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8 Tips for Better Strategic Planning in the Smaller Company by Robert Bradford (September, 2006)

A Culture of Discipline -- Building Toward Great by Thomas Ambler (February, 2007)

A Culture of Leadership by Barry Wolfson (July, 2003)

A Reassessment after Hurricane Katrina by Joseph G. Carson (October, 2005)

A Strategic Action Plan for Recession Resistant Marketing by Glenn Ebersole (February, 2007)

Action, Not Reaction by Curt McCaskill (November, 2004)

Actoras CEO, Darlene Pinkowski, and Managing Partner, John Frank (Interview) (April, 2000)

Addressing the Challenge of China's Labor Cost Advantages by Dana Baldwin (July, 2005)

After China by Peter Duncan (February, 2005)

Aligning Departments with your Strategy by Robert Bradford (November, 2002)

• A look at various departments within a company and how their actions can help or hinder your strategic planning efforts. And some steps you can take to optimize the alignment between your departments and your strategy.

Aligning Strategy and Finance by Tom Ambler (May, 2003)

• "Can Finance contribute solid input to the development of strategy?" and "Can Finance be a major force in the execution of strategy?"

Aligning Strategy with Operations by Stephen Rutan (February, 2004)

Apex Technical School (September, 2003)

Applied Education Systems CEO, Jim Schultz (Interview) (October, 1999)

Are You Ready for the Challenge of Strategic Planning? by Stephen Rutan (October, 2007)

Attracting and Retaining the Best Employees by Robert Bradford (July, 2000)

• Create a real strength in attracting and retaining the best workers in your industry, and you will have a competitive advantage that few can match.

Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy (Book Review) (January, 2001)

Breaking the Constraints to World-Class Performance (Book Review) by Paul Minton (January, 2000)

Building Advantage via Proprietary Positioning by Stephen Rutan (August, 2005)

Building and Sustaining Intellectual Assets by Tom Ambler (December, 2004)

Building Customer Loyalty by Shep Hyken (May, 2002)

• Knowing how to keep existing customers happy is key to a company's continued success. Studies have also proven that it is much more expensive to attract a new customer to a business than to keep an existing one.

Building Support for the Strategic Plan: Aligning Employees with Strategy by Robert Bradford (October, 2001)

• To transform your organization into the one you envision takes more than great strategy and implementation. You also need to make the strategy an integral part of the very fiber of your organization.

Can Low Inflation and Strong Growth Continue in the US? by Denise Harrison (January, 2000)

CEO Isolation by Gary Lockwood (February, 2002)

CheckCare (March, 2004)

Cisco Systems Capital (Interview) (April, 2001)

Coming in Out of the Rain by Denise Harrison (June, 2007)

Communicating Strategy - A Case Study of TDIndustries (April, 1999)

Communicating Your Strategic Plan with Employees by Robert Bradford (November, 2003)

Communicating Your Strategic Plan With Employees by Robert Bradford (May, 2004)

Competing with a Low Cost Competitor by Dana Baldwin (June, 2007)

Competing with a Market Leader by Stephen Rutan (July, 2006)

Competing with China: Finding the Right Customers by Stephen Rutan (January, 2005)

Conestoga Enterprises (Interview) (October, 2000)

Control Your Destiny or Someone Else Will (Book Review) by Thomas Ambler (January, 1999)

Corporate Boards by Roger Kenny (January, 2001)

Corporate Boards by Roger Kenny (December, 2003)

Creating an Environment for Innovation by Dana Baldwin (September, 2002)

• The critical elements for an effective innovation process. Setting an atmosphere in which effective innovation becomes an ongoing part of your long term strategic planning is just the first step.

Customer Loyalty -- Is it Your Company's Priority? by Dana Baldwin (November, 2007)

Dealing with a Low Cost Competitor by Dana Baldwin (March, 2007)

Dealing with Powerful Customers by Robert Bradford (October, 1998)

• How can you deal with customers that demand benefits that are typical of a specialty product - high value added, high levels of customer support, service, quality, added features, etc. - while also demanding the lowest price?

