HBR On Strategy

• A Restaurant Innovator’s Recipe for Strategic Growth

  For a long time in the restaurant industry, there were two types of dining experiences: fast food or table service. But Ron Shaich, founder and former chairman and CEO of Panera Bread, managed to create an entirely new category in between the two: fast casual. That innovative idea laid the groundwork for companies like Chipotle, Sweetgreen, and beyond. In this episode, Shaich breaks down his core strategies for successful innovation in the restaurant industry: pinpoint what your customers truly want, differentiate your offering, execute with excellence, and focus on growth. He argues that these strategies aren’t only relevant for the food industry — they can be used to scale any type of organization.Key episode topics include: strategy, customer service, entrepreneurship, going public, growth strategy, scaling entrepreneurial ventures, strategy execution, restaurants, fast casual, panera, chipotle, sweetgreen, innovation, disruption. HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. · Listen to the full HBR IdeaCast episode: Fast Casual Food Pioneer Ron Shaich Explains How to Find a Niche — and then Scale (2023)· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org]]>

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• A Middle Manager’s Guide to Executing Strategy

  Imagine this scenario: Your company’s executive team has just announced their new master plan for growing the business. Now it’s your job, as a mid-level manager, to put it into practice. So where do you start? In this episode, strategy consultant Andrea Belk Olson explains how to make the most of a plan that you may or may not agree with and that you may or may not have had any input into. She also has advice about the questions you should ask yourself before taking action, how to handle resistance from people you manage, and what to do if the new strategy isn’t working well. Key episode topics include: strategy, strategy execution, growth strategy, managing people, managing up. HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. · Listen to the full Women at Work episode: How to Manage: Executing Strategy (2024)· Find more episodes of Women at Work· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org]]>

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• Competitive Strategy Lessons from the LIV Golf and PGA Tour Merger

  In June 2022, the first ever LIV Golf event teed off outside of London. Offering players larger prizes and more flexibility, LIV Golf aimed to disrupt the sport. In response, the PGA Tour suspended all players who participated in the LIV Golf event, escalating tensions between the two entities. This conflict culminated in LIV Golf filing an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour. Then, in a surprising turn of events, the two tours announced their merger in June 2023. University of Virginia associate professor Alexander MacKay discusses the competitive and regulatory issues at stake and whether or not the PGA Tour took the right actions in response to LIV Golf’s entry in his case, “LIV Golf.” In this episode, He explores how a dominant organization like the PGA Tour can respond to challenges from innovative competitors. He also shares lessons from the PGA Tour’s response to LIV Golf’s market entrance and explains when it makes more sense to treat a competitor as a partner rather than an adversary.Key episode topics include: strategy, business management, antitrust laws, disruptive innovation, professional sports industry, media, entertainment, and professional sports, golf, merger. HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. · Listen to the original HBR Cold Call episode: The PGA Tour and LIV Golf Merger: Competition Vs. Cooperation (2023)· Find more episodes of Cold Call· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org]]>

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• Strategies for Managing Talent Amid Uncertainty and Competition

  In the last half century, relationships between employers and their employees have evolved away from being rooted in long-term loyalty to a new paradigm of short-term alliances driven by uncertainty and competition. Entrepreneurs and coauthors Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh argue that the new world of work isn’t so different from the typical conditions that many entrepreneurs operate in. And if you’re a manager, you may need a new strategy to hire and retain top talent. Casnocha and Yeh, coauthors of the book The Startup of You, explain why it’s important for your organization to build internal and external employee networks—and how to get started if you don’t already have those groups in place informally. Key episode topics include: strategy, entrepreneurship, talent management. HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. · Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Talent Strategies for the Post-Loyalty World (2013)· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org]]>

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• How McKinsey Resisted Disruption

  The consulting firm McKinsey has helped its clients navigate disruption in a wide range of industries. But what can we learn from how McKinsey, itself, responded to disruption in the management consulting industry in the early aughts? In this episode, the originator of disruptive innovation, the late Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, joined former McKinsey managing partner Dominic Barton to break down how the firm shifted its internal strategy to prioritize flexibility and efficiency. Key episode topics include: strategy, professional services, innovation, consulting, disruption. HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week. · Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Clay Christensen and Dominic Barton on Consulting’s Disruption (2013)· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.]]>

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