Reigniting growth / Chris Zook, James Allen

Most successful companies eventually face a predictable crisis that this article calls stall-out -- a sudden large drop in revenue and profit growth or a collapse of once high shareholder returns to well below the cost of capital. Strategy still matters. Yet competitive strategies are more similar than they used to be, more easily copied, and of shorter duration. The roots of success or failure increasingly lie in the ability of companies to remain fast, perceptive, innovative, and adaptable. Internally thriving companies can respond to shifts in their competitive environments, identifying strategies that sustain their dominance. Yes, stall-out may be predictable, but it can be overcome. Here are three qualities can help any company restart its growth engine by removing gunk and complexity that has built up over the years, inhibiting the clean execution of strategy: 1. Rediscover your insurgent mission. 2. Obsess over your business's front line. 3. Instill an owner's mindset.

Business