Spurring Government Bureaucracy to Action
Summary: Finding a way to reach people at the top levels of a government bureaucracy requires time and planning, and is one of the most important roles for a CEO. Eric McAfee, CEO of AE Biofuels, had been waiting for more than a year for his business to get funding from a grant program until he launched a three-step campaign that eventually pushed bureaucracy into action. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Executive Education | Strategy & Planning
Cross-Linking Supply Chains & Establishing New Value Allocations
Summary: We CEOs tend to look at our suppliers on one hand and our customers on the other. What if there were no suppliers or customers yet...if the supply chain hasn't been formed? Read how one Alliance member is building a new supply chain by cross-linking three existing supply chains! ...Read More
Forum Categories: Operations | Strategy & Planning
Summary: Read how CEOs are viewing certain indicators for signs of improvement in the economy in preparation for their acceleration strategy. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Operations | Strategy & Planning
Summary: CEOs are facing the growing presence of government involvement in their day-to-day business lives, particularly the financial industry and real estate business. Read what certain CEOs have to say about how they are dealing with the positives and negatives of government programs. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Strategy & Planning
Out of the Industry Innovation
Summary: One way to innovate is to observe practices in other industries and adopt those that will be powerful and new to your industry. This article discusses two examples of this, and how you can innovate in this fashion. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Strategy & Planning
Protecting Liquidity: Smart Strategies for Tough Times
Summary: In today's market, liquidity issues are a serious risk to companies in every industry sector. Read about how to anticipate problems and devise solutions before liquidity issues come to a state of crisis. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Leadership | Strategy & Planning
Summary: Alliance Founder, Paul Witkay discusses the current mood of CEOs. This article urges CEOs to start thinking long-term again and focus on leading their organizations toward compelling visions for the future. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Leadership | Strategy & Planning
Summary: In a dismal economy, Alliance members find ways to move forward. One company secures a financial "safety net," while another looks outside of their traditional areas of growth to form a new business, some diversify their services while others focus on customer service to help their clients stay in business or gain market share against weaker competitors. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Leadership | Marketing | Strategy & Planning
Attracting and Retaining the Optimal Team
Summary: This article discusses a long-term workplace differentiation strategy that will enable you to attract and retain top talent, even in the talent shortage that challenges us all in every economic growth cycle. An ideal time to start is a year or more before the talent pool shrinks. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Human Resources | Leadership | Strategy & Planning
Summary: Alliance CEO members weigh in on their strategies for riding out these tough economic times in preparation for an upswing. One CEO looks at his pricing as he knows customers will be shopping around; another focuses on customer satisfaction and long-term goodwill. An increase in sales and marketing budgets is discussed, along with taking advantage of bringing top talent on board that have been let go from their companies. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Strategy & Planning
When and How to Develop Strategic Partnerships that Work…and Avoid Wasting Time on Those that Don't
Today more than ever, successful companies are employing strategic partnerships to gain competitive advantage. These vehicles can help companies expand their capabilities and market share at a much greater pace than going it alone. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Strategy & Planning
When a Pricing Haircut Hits Hard
Summary: It was known that a major client contract renewal would come with a significantly reduced price, but it was lower than anticipated. Efforts that were started years earlier to replace the top line declines had not produced results. As EBITDA dropped, the leveraged firm broke loan covenants and investors stepped in to buy time. Over the next two years the firm focused on its core, reducing expenses and increasing sales, and is poised to set new highs. Read about how it all unfolded. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Finance | Strategy & Planning
A Message to Alliance Members from Paul Witkay
By Paul Witkay As head of the Alliance of Chief Executives, I have the opportunity to speak with CEOs in virtually every sector of the economy and learn what they are experiencing. The implicit understanding among Alliance members has always been that in exchange for your willingness to share your knowledge and experience, you gain access to the extraordinary collective wisdom of the entire community of CEOs. I believe that during volatile times, it is even more critical to share our experiences, knowledge and ideas with each other. Here are my recommendations as to how to best use the unique resources within the Alliance community of CEOs: ...Read More
Forum Categories: Strategy & Planning
Summary: Run any business for long enough and you’ll go through a down cycle. This article identifies some practical tips on preparing your business for hard times, and surviving them when they come. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Finance | Strategy & Planning
Five Mistakes CFOs Need to Avoid in a Volatile Economy
Below is an article by Tatum LLC on the “Five Mistakes CFOs Need to Avoid in a Volatile Economy.” These recommendations certainly apply to CEOs as well. The Alliance is committed to helping our members to be open and candid about how they are addressing the current market situation so that our CEOs can learn from each other and help each other make better and faster decisions about the right courses of action for their individual situations. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Finance | Strategy & Planning
Summary: Partnerships between two firms are often difficult to manage and often fail to bring results. This essay digs into one of the more extreme partnerships—those between life sciences firms, where even in the best of cases, fruits of the partnership can take 5-15 years, where development failures are common, and where large amounts of money must change hands. Lessons learned are enumerated and are valuable not just for life sciences firms, but for companies thinking about partnerships in all industries. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Strategy & Planning
Keeping Your Team Focused on your Value-Creation Strategy
Summary: A high growth CEO builds value by being first to the market with hot new products and technologies. But that means moving faster than is comfortable for all his teams as his organization grows. The case talks about minimizing risk on new product introductions and managing the teams that must do the work. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Human Resources | Leadership | Strategy & Planning
Summary: Among many of today’s CEOs, there is growing uncertainty with the economy. Stocks are struggling, while gas prices and the U.S. home foreclosure rates are going through the roof. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Strategy & Planning
Choosing Relationships over Meteoric Growth
Summary: Two female business partners are offered a huge piece of business by a key client. Although initially excited, they think long and hard about the pros and cons of saying yes. Read how the decision went and what they ultimately decided. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Entrepreneurship | Strategy & Planning
Creating and Owning a Category
Summary: This CEO has a system for finding new market categories and taking commanding market share leadership. He's done it over and over again, and he tells us how in this essay. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Entrepreneurship | Leadership | Strategy & Planning
Leaping Ahead: Courage or Discipline?
