Comments on: How strategy really works – my three Cs

By: LISTENING TO YOUR CUSTOMERS MIGHT NOT ALWAYS BE THE BEST STRATEGY | Market Echoes

Tue, 22 Sep 2015 09:50:19 +0000

[…] Piercy refers to as the competitive box or competitor trap. Research shows that we can also seek comfort in our “best” competitors – usually no more than three or four who “play the game” according to all our rules. […]

By: Julian Rawel

Julian Rawel — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 11:01:24 +0000

In reply to Tarek Farahat.

Hi Tarek
Thanks for your comments.
Indeed good implementation is vital for any strategy and can be seen as part of the Control element – control in advance of strategy and control once the strategy has been formulated.
Regards
Julian

By: Tarek Farahat

Tarek Farahat — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 03:17:09 +0000

Thanks Julian! Such a great summary in 30 minutes and I totally agree on the 3 Cs. There are many other Cs, but those three Cs remain the core.
One thing I would like to highlight regarding strategy, which is execution. I have recently read a book “Execution, the art of getting things done” and it inspired me how strategies fail just because the organizations don’t translate them into actions. I think you touched a bit on that in point number 6 of the toolkit. In my marketing career, I have seen many good strategies that failed to deliver just because of execution gaps. Thanks for the engaging blog 🙂

By: Julian Rawel

Julian Rawel — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 15:22:38 +0000

In reply to Tom Harper.

Hi Tom
Thanks for your comment.
Interesting – I had not really considered circularity even though I’m very aware of the circular economy. I think you have a point here, providing that circularity really provides a customer (and thus competitive) advantage. It could well fall under the category of the competitors you don’t yet know.
Regards
Julian

By: Tom Harper

Tom Harper — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 14:38:57 +0000

Unashamedly influenced by the current CEMBA I am studying – I would be inclined to consider circularity, as an additional ‘C’ that could positively influence the others – in terms of integrating circular economic thinking within the three other C’s. 1. Engage Customers with circularity (as Philips are doing for example with ‘leasing lumens’ instead of selling lightbulbs). 2. Circularity provides better Control over the resources required to provide the goods or services, as a comprehensive reverse logistics process ensures better control and tracking of those resources. Circularity also provides a distinct competitive advantage as innovative approaches are adopted over Competitors linear economic processes.

By: Julian Rawel

Julian Rawel — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 09:32:17 +0000

In reply to Riyaz Patanwala.

Hi Riyaz
Thank you for your comment.
I’d probably slightly disagree with you!! The fact is that Nokia was not in Control as they did not think about the competitors they did not know (see the blog). So the Control C must be dynamic – all the time.
Regards
Julian

By: Riyaz Patanwala

Riyaz Patanwala — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 05:48:24 +0000

Your article is a nano strategic management guide….less in words more in value.
Product/Service life cycle can be a valid factor in the control part. For example when Nokia had more than 50% market share in cell phone market (in maturity stage then), it had all the 3 C’s going well. It was the emergence of smart phones, which abruptly put cell phones in declining stage. Management of Nokia was late to react or in other words did not diversify in to smart phone at the right time as their product life cycle was reaching the end point.

Regards
Riyaz

By: Julian Rawel

Julian Rawel — Sat, 11 Jul 2015 12:31:48 +0000

In reply to Gurkeerat.

Hi Gurkeerat
Thanks for your comment.
Collaborators are an interesting additional C. Indeed Michael Porter lists them as an additional Force to add to his 5 Forces model.
Regards
Julian

By: Julian Rawel

Julian Rawel — Sat, 11 Jul 2015 12:27:49 +0000

In reply to Johan de Pagter.

Hi Johan
Thanks for your comments. Good to see another C – Credibility – because if customers don’t believe, they won’t (as you imply) come back – and then what’s the strategic point?
Regards
Julian

By: Gurkeerat

Gurkeerat — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 17:21:26 +0000

A short and crisp explanation. Collaborators like channel partners, suppliers and distributors can be the 4th C of strategy. Although they play a decisive role in terms of quality and distribution of product or service of a company, but do not count for all businesses. e.g. backward integration for a supermarket brand like Morrisons.