Quotes & Sayings About Business Strategy

Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical. — Sun Tzu

When the outlook is bright, bring it before their eyes; but tell them nothing when the situation is gloomy. — Sun Tzu

Strategy doesn't change when hard times arrive. Consumers' willingness to try, and to stay loyal, remains, the goal. Winners know this; their brand focus and strategy remains consistent. — Andrew Seth Pringle-Pattison

Never venture, never win! — Sun Tzu

Begin by seizing something which your opponent holds dear; then he will be amenable to your will. — Sun Tzu

History is filled with inferior brands outselling superior ones thanks to better branding. Only superior branding has the power to overcome and reverse this (and superior products and services deserve superior branding). — David Brier

I think I've changed my business strategy every year since 2003. You have to be watching the horizon constantly. The rug has been pulled out from under our feet so many times. — John Allison

" I was rather discouraged when I discovered that Paul and Hotch had no marketing survey, no business plan, no budget, no organized strategy for the introduction of the sauce. When asked about this lack of preparation, the haphazard nature of their business, Paul said, 'Me in this business is just part of life's great folly. Stay loose, men, keep 'em off balance.'" — Paul Newman

Cookie cutters are for baking, not branding. — David Brier

Entrepreneurship is when an individual retrieves a red hot idea from the creativity furnace without the constraint of the heat of lean resources, and with each persistent blow of the innovation hammer shapes the still malleable idea against the anvil of passion, vision, insight, strategy, and principles to forge a fitting vessel of a creative concern. — Amah Lambert

The spot where we intend to fight must not be made known; for then the enemy will have to prepare against a possible attack at several different points; — Sun Tzu

Companies that grow for the sake of growth or that expand into areas outside their core business strategy often stumble. On the other hand, companies that build scale for the benefit of their customers and shareholders more often succeed over time. — Jamie Dimon

I believe that he will prosper most whose mode of acting best adapts itself to the character of the times; and conversely that he will be unprosperous, with whose mode of acting the times do not accord. — Niccolo Machiavelli

I think we have to notice that the business processes we use right now for thinking and planning and budgeting and strategy are all delivered on very tight agendas. — Margaret J. Wheatley

Rouse him, and learn the principle of his activity or inactivity. Force him to reveal himself, so as to find out his vulnerable spots. — Sun Tzu

The Strauss Group identified water as a strategic category presenting significant business opportunity in line with the Group's long term business strategy and vision. We view the development of a technology that enables high quality drinking water for both home and offices as a means to improve the quality of life of millions of people. — Ofra Strauss

I basically see two reasons for a going public: Glencore gets access to more money. It is a way of funding your business and to finance growth. Plus: You have more liquid shares. It is easier to leave the company and redeem your shares. The 'going public' may also be an exit strategy for the top management. — Marc Rich

strategic dementia is a loss of the ability to make rational business decisions because you are not sure of your strategy. — Christopher Surdak

Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt. — Sun Tzu

Gaining an in-depth understanding of business capabilities helps today's business leaders craft good strategy and implement it effectively. — Pearl Zhu

Social Media Strategy isn't rocket science...but it might as well be if you don't know what you're doing. — Sherree Mongrain

The true mark of a leader is the willingness to stick with a bold course of action - an unconventional business strategy, a unique product-development roadmap, a controversial marketing campaign - even as the rest of the world wonders why you're not marching in step with the status quo. — Bill Taylor

Look at every 'revolutionary' brand or category killer, it had an app, or a feature, or a functionality, or a user experience nobody else at that point could offer. I refer to this as 'the Killer App' principle. — David Brier

At the end of the day, if you have a great product and service paired with the wrong pricing strategy / business model, you don't have a business. — Richie Norton

As a multisport athlete, I was always fascinated with competition and how to win. At HBS and later at the Harvard Department of Economics, I was drawn to the field of competition and strategy because it tackles perhaps the most basic question in both business management and industrial economics: What determines corporate performance? — Michael Porter

An Incoherent Strategy When a company's value curve looks like a bowl of spaghetti - a zigzag with no rhyme or reason, where the offering can be described as "low-high-low-low-high-low-high" - it signals that the company doesn't have a coherent strategy. Its strategy is likely based on independent substrategies. These may individually make sense and keep the business running and everyone busy, but collectively they do little to distinguish the company from the best competitor or to provide a clear strategic vision. This is often a reflection of an organization with divisional or functional silos. — W.Chan Kim

If sustainability is going to take hold in the corporate sector in a big way - and we need it to - it will be when it produces big profits and faster growth. It won't happen because of an optional executive commitment to an abstract concept. It will happen because sustainability is a great business strategy. And it is — Paul Gilding

