Wall Street Journal (November 7)
“The global recovery—while still robust—is at a precarious point, with the risk of missteps.” A recent survey shows “Only about a fifth of businesses judge that the worst of the supply-chain disruptions has passed,” complicating strategy for executives. Meanwhile, central bankers “are trying to chart a path that will curb inflation but not choke off growth as they navigate the process of weaning economies” from extraordinary support.
Tags: Central bankers, Disruptions, Executives, Extraordinary, Global, Growth, Inflation, Missteps, Precarious, Recovery, Risk, Robust, Strategy, Supply chain, Weaning
The Economist (November 23)
Management consulting is being disrupted. “Advice on strategy, which used to be meat and potatoes for firms like McKinsey and its peers, Bain and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), is now a side dish; it accounts for about a tenth of revenues.” These days clients “want consultants to provide and install products, including new technologies, that transform them from top to bottom and keep disrupters at bay.”
Tags: Advice, Bain, BCG, Clients, Disrupted, Management consulting, McKinsey, Revenues, Strategy, Technologies, Transform
New York Times (September 27)
“The only solace in the current American standoff with Iran is that President Trump seems not to want to risk a war. That is of some comfort in a crisis that has left the United States looking weak and untrustworthy. But the crisis could still descend into armed conflict, and that is largely attributable to Mr. Trump’s poorly considered strategy.”
New York Times (January 9)
“When it comes to the border and the wall, Trump’s willful estrangement from reality is so profound that network executives and newspaper editors spent part of Tuesday in strategy sessions about how to respond to his inevitable barrage of falsehoods. Should there be a crawl of words on the bottom of the television screen to correct him in real time? Could fact checkers work speedily enough to post rebuttals online…? This is where we find ourselves. Other presidents have been untrustworthy, and others have had to be called out on it. But not like this. This is surreal.”
Tags: Border, Fact checkers, Falsehoods, Reality, Rebuttals, Strategy, Surreal, Trump, Untrustworthy, Wall
ABC News (September 18)
Progress could involve an “active containment” strategy “using existing military capabilities, by forming a missile defense perimeter in international waters surrounding North Korea that would knock down every missile launched.” Not only is the idea currently feasible, it could be achieved relatively simply. “Just two U.S., Japanese, or Korean destroyers in international waters off North Korea could form this missile defense perimeter…. Intercepts could be calculated to occur outside of North Korean airspace, and to have the debris fall harmlessly into the ocean.”
Tags: Active containment, Airspace, Destroyers, Intercepts, International waters, Japan, Military capabilities, Missile defense, North Korea, Progress, South Korea, Strategy, U.S.
New York Times (September 4)
“What does Kim Jong-un want?” That is the question that still plagues intelligence officials. “Six years after Mr. Kim took power and began executing those who challenged his rule…there is no issue that confounds analysts more than the motives of a 33-year-old dictator whose every move seems one part canny strategy, one part self-preservation, and one part nuclear narcissism.”
Tags: Canny, Challenge, Dictator, Executions, Intelligence, Kim, Motives, Narcissism, Nuclear, Power, Self-preservation, Strategy
US News & World Report (January 17)
“Kim Jong Un may try to accelerate the timetable. North Korea’s growing strategic capabilities suggest that Washington – which has long chosen to ignore and minimize the problem posed by Pyongyang – will need to come up with a serious strategy to deal with the DPRK, and do so sooner rather than later.
Tags: Accelerate, Capabilities, DPRK, Kim Jong Un, North Korea, Pyongyang, Strategy, Timetable
IR Magazine (December 7)
“New CEOs who present their strategy within the first 100 days of their appointment can see stock prices rise by an average of 5.3 percent on presentation day (around $2.8 bn in market value). The average stock price gain for presentations by new CEOs appointed from outside the organization is 9.3 percent (just under $5 bn), and for new CEOs from outside the company’s home industry it’s 12.4 percent (around $6.6 bn).” Despite these impressive results, “only 40 percent of new CEOs present on strategy in their first 200 days.”
Tags: Appointment, CEOs, Industry, Presentation, Stock prices, Strategy
Newsweek (December 5)
“The Made in China 2025 plan can be read as a ‘go it alone’ strategy for Beijing; it’s in effect saying, Thank you very much for all of your foreign direct investment over the last 20 years, we’ll be OK from here on—and by the way, we’re going to eat your lunch.”
Tags: 2025 plan, China, FDI, Go it alone, Made in China, Strategy
The Economist (July 9)
“Smaller rivals are assaulting the world’s biggest brands” causing some to wonder if billion dollar brands remain a viable strategy. Though “they make some of the world’s best-loved products,” large consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are under assault. “For a time, size gave CPG companies a staggering advantage,” but their advantages are weakening and in some cases becoming Achilles heels. “The lumbering giants are finding it hard to keep up with fast-changing consumer markets.”
Tags: Advantage, Brands, Consumer markets, Consumer packaged goods, Fast changing, Lumbering, Rivals, Size, Strategy, Weakening
