When Bold Strategy Becomes a Bet You Can’t Afford to Lose
Honda just announced its first net loss since listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1957. The company cancelled three EV models it had been engineering for years — the Honda 0 SUV, the Honda 0 Saloon, and the Acura RSX — writing off up to ¥2.5 trillion in assets and supplier commitments in a single fiscal year.
That fact alone is worth sitting with. This is not a story about a company that failed to try.
It is a story about the difference between boldness and prudence — and what happens when a business has the first without the second.
The Secret to Persuasive Strategy
All senior level executives and managers are asked to develop and present a strategy, whether global strategy, regional strategy, or simply strategy for a team or department they oversee. Many managers create long slide presentations with lots of data to justify why their strategy is right. However, the most persuasive managers talk about all the […]
CSR is No Indulgence
I find it disturbing when business leaders choose to use CSR to compensate for ethically questionable business.
[:en]2018 Predictions [:ja]２０１８年を予測する[:]
[:en]I love making predictions, so here is my list of ten predictions for 2018.
[:en]Market Entry Manifesto[:ja]日本市場参入について[:]
[:en]Last week, a reporter from The Telegraph in the UK contacted me for my views on the challenges of market entry in Japan. My market entry manifesto is below:
[:en]Conversation with Nihon Michelin CEO [:ja]日本ミシュランタイヤCEOから学んだこと[:]
[:en]On October 19th, I conducted an on-stage conversation with Nihon Michelin CEO, Paul Perriniaux, at the Tokyo American Club for the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and the French Chamber of Commerce. Here are a few of my takeaways.
[:en]Using R&D to Make a Sale is like Eating Your Young[:ja]研究開発部を利用して営業を上げるのは、リソースの無駄遣いである[:]
[:en]I often see sales people offer highly valuable expert services from an R&D division to a customer for free in order to make a product sale, even when the customer would likely have been happy to pay.
[:en]Old Strategy[:]
[:en]Steven shares three reasons why companies are reluctant to change old strategy and offers three techniques to overcome this problem.[:]
[:en]Worldview[:ja]世界観[:]
[:en]Last week while in New York, I learned of a stabbing of an 18-year-old Japanese woman in a neighborhood close to where I live in Tsukuba. The news came via an email from Tsukuba International School, where my son attends, warning caution. Violent crime in Japan is far rarer than in the United States, and almost […]
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