Anthony_Michail Profile

Latest Blog Posts

• BusinessDay - Weaker rand shifts outlook for inflation, rates
  on Sep 16, 2011
  BusinessDay - Weaker rand shifts outlook for inflation, rates...
• How to Avoid the Four Threats of CRM
  on Sep 2, 2011 in CRM
  Companies spend enormous amount of money into Customer Relationship Management (CRM) but according to my experience most initiatives fail to deliver.  Below are the reasons why is happening and some tips to raise the odds for success. The promis...
• How to apply a Cost Leadership Strategy within a Company’s Value Chain
  on Aug 3, 2011 in competitive strategy
  Following my previous post regarding “How to apply a Differentiation Strategy within a Company’s Value Chain”, I will now discuss the Cost Leadership Strategy. Campbell et al. (2002) purport that value chain analysis is central to identify...
• How to apply a Differentiation Strategy within a Company’s Value Chain
  on Jul 23, 2011 in competitive strategy
  As it was introduced in previous posts, the purpose of a competitive strategy is to generate superior profits compared to its rivals.  Companies require viable number of buyers end up preferring a company’s product offering because of the supe...
• Brief Summary of Competitive Strategy Frameworks which you can use to create and develop your competitive strategy
  on Jul 20, 2011 in competitive strategy
  Below is a summary of various competitive strategy frameworks that you can employ to create and develop your business’s competitive strategy.Hayes & Schmenner (1978)Hayes & Schmenner (1978) identify five different dimensions that can assist...
• Brief Guide: Methods for Developing your Competitive Advantage
  on Jul 16, 2011 in Checklists competitive strategy
  The methods for developing a sustainable competitive advantage can be divided into three main groups:1 Organizational advantagesEconomies of scope and /or scaleFlexibilityCompetitive stanceSizeSpeed of responsePast performanceFinancial strengthsPatte...
• Principles of a Marketing Audit: Increase your Business’s Effectiveness & Evaluate your Marketing Strategy
  on Jul 2, 2011 in Marketing Audit Marketing Plan
  A Marketing Audit is a systematic examination of an organization's marketing objectives, strategies, organization and performance. Its purpose is:to examine the effectiveness of current marketing strategy and tactics to identify under-utili...
• Porter’s Differentiation Strategy & Ways of Achieving it
  on Jul 1, 2011 in competitive strategy Free Templates
  Porter’s Differentiation Strategy Another way of achieving a competitive advantage for companies is through differentiation strategy (Porter, 1980).  In strategic marketing and management literature, the differentiation strategy has been...
• Use of Porter’s (1985) Value Chain Framework
  on Jun 30, 2011 in competitive strategy Free Templates
  Use of Porter’s (1985) Value Chain FrameworkPorter’s model of value chain is one of the best known and widely applied models of a company’s value-creation processes (Sanchez and Heene, 2004).  According to Porter: “Competitive advan...
• Models to Analyze your Product Portfolio 2
  on Jun 22, 2011 in Free Templates Product Management
  Following my previous blog about Boston Matrix, today I will provide basic guidelines to analyze your product portfolio by employing the Directional Policy Matrix (DPM). Compare to Boston Matrix, DPM allows for a number of factors such as market attr...
• An Introduction to Porter's Generic Strategies
  on Jun 21, 2011 in competitive strategy
  This post provides a basic summary of Porter's competitive strategies.According to Porter (1980), a firm must decide whether to attempt to gain competitive advantage by producing at a lower cost than its rivals or differentiate its products and servi...
• Quotes on Business Strategy
  on Jun 21, 2011 in Strategy Quotes
  A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all. Michael LeBoeuf A strategy delineates a territory in which a company seeks to be unique. Michael PorterAll men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy...
• Ways of Achieving a Cost Leadership Strategy
  on Jun 21, 2011 in competitive strategy
  According to Porter (1980), the low cost leadership strategy attempts to increase market share by emphasising low cost relative to competitors.  Porter states the following: “gives the firm defence against rivalry from competitors because...
• Models to Analyze your Product Portfolio
  on Jun 21, 2011 in Strategy Implementation Free Templates Product Management
  If  you are required to manage a range of products you must be in a position to evaluate your products' performance.  There are two models that are considered appropriate for such analyses and are based on two different templates and releva...
• New Toolkit for Start Up & Small Business
  on Jun 15, 2011 in Templates and Toolkits
  Business-Templates-4u has launched a new toolkit for Start Up and Small Business including more than 500 templates, worksheets, checklists, and guides.The toolkit consists of templates that can be easily modified.  In that way, you can focus on...
• Four Initiatives to Unlock Profitability in the Complex Company
  on Jun 13, 2011 in Company Performance
  Companies today are under intense pressure to deliver growth. As internal functions mobilize to respond to this challenge, they may end up making the business worse. The enthusiasm to drive revenue growth can introduce a costly and unmanageable level...
• Considering buying a Franchise? Questions to ask the Franchisor
  on Jun 10, 2011 in Checklists Start up
  You have decided to buy a franchise and you have narrowed your choices. It is time to sit down with the franchisor and get all of your questions answered.The important thing is that you get a very clear picture of the cost of purchasing the franchise...
• Basic Guidelines for Implementing Strategy
  on Jun 9, 2011 in Strategy Implementation
  Managing the process of implementation is often more difficult than coming up with the strategy in the first place – but ideas that cannot be translated into action serve little purpose. A consistent, straightforward methodology can help drive stra...
• Key Terms in Strategy development, implementation, and measurement
  on Jun 6, 2011 in General
  During strategy development, implementation and measurement various participants use different interpretations to describe strategy.  The following defines the key terms and managers should use them to ensure that everyone understands the same l...