"What separates a winner from a loser at the grandmaster level is the willingness to do the unthinkable. A brilliant strategy is, certainly, a matter of intelligence, but intelligence without audaciousness is not enough. I must have the guts to explode the game, to upend my opponent’s thinking and, in so doing, unnerve him.”A coragem para apostar numa certa dose de optimismo não documentado, a coragem de, por algum tempo, perder o pé.
"But a few businesses are starting to invite customers deeper into the manufacturing process. It may not create rapid growth, but it can increase loyalty. Working side by side with employees to sand down a surfboard or lay brake lines in a car, customers develop personal relationships with these businesses, based not just on the pleasure that comes from owning a beautiful product, but also on the pride they take in having built something with their own hands.Dedico este trecho aos duendes da Velo Culture:
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customers are looking for an experience, ... "To invite customers in to shape the product they will ultimately own is the highest level of respect,"
""There are 200 bike shops in New York City, and we don't compete with any of them." 718 Cyclery does sell preassembled bikes, but fewer than 25 percent of customers buy them that way. For the rest, the purchase begins with an in-shop consultation. [Moi ici: Co-criação] Once Nocella understands how the bike "will fit into their life," he presents a design and a detailed parts list for the customer to weigh in on. That can take minutes--or months. But when the customers are ready to schedule their builds, Nocella says, "all the parts are purchased and laid out on a table as in an operating room. They work with a mechanic, and they can do as much or as little as they want. [Moi ici: Mais co-criação] We are the project managers of their project"Trecho retirado de "Build-Your-Own ... Car? Some Startups Turn Their Tools Over to Customers"
"bookstores keep shutting their doors. Is the bookstore doomed? Yes, I‘m afraid it is - if it continues to compete with Amazon on price and volume. That’s a losing battle. But if bookstores compete on qualities that Amazon will never be able to duplicate, I believe there’s hope! (Provided Amazon doesn't open too many physical stores.)
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Bookstores need to tap into every customers’ sensory experience. Think of all the book genres that lend themselves to sensory exploration: all the cookbooks, gardening books, the do-it-yourself books.
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The entrance of every bookstore could become a sensory exploration zone: a movable kitchen, a mini-garden, a tool shed—something which not only catches the customer’s eye, but generates interest by stimulating all the senses.
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I would allocate two or three days a week for new cookbook authors to visit the store, bring their own ingredients, and use the kitchen free-of-charge. The bookstore would fill with the aroma of cookbooks! I would invite garden authors to bring pots, seeds, and plants, and demonstrate some of their garden tricks. Do-it-yourself authors could come and demonstrate their skills, everything from building a model plane to restoring a door. Then stores could promote their books—physically and online."
"Não tentes competir com a China no custo, ou com a Walmart no preço"A Walmart é um autêntico paradigma do sucesso baseado na eficiência, baseado em rapar o tacho até ao limite. Quando os membros da tríade (políticos, académicos e paineleiros) falam em aumentar a produtividade e a eficiência, têm quase sempre na mente o modelo de negócio da Walmart baseado na eficiência e na escala.
"The dairy section in the Walmart supercenter here, just across the border from Queens, was sparsely stocked. Some gallon jugs of milk were dented, others soiled with what looked like dirt. The meat aisle had run out of ground beef patties and strip steak, and residue streaked some shelves.O eficientismo funciona até deixar de funcionar.
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The disarray and out-of-stock items at just one store appear to be examples of wider problems that Walmart is pressing store managers to address.
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Some retail analysts say these problems stem from Walmart’s failure to have enough employees in its stores to do the many chores needed, like marking down aging items, rotating milk or getting needed goods from the back room to stock shelves.
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“Labor hours have been cut so thin, that they don’t have the people to do many activities,”"
"a Sonicarla Europa adoptou uma estratégia de diferenciação dentro do dentro do sector têxtil que tem vindo a gerar resultados de excelência.Trechos retirados de "O têxtil do futuro"
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A empresa aproveitou o simples conceito seamless (têxteis sem costuras) e reconverteu-o num têxtil técnico e funcional, voltado, sobretudo, para o desporto e medicina.
