Tag: strategy

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How benchmarking reduces B2B growth

I am embarking on a new teaching topic that of enhancing strategic growth in Asia- and this excites me. a typical approach is to survey the field, identify what market leaders are doing and identify how to benchmark against and replicate this.

The challenge I have is this;

The most profitable ideas are contrarian ideas.

The value of contrarian thinking is well understood especially in the world of finance, but much less well understood in the commercial world of business where benchmarking remains a standard approach.… Read more

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MoviePass is no more

Once a darling of the disruption crowd, MoviePass is no more; the stock is valued at zero… CEO and CFO have departed, the Board has resigned en mass …. the courts are holding the junk that’s left.

Investors are eager to plow vast sums of money into companies that offer “disruptive” products and services. Often the basis of this disruption is investor-subsidized predatory pricing or cash-burn machines.… Read more

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Learning by doing

China is the world’s manufacturing hub… and while it innovates occasionally and has few world class Brand’s, China has one outstanding advantage… it still makes stuff.

And because Chinese workers produce most of the world’s goods, it means that they’re capturing most of the process and manufacturing knowledge that comes from the production process.


i teach strategy and the basis for great strategy is your internal advantage meeting an external opportunity creates potential success.  … Read more

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Seven critical strategy questions for the Board of Directors

I’m occasionally asked during our SMU-SID Diploma in Directorship courses what should Boards of Directors focus on to assist Management consider strategy.

Here are seven questions that could be profitably used to focus discussion during a Board retreat or during a strategy meeting.

  1. How does the company plan to grow: through M&A, organically, or by driving new or existing products to new or existing markets? 
… Read more
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Is Apple a tech company?

for the last few weeks I’ve been thinking about the strategy of cutting edge companies.

We all know a “tech” moniker can boost valuation- just compare WeWork to IWG.

But what is Apple doing- it has been clearly a hardware company with a service and software add-on. But things are changing.

iPhone as a Service

It does feel like there is one more shoe yet to drop when it comes to Apple’s strategic shift.… Read more