is doing business and doing strategy, we often refer to a very famous theory in management-the barrel theory.
01, what is the barrel theory? The
wooden barrel theory says that "how much water a wooden barrel can hold depends on the shortest wooden board." This theory was put forward by American management scientist Peter, and is also known as the "short-board effect."
uses a wooden barrel to compare a company. It is like saying that in any company, it is impossible for every part to be perfect. There are always advantages and disadvantages, and the disadvantaged part sometimes determines the level of the company. Entrepreneurs who understand this theory will pay special attention to the obvious flaws in the entrepreneurial process. They will not be blinded by the blood, and can only see the profitability of the project, but not the shortcomings.
However, in the current era of rapid global Internet development, information is changing rapidly. To keep up with the rhythm of the times, only talking about "shortcomings" is outdated. We should not only focus on our shortcomings, but also make good use of our strengths.
This also derived another theory-the anti-barrel theory.
02, what is the anti-cask theory?
We can imagine how to tilt the wooden barrel to the longest wooden board. Can the longest wooden board also block the water? This theory says that the longest wooden board of a wooden barrel can determine the advantages of the wooden barrel. We make our own conditions, give full play to our advantages, maximize our strengths and avoid weaknesses, and the water capacity can also increase. The
anti-barrel theory advocates making the best use of the advantages and maximizing the characteristics, so that people can break the fixed thinking, find their own special advantages, and break the predicament in one fell swoop to create a new situation.
needs to invest a lot of energy and time to make up for the shortcomings, and it may only improve a little in the end, but to take advantage of the advantages only need to change ideas and adjust the layout, it is easy to quickly open the situation.
is like a lion carrying a flock of sheep, it is easier to break out of the enclosure than trying to train the flock to become a lion. For example, China's e-commerce giant Alibaba has given full play to its strong e-commerce advantages. With the support of the long-term e-commerce market, shortcomings in payment, finance, and offline retail can be gradually filled.
03. In the ever-changing market, the development of core advantages can break through
In the current rapid technological development and rapidly changing market environment, the most important thing for small and medium-sized enterprises to break through is to develop their own core advantages. The characteristics of
highlight the requirement that companies have outstanding advantages, and then strive for excellence, continue to strengthen the longest wooden board, highlight market differentiation, self-renew and iterate, and jump out of the narrow competition circle. Once the advantages are gained, we need to make up for the shortcomings. .
Of course, the barrel theory and the anti-cask theory are not in contradiction. To be a business is not just as simple as a wooden barrel. We also need to solve the problem from the practical perspective. Otherwise, all woodworkers can become excellent entrepreneurs.
