For a management team, it is hard to accept that a strategy that was birthed after so much work, discussion, and compromise is leading to limited growth, or worse. That is the predicament that many SMBs find themselves in, and it can be painfully apparent especially in these times. Here is a framework that describes four common strategic traps, some of them uglier than others, identified by examining the combination of two strategic biases (see diagram). (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘technology’
Has Your Company Fallen Into One of These Four Strategic Traps?
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009Verticalization: Ugly Word, Powerful Idea
Thursday, February 26th, 2009Verticalization is the ugly neologism that describes a long term trend in which BtoB companies see industries as the operative way of grouping customers . Conversely, verticalization also refers to a strategy of focusing on a specific industry in order to compete more effectively.
So what are the dynamics, and what can be done to maximize the chances of success with a vertical strategy? (more…)
Tools for Marketing in a Recession – or – How To Do More with Less, Soviet Style?!
Monday, February 23rd, 2009The story goes that when NASA started sending people into space, it encountered the problem that regular pens did not work in a weightless environment. After spending many $100Ks on research, NASA did manage to engineer a special pen that could work in zero gravity. Naturally, the Soviet space program had the same problem but did not have the same resources and technology to solve it. The Russians did find a very effective solution, both technically and financially: they simply gave their cosmonauts lead pencils.
The story rings like a good metaphor for (more…)
Is Product Proliferation Killing Your Company?
Friday, February 13th, 2009The slippery slope of product proliferation starts with a discussion in the management staff meeting that goes along this line:
“We have found out that one of our suppliers has just made an important component available on the basis of which we can quickly make a new product. [OK]
Adding this product will take almost no effort at all. [Really?] (more…)
