O poder do foco!!!

E termino os meus sublinhados de "Unstoppable" de Chris Zook com três tópicos que no fundo se resumem ao foco, ao poder do foco:

"If you do not understand your core (or cores), the root cause of your strategic differentiation, how you really earn economic profit (and why), and the boundaries of your core, then trying to do any-thing else is a waste of time. At off-site meetings with executives, I'm constantly surprised by how many relatively sophisticated companies seem to have lost a sense of their core - [Moi ici: O mesmo se passa nas PMEs, é difícil subir na escala de abstracção e apanhar o que está em causa] and how many have never even talked about it. If you're not sure who you are, it's hard to decide what you want to become and what it is worth.
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When lost, return to the core custoner
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Don't Underestimate the Power of Focus
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In its own way, each of my three books has as its dominant theme the power of focus. Focus to grow sounds almost counterintuitive. But just as plants often must be cut back to concentrate their energy on fewer, stronger branches, so too, businesses must be pruned to counter their tendency to branch out more than they should. I'm constantly amazed by how often the correct first step to growth and expansion is to narrow the focus."

Subitamente lembrei-me de Louçã e de uma associação de empresários cristãos, ambos queriam impedir que as empresas com lucros pudessem despedir funcionários... 

Perguntas

"Do you have hidden customer assets that could form the basis of your renewal strategy or at least fuel a wave of profitable growth? The answers to these questions can help you decide:

• Who are your core customers, really? How is that changing? 
• Where are you truly differentiated to those core customers? How do you know? 
• In which customer segments are you the leader? Why? Have you fully exploited that lead? 
• Do you possess a database or repository of knowledge about your customers' behaviors or economics? Is it critical and unique data? Have you probed its full potential? 
• Do you have unexploited levels of influence—brand, trust, or access—to some of those segments? How do you know? 
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• Where are the profit pools now and in the future of your core customer base? Are you weel positioned with regard to where they're shifting?"

Trecho retirado de "Unstoppable" de Chris Zook.

"Changing those lenses can alter your sense of what is possible"

"A typical customer base contains thousands, even tens of thousands, of customers—businesses, consumers, and distributors. There are nearly infinite ways that you can view a complex customer base built over time. Yet it's worthwhile to take the time to figure out the patterns that best explain the underlying causes of purchase behaviors and basic needs. In some cases, this kind of study can reveal segments of great strength or great potential, now lost in the haze of commerce, on which you can build a coherent strategy.
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The lenses that you use to view the world affect everything, including how you analyze your customers. Changing those lenses can alter your sense of what is possible, the limits you face, the threats around you, and even your core. Often your perception of reality is as important in shaping your actions and your future as reality itself. When these mental maps change, the world is never again the same to you."

Trecho retirado de "Unstoppable" de Chris Zook

Um excelente conselho!

"An industry enthralled with tonnage is an industry headed over the cliff. We decided to focus on the highest-quality product that appealed to real consumer need and make it as simple as we could. As a result, the automotive OEM companies sometimes made more profit on the sound system than on the rest of the car, and part of it was the premium for the consumer endorsement of the best high-fidelity system, which we represented. Those systems were branded and nothing else was. I bought a BMW and found one beautiful BMW logo on the steer-ing wheel and nine elsewhere for Harrnan/Kardon in the car. I like that ratio. We can afford to stay loyal to the view that we will do margin, not tonnage."

Em português usaríamos o termo "granel" em vez de "tonnage"!

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Trecho retirado de "Unstoppable" de Chris Zook.

Unstoppable

Um resumo de "Unstoppable" de Chris Zook

"1. Develop a point of view on impending turbulence in your industry and the speed at which change will happen. The key indicator is the current and expected distribution of profitability across markets, business models, substitutes, and steps in the value chain in your industry. [Moi ici: Ainda na sexta-feira passada, numa sessão de divulgação da estratégia, para os colaboradores de uma PME, usei este esquema para ilustrar o desenvolvimento do ambente competitivo. Verdade que começa ele próprio a ficar desactualizado]

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2. Evaluate the "state of the core" in your business, focusing particularly on what might happen to your source of competitive differentiation in serving your core customers [Moi ici: E a sua empresa sabe quais são?] in light of the trends identified.
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3. Identify a first set of options for a new point of arrival given the point of departure that you have just characterized. Strategy under turbulence usually presents a business with a set of discrete, distinct options (versus incremental variations of the same thing).
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4. X-ray your organization for hidden assets that might create new options, [Moi ici: Esta é a fase em que a minha motivação num projecto dispara e passo-me com a passividade nas empresas, não há tempo a perder. Recordar "Schwerpunkt" e o fogo-no-rabo] refine current options, or improve your ability to implement on those options.
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5. Refine your set of options based on what you've learned about hidden assets and continue to iterate between steps 3, 4, and 5 until you believe you've fully developed and understood the strategic choices that you face with regard to redefining your core strategy.
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6. Evaluate the options with clear, agreed-upon criteria: The most important ingredients to such evaluation, we find, are the ability to be truly differentiated in a set of core customers and to protect that position competitively, the ability to add the new capabilities that are required for the redefined strategy, and the organization's ability to implement. Our research shows that companies embarking on a new strategy often need to go through a period of operational restructuring to tighten up the organization and to render it "battle ready" for the pace of change, and the resources required.
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7. Enter the mobilization phase with full force. ...  Three areas to focus on in particular are: (1) maintaining intensely high levels of clear communication and building consensus all the way to the front lines; (2) establishing a mechanism to measure progress in real time, to learn and to make course corrections; and (3) creating a program office at the center to monitor progress, provide help, and work on problems."