Are you struggling with understanding your customer landscape? Who values what and why? What are your customers really attempting to do with their business models? Have you systematically catalogued your customer's value propositions and value...  

Are you planning on playing on a global landscape? Do you desire to grow your business from a local or regional scope into a global giant? How will you accomplish the transition from a local or regional player into a global entity?

If your challenge is to profitably grow the business, how will you accomplish the task? Will you grow the business via organic growth initiatives and pathways? Will you grow the business via joint ventures, acquisitions, alliances and/or unique...

Is "leverage" alive and well? How many examples of the effective use of business leverage can you cite? Is the practice of business leverage commonplace within your industry value system? Who are the bright and shining examples that are daily...

How many thousands of dollars does your firm spend each year on ads, press releases, literature, articles, speeches, presentations, formulators' notes, data sheets, brochures, sales publications, marketing spins, and branding initiatives? Is each and...

What is the nature of the "innovation process" that your enterprise practices? How long has your company been pursing that particular innovation process? How effective has the innovation process proven? What are the various operational dimensions of...

Do you desire to grow your business, but have experienced little success? Are you short of capital, equipment and people resources? Are you assuming that you must "go it alone" in any new business venture or during the expansion of an existing...

Have you noticed how some businesses appear extremely similar to a "stagnant pool" of contaminated water? Those business just sit there day after passing day in major depression, trapped, with nowhere to go, no passion, no energy. No movement, not...

How frequently is your particular company involved with partnerships, alliances, or joint ventures? Are you responsible for assessing the potential for profitable business relationships with complementary players in the industry value system?

How frequently is your particular company involved with partnerships, alliances, or joint ventures? Are you responsible for assessing the potential for profitable business relationships with complementary players in the industry value system? Does... (1 Member Reaction) 

How many strolls do you take down "Survey Street" each week, each month or each year? As you stroll along "Survey Street" are you in the role of a supplier, a customer, a distributor, a converter, or perhaps a downstream consumer? As a supplier, how...

When are your next sets of meetings with customers scheduled? What will you say? What will you do? How will you set the tone of the meetings to achieve a productive end-result for both you and the customer? Do you trust the customer and does the...

How frequently is your company faced with making extremely complex or complicated business, technology, marketing and/or investment decisions? How many of your critical business decisions contain both a qualitative and a quantitative dimension? What...

When is the last time that someone in your enterprise had a "creative" thought? Not a "me too" thought, but an "original" creative thought. A creative thought that was actually realistic, feasible and executable. A creative thought that would...  

How does your firm determine the profit potential for your respective business or customer segments? What are the key profit drivers for each business or customer segment? What makes one business or customer segment more or less profitable that the...  

Is your management team on a daily hunt for value? Where is value hiding? What tools and methodologies are your personnel using to measure value generation for the enterprise? Where are your business analysts looking for value? Do your financial...  

How does your company conduct an analysis of a customer or a set of customers to support business strategy development or day-to-day tactical business decisions? How much do you truly know about your customer's personnel, business practices, value...

Once upon a time there was a company that desired to develop a unique strategy, a strategy that was highly differentiated, a strategy that was superior to its competitors, a strategy delivering exceptional profitability, a strategy that would drive...

What is your company's approach to JVAAD (joint ventures, acquisitions, alliances, divestitures)? How do business partnerships and relationships with industry complementary players fit into the JVAAD picture? How are the members of your enterprise...

How are your personnel forecasting change? Are your enterprise's forecasting processes performed by internal personnel or external, independent, third-parties? What steps and measures does your leadership team routinely pursue to ensure the accuracy...

Is your firm struggling with "strategy options development"? What is strategy options development? How does one effectively and efficiently create, define and document strategy options? Where do strategy options fit into the strategy development...

Does your particular company have an Office of Business Development? Are select personnel within and across your enterprise assigned to Business Development Teams? Are your personnel challenged with both growing existing businesses and developing new...

Ah yes, the customer, remember them? When is the last time that you had a productive meeting with one of your key customers? Did you take the time to travel to their plant or corporate site or did you ask the customer to spend their valuable time and...

How do you measure the performance of each of your professional level employees? What performance criteria are utilized to determine when an employee deserves a pay increase or a promotion within your organization? How do you track the performance...

How does one execute, document, apply and benefit from a competitive analysis or competitive intelligence process? Who within a company is responsible for the analysis of competitors? What are the various stages of competitor analysis? How does...

How do you properly "charge" a Core Strategy Team? What should the "charge" memo for the Core Strategy Team contain? What are the elements of a good strategy study "commissioning" memo? What are some handy tips for developing an effective issues...

When it comes to strategy development, what are the objectives of "project structuring"? What constitutes "project structuring" in a typical strategy development project? How does the "opportunity to challenge" fit into a typical strategy development...

Does your enterprise utilize a set of "Basic Principles and Guidelines for Meetings"? What are the "Rules of the Road" when it comes to conducting meetings at your company? Are meeting facilitators held accountable for meeting deliverables and the...

What is the nature of the "strategic pathways" of your business enterprise? Was your strategy path developed by an in-house strategy team of uniquely qualified personnel or did you hire an external, third party set of consultants and challenge them...