The End Of Long-Term Planning

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At the end of a particularly long and grueling strategy meeting with the executive team of a major consumer services business, Alan, the chief executive officer, turned to me and said, “Living quarter by quarter is madness, but in a few years’ time people will laugh at us for developing three-year plans.” He was right. With the pace of business change today, driven by technology and globalization, long-term plans last about as long as an ice storm in the desert. As military experts put it, plans rarely survive contact with the enemy.

Despite these new realities, many executive teams remain stuck with 20th-century approaches to strategy development. It is still common for companies to take six months or more to develop their new growth strategies. This prolonged, inefficient and largely ineffective approach — involving colossal data analysis projects, the creation of a series of 100-slide decks, and periodic executive meetings where directors are presented with findings and recommendations to comment on – may suit consultants looking to maximize fees, and even some executives who want to look as if they’re in control, but it does little to help businesses succeed in fast-changing markets.

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About the Author

Stuart CrossStuart Cross helps market-leading businesses such as Walgreens Boots Alliance, Masco Inc. and Aimia Inc. to accelerate growth. His new book, First & Fast: Outpace Your Competitors, Lead Your Markets and Accelerate Growth, is out now. Find out more at www.morgancross.co.uk.

Strategic Plan(ning) for Organizations: Reviewing, Refining, Repeating

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Proper alignment between your values, your vision, and your company is important in steering your company. Making strategy a process rather than a statement is a key to success.

Focus on the process, not the plan

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About the Author

Theo EtzelW. Theodore “Theo” Etzel III is the author of Invest Your Heartbeats Wisely: Practical, Philosophical, and Principled Leadership Concepts for Business and Life. He’s a native Floridian and president and CEO of Conditioned Air which he grew from a $2.7 million operation to a $46 million, 330-person organization.

What You Need to Take Your Company into the Global Marketplace

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What You Need to Take Your Company into the Global Marketplace
Photo courtesy of Pixabay

A lot of people like to develop their companies into national brands. But, then they are unsure of how to grow or expand any further. Becoming an international brand is really a sign that you have ‘made it’. So many business owners are unsure how to take their companies to this coveted next level. These are just a few of the things necessary to take your company into the global marketplace.

Vision

Expanding a brand and taking it international is an exact science. It needs to be done properly at the first time of asking. It’s essential that you get it right so you have a successful transition. The ways to do this is to have a strong and clear vision of what you want to achieve. All business owners need to have a vision, and that should be applied here as well. Whether you’re trying to launch a product like a rock star or come up with a business plan, you need vision. With the right vision, a person can accomplish anything. And by working towards your business vision, you will find success in the foreign marketplace.

Money

One thing you will need when it comes to international expansion is money, and lots of it. The cost of running a business is high, but that’s the price entrepreneurs pay for working for themselves. But, the costs of taking a company into the global marketplace are even higher. Sometimes it will be necessary to take out a business loan to help with the transition. Visiting the Business Lender Match website and other sites provide information on business loans. You shouldn’t attempt to globalize your company without having the necessary capital behind you.

Diverse Staff

When attempting to crack the foreign market it’s important to equip your business accordingly. One of the best courses of action to take would be to ensure a diverse staff base. Think about how beneficial it’s going to be to grow the business in a country where you have people who understand the language and culture. This is so essential in helping you succeed and tackle any issues you may face from the global marketplace. So try to start integrating these staff into the business as soon as you can.

Versatility

It pays in the business world to be as versatile as possible. The best businesses are those who grow through evolution and adaptation. It’s pretty clear that the world is changing at a rapid rate. And, for your business to succeed it will need to change with the industry, and the economy. So, always attempt to ensure you have the most versatile business you possibly can. This is the key to how you develop and grow. In the foreign marketplace, it’s even more pivotal to be adaptable and versatile. You may need to change elements of your brand in order to succeed so you must be prepared to do that.

There comes a time in business when it is necessary for growth and expansion. Many companies reach this juncture but are unaware of how to proceed because they haven’t planned. If you harbor ambitions of cracking that elusive foreign market anytime soon so you should plan your strategy as soon as possible.

New World Companies: The Future Of Capitalism

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How does a good company generate value in society? How do the leaders of these new world companies reshape and remake our families’ available goods, our friendship networks, and the many smaller firms that support them?

As a management consultant to over a hundred firms in the last thirty years, my team and I have worked with global companies such as Toyota, Suncor, Siemens, and FedEx, to name a few, to help them transform into new world companies – companies ready to take on the challenges of today’s global economy. In doing this, I derived a way to describe how companies mature by seeing the process as a symbolic clock of corporate competitiveness. As this concept evolved, I came to focus not on the clock itself, but on what it represents: time. Furthermore, I’ve broken down the time periods into segments that represent significant stages in the life of a global business. I often refer to these timeframes as “urgencies,” because, as I view it, corporations must accomplish the business goals outlined within each time period if they are to be successful.

Throughout the years, I have revised my description of these timeframes in a company’s life to take into account the emergence of what I call social response capitalism. I became increasingly aware of the financial ramifications of social response capitalism while working with new world companies. I came to see how each company contributes to this most important new business movement in decades, and why this evolution is crucial to the health of any company – whether a large global corporation or a small regional family business.

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About the Author

Bruce PiaseckiBruce Piasecki, PhD, is president and founder of AHC Group, Inc., a management consulting firm specializing in energy, materials, and environmental corporate matters, and is author of New World Companies: The Future of Capitalism. This article is adapted from material in his new book.

For more information visit ahcgroup.com.

5 Things Every Modern Entrepreneur Needs

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Amid the release of data revealing that the economic outlook among U.S. small business owners had finally stabilized, there’s cause for entrepreneurs to be optimistic. Whether or not that outlook begins to uptick not only depends upon how agile, adaptable, creative and resourceful entrepreneurs can be in planning for, or reacting to, market conditions, revenue and brand-building opportunities and other key concerns, but also how well they maintain a forward-thinking mindset.

Towards this end, tomorrow’s smart and successful entrepreneur will have their bases well-covered on these five fronts in particular:

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About the Author

Brian GreenbergBrian Greenberg is a multi-faceted entrepreneur who has founded and now spearheads multiple online businesses. He currently co-owns and operates three entrepreneurial companies with his father, Elliott Greenberg, which have each flourished for over 10 years: www.WholesaleJanitorialSupply.com, www.TouchFreeConcepts.com and www.TrueBlueLifeInsurance.com.