Ten Pitfalls of Strategic Failure

From The Edge Malaysia
18th March 2014

IN the 20 or so years that I have worked as a consultant I have seen employers craft robust strategies only to see them fail because they did not anticipate the most obvious pitfalls. In my book Making Your Strategy Work: How to Go From Paper to People I have tried to explain what these are and how to avoid them. Here is my top ten derived from over 100 interviews with CEOs globally.

Emotional business

The first stumbling block is about the team around you. Having a strategy is useless if your team does not understand it, agree with it or is incapable of implementing it. The rubber always hits the road when we talk about people. Having the right people in the right place is therefore critical. A mediocre team can run the best strategy aground or deliver sub-optimal results at best. Companies should first hire the best people possible and then motivate them to implement the strategy.

The somewhat related second strategic failure is overconfidence. While you need to be confident about your strategy a little bit of paranoia is healthy. Companies can overestimate the value of their business model, customer base and ways of doing things. Video rental chain Blockbuster is an example of a business that failed to move with the times and saw its business model collapse. The message here is simple - be ruthlessly honest and receptive to new ideas / models or you may wake up one day and find your business gone.

Pay attention to the environment

Third: failure to move with speed and pace. Companies often lull themselves into a false sense of security and can be slow to react. There is little upside in procrastinating once you recognise the reality of a situation. And when the news is bad, acting sooner is better than later. Bad news seldom improves with age.

Fourth: succumbing to the short-term. Companies are under pressure to show returns and impress shareholders. Marks & Spencer (M&S) fell prey to this in the late 1990s when it announced its target of becoming the first U.K. retailer to generate annual profits of £1bn. The announcement had the desired effect on the share price but eroded the company’s long-term hold on the market. Rivals snatched market share and by 1999 a profit warning was on the wall. It was not until 2008 that M&S was once again able to deliver a profit of £1bn. It is essential, therefore, to stay on track and prioritise long-term investment over short-term gains.

The rise of boutique financial advisers

From Star Online: Business
29 June 2013

In the local high finance corporate scene, a few boutique advisory firms have been quietly etching a name for themselves, putting together mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and other company restructuring deals.

The names of the owners – who are also the key drivers of these firms - have become household names in the corporate world but outside those circles they are hardly known.

And just like high-flying investment bankers, these specialists earn top dollar for their fees, which average around 1% of the size of the deal they are putting together. That’s a tonne of money, considering that some deals go into the billions of ringgit.

Making franchising a success

By Star Online: Business
15th Dec 2012

GO to any established shopping centre and you can't miss it. Neon lights and signboards of different colours and designs light up the walkways, attracting shoppers and diners to establishments one will have seen in other similar centres.

One may think the franchise landscape is a hotchpotch of different shops but in reality, there is method behind the franchising industry in the country.

The industry is worth billions in excess of RM20bil a year and is growing. One of the factors behind this is recognition by the Government of the value franchising brings and the incentives and initiatives that were launched one-and-a-half years ago to elevate the industry.

Passion, hard work needed for success

By Star Online: Business
15th Dec 2012

PASSION often resonates in the franchisor's list of criteria from to-be franchisees.

If franchise businesses had to be simplified, there are really only two segments that it is made of. Every franchise business has a hardware and a software segment.

How to Stop Being Nice and Get What You Really Want

From Under30CEO.com
11th Dec 2012

Want the key to making more money? Stop being so damn nice.

I’ve worked on saying “No” for way too long, and I’m still not good enough. For me, it’s nature and nurture. I’m pretty sure I was born nice… On top of that, I was nurtured by the nicest woman alive—my mother.

Why isn’t my business more profitable and more streamlined? Because all too often I let other people have their way.

5 Steps to Creating a Great Company Culture

By Inc.com
10th Dec 2012

Unhappy employees? Customers not returning? You can change all of that in five simple steps.

Zappos.com's offices in Las Vegas, NV.

 

Quick, what's the first company that comes to mind when you think "great company culture?"

For me it's Zappos. Driven by ten core values which define their culture, brand, and business strategies, Zappos employees enjoy free lunches, no-charge vending machines, a company library, a nap room, and free health care. And with an astounding 75% of their customers coming back for more, Zappos is one of the best examples of a loyalty business model and relationship marketing system that works.

5 Signs You're Sucking as an Entrepreneur

From Inc.com
4th Dec 2012

How to tell if your start-up is on the wrong track

These days, when I’m talking to entrepreneurs that are making a lot of the same mistakes I was making back then, I’m shocked how oblivious they are to their own suckiness. But I was that way too. There’s something about being an entrepreneur that lends itself to self-deception and delusional optimism. Entrepreneurs thrive in environments where any rational person would say, "This is impossible," or, "It can’t be done." With pride, they naturally ignore anyone who says that they are not capable. So, it’s not surprising that they are often unable to see how they are coming up short.There have been times that I’ve been a really sucky entrepreneur. My first company, OpenVote, was a Web 2.0 company that made Facebook apps. For years, I said that it failed "just like all the other Web 2.0 apps of that time," but really that’s just a convenient excuse. It failed because I sucked as an entrepreneur.

Branding Basics: Six Steps to a Successful Business Image

By Under30CEO.com
2nd Dec 2012

“Branding” is not exactly a new business buzz word, but it seems that more than a few companies have forgotten the importance of a strong, consistent image.

So, what is a brand? More importantly, why should you have a good one?

