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Recommended Resources – An Interview with Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi, authors of The Essential Advantage

Strategy Driven

Those companies that focus on building a system of three to six best-in-class, interlocking capabilities that support their way to play achieve a right to win in their industries. Is it more important to consider capabilities when you develop a strategy now than it was, say, five years ago? SD : Why now?

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Creating Michelin-star Quality for the Masses

Harvard Business Review

It's a common assumption that offering more features or developing high-quality products and services is expensive, and that the products of these labors can command premiums. D'O has reduced its working capital needs by offering less than 150 wines and reduces wastage by designing glasses and plates that are built tough to withstand falls.

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China's Stubbornly High Food Prices

Harvard Business Review

This trend will undoubtedly persist because of increasing urbanization, the continuing growth of the Chinese middle class, and the low level of meat imports. China's National Development Reform Commission estimates that since 2004, the cost of growing cereals in the country has risen by as much as 10% per annum.

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How One CEO Grows Her Business with Feeling

Harvard Business Review

What do you think causes millions of people to miss work and school in developing economies? Beyond the humiliating difficulties for millions of impoverished individual women trying to improve themselves and support their families, this is a global issue with significant consequences for the economies of developing countries.

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A Playbook for Making America More Entrepreneurial

Harvard Business Review

Although it’s difficult to measure directly, entrepreneurship is understood to be a way to a middle class life. In the past, economic development has prioritized big businesses. The Main Street business owner needs a different kind of capital from the high-tech entrepreneur. Shift the focus to include small companies.