“If you are not genuinely pained by the risk involved in your strategic choices, it’s not much of a strategy.” Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix Think you have a tough group of competitors to deal with? Take a look at this list and see if you’d like to trade: Walmart, Amazon, Blockbuster and Apple. Any takers? So how does one not only compete with the likes of Walmart, Amazon and Apple but actually win? By creating a strategy that is truly… READ MORE

We’ve determined where we’re currently investing our resources and what’s happening relative to the context of our business in the four areas of market, customers, competitors and company. Now it’s time to identify the differentiated value we provide to customers and allocate resources accordingly. A great deal of resource allocation goes like this: “Here’s what we did last year. Here’s our budget for this year. Guess we can do the same… READ MORE

What is your competitive advantage? If you’re not able to answer this question, there’s a good chance you don’t have one. And if you don’t have one, there’s the distinct possibility that your company won’t be around much longer. We can break competitive advantage into three areas, starting with your capabilities. What are your key resources, assets and core competencies? Next, what are the primary activities you perform to mold and shape those… READ MORE