Homework assignment #2

[Charlie HallKeymaster]

Hi EAGL’s!

I hope you enjoyed the two reading assignments from last week.

The five “cascade” questions in the Playbook for Strategy article from last week form the foundation of what is called a waterfall strategy, but it’s important not to get bogged down in pursuing too many different answers to them. Pursuing too many options, or options that work against each other, is a common reason why many business strategies fail. Instead, make a few specific choices that, taken together, form a clear and cohesive strategy to reach your goal.

The authors say that all employees have to make strategic choices. In large companies, many individual choices and broader strategies function at once and in conjunction with one another. Each strategy flows together to form a cohesive strategy that determines the overall success of the company—the authors call this a “nested cascade,” a waterfall made up of smaller waterfalls.

Your choices may look different depending on your position, but no matter what your job title is, the authors contend you should always play to win. In fact, this is the driving force of the waterfall strategy: You should make every choice with the express purpose of winning, not just competing. Lafley and Martin tell us competition is fierce, so if you’re not playing with a competitive mindset, you’ll be defeated by more aggressive and strategic rivals.

This week, there is only 1 reading. It is called Competitive Advantage and Internal Organizational Assessment and it is located under the Situation Analysis section in the Strategy Library. It incorporates a traditional SWOT analysis with a value chain assessment. It’s another “oldie but goodie” in that it has been around FOREVER it seems but I like the integration of their SWOT analysis into their planning efforts.

But before you take off reading this article, I want you to watch the following videos — one talks about analyzing the internal capabilities of our company and the other looks outside the firm at the driving forces impacting our businesses. The links are below.

Hope you have a productive Friday to close the week and have a great weekend!

Charlie

[Author]

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