Playing to Win
By A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin Harvard Business Review Press $27 In today's "VUCA" business environment, a well-focused strategy is crucial to survival, maintain A.G. Lafley, former chairman and CEO of Procter & Gamble, and Roger L. Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Mangement. "VUCA" stands for volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Lafley and Martin don't guarantee that a strategy will make your company or your product a winner, but they say it will lessen the odds of failing."A lack of strategy has a clear and more obvious result: it will kill you. Maybe not right away, but eventually companies without winning strategies die," they write. Although an invention or product idea can create a company and find success in the marketplace, companies must take concrete actions to sustain a competitive advantage, they say.The prescriptions in this guidebook for developing a winning strategy are mostly based on strategies used by Procter & Gamble to develop and market new products and reposition older brands. Still, the book can be used by any business to help mesh everyday operations with long-term strategic objectives.-- Cecil Johnson, special to the Star-TelegramHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
