How can you make sure your company not only keeps its edge over its competitors, but also seizes new opportunities? In a new book called Fast Strategy: How strategic agility will help you stay ahead of the game, INSEAD professor Yves Doz and co-author Mikko Kosonen, a former senior Nokia executive, say the best way to do this is by making the most of what they call ‘strategic agility’.

“I personally experienced how Nokia, as a leading company, gradually lost some of its strategic sensitivity and research fluidity as a result of successful growth,” Kosonen says. “In the early ‘90s it won over Ericsson and Motorola because of its strategic agility. But then over the years, some of these capabilities began to deteriorate and, when we tried to change, it became really difficult.”

A study of consulting firm Celerant has found that relationship building is key to bringing in repeat business which accounts for up to 70 per cent of its revenues each year.

The study of Celerant Consulting, conducted by INSEAD Professor of Organisational Behaviour Tom D’Aunno, also found that 91 per cent of clients surveyed would like to work with Celerant again.
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As corporations look to expand overseas – through franchising, outsourcing or setting up plants and offices elsewhere – they transfer best practices to maintain their competitive edge.  But what’s the best way of doing that and how should they adapt these operational practices to local conditions?

According to studies carried out by INSEAD Professor of Strategy Gabriel Szulanski, in conjunction with Sidney Winter from the University of Pennsylvania and Robert Jensen of Brigham Young University, companies need to identify and validate actual examples that have been shown to produce results. These ‘templates’ or benchmarks of best practices should, the authors argue, then be copied with minimal if any modifications or adaptations, at least in the initial phase of the knowledge transfer. Read more..

First came the book and now there is an institute in the making. The international bestseller, ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’ written by INSEAD professors W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, sold more than a million copies in its first year of publication and is being published in a record-breaking 39 languages. Although there are no plans for a follow-up book at this stage, INSEAD is currently setting up the INSEAD Blue Ocean Strategy Institute.

In a rare interview, Kim and Mauborgne, both strategy professors, told Knowledge that they knew there would be an audience for their research as their articles in the Harvard Business Review sold half a million reprints. Read more..