According to our friends at the American Marketing Association, a brand is “a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.” From this definition, you can see why a brand is important: it helps your customers remember you and distinguishes you from competitors. Even more importantly, your image will eventually become associated with a certain level of service and value. The point? A good brand will not only help you build business recognition, but it will earn you loyal customers and increase your sales.

8 Ways to Woo a VC

From Inc.com
30th Nov 2012

Time to take your business to the next level? Here's how to land the cash to do it.

Sometimes, growth is almost impossible without a significant chunk of money and other resources to fuel that growth.

Could Teaming With Other Small Businesses Be the Key to Success?

From Entrepreneur.com
30th Nov 2012

In a tough economy, growing your business doesn't have to involve costly new hires or expensive acquisitions. Instead, teaming up with another small business might be your best solution.

Successful teaming relationships can help you gain experience, offer a more comprehensive service, or take on bigger contracts.

The Best Way to Win Repeat Customers

By Entrepreneur.com
29th Nov 2012

" That extra touch, the human touch, will never go unnoticed by your customers and will lead your business to lasting success. "

Aaron Greenwald: Enabling Pizza Eaters Everywhere with Bold Organics

From Under30CEO.com
29th Nov 2012

“Making sure you have a differentiated product that stands out in a variety of different ways from the stuff that’s already out there.”

Success Will Come and Go, But Integrity is Forever

By Forbes.com
28th Nov 2012

" Dishonesty may provide instant gratification in the moment but it will never last. "

Supplier, meet customer: How Chegg represents a bold new philosophy that’s changing commerce

By Pandodaily.com
25th Nov 2012

" Three big trends playing out in the digital world right now. One is about the end of ownership. The second has to do with location. But this third trend — a radical reshaping of the relationship between companies and their real customers. "

Ways to help bring out the desired results in children, teams and staff

By Star Online: Business
18 September 2012

IN our last article, we spoke about the importance of crafting and sharing a well-thought out Mission Statement for companies. How it helps employees get aligned to the business direction and contribute wherever they can towards achieving goals set. And also how important it is to develop one for ourselves to help guide us in our life.

I'd like to bring those two items together and discuss about motivating staff because in today's challenging business environment, our people or talent is a critical part of the bloodline in an organisation. Motivating your staff is a cycle where once you find your people, you need to hold and manage them. Motivation forms part of retention strategies and programmes in organisations. In understanding the need to motivate staff to ensure that they remain engaged and loyal with your company, let's look at what are some of the factors which motivate people to work.

Find Fortune In Commercial Real Estate

By Investopedia
29 Aug 2007

Real estate investment, like any other type of investing, comes in a variety of flavors. When people consider becoming a landlord, they are usually thinking of renting out a single family home or another type of residential property (condo, townhouse, etc.). Although rentals of this nature make up the vast majority of investment properties owned by independent investors, the flashiest real estate investors in the world (think Donald Trump) cash in on commercial properties. Read on for a look at the pros and cons of investing in commercial properties. 
What are commercial properties?Loosely speaking, commercial properties are properties that are leased out to provide a workspace rather than a living space. Commercial real estate includes office buildings, strip malls, restaurants and shops (both in the shopping and industrial sense).

In most cases, properties are sold by the building - one office building, one restaurant, one factory, etc. However, if a developer wants more capital to expand a project or wishes to see the returns more quickly, the project will be broken down into smaller units rather than sold as a whole. 

Advantages to Commercial Real EstateOne of the biggest advantages of commercial real estate is the attractive leasing rates. In areas where the amount of new construction is either limited by land or law, commercial real estate can have impressive returns and considerable monthly cash flow.

BookXcess a runaway success

By Star Online: Business
28 July 2012

“ HIS methods do work in some weird sense,” says BookXcess co-founder, Jacqueline Ng, of her partner in business and in life Andrew Yap.

The comment may be a little off-hand, but it is also strangely in character with the bubbly, thirty-something husband-and-wife team who are attempting this year to break their own record for the world's largest book sale.

They are remarkably frank about what makes BookXcess, the venture they founded to sell cheap books only six years ago, a runaway success.

Future in online buying

By Star Online: Business
26 July 2012

E-COMMERCE continues to see incredible growth amid the global economic uncertainty in the past year. A global report released by JPMorgan in 2011 indicates that e-commerce revenue around the world is expected to hit US$963bil this year.

Closer to home, the online shopping market in Malaysia alone is expected to grow at an accelerated pace from RM842mil in 2011 to exceed RM1.9bil in 2016, according to an Euromonitor survey conducted in 2011.

How to stay on top of your game

By Star Online: Business
14 July 2012

WITH over 90% of businesses in Malaysia comprising small and medium enterprises (SMEs), one can expect the quest for survival to be fierce and intense. Having the right financial strategy in place is definitely a key ingredient for success, but even the most seasoned entrepreneur makes mistakes.

The following are just a handful of the financial errors that small businesses can and do make – and need to avoid.

No business plan

One of the most common mistakes when starting up a business is the lack of proper planning.

Leaders always execute and get things done

By Star Online: Business
14 July 2012

THESE past weeks, I interacted with various Malaysian corporate leaders and observed a common thread among them they always achieved their goals, regardless of circumstance.

For example, Suhaimi Sulong, current HR leader at Proton, shared with me a personal story when he was a young sales person at IBM. He had a meeting with a potential client at the airport and was close to nailing the sale. Unfortunately, the client's flight to Japan was boarding but he had yet closed the deal. Suhaimi did not want to lose that sale. So, got a ticket to Japan, sat next to his potential client on the flight and convinced him to sign the deal. He took the next flight back with the closed sale in hand.