A study has been conducted by management consulting heavyweight PwC which has identified the major traits which companies must follow in order to execute the principle of change management. The top management of the company must curate a company culture which will be followed across the organization at all levels. The change management principles will be applied from the top but every layer needs to get involved. The new medium of thinking must be applied to rational as well as emotional cases. Constant employee as well as customer engagement needs to be sought by the management. Leadership however must not be restricted to only the official channels. Formal as well as informal approaches must be leveraged in order to provide solutions. Although a corporate strategy document ought to be framed and followed certain deviations may be allowed depending on the assessment of work till certain point. Adaptations may be devised accordingly.

Source: http://www.strategy-business.com/pictures/A-Guide-to-Leading-Change-Management29

Starbucks and Wal-Mart are two of the giants in their respective industries but had rather different experiences with customer engagement. It worked well with Starbucks but did not for Wal-Mart. The former understood its customers perfectly well and thus offered services accordingly. The latter had a disconnect and thus got pushed away in this regard. Starbucks understood that customers flocked to their stores to procure premium coffee. Wal-Mart instead of sticking to its core strengths diversified into grocery and pharmacy. Understanding the customer is extremely important for brand building. Thus while framing the corporate strategy, it is essential to integrate customer inputs.

Source: http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/tip/Customer-engagement-strategy-helps-to-usher-in-business-change

The traditional 9 to 5 workplace has now been replaced by concepts such as time and space sharing. The smartphone has become an extension of individuals and decision making no longer involves face to face interaction or brainstorming. Working remotely is gaining trend. The corporate strategy of the modern organization will now need to incorporate these changes. A major change that has impacted workplaces is the elimination of traditional barriers to communication. Fear is being eliminated as well. Traditional work environments also instill a sense of loss of time as employees need to report at specific times at specific locations irrespective of the actual work which in turn goes through a series of processes and approvals. Finally, the modern workplaces do not want disengaged employees without the span of attention to the work.

Source: http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2016/05/19/reimagining-the-workday/

Business advice emanating from top business executives has been compiled together by the Forbes publication. The COO of Transera warns against complexity and says that business must continuously strive to simply their operations. This also helps in sound internal communication. The Founder of Check in Easy says that genuine management training comes from utilization of learning from one application to another. A truly experienced employee will be able to leverage skills learnt in one field with another. The Global Sales Director for Link Systems feels that to reach the top echelons of management, one needs to keep striving and not give up due to pressures. The CEO of Work Market lays to rest this notion that a positive work culture can be encouraged by having the right leisure tools in place. He feels that employee engagement with work is actually much more important. Ultimately as the CEO of Zenreach implores us, there is no better way to succeed in business than to invest with the right customers. Once customer is serviced right, the market is bound to reward the efforts.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/miketempleman/2015/07/20/top-business-executives-share-their-best-advice/#183918cc6780

Marketing in universities and educational institutions often takes a backseat due to the importance given to academics or new programme development. While some universities are well funded by the government or alumni endowment contributions, most private small institutes earn all their money through tuitions. Thus there is a need to separate marketing from communications or fundraising offices. CMOs need to find a way in order to get greater leverage at educational institutes. In case of increased revenues, marketers will find themselves in important positions framing corporate strategy even.  In order to do so, thorough study needs to be made by the department on demographic trends and on historical spending on business development versus actual results. Source:

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kimberlywhitler/2015/07/22/from-staff-marketer-to-strategic-leader-how-a-marketer-changed-the-role-of-marketing/

Those personnel in charge of developing corporate strategy for respective organizations must now take into consideration the invaluable benefits arising out of collaboration. Leveraging synergies is now the new competitive edge. Four Cs of synergies have been identified to help strategists. Consolidation involves leveraging value from already existing business streams where some level of success has already been experienced. Then there is Combination which looks into getting business benefits out of volumes. Customization looks into creating unique products or delivering unique services so that customers do not feel the urge to look elsewhere. Finally there is Connection by which the seller or service provider feels genuine connect with the customer. Source:  http://knowledge.insead.edu/strategy/what-corporate-strategists-need-to-know-about-synergies-4617

