Comments for ... talking about strategy http://www.kimwarren.com with Kim Warren Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:40:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 Comment on Strategic talent management by Bruce Lewin http://www.kimwarren.com/2008/08/strategic-talent-management/#comment-371 Bruce Lewin Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:21:32 +0000 http://www.kimwarren.com/?p=161#comment-371 Dear Kim, This was a really useful piece and I've linked to it in a follow up I wrote called "Dismal, Disastrous, Ouch!" I tried to do a pingback, but I'm not sure if it worked, so I thought I'd say hello the old fashioned way! btw, the piece I wrote is at http://www.fourgroups.com/blog/archives/01/dismal-disastrous-ouch/ Best wishes... Dear Kim,

This was a really useful piece and I’ve linked to it in a follow up I wrote called “Dismal, Disastrous, Ouch!” I tried to do a pingback, but I’m not sure if it worked, so I thought I’d say hello the old fashioned way!

btw, the piece I wrote is at http://www.fourgroups.com/blog/archives/01/dismal-disastrous-ouch/

Best wishes…

]]> Comment on Strategic talent management by Four Groups’ Blog » Dismal, Disastrous, Ouch! http://www.kimwarren.com/2008/08/strategic-talent-management/#comment-370 Four Groups’ Blog » Dismal, Disastrous, Ouch! Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:17:31 +0000 http://www.kimwarren.com/?p=161#comment-370 [...] not the commentary from the recent Olympic boxing, but fallout from Alice, Kim and Dan’s verdict on McKinsey’s ‘Making Talent a Strategic [...] [...] not the commentary from the recent Olympic boxing, but fallout from Alice, Kim and Dan’s verdict on McKinsey’s ‘Making Talent a Strategic [...]

]]> Comment on The ‘resource-based view’ of strategy? by Jamal http://www.kimwarren.com/2008/07/the-resource-based-view-of-strategy/#comment-347 Jamal Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:36:28 +0000 http://www.kimwarren.com/?p=82#comment-347 Hello sir, The whole issue of "resources, capabilities and core competencies" and discovering the sources of competitive advntage from strategy point of view, seems to be a valuable area to conduct a research in. I decided to concentrate my MBA research project on these issues. How do you think I should develop these concerns into a researchable topic. I'm thinking about an empirical study. Hello sir, The whole issue of “resources, capabilities and core competencies” and discovering the sources of competitive advntage from strategy point of view, seems to be a valuable area to conduct a research in.
I decided to concentrate my MBA research project on these issues. How do you think I should develop these concerns into a researchable topic. I’m thinking about an empirical study.

]]> Comment on The ‘resource-based view’ of strategy? by Kim Warren http://www.kimwarren.com/2008/07/the-resource-based-view-of-strategy/#comment-343 Kim Warren Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:03:37 +0000 http://www.kimwarren.com/?p=82#comment-343 Hi Jamal - the problem people seem to find is that resources and capabilities are so ambiguous and abstract that management teams can't work out what's what, and certainly can't answer in any meaningful way to what degree any of them is VRIO. So I am still not aware of a single real case in which a corporate strategy professional or consultant has done anything substantive at all with RBV. Would be great to hear of examples. Having been a practising strategist for many years, I would not have a clue how to use RBV to discover sources of competitive advantage - but maybe I'm just dumb. The discussion on operationalising RBV concerned working out how we might specify these things in concrete and unambiguous terms so someone can actually measure them. BTW - 'core competences' do at least have the merit of having a clear definition in their original description - see The Core Competence of the Corporation, G Hamel, CK Prahalad, Harvard Business Review, 1990, May-June. It does *not* just mean a rather importance competence - though that's how many people now use the term - but refers to specific technical abilities lying deep in an organisation on which multiple products are based. Hi Jamal - the problem people seem to find is that resources and capabilities are so ambiguous and abstract that management teams can’t work out what’s what, and certainly can’t answer in any meaningful way to what degree any of them is VRIO. So I am still not aware of a single real case in which a corporate strategy professional or consultant has done anything substantive at all with RBV. Would be great to hear of examples.

