Bottom line? Managers and companies need better strategies if they want revenues and profits growing again. They can’t rely on the old standbys; they have to think long and hard about their business’s overall direction.

The Problem Unfortunately, managers by and large don’t think about strategy. Worse, they often end up pursuing bad strategies, ones guaranteed to end in disaster: RIM & Nokia in smartphones, Dell in PCs, Detroit’s Big Three, Barnes & Noble/Borders, the music industry after Napster, Wal-Mart in Germany (and Tesco in California?), US airlines (excepting Southwest and JetBlue) ……. the list goes on and on.

Why do they do it? Why do managers keep throwing good money after bad? Why do they stick with the “same old, same old” long after the handwriting is on the wall?

Partly, it’s behavioral: Managers are afraid of being dubbed “wishy-washy” or inconsistent. Better to stick with a bad strategy, they reason, than change and risk my job. Shareholders and Wall Street combine to reinforce this behavior; in this environment a new direction equals a new CEO (and often not eve then; the new person usually chooses something equally bad if not actually worse).

Three questions More fundamentally, managers fail to ask themselves three key questions: First, “Why was this company (or business) successful in the first place?” Second, “Why is the business successful today, or why is it struggling?” Last and most important, “What is necessary to make business successful tomorrow?” All too often, managers, investors and analysts assume that what made the business successful in the past is what will keep it successful in the future. Reality, unfortunately, is different.

Seminar Overview

India has one of the largest and fastest growing economies in the world and has emerged as an important global player in today’s market. Many Indian companies are now leading the industries in which they compete and making an impact around the world. Business leaders need to have a comprehensive understanding of where opportunities stand and know how to avoid and minimize threats or risks when looking at opportunities in India.

India will become a major factor in your value chain over the next two years either as a large market, important supplier, source of competition, valuable partner, or role model. Regardless of the size of your firm or the industry in which you compete, you will be impacted by India. Are you prepared with an India strategy or will you be taken by surprise.

Did You Know?

• The world’s largest steel conglomerate is controlled by an Indian citizen – Lakshmi Mittal?
• Jaguar and Land Rover will soon be part of the Indian conglomerate, Tata
• India has the world’s 12th largest economy, the third largest in Asia behind Japan and China
• The US is India’s largest trading partner, with $32B in bilateral trade in 2006
• India will sustain over 8% growth until 2020 and become the second largest economy in the world by 2050, ahead of the US.
• India has the largest middle class of any nation in the world
• TiE – the entrepreneurs of Indian origin – is the world’s largest association of entrepreneurs
• India is the largest source of outsourced labor for the US

Unique Approach

This workshop will focus on the opportunities and challenges in doing business with India. The content and insights are based on extensive in-country research and interviews with companies, executives, and public officials, resulting in a first hand look at India.

Topics

• The background behind the emergence of India as a global economy
• Different opportunities created by India’s growth – buy, sell, partner, or compete?
• Critical success factors to doing business in India
• India’s influence across the globe

What You Will Take Away

• Insight into open and closed industry sectors
• Practical insight into what the emerging markets India has to offer
• Why India is a critical factor in your company’s strategy over the next ten years
• How to take advantage of the rising Indian economy while mitigating risk
• Identifying potential threats that stand between your firm and your success in India
• Multiple first-hand perspectives (via video) from Indian business executives and government officials
• Real business cases of successful and unsuccessful initiatives in India or with Indian firms

Who Should Attend

General Managers and Executives in International Development, Business Development, Strategic Planners, Mergers and Acquisitions, Marketing, and Sourcing. Additional Info at info@strategicleverage.com

2011 Dates Upon Demand – Private Seminars for Workgroups Available

Seminar Overview
Do you know where you have real traction in today’s market? Where you will get the most “…bang for your buck”? Is it in growing demand? Is it in new products? Is it in more advertising and promotion? Or is it the old standby, cost-cutting?

All too often, companies and managers tend to respond reflexively – more advertising, more new products, more salespeople, more cost-cutting – without taking time to understand where they have strategic leverage. In other words, they don’t really know where to allocate their scarce resources of money, people and time, so that it will give them the greatest returns. Instead, they rely on past experience.

SLC has developed a systematic approach to this critical issue. Using our Strategic Leverage™ and OnePage Plan (OPP™) tools, you can find out where you have leverage or traction, why you have it, and how it might change as the market and the competition change. Armed with these insights, you will be focusing your resources on tomorrow’s challenges, not fighting yesterday’s battles.

