ABSTRACT
Over the last two decades management has dealt with increasingly turbulent times by increasing the amount of time planning and developing budgets, frequently at the last moment. These strategies are found wanting – by the time their carefully crafted strategies and plans are executed, something has happened in the external environment that makes the basis of the strategic plan no longer relevant. A better response is to be better at innovating. This means building strategic capabilities – assets, skills and systems – that enable organisations to get and stay ahead of competition.
One example of building real capability in innovation was the ‘game changing’ strategy executed by Taunton Cider, one of the leading cider manufacturers in the UK around the year 2000. Faced with the mighty H.P. Bulmer, Taunton developed strategies that delivered double the profitability of Bulmer on half the volume. The story of how they broke out of the Cider Box is outlined in this chapter.
