| | George Stalk, a renowned
strategist and senior
partner of The Boston
Consulting Group (BCG),
believes that the best
executives are
constantly looking for
new ways to identify and
seize strategic
advantage. They study
winners in other
industries for ideas
that can be transplanted
to their industry. They
sniff out anomalies to
understand the
implications for their
business. And they are
adept at sensing faint
signals on the horizon,
assessing their
relevance, and
transforming these
insights into decisive
actions.
In his latest book,
Five Future Strategies
You Need Right Now
(Harvard Business Press;
March 2008), Stalk opens
his personal files of
weak – and once weak –
signals and shares his
views of five key
strategies that will be
game changers in the
coming years. Along the
way he offers keen
insights into how to
turn each of these
strategies into
competitive advantage.
Supply Chain
Gymnastics
Outsourcing,
subcontracting,
partnering, offshoring
and bestshoring from
Asia have lowered costs, | |
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| | improved profits, and
helped many companies
build market share. But
a looming logjam
presents a critical
challenge to their
continuing success. The
growth of port,
freight-handling, and
highway infrastructures
in North America and
Western Europe is not
keeping up with demand.
Unmanaged, this
situation will lead to
massive supply chain
disruptions, idle
factories, stockouts,
overstocks, and lost
profit, upsetting the
attractiveness of
sourcing from Asia.
Stalk suggests creative
ways for
forward-thinking
executives to transform
this problem into a
major opportunity.
Sidestepping
Economies of Scale
The "disposable
factory" is
labour-intensive,
capital-light, and
offers high throughput
at low cost. It has been
an engine of growth for
many developing-economy
competitors. The same
principles may offer a
way for more traditional
players to address the
uncertainty inherent in
today's shorter product
and business model
lifecycles. In
fast-changing
environments, any number
of a business's elements | |
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| | pricing to create
competitive advantage.
Embracing
Complexity
Complexity does not
need to be a bad thing.
Yes, it can add costs,
but when it gives you
the edge with the most
profitable customers,
the return can be
enormous. Smart
companies have
demonstrated ways to
turn complexity into a
competitive advantage
with a range of
interesting strategies
including: enticing the
heavy spender, reducing
complexity anxiety,
specifying the best
choice, and simplifying
search. Stalk
demonstrates how this
counter-intuitive
strategy can be put into
action, drawing on
examples from Dell,
Zappos and Grainger,
among others.
Infinite
Bandwidth
The day is coming
when bandwidth will no
longer be a constraint
and businesses will have
instantaneous access to
any information they
need, anywhere they need
it, in any form
required, at essentially
zero cost. It's not too
early for companies to
position themselves to
seize the advantage this
represents for enhanced
operational efficiency, | |
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| | new business models and
as-yet unimagined
businesses. Stalk
reveals how leading
companies like Coca-Cola
and General Electric are
exploring ways to
turbo-charge their
businesses with
increased bandwidth.
Staying ahead of the
curve also requires top
management to learn how
to spot opportunities
and anomalies on their
own. Five Future
Strategies You Need
Right Now shares
Stalk's use of "open
files" to keep track of
interesting – and
potentially disruptive –
developments.
The book is one of
the first in Harvard
Business Press's "Memos
to the CEO" collection,
which offers concise,
actionable,
solutions-focused advice
from leading
practitioners.
Stalk, who is based
in BCG's Toronto office,
is the author of
numerous books and
articles, including
Hardball: Are You
Playing to Play or
Playing to Win? with
Rob Lachenauer and
Competing Against Time:
How Time-Based
Competition Is
Re-Shaping Global
Markets with Thomas
Hout.
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