Strategy & Leadership

A guide to choosing genuine opportunities for turnarounds : Table of Contents

Robert M. Shaughnessy, Kathryn Rudie Harrigan — Sat Nov 14 08:00:19 GMT 2009

Abstract:
Purpose – For corporations seeking to boost market share or gain valuable assets, compelling turnaround opportunities seem to abound. In this paper the authors, who are veteran turnaround analysts, aim to share their experiences. Design/methodology/approach – With so many distressed companies in need of turnaround talent and money, the paper presents lessons learned over the years by veteran specialists, which investors would be well advised to reflect on the before they leap into a thorny acquisition. Findings – Within the middle group of stumbling companies are some genuine turnaround opportunities, despite the fact that they have been beaten down by the market and have performance problems that do not have obvious solutions. Practical implications – Distressed companies fall into three categories: hopeless situations that no amount of time, money or effort can save; obvious winners that will revive as the current credit freeze thaws; and problematical situations that require a careful due diligence process to sort the lackluster survivors from those businesses that will best respond to skilled turnaround management. Only the last category offers compelling high returns that justify the resources committed. Originality/value – The paper warns not to be seduced into trying to save a company that will limp along for years on life support systems or provide only negligible returns. Also to be brutally realistic about what the future could look like for a struggling firm and only put energy into potential winners and not into lackluster survivors.

Only the right people are strategic assets of the firm : Table of Contents

David W. Crain — Sat Nov 14 08:00:19 GMT 2009

Abstract:
Purpose – In service-based industries employees are in direct contact with customers, either personally or electronically, completing transactions that are part tangible and part experiential. In such industries, people have become integral to the value proposition. This paper aims to investigate this issue. Design/methodology/approach – Case examples show how innovative service providers are learning to reconsider their service delivery employees as critical contributors to the value of the firm's offering. The paper focuses on two key questions: Is there a way to tell how people in a service firm are viewed and managed as strategic assets? How can they become strategic assets if they currently aren't? Findings – To make people strategic assets of the firm: Criteria for selection and retention of people must be consistent with company values. Performance management must be linked through measurement to the firm's strategic goals. Originality/value – The paper shows how in today's service-based companies, employees are “the center of organizational performance.” Where people drive low-cost service (Walmart) or where they become inseparable from the service (JetBlue and Starbucks), employees feel they are valued because they possess an acute awareness of the impact they have on their company's strategy.

Strategies for winning in the current and post-recession environment : Table of Contents

Martin Reeves, Michael S. Deimler — Sat Nov 14 08:00:19 GMT 2009

Abstract:
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline a range of short- to medium-term recession-specific strategies designed to drive growth and ensure that a company survives this downturn and emerges from it competitively advantaged. Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines recession-specific strategies designed to drive growth and ensure that a company survives. Findings – Even after the eventual economic recovery, heightened uncertainty and volatility will remain permanent features of the business environment. As a result, resilience – the ongoing ability to anticipate and adapt to critical strategic shifts – will become an increasingly important driver of future competitive advantage. Given the likelihood that the strategic environment will remain uncertain even after the recovery, the company must institutionalize the lessons learned during the downturn. And go further to adjust the customer offering and business practices (new services, new features, new pricing models, enter or exit markets, band with other businesses in cooperative relationships). Practical implications – The consensus is growing among economists, business leaders, and governments that the world is in the midst of a prolonged slowdown of unpredictable duration and that even when the upturn comes, the post-crisis strategic and operating environment will almost certainly be quite different. Originality/value – The authors warn that some of the classic strategies for gaining competitive advantage – for instance, focusing on scale – have been losing their power. Senior managers need to heed these warnings when they review their growth and survival plans.

What new general managers must learn and forget in order to succeed : Table of Contents

Preston C. Bottger, Jean-Louis Barsoux — Sat Nov 14 08:00:19 GMT 2009

Abstract:
Purpose – This paper aims to highlight the surprises awaiting executives making the transition from functional to general management responsibilities – and offer a guidance system to help general managers (GMs) focus their efforts. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on extensive discussions with and informal surveys of executives. Findings – General management responsibilities differ greatly from functional responsibilities, both in degree and in kind. The gap is larger than most executives anticipate. The big surprises are not always those that they expected. The way companies prepare executives for general management can generate problems of its own. Practical implications – GMs need a guidance system for diagnosing where to spend their time and a system for exerting influence – and the paper provides a template. Originality/value – The paper identifies the ways in which the move into general management presents a massive increase in the complexity of responsibilities for executives and why it is so challenging for many. The framework helps GMs anticipate and master the challenge of general management – and helps them prepare and develop their own subordinates for a similar move.

Migration management: an approach for improving strategy implementation : Table of Contents

Gary Getz, Chris Jones, Pierre Loewe — Sat Nov 14 08:00:19 GMT 2009

Abstract:
Purpose – This paper aims to investigates a process called “migration management.”, which the authors, Strategos consultants, believe that most companies need to link strategy development and strategy execution. Design/methodology/approach – Migration management employs two core perspectives to achieve better strategy implementation – a “future state” description considers identity and a “migration path” charts action.” Findings – By creating and properly using clear statements of desired future identity and sequenced, interrelated paths of action programs within management processes oriented toward learning and adaptation, companies have been able to overcome the dilemmas and challenges associated with traditional approaches to strategy implementation. Practical implications – With the intermediate future state and the overall migration path as guides, managers can translate the migration path programs into specific projects and initiatives. Originality/value – The paper introduces the “future state” concept, which articulates what a knowledgeable observer would write if asked to describe the successful company and its new competencies at the end of the strategy time horizon. The paper describes the process for designing the migration path, the roadmap for getting to the “future state” from the present.

Unique experiences: disruptive innovations offer customers more “time well spent” : Table of Contents

David W. Norton, B. Joseph Pine II — Sat Nov 14 08:00:19 GMT 2009

Abstract:
Purpose – This paper, written by leading brand experience consultants, aims to describe how disruptive innovation occurs for experience offerings. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a case study review of major disruptive experience innovators over the past 30 years. Findings – The paper reveals that, different from manufacturers of goods and deliverers of services, experience stagers who were successful in disrupting their markets did not focus on the functional job to get done or on convenience. Instead, they concentrated on the emotional and social jobs to get done and on increasing time well spent by the customer. Practical implications – Companies seeking to create meaningful experiences for their clients should not focus primarily on functional innovation and convenience. Companies should invest more in understanding the emotional and social jobs customers want to get done, creating the proper sequence of events that stages the experience, and delivers on promises made. Originality/value – This paper extends the theories developed by Clayton Christensen on disruptive innovation, by offering companies three key new rules to consider when offering unique experiences.