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Strategy in uncertainty -- six ways to plan in turbulent times

  
  
  
  

Research in Motion (RIM) has a new CEO today.  Imagine the list of strategic challenges confronting Thorsten Heins.  Not only is his company in near free-fall, but his industry is moving at warp speed.  How can leaders plan strategy in such uncertainty?

Looking across strategic planning efforts, we can identfy six lessons for how to approach the task.  The key is to break from traditional approaches to strategizing and embrace a process suited to uncertain and typically contentious environments.  Read more in my piece for Harvard Business Review.

Stephen Wunker is the Managing Director of New Markets Advisors and author of Capturing New Markets: How Smart Companies Create Opportunities Others Don't (McGraw-Hill, 2011).

Four lessons from Samsung's massive bet

  
  
  
  

Samsung's plan to invest $41 billion -- this year -- is a bold but well-calculated strategic move. In industries with high fixed costs, beware the free-spending titan; it will happily up-end the
economics of would-be competitors.  A big reason the company can confidently make this
investment is because of its forward integration from electrical components into devices.  It can create markets to consume the output from its big bets on new plants and R&D.  Read more in my piece for Forbes.

Stephen Wunker is Managing Director of New Markets Advisors and author of Capturing New Markets: How Smart Companies Create Opportunities Others Don't.

Foothold markets -- starting in unlikely places

  
  
  
  

The Bajaj RE60 is a sinfully ugly car with a one-cylinder engine, simple engineering, and a lousy name.  It's also a brilliant illustration of how to target new markets.  India's Bajaj has chosen to
pioneer the ultra low-end car market by laser targeting an interesting audience -- rickshaw
drivers.  Read more about the compelling logic of this foothold market strategy in my piece for Forbes. 

Stephen Wunker is the Managing Director of New Markets Advisors and the author of Capturing New Markets: How Smart Companies Create Opportunities Others Don't.

 

 

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