Eddielogic

– Thoughts on Strategy and Management

December 7, 2012
by Dagmar
Comments Off on Eddielogic has a new look

Eddielogic has a new look

It was more than time. As you can see, our Blog on Strategy and Management has a completely new look. Our previous blog theme was still the one with which Eddielogic started back in 2006. Now we switched to the Yoko theme by Elmastudio. It looks more modern and elegant and offers more functionality.

All content and functionality remains unchanged. In addition, we added some new features that will make it easier to find relevant content: There is a tag cloud now and at the end of every post there is a list of related posts that may also be of interest.

We hope you like it!

December 3, 2012
by Dagmar
Comments Off on An Interesting Approach to Innovation

An Interesting Approach to Innovation

This week, I stumbled upon a blog post from Matthew E. May at the HBR Blog Network: The Less-Is-Best Approach to Innovation. The idea behind this approach is absolutely simple and straightforward, yet it is overlooked all too often. In this post, I like to support Matthews’s ideas with some experiences of my own. But first a brief summary of the original post:

Matthew writes that in his experience many successful products, services, processes and strategies have a few common characteristics: Continue Reading →

November 20, 2012
by Oliver
Comments Off on The role of your competition

The role of your competition

There are several opportunities for an organization to fail, i.e. becoming too big to be responsive for changes in the corporate environment or starting to believe its marketing folders. To reduce the risk to end up in these kinds of situations your organization can put an emphasis on the competition or in the best case select a specific and mighty enemy. Why this? Jay Levinson, an expert in the guerrilla marketing field, describes several benefits of a competitor: “The role of your competition is Continue Reading →

November 5, 2012
by Oliver
Comments Off on Link tip: Got bid ideas? Go for it!

Link tip: Got bid ideas? Go for it!

Business ideas and their challenges are important parts of our business life, no matter if you are part of a large organization or if you start a venture on your own. When starting a new business idea it is very likely that you might face a lot of skeptics and obstacles; in particular when your business idea includes some absolutely extraordinary approaches. For those who want to follow their big business ideas I would like to recommend a very interesting interview with (Sir) Richard Branson in the Inc. magazine. It’s headline includes an excellent statement by Branson that I really like: “Screw it. Let’s do it“.

October 30, 2012
by Dagmar
2 Comments

Strategic Planning for Different Business Units

Larger companies normally have a number of different strategic business units (SBUs). Depending on the degree these SBUs differ from each other, there will be distinctive strategies for them. Those SBU-strategies should ideally be aligned around the overall corporate strategy and vision. On the other hand, they have to be specific enough to fit the individual market situation, customer preferences and driving forces of each particular business unit. In most cases, the corporate strategy will provide a framework that gives direction – but also limits – for the SBU-strategies. It can become a demanding task to balance the different requirements of corporate center and business units.

I remember the time when I worked for a global player that was in such a situation. Continue Reading →

October 29, 2012
by Oliver
Comments Off on Link tip: 3 practical secrets of innovative leaders

Link tip: 3 practical secrets of innovative leaders

Innovation management can be a very difficult management task. My personal observation is that often companies and their managers struggle with the hard facts (i.e. complexity) and the soft matters (i.e. corporate culture) which are linked with innovation issues. In order to support you or your organization with information regarding the organizational practice of innovation I recommend the following article by Seth Kahan, who is a change specialist and author. His article “3 practical secrets of innovative leaders” is an excerpt from his forthcoming book “Getting Innovation Right: How Leaders Create Inflection Points that Drive Success in the Marketplace” that is to be published in early 2013.

October 29, 2012
by Dagmar
Comments Off on PwC Global Consumer Index

PwC Global Consumer Index

I stumbled upon a new index, when I was searching for some interesting news for our Management Portal. This is the PwC Global Consumer Index, or GCI. In their press release they write:

The Index is a leading indicator of trends in the global consumer cycle. It combines dozens of economic series into a single index, which historically has tracked global consumer spending closely. It is unique in that it provides an early warning indicator of trends at a global level, giving businesses and policy makers an indication of future consumer demand for goods and services and an early steer on short-term growth prospects.

That sounds as impressive as any press release about a new product. However, the index really seems to be an interesting indicator. A closer look at the report which accompanies the launch of the new indicator reveals the following: Continue Reading →

Porters Five Forces Model

October 24, 2012
by Dagmar
Comments Off on The Porters Five Forces Model Revisited – What else to do with it

The Porters Five Forces Model Revisited – What else to do with it

The Porters Five Forces Model has lasted a number of years now. Nevertheless, it is still well known and still part of the curriculum of many courses on management and strategy. Much has been written on it. Still, it has its merits as management tool, and still it receives its share of criticism. In this post I share some ideas on how to use the Five Forces Model. Continue Reading →

October 18, 2012
by Dagmar
Comments Off on What employees do in an economic crisis – paradox things!

What employees do in an economic crisis – paradox things!

An economic crisis is a period full of risks and uncertainties – not only for businesses but also for their employees. Naturally, people develop different strategies of coping with such a situation, depending on their skills, personal attitudes and their employability. I recently found two pieces of information with two completely different ways employees tend to react to the current market situation. The funny thing is, both writings have the world ‘paradox’ in the title. Continue Reading →

October 14, 2012
by Dagmar
Comments Off on “De-Stranding” the Strategic Planning Process – Follow-up

“De-Stranding” the Strategic Planning Process – Follow-up

I promised to follow up my latest post about the AT Kearney article on Strategic Planning with some more thoughts. Here are some issues on which I want to elaborate a bit further.

The authors write

‘As most people are painfully aware, few … were able to foresee the chain of events in 2008 that plunged the world into recession. Of those who did foresee the meltdown, still fewer were able to prosecute a strategy to mitigate relevant risks. It is not surprising, therefore, that in a survey of global business leaders conducted last year by our Global Business Policy Council, more than half of all leaders were focused on improving their strategic planning processes and tools in the aftermath of the 2008-2009 recession.’

Continue Reading →