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"Estamos sempre a procurar novas soluções que consigam responder às necessidades do nosso principal e exigente cliente, que é o atleta de alta competição",
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Neste momento, os clientes já começam a vir ao nosso encontro, o que é óptimo. Os produtos são desenvolvidos em parceria com eles, eles expõem as suas necessidades e nós rapidamente conseguimos desenvolver testes, criar protótipos e apresentar-lhes soluções,"
"A challenger mindset demands the discipline to make real trade-offs and focus one's resources with laser-like precision in only one or two areas that allow them to provide the greatest differentiated value to their targeted customers. I means not whining about a lack of resources and realizing you can´t do a little bit of everything in order to play it safe. It means embracing risk and breaking with industry convention to do something taht truly stands out."
"Something happens to successful companies as they grow into behemoths ruling the corporate world: Their strategies are taken prisoner by bureaucratic planning processes, internal battles for scarce resources, external skirmishes to win market share, and intense short-term performance pressures.Oportunidade para as PME usarem isto em seu benefício. Como? Apostando no que os grandes não conseguem: na rapidez; na flexibilidade; na proximidade; no foco.
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Fifty years after strategy went mainstream in the corporate world, it seems to have lost its power to drive smarter, faster decision making and execution."
"But a strategy is the result of making choices that answer these fundamental questions:.
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• What businesses should we be in, and how do we add value to them?
• Who are our target customers, and what is our value proposition to them?
• What capabilities make us best at how we add value to our individual businesses and how well they deliver their value propositions?
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It is all-too-common to have many plans and very little strategy, because strategy is difficult. Those questions above may be easy in concept, but I see many companies struggle to find distinct and compelling answers to them. "
"Price is a HUGE differentiator. And sometimes the only differentiator. Many times the only major difference between products is its price. Last time I shopped for a tennis racquet, the store offered hundreds to choose from. They were lined up in price order, least expensive on the left, most expensive on the right. I noticed the expensive ones tended to have larger racquet heads. When I asked the difference, the sales person said that once you get about to about $150, there is little difference other than racquet head size and price. He said older people generally want a larger head size, and have more money to spend, so those racquets cost many multiples more. And guess what? They buy them."E voltar aquela afirmação tão poderosa:
"Price the customer, not the service"
"Price defines your customer. What kind of customer do you want? Your price will define the kind of customer you will attract, so proceed with an understanding of the ramifications."
"A whopping 76% of the deals don’t go to the company that wins the competitive bake-off, where features make a difference, rather the win goes to the solution provider who engages early to help the buyer establish the buying agenda (Forrester)."Entrar mais cedo e co-criar a oferta e fortalecer cumplicidades que resultam do partir a pedra. Quem vier a seguir tem um handicap.
"A leader’s long-term success isn’t derived from sheer force of personality or breadth and depth of skill. Without an ability to read and adapt to changing business conditions, personality and skill are but temporal strengths. An understanding of the zeitgeist and its implications has played a critical but unheralded role in some of the greatest business victories of all time."E conjugá-lo com este outro de Novembro de 2014, "How the three rules drive telecom firms' performance":
"The history of the telecom industry ... is important because it created a set of deeply ingrained institutional beliefs and behaviors that were not appropriate in the context of new competitive realities. As a result, companies struggled, and some made poor decisions about how to approach new business realities.E, então, o plano estratégico da PT concentra-se na redução de custos? OK, está percebido!
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Research conducted across industries, described in "The Three Rules: How Exceptional Companies Think", [Moi ici: Livro comentado aqui no blogue] shows that the most successful enterprises are those that continually search for and find ways to create new value - that is, value that is not price-driven - and in the process, pursue growth. Examining the study’s most consistently successful businesses, the researchers distilled three rules that drive long-term superior performance . The three rules are:
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1) Better before cheaper: Don’t compete on price; compete on value.
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2) Revenue before cost: Drive profitability with higher volume and price, not lower cost.
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3) There are no other rules: Do whatever you have to in order to remain aligned with the first two rules."
""Queríamos produzir muito azeite de grande qualidade a um preço muito competitivo para poder viver no mercado aberto. A partir daí, podemos vender o nosso azeite a granel ou embalado. Fomos optando por fazer parte da equação azeite a granel porque permite receber a pronto e entregar o azeite depois", esclarece. O azeite embalado, explica, tem um prazo de cobrança muito maior "que complica para quem já fez um ano de investimento até à colheita e depois ainda tem de esperar três a seis meses para receber". "Exige um esforço de capital muito maior com uma margem que nem sequer é muito atrativa", assegura João Cortez de Lobão."As decisões estratégicas são deste tipo, cheias de sacrifícios. Não há decisões padrão. O decisor é o empresário, deve tomar uma decisão de acordo com a sua experiência, ambição e possibilidades.