Having been a practising strategist for many years, I would not have a clue how to use RBV to discover sources of competitive advantage - but maybe I’m just dumb. The discussion on operationalising RBV concerned working out how we might specify these things in concrete and unambiguous terms so someone can actually measure them.

BTW - ‘core competences’ do at least have the merit of having a clear definition in their original description - see The Core Competence of the Corporation, G Hamel, CK Prahalad, Harvard Business Review, 1990, May-June. It does *not* just mean a rather importance competence - though that’s how many people now use the term - but refers to specific technical abilities lying deep in an organisation on which multiple products are based.

]]> Comment on The ‘resource-based view’ of strategy? by Jamal http://www.kimwarren.com/2008/07/the-resource-based-view-of-strategy/#comment-341 Jamal Sat, 19 Jul 2008 06:54:48 +0000 http://www.kimwarren.com/?p=82#comment-341 I think "VRIO" or "VRIN" or whatever we call it, is only a test to check whether certain capabilities can be considered as core competencies. It is the job of strategist to discover the sources of competitive advantage based on capabilities and resources. I dont understand what you mean by operationalizing the RBV. I think “VRIO” or “VRIN” or whatever we call it, is only a test to check whether certain capabilities can be considered as core competencies.
It is the job of strategist to discover the sources of competitive advantage based on capabilities and resources.
I dont understand what you mean by operationalizing the RBV.

]]> Comment on Courses using Strategy Dynamics by Kim Warren http://www.kimwarren.com/2008/01/courses-using-strategy-dynamics/#comment-61 Kim Warren Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:54:15 +0000 http://www.kimwarrenbooks.com/archives/55#comment-61 Good to hear of your plans Bayram - I do hope it goes well for you. Interesting that some of your students find it difficult - I don't think we should be surprised, as I am aiming at high-level MBA students, and also aiming at the 'big' questions of strategy. The principles apply equally to simpler questions, so we probably need more simplified materials also. I know of someone teaching with the approach at undergraduate level, and he too has had to simplify things for his students. regards - Kim Good to hear of your plans Bayram - I do hope it goes well for you. Interesting that some of your students find it difficult - I don’t think we should be surprised, as I am aiming at high-level MBA students, and also aiming at the ‘big’ questions of strategy. The principles apply equally to simpler questions, so we probably need more simplified materials also.
I know of someone teaching with the approach at undergraduate level, and he too has had to simplify things for his students.
regards - Kim

]]> Comment on Courses using Strategy Dynamics by Bayram http://www.kimwarren.com/2008/01/courses-using-strategy-dynamics/#comment-54 Bayram Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:58:53 +0000 http://www.kimwarrenbooks.com/archives/55#comment-54 Hello, Kim. I have started using some of your materials in a "System Dynamics" course at Moscow State University in Russia. I may say that students are very interested in this new approach, though for some of them the material seems to be too complicated. I am working on simplifying it a bit. Hello, Kim. I have started using some of your materials in a “System Dynamics” course at Moscow State University in Russia.

I may say that students are very interested in this new approach, though for some of them the material seems to be too complicated. I am working on simplifying it a bit.

