It’s amazing what great management can do with some deceptively simple-sounding strategic ideas. In the 1990’s, when digital printing came of age, traditional printers had a pretty bad time of it; the industry was transformed as technology moved the goalposts yet again. That shouldn’t have been too surprising though as there have been many similar …
Sales folk go into battle every day to win business, but are they adequately prepared? If you are leading a business you could do a lot worse than read a translation of The Art of War by Sun Tzu. One of China’s Seven Military Classics it was written an awfully long time ago and it …
The most successful business people are monopolists, so why aren’t you? I once wrote a book called The 5Secrets of Business Success about what I consider to be the five most important things you need to do to build and sustain a successful business. My5Secrets are very profound and difficult to do, but on first reading, many people …
I advise all of my clients to stay focussed. That’s just common sense, right? Well, you might be surprised just how hard businesses find that; no matter how big or small they are, it really doesn’t come naturally. Business owners can get themselves into a terrible muddle because they seem to think that because they …
Isn’t it time for some committed leadership at Premier Foods? Billie Jean King, who knew a thing or two about tennis, being once the World No. 1 player, said that Martina Navratilova was, ”the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who’s ever lived” Wow! Apart from winning 18 Grand Slam titles, Martina has also …
David Cameron has just made the defining strategic decision of his career as Prime Minister. Rarely do politicians do things that impress me but, yesterday, the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, did just that and there are several lessons that any business leader can learn from what he did. David Cameron has boldly re-positioned the …
7 Business Strategy Lessons In Positioning From A Politician Continue Reading »
The financial and reputational costs of diversification can be too high. Half of the global demand for construction equipment now comes from China, so it might not be that surprising that Caterpillar, the world’s largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, with a market capitalization of $63bn, should want to play there too. The most …
The Business Risk For Caterpillar In China Continue Reading »
This surprisingly simple question can help you think more clearly about your business and how to improve its performance. Do you know that not many UK insurance companies make a profit on their insurance premiums? They provide insurance services sure enough, but profits come from related services, like referrals to car hire companies and lawyers. …
Successful entrepreneurs are often more aware of their own limitations than less successful ones. “The internet belongs to young people.” So says Jack Ma, the outgoing CEO of Alibaba, the Chinese domestic e-commerce powerhouse he founded in 1999. He’s going to hang around as Executive Chairman, but a year ago he began to hand over …
What would happen if tonight you had a medical emergency and were unable to go to work tomorrow? Would your business continue without you? Many businesses rely too heavily on just one person and when, for one reason or another, they are not there the business functions much less well, if at all. It is …
