A nice word of caution from strategy+business magazine about looking for magic strategy answers by peering into the ways of superstars. In The Google Enigma, they point out that ‘Unless your company makes money by selling advertising attached to digital goods, you may not be able to learn much from Google’s example’. You can say that again! … the staggeringly powerful technology behind Google is so idiosyncratic to its case as to dwarf the contribution of almost anything ...
Continue Reading → ShareDon’t copy what’s not relevant
Posted by: Kim Warren
Coping with the downturn
Posted by: Kim Warren
Many companies may find some of the articles in the latest e-issue of the McKinsey Quarterly to be helpful, such as ‘Market fundamentals: 2000 versus 2007‘ and ‘Learning to love recessions‘.
Even more useful perhaps is the article on ‘Preparing for the next downturn‘ – it can be too late to think about escaping the quicksand when you’re already up to your neck. There’s an intriguing little twist to this one though – one of the examples ...
Oh no – not ‘change’ again !
Posted by: Kim Warren
The latest from McKinsey Quarterly is yet another fire-hosing about ‘driving radical change’, ‘transformation without crisis’, etc. etc. Radical change is very rarely needed, most often destructive, and only appropriate in the most dire circumstances – which applies to very few organizations. And don’t come back with ‘Well you’ve got to transform yourself before some mega-upheaval happens to you’ – it probably won’t, and if it could do, then you’d be better looking to adapt than transform.
At least they ...
This FT article regrettably makes public what can no longer be kept as private grief within the business schools – and Strategy is amongst the wp_ offenders !
There’s no gentle way to say this – virtually no-one uses the ‘tools’ we teach, because they don’t do anything useful. Take a look at the latest survey of management tools by consultants Bain & Co. The only strategy ‘tools’ mentioned ['strategic planning' and 'growth strategy tools'] aren’t tools at ...
Size not what matters in R&D spending
Posted by: Kim Warren
Interesting to see from Booz Allen’s journal strategy+business that there’s no guarantee of getting innovation success from spending more on R&D – the most successful companies seem to make sure innovation efforts align with corporate strategy and listen to their customers. [see Myth 1 post]