Developing Your Verbal Logo by Gary Lockwood (May, 2005)

Disney Mobile - Is This Strategic Focus? by Robert Bradford (December, 2006)

Don't Disrespect the Tulip by Denise Harrison (October, 2001)

Don't Follow the Leader- A Different Path to Success by Peter Duncan (March, 2002)

• Too often companies look at other firms in their industry and seek to be "just like them, only better". This is a common pitfall that traps many companies into mediocrity as they charge head on into competitors' strengths.

Eating The Big Fish: How Challenger Brands Can Compete Against Brand Leaders (Book Review) by Peter Duncan (July, 2001)

Economic Commentary by Robert Bradford (April, 1998)

Economic Commentary by Robert Bradford (July, 1998)

Economic Commentary by Denise Harrison (October, 2002)

Edgewater Bank (January, 2006)

Edsel Award for October 2001 - Web Van by Paul Minton (October, 2001)

• Bad execution and a flawed strategy torched a billion dollars and failed to deliver on an interesting concept that had a lot going for it and might have been a winner.

Emerging Trends as the Economy Turns the Corner by Denise Harrison (April, 2002)

ESOPs - Unlocking the Value of your Business by Joe Marx (December, 2002)

Excellence in Strategic Management Teams by Thomas Ambler (August, 2006)

Execution - Why Good Plans Can Fail by Dana Baldwin (December, 2006)

Execution and Executability by Robert Bradford (January, 2007)

Executives Must Acknowledge the Importance of Trust by Stephen Dent (December, 2003)

Export Now! Four great reasons to join the Global Marketplace by Stephen Rutan (April, 2008)

Fixing Your Balanced Scorecard by Robert Bradford (May, 2008)

Flight of the Buffalo (Book Review) by Dana Baldwin (October, 1999)

Focus by Dana Baldwin (March, 2006)

Four Keys to a Turnaround by Stephen Rutan (January, 2007)

Freakonomics (Book Review) by Robert Bradford (November, 2005)

Free, Perfect, and Now (Book Review) by Dana Baldwin (October, 2000)

Global Ties Buoy International Trade by Denise Harrison (July, 2002)

Goldratt's Theory of Constraints (Book Review) by Paul Minton (January, 2000)

Good Business by Tom Ambler (April, 2004)

Good Input - The Foundation of Good Strategy by Chuck Bradford (July, 1998)

• Missing or faulty information leads to faulty decisions, unnecessary handicaps, unattainable expectations or (worst of all) strategic misdirection. Learn how to optimally manage input.

Good to Great (Book Review) by Robert Bradford (July, 2002)

Got Referrals? by Gary Lockwood (August, 2002)

Great Strategic Thinking -- Ten Essentials by Glenn Ebersole (December, 2007)

Growth & Prosperity: Productivity & Demographic Factors by Denise Harrison (October, 1999)

Hard Land, Soft Landing - What will the impact be on the rest of the world? by Denise Harrison (April, 2001)

How Do YOU Treat Your Best Customers? by Paul Minton (January, 2002)

• When you think of your best customers, how do you define 'best'? Do you treat them better than you do other customers? Do you generate more profit from them than you do from others?

How Hits Happen (Book Review) by Robert Bradford (July, 1999)

How is the 'Flat World' affecting your business? by Dana Baldwin (August, 2006)

• A recent book, The World is Flat - A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman, published by Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2005, raises some critical questions for many businesses, small and large. Dana Baldwin explains...

If you can't Beat 'em Join 'em. Working with/in China by Denise Harrison (October, 2005)

IMPAX (February, 2003)

Implementation Advantage by Robert Bradford (April, 2006)

Inline Plastics Corp. (December, 2004)

Innovation - Leadership Strategies for the Competitive Edge by Tom Ambler (April, 2003)

Innovation -- Where to Look for It by Denise Harrison (January, 2004)

Innovation and Execution -- A Critical Strategic Balance by Tom Ambler (January, 2008)

Innovation for the Rest of Us by Stephen Rutan (November, 2005)

Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth by Denise Harrison (June, 2004)

Integrating Culture with Your Strategy by Coolican Coolican and Jeannette Jackson (July, 1999)

• Few other aspects of your business have the capacity to increase employee productivity, streamline your work processes, and grow revenues in ways that are as powerful and predictable as your corporate culture.

