N2Growth Blog

AUGUST 9, 2010

Great businesses are in constant search of improvement, innovation, change, disruption, knowledge and other strategic leverage points that lead to a competitive advantage or operational enhancement. Don’t fall into the rut of allowing your business to be trapped in a perpetual state of static thinking.

Blog 305

Blog Brand Depreciation CEO 305

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 29, 2016

If a company can identify potential benefits, it can then consider whether to consolidate drone program development across multiple business units or subsidiaries, so as to concentrate investment dollars and strengthen data analytics. Businesses also will need to determine whether to run their own drones or outsource.

Competitive Advantage 10

Competitive Advantage Company Outsourcing Analysis 10

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 30, 2016

One applications outsourcing team, for example, proposed a clever UX tweak to help optimize a global fulfillment process their company managed for its biggest client. Their RFP-responsive outsourcing expertise had perversely obscured essential insights into what creative fulfillment should mean for both customers and client.

Process 13

Process Competitive Advantage Outsourcing Supply Chain 13

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Crazy ideas, of course, can be a source of sustainable competitive advantage. In short, organizations frequently have both institutional biases and incentives to avoid developing crazy ideas. Real craziness is what gets outsourced. But where should they come from? It's too risky to be seen as too crazy.

Outsourcing 14

Outsourcing Management Core Competence Competitive Advantage 14

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 26, 2012

To understand my point, let's think about how big companies have developed scale advantages through information systems. In the past three decades, managers have embraced off-shoring, outsourcing, and open innovation. Such information collection and distribution required massive scale and drove competitive advantage.

Porter 13

Porter Competitive Advantage Safe Harbor Efficiency 13

Harvard Business Review

MAY 26, 2016

Producers in less-developed countries compete by keeping costs low. Conventional wisdom holds that improving working conditions (which typically costs money) would undermine the competitive advantage these firms enjoy. Could lean manufacturing have a similar positive impact on jobs in the developing world?

Lean Manufacturing 9

Lean Manufacturing Supply Chain Apparel Compliance 9

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 8, 2013

A quick scan of the list indicates that all 100 organizations are located in developed countries. From this list, some readers may infer that innovation is largely the realm of engineers and scientists working in developed countries for large companies, assuming that innovators from countries such as India and China don''t matter after all.

Engineering 8

Engineering Globalization Innovation Marketing 8

Strategy Driven

MARCH 18, 2011

Further, they need to limit their focus to, at most, six capabilities, and make those capabilities work together as a mutually reinforcing system that perpetuates competitive advantage. Any one of these elements is not enough to gain the type of essential advantage that is sustainable over time. SD : Why now?

Resources 51

Resources Industry System Strategy 51

N2Growth Blog

APRIL 21, 2011

I want you to think about acquisitions from this perspective – anything that has been well engineered or properly developed has also been heavily invested in. There is also a great opportunity for adding talent leverage via outsourcing, crowdsourcing, and other contract opportunities that provide cost savings and scale.

Real Estate 353

Real Estate Company Brand Operations 353

Marshall Goldsmith

JANUARY 13, 2014

Future leaders will have to learn how to manage global production, marketing, and sales teams to achieve competitive advantage. Computer programmers in India will communicate with designers in Italy to help develop products that are manufactured in Indonesia and sold in Brazil. Appreciating cultural diversity.

Competitive Advantage 140

Competitive Advantage Globalization Diversity Technology 140

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 26, 2013

There is a growing sense that so-called lean start-up techniques — developing a minimal viable product, learning in the marketplace, and pivoting based on market feedback — can help to unleash this potential. That doesn''t mean that companies should either outsource the task or bring in entirely fresh blood.

Ries 8

Ries Telecommunications Business Model Competitive Advantage 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 23, 2014

What is the business’s value proposition and it sources of competitive advantage? By contrast a compelling value proposition describes succinctly how the company will compete successfully against its competition—and implies the critical activities around which the organization should be designed.

Ulrich 8

Ulrich Cost Efficiency Consultative 8

Strategy Driven

AUGUST 10, 2015

Or is mobile app development considered peripheral and non-essential? (If If your firm outsources mobile app development to an agency or design firm, there’s your answer). EVALUATE how StrategyDriven gives you a competitive advantage. (If not, there are probably several ventures working on it already).

Strategy 50

Strategy Succession Software Industry 50

Strategy Driven

SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

Business development. Under the rules of supply chain dynamics, one must study your supplier relationships, formalize a plan of outsourcing and develop collaborations. Readily measurable values: Time and cost of product development-service delivery cycles. Prescribe a more competitively advantaged outcome.

Budgeting 50

Budgeting Planning Strategic Planning Competitive Advantage 50

Great Leadership By Dan

APRIL 24, 2012

A colleague from another business school recommended the book, The Future of Leadership Development, Corporate Needs and the Role of Business Schools , edited by IESE Business School Dean Jordi Canals. She said it helped set the direction for her executive development program and really got her thinking about our profession.

Leadership Development 256

Leadership Development Development Leadership Globalization 256

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 24, 2015

Executives are bombarded with bestselling ideas and best practices for achieving competitive advantage, but many of these ideas and practices contradict each other. Should you create a blue ocean, be adaptive, play to win — or forget about a sustainable competitive advantage altogether?

Strategy 8

Strategy Competitive Advantage Environment Execution 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 19, 2015

As the technology develops, GE could revamp this and other plants into general printer farms supplying all of its manufacturing divisions. These regional production centers would reduce transportation costs and currency risks, while developing closer ties to their customers. In some contexts, they add competitive advantage.

Engineering 8

Engineering Learning Curve Fixed Costs Competitive Advantage 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 9, 2013

Manufacturers are therefore faced with a daunting choice: outsource the design and testing to countries where tactile intelligence is still high, or fill the knowledge gap of new hires in the U.S. The challenge might be to build a wood/composite miniature airplane from design through development, building, testing, and flying.

Engineering 8

Engineering Competitive Advantage Knowledge Management Outsourcing 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 20, 2016

” Rather, this approach recognizes a fundamental shift in the sources of value creation and competitive advantage toward software. But it also means evaluating whether you may be better served by bringing outsourced capabilities back in-house.

Software 8

Software Company Airlines Business Model 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 27, 2015

For a product or service to be counted as innovative at Whirlpool, it must be unique and compelling to the consumer, create a competitive advantage, sit on a migration path that can yield further innovations, and provide consumers with more value than anything else in the market. This definition may seem somewhat generic.

Innovation 8

Innovation Company Engineering Supply Chain 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 23, 2015

Over 30 years, he shaped a large part of its people development program, and taught me the framework of “common values and common standards.” Or will you create go further, and only promote the people who develop others? Organizational culture Leadership Developing employees' Lead by example.

Company 8

Company Self-aware Long-term Mission Statement 8