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"Strategy General"
The results of a recently published study[1] may signal a distinct shift in consumer tastes and preferences. This study of purchasing behaviour – in the field of consumer electronics – signals a greater interest in “basic” product features rather than more exotic elements. The survey offers three explanations: Customers being “over-served” An increasing tendency to [...]
Especially when it comes to assumptions that underpin your business and its strategy. Most businesses have assumed that (a) global warming is happening and (b) we are approaching an energy supply crisis. In the past two days both of these tenets have been challenged: Firstly, a report challenging global warming[1] (observing that many weather stations [...]
So how are: (a) The emerging sovereign debt crisis in Greece (b) Google’s disagreement with China (c) The 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference (due to start on 30th April) linked together? Well, they are all what I call “shaping events“. The big question in every business leader’s mind must be “Will Globalization really work, or [...]
An article in the Financial Times “Customers more cautious and choosy” [1] provides some interesting pointers for businesses in the developed world facing the prospect of either a painfully slow economic recovery or the dreaded “W” double dip. The lessons, which come specifically from consumer markets are: (1) In times where sources of capital are [...]
Introduction In his book The Art of the Long View, Peter Schwartz[1] talks about the concept of looking for weak signals to help form ideas about the possible shape of future worlds. In this briefing I would like to examine two signals (and, some of you may argue, quite strong ones) that have appeared over [...]
Introduction A recent survey[1], [2] shows an increasingly inward looking stance being adopted by the general public in the US, a trend that may give a glimpse of the direction in which globalization is, or is not, moving. Some of the findings of this survey of public attitudes (the survey was commission by the Council [...]
In terms of anyone who has an interest in strategy, a primary focal point must be customers’ behaviour and how it changes. As I have argued in my November Executive Briefing, 2010 and Beyond: The real issues and trends we are now entering the period when the behaviours, attitudes and needs (I will collectively refer [...]
Regular readers will know that I tend to take a contrarian view. This is done at least partly in attempt to stimulate debate in the strategy field. There are a couple of subliminal assumptions (or hopes) that I believe are circulating in the strategy world at the moment that need a touch of contrarian analysis. [...]
Overview This briefing takes the view that recessions are times of change, or, to use the words of the economist Joseph Schumpeter, creative destruction[1]. If recession brings creative destruction, or the search for new solutions, then established organisations might well be vulnerable to competitors, new entrants and upstarts who spot emerging opportunities first. The message [...]
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