See, what we were going to do was say, the Internet is this great business strategy tool. — James Daly

Thought Leadership
"The new economics for industry, government, education" Book by W. Edwards Deming
"In God we trust. All others must bring data."
William Edwards Deming,
Statistician, Professor and Author
#smitanairjain #leadership #womenintech #thoughtleaders #tedxspeaker #technology #tech #success #strategy #startuplife #startupbusiness #startup #mentor #leaders #itmanagement #itleaders #innovation #informationtechnology #influencers #Influencer #hightech #fintechinfluencer #fintech #entrepreneurship #entrepreneurs #economy #economics #development #businessintelligence #business — W. Edwards Deming

Always start at the end before you begin. Professional investors always have an exit strategy before they invest. Knowing your exit strategy is an important investment fundamental. — Robert Kiyosaki

So long as victory can be attained, stupid haste is preferable to clever dilatoriness. — Sun Tzu

Why is it there's no aisle in a grocery or department in a store or menu on a website for "average stuff" or "beige products"? FACT: People never got passionate about mediocre and average. While consumers and clients can find "best deals" and "natural foods" and "artisan goods," one doesn't find an aisle or a website menu tab offering "average stuff" without excelling in something (which might explain that while vanilla is necessary for the ice cream sundae, it's the hot fudge we all crave and talk about). — David Brier

When Verlaine and Rimbaud were young," [Snyder] said, they were protesting the iron-grip bourgeois rationality had on all aspects of nineteenth-century French culture - the manners, the view of reality, and the exclusion of 'the wild' from public life. Rationality in business and society were dominant values. 'Deranging the senses' was one strategy artists like Verlaine and Rimbaud employed to break free of that.

"Today," he continued, "the bourgeoisie is sociopathic, overindulged, distracted, spoiled beyond measure, and unable to restrain its gluttony, even in the face of pending planetary destruction. In the face of such a threat, it has, by necessity, become the responsibility of the artist to model health and sanity. — Peter Coyote

My basic strategy is to stick to my core business, and to my area of expertise. My businesses are all related - retail, shopping centers, banking, real estate and tourism development. Together they create synergy. — Henry Sy

There are three points I used to help a gourmet chocolatier increase sales 300% in a single month as well as a Midwest city to increase tourism guests 500% in 12 months. — David Brier

A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all. — Michael LeBoeuf

Applying creative thinking to our clients' business strategy-this should be our industry's new core competency. And-in what is very good news for our industry-this kind of creativity, creativity that goes to the heart of business, is more in-demand than ever. — Bob Schmetterer

There are no keys to success - only tools. — Criss Jami

The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent. — Sun Tzu

A very small percentage of those in the church stand behind a pulpit or sport certain kinds of identifiable clothing. The actual leadership roster of the church includes disciples ministering in every arena of life, in business, law, medicine, education, the arts, sciences, government, and religion. The objective of Jesus's church-growth strategy was not to build a single, behemoth social institution with a limited set of ordained authorities. Instead, his Spirit was to be poured out on all flesh to effect a widening, deepening base of influence within every nation, worldview, and social institution. — Dallas Willard

Data is great, but strategy is better — Steven Sinofsky

Time is the friend of the wonderful business, the enemy of the mediocre. — Alice Schroeder

When it comes to branding and the ever-changing social media phenomenon, you're not a mushroom. In other words, you shouldn't be kept in the dark and fed a pile of...well, you get the idea. — David Brier

Your money habits and investment strategy is not all about what you do, but much about who you are. Become the person it takes to do, succeed, and innovate. — Amah Lambert

Evidently, one thing seems to have more value in direct proportion to whether or not we feel we have the freedoms, joys or conveniences of that thing. — David Brier

The period from 2002 to 2007 was probably our best period. We created a strategy to build global scale, footprints in each of the geographies and dramatically built our international business. — Baba Kalyani

Success in warfare is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy's purpose. — Sun Tzu

We expected that good-to-great leaders would begin by setting a new vision and strategy. We found instead that they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats - and then they figured out where to drive it. — James C. Collins

Finally, I decided that the proper strategy was to stare back. Boys do not have a monopoly on the Staring Business. — John Green

Networks do not offer a miracle drug, a strategy that makes you invincible in any business environment. The truly important role networks play is in helping existing organizations adapt to rapidly changing market conditions. The very concept of network implies a multidimensional approach. — Albert-Laszlo Barabasi

There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must not be attacked, towns which must not be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed. — Sun Tzu

