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In my time in the workforce I have experienced both subpar leadership and ideal leadership. My experiences with management and human resources is what encouraged me to pursue a career in Human Resources.
While researching the definition of management, I came across this picture. Management is an art form... You have to continue to practice your social skills along with your conceptual skills in order to perfect them. Then you use these skill sets to help organize your team in an effective manner to reach an overall goal.

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Technical skills, conceptual skills, and human skills... What is needed in order to become a Human Resource Manager? Well, all of the above. After completing module one, I was left wondering what skills I needed to improve. I came across the attached article that was very enlightening.
It list nine essential skills needed in order to succeed in human resource management. The article includes the common sense skills such as communication, organization, and compassion. It's also important to be tech savvy and able to negotiate as well.
I believe I have what it takes to become an HR manager. My main concern is my nonverbal communication. It's a family joke that I have a "glass face". My emotions and thoughts are easily read on my face due to my facial expressions. This is something I will need to learn to control in order to perform my job effectively.

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9 Essential Human Resource Management Skills | Blog | Visual Planning

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Learn more about the 9 essential skills that human resources managers should have to bring their HR department to the next level & how Visual Planning can help.

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Henry Fayol was the original founder of management, but who came up with the idea of human resources?
Robert Owens and Charles Babbage spread the idea that if workers were treated well then their work would improve. An engineer by the name of Frederick Taylor helped promote the the idea of scientific management as well. These men, along with Henry Fayol, paved the way for human resources as we know it today.

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This module was very enlightening and gave me a lot to consider. When making purchases in the past, I never considered what the company gives back to it's community and what contributions the make to help the environment.
Looking back on previous companies I worked for I realized that none of them promoted CSR. I've worked predominantly in financial institutions and we never participated in much more than March of Dimes fundraisers. After graduation I would like to find employment with a company that promotes CSR. I feel as if I would be able to make a positive contribution as well since I plan on entering Human Resources.

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Reading the material on diversity and ethics made me reflect on my previous employer. I worked at a company called Mphasis and it was my favorite employer. Mphasis was the most diverse employer I ever worked for.
The company was based in India and had several locations throughout the United States. There were people from many different ethnicities and backgrounds. The VP of the company was a female.

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The Best and Worst Companies For Women And Minorities

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A new ranking from Calvert Investments says Citigroup and Merck have the best records on diversity in hiring. Citigroup and Merck get top ratings for their records on including women, minorities and people with diverse sexual orientation, while Berkshire Hathaway and eBay score at the bottom of a ne…

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Module 3 was about Globalization and its influence on our daily lives. While reviewing this module I began to wonder where globalization started. I found this article that I found very interesting.
There have been several stages of globalization with the first beginning in the first century B.C. in China. China began selling and trading fine goods with Middle Eastern and European countries using the Silk Road. By the 7th century, the spice trade boomed as well due to sea routes.
The Age of Discovery helped globalization as well with explorers such as Magellan which helped cut out many of the middle men in trade, making the goods significantly cheaper. This was all just the beginning of global trade. It was interesting to read all of the information about the early stages of globalization.

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Past and present: A Silk Road-inspired installation outside the National Convention Centre in Beijing Image: REUTERS/Stringer

Previously, Deputy Head of Media at World Economic Forum. Executive Editor, Fortune

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Ancient silk roads Image: Flickr

Arabic calligraphy in Asilah medina, Morocco Image: Pierre-Yves Babelon/Shutterstock.com/Unesco

Image: BLR

The Industrial Revolution in Britain propelled the first wave of globalization Image: Wikipedia

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Globalization 4.0 is the theme of Davos 2019 - but what were the three earlier waves of global trade?

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I previously worked for a well known payday loan company. They paid very well and I was able to move up in the company quickly. While I was employed there they were being investigated by the CFPB. While they were being investigated they were trying to come up with cognancy plans.
Many of the customers were regulars and were stuck in the payday loan cycle. It can be really hard to breakout of the cycle. I felt as if they prayed on the low income families. It was hard to see the same people every two weeks to a month giving money they didn't have to give. When I went on maternity leave I looked for employment elsewhere because it weighed on my conscience to continue working there.

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While researching the origins of globalization I came across the term Globalization 4.0. We are moving into a new phase of globalization, coined Globalization 4.0. With technology growing rapidly it is deeply intertwined with globalization. We can now order anything from the comfort of our homes and pay for it digitally using the internet.

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While researching globalization, I started to wonder which company was the most globalized. I thought that Amazon would be the top company, but it was actually the third company on the list. Walmart has been the world's largest company in terms of revenue since 2014.

