Active Waiting

Question 1

5 key principles

Answer 1

1. keep vision fuzzy and priorities clear.
   - establish direction and hopes without locking company into specific course of action. ST and MT priorities.
2. probe the future
   - environmental scans, investments in potential markets, experiments.
3. Maintain war chest
   - reserve of cash to be deployed for opportunities and hedge against threats.
4. Keep pressure on
   - continue making operational improvements & efficiency.
5. Declare ‘main effort’
   - when you encounter a threat/opportunity that demands entire effort, declare it so for a period of time. Urgency, focus and prioritize.

Question 2

Why adopt ‘active waiting’?`

Answer 2

executives think they can gaze into the future and develop long term strategies. This is unrealistic in volatile markets.

unpredictability - ‘fog of the future’

Question 3

golden opportunities

Answer 3

infrequent occasions when a firm can create significant value disproportionate to the resources invested in a short period of time. They are rare, pass quickly and emerge due to exogenous factors. Occur hen many windows of opportunities open simultaneously.

influencing factors;

• technology evolution
• customers evolving needs
• rivals’ priorities

Question 4

what is active waiting

Answer 4

as golden opportunities cannot be predicted or manufactured, companies can only prepare themselves for them whilst weathering themselves from sudden death threats.

Question 5

sudden death threats

Answer 5

major environmental shocks that can put a company out of business in relatively short order.

Question 6

examples

Answer 6

e. g. TripAdvisor
- focus on reviews
- waiting for golden opportunity
- entered metasearch functionality

Question 7

analysis

Answer 7

Shares some concepts with Beinhocker’s origin of strategies. Such as probing the environment.