]]> Comment on Strategic incompetence continued by Kim Warren http://www.kimwarren.com/2008/01/strategic-incompetence-continued/#comment-20 Kim Warren Sat, 26 Jan 2008 09:27:34 +0000 http://www.kimwarrenbooks.com/archives/61#comment-20 Hi Peter ... It is the primary responsibility of top management to prepare for challenges that could arise, to look for signs that it might be coming towards them, and take anticipatory action - or at least hold back on action that could get them into trouble. These cases all trace back to the feeding frenzy of irresponsible lending to the sub-prime mortgage sector - i.e. lending money to people many of whom probably couldn't repay it. Not all the big investment banks messed up so badly on this issue, and didn't have to make such huge write-offs. So some people were being smart enough. The annoying issue for the rest of us is the much, much wider trouble the less-smart ones have caused. Cycles like this happen in many sectors - the insurance industry sees them regularly. The UK commercial property sector is just tipping right now into over-supply and falling yields. I was working with a law firm last summer who were throwing every lawyer they could get onto property-related deals and asked them the simple questions "How long will this boom go on, when might conditions come together to cause its reverse, what impact would this have on your business, and what would you do about it?" They found it pretty easy to moderate their hiring plans and turn attention to alternative services that might be in increasing demand as the situation changed. It doesn't need especially sophisticated tools to deal with this kind of question, just the ability to ask what the future will look like if changes continue as expected, and at what point the situation will become unsustainable. To get a better handle on the situation, though, dynamic modelling is quite do-able for most reasonable-sized organizations. [BTW .. demographic changes are amongst the easiest to build confident forecasts, and rarely responsible for substantial, unanticipated impacts on firms]. Kim Hi Peter … It is the primary responsibility of top management to prepare for challenges that could arise, to look for signs that it might be coming towards them, and take anticipatory action - or at least hold back on action that could get them into trouble. These cases all trace back to the feeding frenzy of irresponsible lending to the sub-prime mortgage sector - i.e. lending money to people many of whom probably couldn’t repay it. Not all the big investment banks messed up so badly on this issue, and didn’t have to make such huge write-offs. So some people were being smart enough. The annoying issue for the rest of us is the much, much wider trouble the less-smart ones have caused.
Cycles like this happen in many sectors - the insurance industry sees them regularly. The UK commercial property sector is just tipping right now into over-supply and falling yields. I was working with a law firm last summer who were throwing every lawyer they could get onto property-related deals and asked them the simple questions “How long will this boom go on, when might conditions come together to cause its reverse, what impact would this have on your business, and what would you do about it?” They found it pretty easy to moderate their hiring plans and turn attention to alternative services that might be in increasing demand as the situation changed.
It doesn’t need especially sophisticated tools to deal with this kind of question, just the ability to ask what the future will look like if changes continue as expected, and at what point the situation will become unsustainable. To get a better handle on the situation, though, dynamic modelling is quite do-able for most reasonable-sized organizations. [BTW .. demographic changes are amongst the easiest to build confident forecasts, and rarely responsible for substantial, unanticipated impacts on firms].
Kim

]]> Comment on Strategic incompetence continued by Peter Jung http://www.kimwarren.com/2008/01/strategic-incompetence-continued/#comment-19 Peter Jung Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:41:49 +0000 http://www.kimwarrenbooks.com/archives/61#comment-19 Dear Mr. Warren, I am puzzled by your remarks. How can you be so sure that the losses of, say, Merrill Lynch is caused by mismanagement? Put differently, are your management tools capable of accounting for external factors like changing demographics, misvaluation of mortgage bonds, etc.? And if so, do you think that the foresight of the dynamics of these factors is or shold be responsibility of the management? Yours sincerely, Peter Dear Mr. Warren,

I am puzzled by your remarks. How can you be so sure that the losses of, say, Merrill Lynch is caused by mismanagement? Put differently, are your management tools capable of accounting for external factors like changing demographics, misvaluation of mortgage bonds, etc.? And if so, do you think that the foresight of the dynamics of these factors is or shold be responsibility of the management?

Yours sincerely,
Peter

]]> Comment on Videos of the book launch at London Business School by Suresh http://www.kimwarren.com/2007/12/videos-of-the-book-launch-at-london-business-school/#comment-7 Suresh Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:20:11 +0000 http://www.kimwarrenbooks.com/archives/42#comment-7 Congratulations Kim on a great new book! Look out 2008, here comes Strategy Dynamics! Congratulations Kim on a great new book!

Look out 2008, here comes Strategy Dynamics!

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