Strategy Archives - Albert Frank

With Any Luck, Your Business Intuition Is Getting WORSE

By Albert S. Frank Posted on October 24, 2017 in Business and Economics, Strategy

Experience can boost your business confidence at the same time as your business intuition is actually getting WORSE. Worse, because things are changing. Be aware of it, and deal with it. Here is a brief video I have done about this:

Is Your Competition Really The Problem?

By Albert S. Frank Posted on August 29, 2017 in Business and Economics, Strategy

Business books obsess about the competition. Coke versus Pepsi. General Motors versus Ford. United Airlines versus its own customers – sorry, I couldn’t resist saying that.

But is your competition really the problem? Your competition could be neutral, or even helpful. Your real problem might be customers deciding not to buy from anyone.

I discuss these questions in my latest business strategy video:

The Strategy of Hating Your Customer

By Albert S. Frank Posted on August 2, 2017 in Business and Economics, Strategy

Many businesses are hostile – or at best uncaring – towards their customers. Why, and is it good strategy?

Here is my video about this:

Challenging Your Business Assumptions – Profitably

By Albert S. Frank Posted on July 24, 2017 in Business and Economics, Strategy

In business, even the idea that things will stay the same is just an assumption: present trends will continue only until they do not. Challenging your assumptions is vital, but there is not enough time in the world to challenge EVERY assumption. So when (and how) do you challenge assumptions?

Ask why, and then ask the why behind the why.

I have done a video about this, with insights from the theory of constraints and the 80/20 (Pareto) Principle:

business strategy

Klondike Gold Rush – Two Paths To Wealth

By Albert S. Frank Posted on July 17, 2017 in Business and Economics, Strategy

The Klondike Gold Rush, fondly remembered in Edmonton every Klondike Days, shows us two paths to wealth. The obvious one – dig for gold. Also a less obvious one, which I explain in video 4 of my business strategy series:

Manufacturers – Protect Against Distributors’ Management Changes

By Albert S. Frank Posted on July 4, 2017 in Business and Economics, Law, Strategy

Sooner or later your distributor will have a change of management, and the new management could ruin the business. This is a problem not just for the distributor but also for the manufacturer. In my latest business strategy video – number three in the series – I discuss the problem and some contractual terms that can help:

The Theory of Constraints Explains Zero-Impact “Improvements”

By Albert S. Frank Posted on May 24, 2017 in Business and Economics, Strategy

Here is the second in my new video series on business strategy issues. This video features the Theory of Constraints and also refers to the 80/20 Principle (Pareto Principle):

The Business Power of INEQUALITY – 80/20 (Pareto) Principle

By Albert S. Frank Posted on May 15, 2017 in Business and Economics, Strategy

In business we assume that clients are more or less equal, resources are more or less equal, and products and services are more or less equal. Wrong. Embrace the business power of INEQUALITY!

Here is an introduction to the 80/20 (Pareto) Principle. I include an explanation of independent variables (what 80/20 deals with) versus dependent variables (what the theory of constraints deals with):

Trying Harder Is Not A Strategy

By Albert S. Frank Posted on August 25, 2014 in Strategy

Hard work has a great power in it. Hard work helped the ancient Roman soldiers win their victories. Hard work built the pyramids.

So should we always try harder? Sometimes trying harder is exactly what we need. But trying harder is not a strategy.

Suppose you want to start a small business. Is your success strategy that you will try harder than everyone else? Can you? Even if you can, should you even start a business if you cannot think of a better edge than trying harder?

The late president of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan, said:

It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?

From what I have read he was a diligent and systematic worker as president, but did not believe in working himself into a frazzle.

Strategy is about arranging to do more with the same resources than would otherwise be done, or to get same or better result with reduced resources. If so then trying harder is not a strategy; it is just a way of applying more resources.

business start-up business strategy hard work small business startup trying harder

30 Points From 30 Years In & Out Of Court — Are We Living In A Zero-Sum Jungle?

By Albert S. Frank Posted on October 24, 2013 in Strategy

zero sum

Category: Strategy