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While researching planning I came across this brief video that I enjoyed. It provided a brief description of strategic planning in a business management setting. Planning is the most fundamental function of management. Without planning you will be unable to run your company effectively.

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What is Strategic Planning | Explained in 2 min

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Michael E. Porter is the man behind Porter's 5 forces. He is an economist, researcher, author, advisor, speaker and teacher. He is the most cited scholar in business and economics today. He was won many awards including the first Lifetime Achievement Award in Economic Development from the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2008.

Porter's 5 forces are:

1. Competition in the industry

2. Potential of new entrants into the industry

3. Power of suppliers

4. Power of customers

5. Threat of substitute products

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Organizational Culture is often referred to as the glue that holds an organization together. I am planning to pursue a career in Human Resources and they play a huge role in setting the standards of organizational culture. Organizational culture is a reflection of the organization's leadership as well as a mirror of the organization's core values.
While researching organizational culture, I learned there are 4 different types: adhocracy culture, clan culture, hierarchy culture, and market culture. Each one has different advantages and disadvantages. Having a strong organizational culture creates less employee burnout, higher tenure, and increased profits.

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Human Resources in responsible for many aspects of the day to day functions in a company. HR is responsible for recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation, safety and health, and employee and labor relations.
Human Resources is needed in every organization. They help promote productivity and help keep an organization safe by staying up to date on laws and regulations. One of the reasons I selected Human Resources as a career choice was due to the vast amount of industries that use Human Resources. My possibilities as far as employment are endless. You have the option to be more selective on the type of organization you want to work for as well.

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What Is Human Resources (HR)?

Human resources (HR) is the division of a business that is charged with finding, screening, recruiting, and training job applicants, as well as administering employee-benefit programs. HR plays a key role in helping companies deal with a fast-changing business environment and a greater demand for quality employees in the 21st century.

John R. Commons, an American institutional economist, first coined the term "human resource" in his book "The Distribution of Wealth," published in 1893. However, it was not until the 19th century that HR departments were formerly developed and tasked with addressing misunderstandings between employees and their employers.

Understanding Human Resources

The presence of an HR department is an essential component of any business, regardless of the organization's size. An HR department is tasked with maximizing employee productivity and protecting the company from any issues that may arise within the workforce. HR responsibilities include compensation and benefits, recruitment, firing, and keeping up to date with any laws that may affect the company and its employees.

Research conducted by The Conference Board, a member-driven economic think tank, has found six key people-related activities that HR must effectively do to add value to a company. These include:

Managing and using people effectively

Tying performance appraisal and compensation to competencies

Developing competencies that enhance individual and organizational performance

Increasing the innovation, creativity, and flexibility necessary to enhance competitiveness

Applying new approaches to work process design, succession planning, career development, and inter-organizational mobility

Managing the implementation and integration of technology through improved staffing, training, and communication with employees﻿﻿

Beginning in the 1980s, there was a push for strategic initiatives within HR departments. This movement was based on research related to the impact of employee-related issues on a firm's long-term business success. Collectively, these strategies are sometimes referred to as human resource management (HRM) strategies. HRM is a comprehensive approach to managing employees and an organization's culture and environment. It focuses on the recruitment, management, and general direction of the people who work in an organization.

An HR department that adopts HRM strategies typically plays a more active role in improving an organization's workforce. They may recommend processes, approaches, and business solutions to management. Google is one example of an organization that has adopted a more active approach to employee relations through their HR department. The company offers tons of employee perks, and the company headquarters have a wide range of facilities for employees, including wellness centers, roller hockey rinks, and horseshoe pits. For Google, happy employees are equivalent to productive employees.﻿﻿

Special Considerations

Since the start of the 20th century, some companies have started outsourcing some of the more traditional administrative, transactional HR functions in an effort to free the department to recommend and implement more meaningful, value-adding programs that impact the business in positive ways. Functions that may be outsourced in this process include payroll administration, employee benefits, recruitment, background checks, exit interviews, risk management, dispute resolution, safety inspection, and office policies. The use of more moderns tools, such as the best recruitment software, can also afford HR departments more leeway by improving their efficiency.

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Human resources (HR) is the division of a business that is charged with finding, screening, recruiting, and training job applicants, as well as administering employee-benefit programs. HR plays a key role in helping companies deal with a fast-changing business environment and a greater demand for quality employees in the 21st century.