Strategic Leverage™
Strategic Leverage simplifies planning. It enables you to quickly cut through the clutter to identify the two or three issues critical to your business’s success. Net result: you and your team focus on the things that really matter. You identify and eliminate activities that divert precious people, time, and money. You go from planning to executing faster, more efficiently, and with greater confidence.

The OnePage Plan (OPP™)
The OnePage Plan (OPP™) links strategy directly with execution.

• First, it ensures focus by its design: your team has to narrow its priorities and initiatives to two or three concrete proposals that will fit on one page.
• Secondly, the OPP format spotlights problems and issues immediately and directly, saving time and money.
• Most importantly, it provides a powerful tool for tracking progress.

When applied correctly, the OnePage Plan (OPP™) consistently delivers results.

• Increased stock price from $35 to $105 in one year for leading U.S. financial services firm
• Market capitalization doubled in 5 years and profit margins increased for a $2B engine manufacturer
• Market capitalization increased by 4 times and market share grew 20% in two years for $4B regional grocer
• Schneider Inc (see sample OPP on next page) went from being a value added niche manufacturer to owning 10% of the generic market

Topics

• What resources are truly discretionary and why? How much discretionary funding (money, people’s time, etc.) do you have today?
• Where will you get the most Strategic Leverage – the most “bang for the buck” – today?
• How will your Strategic Leverage change in the future? What will change it?
• What are the implications for your business model, cost structure, and marketing mix?
• What objectives are even feasible given your competitive environment and resource constraints?
• How long will the current window of opportunity stay open?
• Should you be thinking about acquisitions? Which ones and why?

What You Will Take Away

• Several fresh insights into your business issues and opportunities
• What you should be doing for the next week, month, year, 18 months
• The two or three critical factors that will give you traction in the marketplace
• Revelations about where your business actually has Strategic Leverage (versus where you and your colleagues think it has leverage)
• Identification of the handful of activities and investments that are essential, as well as those that are peripheral or even unnecessary
• The specific action steps necessary to support each initiative
• Draft of your own OnePage Plan (OPP™)
• A crystal-clear, step-by-step process for implementing this approach within your own business

Who Should Attend
This workshop is for the senior executive with an average of 10 years of experience in leading an organization or division. Whether you’re a general manager operating a product division or a CEO with ultimate accountability for company performance, your valuable time and resources need to be prioritized and focused. Past participants include General Managers, Strategic Planners, Divisional/Regional Managers, and Mergers and Acquisitions Executives. Additional Info at info@strategicleverage.com

“Dr. Lele introduces an insightful approach to identify where you should focus your firm’s resources. You will be able to use his framework to direct your efforts and your staff to the initiatives that will make the most impact to your bottom line.”

Randall Raup
President, HSBC Mortgage

“Strategic Leverage will change the way you manage your time and your organization. You will leave more enlightened as to where your firm is making money (it isn’t always where you think!) and more able to change your firm’s priorities.”

Ken Harris
Vice-President, Tegrant Corporation

2011 Dates Upon Demand – Private Seminars for Workgroups Available

Over the past three years I have been researching this issue, through my teaching at Chicago Booth and my own research. This blog shares what I have learned and presents frameworks and processes that I have developed, together with analyses of illustrative case situations. It also contains references and links to relevant articles, cases and news stories.

I welcome your comments and feedback on these frameworks.  You can post your comments directly on the blog, or email me at mlele at strategicleverage.com. Please note that these frameworks are copyrighted — either by me, or by other researchers or academics.

This blog presents his latest thinking regarding the fundamental notion of leverage, how to quantify leverage and relate it to financial measures, how major changes such as the Internet, the globalization of supply chains and markets, increased global competition etc., have affected leverage, and how to apply the tools and techniques in today’s industry situations. It will include new case examples and discussions of current strategic situations from diverse industries.

Dr. Lele would very much like your feedback, inputs and comments. In particular, he would appreciate being alerted to (i) new industry situations, (ii) issues in applying the leverage framework, (iii) how leverage is affected by changes in technology and buyer behavior, and (iv) any other issues. You can post your comments directly on the blog, or email him at mlele at strategicleverage.com. Please note that these frameworks are copyrighted — either by Dr. Lele, or by other researchers/academics.