Always a Winner Finding Your Competitive Advantage in an Up and Down Economy

by Navarro, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780470497203
• ISBN10: 0470497203
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-08-24
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Why recessions are far more dangerous than any 10 competitorsMost companies make a lot of money during economic expansions-and lose a lot of money during recessions. That is the way it has always been. That is the way it need not always be.This book will show you how to "always be a winner" over the course of the entire business cycle-not just when economic times are good. To do this job, this book will arm you with all the strategies and tactics and forecasting tools you will need to profitably manage your organization through the business cycle seasons-from the best of boom times to the worst of recessionary times.In this book, you will learn to Forecast movements and key recessionary turning points in the business cycle Implement a set of powerful "battle-tested" strategies over the course of the business cycle Rebuild your organization with a strategic business cycle orientation and thereby make it much more recession-resistant and resilient over the longer termThe forecasting tools and management strategies revealed in this book have been developed over the last five years by the author-the world's leading expert on managing the business cycle for competitive advantage.By learning to strategically manage the business cycle, your organization will be able to create a powerful competitive and sustainable advantage over its rivals and thereby find the grail sought by every executive team in the world-superior financial performance.In this way, Always a Winner provides you with the in-depth insight and practical advice you need to help your company survive and thrive in the increasingly risky conditions of the 21st century.

Author Biography

PETER NAVARRO, PHD, is the accomplished author of the bestselling The Coming China Wars, the path-breaking The Well-Timed Strategy, and the investment classic If It's Raining in Brazil, Buy Starbucks. He is a Professor at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine, and a regular CNBC contributor. Professor Navarro has been featured on 60 Minutes, and his articles have appeared in a wide range of publications, from BusinessWeek, the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal to the Harvard Business Review, the MIT Sloan Management Review, and the Journal of Business. His free weekly investment newsletter is published at www.peternavarro.com.

Table of Contents

About the Author	p. xiii
Preface	p. xvii
A Big-Picture View of the Always a Winner Organization	p. 1
Why Recessions Are More Dangerous than Any 10 Competitors	p. 3
What Good to Great and Always a Winner Organizations Have in Common	p. 5
What Are the Three Steps to Becoming an Always a Winner Organization?	p. 13
How to Strategically Manage Through the Business Cycle Seasons	p. 21
Becoming Your Own Economic Forecaster	p. 33
How (and Why) the Business Cycle Cycles	p. 35
How to Forecast the Business Cycle in Four Easy Pieces	p. 43
Why the GDP Equation Is Your Most Important Forecasting Tool	p. 47
Why Tracking the Consumer Is the Ultimate Confidence Game	p. 55
Why Taking the Pulse of Business Investment Is as Simple as ISM	p. 61
How Falling Exports Can Flatten an Economy in a Flat World	p. 67
Why Uncle Sam Is the Spender of Last Resort	p. 75
How Do I Fear Thee, Inflation? Let Me Count the Ways	p. 83
Why the Bond Market Is Not a Casino	p. 89
Why Forecasting a Recession Is No Bull (Market)	p. 95
How the Corporate Earnings Calendar Literally "Guides" Your Strategy	p. 101
Always a Winner Strategies through the Business Cycle Seasons	p. 107
How to Recession-Proof Your Supply Chain	p. 109
Why Cherry Picking the Talent Pool During Recessions Is Your Quality Key	p. 117
Why Countercyclical Advertising Is the Best Way to Build Brand and Market Share	p. 125
Why Companies Often Price Their Products and Manage Credit Exactly Wrong	p. 133
How To Not Get Run Over by the Capital Expenditures Bandwagon	p. 143
Why You Should Buy Low and Sell High over the Stock Market Cycle	p. 151
How to Minimize Your Capital Financing Costs over the Interest Rate Cycle	p. 161
Building the Always a Winner Organization	p. 169
Why Always a Winner Organizations Always Begin with a Strong Business Cycle Management Orientation	p. 171
How Every Executive Team Can Boost Its Economic and Financial Market Literacy	p. 177
Why a Facilitative Structure Must Follow Your Business Cycle Management Strategy	p. 185
Why a Supportive Organizational Culture Is Essential to Always Being a Winner	p. 191
How to Protect Your 401(k) in an Up-and-Down Stock Market	p. 195
Concluding Thoughts	p. 203
Notes	p. 205
Acknowledgements	p. 211
Index	p. 217
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