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Crash Course Economics is something I frequently watch due the having to take 2 Economics courses. While reading the text in Module 5 it reminded me of this video that I watched last semester. It provides a great breakdown of the founder of specialization, Adam Smith, and how specialization works in business.
Specialization makes people and industries more effective and profitable. Adam Smith noted that with specialization you achieve increased output, cheaper products, and absolute advantage. Specialization is the process wherein a company or individual decides to focus their labor on a specific type of production.

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Specialization and Trade: Crash Course Economics #2

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Companies with the Best Business Strategies

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Companies with the Best Business Strategies

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Module 4 focused on planning and business strategies. So who are some of the top companies with the best business strategies? I located this interesting article featured on Cascade and the list of companies with the best business strategies was not surprising as they are all top companies that everyone has heard of unless you live under a rock
At the top of the list was Tesla. They went against typical business methods but have ended up as the most profitable car company. The second company listed is Airbnb, which I personally use quite often. Airbnb has changed the way many people travel and started when two college graduates were short on their rent so they laid out some air mattresses in a spare bedroom and called it the air bed and breakfast. Airbnb is now worth over $100 billion.
The list also names Toyota, HubSpot, Apple, PayPal, and Spotify as having superb business strategies.

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Most entrepreneurs dream of an innovative product or service that surprises their rivals and takes new markets by storm. What they tend to forget is that there needs to be an excellent business strategy accompanying the product.

I get it - it's not nearly as interesting to fantasize about a competitive strategy. Yet without it, even genius products can quickly drown in the harsh business sea. Most strategies fail. A sobering 9 out of 10 organizations fail to execute their strategy.

‍

I've already written about the 5 worst business strategy examples of all time and why many strategies fail. But today, we'll flip the script and take a look at products and strategies that delighted their target customers and wildly exceeded initial business goals.

From Tesla, Airbnb, and Toyota to Hubspot, Apple, and Paypal - let's dive into their business strategies and see why these 7 are the best ones I've ever seen:

But before we get into these business strategy examples, let's briefly go over some of the basics...

What is a business strategy?

A business strategy, also known as a company strategy, is a crucial aspect of running a successful business. It is a defined plan of action that outlines the direction a business wants to take and defines how the plan will cascade through the organization by the allocation of resources. The importance of a business strategy cannot be overstated as it sets the direction for the entire organization and helps to align all employees towards a common goal.

Overall, a business strategy serves as a roadmap for a company, guiding its actions and decisions to achieve its goals and stay competitive in the marketplace.
If you have any unanswered questions about business strategies, check our 🎁 Struggling to build your Business Strategy? Use our free customizable Business Strategy Template to easily develop and execute it! at the end of this article!
Best business strategies #1: Tesla Playing the long game

Conventional business logic is that when you're starting something new, you create a 'Minimal Viable Product' or MVP.

Essentially that means that you make a version of your product that is very light in terms of functionality and focuses mostly on showcasing your main competitive advantage.

It also means that the first version of your product usually has to be sold at a reasonably low starting price to compensate for its lack of features and generate interest.

Some organizations (including many tech startups) take this concept even further and base their growth strategy around a freemium pricing model. In this business model, the most basic version of the product or service is free, but any new or upgraded features cost money.

Tesla, on the other hand, did things the other way around. It's been known for a long time that Tesla's long-term goal is to be the biggest car company in the world. They know that in order to become the biggest by volume, they're going to have to succeed in the lower-end consumer car space (price tag US$30,000 or less).

But Tesla did not focus on this market first. It did not create a cheap low-featured version of their electric car (and therefore benefit from economies of scale).

Most valuable brands within the automotive sector worldwide in 2022 - source:

Instead, Tesla created the most luxurious, expensive, fully-featured sports car they could afford. That car was the Tesla Roadster, and for context, the newest generation of the Roadster will retail from upwards of US$200,000 for the base model.

This was the first car they ever produced - knowing that they couldn't achieve the necessary scale or efficiency to turn a profit (even at such a high price). However, such a car was in-line with Tesla's vision statement where they aim "to create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world's transition to electric vehicles."

Fast-forward to today, and Tesla dwarfs the competition as the most valuable car company in the world. So their differentiation strategy certainly seems to be working, but why?

What can we learn from Tesla?

The first thing to note is that Tesla has made incredible progress towards its business objective of mass-produced, affordable electric cars. They've even made a genuine annual profit for the first time in their history.

Secondly, much of Tesla's business strategy was actually forced upon it. There was no way they could have created a cost-effective mass-market electric car.

As a startup, they didn't have the resources or capabilities to reap the benefits of economies of scale. Because they were creating such a unique car, they couldn't rely on outsourcing or suppliers to gain mass-production benefits.

