| Either simply a looker-on or a player in the world | | | | Business strategies implementation |
| of business, you see millions piling into the | | | | Then, action comes. As the saying goes, planning |
| accounts of world's most famous businessmen | | | | without action is futile, action without planning is |
| and naturally the question pops "How?", wondering | | | | fatal. It takes guts to act boldly and take |
| what is the alchemy they've discovered? Yet, | | | | whatever risks are necessary to put your vision |
| there is no magic here - it's mostly pure strategy. | | | | into practice. It takes a great deal of tenacity to |
| And what it takes to spot it and make it real. | | | | surpass obstacles and get over unfortunate |
| Strategy | | | | happenings on the way. So, how did they |
| Identifying the best strategy for your business is | | | | implement their planned strategies? What was the |
| the key to all success. | | | | outcome, what principles resulted for them to |
| It should give you the lift that makes a difference. | | | | base their businesses on? |
| The art for your strategy success is planning. | | | | Warren Buffet |
| * settling a vision for your business | | | | For the implementation of his strategy, Buffett |
| * defining a mission | | | | has drawn his company choice principles, involving |
| * setting out objectives | | | | a great deal of analysis of business, management, |
| * establishing values, goals and programs. | | | | financial aspects and a great deal of patience, |
| Vision | | | | waiting for the right price once the possible |
| It is all there, it is all important, but first there is | | | | investment has been identified. |
| the vision. | | | | On businesses |
| So, is vision a spark, is it a moment? How much | | | | * simple and understandable |
| is inspiration and how much hard work? Is it 99% | | | | * consistent operating history |
| perspiration and only 1% inspiration? Can we all be | | | | * favorable long-term prospects |
| geniuses? | | | | On management |
| According to Edison's theory I would say yes, if | | | | * rationality in treatment of retained earnings and |
| we are committed to hard working, as it is | | | | investment of company profits |
| primarily the hard work that makes a genius. | | | | * disclosure of all aspects of company |
| Inspiration comes on the way, when involved in | | | | performances |
| as much action as you can handle. Contrary to | | | | * capacity of thinking independently of other |
| the conceptual meaning, inspiration seems to be | | | | managers' way of thinking. |
| driven by propitious conditions - in this case, by | | | | On financials |
| work. | | | | * look for return on equity, not earnings per |
| Hard work | | | | share |
| So, what really happens behind the fairy-tale | | | | * analysis of free cash flow growth |
| success stories is usually not what some would | | | | * unique niche companies with high profit margins |
| expect - a brilliant, extraordinary, never heard of | | | | * look for companies with at least one dollar of |
| discovery that changed the world, but, | | | | market value for every dollar retained |
| disappointingly enough, plain hard work. What | | | | On stock valuation |
| these people have is what I would call "industry | | | | * reasonable price for the company |
| intelligence". How is it acquired? Working of course. | | | | * stock valuation analysis followed by analysis of |
| That is, sharply aware of their industry | | | | a possible significant discount, case in which it will |
| environment, learning all the rules and deeply | | | | be purchased. |
| involved in their own businesses, success people | | | | Success depends on the investor's dedication to |
| have at some point of activity a vision for their | | | | learn and follow the principles. |
| business that proves to be a winner - the | | | | Sam Walton |
| revelation naturally produced as a result of their | | | | He gives his ten rules for success in the book |
| work commitment. | | | | "Made in America, My Story": |
| Let's take the example of three American | | | | 1. commitment to business |
| legends: Sam Walton, Warren Buffet and Bill | | | | 2. profit sharing with partners |
| Gates. What do they have in common? The | | | | 3. partners' motivation, competition |
| winning vision, the winning strategy. | | | | encouragement |
| Sam Walton | | | | 4. total communication with partners, trigerring |
| In the case of Sam Walton, no new, innovative | | | | their commitment |
| business models were launched. He followed the | | | | 5. giving appreciation to what your partners do for |
| existing low-price retailing pattern but the | | | | the business |
| competitive successful strategic approach was | | | | 6. keeping spirits up in celebrating success but also |
| that instead of focusing on large cities he took his | | | | in treating failures with a touch of humor |
| business to small towns becoming the low-price | | | | 7. listening to everyone in the company, |
| leader in rural towns. | | | | encouraging their talking |
| Warren Buffet | | | | 8. a sustained exceptional relationship with the |
| Warren Buffett's success resides in his different | | | | customer - exceeding his expectations, showing |
| approach to value investing. While usually investors | | | | appreciation, apologizing for mistakes |
| look for stocks they believe undervalued by the | | | | 9. finding a competitive advantage in controlling |
| market, Buffett does not take into consideration | | | | expenses |
| the stock market aspects, such as for instance | | | | 10. originality, doing things differently there is a |
| the supply and demand ratio. He analyzes the | | | | good chance to find unexplored niches. |
| stocks on the basis of their potential as | | | | Bill Gates |
| companies. He is interested in long-term results, | | | | Microsoft's corporate mission "A computer on |
| such as ownership in companies with capacity of | | | | every desk and in every home" shortly became a |
| generating money, namely, companies with a | | | | reality. Offering an easily accessible operating |
| strong name, great historical results, strong | | | | system for computers, perceiving the importance |
| management and industry expertise. | | | | of customizing their product to the ordinary client |
| Bill Gates | | | | and not only to computer engineers and thus |
| Neither is the case of Bill Gates to have made | | | | addressing masses, Bill Gates succeeded in putting |
| extraordinary innovations. Rather than innovation, | | | | together and promoting towards a tremendous |
| he had the ability to put together other people's | | | | popularity (and profit accordingly) the world's |
| ideas, thus producing big hits and making a profit. | | | | dominant operating system. |
| He did that first when adjusting BASIC | | | | What these people have in common is |
| programming language for the Altair 8800 (first | | | | nevertheless an extraordinary ingenuity: they |
| PC) - neither of which was his original creation. | | | | innovated their industry domain, building their own |
| Then, the same happened with DOS, which | | | | strategy tailored for their own business |
| Microsoft bought (the original version was QDOS) | | | | particularities and went further to its |
| and adjusted. | | | | implementation. |