5 Reasons Why You Need Strategic Thinking On All Levels Of Your Organisation

Generally, the assumption still prevails that strategy and strategic thinking are an exclusive domain of a company’s executives. This assumption is historically well founded. And it is wrong in today’s business environment. The Greek word “strategos”, of which the term “strategy” is derived, means “general”. And the general in ancient Athens as well as in … Read more

Success and Failure of Strategic Management in 2015 – Part 2

In part 1 of “Success and Failure of Strategic Management in 2015” I had presented three cases of what I consider good strategic management. In part 2, I will now focus on examples of bad strategic management that emerged in 2015. Bad Strategic Management Usually, bad strategic management only becomes visible to the public when … Read more

Success and Failure of Strategic Management in 2015 – Part 1

For many businesses, the year 2015 was challenging. At first glance, the opportunities outweighed the threats. Cheap money and cheap oil stimulated the business of many companies. However, not every company was able to benefit from the opportunities. The year 2015 saw interesting examples of success and failure, which were significantly influenced by the quality … Read more

The Power of Strategic Questions

Let me start with a question: how frequently do executives and employees ask general, business-related questions in your organization? If your answer is ‘Not too often’, I would recommend to ask yourself ‘Why?’ and ‘How could we change this?’. A tool for strategic leaders Questions are an indispensable tool for strategic thinking. Questions are the … Read more

Balanced Scorecard Revisited – How to Use BSC in Strategic Management

One of the most popular tools for strategy implementation is the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). More than two decades after it was presented to the public by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton in 1992, the BSC has turned out to be one of the most popular management tools, which is not only used by … Read more

How to Use Key Performance Indicators for Strategy Implementation

Key performance indicators (KPIs) have become commonplace in large and medium-sized companies worldwide. However, despite the widespread use of KPIs, many companies still have not managed to get a high benefit from KPIs. Frequently, KPIs are just seen as a tool for measuring performance on an operational level. This approach misses the benefits KPIs can … Read more

Five Strategic Lessons from the Volkswagen Emissions Scandal

The resignation of Martin Winterkorn as chief executive of Volkswagen on 23 September has so far been the climax of the emissions cheating scandal. On 22 September, Volkswagen admitted to using software to change emissions test results for 11 million of its diesel engine cars sold between 2009 and 2015. The cheating and the emissions … Read more

The Five Key Traits of Strategic Leaders

The prevalent pressure for good quarterly results has led to the dominance of executives with a short- to mid-term focus. This applies particularly to large corporations. Truly strategic leaders have become rare these days. However, in the current times of uncertainty and rapid change, strategic leaders are needed more than ever. What are the distinguishing … Read more