Fortunately, Tesla's supply chain strategy is one of the most brilliant moves they've made. They knew early on that batteries would present the biggest technological hurdle to their cars and the biggest bottleneck to production.

Rather than let this derail them, they took complete control of their supply chain by investing in battery manufacturers. This has the additional benefit of simplifying diversification as Tesla can use those same batteries in parallel business ventures such as their Powerwall.

Of course, Tesla's business strategy required vast capital and fundraising (Elon is rich but not quite rich enough to fund it all himself). That's where the marketing genius of Tesla kicks in.

For the most part, their marketing efforts are only partially about their cars. Tesla is seen as Elon Musk's personal brand, and that had an enormous impact on whether or not they got the investment they needed.
📚Learn more about Tesla in our Strategy Study: How Tesla Became The World's Most Valuable Automotive Company.
He's smart, divisive, wild, and ambitious. But whatever you think about Elon Musk, you'd be hard-pressed to traverse more than a couple of consecutive news cycles without seeing him on the front page. And that's a fantastic recipe for getting the attention of investors.

Tesla studied and adapted to the industry and business environment they would operate in. They knew their strengths, understood their market position, and built their strategy around their own findings instead of following conventional wisdom.

👉 Use the Tesla Strategy Plan Template to get inspired by Tesla's Strategy to build your own!

Best business strategies #2: Airbnb Forgetting all about scalability

Airbnb is one of the fastest-growing tech companies. Shortly after their IPO in December 2020, they reached a US$100B+ valuation, and the company has quite possibly changed the way we travel forever. But did you know they started out about as low-tech as you can get?

It all began with co-founders Brian and Joe renting out 3 air mattresses on their apartment's floor. They made $80 per guest. It seemed like a great idea for a startup, so they launched a website and invited other people to list their own mattresses for hire.

They got a few bookings here and there, but things didn't go well for the most part. So much so that in 2008, they resorted to selling cereal to make ends meet.

They had plenty of listings on the site and plenty of site traffic. Potential customers were out there, but they weren't making enough bookings.

They identified the most likely problem - the low quality of listings that were simply not enticing. So Brian and Joe decided to take matters into their own hands.

The co-founders grabbed their cameras and visited every one of their NYC listings. They persuaded the owners to let them take a ton of photographs of their places.

They touched them up a bit and uploaded them to the website, replacing the old, usually bad photos. Within a month of starting this strategy, sales doubled. Then tripled. The rest is history.

What can we learn from Airbnb?

The thing I love the most about this story is that it opposes one of the most commonly stated principles of building a tech startup - "everything must be scalable".

What Brian and Joe did was anything but scalable. But it got them enough traction to prove that their concept could work.
Source: Airbnb third quarter 2022 financial results
Later, they did scale their initial solution by hiring young photographers in major locations and paying them to take professional photos of owners' listings (at no charge to the owner).

They also added a bunch of guidelines and articles on the site to educate owners on how they can make more money by taking better photos.

Airbnb's story shows that business strategies don't have to be grand and super long-term affairs.

They can revolve around a specific challenge preventing the business from taking off. Once the challenge is solved, the company progresses on its roadmap and integrates the solution into the revamped business strategy.

👉 Use the Airbnb Strategy Plan Template to get inspired by Airbnb's Strategy to build your own!

Best business strategies #3: Toyota Humility can be the best business strategy

In 1973, the 'Big Three' car makers in the USA had over 82% of the market share. Today they have less than 50%. Why? Because of the aggressive (and unexpected) entry of Japanese carmakers into the US market in the 1970s - led by Toyota.

Cars are big, heavy, and expensive to ship around in large numbers. That's one of the reasons the US market was caught off guard when Toyota started selling Japanese-made cars in the US at lower prices than they could match.

The car industry was a huge contributor to the US economy, so one of the first reactions from the government was the implementation of protectionist taxes on all imported cars - thus making Japanese cars as expensive as locally made cars.

But the tactic failed. Within a few years, Toyota had managed to establish production on US soil, thus eliminating the need to pay any of the hefty new import taxes. At first, US carmakers weren't all that worried.

Surely by having to move production to the US, the costs for the Japanese carmakers would be roughly the same as those of the local car companies.

Well, that didn't happen. Toyota continued its cost leadership strategy. It still manufactured cars for significantly less money than US companies could.

Their finely honed production processes were so efficient and lean that they could beat US carmakers at their own game. You've probably heard of the notion of ' continuous improvement'. In manufacturing, Toyota is pretty much synonymous with the term.

