Strategy Dynamics Briefing 49: The 3 basic mechanisms of competitive rivalry

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Briefings to this point have explained how organizations must build and retain resources over time if they are to deliver continually improving earnings or other performance objectives. But there are often competitors who are just as determined. This view of rivalry makes competition relevant to nonprofit organizations as well as to businesses — charities must win donors, just as airlines must win passengers.

All competitive situations can be captured by just three dynamic structures, each applying not only to customers, but ...

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Finding talent in emerging markets

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Amongst a rich crop of articles in November’s HBR is Winning the Race for Talent in Emerging Markets, which cleverly shows how the nature of the challenge varies a lot between different countries and some ideas what to do about it.  To see what one big winner has done about it, see the Infosys 07/8 Annual Report – mighty impressive!

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Beware hiring outside talent

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Also in Sloan Mgt Review, good to see a warning from Boris Groysberg and friends about the risks of hiring outside stars. Getting your hands on scarce talent has been increasingly promoted as a magic bullet in some quarters. But this article points out that even the most seemingly self-reliant super-stars actually have to function as part of a wider system. [Think I recall Boris’s research was originally about how star investment-analysts mostly failed to sustain their star-dom ...

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