#strategy

Architecture leadership without architecture, direction without clarity, and decisions without grounding, this isn’t strategy, it’s a slow, well-documented collapse

Can someone answer this please?

What are the odds of a mega merger or a CEO change at Honeywell after the split?

Would Aero or Automation merge to form something big? Thinking about the accelerated timing of the split also aligning with Elliott's 1 year quiet term ending.

In such a scenario, history always had a new CEO. How likely will there be a new CEO?

SAP strategy is what it has always been: wall off the garden and force the installed base to adopt mediocre software products.

This strategy will fail massively with AI.

1. it is now very easy to get data into snowflake and databricks, there is already massive demand for people who understand the semantics of SAP S4 data.
2. Using AI is so ludicrously complicated it is essentially a joke, you literally need 4-5 extra BTP licenses just to activate the tools, the plumbing alone requires a mini project of several weeks
3. Even if you go through this painful exercise you literally get nothing that you could not have gotten (even for free) outside of the SAP universe and most of these products are much superior to the SAP tools
4. SAP has no control over the LLM models

the only moat for SAP is writing back into the S4. This is the last defense, every other wall has been breached already

Nike's former CTO agrees with this LKDN post that Nike is divesting the wrong things.
These repeated cuts feel less like a thoughtful long-term strategy and more like a short-term push to satisfy board expectations and quarterly metrics. “Win Now” sounds more like reactive cost-cutting than a real competitive investment plan.

In plain English: Nike should stop overreacting with broad, random headcount reductions and instead focus on making strategic investments that strengthen innovation, technology, and long-term market leadership.

Cutting core capabilities, especially in tech during a digitally driven retail era, risks weakening Nike’s ability to compete, rather than positioning it for sustainable growth.

-- Here is the original post --
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/aalokrathod_nikes-win-now-strategy-is-starting-to-look-share-7454251646185996288-0mPs

Nike’s Win Now strategy is starting to look like a Cut Now reality.

Nike just cut 1,400 roles, mostly in tech.

Their official statement? It's part of their "Win Now" strategy to position for future growth. And I cannot stop laughing at the sheer audacity of that phrase.

You're firing your entire technology department during the most technology-dependent era in retail history, and calling it "Win Now"? That sounds like a surrender with better branding.

This brings Nike's 2026 total workforce reduction to approximately 2,175 employees when combined with the 775 roles eliminated in January, representing a staged approach to cost optimization that most FP&A teams recognize as "we didn't get the cuts right the first time."

When you do layoffs in multiple tranches within four months, you're not executing a strategy. You're making it up as you go. The tech department specifically? That's the department that's supposed to help you compete with lululemon's digital-first model and On's DTC dominance. But sure, let's cut those people because nothing says "future growth" like dismantling your competitive infrastructure.

From an FP&A perspective, this is textbook "optimize for this quarter's EBITDA, worry about revenue growth later." Which works great until your board asks why market share is hemorrhaging faster than your cost savings can offset.

And can we talk about "Win Now" as a strategy name? That's what you yell at your fantasy football team when you're down by 30 points. Real strategies have timelines, milestones, and don't require firing the people who actually know how your systems work.

The forecast model practically writes itself. Cut costs in Q2, miss revenue targets in Q4, announce "restructuring 3.0" in Q1 2027, rinse, repeat. Nike's not positioning for future growth. They're liquidating future capability to hit current-year numbers.

But hey, at least the PowerPoint probably looked incredible.

Interesting ELT announcement and interesting times ahead. Wow we’re really doing this ...

Remember Elop ? Here is the sequel.

How do you like deliberate ki-ling of mobile networks business by Justin ?
They don’t even pretend it makes sense, just babble about AI hypercycle ignoring all the institutional knowledge how to build RAN products, while middle mangers jumping like monkeys around Justin amplifying the bs hoping they will be spared.
In a year Nokia will end up with no 6G product and no prospect to even regain ability to do one.
Don’t wait, it is going to get worse from here.

All signs point to good results tomorrow with help from the blockade in the Straight of Hormuz. I’m sure we will say it is proof our strategy reset is working, and that we still have to make more “difficult” changes. Then cue layoffs announced around Q2 results. What does everyone else think?

That's this place in a nutshell.

Now that DF the champ of west coast software talent rehashing old ideas of low talent Michigan auto engineers out, I sincerely hope someone talk some sense into Ford executive thick heads.

Ford hasn’t shipped anything of significance since FNV2 (feel proud of that era). FNV4 would have been essentially delivered this year. Yet after billions wasted what did we get?
Silicon valley snake oil seller left with 200m and the company got a nothing burger.
Their SDV dream is as good as a dead cow in the canal, effectively years behind any competition.

