Reflections

Challenging Environment Companies have an increasingly severe problem with their sales processes. They find it increasingly challenging to generate continuous and profitable growth, i.e., with a sufficient commercial margin to generate double-digit profits. Moreover, when faced with a major crisis, it seems justified or inevitable that their income and profit

First Approach Hypercompetition—More than three decades ago, Michael Porter established the two principal variables for reaching competitive advantage: cost leadership and differentiation. Although globalization has pushed companies of all kinds from everywhere to deal with an inevitable evolution, there are many regions —not just companies— and business sectors where, at

First Approach In 2004, coherence was the central theme of my first international conference. In that lecture entitled “Profiting from Coherence,” I pointed out coherence as a determining factor for competitiveness, which was defined as “the consistency with which people’s behavior and the processes used within an organization are aligned

“Full potential requires the proper habits” If I say that the human factor is fundamental to corporate development and competitiveness, I won’t be revealing anything new. It’s something any business owner or executive is well aware of. However, examples of “absent leadership”—which we might also call “classic management”—are far more

“Competitiveness requires shaping affective energy” A company’s competitiveness lies in its ability to develop products with unique features at a cost that consumers are willing to pay. This fundamental principle, established by Michael Porter many years ago, has never been easy to fully implement. Today, in hypercompetitive environments, the challenge

Approach Good results must be guaranteed and reproduced without errors. Beyond delivering flawless products consistently, a business must ensure the expected outcomes of its decisions. In other words, beyond controlling production processes, any company must precisely control the results of all its processes, especially those related to sales. Deming’s Legacy

Consumption is driven by what consumers want or desire. Consequently, understanding this factor (consumer desire) is fundamental to business competitiveness. Undoubtedly, much is already known and is being done to understand what consumers want. However, the paradigm shift from highly competitive markets to hypercompetitive environments makes it advisable to review

“A Different Path to Commercial Success: From Intuition to Methodology” When I began my journey helping companies that were struggling to stay afloat, I quickly realized that most solutions being applied were based on conventional wisdom—what consultants preached and what was taught in business schools and universities. In the field

“Adaptive Integration: The Key Concept” Before I set out on the path of helping companies improve their competitiveness, I ran an IT firm that, in its later years, specialized in developing cost, production, and planning systems. One might ask: why was there work for a small company in such highly