think:act – Strategies in times of crisis

Issue 13, 2009

Is this the end of strategy as we know it? The crisis has brought ever more uncertainty, with bad news about companies threatened by bankruptcy, huge lay-offs, entire countries going default and forecasts scaled down almost on a daily basis. On the other hand, we have seen unprecedented cooperation between the biggest economic powers, coordinated approaches by central banks and international institutions, and big stimulus packages are on their way. But still: Nobody knows how this year is going to turn out. And one of the big challenges business leaders are faced with is this: How can we possibly plan the future of our company with no reliable data at hand?

When it comes to strategy, the crisis pinpoints a general problem that has occurred during recent years. Ever-faster globalization and increasing complexity have put strategists under enormous pressure. They are, for example, confronted with seemingly contradictory patterns—just think of so-called hybrid consumers who hunt bargains at wholesale stores while driving a Porsche. In our dossier, we analyze these problems and present our ideas on the future of strategic thinking.

As the saying goes, bad times for some are good times for others. The latter might prove right for some of the CEOs we present to you in this issue. After years of fighting the constraints of its home market, privatized Brazilian utility company CPFL now feels well prepared to outperform competitors on a global scale, as their CEO Wilson Ferreira tells us. Bernard Charlès, CEO of Dassault, explores the importance of innovation. And Jacek Szwajcowski, CEO of the Polish pharmaceutical business Polska Grupa Farmaceutyczna, tells us about his long way to the top, starting from selling medicines from the trunk of his car.