Never seen waste more splendid than this. Unbelievable!!!

rifs strategy team with impossible plans and centers losing staff daily...is this whole thing planned? carson and welsh is coming to cash in soon. then why buy more clinics? anyone know more? rumor is more rifs in july

destroy independent dealers network who had connection with their local markets, customer base and worked hard everyday to maintain positive relationships from Nike and their local customers.
Each individual dealers knew the market and provided what customer demanded. And from broad Nike offering they selected and provided what customer wants
For example: I had couple of store where there were majority of population was Hispanic and I worked hard to provide what they wanted. And I had a friend who had stores in mostly African American inner-city area his store offering was totally different than mine. And a friend in Central Valley rural area had his own offering of shoes that people in his area wanted.
Now, Nike eliminated all of their distribution system that helped to get where they are.
Instead, they have a system where it is one size fit approach.

Greed is what it ki-led the Nike. They thought that they could do everything by themselves with their minimum wage staff in the store. WRONG!!!!

Communism failed everywhere in the world because they thought that being is big is the best answer but history has proven thousands of individuals will beat communist every time.

I was told that eliminating all the independent dealers was PK's idea and ditto for hiring JD as CEO.
PK built Nike but he is also main reason that Nike will face negative future.

IBM is in a strong financial position, backed by consistent cash flow, disciplined capital allocation, and a well-managed balance sheet under CFO Jim Kavanaugh. The company continues to invest strategically in high-growth areas like AI and hybrid cloud while maintaining financial stability, showing that its transformation is being executed from a position of strength—not weakness.

And it's deliberate, because talent costs money. But people are the foundation. Everything else can be replaced or fixed. That can't. Especially if you’re gunning to stay on top.

Anyone know the plan ?

The PGA Tour cut 56 full-time employees. This reduction impacts about four percent of its staff. These changes follow a $1.5 billion investment from Strategic Sports Group. A new CEO model is now in place. A shorter schedule and new markets are under consideration.

https://golfweek.usatoday.com/story/sports/golf/pga/2026/04/23/pga-tour-layoffs-2026-cuts-4-percent/89753519007/

typical corporate bull sh-t. Firing staff is winning strategy?

What is next? kinder, gentler machine g-n handle?

Just say the way it is. We are firing our staff, because we f3cked up but have to
blame on someone else otherwise they are going to blaming us.

When stock underperformance stretches over years, restructuring no longer feels like a reset and we employees are paying for strategic failure twice...

ROE is our focus. You know what that means.

Will the sport strategy work for converse or will it end in converse sale

So we got a new strategy guy from your favorite consultants who have made a pile of money from Cargill in the past few years including the 2024 layoffs.

Guess where all the “flat organization” and other doses of corporate fools gold came from to Cargill? That’s right McKinsey…. Sadly he is not the first one….. we had an Asian lady years ago who ended being kicked out from animal nutrition (she ran it to the ground) from the same shop….. not a good precedent.

Hang on; this will be a wild ride; more “right sizing “ coming up!

So let me get this straight…

Leadership just rolled out a “neighborhood seating” plan to reduce coordination costs by literally assigning people to sit closer to executives. Because apparently the problem all along was… proximity?

What did we do before COVID? Walked over. Talked to people. Solved problems. No color-coded maps required.

Now we’ve got:

• Color-coded zones like we’re in kindergarten
• Executives getting prime, protected seating
• Everyone else fighting Hunger Games-style for what’s left
• And lines drawn on a floor plan like we’re zoning districts

And the justification? “Coordination costs drop when people are physically near each other.”

Translation: “We want you where we can see you.”

Let’s be real this isn’t about collaboration. It’s about control.

Also… using literal colored lines (including red) to divide where people belong? In a corporate environment? In 2026? You really didn’t think that one through.

Meanwhile, instead of investing in actual tools, processes, or fixing broken workflows… we’re rearranging chairs and calling it strategy.

If this is what “driving value through proximity” looks like, we’ve officially lost the plot.

Is that the new strategy?

My team of registered field nurses has no work. Okay, we have some work but not very much, as in not enough to meet productivity. They hired new nurses last year just as things were slowing down. Now things are so bad- like the hunger games vying for appointments. Forget the bonus, it no longer exists. They are hiring yet again but we have no work! What the heck? What’s going on? My manager has no answer for lack of work, it’s almost like she is pretending the issue doesn’t exist. Any thoughts on what the strategy is here?

it's been a few months now. what is our grading of their performance?

i'll go first:
churn is the worst it has ever been (D-)
we haven't done anything to address our network strategy (D)
we moved data under a guy who knows nothing about data but is a friend (F)
we hired a manager to be svp of analytics, but at least they are friends with CTPO (C-)
we have no call center ops strategy (D-)
we've outsourced everything to hit an ebitda number, but now have no sustainability of ebitda (F)

overall grade... F

What if Marshall Field's had been retained ? There was so much good will that was accumulated. Since the conversion to Macy's, Chicago and mid-western stores are quite "different" to say the least. After pivoting, they discovered that there was a need for more localization but has it been enough. Look at what Marshall Field's used to be.