Summary: Read how taking leaps with your business can pay huge dividends. By having the courage and discipline to put innovative business ideas into action, the owner gained huge competitive advantages. The concept is laid out, as well as important steps to get started. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Leadership | Strategy & Planning
Summary: Thriving business gets customer requests to jump into a new business. After resisting, they go for it with excellent success. When is it wise to start another business? ...Read More
Forum Categories: Entrepreneurship | Leadership | Strategy & Planning
A Branding Lesson: The Four Cornerstones
Summary: Branding is about creating relationships. By building multiple relationships with a client, the CEO discovered new opportunities to grow his business. Four ideals behind successful branding are explained. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Marketing | Strategy & Planning
Synchronizing Brand Image with Deliverables
Summary: Successful companies do not survive on brand alone. A CEO comes into a struggling company and rebuilds its brand by rebuilding the value proposition, and then delivers. The importance of building and maintaining brand is examined. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Marketing | Strategy & Planning
Summary: A feature-rich product is designed, but after months of development work, it is discovered that it cannot be built. Key features are dropped so that it can finally go into production. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Leadership | Operations | Strategy & Planning
Identifying New Business Ideas Take Discipline
Summary: Great business ideas don’t happen by accident. The CEO and his business partner spent months brainstorming, creating, and dismissing many ideas before connecting with one. The process of generating great ideas is explained. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Strategy & Planning
From Service to Process to Product
Summary: Sometimes we sell more than a product or service. By learning his clients’ businesses and modifying his own company’s offerings, the CEO creates more value for everybody. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Marketing | Sales | Strategy & Planning
Summary: Planning for succession is a difficult topic, but an essential one. Clarifying the line between dependency and leadership is critical, and much of the work of succession is reducing dependency on the CEO. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Exiting | Leadership | Strategy & Planning
Betting on His Core Competency
Summary: Keeping its area of core competency strong is just what Sensory Inc. did, and sales have more than tripled as a result. Every company must pay rapt attention to how and when it invests in its core competency. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Strategy & Planning
Sharing the Dream of Success Brings Top Talent for Less
Summary: Engineer turned entrepreneur bootstraps his company, but can’t afford the talent he needs. Through careful sharing of equity, he builds a great team who bring results amazingly fast. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Human Resources | Strategy & Planning
Summary: Great business ideas are often borne by finding the mainstream’s interest in little-known products and services and making them more popular. Serial entrepreneur Rob Wrubel has a track record of doing just that, although it didn’t happen overnight. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Strategy & Planning
Sailing Beyond the Small Business Mindset
Summary: A small business struggles along staying small for many years. Its owners grow tired of the struggle and recommit to building a bigger and healthier business. Key signs of being stuck in the small business mindset are identified, and steps that can be taken to get your business to the next level. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Entrepreneurship | Strategy & Planning
Summary: Tom Engdahl is the pain doctor of business. He looks for pain in an industry then develops the cure. He’s done it over and over again, each time with a business success and a liquidation event. ...Read More
Forum Categories: Entrepreneurship | Strategy & Planning
It’s No Longer Product vs. Service
Summary: A software developer is confident that he understands making products and selling them over and over again. But when customers ask him to start a new business -- providing a service of paperwork processing for clients, he hesitates because it’s a service. Can this product-driven firm succeed in low-tech services? ...Read More
Forum Categories: Strategy & Planning
"I can't imagine being a CEO without having the Alliance as part of my CEO tool kit."
John Rule, CEOApplied Aerospace StructuresAlliance Member since 2000
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