Cause marketing is different to CSR or philanthropy in the sense that it creates mutually beneficial business conditions for all parties concerned. It is about doing genuine good but being rewarded for it indirectly. Marketing research conducted by Cone Communications has proved that majority of modern day consumers prefer brands associated with a good cause rather than those with overtly commercial interests. In fact sales also go up in the short to medium term. Brand awareness increases rapidly. Up to ninety percent of those surveyed in the US, claim that they will switch brands if the other one gets known for its good work. Loyalty of existing customers is also better cemented as experienced through the efforts of Starbucks and Subaru. Such activities also attract better quality of people, thus aiding in propertalent recruitment. Also investors get attracted to such activities as it gives them the strength to have long term relations with the brand.

Source: http://www.gastongazette.com/article/20160326/NEWS/160329218

Michael Porter remains one of the giants of the academics of management, yet some of his theories are being challenged nowadays. His theory of competitive advantage where every organization or economy must try to steer itself clear off competitors through building its core competence is being challenged by the idea of collaboration. The sharing economy has now taken shape where organizations do not compete but collaborate with each other. Platforms are being designed to enable several players to access the business ecosystem. Design and content are being seen as key components of companies’ corporate strategy. Organizations are now structured less on hierarchies but more as networks to break down restrictive silos. The economy is now social by nature where human interactions play most important role and each company’s success begets the possibility of another’s.

Source: http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2016/04/28/collaboration-is-the-new-competitive-advantage/

A new trend gripping the world of business is certifications from B Lab. Such certified firms are known as B Corps and this once done is akin to a farm qualifying as organic. The idea of this certification is that the company is doing good for the society. Here the shareholder benefits do not clash with values driven for other stakeholders. It is also a great marketing ploy as supported by marketing research conducted by Nielsen which states that two-thirds of global consumers are more willing to spend on products or firms that have a clean image. It also makes it a more attractive investment proposition.

Source:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shane-paul-neil/the-surprising-competitiv_b_9476380.html?section=india

Sony was the market leader for music players, computers and phones directed towards entertainment in the 1990s. Its movie studio and publishing house were heavy weights in their fields. Now two decades on, Apple which used to be a niche player has taken over Sony’s position. This has partly happened due to the culture of collaboration missing at Sony. Respective departmental and product heads instead chose a path of individuality where there was internal competition between them. The bosses all aspired for independence within their verticals. Thus employees would be overworked often re-inventing the wheel. Cisco on the other hand is an example of an organization which has served customer needs perfectly by collaborating between units. Similarly, Sony’s top honchos should have developed the corporate strategy in such a way to ensure positive group dynamics rather than fight for independence.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/lbsbusinessstrategyreview/2015/12/07/how-the-fight-for-independence-could-be-the-death-of-your-business/

Electronic giant Apple usually finds itself on top of most lists to do with brand valuation. In the last quarter, Apple recorded its highest ever quarterly net profits in US corporate history. And still the lingering doubt remains that Apple ought to be worried about certain developments. The iPhone remains its biggest single product accounting for about two thirds of overall sales but its numbers have hit a plateau in the developed markets of Europe and North America. In the world’s biggest smartphone market China, Apple remains behind domestic heavyweights Huawei and Xiaomi. The worrying aspect is that in developing markets like India and China where average income levels are lesser than in the developed regions, the premium prices charged for Apple products may suffer losing further ground to Samsung which is already the global leader. Apple has always been known for its business innovations and its future is in its own hands. The challenge will be to integrate these innovations to bring business value.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/lbsbusinessstrategyreview/2016/01/27/why-the-worlds-most-valuable-company-faces-a-challenging-future/#3ff42c3f5a99