Now here’s a thing – Bet you didn’t know that there are ‘Chief Strategy Officers’ out there [we used to call them Strategy Directors in UK corporations]! McK Q says they are turning up in organizations of all kinds as companies struggle to balance their short- and long-term goals in an increasingly complex and volatile business environment. It seems there are many unanswered questions about what exactly they do, and how. One question to consider is what ...

I am reminded of what may be one of the most dangerous articles on competitive strategy I ever read. ‘Hardball: Five Killer Strategies for Trouncing the Competition.’, Stalk and Lachenauer, Harvard Business Review, April 2004, pp. 62-71. This urges management to deploy five strategies ‘in bursts of ruthless intensity’:

• devastate rivals’ profit sanctuaries
• plagiarise with pride
• deceive the competition
• unleash massive and overwhelming force
• raise competitors’ costs.

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Now the article is correct to highlight the competitive strength and commitment of powerful firms like ...

I am amazed how little companies seem to know about competitors, and how they lack any specific plans for dealing with specific rivals – most just drag on, trying to capture small points of market share here and there from wherever and whoever they can pick it up. Such broad-spectrum ‘competing’ is expensive, takes for ever, and just doesn’t work. When it comes to responding to competitive threats McK Q finds that instead of undertaking extensive, sophisticated analyses, ...

I see Wrigley, of chewing-gum and mints fame, accepted a $23 billion takeover from Mars, which includes Snickers, M&M’s and Uncle Ben’s rice among its brands, making it the world’s biggest confectioner. Strange then how we keep being told that take-overs are mostly a bad idea for the acquiring company, with all the benefits [or more than all!] going to the shareholders of the company that is bought out. Don’t see how that could be true, or we would today ...

Good to see Strategy+Business looking at ROI on marketing in a grown-up way. The proliferation of digital media and the fragmentation of audiences have rendered audience exposure, the traditional currency of advertising, much less compelling. [Was that ever a useful indicator? – It got measured because that’s what the agencies could deliver – whether their clients ever turned that exposure into sales was too dependent on things outside the agencies control.] A new focus [‘new’ ? about time, ...