This was spoken about during a mini-course at a business school.
It’s simple yet so true: there is no inherently right or wrong strategy. You can’t know the outcome of any strategy until you put it into action. But one thing is clear—there’s a significant difference between having a strategy and not having one.
When it comes to selling something, you can’t just do it randomly and hope for the best. Strategy means clearly defining your target audience, crafting a compelling sales pitch, and carefully considering how to differentiate yourself from competitors. Without this, simply cold-calling every prospect you can find won’t lead to success.
In Japanese business culture, there’s still a strong tendency to rely on a traditional “guts-based” mentality—believing that effort and persistence alone will lead to results. While I agree that effort is essential, relying solely on guts won’t help you win in international competition. More importantly, it won’t improve productivity or efficiency.
Before worrying about whether a strategy is right or wrong, what matters is creating the best possible strategy and moving forward with it.
