The Pocket MBA

How do innovations, ideas, messages and even rumours spread? How, why, and at what rate new ideas and technologies spread through a population or social system depends on relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability.

Life is uncertain, as is the business environment. This episode focuses on strategic decision-making and risk management in uncertainty.

Leadership has shifted from command-and-control to coaching to meet the demands of the modern, rapidly changing workplace. Successful leaders must adopt the role of teacher and coach to unlock employee potential, foster learning, and drive organisational performance.

Why companies should not define their market, focusing on their own products - and how it can lead to stagnation and potential failure. Companies should rather focus on the customer's needs and desires.

The rule of three for competitive markets determines the market structures for these. It warns of the dangers of trying to emulate the players on the other end of the spectrum.

What are the fundamental ways firms can achieve a defendable position in an industry? Why is trying to be everything to everybody a recipe for disaster?

What is the vaunted Balanced Scorecard and how can it be used as a strategic management tool? Why is it considered more holistic and meaningful than traditional short-term financial metrics of company performance?

Sure, you have heard of Porter's Five Forces. But do you truly understand them? Is it only your competitors with whom you compete for value (profits)? What really are the five competitive forces that determine industry profitability and shape strategy?

It is easy to get bogged down in theoretical discussions about the leaders vs the manager. But in organisational settings, what is leadership in the real world? And what works?

"Strategy" is one of those terms often bandied about. However, more often than not, people use it incorrectly - referring either to tactics or plans, neither of which is strategy. So, what is strategy, and what is strategic thinking in business?