Make it or buy it? This strategic decision remains notoriously difficult for businesses. Sustained value creation requires the constant expansion and modification of a firm, and many of the assets and activities connected to its corporate theory belong to others. So to compose the value that your theory reveals demands you make sound decisions about […]
Who Should Set Strategic Direction?
In September 2009, Kraft, a company perhaps best known for its macaroni and cheese, made an unsolicited offer for Cadbury, the creator of the iconic Cadbury Easter Egg. Cadbury’s board of directors gave the offer a direct cut, and the U.K. public also proved very resistant to the idea of a U.S. firm buying a […]
Matching Markets: Maximizing Your Total Value
Brilliant managers are bargain shoppers. As they shop for skills and knowledge in labor markets, parts, services, and other inputs in supply markets, and technology in patent and licensing markets, they seek to secure assets at prices below their value in an envisioned future use. A corporate theory guides this bargain hunter, revealing unique and […]
Navigating the Rocky Trail of Corporate Strategy
Steve Jobs described the design process as “keeping five thousand things in your brain … and fitting them all together … in new and different ways to get what you want.” A capacity for such mental simulation marks great corporate strategists. They possess an ability to assemble assets and opportunities into valuable strategies. Key to […]
Creating Sustainable Value
Few would dispute that the original business strategies of Dell Computer, Walmart, and Southwest Airlines were remarkable. Each company achieved a strong advantage over its competitors in very competitive industries. But during the last 15 years, all three have struggled to discover and develop new sources of value, or at least sources not already anticipated or expected […]