US Car Sales Graph- January through May 2021 vs 2020

Source: GOODCARBADCAR

What can we learn from Toyota?

Most business success stories involve bold moves and daring ideas. But not this one.

Toyota spent years studying the production lines of American carmakers such as Ford. They knew that the US car industry was more advanced and efficient than the Japanese industry. So they decided to be patient.

They studied their competitors and tried to copy what the Americans did so well. They blended these processes with their strengths and came up with something even better.
📚Learn more about Toyota in our Strategy Study: How Toyota Went From Humble Beginnings To Automotive Giant.
Toyota proved that knowing one's weaknesses can be the key to success - and be one of the best business strategies you can ever deploy.

Not just that. Can you name a single famous executive at Toyota? I can't. And one of the reasons is that Toyota's number one corporate value is humility. It helped them crack the US market, and it runs deep in the organization - from top management to assembly workers.

Toyota's success is based on continuously improving its functional level strategy, which focuses on day-to-day operations, decisions, and goals. They understood that the bigger picture consists of thousands of small tasks and employees.

They took a big goal, such as "becoming a cost leader in our category without compromising quality", and ensured that their mission impacted every level of the organization while staying true to their core values.

👉 Use the Toyota Strategy Plan Template to get inspired by Toyota's Strategy to build your own!

Best business strategies #4: HubSpot Creating an industry then dominating it

HubSpot might not be as famous as Airbnb or Toyota. However, being valued at $22.72 billion in 2022 means, they're certainly no slouch.

And most impressively, they've become such a successful company in an industry that didn't even exist before they invented it.

Most of the marketing we experience is known as 'interruption' marketing. This is where adverts are pushed out to you whether you like it or not. Think tv adverts, billboards, Google Adwords, etc.

In 2004, HubSpot created a software platform that aimed to turn this marketing concept on its head. The HubSpot marketing platform helped companies write blog posts, create eBooks, and share their content on social media.

The theory was that if you could produce enough good quality content to pull people to your website, then enough of them might stick around to take a look at the product you're actually selling. Useful content created specifically for your target market should also increase customer retention.

This approach was a big deal. I can tell you from personal experience that 'interruption marketing' is really expensive. We pay Google around $10 each time someone clicks on one of our AdWords adverts. Remember, that's $10 per click, not per sale. It adds up pretty fast.

On the other hand, this blog receives more than one million clicks per year. Each article keeps generating clicks at no additional costs once it's written and published.

Inbound marketing basically saved our business - so it's fair to say that this example is pretty close to my heart!

Hubspot coined the term 'inbound marketing' - and long story short, they're now one of the biggest SaaS companies in the world. But that's not the interesting part of the story.

What can we learn from HubSpot?

Hubspot's successful business strategy is based on a new type of marketing. Now here's the twist that separates it from generic strategies: Hubspot used their new marketing approach to market their own company, whose sole purpose was to sell a platform that created that new type of marketing. Head hurting yet? Mine too.

Most companies would have taken that new approach and applied it to something they were already selling. But instead, the HubSpot guys decided to monetize the marketing strategy itself.

They took a whole bunch of concepts that already existed (blogging, eBooks, etc.) and packaged them into an innovative product - 'a new way of doing things'.

They created an awesome narrative and proved how powerful their new way of marketing could be by building a business worth billions around it.

Their best and biggest case study was their own product, and they had all the numbers and little details to showcase to the world it really works.

👉 Use the Hubspot Strategy Plan Template to get inspired by Hubspot's Strategy to build your own!

Best business strategies #5: Apple iPhone launch shows tremendous restraint

Ok, I hear you - this is such an obvious inclusion for the 'best business strategies'. But as one of the first people to adopt smartphones when they came out in the 1990s, this is something else that's close to my heart.

I remember using Windows Mobile (the original version) on a touchscreen phone with a stylus - and it was horrible. I loved the fact that I had access to my email and my calendar on my phone.

But I hated that my phone was the size of a house and required you to press the screen with ox-like strength before any kind of input would register.

Thankfully, a few years later, BlackBerry came along and started to release phones that were not only smart but much more usable. Sony Ericsson, Nokia, HTC, and a whole host of other manufacturers came out with reasonably solid smartphones well before 2007 when Apple finally released the iPhone.

I remember arriving at the office one day, and my boss had somehow gotten his hands on one of the first iPhones to be sold in the UK. I was shocked. Normally I was the early adopter. I was the one showing people what the future looked like.

Your market isn't well defined and doesn't even know your product type exists.

If you have a market, it's probably just the early adopters - by definition, that's a niche market.

