Strategic Thought Transformation - The IIPM Think Tank

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R I E S
STRATEGIC INSIGHT
Industrial Espionage
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The paper by Edward M. Roche talks about how Industrial Espionage is fast becoming a threat for multinational companies
across the world.
Paper extract: Industrial espionage is conducted for commercial purposes instead of the usual national security purposes. It is
conducted both by governments and by private organisations. At the most innocuous level, the term is applied to the legal and
mundane methods of examining corporate publications, web sites, patent filings, and the like to determine the activities of a
corporation (though this is normally referred to as business intelligence), through to bribery, blackmail, technological surveillance
and even occasional violence. As well as spying on commercial organisations, governments can also be targets of commercial
espionage.
Consumer Response to Promotional Schemes
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In this paper by Dr. Sadia S. Ali of Aligarh Muslim University, an analytical approach has been proposed to make a comparative
study of the schemes as well as to study the consumer response to some well-known schemes.
Paper extract: Sales of consumer items with some promotional scheme is a very common phenomenon now-a-days. This may
be regarded as an extension to the advertising campaign. The basic idea is to increase the sales by attracting new customers or
by increasing the number of items purchased by the existing customers. Studies corresponding to this aspect of advertising have
been made earlier also. In a book published in 19874, titled ‘Advertising’, the authors discussed this aspect. Recently, some new
books have appeared containing studies on advertising price-promotions.
Does the Quality of a Mutual Fund Manager’s Education Matter
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This research paper by Aron A. Gottesman is nothing but a compelling commentary on the qualities needed in a mutual fund
manager who can make all the difference in your portfolio.
Paper extract: Mutual fund managers face the daunting task of earning superior returns in a highly competitive environment.
Their performance is closely scrutinized by investors, their superiors, other managers, and the press. Measures of mutual fund
performance are adjusted for risk and are easily comparable; hence any failure relative to the selected benchmarks is quickly
identified and critiqued. “Superstars” are celebrated, while those that fail to meet expectations find their careers wounded. But
what makes one manager a superstar and another a failure Successful managers may have a natural talent for investing, while
others benefit from working for a well run mutual fund company.
Planman’s Meta SBU Analysis Constructs
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The penultimate part of the paper describing Planman’s C2A2 business analysis model. The next paper in this series, in the forthcoming issue
of Strategic Innovators, analyzes not only the m-PIPE Matrix, but also various competitive strategies that can optimally affect any business
industry space.
Invisible Ink!
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This benchmark paper by Kim Warren, Teaching Fellow, Strategic and International Management at London Business School talks
about how investors need to understand how ‘soft’ factors actually work through the business system to drive performance.
Warren elucidates the role that intangible factors, such as reputation, staff skills, and business relationships, play in the strategy
and performance of commercial organisations
Paper extract: If we carefully take apart a firm’s business model, it is possible to trace back from performance, through the
substantive resources of the business system and the processes by which these change, until the impact of true intangibles is
revealed. This is also valuable for managers themselves as it gives them a stronger grip on their strategy and performance. Unfortunately,
such information not only helps investors assess a firm’s performance, but also makes crystal clear to competitors
the sources of its competitive advantage. So, once we have laid out what would be most helpful to investors, we need to balance
the advantages of disclosure against the risks.
An IIPM Intelligence Unit Publication STRATEGIC INNOVATORS
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