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New in Strategy
The Trouble With Too Much Board Oversight
Olubunmi Faleye et al.
Is board oversight — helpful as it can be — detrimental to innovation?
Optimizing Your Digital Business Model
Peter Weill and Stephanie L. Woerner
If you lack a good digital business model, your customers may leave you behind.
Bringing Opportunity Oversight Onto the Board’s Agenda
Larry Bennigson and Frank S. Leonard
Boards need to monitor not only a company’s risks but also its ability to generate opportunities.
Retail Strategies
Rebuilding the Relationship Between Manufacturers and Retailers
December 18, 2012 | Niraj Dawar and Jason Stornelli
In the perennial tug of war between manufacturers and retailers, retailers seem to be winning. Today’s retail industry is more concentrated than ever – in many industries and markets, a handful of retailers account for a majority of the sales. Their ability to control market access and influence consumer buying behavior means that manufacturers need retailers more than ever. And just imperatively, the authors argue, they need to understand what makes retailers tick.
As retailer influence has grown, they note, power has moved downstream. For example, Wal-Mart’s sale are approximately 4.5 times greater than those of its largest supplier, Procter & Gamble. Consolidation and the global scale of retailers have reduced the number of “buying points” that manufacturers can develop.
Yet neither side is satisfied with the current system. Many retailers have difficulty converting trade promotion into profits. Rather than building longer-term partnerships with suppliers and nurturing store and shopper loyalty, retailers tend to compete on price and fritter away the trade support they extract from manufacturers.
What can be done to improve the situation? While manufacturers are locked into large fixed investments and wedded to products and brands with long payback cycles, retailers have a variety of ways of making money. The particular approach, or the mixture of approaches, that a retailer selects defines the retailer’s business model and how it differs from competitors.
The article highlights four different retail business models, as exemplified by Tesco, which connects with consumers through its loyalty program; Loblaw, which relies heavily on private labels; Costco, which gets its suppliers to finance its inventory; and Wal-Mart, which focuses closely on margins.
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Developing a Winning Strategy
This collection of articles offers insights into the process of improving and updating your strategy.
Which Strategy When?
Christopher B. Bingham et al.
Managers must figure out when it’s best to pursue strategies of position, leverage or opportunity.
The Role of the Chief Strategy Officer
Taman H. Powell and Duncan N. Angwin
A guide to help boards and CEOs decide which type of CSO is ideal for their leadership teams.
Achieving Successful Strategic Transformation
Gerry Johnson et al.
This article explores the distinctive traits of companies that successfully transform themselves.
How to Identify New Business Models
Joseph V. Sinfield et al.
Another method to pursue growth: Use thought experiments to assess new business model possibilities.
Uncommon Sense: How to Turn Distinctive Beliefs Into Action
Jules Goddard et al.
The authors argue that a company’s beliefs are often the most critical source of differentiation.
Dethroning an Established Platform
Fernando F. Suarez and Jacqueline Kirtley
The experiences of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Gmail offer four keys for entering platform markets.