Interview with Bob Theune, president of Dunbarton Corporation (June, 2005)

Irwin Seating Company by Win Irwin (March, 2002)

Is Your Marketing Working for You? by Dana Baldwin (June, 2008)

It's Simple- Focus for Profit by Peter Duncan (July, 2004)

It's True - Lead and They Will Follow by Barry Wolfson (June, 2002)

• What it takes to be a leader, how strong leadership can help companies achieve the goals in their strategic planning process and how leadership can be learned.

Jump Start Your Network with People You Already Know by Julie Chance (August, 2005)

Jump Starting Good Opportunity Ideas by Thomas Ambler (November, 2006)

Know Thyself - Culture in Strategic Management by Thomas Ambler (December, 2005)

Kodak's Big Bet: 'To Be or Not To Be' by Thomas Ambler (May, 2007)

Leading at the Speed of Growth (Book Review) by Dana Baldwin (January, 2002)

Leading Successful, Sustainable Change by John Covington (September, 2005)

Lean Thinking (Book Review) by Charles Bradford (April, 1999)

Leaping Into 2004 by Drew Neisser (May, 2004)

Lessons for the Hedgehog by Stephen Rutan (April, 2007)

Lessons Learned in Aligning an Organization: Two Way Communication is Key by Denise Harrison (August, 2004)

Letting Go by Gary Lockwood (July, 2001)

Making Meetings Matter by Tom Stevens (September, 2004)

Managers and Change: An Oxymoron? by John Frank (August, 2003)

March to a Different Drummer by Denise Harrison (August, 2002)

• Choosing the best road for your company may or may not be the road less traveled, but it will be the right road for your company. You simply must capitalize on your unique mix of resources, capabilities and competencies.

Market Research An Update on Sources and Techniques for Your Strategic Planning Efforts by Stephen Rutan (January, 2001)

• An informative introduction to both the "cheap and cheerful" approach to industry and competitive research as well as the more expensive attacks (in terms of both time and money).

Market Segmentation -- Starting with the Basics by Dana Baldwin (June, 2006)

Marketing as Strategy by Dana Baldwin (May, 2005)

Marketing: A Key to Long Term Success by Dana Baldwin (February, 2002)

• A selection of ideas that can help you understand your customers' needs and preferences. The goal is to build your image so that when your customers need your products or services, you are the first one that comes to mind.

Measuring Innovation by Tom Ambler (December, 2002)

• Innovation can "just happen" serendipitously, but don't count on it. What a company can do to make innovation a part of its daily activity as well as its long-term strategic planning.

Mentoring--Art or Science? by Dana Baldwin (March, 2008)

Mining Your Unexploited Value - Part I by Thomas Ambler (April, 2005)

Mining Your Unexploited Value - Part II by Thomas Ambler (May, 2005)

Mission and Values in Your Value Proposition by Thomas Ambler (November, 2007)

Now, Discover Your Strengths by Steve Rutan (January, 2004)

Online Competitive Intelligence (Book Review) by Stephen Rutan (April, 2001)

Opportunities Abroad, Challenges with the Economy by Denise Harrison (July, 2000)

Order Through Chaos by Lawrence Wharton (August, 2004)

Outsourcing: Menace or Gold Mine? by Robert Bradford (October, 2004)

PaL-Tec (Interview) (October, 2001)

Passion for Performance by Stephen Rutan (October, 2006)

Permission Marketing (Book Review) by Stephen Rutan (April, 2000)

Planning is Dead? Long Live Planning! by Peter Duncan (April, 2001)

Positioning - Managing Your Market Identity by Charles Bradford (April, 2000)

• 1) Take the time to establish a desired market identity based upon customers values, 2) develop true alignment with that identity, and 3) communicate your commitment and successes to the market.

Precarious Positioning - Learn from Vonage by Thomas Ambler (September, 2006)

Preventing Strategic Gridlock by Dana Baldwin (November, 2004)

Put Yourself out of Business by Peter Duncan (October, 2002)

• Innovation is the lifeblood of any organization. Without it, companies stagnate and fail. A look at innovation and the places it can be used in a strategy process to breathe new vitality into your organization.

