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What makes a great BRAND

Great brand by Richard Gourlay leadership and strategy

What makes a great BRAND? Despite what marketing people passionately believe most people don’t think about brands, they just get on with their lives. The coffee they buy, the supermarket they go to and petrol station they visit happen almost by accident. In Britain today we are too busy to think through these everyday inconsequential purchases, focused on saving time, not forgetting something or rushing from place to place on a tight deadline. So do brands matter as much as they used to and if so why and how?  Brands… Read More »What makes a great BRAND

Strategy: How to outcompete the competition

Vision in business matters by Richard Gourlay

Sustainable Competitive Advantage  Sustainable competitive advantage is the market position where a business can continually hit the sweet spot in bringing the right product to the right market at the right time. Few companies can lay claim to the holy grail market position for any length of time, retaining a sustainable position within a market. Here are some that come immediately to mind: Ferrari, Rolls Royce, Hoover, Apple, Boeing, Sky, Microsoft Windows, are all good examples of global companies who have achieved that today.  Sustainable competitive advantage is the ability… Read More »Strategy: How to outcompete the competition

Values matter in BUSINESS more than ever as Ikea have found out

values in business matter to customers and employees

In today’s information driven world, how you do business matters as much as the business you do, as Ikea the iconic Swedish furniture retailer has just found out. Ikea’s green credentials have been dealt a massive blow in consumer’s minds. Ikea’s failure to support sustainability in its products leaves customers questioning its real values as a business. Ikea only 16% sustainable wood  Ikea’s failure to achieve its own most modest target of 30% of its wood products to be from certified sustainable wood, will damage it its credibility heavily with… Read More »Values matter in BUSINESS more than ever as Ikea have found out

Successful Leaders Plan Their Business

Business Planning Business planning often gets a bad press.  Yet those who do sit down and plan their business are so much more focused, confident, and successful than those who float along with the economic tide. Successful leaders plan their business, so they can focus on leading their team to deliver that plan. Over the past ten years as a strategic planner we’ve worked with hundreds of business owners and seen how those that create a plan and implement it. Those that plan their business do so much better than those… Read More »Successful Leaders Plan Their Business

Values matter in BUSINESS more than ever

strategy, leadership and vision in business by Steve Jobs

Values in Business must be transparent The way you provide your product or service and to whom, says more about you than how much business you do. Being big in a highly segmented world is no longer the determination of success. How you do your business now determines your current credibility and future success. Credibility is as much about your values in becoming successful as about the success you have. Mohamed Al-Fayed for example, despite buying Harrods, never shook off questions about his background. Your values as an organisation as… Read More »Values matter in BUSINESS more than ever

What Makes a Great Brand (Part 2)

Dyson strategy to outcompete the competition

Clear Brand Strategy Being clear and precise is also important in the company’s messages for a brand to succeed. A strong undiluted brand message must enthuse internally but must also consistently connect with customers through touch points. For great examples look at Innocent, Dorset Cereals or Apple as classic examples of touch point engagement. They also demonstrate a clear story delivered with passion about who they are what they do and why they matter. This focused and consistent message is not just a marketing message but an ingrained set of… Read More »What Makes a Great Brand (Part 2)

A good business starts with the end in mind:

Vision to make change n business by Richard Gourlay

A good business starts with the end in mind: have clear business objectives. For leadership teams planning a business is focused around the annual exercise of business planning.  Reviewing what went well and what did not, reviewing the overall performance of the organisation, its profits (or losses) and deciding what to do differently and what to keep the same for the forthcoming year. One key area which good leadership teams consistently get right is in rolling out the right measures, both soft and hard measures of performance inside a business… Read More »A good business starts with the end in mind: