Disney is a company that I’ve admired most of my life (and as such you’ll likely see some posts on this blog about them). Few companies have endured for so long by primarily using the tools of creativity and innovation.

As I’ve studied the company one thing that I admire is the simplicity - yet power - of their acquisition strategy. This strategy has guided the acquisition of some of the largest brands in recent years including Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm. Kevin Mayer, Disney’s EVP responsible for Strategy and M&A articulated this in an interview by saying there are, at its core, two things Disney buys:

1. Channels to distribute their content through

   Disney is unmatched globally with the breadth and depth of their media distribution network. Disney’s channels includes radio and television networks with a global reach, movie studios, theme parks scattered around the world, an increasing...

Strategy is an amorphous term. Even when we started IBR four years ago as a journal for students and alumni of the Ivey Business School to discuss their thoughts on strategy it was difficult to articulate. I’ve found Richard Rumelt to do an exceptional job at defining what good strategy is in his work Good Strategy / Bad Strategy. In it, Rumelt defines good strategy as an essential logical structure that has three components:

1. A diagnosis: This is a clear definition of the nature of the challenge. Ideally, the diagnosis takes away much of the complexity and distraction of a situation and distills it down to the a clearly defined core problem.
2. A guiding policy: This specifies the approach to dealing with the obstacles called out in the diagnosis.
3. Coherent actions: Feasibly coordinated policies, resource commitments and cations designed to carry out the guiding policy (tactics).

In...