Re-thinking the SWOT Analysis by Robert Bradford (April, 2008)

Recession! Recovery? Risks and Uncertainty by Denise Harrison (April, 2003)

Reflect on Success and Failure for Better Strategic Planning by Robert Bradford (July, 2007)

Seven Strategic Actions To Deal With Change And Uncertainty In Business And Life by Glenn Ebersole (May, 2007)

Should Your Organization be Ambidextrous? by Stephen Rutan (July, 2007)

Storm Clouds Looming? by Denise Harrison (January, 1999)

Strategic Issues: The Pivotal Process for Strategic Success by Thomas Ambler (July, 1999)

Strategic Management: 3 Steps to the Cycle of Success by Stephen Rutan (January, 1999)

Strategic Planning for the Time-Challenged by Howard Muson (June, 2005)

Strategic Planning Lessons from Going Green by Robert Bradford (February, 2008)

Strategic Planning Made Simple by Peter Duncan (April, 1998)

Strategic Planning without a Battle by Peter Duncan (September, 2003)

• Business families will reduce the potential for conflict and get better results if they use this five-step process to ensure that they're viewing the issues from a common perspective.

Strategic Planning: Sometimes a Road Less Traveled is Best by Denise Harrison (December, 2003)

Strategic Planning: Sometimes a Road Less Traveled is Best by Denise Harrison (July, 2006)

Strategic Thinking - A Wise Business Investment by Glenn Ebersole (August, 2007)

Strategies and Processes for a Changing Economy by Dana Baldwin (July, 2001)

• Think through your response to the situation, and proceed with a logical analysis, and a well thought-out response that will allow your company to survive any downturn, and to prevail in the coming resurgence.

Strategy Bits by Denise Harrison (June, 2004)

Strategy Lessons - This Time It's Personal! by Stephen Rutan (August, 2004)

Strengths and Weaknesses by Dana Baldwin (January, 2006)

Succession Planning--Ten Critical Mistakes to Avoid by Glenn Ebersole (February, 2008)

Support Strategy with Commitments by Robert Bradford (October, 1999)

• Strategy is more than just good ideas. You actually have to do something in order to bring about some results. At some point you must translate your nice words on paper into tangible things that you can do.

Tales from the Strategy Vault by Thomas Ambler (August, 2005)

Tales from the Strategy Vault by Stephen Rutan (January, 2006)

Tapemark President, Bob Klas, Jr., and CEO, Jim Burmeister (Interview) (April, 1999)

Terrorist Attacks: The Aftermath by Denise Harrison (January, 2002)

The Alphabet Soup Economy - Irrational Pessimism? by Barry Wolfson (July, 2001)

The Balanced Scorecard (Book Review) by Stephen Rutan (April, 1998)

The Big Picture by Bobette Kyle (June, 2002)

The Easy way to Innovate is - the Hard way! by Robert Bradford (April, 2003)

• The types of innovation that work strategically - and why. Learn how to select innovation projects that will truly set you apart from your competitors and create sustainable strategic competencies.

The Economy Starts to Work Harder by Robert Bradford (January, 2004)

The Experience Economy (Book Review) by Tom Ambler (October, 2001)

The HP Way (Book Review) by Paul Minton (July, 1998)

The Interrupted Recovery by Robert Bradford (July, 2003)

The Interrupted Recovery, Redux by Robert Bradford (October, 2003)

The New Economy: What Is It? by Denise Harrison (April, 2000)

The New Economy: What is it? How will it impact my business? by Denise Harrison (January, 2001)

• The New Economy - another buzzword! What does it mean? How big is it? What types of businesses are included in this sector of the economy? What to do about it?

The Power of ''Both...And'' Thinking by Thomas Ambler (February, 2006)

The Power of Collaborative Leadership (Book Review) by Paul Minton (October, 2002)

The Profit Zone: How Strategic Business Design Will Lead You to Tomorrow's Profits by Dana Baldwin (July, 2003)

The Pursuit of Good Business by Tom Ambler (October, 2003)

• How's your business? Good? What do we mean when we say 'Business is Good'? Let's consider some possible meanings...

The Secret to Selling More (Book Review) by Peter Duncan (April, 2002)

The Strategic Value of Values by Tom Ambler (April, 2002)

• Values have Strategic Value far too great to permit them to drift along in the background. Force them to the forefront, establish them and commit the energy and resources to keep them there.

