Tag: competitive

From Strategic Planning to Competitive Planning

The annual strategic planning review frequently amounts to little more than a stage on which senior executives and presidents of business units present warmed-over updates of last year’s presentations, take few risks in broaching new ideas, and strive above all to avoid confrontation. Rather than preparing the company to deal with the strategic uncertainties ahead or serving as the focal point for creative thinking about a company’s vision and direction, the planning process, “is like some primitive tribal ritual,” as one executive was quoted saying in a magazine article. “There is a lot of dancing, waving of feathers, and beating of drums. No one is exactly sure why we do it, but there is an almost mystical hope that something good will come out of it,” the executive added.

Preparing for a Competitive Holiday Season

Christmas is a time of joy, family and a fridge full of turkey soup and sandwiches to fill your happy belly for weeks to come. It is a short but stressful break at the start of a long and (at least in most parts of Canada), normally bleak winter. It is also the time of the year that accounts for over 40% of most retail business sales and can either make or break a business depending on the retail success of the season. I don’t want to be the one to break the news to most of you but someone has to do it; the holiday season is coming and this year it’s coming sooner than you think.

Back To Top