Why could they have not refreshed the stores and polished the legacy that was extraordinary. Maybe things were perfect....but wasn't there better possibilities for the future of the trajectory of the business and the long term viability all around ? T

These stores used to have restaurants, beauty salons, unique and curated assortments that were unique and exciting ! What do you think ?

Remember these guys? What a joke. These are what they claim they did below. I haven’t seen any of it. They just got in during low COVID stock price and then claim they were genius because stock price rose?

Action #1: Refresh the Board of Directors with energy experience.

Action #2: Impose greater long-term capital allocation discipline.

Action #3: Implement a strategic plan for long-term value creation.

Action #4: Align management compensation with value creation, not production growth.

How in the world could the BOD and leadership disrupt the entire transformation plan by letting DF leave and still think the plan can succeed? Asinine.

The Telecom Paradox
More Traffic. Same Revenue.

Telecom is working harder than ever.

Traffic is exploding.
AI, video, cloud, 5G, FWA, everything runs on our networks.

But revenue?

Flat.

We operate one of the most capital-intensive industries in the world on a model that rewards volume… but not value.

This isn’t temporary pressure. It’s structural imbalance.

The digital economy is expanding exponentially. Yet the infrastructure enabling it
captures a shrinking share of the value.

The Reality & Problem for Verizon:

It’s like claiming that LCD manufacturers should benefit from more pixels being displayed when users watch more video

Last time I checked they were making 3 billion in revenue, I think the goal is to shrink the total employee count to 7000.

Moving towards a sale!

anyone else feel the dread and insanity of changes after those february RIFs? centerwell and conviva clinical staff are hanging on by a thread. these poor patients!! all to give md bonuses for checking on at risk people. your average needs people good luck ..they dont bring bonus money to the non clinical strategy team who literally dont know roles or any in clinic processes. watch the train fully wreck next week. resignations pouring in.

Serious question .. what is the point of announcing layoffs being silent for months and tepeating this a few times a year so people are terrified all the time and productivity falls? I understand need to cut costs but the way we do it makes no sense

So who is the strategic fit with all the layoffs and shutdowns? Weatherford is strong on the books but they are not going to be able to sustain growth as they can't grow the market share against the SLB, Halliburton, or even Baker.

I would bet on Baker, as they seem to be cleaning their books of distractions and getting to the core. I'm not sure WFRD has much to offer them at this point, as they may have in the past, but still would seem the best option for them -- just come other areas that would need to be divested.

Why don't we include another brutal truth here?

Our costs are out of control and we are failing vs competition and our benchmark is BS.

Are we hearing the feedback from the broader organization?

TL;DR : Nike needs to make more desirable products again and get them in front of more people by focusing on a few big hits and not over-relying on its own stores.

Nike should prioritize restoring brand heat and product distinctiveness while rebalancing its channel mix. The shift toward direct to consumer has supported margins but reduced marketplace visibility. I would recommend sharper segmentation of distribution, reinvesting in key wholesale partners for reach, while elevating owned channels for premium storytelling and data. In parallel, focus the innovation pipeline on fewer, bigger product bets across core categories, reducing complexity and improving speed to market. Growth will come from concentrating demand around iconic, high velocity products rather than expanding assortment.

This likely requires a simpler operating model with clearer priorities and faster decision making. That includes reducing organizational complexity, aligning incentives around end to end category performance, and empowering teams closer to the consumer to act with speed. There is also an opportunity to improve demand forecasting, merchandising discipline, and supply chain responsiveness to increase precision without adding overhead. Cost discipline matters, but primarily as an enabler of speed, creativity, and execution rather than the goal itself.

Thoughts?

Citi is quietly doing layoffs without much noise like Amazon or Microsoft. They are not in news much.

The government must look into the fake internal job postings, promotions for favorite candidates, and immigration visa abuse. Citi is notorious for replacing American workers with H1B, L1 TN, OPT, H4 EAD candidates.

They hire in India, Ireland, Poland, Costa Rica Singapore, and their last option is hiring in the USA.

Most of the Indian managers are racists and they discriminate other south asians based on caste and culture. It's a absolute disgrace to the America.
Citi HR and Ethics teams are a joke!

They will hire overseas and make them rich and show layoffs in the USA to bump up the stock!

The only strategy is lay off people and get more bonuses! This cannot survive for long. It's a shame that the assets of the big four banks in the USA are not even comparable to some average banks in China.

All we do is new marketing brands

Great job Vz Board & Dan.

Great strategy... Great Execution.

Paying Dan $1M a month... do the right thing and resign.

Harvard Business Case already written howbto F-K up a once great company with DEI

Bank leaders are all in San Antonio this week for strategy sessions. Could be a good or bad thing…anyone have insights?