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Failing to plan in business equates to planning to fail. Any business, regardless of size, structure or sector, must have a strong business strategy. Whether an enterprise is in the establishment phase or has been operating for decades, a business strategy is essential to ensure a sound purpose and focus for that enterprise. This program explores various aspects of business strategy through street and expert interviews, features a range of individuals experienced in developing and implementing business strategies. Topics discussed include mission statements, aims and objectives, business culture, measuring success, and growth. This program is an excellent resource for all business students.
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Steve Jobs' plan for Apple in 1997: hatchet job or strategy?
Why financial performance goals are not strategy.
Creating proximate goals and "riding the wave" of change.
Bad strategy is long on goals and vision and short on presenting a coherent set of actions for actually solving the fundamental problems facing an organization. Good strategy, on the other hand, flows from an honest diagnosis of your most critical challenge coupled with an action plan for specific objectives that your organization can reasonably accomplish to overcome that challenge.
Drawing on the successes of General Motors in the 1920s, NASA's Apollo program, Cisco, IKEA, and Nvidia, Professor Rumelt defines five elements of good strategies. First, use analytic tools to develop insight into the nature of your challenge. Then, define achievable proximate objectives toward your goal, recognize and ride the wave of change in your industry, build a "chain link" barrier to competition, and finally, expect and overcome entropy and inertia from within.
Strategic and Business Planning: A Self-Help Process provides a set of 11 questions that individuals can work through to develop the basics of a strategic and business plan for their organization or department. Each question addresses a key component of the planning process and flows seamlessly from one stage to the next, creating a comprehensive yet simple document to guide individuals as they go forward. The DVD explains how this plan can be used for operational planning, as well as for monitoring and risk management.
Be Prepared! A Strategic Master Plan Allows for Quick Response explains why a master plan is a cost-effective way to focus institutional thinking, prioritize needs, and prepare for funding opportunities. The DVD examines the varying levels of master plans. The DVD also reviews how to determine who should be involved in developing a master plan.
More and more organisations are discovering the value in building strategic alliances with other organisations. To find out more about how to do this successfully, psychologist Peter Quarry, interviews Glenyce Johnson, Managing Director of Peregrine Adventures. They explore the nature and benefits of a strategic alliance and how to find a suitable partner for a strategic alliance.
Training Points
Defining a strategic alliance and the benefits
How to start a strategic alliance and choose a partner
How to negotiate the alliance and avoid pitfalls
Managing if something goes wrong with the alliance
Working with different management styles and cultures
Three key tips for a good strategic alliance
1. Be clear with your strategy and the fit
2. Their business must be sound
3. Ensure you can work together and meet expectation
Strategic planning requires measurable near-term objectives to ensure the right projects are executed well.
Successful execution, in turn, demands responsiveness to a continually changing environment.
The alignment of strategy and execution is an ongoing discipline of analytic engagement and agility.
In a business environment of fast-moving markets, global supply chains, and dynamic technologies, executing strategy is becoming increasingly difficult. How do you aim for a target that is constantly shifting-while standing on a platform that is constantly destabilized? Professor Levitt provides the answer: plan in detail only as far out as you can see; keep questioning your assumptions about your markets, resources, and competitors; and revise your rolling plan frequently as you track and resolve changing issues.
Dr. Levitt emphasizes the critical importance of aligning your organization's structure and culture with your strategy. He describes business failures caused by product value differentiation in conflict with core organizational strengths, leading companies to invest heavily in projects that did not meet the demands of the marketplace or became outdated before they could be released.
Professor Levitt serves as Director of Stanford's Collaboratory for Research on Global Projects and as Academic Director of the award-winning Stanford Advanced Project Management executive program.
One of the critical keys to a successful future for any organization is to know who it is and where it is going. Strategic Planning reviews the role of the leader and the key steps involved in the strategic-planning process. The DVD also reviews a model for a step-by-step approach to developing the strategic plan. Each step is addressed in detail.
At its heart, design thinking is human-centered, empathetic.
Its process includes three stages for bringing ideas to life.
Successful innovations must be desirable to consumers, technically feasible, and viable from a business point of view. But how do you meet these requirements? Tim Brown advocates using the three stages of "design thinking": inspiration, ideation, and implementation.
For inspiration, innovators must look at the world through the eyes and the ears of users, perhaps studying analogous situations or extreme users to spark a generative process. Ideation, the core of the process, involves prototyping and realistic testing. Implementation begins with storytelling to bring the idea into the world. If a narrative can be developed around an idea, it has the best chance of being understood and implemented.
Tim Brown has led strategic client relationships with such companies as Bank of America, Eli Lilly, DaimlerChrysler, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, and Steelcase. Tim earned his MA in design from the Royal College of Art in London.
Since it's startup in 1999, BuyCostumes.com has become the largest internet costume retailer in the world, serving more than 50 countries and attracting 2 million web visitors per month. They ship more that one million costumes and masks in the Halloween season alone. Inc. Magazine has listed BuyCostumes.com as one of the fastest growing companies in the U.S. For an innovative business leader like Jalem Getz, CEO and Founder of BuyCostumes.com, the Internet provides an ideal marriage of business and fun.
