How Vertical Integration Works for Companies Big and Small
It is the natural order of things; categories evolve and mature. In the race to the bottom that has plagued so many industries, alliances promoting the ultimate customer experience must take form. Vertical integration is back, and will extend not only to the supply...
The New Business Model for Old Musicians
It was during the summer of 1969 that 400,000 people made their way to the sleepy community of Woodstock, New York. Woodstock marked a new dawn for large format rock festivals. While festivals remained popular in Europe, the format fizzled through the ‘80s and ‘90s in...
When Good is the Enemy of Great
Many a brand has fallen victim to discounters and competitors who are “just good enough.” Even mighty Gillette (owned by Procter & Gamble) is subject to price competition in a market where they command a 52% share. The company recently announced price cuts, in the...
Are You Wrong About Digital Marketing?
In our strategy practice, Optimize, we work with many business-to-business (B2B) companies who do not see value in digital marketing. They rationalize that leveraging digital assets- social media in particular- does not influence buying decisions.A percentage of this...
Role of the CEO in Strategic Planning
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Perhaps the first decision an entrepreneur or CEO should make in strategic planning is what his or her role will be. In some cases, the CEO’s purpose is to confirm or validate working assumptions about the business, or gain buy-in...
No Strategic Plan Survives its Collision with Reality
As a strategic planning practitioner, I have heard every conceivable rationalization about why strategic planning is a bad idea. It takes too long; the world is too volatile; my people can’t think strategically. Yet study after study (including the annual Bain Top 10...
Do You Have the Humility to Plan?
Vin Scully, the legendary voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers, was recently awarded the Medal of Freedom. This is the highest honor bestowed on an American citizen. His eyes glazed in tears by the enormity of the moment, he shared a stage with President Obama, Michael...
Understanding the Technology Hype Cycle
Since Gartner introduced the “Hype Cycle” in 1995, technologists have been using it to evaluate emerging technologies. Today, entrepreneurs can utilize the Hype Cycle principle more broadly to consider how technologies can combine with an organization’s ecosystem to...
The B2B Value Pyramid
Savvy management teams spend a lot of time defining ways to create differentiated value. Yet creating a highly differentiated value proposition proves elusive for most. A fundamental understanding of why customers buy is critical in forming a unique value prop. In...
