They orient themselves outward, focusing on customers and competitors rather than on internal politics.
For example, focusing on customers rather than products, technologies, or even profits is practically a business mantra.
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The Bouchards figured they could run them better, with, for instance, only two months of inventory, while focusing on customers that were less cyclical than auto and appliance makers.
Focusing on customers is not a skill we learn.
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As you might expect, winning companies start by focusing on their customers.
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But by focusing on existing customers, especially large ones, these companies kept themselves blind to the changes that wiped out huge, profitable revenue chunks.
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That means focusing on what customers are truly interested in.
"We've been focusing on Digital customers for the last three years, and certainly in the last nine months our activity has picked up, " says Les Wilson, systems marketing manager for HP's Unix business.
Analyze your logs that ask where customers heard about you, leverage tracking links to find out how people got to your site, and be sure to stitch site visits together with purchase history to ensure you are focusing on the customers who really matter.
By focusing on what its customers need and want, Amazon has become the largest online retailer in the world.
DirectTV compensates by offering exclusive programming and focusing on higher-income customers.
Paradoxically, firms that focus consistently on the goal of delighting their customers make more money than firms focusing on making money for shareholders.
Yet by focusing on the practical needs of such customers, attentive to their budget and time constraints, Quorum is tapping into a hidden market worth billions of dollars.
According to the latest figures released by comScore World Metrix, Web 2.0 -- a vague moniker for newer internet companies started with less capital and focusing on open business models and the customers -- companies are growing at an unprecedented rate.
Embracing an outside-in perspective focusing on creatively delivering something of value to customers instead of obsessing over pushing your product portfolio builds an inherent flexibility into organizations.
Box will use the funding to expand internationally and invest in its technology, focusing on its mobile strategy, which enables customers to share files and collaborate from a variety of mobile devices.
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Lord Simpson's model, here, is Mr Welch, who built the world's most successful company by focusing not on his products, but on his customers.
It is understood they looked at a number of options, including reducing the amount of money it invests into rugby, charging more to customers buying tickets and focusing only on rugby and not staging other events at the stadium.
Many firms are doing clever things: sending their product designers to visit factories to figure out how to make a new product as efficiently as possible, working out which customers are the most profitable and focusing on them, and so on.
We found that the winning combination for Little Pim was building tracking into every campaign, focusing on paid search, seeking new ways of reaching customers via advice from board and advisors and setting up cross-promotions instead of simply buying ad space.
Citi said it is being more selective in its marketing, focusing on well-to-do consumers instead of the broader swath of customers targeted in the past.
But big chains like Safeway and Kroger have raised their share prices sharply over the past year by differentiating themselves from the competition--sprucing up stores, improving service and focusing on a relatively small number of exclusive brands that research shows are most favored by customers.
Instead of targeting individual customers, such as adventure travelers, as did Iridium, Globalstar is focusing on business users.
Afraid of offending their traditional customers, they framed the menu changes as offering wider choice rather than focusing on health.
He is focusing on keeping Nimble on its three-fold year-over-year growth in the number of customers and revenue.
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But many big customers have gone the opposite way, slowing and extending their own buying cycles and focusing on how to better use what they already own.
Instead of focusing exclusively on short term gains and efficiency innovations, the very goal of the firm has to shift to delighting customers through continuous value-adding innovation.
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