Strategy and Resource Management 战略和资源管理
One of the greatest lessons that Richard Rumelt emphasizes in his book regards how businesses and organizations across the globe use their resources particularly with regard to the development and implementation of their strategies. In this regard, he argues that firms should concentrate on a few needs that have a maximum impact on their operations rather than spread these resources to address a wide array of needs. Rumelt (2011) acknowledges that most firms across the globe spread their resources to cater for diverse needs rather than concentrate them on just a few of these needs. The argument behind this spread of resources is founded on the concepts and principles of diversification, which secures a firm from uncertainty in the event of failure of one or more of its products or services on market. Whereas this is the case, there is a need to observe that spreading of resources within a firm could undermine its ability to operate efficiently and effectively. For example, a firm that focuses on a range of customers on the market could soon find itself constrained by the fact that rather than providing quality products or services to its customers, it could end up providing products and/or services that have average or low quality. This poses a great risk to the firm in question, especially if the competitors are offering similar products and/or services but guaranteeing high quality to customers. Capon and Go (2016) affirm this in their argument that when assigning resources during the development and implementation of strategy, firms need to adopt selectivity and concentration principles whereby they chose the aspects that critical to their success and then concentrate their resources on these aspects. For instance, a company such as Apple Inc. has consistently concentrated its resources on premium brands since it targets a high-end market.
理查德·鲁梅尔特（Richard Rumelt）在书中强调的最重要的教训之一是，全球各地的企业和组织如何利用其资源，特别是在制定和实施其战略方面。在这方面，他认为，企业应该专注于对其运营产生更大影响的少数需求，而不是分散这些资源以满足广泛的需求。Rumelt（2011）承认，全球大多数公司都将其资源用于满足不同的需求，而不是只专注于其中的一小部分需求。这种资源分散背后的论据是基于多元化的概念和原则，多元化使一家公司在其一种或多种产品或服务在市场上出现故障时免受不确定性的影响。鉴于这种情况，有必要观察到，企业内部资源的分散可能会削弱其高效运作的能力。例如，一家专注于市场上一系列客户的公司可能很快就会发现自己受到这样一个事实的约束，即它可能最终提供的产品和/或服务质量一般或较低，而不是向客户提供高质量的产品或服务。这给相关公司带来了巨大的风险，尤其是如果竞争对手提供类似的产品和/或服务，但保证客户的高质量。Capon和Go（2016）在其论点中确认了这一点，即在制定和实施战略期间分配资源时，企业需要采用选择性和集中原则，从而选择对其成功至关重要的方面，然后将资源集中在这些方面。例如，苹果公司（Apple Inc.）等公司一直将资源集中在高端品牌上，因为它瞄准的是高端市场。
Rumelt’s advice on the need for firms to concentrate their resources on fewer and specific aspects of their strategy is relevant and useful in a number of ways. To begin with, concentrating resources on a specific aspect of the firm’s strategy creates a platform to enhance learning and knowledge generation and as such, nurture the firm’s excellence in that particular area. For example, Person (2010) notes that spreading out resources on more than three strategies could undermine the firm’s ability to generate knowledge and master a particular strategy, which hinders its ability to generate efficiency and synergy from such a strategy. Therefore, through concentrating resources on a particular aspects or strategy, firms manage to facilitate learning and enhance their level of excellence in the particular area. Furthermore, through concentrating resource in a particular area or strategy, firms establish a framework to improve their ability to innovate.
鲁梅尔特关于企业需要将资源集中在其战略较少和具体方面的建议在许多方面都是相关和有用的。首先，将资源集中在公司战略的某一特定方面可以创建一个平台，以加强学习和知识的生成，从而培养公司在该特定领域的卓越能力。例如，Person（2010）指出，将资源分散在三种以上的战略上可能会削弱公司创造知识和掌握特定战略的能力，从而阻碍公司从此类战略中产生效率和协同效应的能力。因此，通过将资源集中于特定方面或战略，企业能够促进学习并提高其在特定领域的卓越水平。此外，通过将资源集中于特定领域或战略，企业建立了一个框架，以提高其创新能力。
Understanding the role of power in a strategy 理解权力在战略中的作用
Another critical advice that Rumelt gives in his book is the fact that it is impossible to develop and implement an effective strategy is such a strategy is incapable of giving the firm power over other firms in the market. Rumelt (2011) observes that most firms, when analyzing their competitors, focus on the strengths that such competitors have. For example, when evaluating competitors that rely on low cost strategies to conquer the markets, firms are likely to consider elements such as the economies of scale that such firms have. Whereas this is the case, one of the questions that emerge is whether firms that have managed to conquer markets and establish their brands have weaknesses that could render them powerless in such markets. In his analysis, Rumelt (2011) reiterate that firms need to go beyond evaluating the strengths of their competitors and analyze their weaknesses since such weaknesses exist. In this case, it is only through the understanding the weaknesses of competitors that firms can enhance their power on the market (Sirmon, Hitt, Arregle & Campbell, 2010). Arguably, understanding competitors’ weaknesses enable firms to break the vicious cycle of developing and implementing strategies in response to competitors’ strategies. For example, when a competitor reduce the price of its products and/or services, a firm that understand this competitor’s may not necessarily need to respond with price reduction in response. On the contrary, it can exploit the competitor’s weakness to gain competitive advantage.
鲁梅尔特在书中提出的另一个重要建议是，不可能制定和实施有效的战略，因为这样的战略无法让企业在市场上凌驾于其他企业之上。Rumelt（2011）观察到，大多数公司在分析竞争对手时，都会关注这些竞争对手的优势。例如，当评估依赖于低成本战略来征服市场的竞争者时，企业很可能会考虑诸如这些公司所拥有的规模经济等要素。尽管如此，出现的一个问题是，成功征服市场并建立品牌的企业是否存在弱点，从而使它们在此类市场上无能为力。在他的分析中，鲁梅尔特（2011）重申，企业需要超越评估竞争对手的优势，分析他们的弱点，因为这些弱点是存在的。在这种情况下，只有通过了解竞争对手的弱点，企业才能增强其市场实力（Sirmon、Hitt、Arregle&Campbell，2010）。可以说，了解竞争对手的弱点可以使企业打破针对竞争对手战略制定和实施战略的恶性循环。例如，当竞争对手降低其产品和/或服务的价格时，了解该竞争对手价格的公司可能不一定需要以降价作为回应。相反，它可以利用竞争对手的弱点获得竞争优势。