Teaching people a large number of sword techniques254 is turning the way into a business of selling goods, making beginners believe that there is something profound in their training by impressing them with a variety of techniques. This attitude toward strategy must be avoided, because thinking that there is a variety of ways of cutting a man down is evidence of a disturbed mind. In the world, different ways of cutting a man down do not exist. — Miyamoto Musashi

All too often, a successful new business model becomes the business model for companies not creative enough to invent their own.
[2002] p.46 — Gary Hamel

Cutting prices or putting things on sale is not sustainable business strategy. — Howard Schultz

When you work under the cloud of anxiety, the best strategy is to play it safe, because if (when!) it fails, you'll be blameless. — Seth Godin

I was not so insane as to attempt to bend events to conform to my policies. On the contrary, I bent my policies to accord with the unforeseen shape of the events. — William Duggan

Sometimes, as in a game of chess, we must strategically regress so that we might progress toward our ultimate objective. — Crystal Woods

Lot of companies are looking for advisory work on business strategy, restructuring work. — Phaneesh Murthy

Putting in place the most ambitious and daring objective isn't enough, it should be backed with an intricate plan and executed like hell, this is what i call the superiority framework, from proximity the dots might seem random and chaotic but from a strategist view these dots are so beautifully interconnected forming greatness in an absolute form — Ahmed Elkadi

If we wish to wrest an advantage from the enemy, we must not fix our minds on that alone, but allow for the possibility of the enemy also doing some harm to us, and let this enter as a factor into our calculations. — Sun Tzu

A great sports car that goes from 0-60 in 3.9 seconds is just a fact. To the wrong audience, it's irrelevant. But to the right audience, it's a passion. — David Brier

Brands are either built on reruns or coming attractions. The future has no road map while the past does. Creating a brand that blazes new trails can sometimes be bumpy but will also allow you to be the first to discover something new, something meaningful and something that makes others ask, "Why didn't we think of that?" Be very scared of "old tricks" and build a spirit of innovation. It's the "old tricks" that have the highest risk, not doing something bold. — David Brier

I generally disagree with most of the very high margin opportunities. Why? Because it's a business strategy tradeoff: the lower the margin you take, the faster you grow. — Vinod Khosla

You can't base an industry solely on one person. That's a very vulnerable business strategy. — John Key

The term "escalation of commitment" was first coined by Barry Staw, a business professor at the University of California, Berkeley.4 It's defined as a decision-making pattern in which a person - for our purposes, a business leader - continues to support or believe in a strategy even after it has continually failed. Escalation of commitment is often described as the inability to let go, or as an obsessive need to try to succeed even when failure is inevitable. — Laurence G. Weinzimmer

Unlike most experts in her field, Erika Andersen has an approach to being strategic that's sensible and accessible. With her, you feel capable of creating the business, career and life you want. She's to strategy what Suze Orman is to personal finance! — Nancy Tellem

We can reorient our products and business strategy because we are an agile organisation. — Baba Kalyani

Above all, success in business requires two things: a winning competitive strategy, and superb organizational execution. Distrust is the enemy of both. I submit that while high trust won't necessarily rescue a poor strategy, low trust will almost always derail a good one. — Stephen Covey

The three main observactions - (1) the tail of available variety is far longer than we realize; (2) it's now within reach economically; (3) all those niches, when aggregated, can make up a significant market - seemed indisputable, especially baked up with heretofore unseen data. — Chris Anderson

There are not more than five primary colors (blue, yellow, red, white, and black), yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever been seen. — Sun Tzu

First lay plans which will ensure victory, and then lead your army to battle; if you will not begin with stratagem but rely on brute strength alone, victory will no longer be assured — Sun Tzu

One can always sell something by offering the lowest price. But this does not create loyalty to your brand. Never did and never will. It only creates "loyalty" to that price point. As soon as your guest or visitor is offered a better price, he or she will jump ship, leaving you like a scorned lover in the middle of the night. — David Brier

The profitable part of the online business is very likely several years away. Entering the business because it's the hot topic of the day doesn't make a profitable business nor satisfied customers, ... That's why it will be a part of Nintendo's strategy, not the mainstay, as other companies are attempting to do. There still are too many barriers for any company to greatly depend on it. — Satoru Iwata

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. — Sun Tzu

Business, we use the term "judo strategy" to describe a particular way of competing. A judo approach to competition emphasizes — Anonymous

At first, then, exhibit the coyness of a maiden, until the enemy gives you an opening; afterwards emulate the rapidity of a running hare, and it will be too late for the enemy to oppose you. — Sun Tzu

