1. Do you have an explicit TSR target guiding your strategic plan? Is that target appropriate given the expectations embedded in your stock price and the ability of your business plans to deliver improved performance? Do you understand how each of your businesses will contribute to meeting your TSR goal?
2. What are the historical sources of TSR for your company? How does your historical profile compare with

… [ Read more ]

Subject: CEO / Executive Questions

At the very minimum, a segmentation should answer the following questions in order to be successful:

• Which consumer segments represent the largest profit pools in our category?
• What is our share of wallet across segments today?
• How should we prioritize the various growth opportunities within and across segments?
• What messages and offerings will command the attention of these consumers?
• How can we position our brands and sub-brands for

… [ Read more ]

Subject: Marketing Questions

• Is there a practice that must be stopped immediately, or a product withdrawn from the market without delay, to protect the public-and the company’s reputation?
• What is the shape and size of the problem?
• What is the next phase of the inquiry?
• Should outside experts be retained?
• Should the board be informed?
• Must the matter be disclosed to authorities under law, should it be disclosed voluntarily, or should it

… [ Read more ]

Subject: Crisis Management Questions

1. Are your costs (and prices) declining as fast as competitors?
2. Are your costs as low as best demonstrated practice?
3. Are all your products and services truly making money?
4. Is your profitability as high as your RMS justifies?
5. How big is your market and how fast is it growing?
6. Which capabilities create your competitive advantages?
7. Which are your most attractive customer segments?
8. How loyal are your customers?
9. Where are your share of industry profits

… [ Read more ]

Subject: Management Questions

• What can you tell me about your organization… and yourself?
• What do you like about what you’re currently doing?
• What don’t you like about your current situation?
• What would you like to be enhanced or improved?
• What can you tell me about your priorities?
• What prompted you to start this project now?
• What can you tell me about your decision-making process?
• How do you

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Subject: Sales Questions

• What does success look like in this scenario?
• In what markets will you play and which customers will you serve?
• How will you serve those customers?
• What capabilities will you need to have in place?
• How would you know if this scenario were going to come true?

The first four questions get executives to clearly articulate the growth opportunity. The last one gets them thinking about when it … [ Read more ]

Subject: Strategy Questions

There are several key decisions that must be made when designing a business:

Customer selection (including channel):

• What are the greatest profit growth opportunities that fall within my planning horizon?
• Which customers are crucial to those opportunities?
• What high-value customer opportunity should be targeted?

Value Proposition and Customer Priorities:

• What are the unsatisfied needs that drive the behavior of targeted customers

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Subject: Management Questions

A customer’s product experience passes through six basic stages. To help companies assess the quality of a buyer’s total experience, we have identified the key questions for each stage. Individually, these questions may be obvious, but taken together, they uncover the full picture of the experience cycle.

1. Purchasing
• How long does it take to find the product you need?
• Is the place of purchase attractive and

… [ Read more ]

Subject: Buyer Experience Cycle

• Who should be members of the team?
• What is the charter or mandate of the team?
• What is the appropriate “value-added work” of the team?
• What are the roles and expectations of different members?
• What procedures will be used to manage work, to build an agenda, to solve problems, to make decisions, etc.?
• What types of interactions will be required among members, and what

… [ Read more ]

Subject: Teams/Teamwork Questions

• Where should I choose to compete?
• Who should my core customers be?
• How should I differentiate myself competitively?
• How should I discourage competitive investment?

Source:
Achieving Full Potential through Strategies that Work
by Chris Zook
Bain & Company, 1/1/1996

Subject: Strategy Questions