"Your country is falling apart. Unemployment and inflation are sky high. World war is on the horizon, and there are riots in the streets. But never fear: An election is coming up! The incumbent will be thrown out for his failed policies. And the challengers will surely have the bright new ideas the country needs to turn itself around.Recomendo a leitura completa de "The Idea Trap"
Or will they? Perhaps amidst all this the confusion, the people will hand the reins of power over to irresponsible demagogues, and conditions will go from bad to worse. This worry is hardly far-fetched. When do the "crazies" start to get a serious political hearing? Only after a country is already going down the drain.
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If we look around the world, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence that bad performance is not self-correcting.
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A society can get stuck in an "idea trap," where bad ideas lead to bad policy, bad policy leads to bad growth, and bad growth cements bad ideas.
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Once you fall into this trap, all it often takes is common sense to get out. But when people are desperate, common sense gets even less common than usual."
"madeira que é importada dos Estados Unidos, pois "infelizmente a floresta nacional não tem madeira para as nossas necessidades. Não tem o tratamento nem a quantidade suficiente para utilizá-la com alguma fiabilidade"."Os grandes têm sempre a ideia de que alguém lhes tem de garantir o queijo.
"As politicas activas de emprego deram um contributo importante para a redução da taxa de desemprego. Tem um valor? Penso que ninguém ainda percebeu muito bem como é que a taxa de desemprego está a baixar. Estamos muito satisfeitos com a evolução, mas precisamos de perceber o que está a acontecer para que possamos tirar lições. As políticas activas de emprego têm um papel, mas por enquanto não temos um número."Palavras do sr. Subir Lall do FMI.
"Now failure is emerging as a badge of honor among some Silicon Valley start-ups,"Há aqui qualquer coisa que pode descambar para uma situação em que o rei vai desfilando nu e todos aplaudem.
"In 2005, only eight China-based companies ranked among the Global Innovation 1000. By 2014, the number had risen to 114—a 1,325 percent increase. Chinese companies are also increasing their R&D spending much faster than companies in
other regions: The rate of increase in 2014 was 46 percent, compared with rates in the low single digits in Europe and North America."
"As the results show, your ability to craft, communicate, and execute sound strategy will determine the firm's financial results. It's one thing to ask a manager to reduce costs by 15 percent. She will readily come tip with a laundry list of ways to reduce costs. It's an entirely different thing to ask a manager to profitably grow the business 15 percent. She will most likely be stumped or trot out the same old line-up of tired tactics. When senior leaders are tasked with growing a business, many quickly turn to the acquisition of other companies. Mergers and acquisitions capture many of the headlines in business publications, but do they capture profitable growth? While some companies have become experts at identifying M&A candidates and then successfully blending the new business into the existing one, it's not necessarily the norm. Multiple studies over the past 20 years have shown that the majority of acquisitions actually destroy their own shareholder's value."Por isto é que torci logo o nariz ao título sobre o novo plano estratégico da PT.
"But what many economists generally gloss over is a notion that I will argue is highly complementary to market failures: management failures. For policy-making purposes economists assume that all businesses act rationally in the pursuit of profits. The possibility that that might not be the case is generally ignored, or even when mentioned, quickly finessed.
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Partly because profit maximization is a bedrock assumption and partly because maximization is a basic mathematical tool, economists have trouble dealing with firms that are not maximizing profits.
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Economists disagree about the actual incidence of these market failures and the cost-effectiveness of governmental efforts to tackle them, but they broadly agree that the only factors that prejudice performance are external to businesses." [Moi ici: Isso seria admitir que as empresas são todas diferentes umas das outras e, isso seria tornar impossível a tarefa de matematizar a economia]
"As the bottom gets more and more crowded, it's harder than ever to be more short-sighted than everyone else. If you're going to need to work that hard at it, might as well put the effort into racing to the top instead..."Trecho retirado de "Clawing your way to the bottom"
