Category: Strategic Marketing

  • Make Strategic Changes From Position of Strength, Not Weakness

    Last month, I discussed strategic change decision-making at Cisco and Best Buy and the lessons for business leaders. A recent news story about the financial and operational resurrection of the University of California Berkeley baseball program provides another opportunity to explore this topic, this time from a different direction. My question today:  Why do leaders and companies seemingly wait until crisis time before making the tough go-to-market and organizational…

  • Inspiration from Ritz-Carlton: Create & Activate Your Extended Marketing Team for Customer Success

    “Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect.”  So wrote Al Ries and Jack Trout in their famous 1981 book, Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind. It’s well-accepted that the right positioning is a key criterion for marketplace success.  However, positioning only to the customer is not enough.  There’s an important corollary, which is positioning…

  • New Strategies Bring Change at Cisco and Best Buy

    Cisco (shutting the Flip recorder business) and Best Buy (reducing big box square footage and adding mobile stores) made important strategic announcements last week. Each decision provides a good opportunity for a mini-case study discussion. After you read my take, post a comment and tell me what you think.