Article

What’s Your Recession Playbook?

Recently a client asked Blue Canyon, “There is a lot of uncertainty right now – we’ve…

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Price Conflict Strategic Account Relationships

Is Price Conflict Disrupting Your Strategic Account Relationships?

Imagine that your company has put in place a bold new plan for growth. The plan…

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China's Competitive Environment

China’s Future Competitive Environment

‘No Time for Losers’—Is Samsung a precedent? Note: This article is part three of a three…

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How to Develop an Effective B2B Brand Strategy

Effective brand strategy is critical for business success. Companies in the B2C world make this abundantly…

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Growth Choices

Growth Choices: Which Business Units Offer the Greatest Potential?

The lyrics to The Gambler focus on choices: “Know when to hold ’em, know when to…

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Performance Standards

Houston We’ve Got a Problem

The phrase used as the title to this article, taken from the communication by the crew…

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Checklist

Simple Answers and Hard Tasks

Former President Ronald Reagan once said, “There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers.”…

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Why?

Newton Was the One Who Asked 'Why?'

I recently had the opportunity to work with a client that had decided to implement a…

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Customer Input

If I Were You…

In the new television series Touch, the main character Martin Bohm advises another “I wouldn’t do…

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Competition

How to Crush the Competition with Customer Service

Price and product quality can only go so far. Value-added services can help manufacturers differentiate themselves…

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Misjudged Growth Initiative

Sometimes, What You See Is NOT What You Get

In an earlier article on the challenges of managing changes to a firm’s business model, I…

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China's Global 500 List

Thinking About China’s Global 500

How China has combined socialism and market forces is seen vividly in the Global 500 list….

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Pay Attention to Premarket

Pay Attention to Your Premarket

A number of years ago, I worked with an automotive parts manufacturer, in the division that…

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Are Surprises Foolish Things?

I recently had an appointment with a physician who had also been a friend for some…

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Planning Change and Leading Change

A senior human resources executive in a large manufacturing firm recently made the following comment at…

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Growth Planning Targets

Three Essential Growth-Planning Targets for 2013

Make sure your customer is the right ‘fit’ and look beyond mature markets to boost sales…

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Manufacturing's Future in the US

Manufacturing’s Future in the US

The U.S. is still a market of consequence for the world’s manufacturing companies. What remains uncertain…

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China

China Takes on the Global 500

Fortune just released the list of the 500 largest firms in the world.[1] To us the…

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Globalization

You Thought Globalization Was Hard? It’s Getting Harder.

In an earlier research project on the challenges of making changes to a firm’s business model,…

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Leadership Challenge Being Customer-Facing

The Leadership Challenge in Becoming Customer-Facing

The April 26, 2012 issue of Industry Week featured an article titled New Celanese Chief Pushes…

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Challenges Surrounding Products with Services

The Challenges of Surrounding Products with Services

Recently, I had the opportunity to work with a manufacturing client that was part of a…

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Dashboards

Taking Dashboards out of Wonderland

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just…

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China Future Market Second Mouse Companies

The Future Market For Second Mouse Companies

Will Chinese companies begin to evolve and be more like its Western competitors? Note: This article…

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Every Road Will Get You Nowhere

In the past several years, second only to a renewed focus on emerging markets, “developing a…

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Posing Provocative Questions

Bono, U2’s lead vocalist, once observed “We thought that we had the answers, it was the…

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Ten Key Roles of a B2B Corporate Marketing Function

Several months ago a senior marketing executive from a global business-to-business corporation shared the following experience:…

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There Is Money to Be Made in Mice

In a recent meeting with one of the partners in a venture capital firm, he cited…

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Earning a Return on Your “Relationship Fund”

The case study that follows started off a number of years ago with a quite troubling…

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Finding Growth Opportunities During Lackluster Times

Whether or not businesses anticipate lackluster earnings results during the first half of the year, the…

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The Sales You Didn’t Make

Bill Gates once said “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”.  In that…

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