Business Intelligence

Everyday Values We Learned as Children (But May Have Forgotten)

by Jon M. Huntsman (14700)

To get ahead in business and stay there long-term, reconnect with and live the values you first learned as a child and that you’ve probably assumed no longer apply in business.

For most people regardless of their culture or upbringing, the values they learned as children were:

1. Before you act, always stop and check your moral compass.
2. Compete aggressively, but always play by the rules.
3. In leadership roles, set a good example.
4. Always keep your word, no matter what the consequences.
5. Surround yourself with advisors who will say no when needed.
6. Forget about revenge. Move onwards and upwards.
7. Treat everyone with respect — customers, employees, etc.
8. Always operate your business as if your name is on the door.
9. Give something back to the community. Return the favors.

There never needs to be a disconnect between the values you have in your own life and what you do at work. You just don’t have to cut corners, fudge the numbers or cheat in large ways or small to stay competitive. What’s needed most is that you reconnect with and live the values you had as a child.

Winners Never Cheat

Get a Jump on What Your Customer Wants Next

by Robyn Waters (14600)

Contrary to generally accepted wisdom, new trends aren’t always spotted early ultra-hip types who are much cooler than everyone else. At the very best, these people help keep a business up-to-date with what’s going on in the world. They’re trend trackers. Instead, you need to become a trendmaster — someone who initiates a new trend and translates it into ideas and concepts that make sense for your own company and customers. The good news is everyone can become a trendmaster by adopting the right mind-set and by applying the A-Z tools and tricks of the trendmaster trade.

The Trendmaster’s Guide

Expanding Your Business Around the Corner or Across the Globe

by Arthur Rubinfeld and Collins Hemingway (14500)

Great national and international retail success stories don’t happen by accident. It isn’t just a case of opening a store, making that store run well and then duplicating that first store ad infinitum. Instead, retail brands that win long term have been designed for rapid growth right from the outset. All of the necessary elements have been put in place first so growth becomes a natural part of the ongoing story rather than good fortune.

In particular, there are four phases involved in growing a great retail business:

1. Aspire to become a national / global brand
2. Prepare to expand right from the outset
3. Build your brand prominence by locating astutely
4. Maintain brand leadership by pushing the envelope

Retail businesses are great because they allow you to control your own destiny and to express your creativity. When you create a new retail business from the ground up, you build a market presence that is highly valuable. To get to this stage, however, a holistic approach will be required. You’ll need to conceive of a profitable retail concept and fine-tune your ideas in your local market first. Then you’ll need to understand how to expand from one market to another until you grow from one market to dominance and presence in regional, national and ultimately international markets. As your enterprise grows and evolves, you’ll need to keep your brand fresh and vibrant by continuing to innovate and try new things.

Built for Growth

40 Strategic Moves that Drive Exceptional Business Growth

by Rita McGrath and Ian MacMillan (14400)

A “Market Buster” is a game changer in the world of business. It is defined as a powerful strategic move that alters the competitive landscape in such a way that it puts your company firmly on the road to high growth.

There are five overall strategic themes and forty strategic moves within those themes that all marketbusters use:

1. Change the customer experience: Make it simpler, faster or better for customers
2. Reconfigure products, services: Make your offerings appreciably better
3. Redefine business and metrics: Change how customers do business with you
4. Anticipate future industry shifts: Exploit changes before competitors can react
5. Create a new market space: Trigger the emergence of a new market

To trigger rapid growth for your own organization, don’t try and reinvent the wheel. Instead, decide which strategic theme and which strategic move within that theme you want to use, and focus on executing that strategic move exceptionally well.

Market Busters

Marketing without Marketing

by Alex Wipperfurth (14200)

Companies like Starbucks, eBay, Palm and Red Bull have built multi-billion-dollar valuations without using any conventional advertising campaigns. Far from being lucky breaks, the success of these and other companies demonstrate the smart approach to building a business and a brand in the 21st century is to do what can be termed “marketing without marketing.”

More specifically, these brands create the illusion that success is happening serendipitously as driven by the users rather than as dictated by the corporation. This is good, because it means the user base feels like they’re in control of the brand. Consumers who instantly and automatically reject traditional marketing as being too intrusive respond well to the invitation to help shape what their favorite brand will mean in the future. This is the essence of marketing without marketing.

The key to building a brand nowadays is to let the market hijack your brand. The more marketplace involvement you have, the better — even if that takes your brand off in unanticipated directions. What you’ll ultimately end up with is a brand experience that is richer, better, more genuine and therefore more sustainable than anything you would have consciously developed yourself. Have the confidence to let the market decide how your brand evolves.

Brand Hijack