Strategy operates at different levels. Most marketers understand strategy to mean only marketing strategy. Since strategy is such a crucial subject for everyone in an organisation, I thought I would clear the air for those who may be a bit confused. Strategy operates at three levels: Corporate. This is relevant especially for companies involved in […]
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What is strategy? Frankly, so much has been written about competitive strategy that many of us are totally confused about what it really is. Every management guru has his or her take on strategy and the end result for the lay marketer is confusion. I just read an outstanding article in HBR by Andrea Ovans […]
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Some time ago, I had written a short post – The Success of the Opposite – in which I had argued that there is always a market for the opposite point of view! In fact, if anything fails spectacularly it could well be because it took a position exactly similar to a leader or a […]
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I am sure most of you would have heard of, if not actually read, the best-selling book Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. It was published in 2005 and was based on a study of a number of strategies undertaken by companies over a long period of time. The authors, Professors […]
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Today’s Economic Times has an editorial entitled “Apple Profits: Make in India Lessons – Branding and marketing hold the key.” As we all know, Apple has confounded pundits by posting record results in the first quarter of 2015 (October 2014 – December 2014). Its $18 billion profits for the quarter is the largest ever achieved […]
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This morning, while I was going through Mint, the business daily, I came across three unrelated stories headlined thus: Britannia to adopt leaner biscuit portfolio As sales dip, McDonald’s is replacing its chief executive Samsung’s smartphone primacy under threat from rival Apple The Mint story on Britannia stated that ‘Cookie maker Britannia Industries Limited is […]
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Around fifteen years ago Apple was on its last legs; it was losing market share and independent software developers were deserting it. It was during those dark days that Steve Jobs was brought back to salvage the company he founded. The colourful iMac was launched soon after and Apple started limping back to life. That […]
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“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.” Michael Porter. “You cannot be everything to everyone. If you decide to go North, you cannot go South at the same time.” Jeroen De Flander. “A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.” Michael LeBouef. “The biggest risk is not […]
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We have all been reading about the SpiceJet crisis. A few days ago, it cancelled all its flights because oil companies refused to provide aviation fuel to the company because of non-clearance of past dues. The company has not posted a profit over the past five quarters and owes money to oil companies, airports and […]
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I must say that I have a soft corner for Yahoo. For two reasons – I used (and still do) a number of its services when I started using the internet regularly and because, as an Indian, I have a certain fondness for the brand name. Today, Yahoo offers a number of services – it […]
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