Technology will often hold you back rather than power you to success.

Every business that comes after you will have the advantage of learning from your mistakes.

And yet, here was this guy in his mid 50's, with his thick glasses, showing off a bit of technology that I'd never even seen before.

Apple could easily have created a phone much earlier than it did and sold it to me and a few other early adopters.
Bonus reading: 📚Learn more about Apple in our Strategy Study: How Apple Became the Top Non-Corporate Tech Brand. 18 Free Strategic Plan Templates (Excel & Cascade)
But it didn't. Instead, it waited until the technology was mature enough to sell it to my boss - someone who is far less tech-savvy than me. But also far more financially equipped to spend plenty of money on new tech products.

What can we learn from Apple?

The big learning here is that first-mover advantage is often not an advantage. A well-executed 'follower' strategy will outperform a less well-executed 'first mover' strategy every single time.

1. PayPal spends less money on technology than even a medium-sized bank does. Yet its technology platform is far superior.

2. Consumers trust PayPal as much if not more than they trust their bank. Even though PayPal has been around for a fraction of the time.

3. When a customer uses their PayPal account, the bank has no clue what the customer bought. The transaction appears on the bank statement as merely 'PayPal'. That gives PayPal all the power when it comes to data mining.

4. PayPal is quicker to market with just about any kind of payment innovation.

5. PayPal refuses to partner with banks - instead opting to partner with retailers directly.

One of the most common misconceptions in the startup world is that it's the 'idea' that matters the most. The truth is, the world's most successful companies were rarely the original innovators. I'm looking at you, Nokia. At you, Kodak. And at you as well, Yahoo.

In fact, being first is probably a disadvantage more often than it's an advantage. Why?

People, and especially tech companies, get carried away with being first and forget that it's a competitive position with pros and cons. Deciding to be a 'first mover' or 'smart follower' is crucial for strategic planning.

It's a decision that should be based on research such as swot analysis and not on pride or blind optimism as it can make all the difference between success and failure.

👉 Use the Apple Strategy Plan Template to get inspired by Apple's Strategy to build your own!

Best business strategies #6: PayPal Daring to challenge the status quo

There are certain industries that you just don't mess with. Industries like aerospace, big supermarkets, semiconductors, and banking. Actually, banking is probably the toughest industry to try to disrupt because the barrier to entry is huge.

You need mountains of capital, a ton of regulatory approval, and years of building trust with your customers around their most important asset - cash.

Banks are old. Their business models have been essentially unchanged for hundreds of years. They're insanely powerful and almost impossible to displace. But for some crazy reason - PayPal didn't seem to care.

I can tell you from personal experience (I worked for a bank) that the name which strikes the most fear into the executives of the banks is PayPal.
Market share of online payment processing software technologies worldwide Sep 2022. Source:
Here's why:

In a very short time, PayPal has emerged as a new payment method - giving a very real alternative to your trusty debit or credit card. PayPal has also become one of the best payment platforms for digital nomads, tapping into one of the fastest-growing business trends in the world.

But how the heck did it manage to do it? Let's take a look at why PayPal had one of the best business strategies ever.

What can we learn from PayPal?

There are two main reasons behind PayPal's success story.

The first is simple - stone-cold balls. They got a fairly lucky break when they accidentally became the favored payment provider for eBay transactions. A few years later, Paypal was even acquired by eBay for US$1.5bn.

eBay was smart enough to mostly leave Paypal alone, and their newfound sense of boldness saw them strike a series of deals with other online retailers to try and replicate the success they'd had with eBay.
📚Learn more about Spotify in our Strategy Study: How Spotify Became The Standard In Convenience And Accessibility.
This is where the second reason comes in. Partnerships. Banks had always been wary about forming partnerships with retailers directly. Instead, they relied on their scheme partners (Visa / MasterCard) to do it for them.

They didn't want the hassle of managing so many different relationships and were extremely confident that credit and debit cards would always be at the heart of the payment system. But the problem was that MasterCard was already working on a partnership with PayPal.

Today, PayPal commends an amazing 54% share of the payment processing market. Almost all of that growth has come from their direct relationships with large and small merchants.

It shows that even in the toughest and most competitive markets, you can still find opportunities worth exploring and uncover a key to a very good business strategy.

👉 Use the PayPal Strategy Plan Template to get inspired by Paypal's Strategy to build your own!

