How Does One *Study What Big Corporations Are Doing?

[Jimmy Two-Times™]

Like the title says, how does one study what big corp is doing?

Where do I go to find strategies for a novice to potentially grow into what my vision of my small company could be?


Thoughts?

 

[Obreh Winfrey]

Check news about that company. Any acquisitions they make, things they invest in, stories about what their competition is doing should clue you in.

 

[Jimmy Two-Times™]

Check news about that company. Any acquisitions they make, things they invest in, stories about what their competition is doing should clue you in.

What publications/outlets do you trust?

 

[Obreh Winfrey]

What publications/outlets do you trust?

I'm just spitballing I've never done it myself. I'd imagine you could do a general Google search and just filter for news. I doubt you're going to find something that's off the wall blasphemy. Stories should corroborate with one another.

 

[⠀X ⠀]

Read the biographies of entrepreneurs and CEO's. Also watch any documentaries and profiles on them. MSNBC and Bloomberg does a lot of them. There are also a lot of YouTube interviews out there

 

[phcitywarrior]

You want to keep abreast with general business trends and how the markets are moving. Financial Times and WSJ will keep you abreast with the large business stories and from there, you should be able to spot trends e.g. market consolidation in industry verticals.

Read a companies 10-K. It’s a filing they have to put together every year for the SEC that outlines their broad strategy.

But really, you want to study trends within a market not just a single company.

 

[Jimmy Two-Times™]

You want to keep abreast with general business trends and how the markets are moving. Financial Times and WSJ will keep you abreast with the large business stories and from there, you should be able to spot trends e.g. market consolidation in industry verticals.

Read a companies 10-K. It’s a filing they have to put together every year for the SEC that outlines their broad strategy.

But really, you want to study trends within a market not just a single company.

 

[get these nets]

But really, you want to study trends within a market not just a single company.

exactly

If you head a small company, studying the market can help you figure out where your niche could be.

 

[Panther]

Like the title says, how does one study what big corp is doing?

Where do I go to find strategies for a novice to potentially grow into what my vision of my small company could be?


Thoughts?

What industry

 

[Jimmy Two-Times™]

What industry

Food industry. But, I want to know this life skill so I can apply it to other business ventures.

 

[phcitywarrior]

Food industry. But, I want to know this life skill so I can apply it to other business ventures.

Food industry is broad. It'll be important to try an understand the components and products of the industry you want understanding of. What are the trends on the consumer side, supplier side, etc? Is the industry growing, shrinking, who are the major players etc? What is the future outlook

Example: Say you wanted to focus on the Chocolate industry, then you could look to understand:

1. Big B2C companies: Hershey, Cadbury, Nestle, Mars. How are they performing?
2. Top markets: USA, France, Belgium, Switzerland, UK. What are the trends?
3. Where are the raw materials sourced and what are the trends in that space: e.g. Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire are the two top exporters of raw cocoa. Oil palm is also used in some chocolates as a stabilizer, Malaysia and Indonesia are the biggest producers etc.
4. What are trends in chocolate consumption: Are people switching to other substitutes e.g. candy or other sweets, are people cutting back on sugar, have consumer tastes changed?
5. What are the key financials for the space e.g. prices in commodities market that are key to chocolate production e.g cocoa, sugar etc
6. What are the distribution channels within the chocolate industry?

You'll want to get a framework of understanding a market and then trying to answer some of the questions I posed. Get an understanding of the market, spot an arbitrage and then execute a strategy.

 

[Jimmy Two-Times™]

Food industry is broad. It'll be important to try an understand the components and products of the industry you want understanding of. What are the trends on the consumer side, supplier side, etc? Is the industry growing, shrinking, who are the major players etc? What is the future outlook

Example: Say you wanted to focus on the Chocolate industry, then you could look to understand:

1. Big B2C companies: Hershey, Cadbury, Nestle, Mars. How are they performing?
2. Top markets: USA, France, Belgium, Switzerland, UK. What are the trends?
3. Where are the raw materials sourced and what are the trends in that space: e.g. Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire are the two top exporters of raw cocoa. Oil palm is also used in some chocolates as a stabilizer, Malaysia and Indonesia are the biggest producers etc.
4. What are trends in chocolate consumption: Are people switching to other substitutes e.g. candy or other sweets, are people cutting back on sugar, have consumer tastes changed?
5. What are the key financials for the space e.g. prices in commodities market that are key to chocolate production e.g cocoa, sugar etc
6. What are the distribution channels within the chocolate industry?

You'll want to get a framework of understanding a market and then trying to answer some of the questions I posed. Get an understanding of the market, spot an arbitrage and then execute a strategy.

Thank you.


Are these two books sold on Amazon good for what type of information I'm seeking?


Strategize: Product Strategy and Product Roadmap Practices for the Digital Age Paperback – 26 Apr 2016, by Roman Pichler



Agile Product Management with Scrum: Creating Products that Customers Love (Addison-Wesley Signature) Paperback – 22 Mar 2010, by Roman Pichler


I mean the skills from the book. If not what do you recommend?

 

[phcitywarrior]

Thank you.


Are these two books sold on Amazon good for what type of information I'm seeking?

I mean the skills from the book. If not what do you recommend?

I'm of the belief that no knowledge is wasted, however, there can and should be priority to what information you gather.

Those books are more so for product managers that have a product in market or are looking to launch a product into the marketplace. But you have to crawl before you run. I think its imperative to really understand the niche of your industry before even thinking about launching a product.

Example: If you told me you wanted to launch a web search engine I'd tell you that you're wasting your time. However, if you said you spotted an opportunity to launch a web search engine tailored to source information relevant to black people then I'd say your on to something.

Understand the market FIRST, before planning your go to market strategy/product launch etc. But yeah, go ahead and get those books if you're up to it. You can still walk and chew gum - learn your market and learn product management/development skills.

 

[Jimmy Two-Times™]

I'm of the belief that no knowledge is wasted, however, there can and should be priority to what information you gather.

Those books are more so for product managers that have a product in market or are looking to launch a product into the marketplace. But you have to crawl before you run. I think its imperative to really understand the niche of your industry before even thinking about launching a product.

Example: If you told me you wanted to launch a web search engine I'd tell you that you're wasting your time. However, if you said you spotted an opportunity to launch a web search engine tailored to source information relevant to black people then I'd say your on to something.

Understand the market FIRST, before planning your go to market strategy/product launch etc. But yeah, go ahead and get those books if you're up to it. You can still walk and chew gum - learn your market and learn product management/development skills.

Just what I wanted to hear.