This Friday we conclude Module 2 of Financial Strategy, where we delve deeper into the future financial performance of a firm, particularly working many years at Deloitte.
We advised on how finances are an intangible asset for growth, meaning; strategically used finances allow firms to generate new competitive advantages by leveraging their own assets, managing risk, to increase barriers to their competitors or buy them directly as is the case with the 5 Big Tech: Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet who do this every day.
Investing in or buying companies that already have those markets is a common strategy among large organizations; this is what Elon Musk did. But haven’t you wondered why, with so much money, he didn’t start a better startup than Twitter? What was the reason he bought this company? The reason he invested 44 billion dollars seems obvious, as Twitter had a base of millions of users worldwide, and the time it takes for companies to mature is often many years. In this case, from my point of view, he’s buying their infrastructure, relationships, and users to whom new services will be offered. I believe this individual aims to create a “WeChat” (the largest platform in China that provides messaging services, social networks, payment systems, transportation services, public services, medical appointment bookings, GPS, couponing, etc.). It’s clear he is seeking integration, and this is what we will see in the coming years with this social network X.
In the context of this week’s events where Microsoft invests in the acquisition of 500,000 carbon credits, preparing to be a NetZero company by 2030, on the other hand, countries are also making strategic investments, such as the case of France’s accelerated growth derived from the Olympic Games that will be held from July 26 to August 11, which this government has been investing in its infrastructure for many years.
Questions to enhance our strategies:
Are your teams leveraging demand sensitivity analysis to enhance their strategy?
Do they have a forecast and investment projections for acquiring new technological capabilities?
Does CAPEX aim to generate future capabilities like the purchase of Twitter?
The following Friday we will start Module 3: Go-To-Market, where we will define the North Star (vision) that allows us to adjust the business growth plan for the short, medium, and long term.
You are invited to “Growth Strategy Fridays,” which are online workshops lasting 2 hours each week from 8:00 to 10:00 Chicago/CDMX time.
This program addresses corporate growth strategy topics by reviewing methodologies and cases of the most iconic brands in the world. Each module features an executive from one of these brands, with whom I have had the opportunity to collaborate. You can directly ask them questions and network with them.