Best business strategies #7: Spotify Changing the rules of the music industry

Identifying and targeting a specific market or industry

Developing a unique value proposition

Creating a business plan with relevant focus areas to achieve the business objectives

Define the specific actions that will ensure those objectives are met

Determine the measures or KPIs that will drive success and ensure execution

Continuously monitoring and adjusting the strategy to meet the organizational goals

Before Spotify came along, the world of online music streaming was pretty lackluster. Sure, you had platforms like Napster and The Pirate Bay, but they were illegal and you never knew when they would get shut down. And even if you did use them, you were still pretty limited in terms of what you could listen to.

On the other hand, you had platforms like iTunes and Pandora, but they had their own set of problems. With iTunes, you had to pay for each and every song, which was a total bummer. And Pandora, you couldn't listen to whatever song you wanted, it was more like a radio station.

Basically, people were craving for a better way to listen to music, one that was legal and gave them the freedom to choose what they wanted to listen to. And that's where Spotify comes in.

When Spotify launched in 2008, it was a game-changer. They took the best parts of platforms like Napster and The Pirate Bay (the ability to share music), but made it legal. And they also took the best parts of platforms like iTunes and Pandora (the ability to choose what you want to listen to), and made it better. As we all know, it turned out to be quite an effective business strategy.

What can we learn from Spotify?

Spotify nailed it by putting their customers at the forefront of their business strategy. They saw that people were fed up with the limitations of other music streaming platforms and decided to create a service that put the customer's needs and wants first. They invested in technology and engineers to ensure the experience was seamless and easy for listeners, and it worked like a charm. People flocked to Spotify like bees to honey because it gave them the freedom and control over their music choices that they craved.

Another big part of Spotify's success was (and still is) their freemium business model. They offered a free version of the service, but also had premium options for those who wanted more features and services. This allowed them to attract a huge user base and generate revenue from both the free and paying users. This model helped Spotify grow its user base and revenue quickly, more than exceeding their business goals.

And let's not forget about their data-driven approach. They invested heavily in data analysis and machine learning, which allowed them to create algorithms to predict which songs and artists users will like and recommend them accordingly - going one step further into user personalization. This helped to drive engagement and loyalty, making Spotify the go-to platform for discovering new music and creating playlists.

👉 Use the Spotify Strategy Plan Template to get inspired by Spotify's Strategy to build your own!

More excellent business strategy examples

You just got familiar with my personal selection of top business strategies. But these 7 are just the tip of the iceberg! If you're looking for more examples and lessons from the very best businesses in the world, download the free 56 strategies report. It's a selection of cases that covers plenty of really interesting situations. Trust me, you won't regret it.

FAQs

What's the difference between a business strategy and a corporate strategy?

A business strategy refers to the business plan for a specific business unit level within a company, while a corporate strategy deals with the overall direction and scope of the entire organization at the functional level.

A successful business strategy focuses on achieving specific business objectives within a certain market or industry, and is often developed as part of a larger business plan. While a corporate-level strategy focuses on achieving corporate objectives and aligning the entire organization's key components to achieve competitive advantage and meet organizational goals.

What are the key components of a successful business strategy?

A successful business strategy includes the following key components:

How does a business strategy contribute to achieving corporate objectives?

A business strategy is designed to achieve specific business objectives within a certain market or industry, which in turn contributes to achieving the overall corporate objectives of the organization.

By aligning the efforts of the individual business units with the overall direction and scope of the company, a business strategy helps to create a unified approach towards achieving competitive advantage and meeting organizational goals.

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The 7 Best Business Strategy Examples I've Ever Seen

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The best business strategy examples that I've seen. The list includes corporate strategy examples from Tesla, Apple, Toyota, HubSpot, PayPal & Airbnb.

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This was one of my favorite modules so far. I am currently pursuing my Bachelor's Degree in Business Management with a concentration on Human Resources. This has been one of the most relevant courses I've taken so far. I hope to become an HR Manager for a large scale company that helps people.
Growing up I thought I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. My role model was my nana and she taught for over 50 years. She inspired many people in my family to pursue a career in teaching. When I began college, I was enrolled in elementary education. Although I adored the children I got to work with, I did not agree with the course plan you are forced to teach as there is not much flexibility. I also do not believe that teachers are adequately compensated.
Working at my last employer, I found my passion for training. During the onset of COVID we transitioned to working from home. I had to adapt to training remotely so I was given the ability to make my own training material. I did so well with the training material and the presentations that a job was created for me called a Performance Coach. This is what inspired me to want to work in Human Resources. I would prefer to find a position in training and development.