Rewards for good service should not be deferred a single day. — Sun Tzu

It never feels good if you don't reach all of your goals, neither in sport, nor in business nor in your personal life. But the key thing is to never give up, we have taken our learnings from 2014 and developed an exciting and promising strategy for the period up until 2020. — Herbert Hainer

Whether in an advantageous position or a disadvantageous one, the opposite state should be always present to your mind. — Sun Tzu

There's a value in that space - rent, overhead, staffing costs, etc. - that has to be paid back by a certain number of inventory turns per month. In other words, the onesies and twosies waste space. However, when that space doesn't cost anything, suddenly you can look at those infrequent sellers again, and they begin to have value. This was the insight that led to Amazon, Netflix, and all the other companies I was talking to. — Chris Anderson

The focus of gap analysis should be getting to the other side. If you bend-over to analyze a gap too long, you'll probably fall into it. — Ryan Lilly

We don't have much in the way of a business strategy. Like no business plan. Which I say to torment all my friends who are VCs or MBAs. That's always entertaining. The deal is, it's a mixture of luck and persistence. — Craig Newmark

You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked. — Sun Tzu

Be a surfer. Watch the ocean. Figure out where the big waves are breaking and adjust accordingly. — 37 Signals

Competition exists to choose who gets the prize when the prize can't be shared. — Andrew Harvey

Evil is real - and powerful. It has to be fought, not explained away, not fled. And God is against evil all the way. So each of us has to decide where WE stand, how we're going to live OUR lives. We can try to persuade ourselves that evil doesn't exist; live for ourselves and wink at evil. We can say that it isn't so bad after all, maybe even try to call it fun by clothing it in silks and velvets. We can compromise with it, keep quiet about it and say it's none of our business. Or we can work on God's side, listen for His orders on strategy against the evil, no matter how horrible it is, and know that He can transform it. — Catherine Marshall

You can either learn to live with your Kryptonite or you can conquer it. Do what others don't and you will have a distinct strategic advantage. — James Woosley

If you fight with all your might, there is a chance of life; where as death is certain if you cling to your corner — Sun Tzu

When the corporation's investment capital becomes impatient for growth, good money becomes bad money because it triggers a subsequent cascade of inevitable incorrect decisions. Innovators who seek funding for the disruptive innovations that could ultimately fuel the company's growth with a high probability of success now find that their trial balloons get shot down because they can't get big enough fast enough. Managers of most disruptive businesses can't credibly project that the business will become very big very fast, because new-market disruptions need to compete against nonconsumption and must follow an emergent strategy process. Compelling them to project big numbers forces them to declare a strategy that confidently crams the innovation into a large, existing, and obvious market whose size can be statistically substantiated. This means competing against consumption. — Clayton M Christensen

A successful economic development strategy must focus on improving the skills of the area's workforce, reducing the cost of doing business and making available the resources business needs to compete and thrive in today's global economy. — Rod Blagojevich

What do artists do? Artists give people something they didn't know they were missing: a dance, a piece of music, a painting, a piece of sculpture. Catering to that need is the best business strategy. — Daniel H. Pink

Without a plan, even the most brilliant business can get lost. You need to have goals, create milestones and have a strategy in place to set yourself up for success. — Yogi Berra

Bravery without forethought, causes a man to fight blindly and desperately like a mad bull. Such an opponent, must not be encountered with brute force, but may be lured into an ambush and slain. — Sun Tzu

Never hesitate to show your own staff that you need help. They need to be reminded how important they are to the process. In life and in business, we rely on each other to be responsible for individual tasks that benefit everyone. People sometimes forget how much interdependence there really is in a successful business. Learn the art of asking for help to empower and motivate others, and you will have learned a very powerful management strategy. — Georgette Mosbacher

The business capability coherence is the decisive factor for the success of strategy implementation. — Pearl Zhu

In most cases, the best strategy for a job interview is to be fairly honest, because the worst thing that can happen is that you won't get the job and will spend the rest of your life foraging for food in the wilderness and seeking shelter underneath a tree or the awning of a bowling alley that has gone out of business. — Lemony Snicket

If one can call anticipation of enemy reactions based on a lifetime of professional training and on thinking and application "intuition," he had it ... He was a professional soldier, a student of history — William Duggan

It's important to have a really clear strategy so when you are in business, you only have to make micro-strategy changes. — Alexa Von Tobel

Resilience is based on the ability to embrace the extremes
while no becoming an extremist ... **Most companies don't do paradox very well.**
(emphasis by author)
[2002] p.25f — Gary Hamel

Globalization means that business strategy and business ethics cannot be separated from each other. — Ofra Strauss