1. Working on the Margin to
Improve Performance
21 March 2017Copyrighted in its entirety, Innovative Learning Solutions,
2. Your strategy is probably
fixed at this point
Shift your focus toward adjusting your tactics to
improve your performance
3. Things to Think About
1. Licensing technology
2. Management of strategy
3. Using the tools of management
4. Improving resource productivity
5. Borrowing money to improve opportunities
6. Watching the balanced scorecard
4. Consider Licensing Technology
From or To a Competitor
New in brand design area
Multiply resources
– Sell technologies for 50% or more of what you paid
– Buy technologies for 50% or less of the cost to develop them yourself
Develop markets more quickly by being able to offer more
satisfying features than you can afford
7. Licensing Requires a Different
Kind of Competitive Thinking
Negotiate to find a mutually beneficial opportunity
Compete or cooperate - strategic alliances with competitors
Game theory and prisoner’s dilemma
(if I do this and they do that, then …….?)
8. Management of Strategy
Discover the causes of performance shortfalls
Adapt to new opportunities and problems
Manage the future (take the initiative and expend resources
that will shape events and opportunities of the future)
9. Use the Tools of Management
to Discover SWOT
Market feedback
Competitor analysis
Employee productivity data
Manufacturing reports
Accounting reports (financial statements)
Industry financial benchmarks (industry financial ratios)
Profitability analysis
10. Competitor Benchmarks
Brand and ad designs
Prices and sale priorities
Channel strategy
Sales staffing
Ad placements
Search engine marketing
Demand by brand by segment
11. Goals of Competitive Benchmarking
Reverse engineer the strategy of each competitor
Determine who is a threat and who is not
Determine the strengths and weaknesses of the competition
Emulate good decisions
Predict the direction of your competitors’ moves
Adjust your strategy and tactics in reaction to your competitors’
strengths and weaknesses and in anticipation of future moves
12. Improve Resource Productivity
What is the elasticity or market response function of each decision?
Where should the next 500,000 be spent?
– More advertising
– More sales people
– Lower prices
– More R&D
– More sales outlets
– More capacity
– Better compensation
13. Improve Resource Productivity
How can we get more out of our current investments?
Is it better to:
– Move sales people in between sales outlets
– Move sales people between market segments
– Reallocate advertising
– Introduce another brand to a target segment
– Increase or decrease your price by 100
– Increase price on one brand while decreasing it on another
14. Keep an Eye on the
Balanced Scorecard
Businesses use it to guide decision-making in order
to insure that all important areas are managed effectively
Think and manage multi-dimensionally
Drill down to find sources of weaknesses and strengths
Your business acumen will be judged by your cumulative
performance of the last 4 quarters