The Strategies of the Innovation Process by Dana Baldwin (June, 2003)

• How to effectivedly and efficiently deal with innovation in the strategic planning process."

The Strategy Machine by Denise Harrison (July, 2004)

The Strategy of Succession Planning by Dana Baldwin (January, 2000)

• Succession planning is planning should be a part of every company's Strategic Plan - your vision of where the company will be going in the future.

The Success Zone: Aligning Your Business Model and Risk Profile by Stephen Rutan (July, 2002)

• A realistic evaluation of your organization's personality and risk orientation and a corresponding alignment of your business model will improve your chances of success.

Time is Money--So get More Money by using Less Time! by Robert Bradford (April, 2007)

To Be Successful Sell to Wants - Not Needs by Julie Chance (February, 2005)

Translating Vision Into Action: 8 Steps to Communicate Your Strategy by Paul Minton (April, 1999)

• Your people can only deliver good strategic results if you ensure that they align their actions with your strategy. You will make a major leap toward strategic success by following these eight steps to communicate your strategy.

Troubled Times Call for Discipline by Stephen Rutan (February, 2003)

• Generate a solid financial performance in slow economic times: 1) continue to create innovative products; 2) maintain a low cost structure that enables low prices; 3) connect more closely with your customer!

Turbulent Times: The Global Economy by Denise Harrison (July, 1999)

Turn Your Threats into Opportunities by Denise Harrison (February, 2006)

Turn Your Threats into Opportunities by Denise Harrison (October, 2006)

Understanding the Competitive Value of your Brand by Robert Bradford (September, 2005)

Understanding Your Value-creation Advantage by Robert Bradford (March, 2005)

unleashing the Killer App (Book Review) by Thomas Ambler (July, 2000)

US Slow-down; International Recovery by Denise Harrison (October, 2000)

Value Migration (Book Review) by Denise Harrison (October, 1998)

WD-40 Finds Growth for 50 year-old Product by Denise Harrison (January, 2008)

Weathering Uneven Economic Growth by Denise Harrison (April, 1999)

West-Tec Industries by Robert Weskamp (September, 2002)

What Does Your Company Mean? by Robert Bradford (May, 2002)

• Peter Drucker said it best: "The customer rarely thinks he is buying what you think you are selling". You are all wrapped up in your company while your customer is all wrapped up in his life. So what does your company mean?

What is the Key to Your Business Success? by Stephen Rutan (August, 2006)

What Makes a Dynamic Leader? Fearlessness! by Larraine Segil (May, 2003)

What Makes Your Business Tick? A Simple Strategy for Economic Success. by Peter Duncan (March, 2003)

• When the strategy is simple and clear, the company leaders can deliver and reinforce the message in a passing hallway conversation, dozens of times each day.

When Is It Strategic to Say No to New Business? by Denise Harrison (September, 2007)

When Strategies Go Bad by Dana Baldwin (April, 2004)

Whither the Economy in 2004? by Robert Bradford (April, 2004)

Who are the Experts? by Dana Baldwin (September, 2004)

Who Are You? Win with Stories by Thomas Ambler (September, 2007)

Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? by Peter Duncan (October, 2003)

Who Should We Acquire? by Denise Harrison (June, 2008)

Who will win: Dot-coms or Not-coms? by Paul Minton (October, 2000)

• The biggest advantages of existing businesses are their customer relationships and knowledge of their markets. They should focus on continuing to provide value in their existing market segments while leveraging new technology.

Why US Automaking Is Here To Stay by Robert Bradford (March, 2006)

Winning Companies Focus on Winning Customers by Denise Harrison (March, 2007)

Winning the High Way -- Organizational Success by the Golden Rule by Tom Ambler (March, 2004)

Wisdom - Best Practices by Thomas Ambler (April, 2006)

Would You Know a Leader If You Saw One? by Tom Stevens (March, 2005)

You are #1 in your Core Markets - Now, How Do You Grow? by Denise Harrison (May, 2006)

You Have Successfully Outsourced by Denise Harrison (November, 2004)

Your Strategic Tool Kit by Glenn Ebersole (May, 2008)