Searching for Opportunities Like a Strategist [PODCAST E2 S8]

Searching for opportunities like a strategist exposes you to the worldview of a strategist.  It also tells you how he searches for opportunities.

Two Key Jobs of a Strategist

Every strategist has two critical objectives. First is to identify the opportunities in the field focusing on specific industries and segments. Second, is to continue to adapt to a changing field. The model discussed in this episode explains why some industries are more profitable than the others.

The Fives Forces In Every Industry

This episode reveals the five forces that determine how profitable an industry will be. This concept is a dominant concept in strategy area that all business school students know. It is a critical concept not to be missed by anyone.

The five forces act as the structure of industry and lead to profits for the incumbent players.

A Granular View of Profits

This episode also goes beyond an industry structure to explain how the value in an industry moves over time. With this view of the value niches in industry, you will learn two ways of looking for profits across industries.

Searching for Opportunities like a Strategist

Once you understand how the strategist looks at an industry, profits in the industry, and profit niches, you can also find opportunities like a strategist.

Key Takeaways

The key takeaways from this episode are:

1. What are the five forces that determine profits in an industry?
2. How a changing industry structure leads to changing profitability too?
3. What are value niches in an industry?
4. An easy to understand analogy of industry structure.
5. How a strategist uses this perspective to find new opportunities?

How to Listen?

This audio is now available as a part of a complete online strategy program called Becoming a Strategist. You can listen to it in the course here