You may remember my discussion many moons ago of the decline of Starbucks in Australia (and beyond). I sold the Aussie tale as one of poor assumptions about market similarities and failed adaptation. More broadly their wave of store closures across the US (and beyond) can be seen as an example of a firm overextending... 

Hit and run is a big part of baseball.  You can make giant strides against your opponent if you execute it properly.  Of course the risk is, if not done well, you lose your advantage.  It’s also important that there be an element of surprise.  It’s not that your opponent doesn’t know you may... 

In part 1 of “How personal should you get with clients?” we looked into keeping your perspective as an external advisor, making sure that a water cooler-talk does not get you hosed for disclosing confidential data or bad-mouthing your company and into being aware of the potential pitfalls of calling the client “John”,...