Editor’s letter

Citation

Randall, R.M. (2008), "Editor’s letter", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 36 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/sl.2008.26136aaa.001

Editor’s letter

This issue offers three core articles on how to battle enterprise threatening competitors – for example, from aggressive low-cost upstarts, rivals with game changing new business models and technological innovators. To plan your counter-offensive against low-cost and disruptive competitors you’ll want to consider the strategic approaches discussed in the three articles. Most firms, however, aren’t locked into a struggle with one or even two easily identifiable rivals; their competition is ubiquitous and constantly mutating. So we are offering three other articles that can help organizations strengthen themselves in preparation for competitive threats, both sudden and evolving.

How to respond strategically to low-cost rivals.The best way to avoid being blind-sided by a low-cost rival is to identify a serious potential rival early, adopt its mindset, anticipate its next competitive move and measure your costs against its costs, say Jim Morehouse, Bob O’Meara, Christian Hagen and Todd Huseby. These A.T. Kearney consultants show how to counterattack with both short-term tactics and long-term strategies.

How Taiwan’s bicycle industry cooperates to counter Chinese competition.This case describes how Taiwan’s bicycle industry adopted a promising strategy of co-innovation within an integrated supplier network when threatened by low-cost competition from China. Three experts on Asian manufacturing industries – Jonathan Brookfield, Ren-Jye Liu and John Paul MacDuffie – explain how this radical response to competition works in practice.

How newspapers are mounting a comeback against industry disruptors.As innovative business models – for example, the thriving Internet firm Craigslist – pose a serious competitive challenge to the newspaper industry, an imaginative response has emerged, says consultant John Sterling. He describes how a joint project of The American Press Institute and strategist Clayton Christensen’s Innosight consulting team offers a practical competitive counterattack plan, one that will inspire many industries threatened by disruptive innovation.

How to compete by developing the competency for business model innovation.To survive competition, some firms have to learn to make fundamental changes in their business model, while still running their business. For a guided tour of the reinvention process, Strategy & Leadership contributing editors Alistair Davidson and Brian Leavy interviewed Bain growth guru, Chris Zook, who has written a trilogy on sustaining competitive advantage by adapting the business core.

How great leaders resolve painful dilemmas.Competition often emerges from your blind side. You don’t see it coming because you are busy trying to ignore the dilemma that conceals it – for example, whether to run a business as a cash cow or to risk an investment in renewal. A critical task of leadership is recognizing, acknowledging and interpreting the enterprise’s core dilemmas in a timely and useful fashion, explains Alex Lowy, a noted management decision consultant. His five-step process for identifying and managing crucial dilemmas that obscure the path to future success is a valuable leadership education.

How to manage collaborative innovation throughout the extended enterprise.To compete via innovation, many high performing firms are collaborating beyond their organizations – with their extended networks of suppliers, customers, and business partners. This IBM Consulting framework for managing these alliances – the ABCs of collaborative innovation – offers CEOs a practical checklist for aligning the organization, managing its boundary issues and ensuring its commitment.

Good reading,

Robert M. Randall Editor