2006-02-20 16:15:17Yu Yi, TSAI
Strategy as active waiting
Strategy as active waiting
Manager advancing into the fog of the future tend to either cling to the fiction of prediction despite limited visibility or veer to the other extreme, replying on good luck and hustle and hoping for the best. Neither extreme is effective or necessary. Indeed, a careful examination of volatile markets over time reveals recurrent pattern.
Volatile markets often generate new resources such as technical innovation, privatized assets, or new knowledge. A churning interaction among variables frequently creates new customer needs.
Active waiting:
Anticipating, preparing for, and seizing opportunities and dealing with treat as they arise.
Over specific long term visions can prove hazard in unpredictable markets A crystal clear vision can also tempt managers to bet too much, too early.
Conduct reconnaissance into the future
Send out multiple probes to explore potential opportunities and treats.
Maintain the pressure
During the active waiting period, companies must focus on routine operational improvements-cutting cost, strengthening the distribution channel, improving products. These mundane initiatives lack the all-hand on-deck drama of surviving a crisis or seizing a golden opportunity.
In unpredictable markets, execution is strategic. Operational improvements keep companies in the game. Firms that maintain the pressure during lulls can outlast less rivals when sudden-death treats descend and can capitalize on golden opportunities beyond the reach of lesser firms. Companies that reply on execution alone, however, will over time lost ground to efficient firms that can also seize golden opportunities when they arise.
In a unpredictable market, playing it safe in the short term can prove hazardous in the long term.
There is time to wait and a time to strike, and wisdom lies in aligning the action to the time.
Manager advancing into the fog of the future tend to either cling to the fiction of prediction despite limited visibility or veer to the other extreme, replying on good luck and hustle and hoping for the best. Neither extreme is effective or necessary. Indeed, a careful examination of volatile markets over time reveals recurrent pattern.
Volatile markets often generate new resources such as technical innovation, privatized assets, or new knowledge. A churning interaction among variables frequently creates new customer needs.
Active waiting:
Anticipating, preparing for, and seizing opportunities and dealing with treat as they arise.
Over specific long term visions can prove hazard in unpredictable markets A crystal clear vision can also tempt managers to bet too much, too early.
Conduct reconnaissance into the future
Send out multiple probes to explore potential opportunities and treats.
Maintain the pressure
During the active waiting period, companies must focus on routine operational improvements-cutting cost, strengthening the distribution channel, improving products. These mundane initiatives lack the all-hand on-deck drama of surviving a crisis or seizing a golden opportunity.
In unpredictable markets, execution is strategic. Operational improvements keep companies in the game. Firms that maintain the pressure during lulls can outlast less rivals when sudden-death treats descend and can capitalize on golden opportunities beyond the reach of lesser firms. Companies that reply on execution alone, however, will over time lost ground to efficient firms that can also seize golden opportunities when they arise.
In a unpredictable market, playing it safe in the short term can prove hazardous in the long term.
There is time to wait and a time to strike, and wisdom lies in aligning the action to the time.