article thumbnail

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

Strategy Driven

Moreover, fixed assets are more difficult to leverage across diverse businesses than capabilities, and they tend to expire, become obsolete, or give way to related services. times EBITDA (compared to average multiples of 15 at the time). It divested a number of personal care and confectionary lines (e.g., billion, or 20.6

article thumbnail

Don’t Turn Your Sales Team Loose Without a Strategy

Harvard Business Review

And, since they were spread out across a geographically diverse area, they represented a large enough market to support renewed profitable growth. Business results were outstanding: EBITDA more than doubled in the first year and ROIC increased almost 300%, with fewer sales people. Hospitals presented two advantages.

article thumbnail

Improve Your Ability to Learn

Harvard Business Review

What Alex’s success exemplifies is the importance of “learning agility”: a set of qualities and attributes that allow an individual’s to stay flexible, grow from mistakes, and rise to a diverse array of challenges. It’s easy to assume that those qualities would be highly prized in any business environment.