這篇文章把Whole Foods(股票代號WFM, 美國最大天然有機食品連鎖超商)的企業策略困境與軍事上的策略做了連結, 挺有意思的.
Cognitive psychologists and experts on human decision making have come up with all sorts of elaborate definitions of complex problems, but the best one I’ve heard — and the simplest — came from legendary U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Paul Van Riper, who described complex problems as “kind of like playing a game of chess in which all the pieces are connected with rubber bands.” In other words, if you move one piece, all the others shift as well. Try to attack your opponent’s queen, and your own is pulled into the crosshairs of his rook. Try to protect your queen, and your king is left wide open.
That is exactly what Whole Foods is contending with today.
The company is under immense pressure from Wall Street to match the rapid growth that newer, lower-cost entrants into the organic space have achieved in recent years. Think Wal-Mart Stores and Kroger. Whole Foods might be able to do that by dramatically slashing its prices, as some investors have advocated, but that would also mean dramatically reducing the quality of its products. Doing that would risk alienating Whole Foods’ core customers who are more concerned about quality and choice than they are about cost and convenience. Then there are those activist investors who are simply pushing for a sale.
