Planning without the ideal strategy in mind (no. 42 in our list of IP mistakes)
What is an ideal strategy and would you know one if it bit you? Why bother with it anyway?
The ideal strategy is a strategy that provides 100% of the desired benefit and 0% drawback. It is a theoretical target given the mathematical reality that 1/0 (where whole benefit = 1, and no drawback = 0) does not exist – all strategies have drawbacks.
A key question to ask, when planning IP strategy or any other strategy, is whether your approach takes you closer to the theoretical ideal strategy or further away from it. If your strategy takes your further away from it, then the odds that your strategy will fail rises.
For example, if you decide to accept the burdens of patenting internationally without also aligning international patenting to a specific business strategy and a resource dedicated to handle the added work, than it is likely you will feel the drawbacks of the strategy at a higher level then you will experience the benefits. You may very well end up worse off than if you had done nothing new, even if by all other logic international patenting seemed the right thing to do.
(This is number 42 in our list of IP mistakes and how to avoid them.)
[image credit: Stuck in Customs]
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Strategic management is an ongoing process that assesses the business and the industries in which the company is involved; assesses its competitors and sets goals and strategies to meet all existing and potential competitors; and then reassesses each strategy annually or quarterly [i.e. regularly] to determine how it has been implemented and whether it has succeeded or needs replacement by a new strategy to meet changed circumstances, new technology, new competitors, a new economic environment., or a new social, financial, or political environment Most people work hard for a lifetime, yet the majority (65%) can’t stop working at retirement age because of financial reasons. Let’s be honest with ourselves. You’ve been working at your career or profession for decades, but how financially free are you?
This can lead to a classic strategy decision. If the strategic course you are on now cannot lead to success on your own terms, and charting a new course could allow you to succeed on your terms and could also make you much worse off, then what do you do?
This is a question that many people are asking themselves in the economic downturn considering that accepting a position substantially lower than a previous position could all but guarantee working past retirement age…yet holding out could ruin any possibility of retirement at all…or could lead to getting the career back on the right track if turned around soon enough. In any case, and in any situation, the ideal gives a target from which to make the best plan possible out of even situations that are far from ideal, both for individuals and organizations.