by Stuart Cross | May 29, 2020 | Business Rocks
The blacksmith, Francis Bowes, died in Poulton-le-Sands, a small Lancashire fishing village, in 1732. I know this because Mr Bowes made a bequest in his will to start a village school, which, some 240 years later, I attended. Mr Bowes’s generosity was not only a...
by Stuart Cross | May 22, 2020 | Business Rocks
Yesterday, in an idle moment browsing the internet, I came across this photo. It shows the band Prefab Sprout playing to a small crowd in London in early 1984. What really made me stop and look closely at the picture, however, was the fact that it also shows the back...
by Stuart Cross | May 15, 2020 | Business Rocks
I’m in the process of concluding a short, focused post-Covid strategy project with a client. We’ve been working on how the business can continue to grow and thrive through the pandemic and the inevitable economic downturn. We’ve made a lot of progress in a few weeks...
by Stuart Cross | May 8, 2020 | Business Rocks
I’ve been leading some scenario planning as part of a short, focused strategy project with a client. The executive team want to understand how their business can win in the post-crisis world and get to grips with the scale of the challenge ahead. The four scenarios...
by Stuart Cross | May 1, 2020 | Business Rocks
When JF Kennedy became president of the US in 1961, the country lagged well behind the Soviet Union in the space race. Yet, in May of that year, Kennedy announced to Congress his intention of putting a man the moon and returning them safely to Earth, before the end of...
by Stuart Cross | Apr 24, 2020 | Business Rocks
There are two ways to look at the post-Covid world. The first is to look through the lens of risk. After all, there is likely to be a significant recession in most countries. How deep and long-lasting the downturn proves to be is still up for debate, but most...
by Stuart Cross | Apr 17, 2020 | Business Rocks
Crises change markets. In 2008, Aldi, the German-based discount supermarket, had a 1.6% share of the UK grocery market. Then the financial crash happened. As a result, shoppers looked for value and found it in spades at Aldi. The retailer hasn’t looked back and has...
by Stuart Cross | Apr 10, 2020 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: A few years ago, I was invited to the opening of a new concept store. The store looked great and the initial customer reaction was extremely positive. I turned to one of the project managers who was there and asked him if he’d been closely...
by Stuart Cross | Apr 3, 2020 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: Over the past month, companies have been working round the clock to respond to the challenges of the coronavirus crisis. Where possible, they have been working out how best to keep some sort of show on the road. Otherwise, business leaders...
by Stuart Cross | Mar 27, 2020 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: When I worked for Boots the Chemists, the UK’s largest pharmacy chain and health and beauty retailer, the company ran a major supply chain initiative. It was a multi-year programme and one of the key changes was a huge new warehouse, which was...
by Stuart Cross | Mar 23, 2020 | Business Rocks, Strategy
Last week, I shared the outline of my 6-Day Strategy process, which gives a fast, focused but robust approach to setting a compelling strategy for your business. The first question that any strategy review needs to answer is, “What is happening here?” and so the first...
by Stuart Cross | Mar 20, 2020 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: At this stage, no-one quite knows how long the coronavirus will last, let alone the time it will take for life and the economy to return to ‘normal’. One thing’s for sure, though: the businesses that will recover best will be those that...
by Stuart Cross | Mar 13, 2020 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: The UK government’s approach to managing the impact of the coronavirus is controversial. Critics say that it is too relaxed and that the government has failed to get a proper grip. And then they point to the more draconian measures that have...
by Stuart Cross | Mar 6, 2020 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: As the US presidential race gets into gear, I see that many people are bemoaning the fact that all the leading candidates – Trump, Sanders and Biden – are white men in their 70s. The ‘pale, male and stale’ accusations are coming thick and...
by Stuart Cross | Feb 28, 2020 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: I’m involved in SportsAid, a charity which supports up and coming athletic talent and helps to fund the UK’s future Olympic stars. Earlier this week, I attended an event where the charity had invited around 60 parents of some young athletes to...
by Stuart Cross | Feb 21, 2020 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: We’ve been on a family holiday this week, skiing in France. We know the resort well, but have had several days when low cloud, heavy fog and poor visibility has limited our ability to ski at full speed. In fact, even on the pistes we’ve skied...
by Stuart Cross | Feb 14, 2020 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: The desire for instant results in both personal and business life is endemic. Want to lose weight, find a new relationship, get rich or become a social media star? No problem, there are millions of people promoting something to help you do...
by Stuart Cross | Feb 7, 2020 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: Sustainability has been on the corporate agenda for two decades or more. Yet, while some companies have brought sustainability into the core of their business, for most, sustainability still sits at the periphery of the organisation. It’s...
by Stuart Cross | Dec 23, 2019 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: I don’t know about you, but I find it almost impossible to name my favourite piece of music. There are just so many contenders. Off the top of my head, Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads, Common People by Pulp, Life on Mars? by David Bowie,...
by Stuart Cross | Dec 13, 2019 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: When I first became the Head of Strategy for Boots the Chemists in 2000, the UK retailer had just found itself in the middle of a supermarket price war. From a position where Boots had slightly higher prices than the Tesco, Asda and the other...
