MARCH 2014 / NO. 2
TAGS: CRISES, MANAGEMENT, COST-CUTTING, LAY-OFF, MEDIA, EARLY WARNINGS, WHERE-TO-PLAY, HOW-TO-WIN, COMPANY RADAR ROOM, MI7

Strategic crises occur long before management sees them

“When the business model becomes misaligned from reality, it becomes a Trojan Horse. This is a destabilized business model and is caused between what it can do and what its environment demands”, Trojan Horses of Decline
“Company decline occurs in three consecutive phases: strategic – earnings – liquidity. Early warning informs management that there might be a strategic crisis, which prevents the loss of competitive advantage!”, Trojan Horses of Decline
The statements given above are crucial in today’s business. Why? Because in over 95% of cases management lacks timely insights and foresight regarding potential strategic crises. The result is the rapidly-increasing pressure on earnings which results in cost-cutting and laying-off people. We read stories like this daily in the media, where top management explains that market conditions have changed, that customer behavior has changed, that new competitors with new business models have entered the market, or that a new technology was accepted much faster than initially thought. Who can we blame for this?
Management lacks timely insights and foresight regarding future change. There is a perfect solution to overcome this problem: Early Warning. Early warning can inform you about possible upcoming strategic crises for your company, which may lead to the potential loss of strategic advantage or strategic momentum.
The most misused word in business is ‘strategic’: Most people confuse ‘strategic’ with ‘importance’, leading to a misunderstanding of what ‘strategy’ really is. Strategy is not vision, mission, goals, priorities and plans. Strategy is the result of choices relating to where-to-play, how-to-win, and about long-term survival!
Early warning can inform you! Strategic intelligence-driven early-warning derived from your ‘company radar’ can provide you with the early indicators of disruptive changes about your target customers, how they buy, who they are, when they buy, what they buy, for whom they buy and from whom they buy. Here companies can lose their strategic advantages because they have been facing a strategic crisis.
Do you have a corporate radar, crow’s nest or watch tower? We have created the most advanced company radar, crow’s nest, watch tower or whatever you choose to name it. We call it MI7, which provides you with a platform to bring forward recommendations that are bold, not incremental, and that may be potentially unpopular.
Early warning challenges current information paradigms. Why is this?
  • Because managers are generally more interested in information that supports their opinions than in contradictory information
  • Managers are primarily interested in information regarding the business for which they are directly responsible
  • Managers are primarily interested in information related to their incentive system
  • Managers are more interested in information regarding quick wins or daily problems than in long-term business
  • Managers have difficulties understanding what impacts directly on their businesses, and lack lateral thinking.
Do you recognize these paradigms? If so, you can imagine that early warnings may not often be welcome. However, early warnings derived from strategic intelligence solutions such as MI7 are needed desperately so as to ensure the long-term survival of the company! 
“People do not lack strength. They lack will”, Victor Hugo
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