To plan for the future, businesses usually look to their past. But what if your company is in uncharted territory? Columbia Business School professor Rita McGrath has a different idea: Design experiments to test your assumptions using “discovery-driven growth.”

Since its founding in 1994, Amazon has expanded into streaming, cloud computing, content creation, and even groceries. But if traditional business strategy tells us that the key to success is focus, why does Amazon work?

Imagine you’re trying to solve a problem, but none of your options are all that great. You could walk away. Or you could try to take the best from two inadequate options to reach a smarter, strategic solution.

Harvard Business School assistant professor Alexander MacKay studied Uber’s strategies as it entered new markets around the world. He wanted to understand how global businesses can scale fast and survive for the long run. MacKay tells Cold Call host Brian Kenny that Uber adjusted its strategies to meet the specific challenges posed by competitors and regulators in six global markets: New York, Bogota, Delhi, Shanghai, Accra, and London.

The theory of disruptive innovation endures as a way to make a complicated and expensive product simpler and more affordable. But the originator of disruptive innovation argued that disruptive innovation isn’t just about simplifying technology — it also requires a new business model.

Quitting is often associated with failure -- whether it’s a project, job, career, or company. But Annie Duke, an author, consultant, and former professional poker champion, argues that quitting can sometimes be a strategic success.

Blue ocean strategy is a landmark business idea, but its co-creator, Renée Mauborgne, says it’s not a guaranteed win. She discusses what specifically can go wrong when you try to implement blue ocean strategy, including the common traps managers fall into.

In an era driven by network effects, smaller players struggle to compete against bigger platforms. The trick to gaining ground on a much larger rival, says Harvard Business School professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee, is choosing a strategy that can’t easily be imitated. A good example is TaoBao’s strategy for displacing eBay in China, back in 2007.

“Creativity has to be at the forefront because if you don't do that, then one day you will wake up and you will discover that your competitor has an edge on you,” says Cirque du Soleil executive vice chairman Daniel Lamarre. He explains why it’s important to stay true to your brand while experimenting with creative new ideas and how Cirque constantly analyzes audience feedback to measure the success of its creative experiments.

From corporate social responsibility to ESG, an increasing number of for-profit organizations are pursuing positive social impact. But to “do well by doing good,” Jacob Harold (cofounder of Candid; former CEO of Guidestar) tells HBR IdeaCast host Curt Nickisch that you need a good

strategy. Otherwise, things can go very wrong.