venture needs a purpose to achieve one's full potential, and although it is important to have an end goal in mind, the way we walk the journey will determine whether we reach our ultimate goal.
Using Game Theory To Make Strategic Decisions - Game, Set And Match
Game theory can assist business owners, CEOs and managers make better strategic decisions when confronted with the uncertainty of competition. Competitive conduct will not always be "fair play" and if you don't change your game plan to seek out the advantage, your competition will.
Do You Plan Strategically?
Is there a difference between strategic planning and other forms of planning? I think so. What's more, your ability to plan strategically is becoming more, not less important.
Strategic Planning For Improved Organisational Performance
Most of us believe that if we do things right, we will be successful. Nevertheless, few managers have been spared the frustration of seeing weeks of good hard work wasted because what we were doing right was not the right thing for our organisation at that time. Reading this article may save you from doing it again.
Finding The Right Business Structure
Once a business structure has been set up, changing it can be complicated and costly. It is always worthwhile to make decisions carefully so you get it right at the outset.
How You Can Build More Profitable Markets
Most executives are aware of the importance of understanding and managing the market forces that drive profitability: customers, competitors, complementors,
substitutes, suppliers and potential entrants. In this article, we will present some of the more innovative ways that certain companies are using to manage and exploit some of these six market forces.
Fit Or Sexy - Survival Strategies From Business History
Legend has it that there was a high profile meeting at Parker Pens Corporation in the mid 1980s. Parker Pens had been successful for a long time. They had continued to be successful in the face of a number of challenges - cheap imports, ballpoint pens, roller ball pens, etc.... yet somehow by the early part of the decade they had lost their way.
Be Your Own Strategy Consultant
When someone says the words "strategy consultant" then what frequently comes to mind is the picture of a bright, young, thrusting individual out of a prestigious business school. The idea that "it could be you" might be unthinkable. My argument however is that by seeing yourself as your very own strategy consultant it can become possible to achieve genuine Helicopter vision.
Strategic Planning
A well formulated strategy helps marshal and allocate an organisation’s resources into a unique and viable posture based on its relative internal competencies and short comings, anticipated change in the environment and contingent moves by intelligent opponents.
Strategic Business Planning - In What Market Do You Compete?
One of the keys to successful strategic business planning is a clear understanding of the boundaries of your market and also the factors that influence your business within that market. Unfortunately, many management teams are unable to answer fundamental questions in regards to the market they operate within. So how can they possibly be focused on growing the business and making it more successful?
Making Strategy Operational
Transcript of Business Essentials interview with John Cleary, Managing Director, Blue Chip Consulting Group. John discusses the development, implementation and measurement of strategic planning...and shares his 7 step strategic planning process.
Become An 800lb Gorilla Or A Guerrilla - The Only Two Business Options
Some choice! Businesses confront an important decision. They must decide between becoming an 800 lb gorilla or a deft footed guerrilla.
Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is the process of developing high-level, “big picture” plans to set a company’s strategic direction and overall planning framework within a short (one year) to medium (three to five years) timeframe.
Strategic Planning For Small To Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
Getting from “Where you are now to where you want to be”.
Building Bridges - How Businesses Can Fail To Strategise Effectively
Over the last year, we have noticed that many organizations seem to plan their growth - if they plan it at all, in an almost haphazard way.
Is Your 'Nose To The Grindstone'?
If so, how will you see the next wave of change?