I just stumbled into this pithy post from Greenhouse Associates, a boutique strategy consultancy that serves firms in the information and media market. The post, entitled Counter-Intuitive Tactics for Bad Times, lists seven non-obvious tactics that companies should consider when managing through tough times.
The list is below, along with a brief parenthetic comment on each item:
- Invest in product development, not sales. (We like this one since MarkLogic Server is often sold to publishers as a platform for new product development.)
- Turn salespeople into consultants. (A good idea at any time, but a necessary one in tough times.)
- Put your customer first. (Ditto. Information companies have such a long history of product-centricity that the transition to customer/solution-centricity is a big one.)
- Build value through relationships as well as products. (Complement product with service and the relationships built in the process.)
- Look for evergreen and counter-cyclical sectors. (Example: bankruptcy and foreclosure lawyers are having a field day.)
- Cut costs with a scalpel, not a hatchet. (My first reaction to an across-the-board cut is that management either couldn’t or didn’t take the time to figure out a more strategic way to do its job.)
- Be ready for black swans. (Life is discontinuous. Yes.)
The full article is here.