Featuring: Timbuk2
An interview with Mark Dwight, CEO, Timbuk2
Timbuk2, born in a San Francisco garage and bred on the backs of messengers in the city streets, has been building custom bags and accessories for urban adventures for 20 years. When Mark acquired Timbuk2, the company was in a slow revenue decline-the harbinger of death for a small company. Mark talks about the steps he took to turn the company around by setting goals and building a business strategy to build more sales.
Regardless of what they sell or who they are selling it to, successful companies employ the formulation and implementation of strategies that take them into new markets or out of markets that are no longer lucrative. They develop and execute strategies that keep their customer base happy and help them attract new customers through strategic management. This is the case with Yahoo! Which since 1994 has been providing internet services and search products to users and businesses worldwide.
This video describes how managers and executives can introduce and maintain cost reduction as an organizational process. Discover how employees can become involved so that it is seen in a positive way.
This program features psychologist Peter Quarry, interviewing Andrew Banks.
Discover why most corporate strategic planning fails and how to develop robust strategies for protection against the future.
With David Mercer, UK.
David Mercer led the Futures Observatory, a major research project by the Open University Business School looking into future developments in society. It developed new research techniques, especially in terms of scenario forecasting, to build a 'futures' database of more than a million elements.
This has resulted in publication of several dozen papers, as well as the book 'Future Revolutions' (published by Orion Business) and advice being requested by governments and international agencies. He recently retired.
Pricing plays an important role in business.This Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation identifies the role of pricing by explaining the state's pricing goals and identifying the factors influencing price. Pricing affects on products, place and promotion decisions are illustrated in the presentation. Students learn to compare and contrast pricing policies and to calculate a product's price.
Why the greatest innovation occurs during periods of the greatest upheaval.
Why the most valuable capabilities are the ones companies don't even recognize.
Why the profits we make often happen for reasons we don't understand.
"Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place." So said the Red Queen, in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. The neo-classical model of business strategy is built on a theory of market equilibrium. But in reality, markets create disequilibrium, and therefore opportunity. Rather than seeing competition as a problem to be solved, Professor Barnett explains how to see competition as an engine that generates capability. Intense competition can result in higher growth rates and higher profitability if you understand how to create an organization that leaps ahead-while your competitors keep running in place.
William P. Barnett studies competition within a variety of industries, analyzing how strategic differences and strategic change among organizations affect their prospects for performance, growth and survival. He holds a BA and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and is the Director of Stanford's Executive Management Program.
How to use speed and agility to lessen the danger of overwhelming attack.
Four commonsense rules for successful strategy: be unique, create value, communicate value, and be a moving target.
How to take your opponents "out of their game."
In this lively step-by-step guide to business competition, Professor Yoffie explains how some companies succeed in defeating stronger, more powerful rivals, while others fail. Using the metaphor of martial arts, Yoffie details how successful challengers can turn their opponents' own size and power against them-and bring them down. He outlines three core principles: movement (maneuvering into areas of relative strength); balance (harnessing your competitor's momentum while avoiding head-to-head confrontations); and leverage (a rival's greater size can also be its greatest weakness, if you find the right pivot to bring it down).
But what if you are the stronger competitor, threatened by an upstart? Yoffie also points out the "Sumo Strategy" countermoves that can be used by larger companies to crush an attack before it gains ground.
Professor Yoffie has been a member of the Harvard Business School faculty since 1981. He is the author or editor of eight published books, including "Competing On Internet Time: Lessons From Netscape And Its Battle With Microsoft." Professor Yoffie received his Master's and PhD degrees from Stanford University.
Men and women buy differently. This video uncovers the secrets of targeting your sales strategy to be equally successful with men and women. How to build relationships, when to chat versus when to get down to business, even how and where you stand when selling to a woman or a man, can make or break a sale. If you learn to target your sales strategies with gender differences in mind, you will forge more collaborative relationships with your customers and increase your sales performance.
Why the "ownership mentality" of small business is so powerful.
The 3 best ways to solve incentive issues with your employees.
While big companies have many advantages-lower production costs, greater bargaining power, access to financial markets-a clear disadvantage is the separation between management and ownership. Small businesses, on the other hand, often have the distinct advantage of operating with an ownership mentality that allows them to move more quickly with a more motivated workforce. So how can big businesses retain their advantages while creating a workforce that has the incentives of a small business? And where do unique opportunities lie for small businesses? Paul Oyer provides answers based on his research, traveling to small businesses across 27 states. He tells the stories of successes and failures he found on the road.
In order to create a successful international business, there are key obstacles which must be faced and overcome. In this presentation, these challenges are addressed and solutions are presented. Also, successful strategies to aid in the accomplishment of growth for your business are analyzed.
Problem solving is key to overcoming struggles within a business. This presentation discusses various strategic techniques companies use to reach their goals and the problems they encounter along the way. Several different business analyses and how each one can help a company establish and overcome their problems are also discussed.