Para reflexão

"Our ongoing research into the drivers of superior performance has led us to conclude that exceptional profitability is a function of a corporation’s commitment to following three rules:

1. Better before cheaper: Don’t compete on price, compete on value.
2. Revenue before cost: Drive profitability with higher revenue, not lower cost.
3. There are no other rules: Change anything and everything to stay aligned with the first two rules.

These rules are rules because their validity does not seem to depend on circumstances. Regardless of industry, time period, or competitive context, the companies that follow these rules seem systematically more likely to realize superior long-term profitability.
...
But wait … there’s a catch. However confident we are that the rules define what makes exceptional companies truly exceptional, we cannot assume that following the rules is what allows a company to become exceptional in the first place. Those companies that are not exceptional (by construction that is most companies), yet aspire to exceptional performance, must embark on a journey to this difficult-to-find destination.
.
Our research suggests that ultimately, most companies that become and remain exceptional owe their results in material measure to following the rules.
...
The rules apply as guidance for sustaining exceptional performance. When to begin applying them along the way to exceptional performance depends on where you start your journey. The worse your performance is in relative terms, the more significantly one should, all else equal, focus on cost reduction. As this is done effectively, and performance begins to improve, additional performance improvements turn increasingly on improving gross margin or asset turnover.
.
These findings have an intuitive appeal. Companies that find themselves in money-losing positions, unless suffering the consequences of fundamental strategic errors, are rarely at the cutting edge of operational efficiency. Consequently, when seeking simply to get back to profitability, cost reductions yield the most significant financial improvements.
This result is not what Rule No. 2—revenue before cost—prescribes. But then, a company that seeks merely to get out of the red is not aspiring to exceptional performance, at least not yet, so it is perhaps not too surprising that the rules driving exceptional performance do not apply.
.
As companies move into the middle of the distribution, however, they will typically have captured the benefits of the more readily implemented improvements. Further increasing profitability will thenceforth rely more heavily on gross margin improvements. Our case study research shows that achieving these improvements, in turn, relies on achieving price premiums through competitive differentiation."

Sim, faz sentido. Empresas à beira de um precipício, têm de reconhecer que a receita actual não funciona e que, se calhar, o mais correcto é encolher até uma dimensão sustentável, para a partir daí fazer nova tentativa de crescimento. Como, por exemplo, aconteceu com a Apple, após o regresso de Steve Jobs.
.
Contudo, muitas empresas, optam por aumentar a capacidade de produção, para produzir mais, baixar os custos unitários e assim baixar preços para ser mais competitivas... quase sempre o resultado é, à beira de um precipício, deram o salto em frente.

Trechos retirados de "The journey to exceptional performance" de Rob Del Vicario, Michael E. Raynor, e Mumtaz Ahmed.