Purpose – Acquisitions can be a powerful tool to achieve growth, enter new markets and expand the range of a firm's capabilities. But with the highly competitive market for acquisitions and the correspondingly high acquisition prices, all too often transactions fail to create value for...

Purpose – Successful growth strategy has a lot to do with careful preparation to identify attractive markets and new sources of customer value and competitive advantage. If the plan for achieving growth includes acquisitions, then we also have to consider company valuations and the...

Purpose – Previous Reaching for value columns, have looked at companies and industries in historical terms. (How did smart companies use strategic market positioning (SMP) to make acquisitions and other investments? How did less smart companies pick the wrong growth path?) This column aims to...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that most retail and franchise businesses have the goal of rapidly expanding to create a nationwide or even international network of outlets. Achieving that goal requires more than just having an appealing offering that works in one city. Business...

Purpose – Manufacturers and product suppliers with a strong market share in their selected segments often enjoy good profitability but find it hard to achieve strong growth without diversifying into new product segments where their established competitive advantage may no longer apply. One...

Purpose – Most business leaders buy into the logic of differentiating their products from those of competitors, and of offering more complete solutions to customer needs. But what if you find that other competitors with stripped‐down offerings are gaining share? Does that mean you should...

Purpose – Most investors and business leaders understand that the internet has created a few high‐profile success but many more start‐up businesses that have destroyed rather than created value. As a result, many executives have dampened expectations for the transformational potential of...

Purpose – Most business executives understand the importance of taking care of their best customers but they often limit their focus to engaging the left side of their customers' brains: the calculating side, paying attention to “hard” financial considerations such as level of discounts....

Purpose – Most business executives understand the importance of offering good value for money to their customers. But sometimes they do not put enough thought into how customers perceive value. This is particularly true in today's recessionary environment. Executives need to communicate...

Purpose – Most business executives understand the importance of developing new products to support future growth. But they often fail to actively monitor their performance on this metric relative to their peers. Furthermore, many executives do not understand how innovation is critical to...