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Motivation? What is that? This is one of the areas I struggle with the most. In the Ted Talk about procrastination, I am in instant gratification monkey. Want an example??? This Visual Journal is due tomorrow and I've known it was due for months, but here I am finishing it up the day before its due. I'm a full fledged panic monster now though.
I located this video that offered an equation to help keep your employees productive:
P = M x A x E
Performance = Motivation x Ability x Environment

To reach a high level of performance an employee must want to perform the job well, have the ability to perform the job effectively, and have the materials, resources, and equipment (environment) to do the job.

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While reflecting on great leaders of my lifetime with my mother she mentioned Mary Kay Ash. Mary Kay Ash was a trailblazer for woman in business. She was employed with Worlds Gifts for nearly a decade and quit in protest because another man she trained was promoted and given a significantly higher salary than her.
She ended up launching her own skin care brand and inspired woman to be their own bosses in the process. When she opened her first store she employed 9 people. The Mary Kay Corporation now employs more than 1.6 million people worldwide. She grew her business doing at-home cosmetic parties. She used employee incentive programs such as her famous pink Cadillac which was gifted to her top sales representatives. She built a huge empire and helped many other women in the process. Mary Kay Ash possessed great leadership skills.

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I stumbled across this video by Edgar Schein while reviewing his four common elements of an organization. Humble inquiry is something I've used my entire life, but I was unaware there was a term for it. I am a passive person and often have a hard time of asserting myself. I have always found it was easier to ask questions as opposed to telling someone what to do.
“Our culture emphasizes that leaders must be wiser, set direction, and articulate values, all of which predisposes them to tell rather than ask,” Schein wrote in his book “Humble Inquiry.” When I was in a leadership role, I used this regularly. I also used Humble Inquiry while making friends as well. It was always easier for me to ask others about themselves instead of talking about myself.

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This video was very interesting. It explains the evolution of Human Resources and what Human Resources is responsible for now.
Technology has changed Human Resources in multiple ways. There is now so much more data available to make tables and charts. This is used to analyze trends and make educated business decisions.
Hiring has changed significantly as well. HR Managers would put an ad in the paper and hop for the best. With social media you can now thoroughly research a candidate prior to making a decision to interview them or not. Potential candidates can also use social media to research the company as well. Each employee is a brand ambassador for your company and what they post about the company is important. The role of Human Resources has changed very quickly and will continue to do so as technology advances.

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The role of HR has evolved. Meet the 21st century HR Leader

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What traits do you think make a great leader? I have had my share of managers and none of them were alike. I learned management skills from each of them though. Some taught me what not to do as a manager while I had others I strive to emulate.
Leaders should be personable and charismatic. It's difficult to get people to listen and organize if you are unable to communicate effectively. Integrity is an essential trait as well. It's important to be honest and have the ability to admit when you make mistakes instead of using someone or something as a scapegoat.

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What are the 5 Best Tools for Performance Management?

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What are the 5 Best Tools for Performance Management?

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There are so many different performance tools to choose from. How do you know what to choose? I found this video very interesting. Bernard Marr gave the following tips:

Start with a goal framework.

Define your main objectives.

Develop metrics or KPIs.

Performance discussions.

Rewards and recognition

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What Are The 5 Best Tools For Performance Management?

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What are company standards? They define how your company acts and can be guidelines that help build your brand such as quality, safety, and performance. It's important that a companies standards follow their mission statement and business objectives.
When I look for my next employer I plan to review the companies standards to ensure they align with my own. Previously, I was just looking for a pay check so I never put much thought into what the company stood for. This often put me in some situations that could have been prevented had I done my research.
I plan to look for employment with a company that is doing good in their community. I recently saw a video about a company that builds homes for the impoverished using 3D printers. I imagine that job is so fulfilling to know that you are actually helping people. This is very important to me.

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The Effects of Management Controls on Productivity

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The Effects of Management Controls on Productivity

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This article provides many different types of management controls and their individual effects on productivity. It provides 4 different means for controlling productivity and monitoring individuals growth:

Quality Management Systems

Balanced Scorecards

Employee Interviews

Employee Reviews

In the past, my employers used QMS and employee reviews. Although my jobs were in different settings they each required I reach a specific quota per day. When I worked in a warehouse when I was younger I had to pick a certain amount of items per hour. When I was employed with an auto finance company, I had to call a certain amount of customers a day. I found this measure to be effective. I knew what was expected of me and I knew what I had to do in order to make it.

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The Effects of Management Controls on Productivity

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Mangers have various means of controlling productivity and monitoring the individuals under their direction. Some controls are sophisticated and involve process improvement techniques, while others are standard activities seen in all types of organizations. Management must promote productivity in order for businesses ...